1989 VR - Having fun on my new-to-me ride!

[videoarizona]

Got her on Thursday a week ago. Put about 300 miles on her so far....and enjoying the ride.

 

Stable at all speeds, everything works except do have ignition noise in intercom/CB. Found solution here for that....so I'm good on that. Small oil leak under the side stand area showed up yesterday after a short but warm day run at 75mph...leak appeared when she cooled down.

 

I was surprised at how easy slow speed turns were. Much easier than my 950T (and I thought she handled well). 42mpg on first tank, 40mpg on second.

 

Only have two issues so far:

 

1: Gear whine upon deceleration...especially in lower gears. All oils are up and clean. Only thing I haven't checked is the driveshaft. But it is loud....not the simple straight cut gear whine...more like a loud rear end whine. Will probably find a fellow rider around the Tucson area and let them hear it to see if it's normal.

 

2: Foot brake is not very good. I had to adjust the pedal height and throw. Now at the point that my toes aren't pointing to the ground before the brakes engage!

But even with the pedal about right, those brakes seem weak. Hand brake (right front) is good.

Levels are up, no leaks detected, pads have plenty of life in them...so guess it's time for me to consider bleeding them. And probably a good idea to consider new brake lines as well...

thinking about unlinking the system since I should change out the lines anyway.

 

Other than that, I'm pleased with the VR. She is comfortable, runs very good, solid handling up to 95mph (passing a truck...4th gear just happened and next thing I know I'm near the century mark!) and pretty too!

 

Pleased about this forum....so far the help I've received has been great. I signed up to assist anyone in my area in Arizona so I can pay the help I've received back to the group.

 

david

[bongobobny]

You sound like a candidate to de-link the front and rear brake. There are instructions on how to do it on this site...

[cimmer]

Sounds like you might need to bleed the brakes as the rear foot pedals operates the rear brake and the left front brake. There is also a metering valve at the top of the triple tree that needs to be bled also. Start at the left front caliper, then the rear caliper and then the metering valve. That might help your foot brake operation.

 

If you havent yet here is a link to the Tech library that has a PDF of the service manual for the 86-93 Ventures and it will explain a lot of things in there for you also.

http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?t=3384

 

Hope that help and enjoy your 89 VR, I know I enjoy mine a lot..

Rick F.

[Venturous Randy]

If you are having significant whine during deceleration, you may have a broken nut on the pinion gear. During acceleration, the load will cause the ring and pinion clearance to be where it is supposed to be. But during deceleration, the clearance will be too little. With the way these final drives and drive shafts are set up, if the nut breaks, the splines will still be engaged.

You can check this by removing your right muffler, left bag, pull the axle and caliper bracket and there should be enough room to remove the four nuts on the final drives and pull it off with the wheel/tire still under the bike.

If this is the case, these final drives are usually pretty cheap on ebay as there is not much demand for them.

RandyA

[cowpuc]

Got her on Thursday a week ago. Put about 300 miles on her so far.... 42mpg on first tank, 40mpg on second.

 

 

What on earth,, are we related or something David?? I have experienced that same scenario lots of times,, and usually associated with getting a "new" bike just like you are saying.. Carrying the thought a little further,, I found that my drop in fuel economy was somehow related to the amount I smiled and the amount I smiled was directly related to how hard I twisted the throttle , almost like my smile servo was triggered by the throttle cable somehow..

For kicks and giggles, you might wanna pull the carb diaphrams and check em, and toss on a carb sync... NOTHING runs like a Yam V-4 (specially a 1st Gen like your new bike) when she's all balanced out,,,, helps that fuel economy too

 

You got LOTS of great advice so far,, gotta great bunch of gear heads around here!!

Sounds like your getting that puppy dialed in David!! Good on ya!! Congrats on the new bike and WELCOME to the site!!!

 

Puc

[videoarizona]

Thanks everyone. I'm on the road for a while, but will be exploring the issues when I come back.

And Puc...yep...related!

 

david

[cowpuc]

Thanks everyone. I'm on the road for a while, but will be exploring the issues when I come back.

And Puc...yep...related!

 

david

 

[videoarizona]

Just found another problem with 89VR.

 

The fuel shut off won't turn and I'm afraid to throw a wrench on it.

Will throw some WD40 on the unit and see what happens when I get back from my trip.

Is this normal?

david

[Stache]

very few people seem to use the petcocks on these beasts. I don't, on either of mine. They get sticky/stuck.

[cimmer]

You will find most owners dont use the petcock. I have mine in the reserve postion and leave it there all the time as mine is almost impossible to turn. The gas gauge is accurate on mine and I also use the trip-odometer to keep track of my miles also.

Hope that helps..

Rick F.

[videoarizona]

Mine is stuck on the normal position...I would like to set it on the reserve position so at least I have that gallon available if I need it.

 

I'll deal with it later....but be nice to shut off the fuel while I'm gone...

 

Thanks,

 

david

[Huggy]

Well empty gas tank remove petco*k. Disassemble, clean and grease up with lithium grease. put it back together turn to reserve and leave it there. turn from off to reserve one a week to keep it operating. I do this every week to keep it operating properly.

[videoarizona]

rats...ran out of time...leaving at 5am.

 

Soon as I get back that petcock is getting a cleaning!!

 

Thanks all, see ya in 3 weeks.

david

[cowpuc]

rats...ran out of time...leaving at 5am.

 

Soon as I get back that petcock is getting a cleaning!!

 

Thanks all, see ya in 3 weeks.

david

 

 

You betcha brother,, see ya than..

 

Oh yea,,, didnt say where ya were headed so I thought I might give ya a heads up,,, if your coming from AZ and headed my way ya might wanna bring your winter long johns along,, still winter here!!!

 

God Speed

Puc