cowpuc

Probably just another one of my goofy, irrelevant thoughts but if I had that happen I might check the static sag on my front forks.. I like to raise em up all the way to top of the travel and make sure I get no more than a drop (sag) of 1 1/2 to 2 inched max while sitting on the bike... I am sure that Mom Yam must of made some improvements on the newer Venture/RSTD's and the fork springs dont sack out from sitting like the 1st Gens do but my first Gens always reguired Progressives with an inch of preload to get the sag right.. I can see where bottoming out from improper sag/sacked springs could cause the wheel to travel into the radiator if she went to bottom because on traditional tube forks (springers are different) - when the fork bottoms travel up the tubes as the springs are being compressed, the wheel is actually moving into the bike.. The also changes rake/trail demensions which a lot of riders use to their advantage (loading the forks) for cornering (REAL noticable on a sport bike like my R1).. Maybe checking those springs/that sag might not hurt...

2 days of SUN = 2 days of FUN .... Took a little over 1300 miles to do it but we managed to pretty much spin off the rest of Tweeksis's back tire so getting ready to flop on her first round for '18 = new $67 Tour Master... Picked up a matching new front tire too as the one thats on her has been thru 4 rears now and its looking the part.. I think someone asked me about getting some shots of the Beads when I swapped tires? If your still around,, let me know if your still interested in seeing tire beads after rolling around in there for a few thou - be glad to oblige..

Fair question, be glad to share what I know Dog but before I do,, just a couple thoughts on some other things that have been mentioned.. Though many folks say one of the reasons that the Polaris's Victory line was a hard sell was because,, astetically - "the jugs look more like an air compressor than a bike engine" (which I always agreed to somewhat - I always thought it was to bad that Polaris didnt do some cosmetic machining on those long/straight barrels to give em some appeal) but the fact of the matter was,, it is my understanding that Polaris actually did something really cool with those jugs in that they actually built "oil jackets" between the actual sleeve of the cylinder that houses the piston and the exterior wall where the fins are molded externally for cooling the cylinders - very similar to water jackets on water cooled bikes.. Neither the new Venture or the Polaris Indians have this, both of them have jugs that are cooled the old fashioned way with cooling fins for air to run across and there are no oil jackets around the cylinders that would allow the oil to absorb the heat.. I LOVED V Dubs and worked on number of them thru the years.. Being a Michigan gear head I also played with snowmobiles (worked in numerous motorcycle shops in the early years which were snowmobile paridises in the winter) a lot.. In the sled world, before Rupp came out with their REALLY cool water cooled Nitro (used the front bumper for a radiator),, the sleds were all "air cooled".. Thing is though,, some of those early sleds were what we called "free air" and others were what we old gear heads called "fan cooled" - the difference being, the "free air" sleds HAD to be kept moving in order to keep them from siezing from over heating where the "fan cooled" sleds had a small belt that ran off a pully on top of the flywheel that spun a fan and the whole apparatus was covered in a shroud.. Those little fan cooled sleds could idle for hours with no problem of siezing or burning down but the "air cooled" - again,, sitting and idling was a HUGE no-no.. Another interesting thing about the fans was, if you were running bogie wheels - you could run em in the summer (a blast) - almost not doable with free air machines - if at all ONLY for a short run.. V Dubs were "fan cooled" not "air cooled" by some folks definition - a fan cooled V Dub motor will maintain its temps (even in fairly hot ambients) really well because it has a constant flow of air being moved across its jugs.. As far as "why" on the step back to air cooling... I happen to have actually been at the world launch for the new Venture out at Lake George last year and can attest first hand that the reason that Yamaha went the route they did by dropping the water cooling and shaft drive and going air cooled, V-Twin belt drive is that a design team made up of "Star Riders" decided it was what the majority of touring folks wanted.. I actually spoke to a couple of folks involved in that decision and I asssure you, that is why Yamaha did what they did.. Personally,, I was SHOCKED when I heard the bikes (they were hidden off stage, waiting for the announcer to point his finger at them to start the bikes) start and KNEW from the sound that all hope was dashed concerning seeing a new Venture with the 1700cc V-Max powerhouse aboard. We didnt get to ride them at Americade but did go out to Sturgis to demo them there and they still had the same air cooled, push rod Vtwin motor in them (I am including a couple vids of the motor under glass for your enjoyment - it is a purdy)... There were a couple of us here in the club who shared our thoughts on what we thought the new Venture should be long before the new bike was unveiled.. Apparently,, Mom Yam had/has more of a following in the Star forums than here (understandably so IMHO,, those Star Twins like the Strat, Roadliner, Raider, V-Star, Roadie, Virago and on and on out number the V-4 scoots significantly.. One of the Star design experts that was on stage at Lake George and seen in the advertisments for the new bike told me that they belonged to a forum group (I was wearing a "VentureRider.org International" shirt at the time and it caught his attention and he asked about it) and I think it was "Star Touring" = I would LOVE to know how things are going over on that site (or where ever those folks were from) as far as how the new bike is doing there and how much chatter its bringing about.. Unfortunately,, its a closed group with no way to know without paying a club dues (dont blame em a bit).. Although the new air cooled Venture seems to be a hard sell in my immediate local area - I have heard from from folks here that they are a complete sell out north of the border and it sounds like the south too.. I also think the huge market that HD has built and maintained thru the years looked awefully inviting too.

:sign yeah that::sign yeah that::sign yeah that::sign yeah that: Down right inspiring IMHO.. Reminds me of a person who used to be a club member years ago... That guy (for the life of me I cant remember his name,,, ironically,,, I think he left here when he bought a Wing!!!) actually rode his bike from the States all the way up to Alaska and back in the DEAD OF WINTER - unshakable enthusiasim for our sport of motorcycle touring and definitely hardcore... Glad to have you (and the other new members too) aboard Joe and REALLY looking forward to reading some of your enthusiastic rides reports and seeing some more of those AWESOME pictures you take!!! Gonna be a fun summer reading and riding with Joe and Charlotte!!!! Puc

Randy,, THANK YOU again for posting the link up to TopHatter... After spending a fair amount of time working thru the learning curve of their site (business research before purchasing has always worked well for me) , looking at what it takes to be a seller there and comparing prices therein with those on Ebay product to product I gotta say - I was SHOCKED to see the endless amount of amazing little devices that are available directly from China/Tiawan/Hong Kong at extremely reduced prices thru Ebay.. Due to long distance off shore shipping, the ship time on the stuff is considerable BUT, amazingly,, things are coming thru all the way to Michigan.. A short example of what I am talking about: A few days after reading your post here and playing with adjusting the verbage for doing matching product research on ebay (thinking this is done to keep folks from doing what I have been doing), I was watching a small - clip on "telescope" for a smart phone (it basically is an OPTICAL zoom) on Top Hatter - it sold on their site for $18 plus $5 shipping.. I thought it was a really neat idea for a product - researched it on Ebay (again, you have to adjust the verbage A LOT on some of this stuff because, IMHO - the sellers on Top Hatter dont really want us doing this) and found the exact same product directly from China for $1.72 with FREE shipping!!!!!!!! Of course,, I thought,, why not!!! Well guess what!! I finally received the little Phone Scope and WOWZY is it cool!! Makes no sense how they could sell and ship for peanuts like that but - they did and it worked great!! I now LOVE playing on Top Hatter and looking for those little nuggets of fun hidden in there and then jumping ship to go off shore for my purchases.. A few of the other things that I have now "in process" coming from far away places (all with free shipping) include items like 48 LED Solar Security lighting - $4.50 each, right angle hex bit drill driver - .95 cents, Loupe LED jeweler glasses - $2.20, 6 axis Drone w/ WIFI Camera - $15, Vertical/Horizontal lazer light - $5.35, 6 inch inch/mm Digital Venier Calipers - $3.00 and so on and so forth... WHAT A BLAST!!! In the spirit of thankfulness for this thread and in honor of how much I appreciate you and your willingness to share,, I want to share with you some quick pics of my little Phone scope that safely found its way here to Michigan all the way from some place far away - it is very well made for what it is and, works AMAZINGLY well... I am also including a couple shots of the package it came in as proof that, indeed,,,, that there really is some solid truth to the song that those little dolls at Disney Land in California used to sing ("It's a small small world, it's a small small world,,,,,,).. THANK YOU BROTHER!! Your ol buddy Puc P.S. - if I was younger and wasnt dealing with these health issues I would be inclined to set up a TopHatter business account,, IMHO,, theres gold in them thar hills !!!!! .

