96 royal star

[showmebob]

I have a 1986 venture, my brother just bought a 1996 royal star, my venture is so much smother than the royal star i cant beleave it, could the carbs being out of sink cause it to vibrate more, the motor vibrates trough the floor boards, only has 29,000 miles on it, it just dont feal right, i would not think there would be that much deference between the two, wont be abel to sink his carbs for couple of weeks untill i get up to his house, he is about 120 miles away from me, just wondered if any one has any toughts on this.

[M61A1MECH]

Could be the carbs out of sink, but do not forget that Yamaha was going after the Harley crowd when they introduced the original Royal Stars and so they did not put any type of counter balancer in those models. They wanted them to vibrate and to feel like a V-twin, that could be what your are feeling. It wasn't until they introduced the Royal Star Venture that a counter balancer was used, but it was still only for the Venture models and later the 2005 and up Tour Deluxes.

[tazmocycle]

there's a few mods that does'nt cost a lot to help the royal star standard to run a lot better. the carbs maybe out of sync but it could be carbon build-up in the engine also. may want to dump half a bottle of sea foam to clean them out some and see if that will helpout too. read the start page on this website, most of the guys there has the 96-01 royal stars and the mods are listed on there. http://forums.delphiforums.com/royalstar/? let me know if nrthere's anything i can help with.

[Jerry W]

The origional Royal Star also does not have the horsepower that the later models have, so you need to keep it wound up and use the gears more. He may be lugging the engine.

[petekadish]

I had a beautiful '96 Royal for a few years until I bought me '07 Venture a few years ago, and it never ever felt or sounded like a v-twin. Nor did it shake or have any v-twin type vibration. It did feel a little less powerful than my Venture (probably due to the size difference in the carbs), and of course it didn't feel quite as big since it didn't have the fairing or hard bags.

 

A couple things I did which your brother might want to try is, get rid of the stock air box and replace it with a Barron's Big Air Kit. When you look at the original air box, it makes you wonder how anyone figured that would be a good design. I also had Kromewerks Pipes on it. Finding replacement pipes for a '96 Royal these days is going to be a big challenge. Last I checked, no one had been making replacement 4x4 pipes for a number of years.

 

I loved my '96 Royal. I had a lot of TLC in that bike and it was considerably nicer than new, at the time of it's untimely demise. However, I now love my '07 Venture even more. But, I'll attach a pic of what the old Royal looked like.

 

Be Safe!

Pete.

[autopilot]

Here's a little info I got from Pegscraper shortly after I bought my '98 TD.

 

 

"The early Royal Stars do not have a counterbalancer in the engine like the Ventures do and they are geared even higher than the 2nd gens are. The Venture engine may run happily all day at 2000 rpms, but this bike will not. It will pound and shake like crazy if you try to run along at 2000 rpm. It needs to be running at least 3500 rpms or higher before it will smooth out. This engine will still vibrate at 65 mph given any throttle at all, even if the carbs are in perfect sync. Fifth gear is so high in this bike you won't get away from that vibration under throttle until you get up around 75 or 80 mph.

 

Here are some suggested shift points to help you get used to this engine: 25, 45, 55, 60. That assumes moderate acceleration and a top speed of 60 mph. If your top speed will be higher, stretch them out a little more. Fourth gear in this bike is what fifth gear used to be in older bikes, and fifth gear is a ridiculously high overdrive at .75:1. Don't shift into fifth gear until you're all done accelerating and you've come to your final cruising road speed."

[pegscraper]

Yamaha needs to just flat be slapped for what they did to the '96 - '01 Royal Stars. Their philosophy at the time must have been to see just how many design screw ups they could incorporate into one bike without actually killing the whole company off. Many of these things were mostly but not entirely corrected in the RSVs and later RSTDs. I love this bike's looks. Mechanically, they leave a lot to be desired.

 

Seriously, who was it who decided that leaving the counterbalancer shaft out of the engine was a good idea? I'd like to meet this guy and drop kick him into the middle of next week. These bikes vibrate and the only real cure is to swap in an engine from an RSV. In fact that helps a number of other little ills also. I know a few guys who have done this.

[autopilot]

These bikes vibrate and the only real cure is to swap in an engine from an RSV. In fact that helps a number of other little ills also. I know a few guys who have done this.

 

I was going to ask you about that. Is there any limitation on year models for donors? Is it a straight & more or less simple transplant? Are there other things that have to go in besides the engine/trans.? I guess the better question is: Is there anything on this in the tech section?