cowpuc

LOOK what I found buried in the clubhouse walls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's hidden no more David!! GOOD JOB BY WAY = THANK YOU for the excellent observations and write up!!! ***By the way,,, hope ya got that oil filter squared away ok brother!! Here's what I found hidden in the clubhouse walls: and VAz wrote = I finally got off my butt and went down to see the 3rd Gen in person. Was looking for this huge monster scoot. In fact it's about the same size as the 2nd gen....except lower. The salesman let me crawl all over and under the bike, answering my questions and making comments. He was good and knew the bike. First impression, it has a big butt! It is very easy to get off the side stand. It is easy to hold up. I have no problem flat footing that beast....felt very comfortable sitting on her. The controls look/felt perfect for my reach and inseam. 210 pounds, 30 inch inseam, 5'10". My wife commented on all the plastic. She's thinking breakage. But at least the plastic feels stronger than the 2nd Gen...though not as strong as the 1st gen. The flexing is in between the 2....but did feel better to my hands. The trunk is huge. Seriously. Saddlebags are larger on outside but the opening is smaller due to the hinge mechanicals. Still...lots of room. No 12 volt for passenger...that's in the trunk. There is 12 volts for rider and USB as well. Cleaning the buggies off of the all the stuff that is stuffed under the triple tree looked like a daunting task. The hole between the forks is huge. Be a nice place for a radiator but there is a ton of other stuff up in there. Eric, our salesperson, said not to worry...pressure car wash as all electronics are marine grade and can take the water pressure just fine. Hmmm. Well...that wouldn't surprise me knowing Yamaha engineering. Seat felt good to me. Firm. Can't be as comfortable as the pillow seats on the 2nd Gen. Feels more like an advanced 1st Gen seat. The rider seat" back" piece does move forward to allow more room between the rider and passenger...but at the expense of room between rider crotch and gas tank. When forward, It feels like the 2nd gen...when back...it feels roomy! Wife thought maybe that little back piece lifted up rather than slide forward. That would have been a good idea Yamaha...as my back needs more support. To lift up 3 inches would help my lower back a lot. It would truly make you feel like you are sitting in the bike and not on it. Snug. But...maybe on the Mark 2 version! Glad to hear a rider back rest is coming soon. There isn't much room around the engine guards for mounting highway pegs. In fact none at all in the front. Plastic would need to be trimmed out to allow a bracket there. Will be curious to see how the aftermarket solves that problem. The guards will not help the plastic in case of a fall at all. Just like the 1st Gen in that regard. Maybe Yamaha or some 3rd party will design some good looking side pieces that will act like some of the aftermarket stuff I've seen for dirt bikes. But that probably wouldn't look to cool... Minor thoughts. The lower vents are not adjustable while riding. Gotta get off and reach in get them. But look and feel much stronger than the HD Ultra lower vents. The upper vents have lots of adjustment to them...so passenger/rider cooling shouldn't be a problem. The dash was an easy reach for me, the hand controls felt good and easy to find...but all that a moot point if you use voice control. Windshield had impressive amount of movement. For my riding height, looked like I could vary the airflow nicely. I like the rake angle of the windshield as well. Should throw the air up and over without being a huge wind block in higher winds. Overall, I'm impressed with the quality of the bike. It truly looks like a well designed and built piece of precision machinery. I will ponder what I saw and felt, then go back for another walk around. I told Eric that my buying style is one where I visit 3 to 4 times before I even ride....and then expect at least a 50 mile test ride. His eyebrows raised up at that...but the manager was standing there...and he smiled and said that could be arranged. So we shall see... Would I buy it? Yep. Hands down from just walking and sitting on it...it is a very nice scoot. But...wifemate wants a travel trailer or RV so....who knows what toys I'll have this time next year. OH...did like the red color, but I do prefer Yamaha's liquid silver! Hope this helps...

Yeppers that GeorgeS is a TON of fun = good peoples to say the least 7!! There are also numerous other fine lop eared VR folk varmints out and up your way. No idea if there is anything in the makings along this line but something you might wanna keep a weathered eye out for would be the VR Rally known as "Venture West".. WOWZY = GREAT bunch of folks out your way on the coast = superb time to say the least!! Dont get me wrong though,, those lop eared down yonder are AMAZING too - definitely the best of the best so you really cant go wrong no matter which way ya go.... Come to think of it,,, you couldn't go wrong CTFW up into Canuckian land either or hitting the East coast for that matter,,,,,,,, WOWZY there's a BUNCH of fine VR family out there!! 7,, if you do take my brother THEEEE DragonSlayer up on his offer,,, you would do well to remember to ask him about the origin of his name... Definitely an amazing story to behold - IMHO!!

:sign yeah that::ignore::ignore:

THEIR COMIN BEANY:big-grin-emoticon:!!!!! Parts are on their way Ty!!! Sent em Priority USPS - should be there in a couple days

Hey Ken,, mind if I ask what you did to clean the rust out of the tank? I only ask because I know of more than one instance where the rust got cleaned out of the tank, new filter put inline and carbs cleaned/rebuilt only to have it all go south again in a very short time. I have personally yet to find filters that were tight enough/small enough in the openings for fuel to get thru that would not still let some rust particles get thru - basically fuel filters wont stop rust from contaminating the carbs... In the end, if the tank is rusted it either needs to be replaced or treated before addressing the carbs to any real extent.. Trying to save you headaches down the road.. Puc

:178::178::178::178::178::178::178::178::178::178::178::178::178: :fatsmiley::fatsmiley::fatsmiley::fatsmiley::fatsmiley: That is SOOOO sweet of you folks to have an open invite like this Ready = THANK YOU!!!!!! I wish there was some way Tip and I could even remotely see making it across the pond to hug and congratulate that precious bride of yours (and you too) and to double hug that sweet Mom of yours too - probably not gonna happen but regardless - be sure and pass around a bunch of :bighug::bighug::bighug:from us though will you?

What I would do is remove the choke cable and lube it with a cable luber, then reattach setting it tight so I am getting max pull on the linkage.. Next I would WD40 the cable linkages on the carb - I like WD40 cause the bike and I can bathe in it together without worry of poisoning (experience taught me that) and its friendly with other parts besides linkages... Now I would full activate the choke lever and I would go around to each individual choke plunger on each carb (found under the edge of the diaphram carb bodies) and take a pair of needle nose pliers and lift up on each one - one at a time - to make sure each plunger is coming all the way out. Then I would WD the shaft on those plungers and close them with the lever, repeat and repeat and repeat a few times till each one of those plungers (you cant miss them = I am talking about the plungers with the little mushroom on the end of the shaft that has the fork in the linkage gripping it) prove to be moving freely without me having to help it with my needle nose pliers.. I am not sure (never did it with the Ventures) if you can get those plungers out without removing the carbs if they have to be rebuilt (dried O=Ring, plunger dried out) but I almost think it would be possible sitting here thinking about it.. Seems like the linkages at each fork have a screw in them to remove the fork and give access to the plungers... Shouldnt be to hard to see if what I am talking about is correct.. Hope this helps Cammy!! Puc

EXACTLY!!!!!!!!!! :big-grin-emoticon::big-grin-emoticon::missingtooth::happy65::happy65::moon::moon::banana::banana:

OUTSTANDING JOB VentureFar/Neil!! Thanks again for posting this up for our enjoyment and we are all looking forward to your Venture T.C. report brother!!! This is a very well written, straight forward personal account of a ride report on the new Eluder and it can be found here in its entirety with some outstanding pictures: https://ultimatemotorcycling.com/2018/02/07/2018-yamaha-star-eluder-test-death-valley-bust/ and here is short version/primer of Neils professional opinion of what life on the road with the new Eluder may be like: 2018 Yamaha Star Eluder Test | Death Valley Or Bust! By Neil Wyenn - February 7, 2018 2018 Yamaha Star Eluder 500-Mile One-Day Test With The GT Option Package My plan was to loop from Los Angeles to Death Valley and return putting over 500 miles on the odometer of the 2018 Yamaha Star Eluder. I wanted to see if a 200-miles-per-day rider could head off to Sturgis and put in 500-mile days. Also, I wanted to see how it compares to my Generation 2 Yamaha Royal Star Venture V4. I started out at 7:30 a.m. with a topped off tank to get a good idea of mpg and miles per tank at various speeds. I felt like a bad ass, as I was riding this aggressively styled 1854cc bagger. I was thinking of ripping off my shirtsleeves and getting a tattoo. I have never ridden a bagger style bike before, and I found myself with a whole body feeling of testosterone and masculinity (no offense to the ladies, but not being one, I don’t know what the equivalent is). The Yamaha Eluder feels like it has a very low center of gravity. It is extremely easy to maneuver at slow speed. Using the friction zone from training on Ride Like A Pro, I was quickly able to U-turn in a space not much wider than my Honda XR250R dirt bike and at very slow speed. The Eluder has a 200mm wide low-profile rear tire. The lean over roll rate is noticeably slower than my Gen 2 Venture, but I quickly remembered about throwing the outside knee against the tank to help push the motorcycle over in conjunction with countersteering. The Eluder still doesn’t weave (swerve practice on the freeway) as nimbly as the Gen 2, but by the end of the day I was getting close. The stability of the Yamaha Star Eluder is amazing at freeway speeds. I spent time hands off the bars and the bike tracked true and straight. I don’t remember the hands off on my Gen 2’s bars with the stock front tire because I had changed it to the narrower tire for lighter handling soon after I got it, and it is definitely not a hands-off bike now. Many have mentioned, and it has happened to me that in a high-speed turn on the Gen 2, that if you hit a bump while leaned over the bike will wallow and wiggle. The Eluder is absolutely solid in a bumpy turn and doesn’t wallow. It carves tight and wide turns very capably and predictably. The bike is very stable and cruises comfortably at 85 mph in sixth gear. I would guess that about half of the 525 miles was at or around 85 (Note: Professional driver on a closed course. Do not attempt.) With that cruise speed, I still averaged 32.6 mpg for the day. At 65 mph I saw about 45 mpg, and at 75 about 38 mpg. The tank holds over six gallons, so even at 85 mph you can get 180 miles between gas stops. I ran the gas gauge down to just before the red/empty line, and it filled to the brim at 5.2 gallons. As I understand the tank, that still left 1.4 gallons until sputter out. The Eluder has a rev limiter at 4600 rpm. I have no idea what the rev limit is on the Gen 2, but I was bumping into the Star Eluder’s limiter for most of the day when starting out from a stop. Eventually, I got the hang of quickly upshifting shifting during acceleration. When aggressively taking off, you better hold on or you will be left behind. Yamaha tells us that peak torque is at a low 2500 rpm, and what that translated to is pulling just about any of the six gears from almost any speed. Speaking of six speeds, many times I was cruising for quite a while in fourth or fifth gear, completely forgetting there is a sixth cog. Cruise control worked great at any speed, and was a real help in 35 mph zones. At any set speed on any hill, up or down, the cruise control held exactly spot-on. In addition to quite a bit of power, the engine puts out a lot of heat. I didn’t notice it when the air temperature was between 45 and 73 degrees, but above 73 the underside of my left thigh was cooking, though not the right side. There are lower vents on both sides, but they are inconvenient to open and close while riding. When closed the heat was very uncomfortable at any speed. Open, they did help blow some of the heat away. Everything below the seat is warm or hot. Riding slowly in traffic at 90 to 120 degrees during the summer will really be uncomfortable on your left leg! The seat seemed comfortable in the garage but after 200 miles I started squirming. Where is Rick Butler when you need him? Want more??? Click on the link and enjoy the journey like I did!!! Puc

My ears were ringing and I just found out why = I think this blank forum space was just SCREAMING my name to come and write something in it!!!! I LOVE being 1st in line,, you guys are sooooooooooo slow :crackup:,,, must be a bunch of 2nd Gen riders :rotfl::rotfl: ,,,, just realized I am in the new Eluder forum area:ignore:,, ,, think I better think fast and go find something to stick in this forum that has something to do with Eluding before I end up back in that infamous club penalty box.... ,,, VentureFar's Eluder report at UltimateMotorcycling ,,, time for some "Star" billing oh sweet brother of mine!!!!

