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Hello Venture Riders. Patricia and I are back home in Kentucky, after a 25 day, 7500-mile motorcycle trip. We went to 16 different states, a few of them several times, 2 Canadian Provinces, and several National Parks. We talked with numerous people that were simply amazing. After going up in the Space Needle in Seattle Washington, we rode down the Pacific Coast Hiway to San Fransisco. We rode across The Golden Gate Bridge and rode by Fisherman's Wharf in San Fransisco. We took the Oakland Bay Bridge on the way to Vacaville CA to visit Patricia's niece as a surprise. On this trip we saw many beautiful sights we never thought either one of us would ever experience. We went from sea level to over 12.000 feet in the mountains in Colorado. Rode through the Mojave Desert and went to both the North Rim and South Rim of the Grand Canyon. We experienced temperatures from low 50s to a high of 103. There were so many beautiful experiences we had and saw, it would take several pages and become so boring to the reader that they would run far away. The most important thing is we are home safe and never had a bad experience. Steve S IMG_1537.MOV

Was just looking at Yamaha's website. I am totally amazed that they no longer have any touring bikes or even cruisers. Have they completely given up on the big bike market? Most of you know that I had bought a brand new 2018 Star Venture Transcontinental. To be completely honest, I actually loved it. The only reason I sold it is because I just wasn't riding. It set here for over a year and I finally just put enough miles on it to do the first oil change. I know that most here weren't crazy about the fact that Yamaha went with an air cooled V Twin but it was truly a great bike in my opinion. It had about everything a person could want on a bike. Yes, there were a handful of folks that had some small issues and even fewer had some major engine issues but few new models are introduced with no issues. That being said, and I wanted to make sure that I wasn't bashing the Star Venture because it's certainly not my intention. But, do you think that if Yamaha had listened to us. The long time proponents of the Yamaha Venture, and come out with a new Venture with a modified version of the 1700cc Max engine that it would have done better? I don't know but I feel that it would have. Imagine that new Star Venture with the Max engine. Water cooled, abundant HP, ability to REV like most here enjoy, it could have been an amazing bike. Unless Yamaha has something up their sleeve, we will never know. My real question is. Do you think that Yamaha is completely leaving the large bike market or do you think that they are at the drawing board, deciding what mistakes were made, and will be coming out with another line in a few years? It will probably be to late for most of us old codgers but I have to wonder what they are thinking. Last thought on this, at least for now. I feel that Yamaha and most of the other Japanese bike makers have tried too hard to emulate Harley and to some extent, even Indian. I feel that the V Twin is essentially an American Icon and the majority of riders who want a V Twin are going to go with Harley or Indian. Let's face it. V Twins are certainly an old technology. Some of us actually like the low RPM torque, great sound, even a bit of vibration but you simply can't provide a great argument that they are as technically refined as the 4 and 6 cylinder bikes that are on the market. With electric vehicles, even motorcycles, that are being brought to the market, I seriously wonder if any manufacturers will be dumping large amounts of capital into big touring bikes. That's sad and to me, virtually signals the end to the cross country riding that many of us have enjoyed. I wonder how much money Yamaha lost on the development of the Star Venture and Eluder. There is no way that they recouped their investment.

I spoke to Earl last week. He’s on vacation visiting his new grandson. He’s still in business but gone for a couple weeks. Great guy to do business with.

I don’t know about the clutches but Earl is still around as of a few months ago. Just bought the brake delink kit from him. Sometimes he takes a minute to respond.

Well the Ultra Classic got four hours of pampering yesterday and the HD shop. It got a complete 10K checkup with all fluids changed, new grease, and a few loose bolts tightened. I temporarily lost the rear brakes the other day but that's all been taken care of. There was a good bit of water/moisture in the brake reservoirs. Everything checked out good and rides like a new bike. Definitely a different breed, but still fun to ride. I'm looking forward to my first long ride down to the Fall Myrtle Rally at the end of the month.

We're pretty savvy here in Cali. Give us a problem and we'll find a solution!

Looks like an amazing time!!!! I so want to commit to this kind of trip. It keeps circling in my dreams but just doesn’t bubble to fruition.

If you are in crowed noisy room , the best way to have some quiet is to feed them

Congratulations on a wonderful trip

Cowpuc we don't have any idea that that opening is. It is a beautiful sight though.

Electric cars cannot be sustained with the Green movement. Reference California, The CA Governor signs a gas car sales ban for 2035 and a couple of days later he's telling EV owners not to charge their vehicles due to power grid issues. here's another article from WV. Coal Miners push stranded DC driver's dead electric car to charge it up at coal mine (bizpacreview.com)

I too fit this category and also get accused by my boss who is younger than my 1st three kids and used to be my apprentice, of being resistant to change. However I am a big advocate of keeping life simple and comfortable rather than complicated and having to constantly keep up with change. I like stuff that is self repairable and even though I am more than capable of working on the higher tech stuff it is the fact that A) it can not be patched on the side of the road if need be and B) most of the high tech stuff each require their own specialized additional tools and software (plus the means of working with it) beyond that found even in the most extensive average tool set. The technical world is removing our ability to be self sufficient and forcing us to be dependent on stuff we did perfectly well without in the past and really don't always need to exist. That is not to say I am against all advancements as some advancements, specially in medicine are a good thing but where do we draw the line. Obviously there are those who disagree and love nothing more than to indulge in every new gadget that hits the market but that's not me. I'm totally content to manually turn my lights off and on, lock and unlock my doors or use an old fashioned key to start my car.

Main thing I miss on the 18 and the Harley is fuel injection. Even though I’ve never had any major issues with the carbs on the RSV. I just have to remember to turn on the petcock. Yesterday after we left on our ride, a few miles down the road I felt the bike losing power. I quickly remembered that I had turned it off when I parked it. Reach down and turned it on before it died so didn't even have to stop but I'm no longer used to having a petcock.

I wholeheartedly agree. The proven reliability of the V4 and lack of vibration were big sellers for me in choosing the RSV. I like to make Harley jokes as much as anybody just as I do Fords, I also enjoy getting roasted about my Chevy’s and rice burner bikes but there’s nothing wrong with Harley or Ford if it’s what you like. That being said if I wanted a V-twin I’d have bought one instead of Yam. My other turn off is the addition of so much tech, I like to fix my own stuff but am a techno-phobe. I already gave up working on my truck but still like tinkering with the bike. I sure would’ve liked trying a new V-Max powered, fixed fairing, water cooled rocket without key fobs and touch screens. Maybe my old boss was onto something when he accused me of being resistant to change🤷🤷🤷

It’s the younger demographic driving this trend. As us geezers slip out the market, the younger ones don’t want dressers. Triumph stopped their rocket touring line when they introduced their new, sportier line. In marketing terms, there doesn’t seem to be enough old timers out there to support continuing with a touring line. At least what we were used too.

Oh. And it’s not just Yamaha. I’m hearing that Honda is also dropping some models. Word is that they are dropping their manual transmission Goldwing models. The predominant thought is that they are doing so because they can more easily meet future emission standards wit their automatic models.