Option 1. '08 V Star 1100, $2800(negotiable) 28k miles, local HD dealer. I can cash offer today.
Option 2. '00 Valkyrie, $5500, 18k miles, RV dealer in Ohio, 5 hours away. Top of my budget after I get my return in the next month or so.
V Star perks; cheap, local, a known quantity, simplicity, better mpg. I would have no hesitation in modding it into what I want, ideally a mid size tour bike
Valkyrie perks; Bucket list bike, relative rarity, Flat 6 sound track, bigger chassis.
V Star minuses; no "Wow" factor.
Valkyrie minuses; 6 carbs(tuning and MPG), remote purchase, more expensive. The "sacred cow" factor would have me hesitant to do anything to it.
Okay Hive, enable me!
Lots of years of riding, owned many bikes? Valkyrie. Kinda new-ish to motorcycles, only on your second or third bike? V-Star.
Also if you ride around town solo, choose the smaller bike. Lots of interstate/overnight touring with a pillion - Valkyrie all the way.
Large solo rider, possible pillion for joy rides. Commuting 45 mile round trips, weekly 2-300 mile day trips, hopefully monthly overnight trips. 1 season and 6500 miles experience.
Wild card option 3 is an'05(?) VFR800 Vtec with factory hard bags, "low" miles, for $4,500.
And here is the V Star in question
Shoot, buy my V-Star for $3500. Its ready for touring and is the sweet spot in the V-Star lineup.
Shameless plug aside, the V-Star has been very reliable and is a great ride around town or for longer hauls. I can only imagine that the 1100 is more of a good thing.
I would suggest getting the v-star. You can ride NOW and do it up how you want. Then in another couple years look for a Valkyrie. Only do the VFR if you arent wanting a cruiser in my opinion.
ddavidv
UltimaDork
3/15/22 11:09 p.m.
I know a couple of guys with Valkyries. One guy has four or five. Bulletproof to 100,000 miles and beyond, but they do drink fuel.
To me, a V-Star is just a pretend Harley. Sorry. A much cheaper Harley, mind you. But my brother-in-law owned one for about a year and quickly tired of it. They seem difficult to sell, too.
I just looked up Valkyries and I retract my above statement. Get the Valkyrie. I know it's probably too far away and has too many miles on it but I found a 2000 Valkyrie Interstate with 89k miles for 2995 in Kansas City KS (Olathe is a suburb.)
https://www.cycletrader.com/listing/2000-Honda%C2%AE-Valkyrie+Interstate-5020523615
And today I ended up buying something completely different. 2022 Kwai Z650. I'll start a new thread on that.
