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502 Posts
I crank it sometimes and just walk around and listen to it. I like it and of course I don’t. This is bike #7 since 2011. Not bragging just the way it has happened. I can only have one bike at a time. All were fairly loud except for first one which was a 750 Shadow. I had a Kawai mean streak with aftermarket pipes and it was my favorite loud pipes. It had the single pin sound and everywhere I rode, folks turned to see what that sound was… same with the vtx1800. IT had Rinehart racing exhaust.
I’m still trying to figure out what the valk sounds like when I’m riding. It reminds me of a dump truck shifting gears with its quiet low rumble. Sounds like a sports car sometimes. Yep! I like it. Overall, I’m not going to go deaf because of it but do kinda wish it was louder only as a warning to others that I’m a coming. I used to crank it a little going by cars on my previous louder ones to wake up the less attentive idgits on their idgit phones with their darkly tinted windows.
I am really fascinated, for some reason, by this engine. It purrs! A turbo sound turning the shaft, so it seems. So quiet I can hear the front wheels rolling on the asphalt. I found a gl1800 engine on google (EBay) with lots of pics and I looked at them for good while. It is a far cry from a V-Twin. Maybe it is a stinking engineering mystery to me. I do not work on motors but I’m sure from my reading that a lot of effort went into the internals of this motor.
I notice sometimes that when I twist the throttle and ‘get on it’ a little, it doesn’t seem to have the gitty up and go until I look at the speedo. See, when you have loud pipes, you actually think that you are going faster than you are. I’ve got to retrain my brain. Oh! This valk is indeed a hotrod.
I’m ecstatic that I’ve finally got a big tank. It gets good gas mileage. It flies. It handles with ease for its size. I’m sort of getting used to the look. The seat is still a pain even with a pad. I may get some highway pegs for stretching my legs to see if this helps. I can’t see spending $300 so will have to keep looking.
I guess Honda was just trying something out with the 2014-2015 Valks. I like the naked Goldwing because I don’t do many long range rides. I look for the lonely less-traveled roads because I hate traffic with a passion. The valk serves me well for doing this but kills my butt. I have to stop after about an hour. Nope! Not going to get a seat yet. I think the pegs should be a priority right now.
It is going to get ridden every day as long as weather allows. Right now, however, I have to work around the rain and extreme cold. I don’t like riding below 49°.
I’m already dreading the bugs because I kill a gazillion and they are a pain on a purty bike like this. They somehow find all the nooks and crannies and drive me crazy until I clean them out. I have the oem shield and looks like I’ll be constantly wiping it down. It is ALL worth it because I was created to ride.
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I’m still trying to figure out what the valk sounds like when I’m riding. It reminds me of a dump truck shifting gears with its quiet low rumble. Sounds like a sports car sometimes. Yep! I like it. Overall, I’m not going to go deaf because of it but do kinda wish it was louder only as a warning to others that I’m a coming. I used to crank it a little going by cars on my previous louder ones to wake up the less attentive idgits on their idgit phones with their darkly tinted windows.
I am really fascinated, for some reason, by this engine. It purrs! A turbo sound turning the shaft, so it seems. So quiet I can hear the front wheels rolling on the asphalt. I found a gl1800 engine on google (EBay) with lots of pics and I looked at them for good while. It is a far cry from a V-Twin. Maybe it is a stinking engineering mystery to me. I do not work on motors but I’m sure from my reading that a lot of effort went into the internals of this motor.
I notice sometimes that when I twist the throttle and ‘get on it’ a little, it doesn’t seem to have the gitty up and go until I look at the speedo. See, when you have loud pipes, you actually think that you are going faster than you are. I’ve got to retrain my brain. Oh! This valk is indeed a hotrod.
I’m ecstatic that I’ve finally got a big tank. It gets good gas mileage. It flies. It handles with ease for its size. I’m sort of getting used to the look. The seat is still a pain even with a pad. I may get some highway pegs for stretching my legs to see if this helps. I can’t see spending $300 so will have to keep looking.
I guess Honda was just trying something out with the 2014-2015 Valks. I like the naked Goldwing because I don’t do many long range rides. I look for the lonely less-traveled roads because I hate traffic with a passion. The valk serves me well for doing this but kills my butt. I have to stop after about an hour. Nope! Not going to get a seat yet. I think the pegs should be a priority right now.
It is going to get ridden every day as long as weather allows. Right now, however, I have to work around the rain and extreme cold. I don’t like riding below 49°.
I’m already dreading the bugs because I kill a gazillion and they are a pain on a purty bike like this. They somehow find all the nooks and crannies and drive me crazy until I clean them out. I have the oem shield and looks like I’ll be constantly wiping it down. It is ALL worth it because I was created to ride.
