Well, this fine gal we all share a stake in now… by the way, thanks a ton for everything all y’all have done to keep ALI going and us together!!! Anyway, she is really strutting her stuff now, and it seems she has found her groove, too!

That chronic drive-train issue (pinion cup and drive shaft mostly but occasionally a rear end ‘pumpkin’ too) was finally resolved by Dennis Scott, Trout Dude, it appears. She’s been going strong with no new problems ever since he worked his diagnostic magic nearly 70K miles ago. And I gotta tell ya, that is a huge relief… both emotionally and financially!!!

Things just kept getting progressively worse, with breakdowns occurring more and more frequently… The last couple of ‘outages’ occurred barely twenty thousand miles or so apart! I was seriously beginning to have thoughts about the unthinkable… and I truly was starting to wonder if indeed ‘our end’ might be near…

This was never closer to occurring than the time her rear end went out in Alberta. The story of her rescue and salvation there by Terry Nichol, t-man403, is legendary, and it was well documented here at the time. Anyway, Trout Dude has changed that entire dynamic, and life is really, really good again!!! Thanks so much, my friends!

I did have to eat some crow over that, though… I’d become rather critical of mechanics at dealerships I’d taken her to around the country whenever something would fail or to simply have anything done like brake pads or a rear tire replaced. I’d assumed they just weren’t doing proper lubing and re-assembly whenever they worked on ALI’s seemingly delicate and fragile posterior.

Nobody, and I mean no-body, ever suspected it might be the swing arm that was the source of her chronic ailment, but that has proven to be the case. Since Punisher donated a new one and Trout Dude installed it (and Warlock loaned us the special tool), things have been like old times with us, and we’re both mighty happy with this new lease on life! We now ride with confidence into some rather remote and rugged country with nary a care nor caution! Well, none beyond normal prudence…

Universal joints (couplers), too, have had to be replaced… usually about every 90 to 100K miles, give or take 10-20 K. This is not unusual, from what I can gather, but due to our many miles together, it has seemed to have occurred several times… Probably a total of six, possibly seven, I don’t recall now…

Anyway, we’ve even found some tires that outlast any other bike tire I’ve ever heard of! Michelin Commander II rear tires are actually slightly smaller than usual Valk tires (they do fit our wheels, though), as they are made for Harleys. However, since we’re on our third rear now, I don’t see us changing to anything else any time soon.

The first one we got 30K miles out of it. The second 34K! Heck, we’d never gotten more than about 15K miles, and usually less and sometimes far less, out of any of the Valk tires before these… I’m still not certain they are to be completely trusted on wet or slick surfaces as much as Avons and Elite IIIs, for example, but we’re staying with them anyway… for now.

The Bridgestone Excedra front tires have also been delivering far longer tread life than any of the others we’ve tried… 25K and more! These extended ranges, of course, mean we go further between inspections and lubing chores, but it hasn’t seemed to have had any negative consequences… and our girl hasn’t complained even once! I suspect she ain’t all that fond of having to go up on a rack and put her feet in the stirrups and… Even refined ladies don’t like that, I’m told…

She’s on her third speedometer now, but that’s due entirely to pilot judgement error. She started making a peculiar ‘vibration’ noise that could be silenced by placing my hand on the speedo cable right where it entered the speedo… so, I assumed… I didn’t worry about it because all of the stuff still worked for some time afterward. Then one day, it all stopped working.

I didn’t do anything about it for several months… The noise had stopped, so I just let it go, as I was preoccupied at the time with wandering all around the country, and I just didn’t want to stop for that. Finally, I got to where I really, really missed the trip log (no fuel gauge on a Tourer), but the rest of it I didn’t much care about. I’d learned to figure speed pretty accurately by the tach… and I never cared much about the mileage readings. But, never knowing how much fuel, ergo range, we had remaining became a real downer!

