Ha ha, thanks Darrell, sounds to me like you're suffering from "Sellers remorse" and I understand that, I sold my minty Honda VFR750 recently and I still kick myself, I thought that the VFR was the finest engine that Honda every built.
The Valkyrie is way underpowered compared to either of the Rocket III's that I've owned. Spotty and I rode them both a week or so before we did the trade and after getting off the "old" R3 (2006 model, with 90,000 miles) all he could say was how much he loved the "Awesome" engine, and he's ridden the Valkyrie further than I have. He also owns a VMax which I've ridden, (and loved) so is no stranger to arm wrenching torque.
To be fair, (in my best British accent) both R3's have Jardine "Big Boss" pipes, a K&N filter in mine and a Ramair filter on Spotty's, and mine has a Power Commander III (Spotty's has a PC5, but it's not currently installed) and mine has been dynoed at 140.7 RWHP and 147 foot pounds of torque (at the wheel) which is around 50% more torque and BHP than a stock Valkyrie, so certainly noticeable, as a stock Rocket (the OEM exhaust is a two man lift) is only 20 pounds heavier than the Valk, and as my Valk is fitted with fibreglass panniers and a fairing etc, I reckon they probably weigh about the same, and the power delivery is enormously different between the two.
Des, the guy I bought the personalised plate from, has had two Valks, and like you, he misses them mightily. He's ridden 5 laps of Oz (16,000 miles per lap) since he retired, but he's now in his mid 70's, so the Valk had to go, and he had one of those Volkswagen powered trikes until he hit a Kangaroo and was almost killed, so he's had to give up bikes too. Like you, he also said that the Valkyrie is the finest bike he's ever owned, and he couldn't believe that I wasn't all that impressed, but as I said in my original post, the Rocket III has ruined land barge ownership for me, as beautifully smooth and well finished that a Valkyrie is, unless your land barge will pull power wheelies or do accidental burnouts, or do 0-60 MPH in 2.9 seconds, it'll never be a Rocket III.