WOWZY WOW WOW WOW Yamster,,, that almost hatched Charlotte is down right PURDY even if she is only a sanagram at this point... I know one thing,, if she was a new member around this place,, I am afraid I would have asked for permission to set up camp right there next her so I could hold her hand and talk her thru the whole hatching process = even that petting stuff would not have squared up with me that well ... JUST BEAUTIFUL!!!!! :clap2::clap2: I got a hunch that Cowface and Charlotte are gonna get along just fine!!! A MAJOR congrats my friend!! :thumbsup::thumbsup:

I am totally 100% with you Sky and would definitely had done exactly that (had my day in court) had it not been for the fact that the letter from Sacramento Superior was sent to me here in Michigan and its a longggg way to travel/expensive for court appearances.. I did ask about the chances of having the "trial" here in Michigan but,, of course - I was pretty much laughed at over that thought.. Simply put,, the cold hard facts involved with how far reaching the long arm of "the law" has become is something that every driver should research and thouroughly understand. I tend to be more of the daredevil type and have gotten my share of traffic tickets thru the years and, IMHO,, people like me REALLY need to be up to date on what I am saying BUT - so does every - anal about obeying traffic laws types because a person can find themselves in fairly deep legal problems over a simple seat belt violation if they are not careful.. On a side note concerning the White Police type helmet.. The officer who "warned" us (funny thing is that Tip stood right there beside me and listened to the officer tell me that it was just a warning) about the hat also told me (after I told him that we had ridden all over California with that helmet her head and had rode beside more than one officer and never had even a second look) that Motorcycle officers in California hold the sole responsibilty for assuring compliance for safety and motorcycle mods (altering factory specs in any form - like aftermarket pipes) of motorcyclist.. California is a REALLY great place to tour and all that BUT - if your not from there it does take time to get use to the "culture"...

Yep,, we got a warning from a California Motorcycle Officer that turned out to not be a warning that cost me 500 bucks for Tippy wearing a white helmet that looked significantly like that yellow one you posted above Dj only it was white.. The officer really didnt like it because it looked to much like a CHIP's hat.. After we got the warning, instead of buying a new hat - we went to Wally World - got some black paint and painted it - saw the officer numerous times after that (he patrols the area where one of my daughters lives) and got the from him so we thought we were good to go.. Didnt find out till 3 months later (got a letter in the mail after returning back to Michigan after ride season was over) that California officers do not issue warnings - at least according to Sacramento Superior.. Also didnt realize it at the time but do now - there are only 2 states in the union now that have not signed onto a "joint extradition" thing where - even for an out of state unpaid parking ticket or seat belt violation - you will lose your license and will be arrested by your home LEO - our local judge here in Muskegon explained the reality of that to me.. His words were - if you get a ticket out of state,, PAY IT no matter whether you think you did wrong or not - the headaches of getting your license back from the citation issuing state (apparently, when you are "extradited" (arrested) by your home state LEO's for an out of state violation - your drivers license is sent to the state where the citation was issued and WOWZY - according to the Judge,, people have waited for over a year to get their license back even after paying all the fines and court costs... Sounds crazy but ALL true!! Life in the fast lane... Puc

Sorry WR,,, my feeble attempt at owning/riding and spinning wrenches on the Ventures has strickly been 1st Gens and I think I must have responded to your questions here from the main Forum shortlist and didnt realize I was in the 2nd Gen tech - my bad.. Here is good example of what I have used for years (click on link below).. I can search ebay for a battery for my 1st Gen and come up with hundreds of examples of wet cells under a variety of model numbers.. The key to buying cheap, IMHO,, is to shop a little ahead of time when its not a crisis cause,, it just seems,, that if its a crisis - Murphy steps in and the prices triple - way it happens to me anyway I picked up a similar Battery pack to the one in the link for 30 bucks last winter and its setting on the shelf waiting for real ride season and us to head west for couple months of touring with a new battery intact.. Sorry,, sometimes I talk to much, here is the link - not sure it will help you though cause of me being such a dork: https://www.ebay.com/itm/WPS-BATTERY-W-ACID-C50-N18L-A-PART-C50-N18L-A-NEW-490-2250/231517834166?epid=171229427&hash=item35e789cbb6:g:6ZQAAOSwvfZaTcj2&vxp=mtr

Now that you mention this 40,, I dont recall ever having a 1st Gen where that cotter key your talking about wasn't on the inside - I got a hunch it might be some engineers idea of a safety thing:think:.. I dont take no crap for errant cotter keys though... I would just take long needle nose, grab the cotter and wiggle it till it either came out of broke off, pull the pin and knock the remaining cotter key inside the pin out of with a drift punch if it did indeed break off...