Duffy sent me a speedo that came off of a wrecked bike of his, but it didn’t resolve the issue. I then had the cable replaced a couple of more times, and things would work again… for a short time, couple of days at most. I then ordered a brand new speedo, but that still didn’t remedy the situation! Finally, I had the ‘gear’ at the front wheel replaced, and that did, at last, solve the problem. I could have saved a lot of grief and several months of ‘faking it’ had I thought of that in the first place… but I was just so sure…

She’s on her second kickstand… The original one was dealt a death blow by some kid at a Honda shop… After working on our bike, the mechanic had instructed a goffer kid there to wash ALI.

He for some reason ‘stood’ on the ‘arm’ that sticks out from the kickstand so you can hook it with your foot to operate it… Well, he bent the thing nearly all the way down. They got it straightened back up so I could use it, but the metal had been weakened, so over time it would need to be straightened again periodically… It was just a matter of time before it finally broke…

At a GOTF one year, I mentioned this to Hotglue… He said he didn’t have an extra one, but LynnDel (Phyllis) might… Well, I followed her and Wizard over to her house, where she and I watched Wizard take one off a Valk with a sidecar, and replace the one on ALI. That one is still working fine! Thanks again Phyllis!!!

Speaking of kickstands… The pin that screws into the frame that holds the other end of the spring that retracts the kickstand is notorious for breaking… and the one on ALI did as well. Since ‘Murphy’s Law’ wouldn’t have it any other way, it occurred and I first noticed it just as I was driving off on a road trip! Instead of heading for the highway out of town, I rode straight to the local dealer for assistance.

“Sorry, that item is another on the lengthy list of things we don’t stock… we can order you one, though.” I mentioned my travel plan, and the guy told me that if it were he, he’d just scoot on down the road to ‘Busbey Welding’ and see if they might could do something. That was my next stop.

As luck would have it, and I’m sure much to the chagrin of ol’ Murphy, the spring had remained hooked to the kickstand, and the broken-off part of the pin was still there, too, so I’d been able to keep those! The young guy at the welding shop welded the pin minus the threaded portion to the frame right next to the hole in the frame where it was supposed to go, and that is still working out just fine! Probably been that way for over 300K miles at least…

She has her third windshield now. The first two were OEM, but the last time I changed it out, I decided to try a Clearview. So far, I like it. It is an inch or so shorter than the OEMs, however, so that has resulted in a few more direct bugs hits on my face than before. All choices of this sort are a compromise, naturally, so to gain one thing, something else often has to be traded away… Anyway, the primary reason for experimenting is to see if perhaps this one will last any longer than either of the first two…

She is on her third alternator, the last two being 1500 Gold Wing units. No problem with those, they’re usually in stock at dealerships unlike alternators for Valks, and they cost around $200. per unit less! They do require an ‘adjustment’ by having the back part ‘clocked’, but other than that… they are definitely the ticket.

When we first became a couple, the dealer I bought her from had put an after-market Corbin seat on her. I decided to keep it, and it served me well for several years… over 200K miles. It was leather, though, and it had begun to crack and weather noticeably, so I replaced it.

I decided to go ‘kinder and gentler’ in deference to my tush (Corbin seats are notoriously ‘firm’), so I bought an Ultimate Big Boy. I liked it right off, but it was vinyl, so it seemed ‘hotter’ than the leather had been… Once I added a sheepskin, however, (many thanks Dragon Rider 2) it became my favorite seat of any I’ve ever owned. I’ve never had a Russell Daylong seat, though.

I’ve had nothing but good dealings with Ultimate, and I highly recommend them to do business with. I hear Russell is also really good, too, and the Daylong has an amazing reputation… Hmmmm…

If I ever get another seat, I may experiment with a Daylong… However, brand loyalty and a history of solid satisfaction do count for a lot… Reckon I’ll just have to see when or if the need ever arises again. Right now, for a couple of reasons, her seat looks almost new and it’s still very comfortable… It could very well be the last one we ever share together…

Everything else done to her over the nearly eighteen years we’ve been a couple have been piddling things… like a thermostat replacement, a starter button assembly and wiring change-out, and the wiring harness coupler thingy behind the alternator required replacement, too… Thanks Misfit! Surprisingly, she still has her original clutch!

