Canada to Cancun on the 250$ Venture - The full ride report

[jfman]

OK guyz as promised I am doing the full RR with full description from the ride I took in March. It is a cut and paste job from the thread on ADVRIDER so this is why it is worded for a reader who may know less about these bikes that the members on here. I have to warn you guyz that the updates will not be super frequent because I am very busy these days but you will get it all within the next month or so.

 

http://advrider.com/index.php?threads/canada-to-cancun-on-250-motorcycle.1140366/

 

Canada to Cancun on 250$ motorcycle

Summer 2015 - six months before departure

Every single multi-week motorcycle trip I dread this day. The day where you have checked most of the boxes for your trip, you have google map opened on your laptop and you are counting how many miles a day you have to cannonball thru to get back home in time for work. You then spend the last days of your trip riding mostly highways you have ridden across dozens of times, trying to make good time. During those long boring riding hours, the weight of your daily life comes back to rest on your shoulders as you leap state to state. How thick is that stack of files on my office chair going be? How many emails will I have in my box waiting for an answer when I show up to work on Monday? My hydro bill is probably waiting for me in the mail box.

What a drag.

Those last days racing to go back your life are not only a bear, they are costly. Oftentimes riding 800 to 1000 miles a day, using up a lot of gas, wearing out costly tires you had to have put on to make it home. With little wiggle room in your schedule, the threat of a breakdown hovers above your head like the blade of a guillotine. If my bike breaks down now, I will never make it home in time to be at work.

I wish I could avoid that long ride home. There has to be a way.

Shipping the bike home is costly and a hassle.

Seems like my best option is to buy a cheap bike, ride it to any town with an airport, abandon the bike and fly home.

If I can find an affordable bike that will suit my needs for a specific trip, I should most definitely do this.

So I started scoping out the local kijiji(Craigslist for Canadians)ads hoping to find something, anything that I can ride to a fun location and then throw out. It had to be comfy enough to swallow the highway miles. It had to be in a shape that would not require me to rebuild the whole thing before taking off. Did I mention it had to be cheap? Anything above 600$ I would disregard instantly. I was basically looking for that unicorn, that cheap but comfy bike that nobody wanted.

After a few months I found her, a 1985 Yamaha Venture 1200. The seller claimed it had not been plated in 2 years. It had a recent rear tire but the front was done. The battery was of course bad and the brakes were mush. The asking price? 300$

I could not pass this up. After knocking off 50$ from the asking price over the phone, I bought her sight unseen, sent a check in the mail and kept my fingers crossed.

Why so cheap? The bike looked good in the photos. A detail needs to be explained: this bike has no second gear. A common problem for the early Ventures from 1983 thru 1985 is a faulty second gear. It would not affect the other gears but if one wanted to fix it, it would be a complex and expensive process. From what I read the 4 cylinder motor has to come out, the cases have to be split and the faulty gears replaced along with a stronger washer piece, all new gaskets all around on the massive V4 engine. And this is how 31 year old decent looking motorcycle becomes a 250$ motorcycle.

It was perfect!

Besides... How much time do you spend in second gear anyway?

Edited May 12, 2016 by jfman

[jfman]

Summer 2015 to Winter 2016

A few weeks after buying the Venture, I made the 2 hour drive to the sellers place to pick her up.

With jumping cables, she fired right up and idled with ease and revved without any problems. I was very happy.

I loaded her up on the trailer. What a beast! And I here thought my Versys 1000 was a pig.

I brought her to my fathers place in the countryside.

Here she is in all of her glory:

Not bad for 250$ CAD right?!?

A few weeks later, I pulled the battery from one of my bikes and went for a quick ride to the next town 9km down the road to fill her up with fresh gas.

This was an eye opener.

Of course going into second gear would produce a sound sure to wipe the smile from any riders face. Think of the worst misshift you have ever had had, insert 100 marbles into the symphony and that is what not skipping second sounded like. The handling was terrible, the front forks were very very soft. Both fork seals were blown and the bike was very undersprung in the front end. The worst feature of the bike was the brakes. The front was very mushy and weak and the rear was simply non existant. She also had a minor exhaust leak but that did not even seem to matter in the grand scheme of things. The bike did have fresh oil and coolant. The rear tire was at 75% but the front was done.

