cowpuc

GOOD STUFF!!!! Hey Murph,, short story... The wife (Tippy) and I grab a new HD Ultra Limited at a local demo. As we are pulling out of the parking lot, the lady inside that thing up between the gauges says = turn right,, so I did.. I lean back on Tippy and tell her they must of programmed the demo route into the thing to lead around the demo ride - we're not much as far as being world class touring riders and neither of us had ever used one of these new fangdangled modern day marvels so we both just laughed and followed the directions of the lady behind the screen.. About 45 minutes later and miles from our starting point where the throngs of people were probably finishing up their free lunches and waiting in line to demo the new bikes, we came to dirt covered two track to the right that had an "Impassable Road" sign on it. Tip and I burst into laughter when the lady behind the screen said turn right .. I stopped the new Harley on the side of the road, waited for the cars to clear and then leaned into the screen on the dash and said = "Mam,, I have NO PROBLEM going 2 tracking on this new bike but I would REALLY like to head home to grab our tent just in case = would that be ok?",, I got no answer.. I then looked back at my wife and told her that I thought we had been misled and I thought it best to back track and find our way to the dealership.. About an hour later when we pulled into the dealership we were shocked to find the factory rep standing there,, all alone, staring at us as we pulled in.. He started with "WHERE THE HECK (not his exact wording) DID YOU GO!!"? Then he broke inito a fairly stern explaination that we were suppose to follow the little signs around the block - about a 4 minute demo ride.. After he calmed down a little, I explained to him about the lady behind the screen and that I thought they, the factory reps, had programmed the demo route into that modern day work of marvelous machine technology and I simply followed her instructions.. Hearing this, his continence went from to to to to in a matter of seconds and then he began explaining to me that as hard as they tried = NONE of the people who were there as part of the Factory rep team could figure out how to shut that stupid thing off!!!!! In the end, he actually THANKED me for not going down that muddy, two track of an impassable road!! Puc

Yep,, me and that Condor varmint,, we be auction CRAZY'S!!!!!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU Snag for posting this up! Should be fun!!!

Thing is I think these are for the 1300cc not the 12's.. The 1300's (86's up) had bigger carbs as did the 1200cc V-Max's and I wouldnt be surprised that the slides are bigger to support the larger bore,, maybe not but probably not a bad idea to double check part numbers Snype.. These look similar (white collars at the slides) to the ones I was talking about and linked to that fit the 535's and the MK1's according to the ad.. I know the OEM's have a fairly thin layer of rubber vulcanized (probably designed by Spock himself) over a fabric mesh cause I have been revulcanizing the fabric for years with YamaBond (still would like to try some E6000) and been very successful at it.. Now seeing these for 55 dollars for complete unit, I am thinking of grabbing a set - syncing Tweeks out, hookin up the Go-Pro that I won at our VR Rally down by the Tail of The Dragon (for the life of me I just went blank trying to remember the name of that awesome state park down there - @yammer_Dan , @Dragonslayer , @DragonRider , @Carbon_One @anybody,,, @SOMEBODY HELP!!!!!!!!!) and running her thru my local 1/4 mile traps and then swapping em out and seeing what happens... Then doing a pull from the bottom to the top in 5th and see how she responds.. GOOD GRIEF I NEED SPRING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WAIT TILL YOU SEE THE COOL WRENCH I JUST PICKED UP OFF EBAY SNYPE!!!!!!! WAYYYYYY COOL!!!!!!!!!! Some bikers drink when they get nervous about spring coming, some start smoking,, others eat = I buy TOOLS or GUNS or AMMO