All three brake rotors have been replaced once each and will likely require it again one of these days… We also acquired Cobra floorboards, driver and passenger, and I really like those! Exhaust is and always has been stock. The lock thingy that holds the front seat secure vibrated loose and off way back when, but Mitcho replaced it with one he had, and that now works fine…

Hard 6 replaced the water pump for us one time… It didn’t need it, but I requested it anyway as a precaution. I was thinking at the time of returning to Alaska, and I’d figured that would be one less thing to worry about. A few years later, he also replaced both forks, because we couldn’t get them to stop ‘weeping’ tiny amounts of fluid…

He also swapped out ALI’s Tourer gas tank for an Interstate tank… extra range can be rather helpful, ya know! And, he replaced the after-market risers ALI was sporting with even longer ones… that makes a huge difference in reducing aching back and shoulders on long days in the saddle! Other than those items, it’s just been a mountain of tires, three or four batteries, a few bulbs, some fuses, and a river of oil… Oh, and timing belts have been replaced every 100K miles.

Speaking of oil, and I realize this can be a sensitive subject for some folks… I use Rotella T6, 5W-40 almost exclusively, and I do change the oil and filter (Honda OEM) every five thousand miles or so… occasionally a bit longer. I will use other oil, though, if I can’t get the ‘blue jug’. But… I prefer the fully synthetic oils, and this one has served us very well for many, many miles… nearly all of the miles on the clock!

On another ride to Alberta, ALI’s carb performance really began to deteriorate. Trout Dude and Mitcho were with me, and they figured it out along with Terry, t-man403. The vacuum slides, all six in fact, had perforations in them from their very long lives, but as soon as those were replaced, gas mileage greatly improved, and the odor of raw gas (gasoline that is) disappeared for those following behind ALI and me…

Through all of this, she and I have travelled the length and breadth of North America. We’ve seen some incredible sites, heard some amazing stories, met some very colorful characters, grown as individuals in ways nobody could have anticipated, and lived a dream that few ever get to attempt.

We’ve been humbled and inspired by the greatness of our land, and by the greatness of its people, too. We’ve celebrated life and mourned the loss of life with ‘our family’, and we’ve formed friendships that never would have occurred otherwise. And, a significant by-product of all of this is that the bug casualties have to number in the tens of millions by now!

Yep, ALI is proud as a peacock, but she never brags. Nope, she just smiles and lets her story make any statements for her, as she quietly goes about her business, stoic but confident. No sir, she’s deservedly proud, but there ain’t a vain bolt on her body. Good thing, too. I ain’t one to pamper a bike by cleaning and polishing it often, checking this, tweaking that… Mostly we just go…

I once rode with a guy who checked his tire pressure daily… with a digital gauge that read out to two decimal places! Truly, he always topped his tire pressure off to some .50 reading level, and he did so anytime the pressure was off more than a pound or so!!! I’m not like that at all, and ALI has never protested, objected, or even frowned…

She is really something, though. People sometimes tell me they think I’m quite the rider… Heck, I actually feel more like NASCAR driver Danica Patrick’s husband in a way… She’s the real story; I’m just the lucky guy who gets to ride her!

Anyhow, she’s running fine nowadays, and she really seems to be enjoying being back out on the road. She actually much prefers to be out here doing what we’re doing, but… She is fully aware that she can take far more use and abuse than her rider can, so she accepts with grace that she sometimes must sit on her kickstand with a cover over her for extended periods while her companion deals with other things… Gotta love a gal like that… I know I sure do…

She and I have recently passed the 533,000-mile mark together, and our relationship is stronger than ever. Sometimes I’m asked what my next bike will be… I always answer, “She and I are going to remain an item until one of us physically can no longer go… Depending upon which one of us that is, I’ll decide then what to do next.” The way things look today, however, it’s a moot point… It appears she is going to outlast me by a long shot! I’m even making arrangements for her in my will…