cowpuc

Thanks Raggie and EVERYONE!!!

Oh yea brother,, I got a REAL problem with forgetting about this whole Canadian/US Dollar thing.. Plus, isnt the "normal" dealership pricing different between the States and Canada too,,, I bet there is huge difference.. That's not fair, sorry I missed that Silv!! This whole thing is SOOO AWESOME Beltfed!! CONGRATS ON YOUR NEW SCOOT WHEN YOU GET IT BRO!!! CANNOT WAIT TO SEE PICS AND READ THE STORIES!! One can only HOPE that mother Yamaha is paying close attention to all of the stuff people like yourself (well,, ok,, EVERYONE who is part of this family of ours) has been saying, GET OFF YOUR DOG GONE BACKSIDES AND BUILD A GENUINE - COMPETITIVE - TOURING BIKE,,, YA CANT EXPECT PEOPLE TO WAIT FOREVER!!

BEEEEAAAUUTIFUL SKIDDER!! Thanks!!

WOW Mike, THAT is terrible news that really saddens my heart!! Thoughts and PRAYERS UP for you Lin!! THANK YOU for forwarding this posting Mike and for penning it Pauline!! I have often wondered about stuff like this. Having never been blessed with great sums of discrestionary funds, giving large lump sums to help others in need is difficult. I am kind of a numbers guy though and have always wondered about something,,,, what if.. Especially when it comes to situations like Lin's.. What if 12000 people funded her 5 dollars each = sheeesh,, thats like 36k!! Not saying I dont think it is WAYYYYYYY cool that folks are able to toss in 500 bucks or hundred or even 20 but,, sometimes - even a few bucks can really matter.. Count me in!! THANK YOU LORD FOR WATCHING OVER LIN!!! Puc

BEAUTIFUL GOAT,, JUST GORGEOUS!! :thumbsup: Hey,, if that ever happens again with the 100 dollar picture taking fine thingy,, DNR people always seem a little jittery when around bikers (my experience) so dont take it personal my friend.. Sometimes soothing them down with small talk about the time your rescued two cute little raccoons can help get those pics.. Another thing that works is if just as your finishing the conversation about taking pics,, look down stream or up the valley or what ever - squint your eyes a little - point your finger at an object way off in the distance and ask if that cloudy substance you see is smoke or just some kind of land steam (DO NOT SAY YOU SEE A FIRE).. DNR people are also real curious types who usually arent real busy and if you pique their curiousity just a little - their irresistable response will usually buy enough time to get those special pictures your after:scared:

I havent actually looked at current the current Harley lineup but it used to be that a person could get into an Electra Glide Classic for well under 20.. The reason I remember that was cause our local dealership had an Electra Glide CLassic setting next to the Street Glide and they were exactly the same price = just under 18k. I was puzzled cause the E Glide came with all the goodies (tour pac included) and we had an indepth discussion as to how Harley could sell a stripped Electra Glide for the same money as a whole one. Turned out, the Street Glide was their BEST seller - seemed modern day bikers dont wanna turn a few wrenches to remove expensive parts and build their own Street Glide.. Any, during that discussion it seems like the sales dude told me that they ALL had the same frames, forks, engine - including the Ultra Classic Limited.. My point is, I wonder if you cant get into a good riding Harley for much less than 30k? CONGRATS on your new bike Beltfed!! Kids just walked in the door - will right more when possible!! Puc

I am soooooooooo infinitely glad that I sucked up every moment of my youth that I did and just want to encourage anyone reading this that is contemplating doing things you enjoy NOW to DO them while you can. Balance work with play - absolutely, BUT,, dont forget to PLAY!! Play with your kids if you have em - YOU WILL NEVER REGRET IT, take those cross country trips with your wife while you have health to do it!! Use your time wisely and purposely find goodness, dig out those golden morsals of greatness in building memories!! So,, whats this all about? Yesterday was my Birthday, I MADE IT TO 60!!! So Puc, you might ask,, what did you do for your Birthday.. Well,, Tippy and I spent the day at the hospital. As some of you know, my health has been, shall we say, a challenge for the past 9 months.. While waiting patiently for some answers about a leaky Meninga seal into my sinus cavity, the doctors discovered some irregularities in my heart. A couple months ago my family doctor sent me to a cardio dude with the full intent to get me into a pacemaker - she really didnt like what she was seeing. The cardio doc didnt see a pacemaker as the answer, this frustrated my family doc and she is trying to get me in for a re-eval. I have noticed that my Blood Pressure has been slowly creeping into not healthy area's thru all of this and, yesterday at the hospital the second number was in the mid 100's which, according to the doc there, was dangerously high and he was concerned with stroke. The reason I had gone to the hospital was a runaway heartbeat and a SEVERE headache. They jacked me up with all kinds of IV meds and got it down, I had some kind of reaction called "Distonic" and was crawling all over the bed = what a WEIRD Birthday party that was!!!! Then they shot me up with Benedrill (if mem serves correct) and that helped control the crawlies.. I have to get back to my family doc tomorrow, AGAIN, and start from scratch,, ARGGG.. The hospital staff made it CLEAR to me that I was invited back at ANYTIME to help with this and that if I felt this same stuff again to be sure and get RIGHT BACK into their care - nice people.. Folks that know me well know me as a great optimist, have always enjoyed life to the fullest and always been able to see the light at the end of tunnel and willing to work/play hard to get there.. This stuff is frustrating though cause its hard with no definite answers in sight.. My Doctor daughter in California called last night to wish me a great big happy Birthday and instead of yapping about memories of rides past, teaching her to ride a peddly bike and all those great things, we had to have indepth encouragement of her about my health.. Golden years,, yea,, right.. I am telling ya friends,, I am sure glad I took the time to enjoy my years with my family and friends and didnt wait for some mysterious gold rush to happen :crackup:

Congrats to you and the Mrs. Spear!! Hope you folks truly enjoy your retirement and your new home!!

like this is what I am thinking http://www.ebay.com/itm/Kuryakyn-Custom-Tie-Down-Brackets-Teardrop-928-For-Harley-Davidson-/271421757306?hash=item3f31ff577a&vxp=mtr

:dancefool::dancefool::dancefool::clap2::clap2::photographing::photographing::thumbsup::thumbsup: YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHAAAAAAWWWWWWWW!!!!! :big-grin-emoticon::big-grin-emoticon: Oppppssss,, sorry David,, got overcome by adrenaline rush there.. No idea where to hook the tie downs, never got my lasso around one.. Reckon I would be looking at picking up some "Soft Ties" and being really really careful that any hard parts of the tie downs are no where near my GORGEOUS new bike if it were mine though.. You know what,, just thinking out loud here and probably way off base but I did help a really close friend haul his new Ultra one time.. We got yapping with the Dealership that he bought the bike from and found a set of bolt on devices that attached under the bat wing fairing.. They were really nice (kind of pricey too though) and he ended up leaving them on his bike for future use - they solved a LOT of the issues of which you are thinking about.... CONGRATS ON THE NEW SCOOT BRO - CANT WAIT TO SEE/HEAR ALL ABOUT IT!! BEST WISHES IN GETTING IT HOME SAFELY:thumbsup:

Yep Fool,, like a ol hound dog chasing a rabbit with REALLY longgggg legs = BIG BIG CIRCLES

Wayyy cool PB - I would LOVE to see any pics and hear any stories you have to share about your side car days!! In all my years of biking I have only had the privilege of riding a bike with one attached one time PB (neighbor has one) and gotta say - I really enjoyed it!! Problem around here is, one of my favorite TV shows of all times is Hogan's Hero's and Tippy has watched every episode of that goofy show with my many times.. That being the case, the one time that we did ride one, Tip jumped out of the Hack - shook herself off like she had just been drenched with ice water and announced that she would NEVER do that again cause she kept having vision's of Kernal Klink and his involvement with one (I laugh but that really is the way it happened).. Personally, I think one of the newer Twin Cam Heritage Springers all dolled up to look a little like Olivia (seen one not long ago - WOW was it GORGEOUS) with a matching sidecar out touring North America would be,, welll,, would be a dream come true!! So PB,, what was the rig you had the honor of owning and riding for 15 years:cool10: someone pass me the marshmellow's,, this campfire chat could get really interesting

TOTALLY,ENDLESSLY AND COMPLETELY AWESOME THERE T.J.!! CONGRATS ON THE "NEW" SCOOT!! :thumbsup: Those things have always just SCREAMED jump on and head west to me!! "

ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY 100 PERCENT RIGHT ON TARGET!! EXCELLENT POINT CAMOS!!!

I am a little puzzled that the LEO didnt chase that person down and serve them up a well deserved citation.. That is some scary stuff right there!!

I gotta hunch that if I strapped a sidecar onto Tweeks at this point she would look and me with those great big tired eyes and say something like "I hope you like going in circles cause thats all I am going to be able to do with that thing hanging on me"!!

Ya best be taking it easy there ya varmint,, at least till they figure out what the heck is going on with those ribs!! Maybe work on that lighter weight XJ for a couple days!!

HOW COOL IS THAT!! :cool10::cool10: I would LOVE to bump into him and compare stickers :rotfl::rotf: Wayyyyy cool Prairie - THANKS!!

To my friend Larry and his lovely bride Joyce: Do you remember not long ago when you were just a lad, when thoughts and dreams of that special lady were really all you had? As days went by so ever slow you wondered if you'd find, that loving person God had for you that roamed within your mind. Her tenderness and love of life you knew was waiting there, for you to grow into a man so life's love you could share. Her smiling face and gentle love was a secret in your heart, but you and God knew she was real and waiting for that start. Day by day you changed and grew until the time was right, and finally it happened and He brought her to your sight. There is no other like her this person who He brought, together you have grown as one in spirit and in thought. Years have come and years have gone, 48 to be exact, there's something about this marriage stuff that keeps a man on track. You look around at the life you've shared and all you two have done, the kids you've raised and family times and all because you are one. Now deep inside that heart of yours where all those memories glare, you know how empty life would have been without her love to share!! God bless both of you as you celebrate this AWESOME day!! HAPPY 48th!! :clap2: Puc and Tippy

Beautiful piece of work there Raggy!! @Freebird, I wonder if we could get Carls fork list moved into the read only Tech section (probably already there) so it dont get lost in the shuffle - AWESOME INFO CARL!!

Yea,, I cant stand that little connector either,, its just all wrong.. Thanks to my Texas Hero @Squidley, I didnt actually fix my last failure with one of those connectors cause he did it for me BUT I can tell you I didnt hesitate with a YES one second when Squid asked if I wanted him to hardwire it!! Best thing in the world is what FlyinFool was saying - even if ya had to borrow a soldering gun,, get some solder, stop at Harbor Freight and get some shrink tube, solder it down and seal em up hardwired Don!!! Outside of that,, I honestly think I would rather have a good crimped butt splice (problem is, unless you have a good crimp tool - a good one will cost you as much as a soldering gun and the soldering gun is more fun LOL) instead of another spade terminal in that spot.. If you go that way, check with ACE Hardware and get the correct size of Butt Splice, still get some shrink tube, slip the shrink tube over the wire before attaching the splice, splice it - slide a 3 inch section of shrink tube over the splice, heat so it shrinks down tight, wrap it with the three with good electrical tape and tie wrap securely onto the frame.. Did I tell you I cant stand that particular stator terminal???

You know what,, you could be onto something,,,, maybe only people with looks above grade "8" should be allowed at the eating place:bluesbrother:.. Sure is gonna be hard eating all that food with it being just me accompanying all those pretty VR ladies this time:big-grin-emoticon:!!!

Maybee,,, just maybe it all came about from those straight "A"'s I got all the way thru High School many years ago :rotfl::rotf::rotf::crackup::crackup::crackup::crackup::crackup:

Wow H2,, what you are describing sounds familiar to me but not from a fuel line prospective.. The hose with the connector in it sounds like a vacuum hose that maybe runs from that front cylinder.. Can you show some quick pics or maybe look and see if it slips onto a brass connection into the rubber boot (intake manifold) directly under the carb that feeds that front cylinder? The gas situation actually sounds like a stuck float valve.. This would cause some really strange idling affect (like the bike is getting way over chocked/flooded). The only thing is, the overflow tubes run down the frame back bone and empty in front of the rear shock and should puddle on the ground...

I totally agree with Freebird response R,, what you are describing is actually not that uncommon with almost all metric motorcycles (dirtbikes and street). Most of them (including your Venture) have a small lever mechanism attached to the shifting arm that bumps against one of a few pins that are imbedded into the end of the shift drum - this is what rotates the drum that the shift forks ride in which causes the forks to change positions to move the gear sets around.. Fortunately your Venture is like most if these selectors, if not all, and is have been located outside of the transmission area, making fairly easy to repair.. Unfortunately, the selector mechanism is located under the clutch basket on our Ventures, this makes it a little more difficult to get to BUT no where near as time consuming as pulling motors and splitting cases.. The job can be done leaving the engine entirely in the scoot and with minimal part removal - the pics I am about to share are of an engine out of the bike but this is not necessary. Here is a link to really good write up found in our Tech Section. http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?40713-Clunky-Shifting If you look closely at the pics pay special attention to the 2nd and 3rd pic - you can clearly see the "pins" Freebird is referring to. Also look at the other pics and you will see the arm that rests down on these pins.. I have ran into a number of issues dealing with exactly what you are talking about and can tell you that almost 100 percent of times I have repaired a bike with the symptoms you are describing, the solution is found within the mechanism you are looking at.. It is not always the pins though (although this is VERY common) - I have seen broken mechanism arms - have brazed a few in bad situations (usually from someone coming down on a shifter off a jump), broken retainer springs (VERY COMMON), cam follower that holds the drum in place wears out (less common).. Sooo,, what to do.. That is entirely up to you.. Our mainstream shops around here will not work on bikes older than 8 years old either - its hard but working on the stuff can be a lot like working on old plumbing - more hassle than its worth (from a business standpoint). On the same token though, there are many smaller shops around here (and some dern good ones too) that will work on just about anything - I wonder if you have that in your location? You will probably need one to spin off the clutch hub nut for you, maybe.maybe not.. Another option would be for you to remove the clutch cover, take a peek inside and see what you think.. Never hurts to look,, besides,, it aint going any where like it is!! Never know, you might get inside there and find out it aint so hard and you will be our next VR Venture Guru!! PS and just a little inside gear head FYI,, if you do decide to take a shot at repairing it (they are great bikes R, getting older so they require some wrench spinning but hey - thats half the fun!!) you will probably find yourself needing a shop manual - save the bucks for the shop manual and pay the dues here - there are some guru's around here that Yamaha should have hired to write the manual!! Hope this helps! Puc