[vdotmatrix]

My brother in law is a harley dealer and he was telling me that Harleys can’t really take the heat and the high mileage Harleys cost a lot of money to rebuild the top end. I am Imagine that the cost to rebuild a flat six on a honda valkyrie would be astronomical.

Has anyone had to do maintenance on a high mileage Valkyrie?

 

[cmonSTART]

Is he trying to sell you this Valkyrie?

 

[vdotmatrix]

No no not my brother in law....but he did say that about HD. We recently had rolling thunder and if they get too hot he saidthey shut down.... too funny.... I am shopping for a Valkyrie. I see all sorts of bikes some with lotsa miles some with low miles... if i find a bike with some miles on it i am gauging price point vs value..... most sellers are very nice...hard to sell Valkyries seems like cuz they stay unsold.... i want one...so pretty. Thanks for responding

 

[DGS65]

What are you calling high mileage?
The bike is a touring bike and meant to be driven high mileage on this bike is very different then an HD!
As an example the manual calls for you to inspect the timing belts at 100k miles doesn't even call to replace it just check it. I choose to replace mine based on the age. Mine is a 98' with only 3,800 miles which is not enough in my opinion.
Great bikes if you find a good one!

 

[vdotmatrix]

Thank you!

Most of the bikes I see are around 25k then some in the 40k range but then the one I am looking at 86k, its a 2001.

 

[WintrSol]

Yeah, they aren't really broken in at 3800 miles. I bought my '98 with 37k miles, and it has 47k now. Guys on another forum put 10k-20k miles on a year, and some have 200k and more.

BTW, the flat six is actually fairly easy to work on. I had to remove a head to replace a valve that I bent because I got careless replacing the belts. Not much to it, actually.

 

[Porky]

A person with mechanical ability can remove the top end of a Harley big twin and re-ring it or put new pistons in or do a valve job etc, using simple tools in a short period of time, in fact, less time than it would take to remove the 6 cylinder engine from the Valkyrie frame:surprise:

The Goldwing sourced Valkyrie 6 cylinder engine has cylinders cast along with the block, making a piston or ring replacement very difficult and time consuming, requiring 10 times the skill and time that overhauling a Harley does but here's the thing, a well maintained 6 cylinder Goldwing/ Valkyrie could easily go a couple of hundred thousand miles or much more before it would need an overhaul:grin:

A well maintained and not abused Harley Sportster or Big twin can easily exceed the 100,000+ mile mark and all it may need to 'freshen up' the top end is a days time and some relatively cheap parts:wink2:

Maybe it's the newer Harley's that have had over heating problems but I have ridden with hundreds of club members riding all over the place, State to State, Interstates, city traffic, Mountains and deserts, including lots of SLOW putts down Main street in Sturgis and never had a heating problem nor knew anyone that did:surprise:

I had a new 2000 Valkyrie Interstate and it was as nice as my 99 and 2012 Goldwings! :smile_big:

Sam:nerd:

 

[Offcenter]

What do you call "high mileage"?
The Valkyrie is basically a sport Goldwing.
And Goldwing engines are known to run for a loooooong time without work.
My '99 Wing has 85,000 miles. That's nothing for a Wing.
A friend of mine recently sold a '89 Wing with 475,000 miles on it!!!!
And I've seen many more with high mileage like that.

 

[Eye_m_no_angel]

My brother in law is a harley dealer and he was telling me that Harleys can’t really take the heat and the high mileage Harleys cost a lot of money to rebuild the top end.

Your brother in law owns a Harley dealership and he doesn't know anything about the bikes he sells?

 

[vdotmatrix]

Your brother in law owns a Harley dealership and he doesn't know anything about the bikes he sells?

Yup sounds like him!

 

[Kiwi Steve]

When I rode a Honda ST1100 (V4, 1100 cc) in Australia, bikers used to joke, "How do you spell 'reliability'?" "HONDA!"

I sold my ST1100, because I was returning from Australia to New Zealand, and she had 180,000 km on the clock - thats 112,000 miles. I knew of ST1100s which had high 200k km and over 300k km (approx 200k miles) on them. Those Honda touring bikes (ST1100, ST1300 and Gold Wing) are bullet proof, the Gold Wing especially. I did the cam belts on the ST at 100,000 km (60,000 miles) and gave her regular oil changes and she went forever.

The Valkyrie is just a Gold Wing without the fairings and bells and whistles. Built like a brick outhouse. 86,000 miles, that's only 140,000 km, it's just been run in :smile:

 

[WintrSol]

The Valkyrie is just a Gold Wing without the fairings and bells and whistles. :smile:

Plus a few more horsepower and extra torque.:nerd:

 

[vdotmatrix]

The problem is being amplified because it will be a long distance purchase... i am over 10 hours away.

there is a dealership there that will give it the once over used bike inspection service to include cylinder compression, and i guess timing chain and so on for $240.

Who pays for this?

And if it turns out that it fails?

Everytime i sell something, no matter what it is, people always want to get it cheaper.....of course we are all that guy right.

Sell high, buy low.

 

[DGS65]

$240 is a worthwhile investment if they find minor issues you can use this info to negotiate the price down if they find nothing you paid $240 for piece of mind! If they say it is not worth the money and you should walk well then they likely have saved you more the $240 investment.

Anytime I buy something used I spend the money to have it checked out.
My current Valkyrie was a gift so it was an exception but even still my friend that gave it to me had it inspected before I had it shipped and even still I had an issue shortly after it got here. Problems are expected anytime you buy something used, hopefully the problems are small.

 

[vdotmatrix]

I find out it probably needs a new timing belt...if it has sat for any amount of time those carbs probaby need attention. This is all before any inspection.

 

[vistavette]

My brother in law is a harley dealer and he was telling me that Harleys can’t really take the heat and the high mileage Harleys cost a lot of money to rebuild the top end. I am Imagine that the cost to rebuild a flat six on a honda valkyrie would be astronomical.

Has anyone had to do maintenance on a high mileage Valkyrie?

This is complete BS about HD's. I've had my '09 Ultra since new, I live in the desert and ride in temps over 100, in high speed conditions for long periods of time, and I have almost 90,000 miles. The bike is perfect. Burns no oil, it's on it's original clutch...just routine maintenance. I had to replace the stator at about 70k.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

 

[vdotmatrix]

LOOK, sorry. dont mean to get HD folk all riled up...if I can go back right now and delete this comment I will do so. I don;t know HD and can imagine someone getting upset....

This is complete BS about HD's. I've had my '09 Ultra since new, I live in the desert and ride in temps over 100, in high speed conditions for long periods of time, and I have almost 90,000 miles. The bike is perfect. Burns no oil, it's on it's original clutch...just routine maintenance. I had to replace the stator at about 70k.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

 

[vistavette]

LOOK, sorry. dont mean to get HD folk all riled up...if I can go back right now and delete this comment I will do so. I don;t know HD and can imagine someone getting upset....

Certainly not upset, and didn't mean to come off that way. Just indicating my experience with a Harley-Davidson. If my BMW GTL 1600 is as reliable I'll be thrilled

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

 

[vdotmatrix]

Hey sorry, this forum doesnt allow editing of a post after a period of time.