This is probably gonna sound wayyyy crazy Zag but, because I made my living for many many years doing ground up builds/custom scoots, repairing/restoring scoots for $$'s and feeding, clothing/raising a family on that income - the last thing I ever ever wanted to do was fix my own bikes = yuck.. When it came to ride time,,, $400 bike = head out with a kid on the back,,, camping on the rim of the Grand Canyon with my little girl,, her looking at me and saying "Daddy,, what if Beeg (one of 1st Gens with no 2nd gear) breaks down out here - what will we do?) - being able to reply - push it over the edge or give it to some Indian kid to play on - take our clothes, grab a bus, go home and buy another one... Funny thing is,, those 2nd gear missing 1st Gens never did leave us stranded (ok,, excluding usual stuff = flat tires, bad stators, fuel pumps going south, loss of hydraulics, brakes locking up, running out of gas, watering out from going thru 2' deep puddles and on and on = the normal everyday occurrences that all touring riding love to participate in) and we sure beat the living daylights out of them!! I know,, sounds crazy but hey,, it worked bu I guess my reasoning in reply to you here brother is somewhat related to that same old thing about auto mechanics driving junk and carpenters living in shacks.. Even working on bikes can get old when you do it day in and day out.. Sounds strange probably but its the truth from my perspective.. I have a really really good friend who is also my neighbor - he is an over the road Truck Driver who owns his own rig = he is very successful $$ wise with well over 40 years maintaining his own equipment and driving cross county. I have helped him numerous times in building Harleys (he LOVES HD) for performance and we have had a BLAST spinning wrenches just for the fun of it.. One day he says "Barney (what he calls me) = you and I work REALLY good together,, lets open our own bike shop = we could make a fortune just making Sporties run".. He was serious and ready to front a couple hundred large to get me back into a shop working with him.. I stood there staring at him trying to figure out how to say what I had to say so he would get it.. Then I said = "Bake (what I call him),,, I got a better idea,, something I would 100 times rather do - something that would be a REAL lot of fun and something I KNOW you and I could make a FORTUNE at!! Because we both have Class "A" CDL's (I drove truck for a while too and have kept my license up all these years) - lets you and I pack it up, buy a new Tractor (Semi) together and hit the open road!!!"".. He glared at me like this ,, thought for a second and said = OH :scared:H311 NO!!!!! Thats when I reminded him that during all those years that he was going down the highway in his old Peterbuilt making $$'s for his family,, I was in my shop spinning wrenches on motorcycles - then he got it,, well,, kind of

Hi Ready,, sorry so long getting back here.. Reason I asked about the 2nd gear,,, looks like a familiar site to me of 2nd gear shavings on the drain plug magnet and it sounds like you nailed it down with your comment about your 2nd gear having failed.. I have ran many many thousands of miles with a failing/failed 2nd gear = just get into the habit of short shifting. The shavings are actually probably part of the gear window edges and dogs on the mating gear that ramp up to those windows.. The grinding/notchy sound you hear when 2nd gear skips is those shavings in the makings IMHO.. Got another quick question,,, have you been using SeaFoam? I only ask because that plug your showing has a certain "sheen" to it on its porcelin that I have seen on bikes that have had SeaFoam ran thru them.. I am not one who regularly uses SeaFoam and the sheen I am talking about which, IMHO, can cause early spark plug failure is the main reason why.. The tannish color of the plugs porcelin looks good to me but, again IMHO, it appears damp/sheenish and it should be a dull tan..

Parts 5 and 6 in this diagram are the problem (click on link below and see parts 5/6)... For those who have lost out because of this soft shim oopsy (not everyone has lost out because of it - some of us actually took advantage of the 2nd gear issue = bought em cheap with bad trannies and ran em out thru a long distance fun life by short shifting them,, with POWER like this,, we dont need no 2nd gear) - its to bad that some club guru didnt devise a quick fix of compressing the spring and replacing the split shim while in the bike.. If caught in time (before second gear slips one time) - just replacing 5 and 6 would probably solve any issues BUT - if it were mine and I was gonna mess with it - I would get with my buddy/fellow club member and 1st Gen guru @VenturousRandy , pick his brain and then replace the whole tranny with the one from the newer scoot that lowers 1st and raises 5th ratio's.. Have yet to ride one with this done but seriously,, if ya think about it,, for 2 trackin and off roading and crawling in stuck traffic - a lower 1st gear would be AWESOME and the added top end and lower R's while cruising at 80/90 mph = OUTSTANDING,, IMHO of course!! parts 5 and 6 found here: https://www.yamahapartsnation.com/oemparts/a/yam/5004246af8700209bc787dfc/middle-drive-gear Also,, I think I have a copy of the actual service bulletin from Mom Yam concerning all this.. If anyone would like a pic of it just give me a nod and I will see if I can find it and post it.. Puc

