cowpuc

Sure enough Mike!! And that Veer - O - Qwah Moe is a top contender

WOW - thankfully no one was injured!!!! What a mess indeed!!

Wish we could of made it - RATSSS!! Patiently waiting to hear about the Pig but also desperately wanting to hear about how the Pine Trees came out too Bub Bet you Pig caught in the Evergreens attenders never thought of this one,,, been a few comments made about it but not even ONE . That's a significant point you know............

Wow Frank, what a gorgeous example of the iconic Blonde MK1 1st Gen Venture - you do nice work - ya did well my friend!! Thanks for offering your beloved scoot up here before going public with her - THAT is very thoughtful of you and greatly appreciated!! I noticed you are located up on that peninsula that jets off to the east of Green Bay? Tip and I have always wondered what was up there - now we know!! Someday we may venture our way up there to see for ourselves Sorry to hear of your decision to sell Yammy Frank BUT our thoughts and prayers are with you as you deal with your arthritis.. Hope you are able to enjoy many more years of riding and able to enjoy your 950 and its lighter weight!! Puc

That's hilarious David,, mine came home from Menards the other day,, was allllllll excited,, said she noticed that the Menard's tents we been using for years (actually went thru three of them in one year) was on sale for $28 :mo money::mo money: That Tippy,, she is

Nah,, your still on the right site bro:big-grin-emoticon:

Just watched a quick utube vid on that @bikenut !! WOW - you are right - THAT is AWESOME!!!!!!:clap2::clap2::dancefool: Had NO idea those Wing rear tires were like that!! Talk about brilliant I TOTALLY agree with your summation - all touring bikes should be so easy to swap a rear tire on!! Now since you have done a number of them let me ask ya about leaning em down like that,, any probs with the low jugs filling with oil, any problems with other fluids leaking, looks like the scoot is laying on the right bag - is that area sturdy enough and how concerned would you have to be about scratching saddlebags if doing on the roadside.. Pretty cool my friend!! How bout the front? can you perform the same task easily on roadside? Yep,, THAT tire swapability is a MUST HAVE for this ol varmint too!! THANKS!!

From another prespective though,, it is possible that the guy on Craigs knows exactly what he has,, his asking price is up there to the point that it makes me think maybe he does have an 1800.. Shortly after Yamaha came out with the Roadie 1700, the aftermarkets jumped in with a big bore kit (not sure if Mom Yam ever did come out with one but I do know for sure that it was available aftermarket) that took the new 1700 (1670cc) out to an 1800 (was actually just under 1800cc if memory serves me correctly).. Those "kits" were way more expensive than HD was/is getting for their "big bore" jugs/piston kits (88inch to 95inch, 96inch to 103inch jugs) which does indeed make them kinda rare.. The cool thing about the Roadie 1700 (and the earlier 1600's too) was they were/are very similar to an HD in their simplicity,, nothing like a "V" pushrod motor for ease of swapping out topend parts.. While no where near as big of variety as OEM Harley or aftermarket Harley, there were/are also performance cams/valves/heads available for the Roadie too.

I always liked the way that you about the Victory scoots and was looking forward to hearing even more about your Roadie Silv I am totally in tune with Barry's comments... Gotta a sneaking hunch that, as history has proven, as we creep into winter and starts taking the place of - for a lot of folks a "different" kind of fun will once again invade this place:thumbsup: I know one thing brothers,, even with my off season because of medical stuff - I done got me a great big ol heaping helping of beans to spill once the fireside chats begin - looking forward to hearing yours too Silv!!

Ever noticed how time slows down when your waiting to make the aquaintance of yet another good friend?

Me want pie, pie is good, Mike is friend, wish could make trip to see friend again and eat much his pie...

Count on it Michael!!! And a endless dose of the hearty greetings right back at you my friend!!! COW Puc

