cowpuc

Now you GOTTA know that I never even got to this point in this amazing hail tale and my pea brain was already headed EXACTLY in that direction Jeff!!! THANK YOU again for locking down those nozzles in a North Westerly direction before you dumped that initial concoction into the hopper and turned on the White Washer!! I am just not sure my neighbors would have tolerated another announcement by yours truly that I knew where it all came from like I did when that 10 foot of snow hit last season = they had the rope strung up then,, afraid this time they would have used it on poor ol innocent, just the messenger, me.. WOWZY WOW WOW WOW = now THAT is a gazzapper of a load of hail I tell ya!!!

Back at cha Huggy,, its GREAT to see you posting again!! Was down for a while with some medical stuff myself so I can kind of relate - not fun thats for sure. I am deeply saddened to hear about the loss of your Wifes Mother - please be assured and let your wife know that you folks will be in my thoughts and prayers, losing a loved one is never an easy matter - Godspeed and RIP Huggies Mother In Law, you are loved and missed. Also know that you folks will be in my thoughts and prayers during the moving process and in attempting to sell the bike - praying that the Lord will lead a buyer your way. Remember that you dont even have to own a motorcycle to be part of this bunch.. Try to stay in touch as things change, networking always seems to help.. Puc

:scared::dancefool::clap2::clap2::thumbsup:!!!!! I think THAT is SO wayyyy cool Jack!!!!!! I cant tell you how many bikes I have sold and shipped off to an off shore vendor - LOTS AND LOTS OF HARLEYS!! LOTS AND LOTS OF SHOVELHEADS!! Containers full headed for England - most recent stuff.. ' Not to far past (back in the late 80/90's) the early model Kawasaki 900 Z's and triple 2 strokes were in HUGE demand back in Japan for some odd reason - did a lot of it then too.. Bottom line my friend - I personally am not real shocked at hearing Sweden attached to the return of your brothers car,, I am HIGHLY impressed with you finding it on You Tube though = that is nothing shy of a miracle IMHO = wayyyyy cool!! Sort of like back when my daughter Cappy was in Med School at Cornell in NYC. She picked up wandering feet syndrome from her dad - took some time away from her studies one new years eve and wandered down to watch the ball drop at Time Square. I was talking to her on her Cell Phone - told me about where she was standing (near a platform where a band was playing). The TV station we were watching the ball drop on was panning the crowd and, another miracle similar to yours,,, WE SAW OUR DAUGHTERS FACE IN THE CROWD!! Out of alll those millions of people - BINGO - there she was!! I actually have a VHS recording of that but I would probably have a better chance of finding another one of your old cars in Sweden than locating that Video but it really did happen.. Yea brother - you finding that ol car is wayyyyy cool!! PS - nitros made those built V-8's boogy - LOVE the sound of those guys laughter when he spun er up - sure reminds me of the old days

PS = Divey,, please be sure and get a good picture of Dale before his Racoon look fades... Sort of like this = :stirthepot::stirthepot::crackup::rotf::rotfl: Wish we were there ,, be a Hot Dogs for everyone moment I tell ya = eh!!!!

OUTSTANDING YOU TWO LOP EARED KANUCKIAN WORLD TRAVELING MOTORCYCLE TOURING VARMINTS = SOOOOOO GLAD TO HEAR YOU TWO ARE HARD AT IT AND MAKIN IT WORK!!!!! :thumbsup::thumbsup: Dale,, pick up a left over Sturgis Rally map, put that lop eared varmint Divey in a headlock and tell em Puc said to follow you to Hill City - just a ways out of town on 385 (main road thru town) going back toward Dead Wood you will find Sheridan Lake. As you round the bend where Sheridan Lake runs along side 385 you will notice some rocky wooded mountain side on the other side of the road.. During the evenings - BEFORE dark - I have seen Big Horn Sheep right there.. Honestly,, I have searched the whole lower 48 over many times (LOVE animal watching) and that spot is the ONLY spot in all the mountain riding we have done that I have ever seen the creatures = THEY ARE AWESOME to view!! Also,, when/if you do the Spearfish Canyon ride = toward the end of that canyon ride there will be a huge lodge that has buildings on both sides of the road. There is a gravel road that goes off to the right on that bend where the lodge is - right on the corner there is (hope its still there) an old sign that says Water Falls this way.. I think the name of those falls are Rough Water or something like that,, Rough something.. Anyway - worth the time if ya wanna get out of the way and see something cool IMHO.. Also, if you take 16a down from Rush More to do Needles Hwy you will come to Playhouse Rd. where you turn right to go toward Needles Hwy (87).. Right on that corner (16a and Playhouse) is a small campground with real genuine Wolfs to observe.. Definitely worth the howdy IMHO.. AWESOME you two Lop Eared Varmints made it = enjoy, have fun, DONT FIGHT like my brother and I used to and,,,, hey,,, wait a minute,,, no pictures? Ummm,, DONT FORGET THE PICTURES ya lop eared varmints!!! Ride safe!! Puc

EXACTLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:dancefool: Picture this,, Tip and I are on our way to the unveiling of the new Venture.. While headed that way, I am patting our 83 on her tank bag and telling Tip,, "ya know sweetheart, I am not exactly sure why anyone would even want anything more than ol Tweeksis.. You can only legally go so fast,, she is fully capable of 250k plus life time miles, she gets amazing MPG, I can leave the keys in her anywhere we go and dont have to worry about someone taking her, her factory seat is the most comfortable seat ever put on a bike, she comes when I call her and, keeps running even in the worst of rain - PLUS, she sure looks good with her Antelope Horns mounted on her mirrors..

I use AdHuntr.com to answer questions like this Huggy.. It searches Craigslist alllll over the country.. Here is a quick search I did for you on there just for an example: http://www.adhuntr.com/p/results.html?cx=partner-pub-9413604915893153%3Ao8xsd8d7h7s&cof=FORID%3A11&ie=UTF-8&newwindow=1&q=Yamaha+Venture&as_qdr=a&sa=Search&m=1 I used "Yamaha Venture" in that search and came up with 10 pages of results.. Its always best to try several approaches when searching.. XVZ1200, XVZ1300, yamaha touring bike and on and on.. Not everyone knows these bikes as a Venture,, I am sure you get my point.. Hope this helps!! PS - IMHO, our Ventures are more in demand now than they were back when they were new - seems like people are FINALLY catching on to how AWESOME of a bike they are/were/can be..

See,, like most,,, I am also an avid admirer of all scoots.. Quite frankly, I LOVE KC's Sprint and could see myself spending countless hours chasing the front wheel on it just like he mentions. I also LOVE the Triumph Rocket 3 - AWESOME machine with endless possibilities. I have owned Harley's both new (Twin Cam) and old and LOVED them all to no end. I had an 2001 88" TC that I tortured to no end, stuck a gear driven blower on it - all kinds of fun. Currently I have a standing invitation to get over and spend some time on the new "Motus" bikes = and rest assured, I AM GONNA GO FOR IT!! I met the local owner of our Motus dealership (in Grand Rapids Mi) at our Spring run - got to see one up close,, WAYYYY GORGEOUS MACHINE!! Motor is 1/2 a Chevy V-8 = VERY IMPRESSIVE.. One of the awesome things about motorcycling today is the endless choices of steeds afforded to us. Great time to be a biker I'd say.. On the other,, I am not so sure its such a great time to be a Motorcycle manufacturer.. Being a geezer kid, old n worn out with the heart of teenaged gear head, I get around to the bike shops in search of new mods with the ferver that only an obsessed maniac would have. One of the things I have noticed is the amount of new left over machines there are out there.. Makes no difference Harley or Honda. Wanna buy a new Indian? Guy in Caledonia where we went to get a tee shirt recently has left overs for CHEAP (compared to 2017 models). Our Harley shops have TONS of left overs and, its my understanding that HD has cut back on production cause things are slow.. I know our Honda/Yamaha shop has left over V-4 1300 Hondas marked down from 15ish to 7500 bucks.. Fact is, its tough out there.. Knowing that, and knowing how endless the supply of left over HD (not to speak of the flooded used market) air cooled V-Twins and clones (IMHO, anything not Harley and an air cooled V-Twin is a "clone" Harley = just chasing the market that Harley built and owns) and then the V-Twin water cooled bikes that are water cooled but designed to look air cooled, I still dont understand why on earth Mom Yam didnt take this one great opportunity to flat out turn the touring world up side down like they said they were gonna do and basically declare brand new ownership of that market = completely turn their back on the whole air cooled V-Twin market and do something crazy . Once again IMHO, Harley owns and is benchmark in the looks - sound - paint - audio - showmanship - dealership network - price point - accessory choices - factory support - HOG gatherings (family push) AND head turning ability right out of the showroom and going against them toe to toe (especially difficult for an offshore US manufacturer like Yamaha) and expecting to match MSRP is kinda nuts if ya ask me. The ONLY category that HD does not own is performance based IMHO.. Because of this, Harley has had to have their own "class" in racing = those old push rod motors with the necessary "fork n knife" rod design to maintain single pin cranks on a 45 degree "V" to produce that epic sound HAS its performance limitations and one would think Mom Yam would have known that and exploited it. I get the whole thought process of wanting to be above 1800cc cause it does seem like the normal V-Twin chaser is engine size orientated BUT - one has to remember that Kawasaki actually did have a 2000cc scoot (NEAT BIKE IMHO) out for a while and, quite frankly, it didnt sell worth a hoot.. HD also has a 120 inch engine in both race offering and in Street offering (buddy and I went to Harley Performance school and spent a fair amount of time on a 120R equipped Street Glide - AWESOME motor for what it is!) and the same thing - those engines are available but very few are out there on the street.. Also thinking of the Boss Hoss V-8 bikes,, I LOVE em but quite frankly - ya dont see a lot of em out CTFWin.. Nahh,, I think the age of the endless pursuit of having to have the largest V-Twin air cooled motor is closing in - probably/maybe because there are sooo many choices.. I still wish Mom Yam would have turned her back on the whole bunch of em, gone a whole new direction with that new Vmax motor, tossed on a couple turbo's to cover both extreme torque and extreme hp angles, had a factory "Ram "X"" cell phone holder built into the bikes dash for the modern day cell phone to cover all the info system needs of the modern day rider and called it good enough as far as info system needs go, gone head over heals CRAZY on using modern day metals and technology to get the bike as light as possible (my R1 is a Yamaha 1000cc scoot and it weighs under 400 pounds dry - Mom Yam could have..).. A canyon carving 200 horse, 225 foot pounds of torque V-4 Motored, 750 pound rigid aluminum framed drive shaft 6 speed fixed fairing Venture with fully adjustable Bars/foot pegs and removeable/lockable storage and GOOD LED lighting would have set the touring world on fire IMHO and, probably been the kind of bike that once test ridden - the modern day touring test riders would have gotten off, pointed back at it when talking to the Yamaha reps and said "I,, I,, I,, I cant imagine riding ANYTHING else now that I have ridden that amazing motorcycle".. Yep,, I am still numb and dumbfounded.... A Yamaha Venture with no V-4,,,, I cant wait to greet new owners here on the site and PROMISE I will treat them with total acceptance and respect - cant wait to test ride this new one myself but - its gonna take me a long time to get use to equating a Venture with an air cooled V-Twin in it... WOW am I thick skulled..

