All Activity

Keep the carbs clean with good fuel and do scheduled maintenance and you can expect 250k miles easily. The only engine failures I’ve heard of were all from carbs overflowing and hydrolocking the engine. Some have a clutch basket whine that can be annoying but not a mechanical issue. Check the rear shock for oil leaks. There’s nothing on it that can go wrong that the fix can’t be found here. It’s a top heavy bike but eats miles comfortably. They like to wind, keep the revs up around 4000 for the best performance, don’t touch 5th gear (overdrive) below 65mph. I’ve got almost 90k on mine and we’re planning a month long tour out west soon.

I currently ride a 99 Honda VT1100T, honestly j love the bike but it's a little too small for me and my wife (I'm 260lbs and she's 200lbs) to take for longer trips. I have 40k miles on mine and the gentleman who is trading with me has 60k on his rsv. I've never heard of the rsv until a couple days ago. Have no idea if they're reliable or if they're a good option so some insight would be awesome! Is there anything I should look out for when looking at it? Any mechanical issues that are common on these? How are the v4's compared to a standard vtwin? The reason why he is trading down is because he is older and his wife doesn't ride with him anymore, so he just wants to get a smaller bike to bomb around town. Thanks in advance! I'll add photos of his bike and one of mine.

Hello 1999VeNtUrE, Welcome to Venture Rider. Please feel free to browse around and get to know the others. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask. 1999VeNtUrE joined on the 03/02/2025. View Member

I just tried it and it worked fine, although it did show a message saying that it couldn't.

Most air compressors start in an unloaded state. It should be close to "Rated" with some inrush possible. If the 10hp converter doesn't manage the inrush, you might think about adding a soft start or going with one of the newer 3 phase drives that converts single phase 208 to 3 phase. I have no idea what they cost though.

Have you changed the oil in the compressor yet? hopefully it was just low and not out of oil. site glasses are notorius for leaking oil so after cleaning the area around the site glass keep an eye on it. Hopefully you have great find.

But will changing from a 4 into 4 to a 2 into 2 change the sound???? Louder?????thanks

About the only thing that I'd use it for that requires a large compressor would be sandblasting or soda blasting. To do either effectively takes a lot of air and a lot of pressure. I've done it with a 5 horse compressor that I have and find that as pressure drops I waste more sand "cause I don't have the discipline to stop and wait for pressure to build. This compressor is rated 175 psi so it should work well for the sandblaster or the sandblast cabinet. It'll come in handy if I ever need to use a jackhammer too. lol. I'll post to let everyone know if a 10hp drive starts this 10hp motor.

My big question would be what I plan to use it for. I’ve had a 60gallon-150psi upright like those found in local stores, probably China origin for around 30 years. I’ve run impact guns, paint guns, etc for years. A commercial compressor like that would be way overkill for my use, the upside being it would never have to work very hard and should outlast me and my kids. Now that you’ve mentioned maintenance I started thinking, I’ve changed the oil maybe 2-3 times in 30 years and truth to be told it gets the condensate drained a couple times a year. It’s a wonder the tank hasn’t rusted through, good thing I don’t treat my bike like my tools. It is a great find though and a very expensive compressor to replace.

Well, I seem to have created some cornfusion with the A/C description of the motor. It's an air compressor, not an air conditioning motor. Yes, in most air conditioning compressors, if they're hermetic or semi hermetic, the oil travels through the system and returns to the compressor. There are large systems, designated as having "open" compressors that have a separate motor that typically drives the compressor using a Woods style coupler. These systems do not flow oil with the refrigerant. With an air compressor, I don't think they're supposed to discharge any oil, but only in a perfect world. I think they all leak a little oil and let a little oil into the airstream, but should be negligible on a healthy compressor. My suspicion is that this compressor, while never worked hard, has not had good / any service over it's 14 year life. I think the oil leaked out or was pumped out (slowly over the years) Still has the original oil filter on it. The question there will be how long did it run with low / no oil, and if / how much damage was done. I'll need the power converter to run it off of single phase. Since originally posting I ordered a 10 hp converter and will be able to determine compressor condition once I can run it.

Just my thoughts. An AC compressor is built different than an air compressor, but I suppose your know that. There are reasons for this and in some cases things like this might work. One thing I think of is that the AC compressor sends oil into a closed system, so what are you going to do with the oil in a one-way system and you will need to supply the compressor with new oil on time. JMT

It IS an air compressor. A 10hp drive is just over $200, a `15hp drive $300. A used 10hp motor would be around $700 + shipping, a new motor would be around $1200 +. I'd like to go the cheap route since, although I ran it for a couple of seconds, I don't know for sure that the compressor itself is healthy. If the compressor ends up without any major damage, this will make one hell of a shop compressor. I guess the question would be whether an air compressor motor would be a "Heavy start load" or a "Rated start load". I'll be retiring in a couple of years and will be looking to move back to the Youngstown area. I'll be looking for a place with a large detached garage, or with enough land to put up a pole barn to use as my "Tinkering space". This would be a hell of a compressor for such a shop.

