New guy with a few questions.

[handyhiker]

Hi all. I am new here so if this is in the wrong area sorry. My wife and I are looking for a nice long distance tourer and the Venture is out front in our search. After reading some of the info on this site I have a few questions. If this is all posted somewhere please excuse me for asking.

 

1- How many have the loud wine from the drive line?

2- How often is the drive line maintenance done? (grease the pins and remove the rear wheel and what ever else)

3- Are there any other issues with this bike that need to be addressed as soon as the bike is picked up from the dealer?

4- How are the bikes for general overall maintenance?

 

I ask these because my last bikes had there share of problems from the dealer. I do most of my own maintenance and enjoy it but I really am looking for a low maintenance machine we can just enjoy. I should add that we are looking at either a new 09 or a new 08 Venture.

Thanks for any info and thoughts.

[BoomerCPO]

If you are buying NEW my advice is to have the Dealer do the preps (correctly as noted on this Site!) on the Venture before you pick it up! If you have a good Dealer he won't mind having his Tech's doing all the right things to keep you on the road and happy.

 

Boomer........who hopes you have a good Dealer and you won't rush delivery of the scoot.

[RoadKill]

Here are my opinoins based on my 2003 I recently traded

 

 

1- How many have the loud wine from the drive line? I'd say 25%. I did not have it or at least did not hear it

2- How often is the drive line maintenance done? (grease the pins and remove the rear wheel and what ever else) At rear tire changes, depending on which tire you use say 10K miles

3- Are there any other issues with this bike that need to be addressed as soon as the bike is picked up from the dealer? not in my opinion, just ride it with plenty of RPM's

4- How are the bikes for general overall maintenance? Very good, I just follow the manual

[SilvrT]

Mine had the "clicking" sound in the rear wheel from dry pins ... never lubed from the factory. I pulled the wheel off, cleaned the pins and lubed them.."clicking" gone. Can't say for how long that lasts but I've had 2 other Ventures ('85 & '87) which have the exact same setup and never had the clicking sound coz the pins were lubed when I got the scoots and I only lubed the ones on my '85 once when I replaced the rear tire the first time.

 

Mine has the infamous "clutch basket whine". It's not too bad but does get annoying once in a while. I'm taking it in to have the basket changed out to an " I " basket under warranty. This does not necessarilly cure the problem...it's kind of a "hit and miss" scenario. For some it cures it, for others it just changes the whine to a different rpm.

 

As for general overall maintenance, on my 2 others about all I did was change oil and filter and ride 'em. I put about 70,000 kilometers on my '85 and only had the carbs sync'd once and the valves adjusted once.

 

Hope this info helps...I'm sure you'll get a lot of feedback from others. Overall they are great bikes, low maintenance and good for a lot of trouble-free miles.

[bongobobny]

I'm sure you will get many responses but here's my 2 cents. Everybody gets the whine from what I understand. I just recently bought an '09 and have only hads it for 500 miles but am very happy with it. Keep in mind that the bike is warantied for 5 years unlimited miles so they fix the whine when it happens. If you are unhappy with your dealer's service then find another dealer!

 

The engine is prety much bullet proof and just normal service is all that is required i.e. oil changes, brakes, etc. We strongly recommend swapping the rear barke pads from inside to outside every 2K to 4K to extend the life as normally one wears faster than the other. As far as greasin g the splines on the driveshaft, well, change a tire, grease things up and you should be in good shape.

 

Enjoy the ride!!

[BigBoyinMS]

If I was buying a new (or used) Venture I would put a few hundred miles on it then do a drive line lube (with Honda Moly 60), diff oil change and engine oil change with dino oil. If it was a new bike I would claim noise and try to get them to do it under warranty.

 

The drive line lube because Yamaha thinks grease is in short supply and they use very little.

The diff oil change just to flush out any trash that may be in there from the manufacturing process.

And the same reason for the engine oil. And non-synthetic until after break-in.