:thumbsup: and LOTS of short shifting from 1st to 3rd !! Tweeksis,, number 6 - 83 we will have worn out since 1987, is the only one I have owned that has had the 2nd gear update done to it!!! A couple of those bikes came to me with no 2nd gear in em (I LOVE $300 bikes with 200k miles plus left in em just by skippin a gear ) and the rest I popped 2nd at 25 to 30k.. Just in last years riding of Tweeksis of just under 25k miles of riding (health issues really cut into our ride time) I/we already have more miles with a 2nd gear on her then any of our other Ventures... Another good one is Tents Ty.. I have always done the cheap tent thing too and normally wear out 3 to 5 of them.. When they start to leak or a zipper go south = give it to the grandkids or toss it, stop and buy a new one... Never did get into that waterproofing spray stuff = new tents just a few more bucks.....

So all that said, watched and done.. In the end you, if the internal levers are positioned as shown, you will want to make your floorboard linkage arrangement rotate that outer shaft in a clockwise manner as shown in the video when you press down on the forward shift lever (common called the toe shifter, rearward one is called the heel shifter) to create a 1 up and 4 down pattern.

and here is the parts diagram Ty.. Look up parts 22-23 on the dia.. Find em? Those are the external lever (and cap) that I point to in the video. Part 21 is the shaft that I am talking about in the video. Shaft 21 goes thru the stator cover and linkage assembly 30 attaches to it on the backside/inside of the stator cover then the lever on the other end of that assembly attaches to the shift shaft that goes all the way thru the motor and appears under the clutch hub.. If you look at the entire assembly picture and notice how each lever is laid out in the picture using the video I shot for you as a reference - you should be able to see, positionally, what direction each linked lever needs to be in for a proper shift pattern on a "normal" Venture set up.. Keep in mind again that changing any of those levers enough to create a rotational change in direction for any of their mating shafts will indeed change your shift pattern.. ##### ALSO NOTE what Carl was talking about!! You get any of those parts in a positition that it interferes with a case/cover that is being torqued down,, snappo' - instant cracked cover = sort of like getting a thermostat in a gooseneck out of position and tightening the gooseneck down on the thermostat (like we have ALL done, some of us more times than others) = instant ruined gooseneck!! Make sense? Here is that parts diagram : https://www.yamahapartsnation.com/oemparts/a/yam/5004250df8700209bc788083/shift-shaft

Ok,, hot off the press,,, 1st thing to do is watch this short video I just made, if nothing else - it will give you a reference point for understanding how/why the shift pattern will change with a change in rotation of the shaft itself.. I cant get to Tweeks my parts bike that your clutch handle came off from because shes buried behind my son's furniture (they are moving) so I couldnt show the internal (behind the stator cover) linkage so, after I post this, I am going to post a parts blow up that shows all the linkages and how they set.. Keep in mind when viewing those that the same rule applies = changing a lever position on a shaft beyond mounting center line so the shaft rotates in the opposite direction when the matching directional force is applied and BINGO = shift pattern changes... Here's the vid,, hope you can somehow make sense out of all this - not many can usually follow my twisted logic :

FOUND IT TY!! Hold on,, gonna thumb thru my YouTube vids and see if I didnt address some of this in one of them - thinking I may just have done that.. I will say this,, if the lever in your well engineered sketch is the one that attaches to the shift shaft sticking out of the side of the engine = for normal controls on the 1st Gen, that lever placed pointing upwards will create a 1 down, 4 up shift pattern.. Pointing downwardly, it will produce a completely opposite pattern which can be really fun to ride and have the added benefit of one of the best anti theft devices known to man!!! Be right back...

