I took a trip to the Black Hills last week to enjoy some great roads before they got clogged up with the Sturgis crowds. I gave the F6B a rest and rode my old Valkyrie Interstate. Until this year I hadn't taken either Valk on a multi day, multi state road trip since 2012, but I've rediscovered what great touring bikes they are. The Valkyrie was a very unusual bike when it was introduced 26 years ago, and practically invented the power cruiser market segment. I can't imagine Honda doing anything that radical today.

I missed a few things from the F6B. I rode over half a million miles before owning a bike with cruise control, but now I'm spoiled. It would have been great on some of those long stretches in Nebraska and Wyoming. I also missed fuel injection. Six carburetors and high speed limits (especially in Wyoming) use a lot of gas. Mileage rarely tops the mid 30s on my Valkyries, but on this trip it was usually in the high 20s. Then there's heat management. The Valkyrie's big radiator dumps lots of heat on your legs, while the twin radiators on the F6B let much of that heat exit to the side. I hit plenty of triple digit temperatures, and the Valkyrie got uncomfortable at times.

In some ways the Valkyrie was better than my F6B. There's a lot more luggage space, so packing is easier and you can organize your stuff better. Radio reception is much stronger with that huge antenna. And then there's the sweet engine sound of the Valkyrie. I can't understand how Honda engineers made the Valkyrie sound so good, while the F6B has that irritating drone.

I took this at Scotts Bluff National Monument. It looks pretty good for a 23 year old bike with 106,000 miles.