Bought running Venture for 250$ - need help with suspension

[jfman]

Hey guyz,

 

I just bought a running 1983 (or is it an 1985?) Yamaha venture for a song and I would like to work out a few bugs on it before going on a longer road trip. This bike has a special fate but the details are still brewing.

 

This model has the air suspension on it that I cant seem to be able to get to work. The suspension is quite mushy and I would like to stiffen it up a bunch if I can and also raise it if possible.

 

Is there hope for the air compressor system? Is it a costly and complex? Is it better to remove it in some cases? I am also wanting to replace the fork oil for a thicker substance.

 

Open to any insight an suggestions but keep in mind I am not wanting to spend much money on this bike.

 

Anyway here is a picture of my bike.

 

[Yammer Dan]

1985 The Air system will only work when switch is in Acc position. Don't overair the Front!! Can get costly. Start with about 7 lbs in it. Don't overair it!!!! Around 35 in the rear. Spend the 12 bucks on this site and wonder how you ever got along without it!! Looks like you may have stolen a great bike.

[Venturous Randy]

Yeah, that is an 85 and what is the last four of the serial number. Hope it is above 1413 and that will resolve the 2nd gear issue. There is a lot on here about a resolder on the CLASS controller and that usually fixes it.

Welcome to the forum and hope you join. Like yammer said, it will be the best $12 you will ever spend on your bike and we come along for free.

Randy

[mark68502]

You picked up a RUNNING (and by the looks of it, complete) bike for $250 and you are worried about spending "too much" on it?! lol If you regularly get deals like that I want to be your new best friend!

[Flyinfool]

As mentioned above, the air suspension system does suffer from bad factory solder joints, quick and easy fix. Getting the CLASS working will stiffen up the suspension a lot and also raise it a bunch. The bike was designed to have air in the suspension at all times.

It is also common for the front springs to be worn out, a new set of progressives will fix that, it is almost by default that the spring change will get new fork oil.

 

Not only is that bike running, and complete, but looks clean to. A real steal.

[mark68502]

Wait, jfman is in Montreal which means thats $250 CANADIAN. And, as a Canadian myself (out of country since '94) I count that to be something like 17 bucks! lmao

[bongobobny]

Do a search and find a lot more info on the CLASS system! For the front I would buy a new set of progressive springs and be done with it!! You won't need heavier oil or air in the front shocks. Clean out the tubes and put new oil in there when you replace the springs.

 

$250CAD?!!? Heck you can sell the upper fairings stripped and still make a profit!!! You STOLE that bike friend, add a zero and that's what one in good shape is worth...

[jfman]

Hello guyz: I just paid the 12$ so my cost for this bike is 250 CAD + 12$ US so far.

 

To be fair I need to post up more details. Yes the bike was only 250$ CAD but it does have the 2nd gear problem. The man who sold it to me told me the 2nd gear has been messed up up for over 5 years but he kept riding it like that anyway. I do not want to fix the 2nd gear. I just want to put good rubber on it and fix a few quirks that are making it unsafe right now.

 

Now I hope this next part wont anger too many members on this site. I bought this bike with the sole intention to ride it to a destination, abandon/sell/donate it and fly home. On my other bike I have ridden to Alaska and Mexico. If you are interested, you can read my ride reports here:

 

Alaska 2014: Hotel Budget Zero

 

Spending Christmas in Death Valley and the New Year in Urique, Mexico

Tour of the American West 2013 :

 

Anyway I plan to ride to either Anchorage or Cancun or mayyybe around the US to San Diego (still unsure) and fly home. For this reason I dont want to sink too much money into it. I just hope the bike will survive the trip is all. Knowing full well it may not but that is part of the appeal of this trip.

 

For now I need to fix a few quirks on this bike to make it safe to ride then it will be ready.

 

I have always wanted to do a bike abandon tour and I think this bike will fit the bill.

 

I cant wait to go on a great adventure with my Venture

Edited July 4, 2015 by jfman

[VanRiver]

Cool idea for a trip!!...but rather then calling it an "abandon tour" might want to drop the bike off at a fellow forum member's place when you are done and call it a "parts bike gift tour" instead. We have members all over the world that would give that bike a good home and potentially a new lease on life rather then running her in a ditch and walking away once you are done with her.

 

Anyway, enough of my preaching...sounds like a great trip....and be safe! You picked/found the perfect bike for a nice long trip. Ventures are awesome..... in my very biased and humble opinion of course.

[jfman]

The final fate of the bike remains to be known. A coworker of mine that used to ride one back in the late 80's is interested in maybe flying in where I am flying out to go for a ride after I am done, or maybe we find him one too and we go ride together. Here is the conversation we had when I bought it.

 

Monday morning.

 

Me - " did something a little crazy this weekend "

 

Him - " what did you do now! "

 

Me - " bought a 1980's Yamaha Venture for 250$ "

 

Him - " Get out! I used to own one! went to Arizona with it, How is second gear? "

 

Me - " How did you know about second gear? "

 

Him - " They all did that, so what do you need it for? you already have a bike "

 

Me - " Gonna ride it somewhere and abandon it, trade it for a burrito in Mexico and fly home "

 

Him - " Brilliant! Try to find me one for this price we can go together, but not Mexico, I aint going there, let's go to Alaska "

 

Me - " I will try to find you one "

 

So I'm trying to secure a cheap second bike but his involvment in not garanteed, he has a family to take care of.

 

If I go alone, maybe I pull the carbs and the CDI off when I abandon it. I did find a complete venture that has no carbs. The guy took them off to get them rebuilt and never went back to the shop for them. So he has a complete Venture minus carbs and he wants 100$ for it. I may rob the carbs from mine to put them in that 100$ Venture I found.

 

Also if I leave it in Vegas(Vegas flights are cheap), my friend is interested in flying in and out and checking out California...

 

The plan sure is vague right now, but it will happen

Edited July 4, 2015 by jfman

[Flyinfool]

Dont worry about the 2nd gear issue.

@cowpuc has been riding his with no 2nd gear for 250,000 MILES so far. Just get used to shifting from 1st to third and third to 1st.

 

As far as abandoning it at the end of your trip, there are a whole bunch of us that might end up following you around to grab it up.'

[cowpuc]

Hi JF and WELCOME to the greatest show on earth!!

Fool is correct, I have done a fair amount of short shifting these ol Yammers thru the years.. Matter of fact, "Tweeks" - my current 83 that FlyingFool is talking about is actually my 5th one that I will have worn out having owned them since 87.. She will also be the 3rd one of those 5 who dropped 2nd gear with less than 50k on them and that I have done the short shift routing out well past 200k..

Personally,, if I were you I would do just as you are speaking of with no fear of tranny issues caused by the short shift.. Only thing I advise is to not concern yourself with the abandonment idea (dont ever use those words around your bike - these ol Yam's have ears like a and you might be setting yourself up for some real surprises), instead plan on riding the bike out till it is worn out and can go no more.. Then come back on here in ten years or so and tell us how bad you feel about having to leave your best friend in a far off land:crying:

Ok, words of advice on how to get to where your going and do so quite possibly many times over.. If it still has the stock water pump replace it with the updated aluminum one. If it does not have the updated stator with the oil squirter bolt and splash plate go that. Follow the stator leads up to the terminal behind the left side cover - remove the terminal and hard wire the stator. Carry an extra used fuel pump in your maintenance department. Pull the headlight, see all the relays in there? Unplug them one at a time, clean the terminals and light coat the male end of the terminal body with dialectric grease to fight moisture. Take a close look at the fuse box on top of the battery, usually they are shot. You can easily build a spade fuse connector for each one of those fuses - did Tweeks many years ago and still working fine having them on a pig tail. There are a few guys on here who are wayyyyy ahead of the ball game on actual fuse box replacement if you wanna go that way but what I am talking is wayyy cheap.

Break down the front and rear wheel assemblies, fresh pack bearing areas and grease splines. If you are gonna stick on new tires - replace valve stems. Start out with new plugs and a fresh carb sync. Use 20/50 weight oil, Autozone can get cheap filters - about 5 bucks.

It is normal for the calipers on the scoots to become sticky after not being used for long periods. Pull the calipers, remove the pads, push the pistons out to the same distance as the thickness of the pad surfaces so the piston dont come all the way out, take a strip of cloth - clean the pistons real good (little brake fluid on cloth strip will make em shine) and squeeze em back in.. No rebuild usually necessary if ya keep em clean..

Remove seat, pull fuel guage sending unit, look in tank for rust. If its clean GOOD FOR YOU.. RUsty tanks cause lots of problems.. Open saddle bags, remove cover on locking mech, spray internal slides with white grease or synthetic chain lube = better than breaking keys trying to open bags. also lube all key mechs. Get cheapy cable luber - type that clamps on cables. LUBE throttle cables with synthetic bike chain lube.. Been doing this for years and have only replaced one throttle cable.. Also lube speedo drive at speedo..

Keep your oil level between half and 3/4 on the site glass while bike is resting on tires and held upright, cuts down on aspiration..

[VanRiver]

So he has a complete Venture minus carbs and he wants 100$ for it. I may rob the carbs from mine to put them in that 100$ Venture I found.

 

Wow @jfman I didn't know that "Cheap Ventures" were so plentiful in Quebec....I'm hooking up the trailer immediately and heading your way to tap into this Venture goldmine you found! :banana:Sure wish the same was true here in Alberta, I would fill the garage up to the rafters if I could get $100 and $250 machines! :canada:Carbs are still fairly easy to find on ebay, so stealing from your bike might not be necessary.

 

Having a good riding buddy come with you on this tour sounds like the cherry on the top!

[Great White]

How about you guys ride to nova Scotia instead?

 

I've got a perfect abandonment spot in mind for ya......

[KIC]

If you make it to Arizona I will give your bike a great retirement place and drive you to the airport !

[dna9656]

I have a destination in the Pacific North West! Right in the Seattle area. I have a '85 (last 4 VIN) 1416. Neener, Neener, Neener! Same Paint job too! She's a parts bike I got for trading I guitar I didn't really like, or pay much for; BUT she doesn't run. I never tried to get her running as my '83.5 was enough at the time. I have since removed a few parts, I have the rear travel bag from the '85 on the '83.5. You have to transplant the rack the trunk (travel bag) is latched to in order to do this. I also have the saddle bags moved (and the ignition, gas door, and locks on the fairing too) over for simplicity's sake of keeping 1 key.

[jfman]

Cowpuc: Thank you for your input, that sure is a long grocery list. I dont want to do that much work on the bike. I want to address suspension and brakes and tires. The rest I can can live with knowing it may fail. If the bike is too nicely rebuilt, I wont want to part with it.

[jfman]

Wow @jfman I didn't know that "Cheap Ventures" were so plentiful in Quebec....I'm hooking up the trailer immediately and heading your way to tap into this Venture goldmine you found! :banana:Sure wish the same was true here in Alberta, I would fill the garage up to the rafters if I could get $100 and $250 machines!

 

If you do a search on kijiji Quebec, you will find about 15 Ventures below for less than 800$. About half of them run. Theres a good running one for 550$ with cosmetic damage that seems to be a decent deal. http://www.kijiji.ca/v-moto-touring/drummondville/yamaha-venture/1082019769?enableSearchNavigationFlag=true

[Great White]

How about a 91 for $500 Cdn:

 

http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/NTc2WDEwMjQ=/z/2E8AAOSwjVVVjjBD/$_27.JPG

 

http://www.kijiji.ca/v-moto-chopper/laval-rive-nord/yamaha-venture-royale-1991/1083168070?enableSearchNavigationFlag=true

 

Or an 86+ for $500Cdn:

 

http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/NTk4WDgwMA==/z/nMgAAOSwBahVCGl-/$_27.JPG

 

http://www.kijiji.ca/v-pieces-accessoires-moto/saint-jean-sur-richelieu/yamaha-venture-1300-royale-star/1057898391?enableSearchNavigationFlag=true

 

Deals to be scooped up in Quebec if you've got some cash and a trailer.

 

Ontario is usually similar....

[VanRiver]

Wow that blue 1991 is sure pretty, especially for $500 CND (that is ONLY $398 USD for us who deal in "Green backs"!) Too bad my "Star Trek Transporter" is on the fritz as that sure would look nice in my Garage.

 

The wife and I call Alberta home but also have a winter house in Arizona, and I always thought that Phoenix would be a "treasure trove of minty classic Ventures for cheap"....but they are pretty rare down here too (from what I have found anyway). I've been looking in the Arizona craigslist for a long time but nothing in that price range so far that wasn't just a crate of random parts. But the funny thing is GoldWings are a dime a dozen down here compared to Alberta. As a result I actually broke down and have a mint 1984 GoldWing in AZ instead of a preferred Venture because of that (I got my mint GL1200 for only $300, yes that is right, mint for only $300....but that is another story for another forum thread).

 

I find it interesting how plentiful or rare these "survivor" first generation Ventures are in different geographical areas. In Alberta Canada, because of our long winters and very short riding season, all the Ventures are low milage and in nice cosmetic shape but barely run as they spent most of their lives in the garage with old gas gelling in their carbs...because they look so pretty people usually want big bucks for them.....in Arizona because the weather is so nice the very few ventures I have found are very high milage and have been sitting in the desert sun baking away and causing some major cosmetic damage. So my theory is that most have already been sent to the scrap yard because they looked like crap after all the plastic deteriorated in the sun. Or that Honda dominated the AZ market so much that maybe there weren't that many Ventures here in the desert to begin with?

 

Would be interesting to know Yamaha Venture sales numbers by Geographic location. Does that info even exist for the 1980's? Might be a good question for our brother and local VIN database guru @Prairiehammer

 

Viva La Quebec!

Edited July 5, 2015 by VanRiver

[Prairiehammer]

Would be interesting to know Yamaha Venture sales numbers by Geographic location. Does that info even exist for the 1980's? Might be a good question for our brother and local VIN database guru @Prairiehammer

 

Yamaha has never released sales numbers for the Ventures AFAIK.

However, after collecting First Gen Venture VIN for awhile now, I may be able to extrapolate the relative sales by California, US49 and Canada.

According to my latest updated database:

1983 Standard > 7711

1983 Royale > 3985

1983 CDN Std > 299

1983 CDN ROY > 588

1983½ Standard (US ONLY) > 515

1983½ Royale (US ONLY) > 529

1984 Standard US > 2033

1984 Royale > 2988

1984 CDN STD > 975

1984 CDN Roy > 1106

1984 Euro (first year of importation) Unknown

1985 Royale > 1437

1985 STD (CANADA ONLY) > 278

1985 CDN Roy. > 498

1985 Euro UNKNOWN

1986 Royale > 2701

1986 CALI Roy. > 296

1986 STD (CANADA ONLY) > 487

1986 CDN Roy. > 515

1987 Standard > 598

1987 Royale > 1877

1987 CALI STD > 2

1987 CALI Roy. > 1174

1987 CDN STD > 56

1987 CDN Roy > 270

1987 Euro UNKNOWN

1987 NIGERIA UNKNOWN

1988 Standard > 217

1988 Royale > 1236

1988 CALI STD > N/A

1988 CALI Roy. > 136

1988 CDN Roy. > 98

1988 Euro > N/A

1989 Royale > 1710

1989 CALI Roy > 196

1989 CDN Roy > 68

1989 GERM > N/A

1989 EURO > N/A

1990 Royale > 752

1990 CALI > 63

1990 CDN Roy. > N/A

1990 GERM > N/A

1990 EURO > 18

1991 Royale > 307

1991 CALI Roy. > 50

1991 CDN Roy. > 26

1991 Euro > 40

1992 Royale > 169

1992 CALI Roy. > 8

1992 CDN Roy. > N/A

1993 Royale > 228

1993 CALI Roy. > 26

[VanRiver]

Yamaha has never released sales numbers for the Ventures AFAIK.

However, after collecting First Gen Venture VIN for awhile now, I may be able to extrapolate the relative sales by California, US49 and Canada.

According to my latest updated database:

 

 

Thanks PrairieHammer! You are a true fountain of information!!!....The Canadian numbers are just a drop in the bucket compared to the US49's.

[GAWildKat]

I wish we lived up that way or had access to the bikes for sale, $400US would be awesome!

[Great White]

I wish we lived up that way or had access to the bikes for sale, $400US would be awesome!

 

Oh, they're not all like that. The prices are all over the map most of the time. You can find them from $500 parts bikes to some guy asking 5 grand for an 85 (http://www.kijiji.ca/v-touring/cape-breton/venture-royale-yamaha/1074174222?enableSearchNavigationFlag=true) in the NS kijiji.

 

Gawd help you if you're looking to buy a model that is perceived to have any "desirability" to it.

 

For example: 1995 VMax (20 year old bike), $5000

 

Says it's "perfect condition"

 

http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/NjAwWDgwMA==/z/U4IAAOSw3ydVkeg~/$_27.JPG

 

http://www.kijiji.ca/v-moto-sport-promenade/ville-de-quebec/vmax-show-room/1083851510?enableSearchNavigationFlag=true

 

He may love the paint job, but ti counts against it for me and makes it NOT perfect condition.

 

That's a $2000-3000 bike at best.

 

I had one guy in Moncton adamant his 1985 FJ1100 was worth 3 grand and he was selling it cheap at that. Wouldn't even listen to offers. Sure, it was in nice shape, but high mileage and its his bike so he can ask whatever he wants. Truth of it is that it's was a 1000-1500 bike at best. I ended up buying and 89 FJ1200 (all the updates are done by 89, 41,000 kms) for 850 bucks. Only thing wrong with it is it could use a paint job and a new seat cover. Doesn't need a paint job (someone painted it all pearl white), but could use one. Seat has an itty bitty tear in the top surface. Guy in Moncton still has the bike, still asking over the moon, still looking for a pigeon....

 

Ya just gotta catch the right guy. Some guys are selling begrudgingly, some are selling based on what the bike is worth to them (instead of market value) and some guys just want that old bike out of the way....right now.

 

Edited July 5, 2015 by Great White

[GAWildKat]

Oh, they're not all like that. The prices are all over the map.

 

Gawd help you if you're looking to buy a model that is perceived to have any "desirability" to it.

 

For example: 1995 VMax (20 year old bike), $5000

 

Says it's "perfect condition"

 

http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/NjAwWDgwMA==/z/U4IAAOSw3ydVkeg~/$_27.JPG

 

http://www.kijiji.ca/v-moto-sport-promenade/ville-de-quebec/vmax-show-room/1083851510?enableSearchNavigationFlag=true

 

He may love the paint job, but ti counts against it for me and makes it NOT perfect condition.

 

That's a $2000-3000 bike at best.

 

I had one guy in Moncton adamant his 1985 FJ1100 was worth 3 grand and he was selling it cheap at that. Wouldn't even listen to offers. Sure, it was in nice shape, but high mileage and its his bike so he can ask whatever he wants. Truth of it is that it's was a 1000-1500 bike at best. I ended up buying and 89 FJ1200 (all the updates are done by 89, 41,000 kms) for 850 bucks. Only thing wrong with it is it could use a paint job and a new seat cover. Doesn't need a paint job (someone painted it all pearl white), but could use one. Seat has an itty bitty tear in the top surface. Guy in Moncton still has the bike, still asking over the moon, still looking for a pigeon....

I realize that, it's just here in Georgia there aren't many 1st gens floating around for sale, most of the owners are members on the forum, and we don't have the ability to travel outside the state really. Well I might if my husband wouldn't worry his pretty head about me on trips with a truck and trailer....oh well, such is life.