"Enjoying What Life Brings on Two Wheels."

[Ndiaz]

Good morning, all. My name is Nick Diaz, and I'm new to this board, as I'm buying a 1998 Venture Royale this week. I've enjoyed this site in the past week or so, in anticipation of Venture ownership. I'm 60 years old and have been riding for 38 years now, and look forward to many more on my beautiful white VR.

 

For 35 years my bride and I have been living in Frederick County, MD, where good roads abound. I'm a middle-school mathematics teacher (I know, I know, "How can you stand those middle-school brats?") Answer: Someone has to do it...

 

One of the things I do for fun is write a biweekly column for a local news and commentary webstie known as The Tentacle -- www.thetentacle.com . My topics are either math education or motorcycling; considering this site is not a "motorcycle" website, it's neat how I get a chance to "educate" the nonmotorcycling public, with a "contrarian" point of view. Somehow I find it difficult to write about education at this time of year -- I wonder why...

 

My latest contribution just came out this morning. Go to the following: http://www.thetentacle.com/author.cfm?MyAuthor=52 , then click on "Enjoying What Life Brings on Two Wheels." (While you're at it, click on my brief bio at the top.)

 

Nick Diaz

Middletown, MD

[Eck]

Welcome aboard Nick,

 

Just fasten your seat belt cause your in for a ride now.. but no need to worry, cause you will fit right in here with the "ride to eat / eat to ride" statement ..

and by the way, I loved the article on the 10 dumb questions ..

Edited June 24, 2008 by Eck

[Ndiaz]

Welcome aboard Nick,

 

Just afsten your seat belt cause your in for a ride now.. but no need to worry, cause you will fit right in here with the "ride to eat / eat to ride" statement ..

and by the way, I loved the article on the 10 dumb questions ..

 

Thank you, Eck, for the warm welcome. Glad you enjoyed my "10 Dumb Questions", a three-part article. I particularly like these. My favorite piece is "The Passion of a Lifetime."

 

Tomorrow morning I'll be on Amtrak to Portland, ME, where I'll be buying a 1988 Venture Royale from a private citizen. I'll ride the VR back home to Maryland, taking my time on "invisible roads."

 

My column comes out every other Tuesday, and this is one of them. By the way, all contributing columnists for this Tentacle website get no compensation (damm!)

 

Nick Diaz

Middletown, MD

[Yammer Dan]

I was a little worried. At the start of the thread you said 98 Venture. These are a RARE BIRD. If you find one you better grab it!! Good luck with yours!!!

[Ndiaz]

I was a little worried. At the start of the thread you said 98 Venture. These are a RARE BIRD. If you find one you better grab it!! Good luck with yours!!!

You're correct, Yammer Dan. I did write, "1998". It is, of course, 1988. Thanks for noticing that typo.

 

Nick Diaz

Middletown, MD

[mini-muffin]

Well glad to have you here. Liked the article. Oh when it comes to the bike years they will notice any typo you make. They rely on someone else to notice there typos.

Have some fun and you don't live all that far from here. We have meet and eats in VA so hope to meet you there sometime or any other event we have.

 

Margaret

[Yammer Dan]

TYPOS?? Me??? Don't know what you are talking about.

[pegscraper]

"there typos". You must mean "their typos".

[Yammer Dan]

:rotfl::rotfl: Gotcha!!

[Ozark]

Welcome aboard. I too enjoyed the Ten Dumb Questions list. As you have already seen, get ready to get as well as you give. It's mostly light hearted fun with a bunch of nuts.:rotf:

[Ndiaz]

Just got back from Maine, where I picked up my "new" 1988 Venture Royale. It was a two-day, 700-mile trip, mostly uneventful, with some rain and road construction (not much fun when rain and road construction delays go on at the same time!)

 

Anyway, the Venture behaved the way I expected it to. Very fine machine. Glad to be home.

 

Nick Diaz

Middletown, MD

[GigaWhiskey]

That is a long first ride! Glad you enoyed it! Was it what you extected for an aged bike or more? Before long, you will wonder why Yammy dropped such a fine bike (style). The 2nd gen is a nice bike, do not get me wrong.

[Ndiaz]

It's exactly what I expected. I've been riding a 1984 Suzuki GS1100GK for the last 9 years. Before that, I rode four GS850G Suzukis from 1986 to 1999. I like old bikes that run well.

 

The Venture is like these old UJM Suzukis. They work! I'm old and cheap, just like my bikes!

 

I always liked the Venture styling and the way they work. Frankly, I don't like the Harleyesque styling of the 2nd generation, but to each his own.

 

Spent most of the morning replacing front brake pads, adjusting handlebars and foot control height, and figuring out how the CLASS system works, etc. It does work, by the way...