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Swung by the dealership yesterday because I was in the area and they had told me that my new truck should be here by the 15th. They had just unloaded it when I stopped by. It was dirty from the long train and truck rides but it is here. They will get it ready and I should be able to pick it up soon. Didn't take as long as I had originally expected.

Woody, The heat issue you mention... bothers me. I've had my 2nd gen for 4 years now and live in Arizona. I don't have an excessive amount of heat from rear cylinders. Nothing really bothered me. In general, engine heat is quite tolerable due to being water cooled. The amount of heat is similar to the 1st Gen that I also owned(you as well). Suggest maybe look into the cooling system and see if everything is good??? That said...I did find some lower reflectors to give me air on my legs but as mentioned, they are hard to find. I got them just to cool off from Arizona road heat. I mounted mine on the lower part of engine guard. I moved my trunk back about 2 inches. You can do so easily enough. It's posted on here as others have done it. That also moved the pillion seat's back rest back. I then bought a Grasshopper back rest for me and bent the mounting bracket so I could lean back further. Works well. Lots of room for me now in cockpit. The front end is heavy. It's by design. Gives excellent straight line tracking at highway speeds. To mitigate some of that, I lowered the front end about an inch. This changed the geometry enough to make Steering a touch lighter. And didn't hurt the tracking at all. All I did was raise both forks up in the triple tree. Simple. I documented that somewhere on this site. I think it's the best solution since it doesn't hurt straight line tracking. I have never seen any hand protectors. However, you could go to a shop that specializes in track or overland riding. Maybe find a pair that will mount to the mirror nut and still look decent. The only other thing I'll mention is the gearing isn't as good as the 1st gen. With both 4th and 5th as overdrive gears, you will find yourself staying in 4th most of the time around towns. I rarely shift into 5 the until 70... And being a bit longer gearing, starts are more clutch involved as well. But you get used to all this after a while. Same great engine. Same realiability. Not at much weather protection as the 1st Gen but still decent about 40 mph. Only my knees get wet now! Hope this helps... David

ABSOLUTELY 100% ROCK SOLID FACT @ChiefGunner! All stickers on Tweeksis are also EARNED stickers.. Well,, ok,, I take that back,, there have been a couple people from other countries (like @Aussie Annie and Jonas from Iceland - for the life of me I cant remember Jonas's screen name, old age I reckon..) who brought Tweeks stickers from their homeland and those are on there BUT,, that is only a couple stickers and WELL LOVED.. All the rest are earned stickers just like the colored in map areas. word of note Chief, that is a LIFETIME of touring, not a retirement of touring. I/we are sooo glad I/we didnt wait. We were homeschoolers and I spent many years in self employment so I would grab 1 kid out of 4 and go chase across the country (GREAT MEMORIES AND BONDING) and Tip would stay home and care for the other 3 (hard on marriage). That started in 1987 on my 1st MK1 - a blonde the kids named "Beeg" (short for Big Girl). The blonde side covers on our current 83 are from that original MK1 from long ago. Those Blonde covers are the only piece of our 6 bikes to have actually covered over 1 million miles. Also, the stickers are an accumulation between all bikes too as are the map colors. I have always wanted to fill in Alaska and western Canada, its been a forever dream but by the looks of things I/we are timed out. My deepest wish and prayer for you my friend is that you and your gorgeous scoot and precious wife will get the blessing from God to get to see ALL of it, even the ones we missed.. Puc P.S. - I dont have much in pics from the real old days of Beeg but I do think I have one,, hold on,, I will see if I can find one..

Hi @Pasta Burner!! Absolutely NO problem with cell service out there that I ever experienced. Maybe when you get between Tonopah and the end of 50 at Sac if your going that far but even in that desolation I don't recall no Cell Service. It may have something to do with Nellis being right there, not sure on that. If your gonna CTFW out there you really should stop and give @CMCOFFEY a hard time for me. He is a lop eared VR varmint and a good friend. You folks camping it or Moteling? I ask because if you are Moteling and want an unbelievable experience to top off the ULTIMATE of riding the alien highway from Nellis to Tonopah shoot down and grab a night ride thru Death Valley during a full moon (tenting it in the heat of the day is almost impossible). Prep your bike to be able to shut off all lights! That is like riding on a different planet = UNBELIEVABLE! As far as heat,, I found that as long as you stay west of the rockies so no humidity (and no bugs) you can deduct 15 degrees from the ambient temps for biking,, so,, 90 down south in 95% humidity is like 105 in the desert. Tip was amazed her first time touring/camping the desert and discovered the REAL truth about that saying "its a dry heat",, the dryness REALLY does make a HUGE difference - on the plus side IMHO. Start out with new tires cause the hot tarmac does eat rubber. Run your tires fully inflated - to spec on sidewall, carry WATER (at least a gallon) and grab an xtra 2 gallon can at the Shell station near the east entrance of the Xtra Terr if your gonna ride all the way over to Tonopah and strap it on. Watch the skies for jets out of Nellis and also for alien aircraft. Both are seen a lot.. well,, maybe not so much the aliens but ya never know! SOUNDS LIKE FUN Pasta!! HAVE FUN and get er done!! Puc

Its our local "bike time" here in Muskegon Mi! Tip and I are going to treat Tweeksis to the very very best treat of all, we plan to go do a ride thru!! TWEEKS WILL LOVE THIS!!!

Went for the first ride with the new knee. Felt great to be riding again. Now just waiting for the Asheville meet!

Hey all, used to be a member here long time ago for my old Ventures (87 - 92). Right now I have revived a 2001 Goldwing and after riding it, though it satisfies all my needs, I'm not happy with it. Feels like I'm riding on top of it and squished into the cockpit. I'm looking at a 2000 Venture with 88 k miles. The miles don't scare me too much knowing these bikes go for a long time, but there are other issues. The tiny fairing doesn't give my hands enough wind protection (as I ride all year long). Do they make aftermarket hand protectors that fit on this bike? There doesn't look like there's enough handlebar room to mount anything nor does the fairing look conducive to any type of an airwing. Also the back of the engine cylinder is extremely hot and right up against your crotch and leg. Are there any guards that can be installed to guard your body from this heat? Also, the front end feels really "heavy" on this bike, especially on slow movement. Is this normal? Also, what size person is this bike made for? The person had a back rest on the bike and I couldn't just remove it to try the bike, and it pushed me up forward quite a bit. When the back rest is removed, how much more room does this push you back? I'm 6' 1". I know I have to remove the front cruise pegs as it interferes with my shifting foot. Any info anyone could provide would be appreciated as I need to make a decision on whether to go ahead with the purchase or not. Thanks Woody

The hot cylinder could point to one carb having issues running lean. I second the raising the rear to help handling. I’m 6’2” and love it.

@byekryam here is our (my wife and I) experience on @videoarizona's 2nd Gen. It does take some practice but no different than any other bike IMHO. Vaz can tell you what he had altered on his 2nd Gen before we did this test cause I have no clue. I will also attach a slow ride vid of my wife (Tip) and I on our 1st Gen to compare. Hope this helps some in your decision making. Puc

You can also raise the back end about an inch, which shifts the weight to the front a bit. I did it years ago and did notice a handling difference. These bikes take a bit of practice for low speed turns and such, but with a bit of thought and practice, they're pretty easily tamed.

Sounds like we are going to have a great group of folks this year, and before @Woody says it myself excluded:)

Wow @cowpucthat’s a lot of traveling! I’m not sure it’ll take us a “lifetime”. The 8 Western states I have colored in were all done on one 20 day tour. Some places we stayed in up to four days. When on the road though we did average 500-600 miles per day and camped the whole trip. I was much younger then. Now it would be hotel each night and only setting up campsite if we’d be there at least 2 days.

The backrest should have some type of adjustment screw, usually under the pouch if there is one, which will allow it to go back some. It’s a top heavy bike and you will need to get used to it. It really isn’t that bad and you can add a 130 front tire for easier steering although my personal preference was the 150. Baker used to make a deflector for the lowers as well as Yamaha. Hard to find now. Clearview makes a wider windshield that will help a little with the wind.

I’ll tell ya @cowpuc I love your map on your “signature”. You’ve been able to do what I’m planning (Lord willing) of doing when I retire. If you’re like me, you only colored in states that you actually rode on 2 wheels in right?

Looks good from here.

@cowpuc so I’m pre planning my rt50 / extraterrestrial highway desert roundabout excursion, given this heat it’ll probably be a few months out. Since you’re the only one I know who’s been out there my question is; is there cell service? If not I may invest in a satellite communication system. I know some things exist now that you can either subscribe to a text or location service, somewhat like a land based EPIRB like I used back in my sailing days. Also just ordered a pretty comprehensive first aid / survival kit. Next is convincing wifey this is a good idea.

Been a while since I have been on the VR site and it feels good to be posting again and even better to join you all on Friday, which is my current plan.

KInda gotta say, sorta forgot about it over the years but once I dug it out my head just got flooded with memories. When I stored it I flooded the crankcase and cyilnder with oil. removed the carb cleaned and dried it and put it in a sealed container. Having said all that she should fire up fine if I ever decide to but will likely smoke something fierce for the first while. Normally I would be concerned for the neighbors but since they have no issue filling my open windows with weed smoke I guess they can share in my smoke of choice LOL

Thank you so much. Happy to find a new place to shop for Yama parts. I live in Finland, Europe so let's see the shipping/customs and other hasshle but hopefully I'll have the front forks built.