Yep @syscrusher - shameful as it sounds and as embarrassing as it is - that is exactly what I am saying.. Out of the 5 1st Gens (including Tweeks) that I have worn out, with the accumulated total of 1 million plus miles (note this is NOT 1 million miles on 1 bike - however, the "Blonde" side covers on Tweeks are from my first one - those side covers are a keepsake from my first one that have faithfully served thru all 5 bikes and those do have over a million miles on them). I have yet to re-shim the valves on any of them. I will add here also that number 3 (still sitting out back under a cover and now a "parts bike) did loose total compression on the number 4 cylinder. Bought a replacement 1st Gen for 750 bucks and never tore #3 down and inspected it but I do believe the compression loss was valve related. I purchased them all used, all of them with 38k miles or under on them in either non running or ill running condition on the cheap. The highest price that I paid for one (the first one) was 1200 dollars out of an estate sale back in 87, it had 20k on it, was an 84 Blonde Royale that my kids named Beeg. A one owner bike whose original owner had ridden out the stator on, he (the P.O.) had dismantled her and, regretfully, had passed away during the process of repair - she came to me in pieces. Beeg became a very loved part of our family, spent her life toting my children one at a time and I all over the country, sleeping under the stars from Nova Scotia to the west coast and retired at 240k. You may be interested in this also. Besides serving as a very inexpensive test ground for just how far will one of these 1st Gens go without valve maintenance, that 84 also served the same point concerning the second gear issue. She lost second gear at just under 40k and taught me first hand that I could rely on her even with no second gear (just "short shift" (means skip a gear in the shift pattern)). A valuable lesson for a person like me looking to tour the country for a very small amount of cash with little kids in tow. In all fairness, I am not sure if any of the bikes P.O.'s went to the bother of doing the valves before I purchased them. All five bikes made it well into 200k plus miles, one of the 5 had a catastrophic crank failure (pretty rare honestly) at 265k. 3 of them lost second gear (Tweeks is one of those three too) pre-50k but, like the valve shimming, I never repaired a second gear in any of them either - always did the short shift to termination. More info that might be of interest to you: I always carry a spare fuel pump but only number 4 ever took advantage of a highway pump change while touring and finished out the last 10k of a 20k ride with the spare fuel pump tie wrapped toward the rear of its passengers left floor board - I have bench cleaned a number of points in the pumps though. All of them had to have Progressive springs in the forks - most being sacked from just sitting in storage with the weight of the scoot on them. Tweeks is the highest mileage of all 5 with just over 300k on her BUT, she has also been the most problematic with "little things" happening all the time - suspect age has to do with it but, that is why we call her Tweeks. Knock on wood, I have never experienced a broken frame, all have had that familiar "wobble" at around 38 mph, have yet to own one with a good clutch (one that would hold if you nailed it in 4th gear at 4500 rpm with two up and loaded down). I have always changed my oils at discoloration instead of miles, use cheap 20/50 non synthetic oils - never any particular brand (lots of Super Tech from Walmart while traveling cross country - the old oil change in the parking lot routine) - dont always do the filters when on the road but do always keep clear oil em. I dont wash my Ventures, I catch a LOT of heat for it from my neighbors who ride with me but have always held closely my own personal belief that I would rather see em dirty than be forcing water into places it dont belong - I KNOW - sounds crazy but consider the source.. All that said,, I have a theory about my success in undermining the scheduled valve maintenance on these scoots.. I lug them as little as possible and tend to move right along when touring.. A lesson I learned at a very early age about chain drive cam scoots was do your engine a favor and DO NOT LUG EM.. A lesson learned from having to rebuild my early model 350 Honda's (you lug - you loose your cam chain followers, chain and even jugs from chain slap against the cylinders).. I know they are totally different motors then our V-4's but old habits die hard and keeping them spun up in "non lugging" mode has been part of my life (except for push rod motors)...

BEAUTIFUL PICS MI!!!!! Gotta love dat Bridge bro!! Congrats on the great ride and THANKS for sharing!!

Thanks for the update Coff, our thoughts and prayers are with you Son-shine (and your precious family) as you serve God and Country in the Middle East. Thank you for your service Chris!! Be safe over there! Puc n Tip

But,, on the other hand,, I actually admire those who can find happiness in living vircariously thru others experiences - LOTS of reason's for someone being in the set of shoes for that to be necessary. That said,, if you happen to be one of those types of folks - you could take a peek at the "Polls" ( found here: http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?108934-Internatonal-Rally-Location-Time-to-VOTE ) - pick an area that sounds like something you might wanna even just read about in your vircariousness - then vote on that area.. Gotta remember that this particular election selection is open to all members - riders/drivers/walkers and house bound alike.. Unless I am misreading something, it's not a sign up sheet for attendance to the IR, it's more of testing of the water's of interest (someone feel free to correct me if I am way off base here), a sort of ... Bottom line, just cause your not able to ride, or even get out of the house for matter, doesnt mean that your vote doesnt matter - your thoughts and opinions count too..