[Moped]

Ken, I have a 99 Venture, 50000 mi. I can only speak for myself but it has been trouble free. On spline and pins lube most seem to do it at tire replacement. I did it once at about 45000. I think some people look at mileage and think they need something tweaked or tuned even if it is running fine. Myself if it maintains 40+ mpg don't bog miss etc. I just ride it. One point I will make is the whine, scream or whatever you call it, my at 60 to about 70 makes it bad since day one. Kind of got use to it and with music playing don't irritate me much anymore. This is the only problem and real negative I have with the bike. Some folks say they don't have the noise. I would strongly recommend that you take the bike you plan to purchase out for a good test ride including expressway to check full speed range for noise. Good Luck

[jburrell]

Welcome! The whine is not prevelant on all the bikes. Try to get the dealer/owner let you ride the bike ont he Hwy and you can tell what the whine is like. I ahve a 99 and its not that noticible on mine but does exist. I just removed the wheels and greased the splines etc and its not hard and docs are available under the tech section that show you how or we can help. You shouldn't need to grease but every few years, some have never been greased. There is little int he way of hard maintenance and with an 08 or 09 you will ahve the remainder of the 5 yr bumper to bumper warranty for issues. Most issues are small things that are relatively easy to resolve. See known issues in TECH section. Most of us get together for Maintenance Day and either work on our bikes or get assistance or learn how to accomplish some item. Feel free to ask for assistance once you get your bike and good luck on finding what you want.

 

Jim

[Brake Pad]

1- How many have the loud wine from the drive line? Only when the bike slows down

2- How often is the drive line maintenance done? (grease the pins and remove the rear wheel and what ever else)Every time I change the back tire, I drop the Def oil also

3- Are there any other issues with this bike that need to be addressed as soon as the bike is picked up from the dealer? Make sure there are no metzler tire on the bike, the rear tires always seem to fail, my 1st 2 failed

4- How are the bikes for general overall maintenance?

at 12, 300 miles I had the drive shaft changed out, gears were stripping

at 23,000 the Fuel Pump replaced.

at 34,000, I'm having the Carbs adjusted, out of sink

my next bike will be a goldwing

 

 

[SteveB]

We have a 2008 S model have had no noticable whine.

Will grease the rear splines when we replace the rear tire. Other that that plan on changing the oil and filter every 3000 miles and riding the heck out of it.

 

We had a 1999 Royal Star before this one bought it with 30,000 miles on it and traded it in with 65,000. Changed the oil and tires no problems. Only reason we traded I wanted the 5 year warrenty.

 

Hope this helps with your choice.

[Wrongway]

Don't know how loud the whine is, never had it in 56,000 miles.

 

Do the driveline when I change the tire, previous owner had no problems and neither have I.

 

Overall maintenance has been change the oil and rear end end every 3-5,000 miles, carb synch once a year, gas and go!

 

Haven't done a valve adjustment, and never did on my 1st gen in 150,000 miles.

[Sylvester]

I have an 02 RSMV with 104,000 miles. Lubed the splines at 55,000 miles and at 95,000 miles. Never had whine or clicking. Wash it when it is really dirty or every six months. Do oil and differential when necessary, and sync the carbs about every 40,000 miles. It runs great and needs nothing other than to be ridden. Also changed the anti freeze once.

[MidlifeVenture]

Blue lock-tite a must check all screws and add lock-tite I lost screws out of the fender trim the first week I had the bike and have found many others that have got loose. Great bike:missingtooth: Hay you are right around the corner it would be nice to see another RSV in the area

[handyhiker]

Thanks for all the feed back. We are still looking into our options and this is still one of the front runners! Sounds like the wine is a hit and miss thing. Doing the driveline lube with a tire change is no big deal. I have done the carbs on many bikes so also no big thing.

Some one in an earlyer post mentioned let the dealer do the "preps" as noted on the site. I have not found a list and really not sure where to look. Can some one point me in the right direction?