First good ride on the new {to me} Venture.

[Judd]

Bought a 1986 Venture around two months ago. So far all I have done is some local riding one up for the most part. Welp, it did it's first good sized ride two up this past weekend. The wife and I went a ways up the Blue Ridge Parkway and did some camping up on Mt Mitchell. Worked like a top I must say but I do have a couple of questions the first being a very low speed wobble/sensitivity when loaded up. I know it was due to the extra weight {we were loaded up fairly heavily} and having a passenger but still,,,, very low speed stuff was irritating/scary.

 

The second gripe was a fairly low cruising range. The bike seemed to average right around 35mpg over a few tanks and I know that seems low but I was riding loaded down with camping gear and a passenger and it was curvy mountain roads. Anyway, seems the "E" flashes {fuel bars disappear} right around 150 miles. The manual states the fuel capacity is 5.5 gallons but even with the gage stating empty for quite some time {very nervous times at that} I could only get around 4-4.5 gallons in the tank. Heck,,, my FJR can easily go 250 miles and as much as 280 miles between fill ups. Even my DR650 will do around 180-200 miles. You would think that a "touring" bike would have more range but then again,,,,, it is a 22 year old touring bike.

[kantornado]

O.K. here is what I know about the low speed wobble on a 1st Gen.

The bike is kinda top heavy anyway! When you load it up she really gets

nutty at slow speed with a passenger. But the good side is at above 30 mph it rides and handles allot better and then at highway speed you can cruise at 80 - 90 all day two up like riding on silk.

 

Tackling the fuel mileage! 35 mpg is pretty darn good 2 up loaded. My 1st Gen never got better then 36mpg with just me and over the next 20 years the fuel mileage went down till I rebuilt the Carbs and the MPG stayed pretty steady at about 30 MPG then because of the ethanol fuel my MPG really dropped down to about 25 to 27.

Pulling my trailer 2 up she was steady at 20 to 22 MPG using ethanol. When I could get good gas fuel mileage increased to around 31 MPG 2 up with the trailer.

My fuel light always came on at about 110 to 150 and the most gas I ever put in according to my records was 4.7 Gallons in 20 years.

 

I kept records of everything I ever did to my 1st GEN and this info is what I know.

Your bike is 22 years old and has a little wear on it.

But it is a GREAT bike and will run forever if taken care of.

 

I hope this helps you out................................Ron

Edited June 1, 2008 by kantornado