Sure enough Dog = you nailed it big time!!! Thank you Honda cause in so doing, it appears that Dunny has jumped on the "we better make a tire for this new scoot too" band wagon which makes it look like the tire prices have already come down to about 1/2 of what they originally were when we were out demoing the new Venture at Sturgis last year = GOTTA LOVE CAPITALISM:usa:!! Dunny or 'Stones though,, it will still be interesting to see what kind of tire mileage folks see out these new ones.. I know from experience (nephew owned a Strat that he and his wife toured on) that, because of the hit of the big twin Yam = the torque beat played havoc on tires - especially on hot tarmac (like all tires dont wear out prematurely on hot pavement right?).. I am not sure if the new Dunny is one of those high end dual compound tires or not but my buddies around here are running them on their big twin new HD's with good success (they dont tour though).. I know too that Mom Yam is using some new kind of composite engine mounts that may or may not absorbed some engine thump torque.. I also know that HD uses a compensator on the crank for such stuff as well as pulley to wheel snuffers - no idea if Mom Yam is utilizing either = be interesting to know. I have my doubts that the new Honda will have this same out come with tire wear even though it operates at close to the same torque as the Yam = I got a theory that 6 hits per rev has less tire torque hit as 2 hits per rev when considering high torque.. It will be definitely be interesting to see where this all leads.. Gotta LOVE talking scoots!! Puc

,, I always LOVED putting a whoopin on stuff like that Ty,,, giving it the old 1 - 2 punch and if it don't pan out - oh well,, bail and start from scratch! At this point, if it was mine I would take my largest set of good vise grips, I would snap the jaws closed on those vise grips and then lay the face/nose of them on my bench grinder or belt sander and I would grind a really good flat surface on the face of the vise grip jaws. Keep in mind I am talking about the nose/face part - not the side of the jaws. I would then place this freshly manicured jaw nose against the face of the res body along the edge of the O.D. of the broken screw with the drill bit in it.. I would squeeze and adjust my vise grip setting as I squeezed while lightly pushing down on the vise grips to maintain a perfect contact with the res face while garenteeing I am getting max bite on the screw.. When the vise grips finally snapped closed I would twist slowly but firmly to the left (lefty loosey) while feeling for and watching for any slippage of the vise grips on the stud (as small as the screws are for that cover = probably break before slipping).. I would take extra special care to make sure the only motion that was happening while using the vise grip was rotational = no leaning/torqueing sideways - patience.. It'll come out... Its just had the ole brake fluid between steel and aluminum going on for a long time = sort of creates its own nightmare but it will come out.. Sound like fun or should I go do some digging and see if I can come up with a do over for you? I rebuilt the one on Tweeks a couple times so it could tag along with us on her 300k miles of fun and it was still working when Tweeks donated her carb bank heart to her sister - should be still totally functional as far as I know.. Another REALLY cool thing about these old 1st Gens that I have ALWAYS appreciated = it was like Mom Yam knew upfront that a wanna be biker wrench spinner like yours truly was gonna end up working on the thing - probably out in the of the desert or wayyyy up on a mountain when fixing something too - Murph being Murph and all that.. IMHO,, Mom Yam being like that shows up in places like the clutch master we are talking about = x2 10mm bolts and the clutch perch is free from the bars (not attached to the grip control unit like many many other bikes). 12 mm banjo releasing the clutch line and unplugging the clutch switch.. If memory serves me correctly,, not much to it. If this sounds like a direction you want to go just P.M. me a shipping address and I will do what I can A.S.A.P. so you can get out there and CTFW!! Puc

Thats why I prefer to do my sovenier shopping and hang my hat in these kind of back alley joints Zag,,,,, I think all the booming and banging during the daylight hours tends to scare away those with sensitive ears and answers the question of whether or not my pocket knife is still legal is self explanatory PLUS = free camping, free parking, no entrance fee's, free Vendor tables ( and WOWZY - talk about pretty Vendor ladies at those tables)...

How do ya tell the guy's with the magneto Panhead's from the one's without?? The guys with the magneto Pan's have 2 more inches of muscle on their right legs than on their left:178: Talk about those old Hardleys that would give ya crows feet from kicken em,,, the kid that bought my Chopped 59 (see pic,,, tossed in an old pic I just found of a '39 Chief basket I picked up too that I thought you might get a "kick" out of) call's me the day after picking it up and says "I must of kicked this piece of junk 1000 times last night and IT WILL NOT START!! Please tell me again which direction the toggles go for "Start".. All forward I said,, all forward I did he says and it still wont start.. I said,, "did you listen when I told you and showed you how to start the old Loner?".. He says "to the letter".. Lets go over it one more time I said: Toggles back (ignition off), gas on, throttle closed, choke on, roll thru twice on kicker, full retard on magneto then slight advance, Toggles forward, roll kicker over lightely until you feel the cams put pressure on the valves - keep pressing down until you feel the cam lobes rock between exhaust and intakes,, straight leg kick it like ya mean it and DO NOT sissy kick it with a bent knee cause it will hyper extend your knee and break it (very painful = those early XLCH's had VERY tricky kicker mechs).. If it dont start in 2 kicks, open the choke and give er some throttle and try again... Kid to me: tell me gain about getting it between the exhausts and intakes = I forgot about that part Hearing ya bro on the FACT that Yamaha has the best of the best history of rider satifaction/dependability!! Was reading not long ago that we have OWNED that for a long time now!!! YAMAHA - TODAY IS THE DAY!!

To me, you bringing up those valid points about the Kawi has a real sense of irony about it Sky. On the way in from an out of town little Medical Research trip, Tip and I needed some fun time so we stopped to look at scoots - dead of winter,, slow paced sales floor and all that - LOTS OF FUN!! No new stuff was in yet but the dealership did have a couple year old left over Kawi Voyagers which are the tour bike episode of the bagger in the comparison.. I actually liked the "retro-sports car" dash and Tip and I were admiring the fairing lines (pretty cool,, definitely a look of its own like the new Venture/Eluder) when the sales guy announced $11900 OTD = take one home says he , of course I was ..

and then there are story's like this young mans that make me just shake my head in amazement at how blind to proper "customer service" some dealerships/manufacturers can be (this is a tragic HD story but, IMHO, HD is far from alone in this type of improper business ethics).. Ethically speaking, this young guy should have gone no more than 2 days without a brand new replacement bike IMHO.. When watching these two vids, dont forget to remind yourself that the question of the day that our industry experts are asking us to help them answer is "what can be done to help save the industry" = now watch these and remember = this can/does happen to anyone:

,,:dancefool::dancefool::dancefool::dancefool::dancefool::clap2::clap2::clap2::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup: = ACTUAL :Happy Birthday::Crazy_139: WHAT A CHAMP!!!!!!!!! YA DONE BEEN BLESSED SNYPE!! CONGRATS TO ALL!! Puc P.S. = ON THE NO SMOKEY TOO BROTHER!!! :You_Rock_Emoticon:

I really enjoyed the vid Sky,, thanks a gazillion for posting it up!! One thing I would take issue with from personal experience = the whole "Indian has the best resale value" thing.. Harley Davidson still has the best resale value = bar none IMHO.. Actually, I was surprised at the suggestion that Indian was even considered in that category and as far as the Eluder goes (given a close second?) - the "Venture" line has a very poor history of holding resale value (IMHO of course) and the Eluder hasn't been out long enough to even begin to show any evidence that that has changed.. Truly (IMHO), HD has always been benchmark and as far as what those HD values mean, my experience has been = as HD goes, so goes the market/resale values of all the rest, HD drops by 50% - they all drop by at least 50% = again - that is my opinion and what my experience has been with em.. The theme of the video seemed to be one of answering the question of "which one of these 7 would you spend your money on if you had to choose one of these baggers".. Considering that I would view a new "bagger" as a 1 up bike used for 1 up excursions - be it cross country or playing around town. I still would have to consider "heat" because I just know that sooner or later - I would be either headed west into desert heat to a rally or down into the high humidity/high heat south to one.. Considering that even though I have no passengers legs to worry about burning = I still gotta say that I am not one of those bikers who find the joy in burning my own lower extremities. Not being one of the types who, as I read in a recent report about the top 5 baggers, needs to feel the heat of the engine/exhaust to enjoy my bike,, I would still look at water cooling as a major major plus even on my "bagger". Not much has changed since I spent some time developing my 3rd Gen wish list for Mom Yam like many of our club members did and, truthfully,, thinking about it here,, I must be pretty set in my ways cause not much has changed here.. Matter of fact,, even having mid-ship foot pegs for standing up on for better control when off roading or playing in a parking lots is high on my list. I also know that I LOVE the thrill and huge :dancefool::dancefool: I get from riding a wicked fast scoot = I REALLY get off on doing my best "Snidley Whiplash laugh" when, with just a slight twist of the throttle my scoot and I watch those headlights disappear in the mirror's (I KNOW,, flaw in my character but its how I am ).. Don't get me wrong, I do LOVE the sound of a 45 degree kaa tater dee tater dee tater dee tater big twin but WOWZY,, for my bagger needs - a 6 cylinder scoot that sounds like a Formula 1 race car as well as performing sort of like one definitely adds icing to the cake when in the process of wicking up another :dancefool::dancefool: bye bye time... So the Beemer it would be for this old bent up lop eared club house varmint BUT,, that said,, please know that I would still be honored to ride with ANY and ALL of you Big Twin Bagger Brothers of mine and I would try to keep my Snidley Whiplash laugh to a minimum as my Bagger Beemer and I went flying by ya's while I was standing on the pegs waving bye bye ...

'''I've been bringing bikes back to life since I was a kid''' WOWZY WOW WOW WOW , and obviously you learned a LOT about the art of the restore thru the years = SHE IS A BEAUTY 7,,, :thumbsup: on a job well done!!!! ""and of all the bikes I've had the one I wished I hadn't let go was an '83 Venture. Best all around bike I've ever ridden, I think of it as a full-dress sport bike. I'd go on but I think I'd be preaching to the choir."" And this choir member shouts back = got that right!! A full dress sport bike she is = definitely the best of the best too!! You got the headlight glass for her 7?? I am sure you already know about the 2nd gear issues with the 83's so I wont go into detail there but thought I would FYI ya anyway. Another thing to consider would be slipping in a set of Progressives in the forks to replace her OEM Ink Pen Springs.. Maybe pull the inspection cover on the stator and see if she's got at least the 1st phase stator cooler splatter plate in there.. While ya got that left plastic side cover back off, clip off that stator wire terminal zip tied half way up the frame and hard wire it so the center of it dont melt down and ground the stator wires and fry the stator.. ,,, see what happens when ya get the choir singin:missingtooth:. Sorry bout that,,, cant help myself,, every time I see another one of these flat out gorgeous mile munchin 1st Gens getting treated so special I just wanna :dancefool::dancefool::dancefool::dancefool: Thanks for reading??? THANK YOU FOR POSTING!!! Puc

Yep,, got it,, just didnt know till just now that I got it!! Got a couple more in there I gotta shout back to to = THANK YOU for rattling my cage Lenny!! GREATLY APPRECIATE IT!!!!! Now back to the P.M.s!!!

Hold on I will go check it!! I get my PM noticed randomly ,, maybe I missed it!!

@Flyinfool was :smash2: on the end of the work bench in the shed where the White Washer is kept... A piece of wood came loose from his work bench,, did a double endo in the air and landed horizonally across one of the nozzles that happen to be on the North end of the nozzle manifold.. The Wisconsin White Washer is a fairly delicate machine and that little splinter of wood forced the over spray from the infamous machine to cast out North by Northwest instead of directly East like it normally does... Bottom line Cammy,,, you ended up with what would normally have landed in my front yard:guitarist 2:

Yep,, my money would be on some starved windings in there got cooked.. Looks like ya had about 12 amps total available (wattage/voltage=amps) and I would almost bet that washing machine is on a 20 amp circuit ( #12 romex, breakered @20 amps) and the washer motor is rated around 10 amps - maybe 12 with a startup draw closing in on 15 amps - even more if heavy loaded).. Thinking about it,, I wouldnt be surprised that spinning er up to get the water out of the clothes (kind of like dropping your scoot into OD = takes umph and is a known spot for clutch slippage to be noticed) would also be a high amp demand zone - easy to check with a clip on amp probe.. Toss in a few lights in the house being on and that available amperage is greatly reduced.. I would pop the front off it and double check for burned belt cause they can stink too but would do so expecting to see/smell/find a toasted washer motor - toasted windings can sure make a stink.. By the way,, if it is roached,, might wanna check on new motor.. I was shocked at how cheap some of those have parts have become for some models.. I completely rebuilt our dryer not long ago and I dont think I had over 20 bucks in parts for it = wayyy cheaper than new!!