91 Venture Royale project

[Mike Mercury]

My 91 VR project is behind me, I finally got to ride my new touring machine and was really impressed by the quality of my ride, many of you where telling me how good the Venture was and with your help, I must agree its a great ride. The motor seems to purr between 4000-5000 RPM and growl above 5000, without noticeable vibrations or hesitations, no back-fire and very smooth. The bike handles better than expected, with proper damper adjustment and air pressure my ride is solid in long sweepers, with no noticeable speed wobbles at +130 km/h, sharp and crisp in rapid curves, I am impressed for a 21 year old touring machine. Braking is top notch with R1 calipers and new rotors, it's all about control and power.

 

Comfort is good, I also love the cruise control, ease of operation and constant speed hold make's it a big plus and helped me get 42 MPG on my first two tankfuls, riding two-up with a 800 pound bike is very good as long as I am concerned.

 

3 months of hard work and love to bring back life in this machine, with many modifications such as, K&N air filter, fuse upgrade, complete front fork rebuild with progressive springs, complete brake overhaul with R1 calipers, new rotors, stainless brake lines, complete carburetor restoration and mounting computer on top of air filter.

 

One last upgrade is left to do for this year(maybe), is Ignitech computer upgrade to replace my 21 year old black box, I did receive unit and will be installing unit next week with Dingy's help(Got a new laptop), this should also help to increase response and control of motor operation.

 

Mike

[KIC]

Nice looking bike. Glad you are enjoying the ride. I love that blue color scheme.

 

Ride safe !

[Snaggletooth]

In the last year I've had several riders, LEO's included, and a few non riders approach me to talk about my '84. The common theme was the age of the bike and it's condition and their love of the older bikes. I enjoy my ride but it makes me feel pretty good that others enjoy it also.

 

So to pass it along ...... nice job on keeping the old girl alive and well. Looks great. I'm sure your going to meet a lot of new folks on it.

 

Mike

[bjstone]

That's awesome Mike. I just brought home an 89, and am going through it now. I will probably have it done by fall. You're right, these are nice riding bikes. Be safe!

 

Bill

[Venturous Randy]

I have had people that would almost argue about how old my 83 Venture is. One summer, I had gone up on Clingman's Knob, at the top of the Smokies. There were a lot of very expensive Harleys up there and I got to noticing that more people were stopping to look at my bike than most of the others. I got some nice compliments and it made me feel good.

RandyA

[KIC]

Rode my 89 to an ADRider bike night last night and got a lot of compliments on the bike. Most people like the old bikes.

[Mike Mercury]

Finally after 4 weeks of cold, windy and rainy days, I rode my bike for a total of only 1000km, I am happy of the results my winter work gave, the new Ignitech TCI gives the motor a better response and feels more potent mid-range, clear to red-line. The R1 brakes are great, with power to spare and better feel for control braking, the handling is very good with the progressive springs up front.

But a dark cloud, each time I ride the bike, a smell of gas is present, I looked for leaks, none, as soon as I stop the motor the smell goes away, I go for a drive and there it is again, high speed, low speed, the smell is always there and the smell seems to be coming from carbs. I took the air filter out and the smell does not seem to be present when running, seems to be coming elsewhere.

 

I hope I am wrong, but the problem may be my floats(high adjustment?), I don't want to remove the carbs again, I simply would like to ride, specially after all the efforts rebuilding my 91VR. No gas is seen leaking but the smell is always present when riding, Is there other possibility's?

 

Mike