83 Venture Bobber builds

[Bassett]

Not too shabby Bassett!! Bring it up to the WNY Rally in August!!

Tell me more, what is it?

[Bassett]

Looks good!

What is under the cover that looks like a standard gas tank?

zag

 

 

 

Air box(for now)

and battery.

 

Stock set up

[Bassett]

More photos

[bongobobny]

Tell me more, what is it?

What is it?!!? Probably the best rally of the year!! Read all about it!

 

 

http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?125386-Western-NY-Northeast-Regional-Rally-2017!!-August-17-August-20

[zagger]

Air box(for now)

and battery.

 

Stock set up

 

One of the simplest ways to reduce the apparent weight of an early venture is to relocate the heavy battery to a new position which is lower in the bike. I put mine below the transmission on a metal rack which hinges downward for access to the battery. From a riding perspective, my venture feels like it weighs less than another bike I own which is actually a couple of hundred pounds lighter. Just a thought.

zag

[VanRiver]

Great idea @zagger about the battery re-location! Do you happen to have any pictures of your hinge apparatus? I would love to see it!

 

One of the simplest ways to reduce the apparent weight of an early venture is to relocate the heavy battery to a new position which is lower in the bike. I put mine below the transmission on a metal rack which hinges downward for access to the battery. From a riding perspective, my venture feels like it weighs less than another bike I own which is actually a couple of hundred pounds lighter. Just a thought.

zag

[zagger]

Great idea zagger about the battery re-location! Do you happen to have any pictures of your hinge apparatus? I would love to see it!

Here you go. I used existing threaded connections to the frame, which is why the hinged frame has strangely shaped attachment arms.

zag

[camos]

Here you go. I used existing threaded connections to the frame, which is why the hinged frame has strangely shaped attachment arms.

zag

Seems kind of exposed, how does it stand up to fording streams?

[zagger]

Seems kind of exposed, how does it stand up to fording streams?

 

It gets wet! But it is a sealed battery and doesn't complain about its dirty and wet life down under the engine.

zag

[camos]

It gets wet! But it is a sealed battery and doesn't complain about its dirty and wet life down under the engine.

zag

That's good to know. Did you do anything special about sealing the battery posts? Even with their very protected position, the Venture battery posts need to be cleaned occasionally. What battery did you find that fits down there?

[zagger]

That's good to know. Did you do anything special about sealing the battery posts? Even with their very protected position, the Venture battery posts need to be cleaned occasionally. What battery did you find that fits down there?

 

Nothing special for sealing. It just has brass connection points with threaded holes so that you can clamp down a cable with a metal tab. http://www.batterymart.com/p-odyssey-pc545mj-battery.html Keep in mind that none of this works simply with stock venture components. Everything is custom made to suit the installation. I just liked the feeling of a lower bike weight due to the heavy stuff sitting low in the bike. Here is a picture of the area which would typically hold the battery.

[camos]

Nothing special for sealing. It just has brass connection points with threaded holes so that you can clamp down a cable with a metal tab. http://www.batterymart.com/p-odyssey-pc545mj-battery.html Keep in mind that none of this works simply with stock venture components. Everything is custom made to suit the installation. I just liked the feeling of a lower bike weight due to the heavy stuff sitting low in the bike. Here is a picture of the area which would typically hold the battery.

Yes, lightening up a Venture and lowering the CG would be an awesome improvement in handling. That battery is about half the capacity of the OEM one but probably works well with the reduced demand from all the electronics that were removed. After the big job of getting rid of all the extra OEM wiring, running a custom battery circuit is likely a fairly small thing.

 

You did such a great job of minimizing your bike I keep thinking I should do something with the spare Venture sitting in my shop. Perhaps some day.

[zagger]

Yes, lightening up a Venture and lowering the CG would be an awesome improvement in handling. That battery is about half the capacity of the OEM one but probably works well with the reduced demand from all the electronics that were removed. After the big job of getting rid of all the extra OEM wiring, running a custom battery circuit is likely a fairly small thing.

 

You did such a great job of minimizing your bike I keep thinking I should do something with the spare Venture sitting in my shop. Perhaps some day.

 

All of the wiring in the picture was identified and then removed. I just put back what was necessary to allow the bike to run. Not having big plastic fairings to hide wiring meant that the final wiring needed to be routed carefully.

zag

 

[Bassett]

Nothing special for sealing. It just has brass connection points with threaded holes so that you can clamp down a cable with a metal tab. http://www.batterymart.com/p-odyssey-pc545mj-battery.html Keep in mind that none of this works simply with stock venture components. Everything is custom made to suit the installation. I just liked the feeling of a lower bike weight due to the heavy stuff sitting low in the bike. Here is a picture of the area which would typically hold the battery.

http://www.venturerider.org/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=109068

.

 

 

hey zag, what type of speedometer are you using?

[zagger]

.

 

 

hey zag, what type of speedometer are you using?

 

Geesh. I cannot remember. It was a used one from an old Yamaha - mostly with the hope that the cable and housing would match. Since I have extended front forks, I had to add an extension to the drive cable. Even though I tried to get one from a similar sized drive wheel, the speedometer reads about 10% faster than I'm actually going. Not too hard to do the mental math to figure out my actual speed. I guess that the main thing is to find one which has compatible threads and internals on the cable connection.

zag

Edited May 11, 2017 by zagger

[snyper316]

@zagger I love the headlights... Just the hole setup is awesome. Very very creative.

 

Sent from my LG-K371 using Tapatalk

[zagger]

zagger I love the headlights... Just the hole setup is awesome. Very very creative.

 

Well, thanks! I originally made a frame for the headlights out of steel bars but I had so many Harley riders ask me about the bike I eventually decided that I needed at least one Harley part - so I made a new frame using an old Harley primary chain (it's only two links wide so it's from a panhead, I think). It was supposed to be kind of a joke, but the joke was on me since I discovered that very few Harley owners even knew that they had a primary chain! When I pointed to the chain and told them that I had used one Harley part, most would say "You used a Harley timing chain?" I was forced to point out that Harley engines use long pushrods to operate the valves, not timing chains! Geesh!

 

I originally figured that the lights surrounded by the chain would be my "high beams" and a pair of smaller lights mounted a bit lower would be my "low beams". The high beams had fairly high wattage bulbs and could light up the road like aircraft landing lights. That is pretty useful around here where deer by the road at night are a serious concern. However, a cop pulled me over and gave me a ticket for "not having my headlights on" even though the two lower lights were burning brightly. I pointed to them and was told that they were "running lights", not headlights. What can you say? I just shut-up and put lower wattage bulbs in the upper headlights and aimed them at bit more to the right so that I wouldn't blind oncoming cars. I guess I deviated a bit too far from "typical" and had to be brought back into line!

 

zag