Yep,,, WOWZY WOW WOW WOW - wondering what it would be like to have a non-patched up set of carb diaphrams with new slides - been a longgggggggggg time and many miles!! Just finished up patching another diaphram leak on Tweeksis getting her ready for the day that Fool decides to tuck ... Her's are getting to be more YamaBond than actual rubber so I thought I might check around and see whats out there for replacements.. Remembering how close in size my 1st Gen Ventures were in comparison to a little Virago I went thru years ago, I thought I would search google under the 535 Virago and BINGO = look what came up (see link)!! Anyone ever tried these?? 54 bucks WITH slides already attached!!!!!! https://www.ebay.com/itm/Yamaha-Venture-1200-Virago-535-CV-Carburetor-Slide-Diaphragm-41R-14940-00-00/172382909615?_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIM.MBE%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D50999%26meid%3D5c73a3c58f104f92abb6572f8a64633c%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D6%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D312077019802%26itm%3D172382909615&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m185 Think I may just try a set if no one screams - DONT DO IT PUC!!! Never know,, Tweeksis has a solid 2nd gear and a good solid clutch - set of brand new slide assemblies and a guy riding 2nd gear wheelies on a sticker covered old 1st Gen may soon be viewable YouTube!!!!!!!

Of course = I like it!! I would name it "Pearl"!!!

If I lived closer to em I would shoot over with my little YouTube crazy 50 dollar digital and produce a genuine, full fledged, :RED:of a video of both Joe and his gorgeous new bike!!! We'll get that new Venture to put on a show for ya Trbl that even you wouldnt believe .... ,,, lookin like we may have to hornswaggle ol @OrlinEngh or @zagger or @AirReadyAuto over in Consin to hog tie that lop eared @Flyinfool varmint for you though Joe... He keeps shovin that new mix of White Wash batter into the chute on his infernal machine and wont be no one north of Key West be goin no where!!!

BEAUTIFUL Joe - GORGEOUS Wing you swapped in!!!!! Congrats on the new scoot too = its almost time to head back to over this way!! WE LOVE Traverse City and riding around the bay!!! Our home is right at the start of the trail heading north and that trail includes that beautiful area you found!! Matter of fact,,, even after crossing the country many times with me,, one of my kids (youngest daughter) actually found the Tunnel of Trees to be her favorite tour = she earned the biker name "Totter = T.o.T.R. = Tunnel of Trees Rider" because of that!! You ever ride thru the town of "Bliss" up there?? One of my favorite stickers that our bike - Tweeks - has earned is her "Bliss" sticker... Just a tiny little hole in the wall up between the Tunnel and the Bridge... We are thinking about tossing together another Puc's MGnEM up that way with Hot Dogs and goodies for all in attendance... I have set up a few of them already and they always seem to go over pretty good. If you and your new scoot could make one and would enjoy it,, I will talk to my staff of Puc's MGnEM employees and maybe see if we cant set something up up there in the far north... If we do and your able to make it = bring your friends too no matter what they ride = lots of food and fun for everyone!!! Also,,, if I know your coming - we will give that new scoot of yours **STAR** billing as I am POSITIVE folks will want to see it!!!!:dancefool::dancefool::dancefool::thumbsup:

I know that Polaris did 5 years on the new release of their Indian clone but I think that was only at the start.. I am pretty sure they also did that with their Victory line and I think they did it for a few years trying to reinstall consumer confidence after the tranny failures of the early 92inch bikes.. Kind of funny thing about Yamaha Zude,,,, ever take a peek at who has held the BEST built bike awards for decades now and who carries the highest consumer confidence award for motorcycles?? Crazy as it may sound,, I have read numerous times that Yamaha is the best of the best... Yet,, the carry the very best Warranty to cover bikes that break down the least:Laugh:

