DonnyRudeDude

Late reply here....my wife and I travelled down that way through a short section of Skyline Drive in early October. The Blue Ridge Parkway was closed at that time due to the hurricane damage. The section we travelled was beautiful that time of the year. We came across Hwy 250 from the 219. Hwy 250 from Huttonsville to Staunton WV looks fairly straight on a map...Wrong. It was a beautiful twisty road with breath taking scenery. It was obvious to me afterwords that going over the mountains is going to be a little twisty and up and down. It was a challenging ride to say the least, all loaded up with my wife on the back. I'll bring the Venture next time, I think it would handle the twisties better. We made it to the Howard Johsons just after dark, which wasn't wise travelling in the dark as we noticed lots of deer appearing at dusk. Made it safely and there must have been 25 motorcyclist's staying at HoJo's. Most of those bikes were in the class of adventure touring, which seems to be a popular way to ride, especially through the mountains. It was a great ride and hope to do it again next year and this time travel south down the Blue Ridge Parkway. Mark

I had them installed on my Honda Valkyrie Interstate this spring after having Dunlop D4's. Two trips to the US through the mountains and twisties of Virigina and West Virginia HWY 250 and 33 and a short drive through Skyline Drive and they worked well. 2nd trip to Vermont this time in some rain and they worked very well in all conditions. I would give them a thumbs up! Mark

Hi Ben, I have one at the cottage. I won’t be up there for a couple of weeks. I’d like to give you some parts in return for those that you gave me, Do you need the light bulb and the lens? Let me know, Mark

I’ll travel to the same place as the last many times and hope I find you there….or maybe wandering about aimlessly 😁

Hi Carl, I’ll try and make it….where do live again😀?? Mark

Hi Carl, the 84 VR is running great (Thank you) I was referring to my 86’. I lubed the cable but no effect. I was hoping to see you on the Ontario ride to pick your brain on this one. Mark

Ok, Pasta Burner, thank-you. I have a VR parts bike I may practice on before I attempt it. I've seen on You Tube where the instrumentation panel is removed to fix the howling speedometer so I'll follow that process and lube the speedometer while I'm at it, Mark

3/4 of my instrumentation lights are blown. I can see the tach at night but that’s it. Can you explain how to access these lights? Do I need to remove the dash assembly to replace the blown lights? Thank- you, Mark

See below

We’re celebrating thanksgiving with my in laws on Saturday and getting family pictures done at a local photographer so…..Saturday is out for me. Mark

Just Googled Hocking Hills. Looks like a beautiful state park. Mark

I was saving for the new Venture TC or the new Goldwing after I saw them at the Toronto bike show back in 2018. I thought I’d treat myself to a new bike after owning my 84VR since new. I finally realized, I can’t afford a 30k motorcycle. With the money I saved I bought a 99 Honda Valkyrie. My wife was on board and prefers the Valkyrie when travelling. They’re just more leg room and luggage space although it’s a heavy bike when all loaded up. It gets lots of compliments when it’s all shined up. Most people don’t realize that the 84VR is more comfortable to ride with the air suspension and more nimble. It’s nice to have multiple bikes but as Saddlebum pointed out, there’s no break on insurance when riding multiple bikes. Adding the Valkyrie to my stable made me realize….I had the perfect bike for me. It makes me appreciate the Venture even more. Now, I also bought an 86 VR a few years ago. It was in mint condition and I couldn’t say no to the price offered….. that one appeared in the driveway one day to my wife’s surprise. That one I had to ask forgiveness…. she doesn’t like to ride that bike for some strange reason…🤔 It was more of an impulse buy. Mark

A half or full day ride on a weekend would be good by me. I’ll try and be there if I’m around. Also trying to plan a bike trip with my sister so I’m being non committal at this time but would like to go, Nothing better than a warm fall day with the leaves changing to be out in the bike, Mark

I can attest to the smoothness of the engine. I have a Honda Valkyrie interstate and the engine is very smooth. At the Valkyrie Riders site they have a video of the “Nickle Trick” posted where the engine is so smooth and free of vibration that a Nickle, standing up, placed on a flat surface of the engine will not fall over with the engine revving. Now, that’s smooth. I have no problem going into corners. I have scraped the hwy pegs a few times, attached to the engine guards. It doesn’t seem to be a serious problem, but I don’t drive that aggressively, Mark

I really enjoy watching these Fort Nine videos, for me very educational and entertaining. I wonder how the Honda Goldwing horizontally opposed 6 cylinder engine would have been described and rated?

Hello all, I've been meaning to post this for a while....too busy riding and other things. I wanted to give a huge shout out to a member who worked on my bike last winter. I met Carl @Marcarlat last years Ontario get together in Paris. He offered to work on my 84 VR and said he would do a thorough job fixing anything that needed to be fixed. I gave him a whole wish list of things that needed some maintenance/fixing and he worked from front to back adding new rubber (Dunlop E4's), four brush starter, @skydoc_17fuse kit, fixed oil leak in the front forks having had progressive springs installed at the local dealer the year previous, new carburetor diaphragms, carb sync, braided brake lines, new brake pads, added a thingey 😀(spacer) to the rear axle and grease nipple as well as Wolo air horn (loud) and PIAA running lights (bright but expensive) as well as resoldering the air compressor. I'm probably missing some fixes...Also, he bought a Plastex kit and showed me how to repair cracked fairing parts using his Dremel tools. Special thanks to his lovely wife for providing lunches for all those winter lunches trying to solve all the worlds problems. Special mention goes out to @saddlebum who provided advice and some "spare" parts for my machine. Always enjoy riding this machine but its just that much sweeter of a ride now. Planning a trip to Vermont in a couple of weeks. I hope everyone has a Carl and a Ben in their area that they can count on for advice and assistance. Thanks to you both... Mark

I’ll be at the cottage this weekend. I enjoyed last years gathering and meeting folks for the first time….. I especially enjoyed going to Twisted Treats. I have a weakness for ice cream. Have fun, Mark

👍

Very cool

I have a 1999 Honda Valkyrie Interstate, does that count? It has the six cylinder Goldwing engine, 1520 cc, single overhead cam, six carbs and the timing is slightly advanced making it a little more peppy than the standard Goldwing of that era. Beautiful bike, but my favorite to ride is still my 1984 VR but both are great bikes, just different. Mark

I'd like to thank @skydoc_17 for sending me the upgraded fuse kit last year. This was finally installed but not by me. I met @Marcarl at one of the southern Ontario gettogethers this past summer. Also, Carl was the first guy to reach out to me when I joined the club in 2019, He pointed out that my bike was leaking some oil. Since owning it from new, an 84' purchased in spring 1985, amazingly it had never leaked oil. I had progressive springs installed the previous fall as well as having the rear brake line replaced with braided. I said yup, I need to take it back in, in the off season. There was a small leak in the front forks as well as one from the rear, maybe brake fluid. He mentioned there was a shop just up the road that does good work. I thought I new of all the shops in the area but apparently not this one. Well, guess who's shop? Something he said stuck with me, in that, if he found something that needed replacing or fixing, he would replace of fix it. That's quite different from the motorcycle shops I had previously visited as they typically only fix what you point out needs fixing, as well, many shops in our area have told me that they won't work on bikes of our vintage any longer. I can appreciate their concerns in the sense that parts are hard to come by and our plastic is getting brittle with age so its easier to say no. So...thanks to Earl and Carl. Mark

Hi all: it was great to meet everyone for the first time. Had some good conversations with @paysaw, @dogman, @Evan and thanks to @Marcarl for the warm welcome and @XV1100SE or organizing. We’re on vacation this week and won’t be home until next Sunday sorry unfortunately will miss the next event but look forward to the next time. Enjoy the ride…. and the ice cream. Mark

I’ll try and make it as well. Leave from work and go directly there from Oakville. Would like to meet all of you. Did I tell you I love ice cream? 😀 I may bring a friend who has a Goldwing as that Tim Hortons is his hangout. Mark

I ordered a Slip Steamer off of Amazon for my 84'. It's my 4th windshield for this bike (one was stolen from a parking garage) since new in May, 1985. Recommended, Mark