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Hi All How is everyone doing this Summer, down in Eastern Canada we are having Record hi temps, Mid to high 30's degree Celsius with Humidex that is between 90 - 108 degrees F. I figured I would give an update on the Venture Max HD, Unfortunately I have not been riding the bike yet this year however I have spent sometime working on the finishing touches. Over the winter I had purchased a Barnett Clutch kit , new Steels and frictions the old clutch was burned bad, I swapped that in May. I also purchased an aftermarket Signal Light controller (a direct Replacement for HD). Added Saddleman Gel inserts in the seat. Cut the Forward Controls Bracket and Raised the Floorboards a full Inch but now have an issue with the Shifter Linkage so still sorting that out, Rear Brake is Fine. I contacted Sean Morley and purchased the Ignitech Ignition Module flashed with the Latest Vmax Tune to match the Heads and Camshafts I Installed last year, I immediately heard the difference in the Engine and Throttle response. I also started experimenting with the Jet kits I ordered thru the winter and Now have the Carb adjustment where the Mixture and Idle screws are meant to be, according to the VW Carb guys, so far, I have dropped the Pilot Jet 2 steps from 55 to 45 and have increased the Main Jet 2 steps from 127.5 to 132.5., I also increased the adjustment on the Throttle pump but may adjust it more as recommended by Gary Hedberg of Venture owners on Facebook. Next step is to fix the Shifter linkage and change the Fork seals and hopefully put some miles on it. I also have a local motorcycle performance shop that does Dyno testing and carb tuning so I may look at retaining their services to fine tune the carb further once I have it dialed in i will provide the final settings and jet sizes. Enjoy the open road Herman K

On long trips where there may be long gaps of open road, I'll have a camel pack with me. When it's 100+ here in Houston you could lose a lot of water through sweat quickly. I've got about an hour ride home and several times have had to stop to get some water or Gatorade. Sometimes you just need to stop more often than with every tank of gas.

I hear that once you start to feel thirsty, it is already too late...dehydration already has set in. Definitely hydrate all day long. Be safe not just on riding, but also for your physical well being.

None. But this is the third one somebody broke for me.

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 just can't give up with Yamaha just yet. SVTC bikes are loved by many and off course has some issues as well, but easily addressed with Yamaha's 5 Year warranty. I remain optimistic that Yamaha will continue to innovate and put out fun bikes for us to enjoy.

To remove the tail light you have to remove the saddlebag lids, the panels above the saddlebags and alongside the seat (3 #2 phillips screws), and the seat. Next remove the rear trunk and the frame that supports the trunk. You need to unplug the connector under the left side panel wire for the trunk light and pull the wire back through it's routing. Unplug two different connectors for the passenger intercom in the same location. On the bottom inside of the trunk there are four locations of attachment with a total of 6 small acorn nuts and lock washer that require 10mm socket. Clean out the trunk real good while it's dismounted. Remove the six bolts for the trunk frame using a 12mm socket. Notice that on each side two bolts are similar length and the third is extra long. With the right (8mm) tool you may have been able to remove the two nuts that secure the tail light to the frame without removing the trunk frame but it's a tight fit so you may as well. You'll also want to use your 10mm socket to remove the two acorn nuts that hold the plastic cover over the CLASS unit at the upper rear of the rear fender. When all of this is off the bike it should be easy to remove the tail light but even though I didn't remove the tail light myself, I did remove all of that other stuff. I know my bike better for having done this. I thought there had to be problem in that area due to wiring done by the PO but I was wrong and the rest of you were right because the tail light fuse had slid over and was no longer making contact. I did find something interesting there though and I hadn't seen this done before but it does make sense. The bike has a Markland trailer hitch and wiring and the PO had wired in 4 relays, one for each signal and installed a switch allowing the trailer connection to be enabled only when desired. The ground lug was broken and it wasn't working, but it was a kind of neat idea. Not having much experience with MC trailers I wondered if it was common to do this? Here's the dirty pics:

They gave up on cruisers all together. Last I looked you can only get the bolt and the V-Star 250

I am sad to report that we lost one of your own yesterday. Many of you knew Dan Gamble, Campfire here on the forum. I just learned that he died yesterday as the result of a single bike motorcycle accident. Police report said that he failed to navigate a turn. That's about all I know at this time. He and him wife, Deb, came a month or so ago and spent the weekend with us. He was truly a great guy and will be dearly missed.