Yep,, right on the money Yam!! Matter of fact,, what you are describing is already in motion.. Last year when we test rode the new TC out at Sturgis I actually discussed this with the Yamaha people.. At that time, they were quoting $570 for a rear tire and I tenderly reminded them of the known high wear factor (because of the heart throbbing torque = every time one of those coffee can sized pistons fires that rear wheel indexes ) on the sister bike/Stratoliner and that I wondered how well paying more for a rear tire than a person would pay for the wheel it was mounted on was gonna work out.. One of the things they mentioned to me was the "tempering" they had done thru things like additional counter balancer on the crank and also removing some "hit" by going with a single 46mm throttle body on the new one instead of twin 43mm throttle bodies like on the Strat. I asked if the new tire was a dual compound like offered on the HD's cause I knew that on those, the center of the tire was extremely hard which gave them xtra wear resistance but the staff at Sturgis had no idea and I couldnt tell by looking at the tires on the bikes whether this was the case or not.. I was actually fairly shocked that Yamaha had gone the route of putting out a new Touring bike with a rear tire that only they would be using - I should not have been because in our "wish lists" here on the site = along with water cooling, shaft drive and a competition stomping 180 horse V-4 motor - some of us even asked them to be sure and pick common sized tires on the new ones cause some of us go thru a fair amount of tires during the season out CTFW and having a wide choice of shoes is always a good thing.. Knowing that it appeared that Mom Yam was purposely not giving us old school Venture riders what we had asked for,,, I should have not been surprised at all when I found that back tire but I still was... That all said though,,, now fast forward to the new Wing like you mentioned... INDEED = I noticed EXACTLY what you are saying at first release of the new Wing... I also noticed that right at release on the Wing = another brand of tire was already offered!! Now both Dunny and Bridgestone are offered and, the last time I checked, prices were down to below $300 already and tour time hasnt even started yet = good old competition!! Now with Honda on the move with this new tire too,,,, I cant help but wonder if something BIG may actually be up with these new shoes you guys with the Venture get to ride on.. I know that my nephew on his Strat, riding two up and doing some touring,, the best he got out of a rear tire was 5k miles.. I also know that my wife Tippy and I, with our old 83 loaded up for a couple months touring will average a few rear tires a season (we do a fair amount of desert riding).. Couple all that and in my mind I was thinking how easy it would be for a person and his best friend doing some serious Trans Contenintal touring could easily surpass 3 or 4 thousand dollars just in tire swapping = might be cost prohibitive for some... Now though,, I am back to wondering if maybe this new tire hasnt got some kind of special build to it.. I have heard of people running dark side and getting 20k miles out and still looking a good tread (start at (9:20 and hear what our buddy jakester says about that!!) !! Maybe this one has some Darkside blood in it :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup: The old Ventures like I ride cant house a car tire like Jakester was talking about (not enough head room) =wouldnt it be something if this new tire on your new bike actually produced 30 or 40 thousand rideable miles of smiles and if - after folks like you - test em out and prove them worthy - they are produced in other sizes too!!

Dan,, just a quick FYI = your little brother is still on our daily prayer list.. Hopefully true justice will prevail thru all this and the honest truth about what preceded this whole event will come out (that people who know the truth will be willing to testify to it - not always an easy thing to do).. After watching what happened in Wisconsin on Net Flix in that 10 hour documentary of "Making a Murderer", it is truly disconcerting just how twisted some law offices are and how difficult finding law, order and justice can be.. Prayers Up brother,, Prayers Up...

,,,, I KNEW you could do it Fool!! I just KNEW you could!!!!:thumbsup::thumbsup: ,,,,,,, just wondering something,,,,,,,, now that you have proven just how lop eared Wiley E. Coyote' = genius varmint intelligent you are - would you and Frosty mind stopping by on your way to MD and sweeping up all these little white wash round thingy's laying on my yard = I saw a Robin staring at one a moment ago and I think she was saying something like "I KNOW Manna and THAT is NOT Manna!!!" to the Robin next to her.. Definitely NOT edible Fool!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BEAUUUTIFULL Bossman!!!! Just GORGEOUS!!!! When I was a kid I believe it was Western Auto here locally that sold a similar interchangeable 22/22mag revolver - plain jane stuff but I always LOVED em!!! Buddy had the Ruger = good shooters!! RIGHT THERE WITH YA DAN!!! Gotta a Mark 1 that I bought brand new back in the early 70's for 80 bucks.. Have shot THOUSANDS of rounds thru it.. Even hand cut a scope mount for it out of a block of aluminum = talk about accurate and fun.. You ever try sub sonics in yours?? I use to shoot with some Cops (friend was Chief of Police) and found out about slowing down the 22LR for accuracy = WOWZY WOW WOW WOW does that work!! You know those "flyers" you can get as the barrel gets hot? NONE with subsonics!! ,,, thumbing thru their site brother - NICE!!! Prices even lower than Gunbroker on lots of stuff!!! Thinking about picking up a 92f or maybe a Taurus 92 9mm.. 15 cents per round 9mm - LOVE my 1911 but .25 cents everytime it goes bang,,,,, loses something in the translation so to speak THANK YOU for the link VAz!!!

