Bada-Bike-Bada-Boom!

Look what I bought on Sunday!!!



She's a 2000 Honda Valkyrie Tourer (thus the hard saddlebags and windshield). They discontinued this bike around 2003, and the Tourer trim level discontinued in 2000, so she's as new as possible. With only 12k miles and a new paint job, she really is like new. The original (stock) paint on these was two-tone red and black, so this is a custom job in Honda Red. I love it! I was very disheartened when I was looking at bikes and it seemed I could get a Valkyrie in any color I wanted, so long as I wanted black.

I very nearly bought a black one in College Station on Saturday. I went out and looked at it, and it was sweet. It was newer and had fewer miles, but it didn't have bags and the windshield on it wasn't in great shape. I would've had to do some work on the windshield and accessories, and I still would've wanted to paint it. I didn't commit to buying it, though. So I went "home" to my friends' house in College Station and hit the Cycletrader.com website one more time... and discovered that this beauty had been posted since the last time I'd checked. Upon looking into it a little more, I found that it was in Livingston, TX -- which is a lot closer to College Station than it is to DFW. So I waited (impatiently) until a respectable hour on Sunday morning to call the number listed in the ad. I called and there was no answer, so I went to lunch and sat on pins and needles until I got back to the house and could call again! This time, there was an answer, and a very sweet lady gave me directions and said to come on out and take a look.

So, my girlfriend and I loaded up Molly and the cousin-dog into the truck and headed on out to Livingston. Long story short, I bought the bike. My girlfriend rode it the first mile away from the house because it was a dirt road. I'm still a novice rider, and a mixed sand/gravel road is NOT the place for a novice rider on a 700 lb bike. When we got to the pavement, we switched and I rode into my first gas stop/tire pressure check/burned arm on the pipes experience. Note to self: pay attention when removing and replacing valve stem covers! Gassed up and ready to go, we headed home...

Getting home was relatively low on the "Adventure Meter". There were some interesting moments, like at the second gas stop when I couldn't get the bike into neutral. Luckily, my girlfriend was there to show me how to rock the bike a little until the transmission loosens up and can shift into neutral. I didn't really intend to ride it all the way into Dallas myself, as I was nervous about the freeways. Somehow I managed, and I think I did it in a safe and responsible manner. Nobody tried to run me off the road and I never saw any Texas One-Finger Salutes, so I think I must've done alright.

Oh... What's that you ask? Is it fun? Well, I'll answer that in two ways. First, I'll tell you that I've put 400 miles on it in the last three days. Second, I'll let the picture speak for itself: