Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

strong Honda ide ntity. At the center of this identity was the Gold Wing engine one of the few essential elements th at survived the various stages of development. One can 't help but speculate that the Valkyrie concept started life more as a V-Max type of machine - big motor, big power, but an essentially modern expression of a motorcyclev but then maybe somewhere along the line Honda got wind of Yamaha's big plans...We'll never know for sure. What the Valkyrie became is the ultimate expression of "Project Phoenix," or Honda's re-entry into a cruiser market that it all bu t abandoned in the late '80s. In its overview of the history of the cru iser market; and its softening in the middle '80s, Honda cited the lTC' s tari ff on over-750cc motorcycles that effectively doubled th e price o f imported machin es in this category as one of the factors that led Hond a out of th e market. The seco nd hit came in the form of the yen / dollar re lationship - once 240 yen per dollar in the good old days, to 180:1 in 1987. In a market where cruisers were once the norm, Honda went from 11 mo dels in 1983 to just one in 1990. In the meantime, a revitalized Harley-Davidson was finding great success in looking to the past when coming up with new models. Honda noticed, as did everyone else, and responded with the aforementioned Project Phoenix, Honda's attempt to bring its cruiser lineup out of the ashes. The first model to come forth was the 1993 V-four Magna. The Shadow ACE soon followed . The '96 model year sees the return of the Rebel 250 as the foundation of what is now a seven-model cruiser line . But the Red Gian t lacked what it calls a "king custom," a performance-orien ted cruising .bike wi th classic styling an d lon g-d istan ce capability - an allaro un d motorcycle that wo u ld appeal to the aging Baby Boomer wi th a measure of disposab le inco me, a dose of nost algia for the bikes of their you th, and kids that wer e finally old enough to take care of themsel ve s . Th e America n- m a de Valky rie is th at flagsh ip bike , an d the u ltimate express ion of Project Phoenix. The foundation for the flagship cruiser came from Honda's touring flagship, the Gold Wing. Ear ly in the project the 1520cc hori zontally op posed six was the ideal engine for th e ne w b ike. H ond a tried various forms and m odificat io ns from an unmodified unit straight ou t of the Interst ate to what they ha ve now, a hopped-up version of the venerable GL powerplant. T he goal was an American V-eigh t feel in terms of insta n taneous and ab unda nt to rque - the kind of po wer that rul es from stoplight to stoplight. To that end, each cylin de r gets its ow n 28mm carburetor (daun ting, no d oubt, to those accustomed to working on t h e ir single-carb H a r ley s ) and aggressive cams tha t boost midrange and top-end power. Valves now feature screw-and-lock-nu t adjus ters for ease of m aint en an ce. Th e red line is 1000 rpm h igher than the Gold Wing's 5500-rpm danger zo ne. As th e p ro life ration of lou d p ip es wo uld seem to indicate, sound is almost as important as p e rformance. As th e only cruiser with a six-cylinder eng ine, the Valkyrie certa inly sho ul dn ' t so un d like anything else in the class. And jus t to be su re of this Honda fitted a six-intos ix exha ust syste m, p aying p articular atten tion to the stagger of each individual pi pe and its distance fro m the fishtail m eg aphone. Needless to say, th e powerplant an d exhaust system are covered w ith chrome . To further boost roll-on performance the gear ratios were lowered and moved closer tog e th e r, as well as fifth gear being made overdrive. Power transmission to the shaft final drive was further modified with the use of a hydraulic, paper-type clutch. The big six is inherentl y sm ooth, much more so than a single-pin-crank V-twin. So to make sure that some of the power pulses make the ir wa y through to the rider to enhance the cruising experience, the Valkyrie sports a new computer-designed, diamond-type steel frame, in which the engine is solidly mounted. Honda was in search of more rigidity than in the Gold Wing, and so (Right) Used as much for sty le as function, staunch 45mm Inverted forks were chosen for the front end. (Below) The Valkyrie Is powered by Honda's Gold Wing-sourced 1520cc flat six, retuned to provide more power. Oh yeah , it's chro med all over, too. (Left) Bullet-shaped housings enclose the speedo and tach. Hooded head light evokes vis ions of hot rods . (Above) In search of the ever-elus lve soulful so und that cruise r buyers crave , special attention was paid to the Valkyrie's s lxInto-six exhaust system. d ropped th e W ing ' s rubb er e ngine mounts. As is the them e these days, the chas sis was desig ned to be long and low , and the published d imensions bea r this ou t a 66.5-inch wheelbase and 29.1-inch sea t height. Wide, one-inch-diameter ha ndlebars gree t the pilot, and in the brief moments we were allowed to sit on the bike, the ridi ng position seemed natural and com fortable. Thankfully, Honda has chosen to include a tachometer with the standard gauges. For ultra-stable steering characteristics, th e head angle was widened two degrees over the one used on the Gold Wing to just over 32 degrees. D ry weight is 682 pounds. Odd ly, the Va lkyrie sports 45m m inverted forks mounted in large-section al u mi n u m t r ipl e- cl amp s . No t even Ho n da's open-cl ass superbike CBR900RR ha s th ose: Ch osen not only for their inherent advantage in terms of rigidity, the all-important styling aspect of having the fat upper tu bes was also cited as a reason for their use . A t th e rear, Honda eschewed the hardtai l look, going rather with twin shocks with five-way preload adjustment. They are, like the rest of the machine, chro med. Travel is 5.1 inches in fron t and 4.7 at the rear. Wh ile th e s ty ling m ay be re rro, th er e' s nothing retro abo ut the br akes. Stopping the Valky rie are d is cs front a nd rear. Rounding out the handlin g package are hollow-cast alu minum rims w ith a fat 150/80-17 Du nlop ra dial at th e. fro nt . and a 180/ 70-16 at the rea r. Honda is quick to point out that the intent fro m the beginning was for the Valkyrie to be a good all -around performer, no t just a boulevard poseur. That's why the engine development took the course that it did, and also why the chassis was made so stiff. The inverted forks support this as well. The final key to its performance-oriented nature are the footpegs - not floorboards - that help allow a 33-degree lean angle for spirited cornering. This is one area w h er e the Valkyrie will surely b ett er th e Roy al Star, whose floorboard can be touched down at will - an d even against it. Initi al co ncept d raw in gs showed a machine th at had a distinctly m odern, drag-bike styling. As yo u can see from the pho tos, little of Mr. Kitagawa's orig inal concep t sketch survive d to prod uction, save the use of the GL motor. The liberal use of chrome and the req uisite two-tone paint (three co m binations red/pearl whi te; pearl purple/pea rl white; and black/pearl yellow; as well as solid black are available) h igh ligh t the final decision to pursue a retro, art deco theme. Honda evoked all the same images as everyone else wh o ha s released thi s type of model - "classic, tim eless sty ling, deep ly valance d fenders, distinctive exhaust note, blah, blah ." It's the same litany ove r again. Photograp hs do little to flatter the Valkyrie - it's a motorcycle th at looks better in the metal. One aspect we could do wi tho ut - in photos or anywhere else - is the rear passenger accommodations. The rear of the bike gets a bit chunkylooking with the addition ofthe passenger seat and backrest - best to cruise solo on this one. H on d a has a touring model in the wings, probably to be introduced sometime in late 1996, while the base version of Valkyrie should be in dealerships by mid-May. The Valkyrie should make a decent touring mount since th e riding position is only slightly altered from the one used on the Gold Wing, and the 5.3gallo n ta nk s hould provi de am ple ran ge. The two-tone mod els w ill retail for $12,799, the basic black $12,499. H ond a too k u s to the m iddl e of America, the heart of its most success ful big-b ike mar ket - Chicago - to highlight the stre ngth an d indepen de n ce of th is latest offering. They took us to Chicago, . they said, to to give us the blues - and that the Valkyrie would take them away. It worked for us. Unfortunately for the other manufacturers, there may be no thing to make their blues go away. We'll know better when we get to ride the Valkyrie in early April. Stay tuned. f~ 9

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