Popular Modifications for your Valk

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Popular Modifications
Compliments of Bob's Valkyrie Web Site
Just about every Valk owner, sooner or later, starts thinking about what they can do to their Valk to make it a little more personal. The Valk is a great motorcycle just the way it is, but, riders come in all sizes, shapes and have a variety of person preferences. Below you will find links to many sites that detail some of these mods as well as some commentary from me about the mods. I have done a few of these mods and I will give my opinion on any products that I have used.
 

Exhaust
Exhaust noise, you either hate it or love it. The Valk can be nearly whisper quiet or can be made to sound like a nascar racer. If all you do is putz around town the loud sound is just fine, but, if you do a lot of touring the big ticket is quiet. Most of us fall somewhere inbetween. It only takes about an hour to change the exhaust on the valk, so if you don't mind the loss of a little performance, it's reasonable to have an exhaust system for quiet or loud.
Most of the louder, open exhaust, systems require rejetting to get optimum performance. The manufacturers usually say "no jetting required" and they are right if you don't mind a performance loss.
  Cobra  
 Two Brothers Racing  
 Vance and Hines  
 SuperTrapp
Next would be the baffled or muffled systems. My personal opinion is that these are the best for most riders with the glasspack systems being at the top of my list. They have a deeper mellower sound than the baffled systems I have heard. The glasspacks can be a do-it-yourself project or can be purchased ready to ride.
 
 Mark T's ready to go glasspacks.  
 Lamont's instructions for do-it-yourself glasspacks.  
 Lamont's latest do-it-yourself exhaust.
The cheapest mods to make are the ones that involve drilling the baffles and/or cutting the "piggies". Thes are the tips of the exhaust. I said these are the cheapest, but, you will be modifying a good stock exhaust system that may take away some resell value should you ever decide to part with your Valk.
 
 Luis Cajiga's website for do-it-yourself exhaust mods.


Seats
We,ve all been to the beach and had the opportunity to see some really nice looking rearends as well as some that look a lot like mine. They come in small, medium, large and extra large. Unfortunately the stock seat on the Valk only comes in one size and while a lot of people find it to be just right, many want to change the seat. It is a good idea to find a bike with the type of seat you are wanting and see if the owner will let you sit on it or maybe even take it for a ride.
If you have a pre-2000 standard or tourer, you can replace the stock seat with a seat from a 2000 model. They cost less than $100 and are reported to be a pretty decent seat. The VRCC store offers the 2000 seat at a good price or your local Honda dealer can get you one.
  VRCC Store
If you are happy with the stock seat and would just like to have a little back support, the Utopia backrest is very good. It will make those long trips a lot easier.
 
 Utopia
If you need to be a little closer to the ground and are not financially restricted, the Corbin seat will sit you a little lower, as well as being a very nice looking seat.
 
 Corbin
The Mustang seat is also a good seat. It costs less than the Corbin, but, sits you up a little higher than the stock seat. I have the four piece Mustang (driver, passenger and backrest for each). It is a good seat so far. I have sat on it for 160 miles without a stop and my rear felt about the same as 90 miles on the stock seat. The backrest is good, but, I liked comfort of the Utopia that I used with my stock seat better, only because it is a little bigger.
 
 Mustang
The Russell Day-Long touring seat is also a very good seat. It falls inbetween the Corbin and Mustang in price. It is available with different materials and options.
 
 Russell
Hartco now has a seat for the Valkyrie. It is wider in both the rider and passenger seats. It looks like the passenger pad would act as a backrest.
 
 Hartco


Performance
Since most performance mods are done to the intake or exhaust system I recommend that everyone should read the very good article written by Don Kuhlman. It is titled Carburetion 101 and can be found on the VRCC website. FactoryPro also has some good advice on tuning the CV carbs.   Carburetion 101  
 FactoryPro CV carb tuning
OK, so you're not happy with regular tire smoking, arm stretching performance and would like a little more excitement? The Valk is a pretty good performer right out of the box and with a few additions it can be made to perform even better, sometimes even with better fuel mileage.

The trigger wheel is very popular (I have one) and generally gives about a 3-4% increase in horsepower and torque throughout the rpm range as well as increasing fuel mileage in most installations. If the directions are followed closely, it can be installed by most backyard mechanics.
 
 Trigger Wheel
If you have installed some aftermarket exhausts and find your Valk running a little lean, you may want to do some rejetting. You can either buy the jets individually or buy kits for the Valk. If you are not really good at tuning or don't have access to a dyno, it might be better to leave this to a professional. With six carbs the Valk can be a little tempermental when you go playing with her fuel delivery. A small gain in fuel mixture can be had by installing a shim on the needle.
 
 Carb Shims  
 FactoryPro Jet Kits  
 DynoJet Kits
Some riders have had good results by polishing their intake tubes, others have reported no gains. Results may vary on this one.
 
 Intake polishing
Superchargers make power. Simple enough. The Magna Charger supercharger marketed by LaMonster Inc. is in the final stage of development with several being ridden daily on the streets. Horsepower in the 130 range makes the Valk come alive.
 
 Lamont's Supercharger
UFO's V-Gas System is also being marketed by LaMonster Inc. and promises to improve performance.
 
 V-Gas System
Cams have always been one of the first performance modifications that hotrodders have relied on for a little more power in the rpm range they felt needed improvement. I have only heard of a few with the aftermarket cams but they say the improvement in performance is as expected.
 
 Two Bros check under New Stuff.  
 Web Cams

Tires
Tires, tires and more tires. This subject brings up about as much controversy as oil. Every brand of tire made for the Valk has riders that like or don't like. I won't get into that here except to say that I have used three of the major four and have not found much difference in them. They all wear funny on the front, make noise in corners after a few thousand miles and I get over 10,000 miles on all of them. There are reports of wobbles, delaminations, excessive wear, excessive noise and just general discontent, as well as a lot of praise, depending on the experiences of the individual concerned.
  Avon  
 Bridgestone  
 Dunlop  
 Metzeler

Convenience
Cruise Controls
I always hear a lot of complaints about tired or sore hands from riders that take long trips without some way to maintain the throttle position while they rest their hand. There are several remedies for tired hands. They can be as simple as a palm rest, a throttle lock or a full fledged electronic cruise control system. I use the do-it-yourself electronic cruise control as outlined by Dave Sproul. I have used it for about 30,000 miles and have not had any problems. It is in the current JC Whitney catalog (cat.# 639J-06) for $69.   Dave Sproul's do-it-yourself cruise control.
McCruise is also an electronic cruise that is packaged as a motorcycle specific cruise control.
 
 McCruise
For a little less money there is the mechanical cruise control. My 84 Goldwing has one of these types I have used for years. I am not sure if it is a Vista Cruise brand, but, works about the same. They are good for resting the hand unless you are in hilly country where they go a little fast downhill and a slower uphill. These can be found at most motorcycle accessory stores.
 
 Vista Cruise at the VRCC Store  
 Wrist Rest  
 Throttlemeister
The Palm Rest is good for those that like to keep their hand on or near the grip without having to actually grip and twist the throttle. They are usually plastic or metal pieces that slip on over the end of your grip with a tab to rest your palm on. You can control the speed without the grip and twist. I have never used one of these, but, many have and are satisfied with them.
 
 Throttle Rockers  
 RyKel CrampBuster