Just want to pop my head up and say thanks for this thread. I used to be active on this forum but now my Venture has pretty much sat for 4 years as I play with a Tenere 700. Went to go for a ride with the wife today and all I got was a slow idle and no clicking. I took off the side cover and tapped the fuel pump and voila ! gas. This isn't my first rodeo with replacing the points but didn't remember the part number. Thanks @Du-Rron

There’s my “duh” moment for the day. I was reading it as an air compressor 🤷‍♂️

Just did some quick research and apparently 200 volt motors are not unusual on A/C systems. I think, if I read it correctly, they are sometimes used on 208 Volt line systems. That being the case, I would go with the 10 HP drive. I think if the line voltage is within 10% of the rated motor voltage you will be fine. Wow, I haven’t been an electrician for about 35 years. I’ve forgotten a lot.

I was an industrial electrician for 20 years and have to say that I’ve never seen a 200 volt motor. In fact, the lowest voltage I ever dealt with on 3 phase was 480 Volt. Also higher ones 4160 and 6900 volt. All the smaller ones were 480 volts though either with each leg being 277 volts. I’ve never dealt with commercial a/c though.

I’ve never dealt with converters so it may be a dumb question, How does the converter price compare to changing the motor to a single phase?

I recently changed an air compressor at a facility and the one I removed was too nice to scrap. I know that it runs as I started it for a few seconds while it was still in place, before disconnecting for the changeout. It started and ran well for the 2 seconds I ran it. It had no oil showing in the sight glass so I didn't want to run it any longer. The maintenance guy at the facility condemned it because he saw oil film around the compressor end and thought that meant it was bad. So, I strapped it to my bike trailer and brought it home. The issue is that it's 3 phase and I'll need to get a converter to run it. It has a 200 v ? 10 hp motor. I typically see 208-230 for a 3 phase or 220-240 for single phase. So I don't know what the 200 v on the nameplate is about. My question is, should I get a 10hp or a 15hp converter. My tendency is to go larger, but I read that an oversized converter can cause the motor to run hot. Whaddya think....1o run a 10hp air compressor....a 10hp drive or a 15hp drive?

I don’t know. I just tried it and it downloaded fine. You might post to the forum and ask if others are having a problem.

I was trying to load the RSV service manual and every time it begins to load, the page crashes. What is the fix for this? Not a huge problem but I’m wondering if other members have this issue.

The good news is once you get em dialed in they are great bikes. Sounds like you’re well on your way to reviving a gem.

Check the part numbers on Partzilla diagrams.

My head is a scary place too! lol Yes they are all plugged I checked them today. One of them the very end of the hose that is on it is cracked so I’m planning on replacing or shortening that hose tomorrow to get to noncracked line. I reseated all the carbs today. I loosened the bolts/nuts that hold the carbs together to make the carbs move semi-free of each other and reseated each individually. Seems to have helped bring the idle down a bit. I feel like a sync will correct the rest. My sync tool should be here tomorrow to get that done. The bike now runs on fuel from its own tank after a thorough cleaning and then another thorough cleaning and then another thorough cleaning after that and a replacement petcock… and of course as one should have expected based on what the petcock looked like the sending unit doesn’t work! Oil and filter changed, Front brakes bled through with fresh fluid. Clutch bled with new fluid (it was definitely low on fluid and had no tension on lever when I started that job), lever feels firm but bike stalls when I put it in gear and won’t start with clutch pulled in if bike is in gear so it isn’t right yet. Rear brakes are on the agenda for tomorrow as well. Considering this bike has been sitting since 2015 it has come a long way in the past 2 weeks I’ve owned it.

A trick I use to find air leaks is to spray Walmart carb cleaner around the carbs. If there’s a leak you’ll hear it rev up. Some of the name brands don’t work as well as the cheap stuff for that. Are all 4 synch nipples capped? Just trying to run thru all the possibilities in my head and my head is a scary place to go.

Not sure if my last quote went through so I’m redoing it. Throttle cables are good to go. Not tight, I’ve played with them several times to verify. Thumb wheel is backed off of the throttle linkage wheel where it’s supposed to touch. I will check the seating of the carbs again before I go any further and verify I got em set right. And yes they were a pain in the rear to get seated.