84 venture 2nd gear riding question

[venturejoe]

I am looking at an 84 venture and it is beginning to have the second gear issue, currently when you shift into second and go past half throttle. My question is, how long can I ride the bike, shifting from 1st to 3rd before I have to fix the issue, and will shifting from 1st to 3rd cause any other damage? I will eventually fix the issue, if I purchase the bike, but was wondering the above. Thanks for your help.

[Peder_y2k]

Prolly last 'forever' shifting from 1st to 3rd. Should be good for at least 100K miles. The wear/damage issue only occurs under hi power in 2nd gear.

-Pete, in Tacoma WA USA

[Yammer Dan]

:sign yeah that:

[venturejoe]

Good to hear. Guess I will pick it up tomorrow, good to know I can ride it until I get around to tearing it apart to fix 2nd gear. Thanks guys!

[GolfVenture]

Why not just look for an 86 VR where Yamaha fix the issue. An 86 can't cost that much more than an 84.

[Condor]

Why don't you give hard shifting a shot. A lot of the wear comes from previous owners babying the tranny when shifting, and consequently rounding the dog. Sometimes just by banging the dog into gear will flatten the leading edge and keep it from jumping out of gear. I picked up an '83 that had the second gear clatter and after a couple of hundred miles it stopped jumping out of gear when under a load.... Of course it could be other problems, but it's worth a try...

[venturejoe]

Why not just look for an 86 VR where Yamaha fix the issue. An 86 can't cost that much more than an 84.

 

Picking this one up for less then $500 with all the body parts in place, runs smooth, other then the 2nd gear issue. Mostly want to use it for my 100 mile round trip on the hwy to/from work so I can give my other bike a rest.