New Venture for Christmas

[GaryZ]

I bought Masterguns' 1992 Venture and picked it up yesterday. Although it is still in my trailer in the driveway, I wanted to thank Herb for taking incredible care of this beautiful machine. My future plans will be to continue to modify and hot-rod my '85 while riding the wheels off the '92. I will have pictures to share when it warms up a little . . .

Merry Christmas to me!

[Yammer Dan]

Sounds like a great plan.....

[KIC]

Congrats...that looked like a really nice bike.

[Bert2006]

Nice set of wheels there bud:cool10:

 

Congrats...

[playboy]

I'm sure Herb appreciates it going to a good home

[GaryZ]

OK . . . Here are a couple pictures for everyone to drool over.

 

I had to remove the leather pouches that hang where my knees need to be.

Although the brakes (de-linked) on my '85 are OK, these are a little scary.

It could be that my '85 was put on a diet and is easily 50 - 75 pounds lighter.

I will likely de-link, install separate braided lines on the front, and swap to a more aggressive brake pad.

 

The pipes sound incredible! One cylinder wants to cut-out at WOT.

This suggests a blocked high-speed jet. One Sea-Foam treatment done,

a couple more should clear it up.

 

I have had it out three times since Christmas, riding double.

I seems very easy to drag hard parts on the left,

even with the air set "high" and rear-shock damping on "4".

Yes, I ride a bit aggressive sometimes.

My '85 has lots more ground clearance carrying the same passenger.

Any suggestions as to what could be the issue?

[Prairiehammer]

I seems very easy to drag hard parts on the left,

even with the air set "high" and rear-shock damping on "4".

Yes, I ride a bit aggressive sometimes.

My '85 has lots more ground clearance carrying the same passenger.

Any suggestions as to what could be the issue?

 

Maybe time to put the firmer Progressive® springs in the forks?

 

I didn't have any issues with my '90 (26K miles) but I notice that the '91 (51K miles) sits much lower at the same air pressure. I guess I will have to install the Progressive® springs in it.

 

Please note the stock MKII is 25-30 pounds heavier than the stock MKI and yet use the same springs.

[GaryZ]

Maybe time to put the firmer Progressive® springs in the forks?

 

I didn't have any issues with my '90 (26K miles) but I notice that the '91 (51K miles) sits much lower at the same air pressure. I guess I will have to install the Progressive® springs in it.

 

Please note the stock MKII is 25-30 pounds heavier than the stock MKI and yet use the same springs.

 

My '85 has Progressives on the front and could sit a little higher.

With only 28k original miles on the '92 I was hoping to save the cost of new springs.

I recently built dog-bones and raised the back of my '93 ZX11D.

Maybe lifting the back of the Venture about an inch?

Better "turn-in" would improve low-speed handling.

[GaryZ]

Got down on the ground and looked for the hard part(s) that are dragging. It looks like the center stand has scrapes on the rounded ends. Seems to be held low by a rubber bumper on the aftermarket mufflers. I guess I will try to replace the thick rubber bumper with something else.

[GaryZ]

Update 2:

Removing the rubber pads seems to have cured the dragging problem.

 

After 4 tanks with Sea Foam it still seems to be dropping one cylinder when the throttle is wide open and close to wide open. Bucks like a bronco in first gear, farts and stops pulling in all other gears. It will hit red line if I ease up to it.

 

Any ideas from the crew?

[GaryZ]

Any ideas on the WOT problem would be great!

[Razorback]

Actually hitting WOT is so foreign to me, I don't know what to say. I guess I'm getting old.

 

Your symptoms at low speed sound kind of like what my bike was doing when I decided to pull off my carbs and found 3 of 4 pilot jets clogged

[Huggy]

TCI maybe!

[Yammer Dan]

Sync carbs? And Color-Tune.

[JohnT]

Sync carbs? And Color-Tune.

Color tune?

[Prairiehammer]

Color tune?

 

The Colortune has a clear spark plug that lets you look into the combustion chamber while the engine is firing. The colour of the combustion flame tells you if the mixture is correct. With the carburettor mixture screw you can then adjust the flame colour to get the correct mixture.

 

http://www.carbtune.com/colortune.html

 

Sounds like a good concept, except on our Ventures with the deep sparkplug well, some have found it difficult to see the colour.

[GaryZ]

I have a ColorTune. However, the bike runs smooth at idle and all the way to WOT. It does seem to be running rich (smells rich, 32mpg). The ColorTune is used to set the low-speed circuit, which seems to be working fine. I am not sure why the ColorTune was suggested for a WOT issue . . . Can you explain?

 

Sync carbs? As I said above, I am not sure why this is suggested . . .

 

TCI: There are supposed to be two good TCI's on this bike. I have another good one from my '85. I can switch them and test.

 

Question: The bike seems to be leaking a small amount of fuel around the right-front carb boot. I would expect air leaking at the carb boot to affect idle. Does anyone think it could affect WOT?

 

Please keep the ideas coming!