My First Venture - some general questions

[BigClayton]

Hi everyone. No bought this 1983 Venture last year and have been riding it since including through the winter. I love this bike. The guy I bought it from was going to make a bagged out of it??? Not sure his thoughts on that one. So as you can tell by the pictures it is modified or at least a lot of the orginal plastic is gone.

 

What I'm wanting to do is slowly add to the bike and my plans are to continue using it for several years. One thing I'm needing to do is get the seat redone and thinking of adding the backrest kit by utopia.

 

Another task is the bags/suitcase and trunks. One of the bags came off due to not being latched properly by the previous owner and this has some road rash. The other side has a hole in the bottom which they attempted to bindi I think. Then I noticed the trunk has a crack on the side but it is in really good shape. So I'm not sure if I should pursue new paint on the bags and maybe have a body shop repair the holes. The paint job now looks like a cheap spray paint. Of the other thought was to try find an aftermarket set that will mount and look good on it. Recommendations???

 

He also chopped the windshield not sure if I like that to much. I like function over looks.

 

The bike has a cheesy radio on left side of fairing glovebox so looking to remove that and maybe just leave blank.

 

I just wanted to upload some pictures of it and see what you guys think and get some suggestions of things I could add to the bike. By the way it runs great!!! I might need to find a shop that will check adjustments on the carb. Not sure if it needs it. I get 32 mpg with it.

 

My other issue is finding a shop that will want to work on it. Any thoughts of one close to. Branson, Mo that you know of?

 

My goal is to keep this one running for a while. No leaks on it and no smoke.

It has 48,500 miles on it. I was told that is low for these.

Pretty pleased with it.

 

Thanks guys for suggestions !!!

 

Big Clayton

[Ben Rollins]

welcome to the forum, best 12$ you will ever spend. with 48k on it you should have lots of ride time.

[BigClayton]

Thanks so much. Looking forward to joining. I have read a bunch of the post and am actually looking at pictures everyone has posted. Enjoying

[hell yea]

you will lose second gear sum were between 60>75k but thats a ways of yet and not to hard to repeair

nows a good time to start looking for a parts bike 86 our above they don't have the second gear ishuw i love theas bikes my 83 has 80+k on it did the 2gear fix at 75 when it stared jumping out

would not traed it for aneything

 

chek out this post for 2gear info http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?t=86009

[bongobobny]

Your MPG is low! You should be getting closer to 40! Are you sure it's running on all 4? When it's cold, start it and feel all 4 exhaust outlets to get warm almost immediately. If one is not getting warm you have a problem there. These bikes run very well on only 3 cylinders!

 

Otherwise yes the carbs out of adjustment will make it run rough with lower MPG and it will also run hotter engine temps.

 

Welcome aboard!

[hell yea]

everything you will ever need to know about reparing our mantaning your venture

 

http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?t=85292

[BigClayton]

I will check the 4 exhaust temps when I get home. The bike seems to run smooth. So I'm wondering now if it is running on 3. I'll let you know what I find out. What causes it to run on 3 instead of 4? Thanks so much

 

 

I'll watch the YouTube links. Thanks so much.

[hell yea]

a hint when cheking egsost put spit on finger and quickley tuch it to egsost if it hisses and evaperats emediatly its runing on that cylinder if it just stays there its not

ps i know its obveas but hyave seen pepol grab a hot heder pipe and get badley bernt so do it with spit on the finger and wipe it on the heders lol and remember they get hot enough to take off fleash be carfull

[BigClayton]

I finally got to check the exhaust. Today when I started the bike I notice the two on the rear of the motor got hot real quick. The two on the front didn't get hot until after a couple minutes of running. Nothing like the rear two exhaust.

 

Appreciate your help in what it need to look at next. Also, after setting a day it seems to smell strong of gas. It seems to burn off eventually. I don't know what to compare it to so I assumed it to be normal.

 

 

Thanks again for your help.

[Yammer Dan]

Sea-Foam soak.

[BigClayton]

Thank you sir, Just to make sure that is the carbetator soak? Let the tank run low then poor half a bottle in tank and let it set over night? Thanks again

[Razorback]

I finally got to check the exhaust. Today when I started the bike I notice the two on the rear of the motor got hot real quick. The two on the front didn't get hot until after a couple minutes of running. Nothing like the rear two exhaust.

 

 

 

.

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks again for your help.

 

 

Mine does this as well currently. Not sure about why.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[86er]

 

Welcome to the site, you will love it!

 

I grew up in Springfield with friends in Branson (when there was 1 road thru town!).

 

I bought my 86 in 2004 with 46k on the clock and sold it last Sept with 186k! At the same time I bought an 88 with 37k on it so I can do it all over again. If you are at all handy with a wrench, and ask questions on this site, you can tackle almost any problem your 1st Gen can throw at you.

 

[BigClayton]

Hello. 86er,

 

I too was born and raised in Springfield. My wife and I just moved to branson last year for work. I had been driving down for over 7 years. More handy with a piano than a wrench but trying to get braver to work on it myself. I did put sea foam in the tank and when I get time I'll do the carb soak. I'm a big fan of the bike so far. Drove it all last winter. Thanks for saying hi.

[bongobobny]

Strong gas smell can be a couple of things but the obvious is that you have a stuck float or a needle valve that is not fully closing which would account for the low MPG, when riding you are pouring gas on the ground!

there are 4 overflow hoses coming from each carburetor. While running look or smell each tube for gas. A Seafoam soak followed by a ride it like you stole it ride on a tank of gas should help!!