BIKE TEST

HONDA VALKYRIE
SWING LOW, SWEET CHARIOT WORDS STUART WOODBURY & THE BEAR PHOTOS THE BEAR

I’ve ridden my share of unusually big bikes, all the way from a mate’s R 60 BMW frame powered by an alloy V8 out of a Daimler SP250, by way of a Honda Rune to a Boss Hoss, and I have never seen the point in building or buying these things. That part BMW handled like a wheelbarrow full of walruses around corners (though it was pretty fast in a straight line) and would have been much better with the lighter Rover V8 (what am I saying!?); the Boss Hoss was simply a terrifying lump of metal which seemed poised to fall over the moment you got it past a degree or two of lean.