:thumbsup::thumbsup: = Napa Valley is 100% OUTSTANDING if your an old hippie and want to step back in time to "the day"... Endless hippie shops with tie dyed shirts, flower covered bell bottoms, door way "beads", fringed jackets and EVERYTHING!!! A TRUE STEP BACK IN TIME if you have the time to ride, explore, walk and shop...... (thanks @slowrollwv!! Still diggin it!!)

IMHO,, you have gotten a TON of very healthy and wise advice going on here Gary.. Personally,, if I were saddled with the same dilema you are talking about I would DEFINITELY do something with a winch too.. I know that HF sells a small, 2500 pound outfit for about 50 bucks - seems that would be perfect.. I would also make sure that when I attached the winch inside the Toyhaulers garage, I did so,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, = BIKER ALERT!!! 2:11pm here in Muskegon on the lake shore = it is HAILING like crazy = sky just opened up !!!!!!! Is March 3rd opening day of @Flyinfool and saddlebum season???????????????????? I would make sure that when I did so that I attached the winch to a "D" ring that was secured with bolts to the frame under the trailer.. I would also purchase a wheel chock just like this:https://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Motorcycle-Stand-Wheel-Chock-Adjustable-Upright-1800lb-Capacity-Support/112163869587?hash=item1a1d7cd393:g:2cQAAOSwzaJX~KFju I would take the eyelets on the outriggers off and I would cut some PVC "wheels" for the outrigger arms - I would cut them long enough that they would go from the eyelet holes to the point where the wheel would just touch the weld where the outrigger meets the upright = nice and wide but still loosely fitting so it can roll between the eyelets and the upright.. I would use a tight fitting PVC tube over the outrigger arm and then another larger PVC wheel over the top of it so I created a sort of bushing wheel if you will.. I would now leave the bottom outrigger "pads off" but would reattach the eyelets and I would do so so the eyelet bolt/nut was contained inside of the outrigger arm.. Looking at the wheel chock in the picture in the link, it might not be totally necessary but I would probably take a set of the rear ward holes that are used for the rear "flipper" on the chock and I would put a bolt back there thru those holes with a PVC bearing type roller mounted on it too,, sort of like a toilet paper roller thing.. I would also attach a pulling lug on the front of the chock. With the chock sitting outwardly on the ground in front of the loading gate of my toyhauler, I would back my bike onto it and attach ratcheting tie down straps on the saddle bag guards of the bike and into the eyelets. Suck the bike up with the straps to its upright. Hit the button on the winch and roll the chocked bike up the ramp, stop right before the back of the chock meets the edge of the ramp where you will see a gap formed now between the chock and the ground. Drop in the rear pvc wheel, hit the winch and pull the bike in. Leave bike in the winch and chock for travel but secure with tie downs on to "D" rings.. When ready to unload, leave chock attached to winch, unhook bike and ride out By the way,, IMHO,, finding a high spot or even a curb to load/unload on will help = anytime you can get your ramp at a lesser angle is better..

I loved riding Frisco,, while not as easy to navigate around the city on a bike as Manhatten is because of how NYC is laid out, Frisco does have a certain roller coaster rider appeal.. IMHO,, crossing the Golden Gate then the up to "1" from Frisco,, thru Bodega Bay and then up to Stewards Point, then east on Skaggs Springs Road thru the Red Woods over to Geyserville is one of our countrys most amazing tours..

This got missed too = when your cousin overfills his 1100 Virago at a gas station while CTFW out in California, pulls up beside you and in a panic striken voice and asks what he should do about the fuel now running out from under the gas cap of his bike. After advising him to just tip the bike over a little and drain some gas out onto the ground to which he says "help me, I cant do that with all this camping gear on it" - so you balance your fully loaded 1st Gen between your legs, reach over and grab his bikes left grip to lean the Virago down and drain gas out of it before you realize the pavement under both bikes is soaked with fuel causing a slippery mess and making it very easy for both of you to slip and fall and end up trapped between two fully packed motorcycles....

INDEED!!! Cowboy or not,,, a man can't never have enough ammo!!!!!!