First I had to fix the brakes. On these old Ventures, when you squeeze the front lever, only the front right caliper is actuated. When you put your foot down on the brake pedal, the left front caliper and the rear caliper are actuated. I disliked the idea of this system very much so I re-engineered it.

Up front I put a master cylinder from and FZ6 that I had laying around.

Below I used the split and lower brake lines from a V45 Honda Sabre parts bike I have.

The only upper line I had that was long enough was the line from a virago 535 parts bike. It was too long so it looped it over the rev counter before coming back down to the master. Good enough...

I also put new front brake pads (9.99$ ebay special) in the calipers.

Then I moved to the rear. I plugged the hole going from the rear master cylinder to the front left caliper with a stubby bolt.

Back up front, since the little stubby lines going to the antidive feature on the front forks were now defunct, I removed the antidives and inserted a nut between the pistons and the bodies. This way it would stiffen up the suspension a little.

The total out of pocket cost of the brake modifications was 25$ (brake fluid and pads)

Now the front tire was completely shot. Here I lucked out big time. My friend Martin gave me the OEM rear from his new DRZ400 since he had installed more agressive knobbies on his bike. It fit right onto the front wheel of the big Venture.

A few months passed by...

Having ordered 10$ seals on ebay and having bought the thickest fork oil I could find at the dealer, I pulled the front forks for a rebuild.

Buying new stiffer springs was not an option so I just added some Preload by sticking two large 1/2 drive SAE sockets on top of the OEM springs when I put the forks back together. To give myself more ground clearance, I rebolted the forks about half an inch lower in the triples. I might have overdone it because the front end now felt very stiff. Or maybe it was just that Canadian December cold air?

The bike pretty much ready to go, all I had to do was get some vacation time and pick a destination. From Montreal, it seemed like the cheapest one way flights to rideable winter destinations were Miami(boring) Vegas and Cancun.

On Boxing day I lucked out and saw a direct flight from Cancun to Montreal for $172 US.

Booked!

Now I just need to ride it out of this godforsaken winterland.

[jfman]

Leaving Canada

Winter did what winter does, and that is to bring more snow and more cold weather our way.

With a new battery stashed away in the warmth of a home, the motorcycle, almost ready to go, laid dormant next to my other steeds which were all in various states of disassembly.

Of course I had to shovel a path to the garage to get the bike out.

These are the first 10 feet ridden with the bike fixed. At this point, I had a total of maybe 18 or 19 km done on this bike since buying it.

But I have to give this bike respect, despite the cold, the bike cranked up and was ready to conquer the season.

I was set to depart from the Beauce area on March 5th. Early March is a tricky period in this corner of the world. At best it could be 10c outside and at the very worst, it could be -25c.

On the evening of March 4th, after a long day at work I drove the 350 kilometers needed to get to the bike. Montreal itself enjoys warmer weather than the Beauce area with less pricipitation and better snow removal. In the sticks, the road conditions vary from town to town. When I got close to the bike I started to look closely at the condition paved roads. Apart from the snowmobile crassings which bring about snow on the road, the main roads were free of standing snow but whenever that main road went through a small town, the street corners had a nice coat of hard packed snow. Another problem is the snowbank melt off from warmer days refreezes into thin ice on colder days.

When I got home, I got out of the car and checked my phone for the current temps.

This is not good. I looks like I lost out on the weather lottery this time.

I moved the bike down to the heated garage and went to bed.

When I woke up at 8am, I checked and the weather was still at -18c. In Jackman Maine, where I planned to cross into the US, it was even colder than that due to higher elevation.

The weatherman promised better temps for the next day (with some overcast) So I took the day off to pack my stuff, eat lunch with my great aunt and dinner with my cousin and his better half which are good friends of mine.

On that day I also did a last minute change on the bike.

See this grip?

This grip is the custom chromed steel special that motorcycle shop sell to unsuspecting cruiser enthusiasts who think oversize steel grips are a good idea.

UNHEATED steel grips, at -18c are a very bad idea. I quickly wrapped a hand towel around the grip with tie-wraps.

About 30 seconds later, I realized how stupid that fix was so I pulled it all off the bike. I then robbed two old rubber grips from a stray handlebar I had laying around to replace the steel grips. These salvaged grips were still unheated but at least they were not made of metal and were the proper size.