,, WOWZY WOW WOW WOW Pab,,, THAT is gorgeous!!! :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup: You done used up a once in a life time deal thingy here,,,,, might not be a bad idea to think long and hard about where you go from here IMHO.. How many miles on the scoot? Bring a tank of air to air the tires for loading,, bring a good rubber mallet and a couple feet of 2x4 in case you have to rap the calipers to free the brakes up to move it.. Dont forget to take a flashlight, kneel down at the front of the bike on the right side - turn the bars to the left and look under the fairing at the neck and double check the numbers on the title to the bike just to make sure your toting the right title. Ya did SUPER Pablo - a HUGE congrats and looking forward to your adVenture of getting that amazing BEST OF THE BEST highway eating machine back on the road where it belongs! Quick side note Pab - you can get bore scopes (endoscopes) for CHEAP on E-Bay = way under 20 bucks..

Bandit!!!

Honeymoon's over: :big-grin-emoticon::big-grin-emoticon::big-grin-emoticon::big-grin-emoticon:

BEEEEEEUUUUUTEEEEEFUL! Absolutely gorgeous Snype!!!:clap2::dancefool::dancefool::dancefool::dancefool: And that Tinker is pretty cool too

A major CONGRATS to you and Charlotte Yamster!!! One of only a few non Willie Nelson songs that we sing while CTFW and one by one my whole family has learned the words to

Yep,, this geezers with Fool on this one... Have had the best of luck with the wet cells.. I buy em cheap (last few off Ebay for well under 40 bucks shipped) and dont bother looking for the battery monitor hole - just tap thru a resistor to knock out that obnoxious red light.. I used to use all Walmart batteries cause I LOVED their warranty and the fact they were EVERYWHERE if ya needed a replacement BUT they done got pricey.. Besides what Jeff is saying,, another thing about the wet cell is that they seem to loose effeciency slower so you get a little more time to get the new battery in.. This is HUGE IMHO because even one slow hard turning event off a dieing battery can ruin a starter... Keeping in mind (again,, IMHO) that a poor battery is probably the hardest thing on an expensive starter motor = keeping a GOOD, new, fresh battery in the scoot is more important to me than trying to get long life out of one.. On another note,, I got a really good friend who invests heavily on his scoots,,, he spares no expense on them so spending the big bucks for Lithium Batteries = no problembo... After leaving his 30k dollar gorgeous HD stored with the battery on tender over winter he was SHOCKED to find what he called "Chernoble" when he pulled the seat to find out why it wouldnt roll over.. HUGE melt down from a tender that was MADE for Lithium... Just an FYI..... Another FYI,, if ya go wet, dont forget to run the vent hose all the way down and also dont forget to periodically check the acid level... I have purchased them REALLY inexpensively without acid = like 25 bucks and under cheap.. If you do this,, acid is available at most auto parts stores,, when ya fill make sure you let the battery set for an hour or so after initial fill and then check it again - it should drop and need more acid.. Complete fill with acid and then do a full charge before placing in bike.. I am sure you already knew all this but just in case someone on the outside may be following this thread and they dont know,,, maybe this will help them too...

Also,, I have restored numerous scoots in my day and,, personally, if I am dealing with a bike that has sat for a good while, I always appreciate the previous owners NOT trying to start em for me.. I like to get oil in the jugs and across the cam(s) for a prelube before I spin em up.. I have seem wayyyyy to many perfectly good old motors ruined by being run dry even for a split second.. Aluminum Cam journals are very prone for this - once they get even the tiniest gaul started - things can get nasty.. I wouldnt use the starter,, maybe - if anything - a rock back and forth to see if its free BUT - even that can cause ring damage... I know,, I am WAYYYYYY hard core and sound anal about this stuff BUT - the above has worked great for me thru the years...

First things first Pablo = Glad you found us!! Concerning the scoot,,, I have heard many similar stories to the one you tell about why the P.O. stopped riding that amazing bike.. Frankly,, those stories almost make me ... Top rate fix is 100% totally doable and not that bad - the shop manual shows step by step how/where to jumper to test the control valves and on the Venture - all that stuff is VERY easy to get at compared to other touring bikes of that time.. Personally though,, I wouldnt even of fooled with it,, those bikes came with what I call "Ink Pen Springs" in the forks right from Mom Yam and ALL of those original springs needed replacement (fact of life).. The easy peasy cure was/is dropping in a set of 90 dollar Progressives, 1" of preload, fresh Belray @ 12.5 weight and you now have almost as good of a front boingering in for off roading as you have on your KLR (have had numerous KLR's too - FUN BIKE for cross country touring and dual sporting along the way - OUTSTANDING MPG!!!) and guess what - you NEVER ever need air in the forks again!!! Swap the rear out for manual adjust (have thousands of miles 2 up and touring packed with the manual adjust - I LOVE EM!!) and NO MORE FANCY SMANCY AIR RIDE ISSUES (simplicity is a wonderful thing IMHO). This bunch of lop eared Venture guru varmints has got cha on the right track as far as whether or not you should grab it.. I just might add by asking a question.. You ever the short story that Pat Macmanus wrote that was titled "Never sniff a gift fish"?? Well,, personally,, I wouldnt fool around to long sniffing a gift motorcycle either cause if you do that gift could end up getting swimming away... A Venture WITH a side car BOTH for 500 bucks:scared:... NEVER EVER EVER sniff a gift motorcycle!! Puc

Have heard great things about them :thumbsup:and nothing really bad that I can think of... Being an old geezer I have had numerous spoke wheeled scoots for both street and dirt and personally,, if I had my rathers at this point in my life - I would steer clear of them for both maintenance and tire changing purposes.. I also feel the same way about belt drive vs shaft though (I really appreciate the low maintenance shaft drive bikes cause I am tired of working on stuff) so take that for what its worth considering the source.. Dollar wise, not knowing what kind of money your talking but just an FYI - the Honda CTX1300 has been a very hard sell around here and last time I was in the Honda shop (David Allen Racing - Fremont MI) up North they still had NOS CTX's and I believe they were stickered at 9800... I also know for fact they would REALLY like to see them gone so a guy could probably do even better than that by walking in with a pocket full of cash and telling em what you would pay...

RATS!!!!!!!!! Being a capitalist,,, I briefly thought I might have been onto another business opportunity = :missingtooth:building diesel motorcycles just for the Canadian market!!

Very interesting,, THANK YOU for the vote and also for the commenting Sy.. Here Stateside I know that the new Ventures are not covered by the actual factory warranty for 5 years (I think the 2nd Gens actually may have been) as the actual factory warranty runs out at 1 year but then Yamaha includes a 4 year service plan after that,, it sounds like you folks to the North may be getting the better end of the stick = good on ya!!!! An interesting tidbit to that,,,, I remember reading about a dealership that was including Lifetime Warranty/extended service contracts on ALL new bikes they sold here in the States - I think they were in Wisconsin.. I am not sure that is still going on but I thought it was amazing when I seen their ads a while back....

Ya know what,,,, it's lop eared thinkin ahead varmints like you Sky that give us "if it ain't broke don't fix it" hammock lovers a bad name

So is diesel cheaper in Canada than in the States??? Also,,, Steve or any of our other club members who are thinking of Venturing north of the border,,,, you may find additional info in this 2 minute vid helpful...

Perhaps part of the blame for the joy I find in that video has to do with the science behind that guys method of proving his point = he's the extreme .. Wayyyyyyyy to much "this will do that because I say it will" going on these days instead of the old school routine of "watch what happens when I do this" ... AND,,, after a bunch of longggggggggggggggg,,,,, days/weeks/months of having to blow that white wash of yours out of my driveway,,,, over and over and over and over again,,,,,,,,,, doesnt the comment about my redundency lean heavily into the pot calling the kettle black section of "The Code"?

"My trigger finger's gettin tired!!" Watch for barrel glow and notice its that area where she finally blows out.. Coolest, prettiest snap shot IMHO is at 14:49 where 6 ejects are hanging in the air - just GORGEOUS in my opinion!!! What a shooter the mighty AR is!!!! www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSizVpfqFtw