Is there anyone who is/was an original 1st gen owner?

[Chaharly]

Noone that I have come across in my life so far is or ever was an original owner. Well, one reletive of mine was and he totalled it setting the cruise so i dont really know if that counts.

 

I guess what im asking if there is anyone who is or was, what made you chose the venture over the GL 1200/1500. Have you ridden both bikes? And what are your key favorite things about both? I just figured this would be a neat thread to start. Well ill buckle up for hopefully a great story!!!

[Zfrebird4]

First was an 86, the beautiful Ursula Gold on black; I traded my 85 Yamaha XS1000 (fully loaded) on this new baby on the show room floor and my folks gave me the difference as a gift! Rode her 89,000 till a deer finally tried to ride my front fender, and I was just too tired of riding to buy her back and rebuild the plastic and a little of the chrome. One of my dummmmmm mistakes. Off till 2006 till I caught the fever here in Ft Collins Co by being to closed to some friends who ride. Took the training course even though I had the license (one of my smart things). Then I bought the same identical 86 VR from Squidley and Lonna in 2006.

 

WHY?

 

I'm 6 foot now, was 6'3", and that low saddle is perfect. And I love the smooth power, low maintenance, and great ride. I love those 60/40 linked brakes, too, even though I know there's some debate on them. That feature saved my bacon in several instances where I dropped from 50 mph to zero in what felt like seconds, and in fact was.

 

Enjoy riding and I'll look for ya when you come to CO!

 

Jack T

[Zfrebird4]

The Gold Wings were too hard to shift with my new knees; the position was just far too tight. Just wanted to ad that to the chatter here.

 

Jack T

[BuckShot]

Well I have an 86 VR that I bought new and my wife and I took our honeymoon on it. Still is ridden almost daily,but I do have an 09 Ultra also, so have to switch it up once in awhile. I looked at Yamaha, Honda, Harley, and BMW when I bought. We ended up trying to decide between Yamaha and Honda. In 86 Honda had the Goldwing Interstate and Aspencade. The aspencade was all decked out for around 10,000.00 out the door. The VR had all the same features for around 8,000.00 out the door, and it was faster, and we liked the style better. Price was a big factor with just being married with house payment and all. I felt the handling was better on the VR and it rode more like a sport tourer ( hence the nickname touring crotch rocket) and being young I did like the speed and handling. The bike is still all original with a few battle scars and if I ever get the kids collage's paid for those will get fixed.

[bilko1]

I am the 2nd owner of my 83 Venture max, the 1st owner was my best friend. I got the 83 after he had a hart attack :(and could not ride any more. It was born on 8/00/83, It was reborn in 2000:cool10: with the Vmax head upgrade. then agen in 2003/2004 with new internals, and triporting on the heads and 1mm over bore, max carbs and a stage 7 kit. Since I have known this bike since it went to the first owner,:stirthepot:can I be conciderd:whistling: to be in the running?

[frankd]

I bought a brand new Burgundy (I know that Yamie called it some kind of red) Venture in April of 83. I had a 78 XS-750E Yamaha triple with saddle bags and frame mounted fairing. Back then, I was an electrician at an aluminum plant, so every 5 years we got 10 weeks of vacation, and ours was coming up that summer. I was planning a trip for the time that our children were going to be at Grandma's house, and as far as I was concerned the 750 would be great.....we had installed a great new custom seat on it and it was very comfortable. I had been drooling over the new Ventures in the magazines, but I hadn't seen one. My sweet, loving, wife said "Why don't we go and look at that new bike you've been talking about....it'd be great for that long of a trip". Now, good friends of ours had a new Goldwing (1200) and we had ridden it frequently, but didn't really like it. It was too slow, but the handling was terrible. It didn't like to turn hard. I told our dealer that I wanted to know when the first Venture came in so we could look at it. 2 weeks later, he called and said "Come take it for a ride, Frank". So Barb and I went there and he had a black one. One the way out of the lot, he said "Frank, I've got this one sold, so be careful!". The test ride was perfect. The motor was smooth, the power was fantastic, it handled great, and it was very comfortable. We went back to the dealer and told him that we wanted the first burgundy Venture he got---we couldn't afford a Royale. I rode it up until 3 years ago when I bought the low mileage 89 and gave the 83 to my brother. It has 150,000 miles on it. I've fixed 2nd gear, put 2 clutches in it, changed the stator, replaced the frame with an 84 when it broke, and a lot of other parts, but it was always a great bike. It still runs perfectly

 

Is that what you wanted to know?

[twigg]

Mike Kneebone, President of the Iron Butt Association bought one new in 1983.

 

He applied for entry to the Iron Butt Rally in 1984 but his application was declined as the organisors judged him to have insufficient experience.

 

I guess he made up for that since

[sarges46]

an original owner.

 

Back in spring of 83 I bought a brand new blond. This bike was one of ten sold in western Canada at the time (said the dealer). It was a Royale but did not have the cb.

 

I thought the thing looked like a space ship and just loved the look. I can say that I have never driven a wing...ever.

 

The dealer wouldn't even allow me to take a test drive of the Royale...so I shrugged my shoulders and said ok. Hopped on and it was like I had been driving it for years. Man I loved that thing!

 

I race through the mountain roads so fast I thought the front end was trying to lift off such as an airplane would when it reaching take off velocity! I have since learned that sensation was fork flex. My riding buddy had a Honda 750k and there was no chance they could keep up with me!

 

I also learned never to buy a first year production anything again! I had lots of trouble with stuff like going through brake pads to the dreaded stator burn up (this while in the desert of Utah).I also learned about Yamaha's "delightful" customer service during that break down.

 

Having had this bike led me to going back to one after a twenty year break. Thats when I joined this site and whined enough about not having a bike that Boo finally broke down and sold me his beautiful 89 blue. I loved that bike (still do) but the knees could not take the riding position any more so I have moved on to my current bike...yeah it's blue!

Edited February 4, 2012 by sarges46

[kantornado]

I was riding an 83 HD and sold it because the price was right and I got tired of it being in the shop. I found my 83 Venture standard in 85 at a dealer in Boulder, Colorado wrecked. The dealer had it and the owner was selling it. The owner laid it down and was scared to ride it.

I picked it up for 2300.00 and hauled it back to the house then half assed fixed it up with some 2 part epoxy mix on all the plastic. Bent the crash bars back out, found a rattle can of red paint (close enough) and started to ride it.

Like most bikes I had owned I figured to ride it for a few years and get rid of it for something better.

That Venture never left me stranded, it road and looked like a racing bike and was a GREAT touring bike. Even after it being totaled twice. (Wife and I hit a deer) more epoxy and a real paint job and some stripping it was a new bike again.

The wife loved it and was very comfortable, easy to maneuver and handled like a dream.

LOL, 20 years later and many, many smiles later a guy pulled up next to me at a light and asked if I wanted to sell her. I said sure I would for 3800.00 (2nd gear going out and over a 180,000 miles) I really did not want to sell her but he was persistent even after I told him her history. He offered 2700.00 and I could not say no, she rode away with a new owner.

I still miss that bike, now don't get me wrong we do love our 02 but the 83 was and still is a great bike.

We test road all the road sofas before getting the 02 Midnight and do not regret getting it.

It is turning out to be another great investment with many smiles to the mile.........Ron:322:

[joboo]

I had to throw my 2 cents in on this. I have had 2 originals from yamaha. I had serial number 33 of the original tour package bikes from yamaha, a 1981 XS Venturer. ( Venturer is what they were back then) I sold it in 1994 cause it was having tranny problems I didn't want to fix, still looked like new though and it was a mistake to sell it(in hindsight). That bike NEVER had a single mechanical problem up to that point, the only thing I didn't like was it had too much vibration and would put your butt to sleep on long rides. I still have pictures but would have to scan them or take a pic of a pic to post them if anyone was interested. I now have a 96 RSTC. serial number 41 that I bought in 1995. It also has had very few mechanical problems and I caused the only ones it has had from leaving it sit for extended periods of time. It was one of yamaha's first 5 year, 100K mile bumper to bumper warranties, but I never needed it. My only complaint to yamaha was and still is the stock saddle. I wanted to keep the bike all stock so have never replaced it. ( I am going to now and just hold the stock saddle for when or if I ever decide to sell it) My complaint, in writing to yamaha was that the stock saddle, met at the tank instead of going up over the tank as they fixed in later models. On long rides if you don't sit back in the saddle it sort of pinches the crotch of your pants (and other things) between the tank and the saddle. yamaha refused to fix it but they did change it on new models and the new model seat brackets don't fit. Other that that I have no complaints at all and love my bike!

[twigg]

I had to throw my 2 cents in on this. I have had 2 originals from yamaha. I had serial number 33 of the original tour package bikes from yamaha, a 1981 XS Venturer. ( Venturer is what they were back then) I sold it in 1994 cause it was having tranny problems I didn't want to fix, still looked like new though and it was a mistake to sell it(in hindsight). That bike NEVER had a single mechanical problem up to that point, the only thing I didn't like was it had too much vibration and would put your butt to sleep on long rides. I still have pictures but would have to scan them or take a pic of a pic to post them if anyone was interested. I now have a 96 RSTC. serial number 41 that I bought in 1995. It also has had very few mechanical problems and I caused the only ones it has had from leaving it sit for extended periods of time. It was one of yamaha's first 5 year, 100K mile bumper to bumper warranties, but I never needed it. My only complaint to yamaha was and still is the stock saddle. I wanted to keep the bike all stock so have never replaced it. ( I am going to now and just hold the stock saddle for when or if I ever decide to sell it) My complaint, in writing to yamaha was that the stock saddle, met at the tank instead of going up over the tank as they fixed in later models. On long rides if you don't sit back in the saddle it sort of pinches the crotch of your pants (and other things) between the tank and the saddle. yamaha refused to fix it but they did change it on new models and the new model seat brackets don't fit. Other that that I have no complaints at all and love my bike!

 

You don't have to lose the stock appearance to improve the saddle. Most decent custom seat builders can rebuild your saddle and keep the original cover. It would look the same but be far more comfortable.

 

If necessary they could make a minor change to the front of the cover to add the material needed to match the seat to the tank in the way you describe.

 

Alternatively you can, as you say, simply get a better seat from a custom builder, and save the original one.

 

You probably knew all that, but just in case

[joboo]

Thanks Twigg, I have seen some of these saddles that are not in very good shape, and because of the seams that run across it I would be afraid of stuffing anything into the 17 year old original, seems that is their failure point, not even sure what the material is, I don't think it is leather looking at the back of the pieces under the saddle.

[MasterGuns]

In August 1986 and while stationed on Camp Courtney Okinawa (III MEF), I had to go TAD to Camp Zama, Japan (mainland) for a planning conference for an exercise named Ulchi Focus Lens. I know that doesn't mean anything to 99.9 percent of the readers here). While attending the conference, I did have some time to spend fartin around so off to the Army's Base Exchange I went. After all the Army does have better most things than the Corps. To my surprise, their BX sold m/c's and sitting right before my eyes was a brand new 86 Royale. I simply had to have it. None of the exchanges on Okinawa, Japan carried anything like this. Wow, did I fall in love.

 

The Japanese population at that time (don't know if this is still the case) couldn't purchase or own anything bigger than 750cc, however, one could purchase larger cc bikes if it was going to be exported. US military could purchase a larger than 750 but it had to be purchased for export. After the salesman informed me that I could in fact own it, register in Japan, really Okinawa, as an import, I called the wife and told her I was writing a check for a little of 8 K and I'd figure out how to get it to Okinawa, about a three hour flight south of Camp Zama, Japan, later. So, after a lot of what the hell are you doing from the wife, I was given all the papers for her. She was the two tone brown.

 

After returning to Okinawa after the conference, I asked one of my buds from housing if he ever went to double 463L pallet, and fly it to Marine Corps Air Station, Futenma, Okinawa. He said no problem. So, I hitched a plane ride the next week to Yokota AB, hired a local stake bed trucker. He and I headed of to Camp Zama, loaded my 86 on the back, trucked it to Yokota AB. I had lots of buds that worked for an ALCE Unit (ALCE - Air Force Liaison Control Element) and borrowed two empty 463 L pallets. We strapped the bike down on the palletz to air standards, arranged for a k-loader to load it in the cargo bay of Col Scott's C-130 and flew it to Futenma. A few days later I had her registered with the Japanese authorities on Okinawa.

 

What a bike to own over there. It had a bigger displacement motor than most of the automobiles on the island. I had to pay tolls for the Okinawan Expressway just to get her in fourth gear. The expressway had the fastest speed zones on the entire island and that was only 80 KPM. Anyway, I traveled up and down the entire island with my wife on the back for nearly two years. Rotated back to 29 Palms, Ca in early 89 and had her shipped back as part of my TMO allowance. Both my wife and I toured everywhere one can imagine in a five state area for years and years. When she had 132K on her, I sold her to a friend. That was in 91 and I don't know what happened to her after that. Shortly after selling my first dream bike, I bought a 91 Heritage Softtail and owned her until I retired from the Corps in 96. Hung around 29 Palms until my wife retired, also from the Marine Corps, in 98. Brought that HD with me to one of the most dangerous areas for bikes I've ever lived in or near; the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex. Sold her cause I thought I never ride again. But while sitting at work in 2005, bored, I was playing around on EBay and found a rebuildable 83. Bought that one, fixed her up and sold that 83 to my brother in law. Then I bought a really nice 88. Fixed that one up really nice and trader her and some cash for a HD Ultra. Still have the Harley. But I always wanted another Mocha 86. Finally, in 2008, I found the exact sister to my original Camp Zama 86 in Las Cruces. Drove over and bought her. Have fixed her up to nearly brand new appearance and running. She's a looker too.

 

Don't know how long I'll be around this good ole Earth, but the next owner will be up to my survivors.

 

A long story and I really enjoyed writing it.