The next morning, the temps were a lot colder than what forecast had promised. At 9h30am, it was -16c when I left and the sun wasn't shining to warm up the black pavement like the day before.

To make things worse a few light and lazy snowflakes were coming down at the speed of a feather. The conditions were far from ideal but if I waited yet another day, a decent snowfall was in the forecast. And besides, I was ready to go! Time to head south!

The street where the bike is stored is a dirt road. In the winter this means that it turns to slurry on warm days and then to ice when it freezes back up. As a kid growing up, we would ice skate up and down this road pretty much all winter. Of course that ice is what I got that morning. I could not even make it out of the driveway because of the slight upward slope. I got stuck immediately and I had to dismount and coerce the bulky bike up and out of the driveway.

Yes, not even 5 feet are covered that I am stuck. The neighbor across the street, who also happens to be my uncle was looking at me from his home and probably thought I was nuts.

Once up on the icy road, I slowly rode to the end of the street in first gear and I prayed that no cars would be in sight when I got to the end of the road. You see the dirt road downslopes a little and T's into a paved road so if a car is coming down on the main road that means I have to apply enough brakes that the bike is going to come down on that ice.

But I lucked out. With no cars in sight, I let the bike roll into the paved road and I slowly made my way towards Maine. Once on the black stuff, not wanting to take any chances, I kept the speeds around 75-80 km/h. Mind you I was still getting comfortable with the bike and how it operated.

The suspension, with the SAE socket for preload and the 15w oil was rock solid in this weather. After riding over a few frost heaves I realized that it barely moved at all.

Because of the reduced speeds, everyonce in a while, I would get doubled by a car and all of the occupants would turn their heads and give me a long blank stare as they passed me.

But I kept my eyes focused on the road surface at all times and whenever a dodgy, snowy or icy spot came into view, I would pull the clutch and let the bike roll over the uncertain sections.

The Venture was doing an amazing job at diverting the cold air around me. I did have a heated vest and chaps but due to a lack of heated grips and boots, my extermities got uncomfortably cold rather quickly.

I proceded thru Saint-Georges, the largest town of the region. I expected to run into at least one patrol car there and get pulled over. (our pesky provincial winter tire laws mean no motorcycles can be legally ridden in the winter) I had the proper documents for a temporary exemption but I did not feel like wasting time getting a lecture from Quebec's finest, again... But this being a Sunday morning, no units were out and I made it across town without a hitch.

Once out of St-Georges, I pulled over to warm my hands and took a quick shot of this road sign, you know... for prosperity.

I arrived at the small border crossing of Jackman, hands freezing. The lot of the border station was not cleared as well as the road so I very slowly creeped towards the border patrol agent, who, through his window, was looking at me with stupor. As soon as I stopped that the booth, the sleepy Jackman border station emptied and all of the agents came out smart phones in hand to snap photos.

This could be really bad or could be really good.

We had a few chuckles and after warning me that even colder weather was waiting for me further down the road, the border agent let me go. In fact he almost forgot to ask me for my passport and only at the very last moment did I hand the passport over for a quick scan.

A few miles down the road from the border station.

It did not take long that I was in Jackman proper. Of course I am not an early bird and I missed the Jackman Welcome Committee.

Maybe next time...

I slowly pulled into Bishop's General store to fill up with that sweet American blend of premium gasoline.

I let the bike idle in the lot(nobody would be crazy enough to steal this bike in this weather) and went inside for a quick bite and a cup of coffee.

Once warmed up, I hit the road. The day was progressing and I had to be out of the high lands before the sun dropped.

There were no other motorcyclists around but I did run into many riders.

The whole area of Jackman Maine is a popular destination for snowmobilers and they were very present. Some trails run alongside the 201 and the sleds riding them would be quick to throw the thumbs up when they would see my bike come down the road.

Immediately after I left Jackman snow started falling at a rate that was worrying me a bit. It is quite mesmerizing to ride a motorcycle through the light snowflakes and to see them disperse around you. There was not yet enough of them on the ground to cause big problems but I knew I had to head south as quickly as I could.

The snow only lasted for about 20 minutes, just long enough for me to be able to talk about it but not long enough to make things more interesting.

I stopped here alongside the Kennebec River

I think this is getting close to Moscow.

Once I got passed Moscow, the temps became more tolerable and I knew I was out of the woods.

When I got to I95, it was still below freezing but probably only -4c or -5c.

In this weather, I can pretty much ride all day. Once on the interstate, I pickup ed up the pace and started to eat up the miles. The temperature always stayed around -3c or -4c because as the sun set and the night progressed, I kept making my way further south, reaching warmers temps.

True to myself I stopped for a late night meal at Denny's in the Philadelphia area.

I then got a cheap room in Aberdeen, Maryland and that was the end of the first day of this ride.

[Guest divey]

Wow, this is going to be one interesting read. Bring it on @jfman. Doug

[cowpuc]

If we'd a had books in grade school with stories like this in em I would have learned to read - @jfman - YOU DA MAN BROTHER!!:clap2::dancefool:

 

:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[jfman]

Cowpuc: You are the smilie king! Next time I head west and roll thru your area on a bike I will bug you and invite you out for a cup of coffee or beer wichever you prefer.

 

I am thinking "I gotta meet this guy" ha ha!

[Dragonslayer]

Wow, being from the sunny south of Georgia, even though we have a 12 month riding season, riding in the snow and ice is something I'd never do. Driving rain no problem. Tell us more.

[JohnT]

This guy just isn't "right" in the head. I like him.

[blaine1]

This guy just isn't "right" in the head if every one was like this what a good world we think a lot alike keep it up i still try at 70 blaine

[jfman]

If there is a cure, please dont let me know about it

[Trader]

No update for a week....

Hope the trip is going well.

Looking forward to more!

I can't do trips like that so I love to read about them

[RussLightwing]

Well the colddeest I have ridden is 1 degrees:yikes: on sunny day in Orangeville ,ON and 5 degrees in Otttawa! im in Ottawa Now and the weather sucks, I did not Know you can Ride in sub freezing temps ? DON"T you need a heated garage to keep oil fluid before starting wow amazing I have snowmobile coat and pants that mostly work, so not that cold and my hands never get cold anyways HMM Bravveee, wild and Nutso but so COOL, congrats and good luck, be safe safe have great holiday. go First geny wow. I always wear a hoodie under my helmet to keep the cold off my neck, really helps by the way I have nice trailer I just toot down to whearever NC smokey mountains daytona and Sedona arizona in my Highlander nice and cozy both ways IT seems the smart way for me pull over and poof out for three hrs back into truck stop and chowed down off for another 400 k any ways wow Awsome

[jfman]

Day 2,3 and 4 : Maryland to Mississippi

After a good night sleep I woke up to this sight:

A nice slow but steady leak coming from the water pump housing.

At first I thought the leak was from a faulty water pump impeller seal but after looking at it closely I realized that the leak was coming from the seals at the water pump inlet elbow.

I cranked the bike up and as soon as the bike warmed up, the leak stopped.

It did not leak again for the rest of the day but I as I went to pass a car on the highway I discovered another problem: The clutch slips under load.

In regular riding situations, the clutch would be fine however whenever I gave it a lot of punch the clutch would slip badly. This had not happened the day before as I was being very careful on the cold pavement.

With these two mechanical issues, I rode it all the way to my parents home in Atlanta without a hitch but when I got there late at night I started to scour the venturerider message board for solutions.

I read on there that a common cause for a slipping clutch under load was not a worn clutch but oftentimes it was the 30 year old clutch springs that would become weak and allow the clutch to slip. A simple fix was to buy some Barnett springs and swap them in. I could not find any locally so I just called a Cyclegear store in Texas to order them there and pick them up on my way to Mexico. A roughly 30$ fix

For the leak, I called the local Yamaha dealer to buy the two seals that go between the cooling pipe elbow and the water pump housing. They were in the process of moving to a new location and since parts could not be had quickly, I went to Autozone, then Napa, then O'reilly then Advanced Auto Parts to find some seals that looked like they would work.

Drained the bikes cooling system

Pulled the pump

My work bench

With no gaskets available, I put it all back together using a generous amount of RTV.

Then I worked on my auxiliary fuel cell so I can ride remote parts of Mexico without running out of gas(sorry about your lawnmower gas can dad)

Then, using packing foam, I carefully installed my Spot Tracker underneath the right fairing panel.

The next day, after a quick check to make sure that the coolant leak was a thing of the past, I took the day easy and left Atlanta around 6 pm.

Typical late afternoon Atlanta traffic

On my way out of Atlanta, I stopped for a meal at the Atlanta South West bike night.

Great group of folks! I ran into a couple old friends and met new ones.

And I even got to ride Rally Raid CB500X around the lot. I must say that I was pleasantly surprised. This bike is an awesome light and capable package and the motor feels like it could take on pretty much anything. It made me want to buy one myself I must say.

After leaving the bike night I got back on 85 and made my way to Alabama.

While I was taking a break by the bike at the Alabama welcome center. A woman walked out of the rest area ask me if I had a light.

For the first time in my life, the answer was yes. I don't smoke and never have but my 250$ steed is equipped with a cigarette lighter. After she lit her cigarette, having noticed my accent, she asked me where I was from. "Montreal, Canada" I replied. "Where are you headed?" she threw at me. "I am going to Mexico" I responded. Without hesitation she immediately came back at me with "Are you a drug dealer?" I told her no and she then questioned my sanity as to why I would want to go there. I tried to explain to her that because it is there, I have to ride thru it. She did not understand but she wished me luck and both got back on the road.

At my next fuel stop, I spotted the first palm tree of the trip.

Number one of many to come but I did not expect to see one this early on.

That night I rode all the way across Alabama but it started drizzling when I got near the Mississippi state line. Feeling a storm was coming on, I parked at the Mississippi Welcome center, grabbed my sleeping bag and walked to one of the concrete picnic tables, slid under one of the tables and went to sleep.

Before falling asleep, looking at my phone, I saw that the next day was calling for heavy rains and flood warnings all across New Orleans.

It's going to be a wet one tomorrow.

[Venture n Dixie]

Was wondering if you would get around to posting this. Glad to see it. Thanks for turning me on to advrider. Been following Abosit's ride through SA. AMAZING!

[Dragonslayer]

Was wondering if you would get around to posting this. Glad to see it. Thanks for turning me on to advrider. Been following Abosit's ride through SA. AMAZING!

 

DANG you should've. Called me while in Atlanta I could've helped.

[cowpuc]

OUTSTANDING READ and AWESOME PICS JF = WHAT AN adVENTURE BROTHER:clap2::clap2::dancefool:!!!!! It is amazing how much fun a person can have on an old Yamaha Venture with no 2nd gear aint it??

 

Thank you again for including us on this Epic Ride!!

[Prairiehammer]

 

 

 

 

Oh, so close (to getting this famous bike's VIN). But the last four digits of the displayed VIN is illegible.

Now that you have completed your trip, would you PM the VIN?

Thanks.

And as a not insignificant aside: you are a true adventurer. My hat is doffed to you.

[jfman]

PM sent

[jfman]

Day 5 - Louisiana and Texas Gulf Coast

For some reason I slept like a baby under that concrete picnic table.

It was not raining when I left the Mississipi State line early that morning but around 11 am it started to rain again so I got off at an exit in Livingston to buy breakfast/lunch and wait out the storm.

I ate and browsed the internet on my cell phone for two hours while looking at the massive downpour.

The rain was so bad that the customers walking into the gas station were letting me know about aquaplaning cars and traffic rolling at 20mph on the highway.

Looking at the doppler radar the worst of it had not even hit us yet.

Damn you mother nature!

There was no waiting out this storm. I could lose the whole day here at that gas station. I had ditched my waterproof cold weather riding gear in Atlanta and all I had left was a Joe Rocket summer jacket, riding pants and Frogg Toggs.

I slipped the Frogg Toggs on along with my cheap overboots and I headed out west again on I5 in the massive rain.

And here I learned about one of the biggest strenght of this 31 year old Venture. This bike's wind and rain pretection is simply amazing, the best I have ever experienced. As long as I kept it above 40mph, it would plow through the rain with hardly any water hitting me. Only when traffic would slow down to 20mph or 25mph would I get rained on. And on top of that, the bike is so heavy that it cuts thru the standing water, making it somewhat safe to ride in the heavy downpour.

The rain slowed when I got to the swampier areas of Louisiana so I got off at Whiskey Bay just to check it out and take a snack break.

Looking at the doppler radar, I saw that the precipitations were worse inland than on the Gulf Coast. I decided to ride to Lafayette then I headed south to Abbeville to reach HW82 and ride the Gulf Coast.

Esther just south of Abbeville

I pulled over at the very top of this high Canal bridge to snap a photo.

I got back on the bike and as I was just taking off, I got hit with blue lights. I looked back and saw a lifted F250 police truck. The officer came out and let me know that I had picked the worst spot on the Coastal road for a break. As the bridge crests and because of its arch, you cant see if a vehicle is stopped on top of the bridge until the very last moment.

I told him that I totally agree with him but being a tourist I wanted to be on the highest point of the bridge to take a photo of the canal.

The officer decided to let me go without any infractions.

I forgot to take a photo for you guyz but later I stopped at a convenience store in Kaplan and they were selling something the call "boudin." Where I come from, Boudin is a loaf made from spices and cooked pig blood but what our cajun cousins of the South sell as "boudin" looked very different. It looked like a roll stuffed with spiced meat. I asked the lady tending the store if it had any pig blood in it and she said no.

Quebec boudin

Cajun Boudin

I love those Lousiana trees that seem to be purposely decorated by mother nature.

I stopped in Cameron for fuel and to check the price of rooms but I was quickly deterred.

So I took the ferry and rode all the way to the Texas state line then I rode North to Beaumont for a reasonably priced hotel.

Technicaly this is not my first time in Texas because I have cannonballed through some of it on my last Mexico trip.

However this time, because I am traveling one way, I have the luxury to spend some quality time in Texas.

After getting a room I went to a local bar for a beer. I walk in and it is a slow night in town. There is an older man drinking beer in the middle and there are two ladies on the far right. In front of them, there is a half full bottle of Crown Royal. I order a beer and start chatting with the patrons. I noticed that whenever her glass of Crown is empty, the bartender grabs the bottle and pours her a fresh one. We keep talking for a bit and the Crown Royal drinking lady, who is a proud grandmother and a motorcyclist, tells me stories about the area. History of floods, how the town used to be and how it changed, her childhood as an army brat, crawfish season etc... I love meeting people like this.

Btw: I also love going to quiet bars in states where it is still legal to smoke. I have never smoked and never will but there is a certain aura of authenticity and carelessness in a quiet bar where people can smoke and I find myself very seduced and appeased in those environments.

After a few Crown Royals, it is getting late and she decides it is time to go. She drops a tip on the counter, wishes me good luck on my travels and a good night to the other patrons and then she grabs the half consumed bottle from the counter and she walks right out with it.

At this point I am little stumped. I asked the bartender if that lady works or owns the bar. She says no, just a regular customer. I asked her then why did she walk out of the bar with that bottle of Crown Royal. "It's her bottle bottle" she replies. Ok now I am even more confused. "She comes here to drink with her own whiskey?" She explains to me her bar is a beer and wine only bar and people can bring their own liquor. She just collects tips for setup and she sells them the mix when people dont drink it straight. "All over Texas?" I inquire. "Pretty much!, as long as they dont have liquor license and allow it" she explains.

Now I live in a province where your bartender has a wire connected to a widget on the tip of the state provided(heavily taxed) liquor bottle. As the bartender pours a drink, the electronic spout counts how many onces of liquor have been distributed and the system lets the state know how much tax to collect on that sale.

Yes, we are quite far from Québec in Texas.

So needless to say, my mind is blown. And Texas is now officially F@&/$*G AWESOME!

[TDunc]

Can not say but a few things..

 

1) Wow what a story so far. Thank you for taking the time to put it all together for us.

 

2) Regarding your starting temperature....I thought AKRefugee and I were crazy leaving for a 9 hour ride at 3:00am in 35 degree weather.... You are the man!

[Trader]

LOVING IT!!!

Keep it coming!

[jakester]

ok I love the trip, Im ready for the next chapter....

Thanks for a sharing with us.

Bill

[Condor]

OK I'm hooked. Patiently waiting for the next installment....

[cecdoo]

Me Too!!

[BigLenny]

Me three!!!