ok! new bike checklist!

[Guest seuadr]

Ok guys, I recently got an 87 Venture Royale (merry christmas me!) from my wife. (what a keeper!)

 

i've refreshed old bikes before, but not a full dresser like this one.

 

I have a list in mind of things to check/clean/replace but i would like your input as well, since, well, obviously you guys are alot more familar with these old gals than me!

 

so far on the list:

 

new cables all around

New fluids all around

New Brake Pads

Rebuild/Replace all the seals in the brake calipers

Master and Slave rebuilds for the brakes

Rebuild for the clutch master

New Tires

Inspect, dielectric grease and general cleaning of all electronics, and fuse box

Tank inspection

Petcock inspection

Air filter clean/replace

Carb clean/rebuild

Carb Sync

 

anything specific to these girls i should know about besides this?

 

Thanks in Advance!

 

- Jared

[friesman]

youve got a great list there, but there still a couple more that i would do failry quickly

 

i would change out the springs in the front forks to progressives, it makes the handling MUCH better no more bottoming out on bumps. and I would be inclined to spend the bucks to go to stainless line for the brake lines while you have everything apart. it is a fair bit of cash, but the old lines are close to being 25 years old and waiting for the rubber to leak or split open.

 

Brian

[warthogcrewchief]

Instead of rebuilding the brake calipers, I would opt to upgrade to R1 calipers. Skydoc_17 sells them on here in the classified ads page.

 

I also agree that going to stainless lines would be good...although they're pricey (waiting to get some for my bike)...I think it would be a good investment.

 

When you remove ALL the plastic, do a thorough inspection of the plastic for cracks. These old ABS plastic parts get cracks all over them. Stop-drill the cracks, and cut a "V" shaped groove above the crack and fill with repair material (devcon makes a good product called "Plastic Weld"; another good product is Plast-Aid).

 

With all the plastic off, you're halfway there to removing the rear swing arm. Go ahead and remove the swing arm to lube the bushings and the bearings. While there, lube drive shaft and U-Joint. With swing arm off, install zerk fittings for easy lube of swing arm bearings/bushings. Reassemble and service rear differential.

[Guest seuadr]

all good points!

 

i actually have alot of small cracks i've been repairing with a product called PC-11 It seems to work fair so far. cosmetically, i am doing as little as possible, but on the back side of the plastic i am laying glass and tape over the cracks after they are glued up with the epoxy.

 

i will definitally add those to my list, thanks guys!

[Yammer Dan]

This might be a cheaper way to go for lines. Just have to figure out what.

 

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/YAMAHA-XV535-VENTURE-CUSTOM-STAINLESS-STEEL-BRAKE-LINE_W0QQitemZ110475576343QQcmdZViewItemQQptZMotorcycles_Parts_Accessories?hash=item19b8db8417

[Venturous Randy]

If you have the dash out, look at the solder connection on the pins in the CMS, the display in the center of the dash.

And, while in the dash, put some grease into the bearing area on the inside of the speedometer, as sooner or later you will encounter this horrible squeal that may scare the crap out of you. There are several posts on this and I have made a fitting that works good and you don't even have to take the dash out of the bike.

RandyA

[saddlebum]

Plastex is what I used to rebuild my bike after it was written off in 2008. The stuff is stupid simple to use and works great. I pieced all the broken pieces together, and even made one good fairning out of two bad ones. It actually welds the plastic. You can see the finished bike in my profile, and those VR members that have seen it up close could not tell.

 

here is a link to plastex

[ame=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-9209022121022498415]Plastex Plastic Repair http://www.Plastex.ca[/ame]#

[sleepy2]

Also maybe replace stock fork brace with the much thicker aftermarket one. Seems to help with high-speed wobble some bikes get.

[Yammer Dan]

Also maybe replace stock fork brace with the much thicker aftermarket one. Seems to help with high-speed wobble some bikes get.

 

I think Jack still has those in our classified.

[warthogcrewchief]

I just purchased one of Jack's fork braces. Very solid, looks great, and a good price!

[RossKean]

Grease anything that moves. Someone mentioned the swingarm but do the steering neck as well. Do a good job on the drive pins and splines.

[Guest seuadr]

Grease anything that moves. Someone mentioned the swingarm but do the steering neck as well. Do a good job on the drive pins and splines.

good point, if i am taking the forks off anyhow, i could easily repack the steering head.

 

also, i don't have the dash apart, but since all the plastic is off the bike, i don't think it would take much to get it off!

 

randya, i actually experenced that with my 82 GS it took me 20 mins to figure out where the sound was comming from! i had these images of my engine doing something horrible, etc etc little cable lube did fix it right up too:) thanks for pointing that out.

 

i will have to check that stuff out, saddlebum. and i'll take a peek in the classifieds for that fork brace, thanks guys!

[84xj1100]

Two other relatively small things you may want to do.......if you have the fairing apart you may want to open up the dash and speedo housing, clean and grease the gears. The "O-ring" down at the rad drain is a frequent PITA (leaking).....perhaps replace it just to be sure (I believe Doc has a kit)