First off I dedicate this, one of my favorite Willie Nelson songs, song titled "Little things mean a lot" to PBJ's gorgeous scoot in honor of all the "little things" he has done to set his bike apart from all the rest - PBJ and his bike are definitely my kind of folk.. Secondly I am including a couple pics here of my own version of those same "little things" that set Tweeksis apart from all the rest.. The picture is of an Icelandic Gremlin Bell and Icelandic flag sticker that @StarFan and Greta brought for Tweeks and I all the way from their homeland. The other pic is of an Australian sticker that @AussieAnnie and Quickstep brought us from their homeland, one can also see a pic of their homeland flag in the pic with the Icelandic flag. Its not often that my bikes get treats for something they didnt earn (all those other memories on my bikes are on there cause they have been EARNED the hard way) but I gotta say, those four items from lands far away get just as many questions asked about them as anything else on Tweeksis.. Yep,, she is DEFINITELY one of a kind and LOVED beyond measure!! Looking GREAT there my brother PBJ and THANK YOU for the invite to participate in this AWESOME game!! Puc The Song: THE PICS!!

RATSSS,, wish I was down there to help out my Texas Hero!! We are still out of town baby sitting so I cant check my 1st Gen parts bikes.. Anyone know if there is room on the bars of a 2nd Gen for John to just add another master assembly just to get him home?? I would look at that, even if it meant bolting an auxillary master somewhere other than the bars and then plumbing to it.. Anything to get a clutch... Thinking out loud a little more,, wonder if there is anyway to disconnect the front brake and plumb to it for the clutch = riding home on rear brake would be conceivable on one of my tours.. Gotta be a way... I get home I will check and see if the master on Tweeks (she's a parts bike now) has a stand alone perch = if so and you have room on your bars or can make it work John I would be more than happy to overnight it to you!! Hope n Prayers Up your ok out there my brother!!

Yeppers,, I am sure your right on target Cammy.. IMHO, ya gotta also entertain the actual costs of production between the two motors though = fact is, that push road motor has gotta be wayyyy cheaper to build.. Probably would have had to have sold 10x as many v-4's as v-twins in the end to recoup just added production costs between the two and that v-twin cut of the sales pie is sooo much bigger overall - Mom Yam probably saw it as a no brainer when it came to estimated profitability..

Nope - their toothed on the belt and the teeth precisely mesh/fit into cogs on the pulleys.. Actually not that far removed from a chain and sprockets set up.. If you do slide a belt like your talking about - you can almost be assured the belt is done for. Usually a ruined belt is such because it got damaged/cut. I have seen people running belts that were damaged with 1/2 wide gashes in the sides of them on Big Twins - that material is so tough it is almost untearable BUT - it is risky to keep running them when damaged cause they can and do come unglued.. Next time you get around a belt drive scoot - take a close look down there at the system - you'll see what I am talking about.. You know, another good one to consider here is the Sling Shot 3 wheeler Polaris makes.. They have a very unique drive system in them - goes from a GM car engine/tranny out a driveshaft that mates to a right angle drive. The output on the right angle drive is a belt pulley - the rear wheel has a mating belt pulley.. The bike weighs just under 2000 pounds and the motor produces almost 200 horse.. Ya oughta see the burnouts and stuff people do with those things - great big ol wide car tire on the back - WHAM,, lite er up like crazy.. Belts seem to handle that application just fine from all I have heard.. Larry/ Carbon One has one of those Slings I have ridden in,, he could elaborate on the belt durability if you PM'd him..

WOW am I hearin you guys.. Up till a couple years ago I was really doing pretty good at juggling it all.. Came back from our normal 2 month tour back then and noticed a constant fatigue feeling and literally felt like I could feel life draining out of the bottom of my feet when I stood up. Next couple of years till now I spent most of my days laying on our couch - sleeping 20 to 22 hours a day and no doctor was able to tell me what was wrong.. They kept finding stuff but none of the stuff they found, after repair work, seemed to help.. I vividly remember waking up and watching my neighbor cutting his grass and having tears in my eyes cause I wanted to go outside and cut mine too but I was just to tired to do so.. Finally they found this wretched cancerous tumor inside me, wacked it out and now = feeling MUCH better!! Good enough that all this weekend - even though it has been a GORGEOUS day out today and suppose to be tomorrow - I am sitting here baby sitting my new grandson while my daughter and son in law go out for the weekend. Yep,,, listening to those bikes go by out there aint no big deal now cause I am feeling good, staying awake AND playing with the kid!! All last week we rode in that nasty eastern US weather.. It was freezing out - guy up on 8 in the Adirondacks told us they had just lost their last snow 3 weeks ago and MAJORLY wet!! We saw flooding = roads washed out near Rome New York, on our 1st Gen - dressed in our snowmobile clothes covered with rain gear but sucking up every bit of it the best we could cause I/we wanted to experience the unveiling.. Yesterday we were out on the bike,, had someone tell us about this Muslim man who had converted to Christianity and was giving a speech at a local church in a couple hours.. We looked at each other,, said "lets do it" and headed that way.. We were the only bikers there, place was packed with well dressed people - me with my Harley hat on and Tip with her Jean Jacket on - WOW was that amazing!!! Guy sure let it all hang out about why things are the way they are - what an AMAZING night - unforgettable!! Came home across a new bridge in the area that was built while I was down sick.. Refreshing to say the least.. What am saying by all that,, not sure but I do know one thing I have learned thru it all = my days are numbered = gotta make em count - smile more, smell the flowers more, buy more candy bars for kids at gas stations and lemonaide from roadside stands!

Yep,, a good honest intelligent rep for Yamaha probably would have answered the question in some way like this - short version from the mind of Puc: Pulling out two shop manuals - one for the 1900cc V-twin and the other for the 1700cc V-4 he would have opened the books and shown the vast difference between the modern day wonders of a highly technical V-4 high dollar state of the art performance engine and that of an updated version of technology invented back in the early 1900's. The amount of money it would take to produce the state of the art engine compared to the money spent for producing that lowly air cooled V-Twin would then be over layed by the statistical prediction of just how many of these bikes would probably be sold in the next 5 years (bean counters like to look at ROI or Return On Investment figures before production to determine profitability) and - in the end,, in business,, THAT is how decisions are probably made about things like which motor they decided to use in these new bikes.. Shame though because as Cammy points out - introducing the touring world to twin turbo fun coupled with that mighty and worthy 1700cc Vmax motor ina detuned state would have (IMHO) literally changed the touring world for EVER!!!

Yep,, my nephew swears that his Strat ATE tires just because of the massive torque hit everytime one of those coffee can size pistons came to TDC and ignition took place.. Swears he could here a small burn out happening continually .. Gotta say Dan,, those 404's were the worst of the worst for me too bro!! Think Dunlop created em just to see how many they could sell by attrition We put em on, the 1st Gen tosses em off - just like a toddler tossing food off his high chair tray

INDEED!! Actually I was just curious if your scoot was the stock 96 or if it had been massaged some.. Have tinkered with the 96 some and gotta say,, little cam improvement here, little race tuner there and that motor really comes alive!! Yep,, you betcha Snype! Matter of fact,, next time your near a Harley shop - stop in and see if they happen to have one of their little Performance Catalogs they could give ya.. Its not a real big book but PACKED with all kinds of really neat info about that "stage kits", cam selections and the like.. The even neater thing about that little book is it gives specs on cam grinds and dyno test results.. Couple years ago a buddy and I took his brand new 103 inch Ultra Limited, got the parts and went to playing.. Selected just the right cam grind, had the heads opened up a little, pipe, breather, tuner,,,, ended up 106 hp and 103 foot pounds torque and the flatest dyno curve ya ever did see = beautiful!! Bike runs REAL strong BUT - it was only 74 horse when we started - gotta massage em to make en run like your talking on your Yam - definitely about motor, not so much about the belt drive.. Those new kevlar belts are amazingly strong!

You are welcome brother = ANYTIME!! Tweeksis had a RIOT out there!!! Guys at the main parking gate for the official Americade unveiling and show area treated her like she was some kind magical Icon = should a seen her prancing around in there... Just before the unveiling happened we took her up the road a few miles to get her blessed by a couple of wonderful Christian Motorcycle Association members who had a booth set up (see pic). We all joined hands and the lovely couple asked the Lord to bless Tweeksis with good health and fair winds = really special!! When we came back to the unveiling we were late so we parked on the road side (metered parking for cars) and I kept an eye on her - sheesh,,, even the local towns people were taking pics of that sweet lady - definitely a respectable bunch of folks in the town of Lake George.. Sorry about the Riv,,, got me all wound up talking bikes!! Looking forward to the day we meet and I get to see your new scoot (WOW = truly a FINE FIND brother!!).. Hot Dogs for everyone when that happens my friend!! Ride em if ya got em and brother - WE got em aint we?

I truly thought I had some vid of you folks running down the highway on there too Dave but this is all I found.. If I bump into it somewhere else on these cards I will gladly post it up BUT I actually think I may not of pressed the record button or something cause, if memory serves me = that vid shoulda been on there!! Not to worry though - got a BUNCH of Hot Dog chasing coming up - I will take another shot at a vid sometime this summer,,,,,, IF I can remember to grab my camera Ohhh the presence of mind,, or the lack thereof, for some of us in geezerdom

and you didnt come up there and protect me from that evil knife thrower ,,, :crackup::crackup: Thanks for the compliment Mover = living proof that Ham really can be made from Turkey, eh!! Early in this report 5 Buck mentioned the difference between Kanuckian Per Hours and Miles Per Hour.. Here is an interview with one of his fellow Kanuckians also explaining it to us on our way across that great country. Any of fellow club members who ride the more high spirited 1st Gen may wanna pay careful attention to this interview

No idea really Silv,, REAL pretty bike though!! Might check Ebay or do a search on AdHuntr.com (searchs all of Craigslist) to get a feel for what they I worth..

YEPPERS BROTHER - I wear that awesome shirt with pride!! I was wondering how long it would take someone to notice it!! Right after the show I must of had 2 dozen people come up and pat me on the back with a "GREAT JOB" attached to the patting.. FYI - a few of them actually made comment about the shirt to which I ALWAYS reply = I got it from friends and its one of my favorite!!! By the Roller,, I was not feeling the best at the time you sent me that shirt and lost track of that really neat sticker you sent with it.. I found it last night stuck inside Tweeksis's tank bag (in the process of drying her out).. That sticker will now be on display for all the world to see

:scared:Absolutely GORGEOUS Riv!!!! Definitely a treasure to which I say = CONGRATS MY BROTHER:thumbsup:!! Hmmmm,, name,,, lets see here,, what pops into ol Puc's mind,,,,, ok,,,,, if it werent for the fact that you already checked her gender and found out she's a she I would have suggested "Chance" - a solid eloquent western manly name with a possible sublimenal hidden message of "Mom Yam, you had your Chance".. Being she's a she I might suggest something like "FiFi" as in Fine Find but pronounced Feeee Feeee!! What ever ya name her I would like to welcome her to her new home!! Give er hug from ol Puc and tell er I seen it before = her probability of finding her way back to CTFWing where she belongs just went up 100% by landing in the hands of my buddy Riv!!!!

Actually thats Tippy with that look of shock,, thinking maybe MiRider just told her he was gonna let me take her for a ride on his new scoot = Tip has a habit of getting emotional about such things - she do love to ride motorcycles that lady of mine!!!!!

And no story is complete without a documentary video!!

Going thru some Camera cards I used while being down for the last couple years and looky looky what I found @mirider!! WOWZY WOW WOW WOW - what a gorgeous machine that Candy is!! Makes me wanna go chase down Hot Dogs just by looking at her!! Hope all is well out there with the three of Dave, Sue and Candy!! Hope your out CTFWing!!