Ahhhh,, the summer of 14,,, ADVENTURE SERVED UP GORMET STYLE!!!!

[Venturous Randy]

Wow, is about all I can say. I am enjoying this so much.

RandyA

[cowpuc]

Wow, is about all I can say. I am enjoying this so much.

RandyA

 

Glad you are enjoying the read brother!! Its a pleasure having you riding along!!

[Carbon_One]

Yep a bunch of us enjoying the read & picks. Continue on Puck.

[videoarizona]

Forty six years ago tonight, I was spending my second night in San Antonio at Lackland AFB in basic training. I would have been asking what have I gotten myself into, but I didn't have time. About the fifth weekend I was there, we were granted a day pass so several of us went to the Alamo and yes, the River Walk was there then. I remember I was pretty homesick and even more so when I walked into the Alamo and on the wall was a picture of Davy Crockett's birthplace, which is about fifteen miles from my house. Yep, your great videos brought back some long ago memories.

RandyA

 

 

 

46 years ago this past October, I entered the hallowed halls of Lackland AFB for basic training! I was a few months ahead of you...

I too spent my one day off at the Alamo..then walked downtown and watched Clint Eastwood marathon movies!

 

And Puc...noticed you like Wataburger's too! Good man! Thanks for the next installment!

[Brenner]

Puc, I gotta respectfully say that I have been watching this from the beginning and that you are a lucky man. I too call my better half my best friend. You are doing the things I hope to do in my near future and seeing you and your misses as a team, well I only hope I can get my misses to get involved in that way. The only reason I moved up to the xvz was for room for my misses as I just can't see the two of us on my Harley trying to go any distance. My misses did not want anything to do with bikes or going for rides but after seeing me come and go for a couple of months she finally asked to come along. It has been positive but not enough to sell her on long trips and I am hoping the xvz will change her mind. Keep up the story telling as it is an inspiration in more ways than one. I only hope that if I am able to make my trips that they will be as successful as yours have been. Cheers

[Oldodge]

I would love to spend some time in that junk yard! Keep going Puc, it is going to snow here today and a warm read is just what I needed.

[cowpuc]

Puc, I gotta respectfully say that I have been watching this from the beginning and that you are a lucky man. I too call my better half my best friend. You are doing the things I hope to do in my near future and seeing you and your misses as a team, well I only hope I can get my misses to get involved in that way. The only reason I moved up to the xvz was for room for my misses as I just can't see the two of us on my Harley trying to go any distance. My misses did not want anything to do with bikes or going for rides but after seeing me come and go for a couple of months she finally asked to come along. It has been positive but not enough to sell her on long trips and I am hoping the xvz will change her mind. Keep up the story telling as it is an inspiration in more ways than one. I only hope that if I am able to make my trips that they will be as successful as yours have been. Cheers

 

Thanks for the compliments Bren!!

Best wishes to you and your best friend as you folks sort out what works for the two of you!!

 

I would love to spend some time in that junk yard! Keep going Puc, it is going to snow here today and a warm read is just what I needed.

 

Indeed Dodger, I too could have spent a ton of time out there playing in that place!! Here are a couple more pics of the joint just for you bro!!!

[Yammer Dan]

That old school buss could be made into a awlsome camper and bike hauler!!

[cowpuc]

Tonight we travel across the deep reaches of New Mexico with a Michigan couple on a motorcycle in search of the exotic and hunted almost into extinction,, the REAL 1/2 pound All American Hamburger.. Join us as Puc, Tippy and their faithful 1983 Yamaha Venture named Tweeks take you on an unforgettable trek across this desert region in what promises to encourage you to do the same!! Hi,, I am Curt Gowdy and this,, is the American Sportsman!!

 

 

We left Roswell behind,, a little discouraged that we hadn't seen anything suspicious flying around in the New Mexico sky that night.. Having been let down by that and, seeing no sign of anything that looked like a possibility of an end to our hunt that our friend Curt now had us on, like a couple of gypsies - we moved on.. As we did, little did we know that a few miles ahead of us, an introduction to some real aliens to our country was about to take place..

 

As we pulled into Vaughn New Mexico, Tippy announced that her tummy was empty and she didnt think she could go the whole day without eating while we searched for the exotic Burgers.. We stopped for breakfast at a little joint in Vaughn.. When I pulled into the parking lot I felt Tweeks nudging me toward a brand new Harley that had been placed in front of the joint. Tweeks has this thing about parking around new bikes.. Its almost like she derives some kind of extra energy from them,, some type of strange osmosis thing happening.. I didnt fight her nudging, I have learned that its best to just let her have her way in those kinda of circumstances.. While I dropped Tweeks kickstand, I noticed the owner of the new Harley was heading our way.. Remembering some instances that happened during a couple Sturgis Rally's of the past that Tweeks and I worked thru together (got kicked out of several parking areas), I mumbled something like "whad ya get us into this time ol girl" under my breath.. Thankfully,, the owner of the Harley was a really nice guy.. He was from southern California and was traveling back from the Tail of the Dragon with his wife..

 

These folks were very well versed with cross country motorcycle touring.. As Tip and I chatted with them, They told us that they were traveling with some people a couple weeks early, somewhere closer to the east coast, and that one of the couples they were traveling with had gotten in an accident on their "Trike". Apparently, someone in a car had run a stop sign and "T-Boned" the couple and the lady riding on the back of the Trike was killed.. As we chatted about the accident it dawned on me that I had heard something about a similar, possibly the same, accident being talked about on VentureRider.. Our 2 new friends were on their way home from the funeral in Oklahoma for the lady who was killed and decided to go down to the Dragon afterwards. Kind of a memorial ride in memory of the woman who had lost her life to a Cager that wasnt paying attention.

 

As chit chat turned to comparing our bikes and tales of the road started coming forth, Tip and Vances (owner of the Harley) wife stepped off to the side and got talking lady talk (I have no idea what women talk about with other women but there was plenty of qiggling going on). Vance was telling me they were just getting ready to trade their bike in for a brand new one as they were getting a few miles on this one.. Eyeballing Tweeks he inquired about her mileage.. I told him that I really was not sure cause her speedo had finally came unglued (after many times of lubricating and coaxing it out of spasms, Tweeks speedo had exploded internally back in Dennison TX) but that the 250 thousand or so miles on it was pretty close.. Vance was amazed at the real life stories of those miles that Tweeks stickers clearly explained.. He proudly signed one of them when asked if he would like to..

 

When you look at the picture of Vance standing next to his gorgeous Harley below, take special notice of the Charter Bus that pulled into the parking lot behind him.. This Charter Bus is about to play an important role in delivering what I consider my closest close encounter of the third kind,, and not very far out of Roswell!!

 

As Tippy, Vances wife, Vance and I stood in the parking lot saying our goodbyes, a large group of people who were obviously not from the USA (they were all speaking some kind of Alien language) stepped off a bus.. As the group walked from the Charter Bus they had just departed and headed into the restaurant, two of them left the group, walked over and started pointing and talking about Tweeks in their Alien Language.. They stood there in the politest manner, waited till they caught my attention, the lady then softly spoke to me in broken english and explained that they were from Japan! They had noticed our bike sitting there as they pulled up and her husband wanted to know if he could take some pictures..

 

As we chatted and she interpreted for her husband, she told me that he LOVED motorcycles and was amazed at our old historic bike.. With my permission (the way its suppose to be) he carefully touched some of the stickers on Tweeks side, inquiring if we had ridden there before he moved on to the next one.. When he came to our Australian sticker I had to shake my head no and I tried to explain the story of how our friend, Aussie Annie, had brought that sticker from her homeland for Tweeks.. As his wife did her best to interpret this for him, He nodded in understanding - we bikers have our own language that transends across time and space,, proving that if and when we ever do find actual outerspace Aliens - it will probably be a biker who will be able to communicate with them..

My new Japanese friends hand paused for a second while his fingers passed over the "YAMAHA" name that is clearly stamped in the brake fluid master cylinder cover up on Tweeks handlebars.. His eyes lit up when I nodded and said "Yamaha - good stuff!!".. His wife distracted me for a second and announced "he has Harley in Japan".. I LAUGHED out loud - pointed over at Vances bike sitting behind him, looked at him and said "you - like that"? This kind hearted, smiling Japanese man laughed and nodded yes.. I laughed right back, pointed at Tweeks and said "Better Motorcycle" - we all laughed, including the Vance, the owner of that beautiful Harley!!

As I stood there in the gorgeous New Mexico sunshine, next to a tired old 83 Yamaha Venture who was being admired by people from the far off land of her birth, the thought of how small our world has become occurred to me.. It is amazing how, even thru differences of culture and language barriers, we can still all see the beauty of sharing adventure in life together.. I knew just by looking in the eyes of this fine Japanese man that he too was a gear head and that he too would have, a million times over, rather be crossing the world on Tweeks back than sitting in the comfort of the air conditioning on a Tour Bus.. With that in mind, I asked them to sign Tweeks.. An amazing thing happened after they signed her,, something I have never encountered in all my days. This lovely couple stood back from Tweeks, side by side, at the same time and in a very serious manner - they bowed.. I am not sure why but it almost brought tears to my eyes.. I hugged them both, thanked them for their thoughtfulness and asked them to teach me their bow - they did!!

 

 

After getting invited to come visit our new found friends in both California and in Japan, the party in the parking lot there in Vauhn New Mexico broke up. Tippy handed my a granola bar and announced she was ready to ride.. Apparently, she had shared some snacks with Vances wife and was no longer hungry.. My own hunger had subsided with feasting on Alien admiration, besides, there was this smell in the wind,, a daunting feeling of hamburgers running wild out there!!! We pulled out and headed in the direction of that odor..

A fair amount of debate has taken place thru the years about the Yamaha V-4's tendency to "whine" at certain RPM's.. I have worn out 5 of these 1st Gen Ventures (Tweeks being the 5th) and all of them have suffered this malady.. I personally have never found it to be an issue, as matter of fact, I like it.. To me, the "whine" is part of Tweeks personality.. Gear heads being gear heads though, we folks that are familiar with this noise LOVE to sit around and talk about it.. Its kinda of an understanding within the masses that I hang out with that the noise is produced because mother Yamaha chose to use straight cut gears on the clutch drive within the mighty V-4.. Their chosing to use straight cut gears has always appealed to me because straight cut gears are typically stronger and, being a very powerful bike, I have always said that Tweeks needs em!! As Tip and I traveled across New Mexico we came upon a truck carrying, as I pointed out to Tip, the new replacement gears for the ring gear on bikes like Tweeks who's owners have obviously gotten Yamaha to cut them a quieter set of helical cut gears.. I have many times over tried to explain to my friends that in order to obtain the strength required with helical cut gears, the gear would have to be mammoth in size.. I snapped these pics just to show my buddies that I wasn't kidding!!

 

The sweet smell the prey we were searching got a lot stronger as we approached this little town called Albuquerque .. The search for the exotic beast had made me hungry and Tweeks was getting hungry too as we came out of the west side and headed back into the desert.. My fuel gauge tapped me on the shoulder and reminded me that she could clearly see the red (low fuel) warning light flashing, which had a way of making her nervous.. The gas stations on the ick-spressway known as "40" coming out of the west side of Albequrkee New Mexico seem to just stop appearing,, certainly not the usual type of town that has one at every exit.. I consoled Tippy and told her that I had a feeling that the perfect fuel station was just over the next hill..

 

A few miles later, as we, topped the next hill, we coasted into a fuel station as Tip breathed a sigh of relief (me too - I hate pushing).. The trace of our prey was as strong as it had been all day as we pulled out of the gas station and into the parking lot of the little building from where it appeared our target may have been hiding. While standing there talking, a couple pulled up on a bike and started staring at Tweeks, the rider stuck his hand out and said he was from a place called Santa Fe.. As we talked, he mentioned that we looked hungry and asked if we had ever had a Laguna Burger.. "Laguna" was the name that appeared on the building that he was pointing at and he announced that we simply had to try one!! Who would have ever thought that in a small town just west of Albuquerque New Mexico,Tip and I would find that almost extinct, totally exotic, half pound PLUS, All American Hamburger being served up by some of my American Indian relatives, the Laguna Indians - STOP THERE IF YOU HAPPEN TO BE PASSING THRU - TELL EM PUC, TIPPY and TWEEKS SENT CHA!!

 

 

.

 

 

 

 

After celebrating the victorious hunt that we had completed, we said goodbye to the folks who had helped us complete our search and headed west toward a place in New Mexico called the Petrified Forest National Park. The entrance of the Park was amazingly quiet as we pulled in.. Only a couple cars ahead of us and we thought it would be a rerun of Big Bend - no other bikers wanting to suffer the heat.. We toured around inside the park, taking in the shear beauty of the logs turned to stone and the vast overlooks across the desert region - GORGEOUS!!

 

 

 

About half way thru the park, a big group of bikers came cruising thru.. I tapped Tip on the shoulder when I heard em and told her we were about to be invaded.. Big twin Harley's came in by the groups of 10 or so.. Leather jackets with patches sown on the backs,, a scary lookin bunch of outlaws if there ever was such a thing.. The hair on the back of Tweeks mane stood up as one pulled in near us.. I smiled as I nodded to the man on the Harley who was eyeballing us up and down like we were the Aliens this time.. Then I noticed it,, the patches they we wearing said something about Germany and as they spoke to each other about our bike, they spoke in German..

Back in 1981 I worked in Braunschweig West Germany for a couple months. I was a Machine Builder and a company called Herbort had hired me as a Supervisor for a production plant they were building here in the States.. They gave the choice of staying in a motel in Germany or living on a farm with a family who's man of the family worked for the mother company, Herbort of Germany.. Of course I chose the farm and, while living there - learned enough German to get me around on the transit systems - I than toured Germany while I was there.. Sitting there listening to these guys talking about us, I suddenly spoke up and said "Ick vas arbienten un Deuschland fir zix valken, ick leiben das deusch mention - sprecken de english?).. Those guys about fell off their bikes!!

 

 

Come to find out, they were a group of guys from Germany who had rented Harleys in Arizona somewhere and were touring the States.. A very friendly group who absolutely loved Tweeks and what (in their words) we were all about.. We shared a few stories, I gave them some of the finer points about touring in the US (mainly - in the US we all wave at each other no matter what kind of bike we ride - even little kids on mopeds should be waved at). To this day, I always imagine I somehow have contributed to starting a motorcycling culture of my very own - one that consists of Harley riders around the world, smiling and waving at startled teenagers who are out playing on their little mopeds....

 

Edited January 22, 2015 by cowpuc

[Yammer Dan]

Now that's a BURGER!!!

[cowpuc]

Now that's a BURGER!!!

 

Stick with me bro,, the farther west ya go, the tougher the competition becomes and the easier they are to catch!!!

 

I will say this though,, from my experience - bang for the buck - HANDS DOWN - LAGUNA!!!

[Chaharly]

If you get out my way go to Martinsberg, NE or Belden, NE both have huge burgers!!!

[Gray Ghost]

They stood there in the politest manner, waited till they caught my attention, the lady then softly spoke to me in broken english and explained that they were from Japan! They had noticed our bike sitting there as they pulled up and her husband wanted to know if he could take some pictures..

 

 

As we chatted and she interpreted for her husband, she told me that he LOVED motorcycles and was amazed at our old historic bike.. With my permission (the way its suppose to be) he carefully touched some of the stickers on Tweeks side, inquiring if we had ridden there before he moved on to the next one.. When he came to our Australian sticker I had to shake my head no and I tried to explain the story of how our friend, Aussie Annie, had brought that sticker from her homeland for Tweeks.. As his wife did her best to interpret this for him, He nodded in understanding - we bikers have our own language that transends across time and space,, proving that if and when we ever do find actual outerspace Aliens - it will probably be a biker who will be able to communicate with them..

 

Puc, we saw that same group at the Navajo Travel Center near Chambers, AZ. Also ran into another group of Japanese when we were stopped at the Snow Cap Drive In in Seligman. That group had a tour bus, but also a bunch riding Harleys. The guy we spoke to explained that they were all Harley dealers over in the US for a HD International Dealers meeting and were taking time to tour before heading home. We were so busy talking to the guy, that even though we got a picture of him with our Spyder on his camera, we didn't get one on our camera. The Snow Cap was a neat place though.

 

[cowpuc]

Puc, we saw that same group at the Navajo Travel Center near Chambers, AZ. Also ran into another group of Japanese when we were stopped at the Snow Cap Drive In in Seligman. That group had a tour bus, but also a bunch riding Harleys. The guy we spoke to explained that they were all Harley dealers over in the US for a HD International Dealers meeting and were taking time to tour before heading home. We were so busy talking to the guy, that even though we got a picture of him with our Spyder on his camera, we didn't get one on our camera. The Snow Cap was a neat place though.

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]96585[/ATTACH]

 

My oh my,,, HOW COOL IS THAT - it IS a small world aint it Ghost!!

So, is the woman digging around in the stuff on the back of the bike part of your group or is she local bandit?? Who's who and who's bike belong's to who?

 

THANKS FOR THE PIC and story!!!

 

P.S. Fly-intheointment-Fool, if you happen to see the pic that the Ghost posted - pay no attention to the words on the top of the sign!! (those words will make him go coo-coo and start pulling handles and pushing buttons)...

[Flyinfool]

OOooooooooo...........

[SilvrT]

puc, that part about the tour bus and the occupants coming over and admiring your bike reminded me of a time when Nina (my wife) and I were on our honeymoon, riding our '87 "goldie" at the time. We'd stopped at a popular spot and along came a tour bus, full of Japanese tourists. As they exited the bus, many of them came over to look at "goldie" and we heard a few of them exclaim "ahhhh-sooooo Yah Maa Haaa!" It was quite the experience! Been riding the Victory now for a couple years and have had a few occasions where tourists have come over to admire the bike, talk to us, and have us take their pic alongside the bike. It's danged awesome!

 

So, are you gonna compile all this into a single "book" of sorts, such as maybe a Word document or something? If you haven't already decided to do that, I would be happy to do it for you as a sort of "payment" for all this enjoyable reading.

[dueyk1111]

THANKS for the wonderful adventure!!!! Can't wait to be able to do this myself someday! Really seems like a great time with a great companion. enjoyed it all!!!! Makes me really want to go out and start putting new parts on the bike, push spring into getting here sooner!!!

[cowpuc]

puc, that part about the tour bus and the occupants coming over and admiring your bike reminded me of a time when Nina (my wife) and I were on our honeymoon, riding our '87 "goldie" at the time. We'd stopped at a popular spot and along came a tour bus, full of Japanese tourists. As they exited the bus, many of them came over to look at "goldie" and we heard a few of them exclaim "ahhhh-sooooo Yah Maa Haaa!" It was quite the experience! Been riding the Victory now for a couple years and have had a few occasions where tourists have come over to admire the bike, talk to us, and have us take their pic alongside the bike. It's danged awesome!

 

So, are you gonna compile all this into a single "book" of sorts, such as maybe a Word document or something? If you haven't already decided to do that, I would be happy to do it for you as a sort of "payment" for all this enjoyable reading.

 

Oh man brother,, an 84 Blonde is what I started my "Venture" life on - got a soft spot for Blondes!! That is really neat that you and Nina did your honeymoon on one, SOUNDS AWESOME - hey,, you dont happen to have any records of "Goldies" vin do you? I only ask cause I have an 87 Goldie in the garage waiting for me to figure out its electrical system.. Be cool if it was your old bike!! Here is a vid of me riding it..

 

 

You nailed it Silvr,, THAT is the very reason we keep Tweeks covered with stickers - it inspires conversation with folks of all kinds!! It is SO much fun to pull into a gas station, have kids, old ladies, bikers, people in motorhomes, even families out site seeing come over and start talking about places they been and things they have seen - just derned awesome to meet folks of all kinds from all walks of life - hear their stories and share ours!!! Couple of REALLY crazy ones - once we got invited to join an actual Motorcycle Gang type club by a group of bikers headed to Sturgis - I stopped and helped fix a beat up ol Pan Head Chopper for some pretty rough lookin guys:big-grin-emoticon:.. Another time (will be in this years story) a couple of young Hobo's came up to us and asked if we wanted to share their food (they had a bunch of tato chips given to them) with em,, guess ol Barrycuda isnt the only one who thinks Tweeks, Tip and I look like homeless gypsies:Cool_cool36:!!

 

I would be honored to have you compile this stuff!! If I can find last years report and you dont mind doing it, I would LOVE to have a compiled copy of all these stories (if thats to much, dont be afraid to say NO)!! This is an official go on my part of anything you want to do Silvr - IF YOU WANT TO!! No reason to do it as "payment" though Silvr - really, I enjoy writing and sharing and having folks respond with comments like found on this thread, THAT is by far,, plenty of reward enough for me!!

Let you in on another secret, like most of the regular posters on VR, there have been a number of times in life where I have had people that I have never met come up to me and tell me how much they appreciate all of our posts on VR.. People who, for one reason or another, are not able to get out and enjoy life on the road from a little "different" perspective.. There are some AMAZING folks out there who have become like family to me because of this goofy, bad habit I have of letting my fingers roam and folks spending some of there precious time reading these these ramblings...

 

THANK YOU for the offer - regardless of whether you decide to do it or not!! VERY thoughtful of you Silvr!!

Puc

Edited January 23, 2015 by cowpuc

[SilvrT]

I would be honored to have you compile this stuff!!

 

THANK YOU for the offer - regardless of whether you decide to do it or not!! VERY thoughtful of you Silvr!!

Puc

 

I'll get started on it shortly. Hopefully have it done before spring riding time.

 

You mentioned "last year's report" ... send me a link or whatever you have and I'll see what I can do with that.

[pbjman]

More, Puc!!

[Gray Ghost]

My oh my,,, HOW COOL IS THAT - it IS a small world aint it Ghost!!

So, is the woman digging around in the stuff on the back of the bike part of your group or is she local bandit?? Who's who and who's bike belong's to who?

 

THANKS FOR THE PIC and story!!!

 

Puc, we were doing our trip on our own. There was no room at the front of the place to park our Spyder, we were down a side street a bit. The town we took this picture at was filled with bikes. Seligman isn't very big but almost every building was decked out with Route 66 stuff and they were doing a booming business with the tourists. The Snow Cap was an odd little place, the entry door had a doorknob on both sides of the door, stickers everywhere and great milkshakes.

[SilvrT]

you dont happen to have any records of "Goldies" vin do you? . Be cool if it was your old bike!!

Puc

 

No records of that and "goldie" became "Blackie" the first winter I had it. I'll drop a pic or 2 in here later this evening once I get home from work. I used to have pics of it here but when Don upgraded the site, all my pics disappeared.

[Brenner]

Puc, maybe this is not the thread to ask but I see it mentioned above that this 83 is not your first and I have noted in other posts you mention you have had a few ventures. Might I ask how many and maybe what years you have had? Any new? Roughly how long do these bikes run you? Inquiring minds would like to know. Maybe once I get my project assembled and if you are around home I will give it a "test ride" and come see you to assist in your 86 wiring concerns. This is something I did a lot of in the dealership and it comes pretty easy for me. The wiring on these bike are pretty basic compared to todays cages and no low voltage circuits.

[cowpuc]

Puc, maybe this is not the thread to ask but I see it mentioned above that this 83 is not your first and I have noted in other posts you mention you have had a few ventures. Might I ask how many and maybe what years you have had? Any new? Roughly how long do these bikes run you? Inquiring minds would like to know. Maybe once I get my project assembled and if you are around home I will give it a "test ride" and come see you to assist in your 86 wiring concerns. This is something I did a lot of in the dealership and it comes pretty easy for me. The wiring on these bike are pretty basic compared to todays cages and no low voltage circuits.

 

Contrare oh monseur,, this is the perfect place to ask..

Having been around bikes pretty much my whole life Bren, got married and had kids, got into the mid 80's and realized that my children really really needed to spend some alone time with their dad - I thought I would combine the thrills of cross country touring on motorcycles with fulfilling the need of getting closer to my kids.. Never had a lot of xtra cash laying around, Venture's never did sell well in our area - Wings sold like hot cakes (bought and sold a number of them) and were always pricey - even broken ones.. Began my journey into Venturedom in the late 80's with a broken Blonde 84 Royale. Bought it out of an estate sale = 900 bucks, had 24k on it. Fixed the stator, cleaned it up a little, hauled 3 of my four kids (youngest was way to young) one at a time all over the country on it.. IT WORKED - kids had a ball, connected with them in a ways almost indescribable.. Lost 2nd gear around 50k on it, short shifted it out to 220k, crank went on way home from Cali (still made it home - but it was rattling BAD!! Funny thing about that,, it was 3 A.M. when we turned onto a road about 4 miles from home with crank rattling Blonde 84, an 83 Venture was sitting in neighbors front yard with a 4 sale sign on it.. Got up the next day and went right down there.. This one (#2) had been sitting a long long long time.. Talked to owner.. Was his brothers bike that had been parked under his eves for almost 15 years with a cover on it.. Pipes were rotted off it - cover has disenigrated about 2/3's the way down.. Bike had 18k on it.. Wanted 9, offered 5 and he took it. Drug the bike home, pulled carbs from the Blonde, mixed matched parts.. Up and running in less than 2 days.. Chased that one out to 240k, kids and I rode it to its death - something major internally, only one of 5 I have had that I didnt loose 2nd gear in.. Following winter, guy over in Detroit had an 83 fixer upper for sale - 700 bucks (#3), 38k, good looking bike but said it had an overheating problem. Brought it home, by spring had replaced plastic water pump impellar with upgraded alum one - solved over heating. We chased that one out to just under 200k before its tranny started acting up in upper gears, almost felt like it was getting caught between gears.. Only happened a couple times but I didnt trust it.. Neighbor kid needed bike, told him of tranny problem, sold it to him for 300 bucks - he rode it for summer and got reended by car - he was ok but bike was totalled.. #4 came from a couple over in over by Lowell Mich, starting a family and needed cash more than bike, needed tires and BRAKES really really bad, 1984 = 800 bucks and rode it home in the POURING - COLD April rain..Had to stop near Fifth Third Ball Park near Grand Rapids to see if rain would pass,, told Tippy that #4 was a good one cause it was SOAKED (road thru some areas that I swear was 2' deep) and it just wanted to keep riding!! Lost 2nd gear in this at 60k, short shifted to 230k, it developed an electrical attitude - tried replacing TCI with one from parts bike (prior rider), thought that I had it, youngest and I were on our way home from Touring - bike died North of a town called White Cloud here in Mi at 1 A.M... Fiddled with wiring and got it to start.. Stopped at Wesco fuel station (only place open except bar).. Tore into it,, couldnt find problem - bike ran so we rode home.. Noticed guy in Mancelona Mi had 83 for sale, asking 1100, good lookin bike with 20k on it, took for ride,, wayyyyy underpowered.. Asked guy how long it had been running on 3 cylinders, he looked dumfounded - said it has always ran like that.. Told him it acted like diaphrams.. Offered 9, rode #5 (Tweeks) home from Mancelona Mi, under powered but ran 70 just fine.. Got home, pulled covers off diaphrams, bad one came out in pieces.. 244k KNOWN miles, guessing closer to 255 now.. Would LOVE to see 300k out of one BUT, I am hard on em and doubt that is gonna happen.. One of the reasons I ride Ventures is cause I enjoy having something around that owes me nothing and I dont have to work on all the time = cheap, durable FUN.. I have worked on bikes many many years and I really enjoy just wearing something out and not having to work on it all the time.

 

NEVER have had one with a good clutch.. (never really pursued one either though)

I use cheap dino oils, Rotella 15/40, Super Tech 20-50 stuff from Walmart,, I do change it regular on the road though!! Might get higher miles out of em with a life of good oil but, who knows..

Have had my share of issues with fuse box,, been clipping wires and using spade fuses for years.. Squid gave me a really cool fuse panel I am gonna try!!

Have carried an extra fuel pump for years - had to use it on #4..

I always replace front springs (junk) with progressives.. Just from not being stored on center stand, every one I have own have had sacked front springs.

 

Like you, I LOVE the Ventures for being "basic"!!

 

No idea where the 87 is gonna go.. I APPRECIATE the offer on helping with the electrics but gotta decide what I am gonna do with it.. Was thinking chopper,, have done a number of ground up chop builds and always wanted to do a V-4.. I LOVE Zagger's ride - wayy cool!! On the other hand,, It would also be fun to replace Tweeks tired ol heart with a good running 1300.....

Edited January 23, 2015 by cowpuc

[BlueSky]

Wow! That's awesome Puc! Lots of pleasure packed miles on those Ventures! So, you've put a million miles or more on 83 and 84 Ventures!!!