Highest confirmed Mileage you have seen on a Venture?

[VanRiver]

I'm fortunate to have two 1986 Venture Royale's in my stable with relatively low milage on the clock.....but I know these engines are pretty much bulletproof if cared for properly. I have heard stories of venture motors with 250,000+ miles still running strong.

 

I would like to hear from the community on how many miles your bikes have traveled in their lives to confirm if the stories are true.

 

By the way, my two Ventures have 96,000 Km's and 47,000 Km's on them (they are Canadian bikes)....so I'm hoping they are still babies when it comes to engine life.

Edited February 4, 2015 by VanRiver
I'm a bad speller!

[cowpuc]

Hey Riv,, LOVE the Avatar - I purchased a CT-70H for my son for his 7th birthday - he still has it, its sitting in my basement. I also restored a number of them over the years - LONG LIVE THE MIGHTY CT-70!!

The current 83 Venture that my wife, Tippy, and I ride is named Tweeks. Tweeks will be the 5th 83//84 Venture that I have worn out (actually I sold one of them at the end of its life cause of tranny problems - long story).. 200k plus has been no problem.. All but one of mine lost second gear fairly early in their lives.. I short shifted em out to their terminal ends of over 200k..

Tweeks has 244k and change on her now BUT, her speedo finally came apart during last summers fiasco while riding thru Dennison Texas.. After that happened, we went to Big Bend, Grand Canyon, California, Washington, back to California, Salt Lake City, Alberta Canada, down to Strugis SD, home to Muskegon Mi, down to a place called "Guntersville Alabama", over to within a couple hundred miles of the east coast by Roane Oak, ran into rain and came back home to Michigan, headed over to Detroit for a sleepover that a guy named Raggie had, up to our UP/s Drummond Island, down the West side of Michigan.. We probably put a few more miles on her, it seems like we rode her a couple other places..

All that said, I think I am safe in declaring that Tweeks has over 250k on her.. She is the highest mileage Venture that I have had so far.. I have to say though, Tweeks IS one tired scoot.. I have read of lots of folks with 300k plus on these bikes, I am sure you will hear from some.. As hard on these Ventures as I have been, I can honestly see where - with proper care and by following the maintenance schedule laid out by Yamaha -- 300k NO PROBLEM!!

I do have a 1987 Venture parts bike in the garage with a good motor that I got recently.. Even though its just a parts bike - it is the newest Venture I have ever owned.. I am still not sure what I am going to do with it yet BUT,, I may combine it with the remains of Tweeks when she gives up the ghost and name our new Venture "Memories" or something.. The side covers that are on Tweeks are priceless, they came from my first Venture, an 84 Royal named "Beeg" - many many many miles and memories living in those old Blonde side covers..

 

Anyway,, sounds like you got the potential for many many GREAT memories of fun and adventure sitting in those two machines Riv,, lot and lots of really good miles...

Puc

 

PS, there is an unwritten rule around VR that reads something like "NO PICS = IT DIDNT HAPPEN" or "THIS THREAD IS WORTHLESS WITHOUT PICS" or something like that.. For me, this rule has never been a problem because Tweeks has always been the prettiest bike on the site and I have never had a problem sharing pics of her.. There are folks on here that do constantly get away with breaking that unwritten rule Riv, I hope your not one of them cause I, for one, would love to see some pics of your scoots..

[VanRiver]

Thanks Puc, I have been following your great adventure on Tweeks with your lovely wife Tippy in the other forum.....You sir are my hero!

 

If there is one thing that I never want to be called on this forum is a "Rule breaker".....therefore here are some pics of my VR's. I'm restoring these as a father son project. My Dad is 74 years young (I'm in my 40's) and I wanted to get back on the road with him just like when I was a kid....he instilled the values of motorcycles in me at a very early age....so the Black bike is mine (lots of restoration work to go but the bike has a really cool history and story to her which I will post some day) but the nice Brown bike is for him. That is my mom and dad taking it for a ride on the centre stand.

 

Nothing like father son bonding time in my shop and hopefully on the highways come spring too! Sounds like you instilled the same values with your son starting with the CT-70. I included a pic of the same CT-70 I used in my avatar but after my restoration was done..I built it for my daughter when she was 10 to hopefully set the right tone with the next generation. The CT-70 is another bullet proof machine just like our Ventures!

 

 

 

Thanks Cowpuc for sharing your Mileage insight!

[Shamue]

Cowpuc, I like following your post. You ride like I like to. Been touring for years, slowed while the kids were growing up, but now looking at retirement in a year or so and will have more time than ever. But I have been a Yamaha believer for a long time. Seams Yamaha will test a bike or 4 wheeler for years before putting it on the market. Hope that is what they are doing insteaed of eliminating the RSV. Yamaha has always been the most tight lipped when designing/testing models, so I never believe the rumors until I can see it. Only have 97,000 on my '08, plan is to keep it to the 2 or 300,000 mile mark. Will never say never to the Gold Wing also bullet proof, as I have a '81 GL 1000 Interstate with 177,000. When it's time will consider or brends as there has been a lot of improvement in the past 15-20 years.

So, keep on riding and stay safe, love read about your adventures.

[Brake Pad]

My 1984 Honda Gold wing Aspincade came to a dead stop after hitting a deer at 237,891.8 miles I'm very sure I could've got that bike up to 500,000 miles without a problem that 1200 mL engine could not be killed