@Semi-retired, Its pronounced Puc,, as in: Puc was in his truck when the lighting struck, one thing for sure - the weather was yuck. It rained so hard ol Puc got stuck in the muck. Along came a Canuck with a little pet Duck who thought he'd try his luck at helping poor Puc. Puc's new friend, he was no shmuck, he hooked up a rope to Puc and his stuck in the muck truck. One small chuck from the Canuck with the Duck and slicker then sweetcorn loosing it's shuck - Puc's stuck truck popped out of the muck. "Puke" is ok too though,, been called much worse

Another issue to consider has to do with the brakes.. The early models (83/84 - not sure on the 85) did not hold the option for upgrading to better calipers/rotors - with out swapping forks,, your kinda stuck with - shall we say - iffy brakes.. That 89 would be the ticket for an upgrade. On all the bikes you are looking at, I would plan on dropping in a set of Progressive front springs and doing a fork oil change.. I have noticed thru the years that the original springs from Yamaha really cant take even having one of these scoots being stored for to long and not being lifted for storage without sacking the springs.. I would drop the air out of the front boingers, sit on the bike and bounce it and watch where the fork legs come to a stop all while also feeling for hydraulic dampening (making sure there is fluid even in the forks). Give em a few good bounces and then check the fork seals for leakage - do it with all of them just to make sure your not also into a fork seal rebuild.. I have had to rebuild a number of them - mainly due to sacked springs and/or worn fork bushings.. Personally,,, I really like the ease of rear tire swapping on the 83's (85's would be the same).. I know the 89 will take a little more doings to get the rear tire off (not that big a deal if your in a garage with tools BUT - tires dont always go flat in those places, at least for me.. Also, I am really partial to the slimmer sportiness of the 83's rear end - personal preference.. The 83's also came with a plastic impeller in the water pump from Mom Yam.. Its a must do to update it with the aluminum one if it hasnt been done. Also the 83's came with a Stator issue that caused some issues.. There was an updated stator cooler for them that consisted of a crank bolt with a small orvice in it and a splash plate to install into the stator cover. I am almost positive that the 85's and the 89's had neither of these issues (not sure - have only ridden 83/84's). I have owned a number of the 83/84's and have never really had a good clutch. I am almost positive that the 89 had a diaphram clutch spring instead of "valve" springs for the pressure plate. Personally I think that is awesome. Another thing I would look at on any and all would be the fuse panel under the battery cover that sets between your legs if you are setting on the scoot.. Those things got pretty nasty over time.. May wanna check to see if the area is hacked up real bad. Also take a really close look at the rubber valve cover gaskets on the top of the engine.. You will notice a half moon of rubber gasket at the end of the cams. If you look closely at them you can probably tell whether or not the scoot has ever had the valves done in it. I have never owned one that has actually had this done - I usually buy em cheap and ride em till they drop (still always managed to get over 200k out of em) but know for a fact that valve clearance check is part of the OEM maintenance schedule and it would be kinda cool to own one that someone actually took the time to follow the schedule. May also want to take a peek under the scoots and take a look at the condition of the exhaust collectors (where the pipes all come together into a "box").. I have beat the living daylights out of all mine - using them as skid plates - thru the years, welded - glued - covered up holes with tin cans and screws to keep em from leaking. Never really bothered me much.. Being fair to a perspective buyer such as yourself though,, I have heard from a number of sources (all here on our wonderful site) that those collectors are hard to come by in decent shape.. All the other advice you heard before mine is worthy advice, especially the part about there being a number of harmless crazies around here.. I hope you are able to find a Venture to your liking, become a full fledged member here, take full advantage of all the great knowledge and fun around here and eventually find out first hand exactly who those crazy's are!! Puc

I would ride that great big gorgeous Ultra Limited till the cows came home with no puc between their toes or until there was no more room for stickers on it - which ever came first.. I guess we all have the same disease,,,, have yet to meet a scoot I didnt like/want..

OUTSTANDING SILV!!!:clap2::thumbsup: Now about those pics.. Now that we have waited for so long,, those 's should also be able to come with a report too one would think... Hope your Roadie serves you folks well and give you many miles of smiles as it does my friend!!

Well, one thing for sure,, the stuff is as rare as a new release Yamaha Venture here in the greater Muskegon area right @Marcarl or @dogman??

Its a flaw in my character Randy:sign67:,,,, you know brother,, for some reason I just cant stop Opppsss,,,, ANOTHER Lets try er again Rocky = "now here's something we hope you'll really like"!!

Atelectasis = ,, never ever did hear of that before brother, sure dont sounds like .. Prayers Up and Blessings Down on the recovery my friend. You are welcome on the "not around here" business Dan, hope ya know we love you and wouldnt dream of not helping you load your guns for when it becomes our turn to try and blow out the ol forest fire of candles:big-grin-emoticon: