cowpuc

Yes, that is exactly the route I am speaking of, Your path if he is going west or, if he is going east out of Cody there is a sign that reads 14A (alternate) to the left and 14 to the right - take the left, stay on it thru Lovell and it rejoins 14 on the other side of the Bighorns.. I totally agree about Beartooth pass!!! Crusher hit the nail on the head!! We are tenters who normally just drop the tent in the bushes/sleep on the pavement in a parking lot or what ever BUT Yellowstone is one of the hardest places I have found to do that.. That said, even the campgrounds there fill up quickly at times - especially if you happen to there when something major is going on - like the Sturgis rally. It is a busy place during "normal" riding season (when its more likely to be warm).. Eck, also keep in mind that early/late season riding, the probability of running into cold/snow/rain isnt just limited to the Yellowstone area.. Any Rocky Mountain related range or, drawing a line from the bottom of Michigan west.. Other than right along the west coast, anything north of that line can be questionable from mid september to Mid/late June (even in the high desert).. Another interesting thing that I have experienced with Mountain riding is the best riding is from dawn till 1pm, start watching the skys really closely about one - something about that time of day that until 5ish in the evening is when the storms come thru (and they can be major).. I have experienced this in Mountain ranges all over the west.. Its gorgeous out there but it can be extremely dangerous and happen real quickly if your not keeping an eye on the weather.. Food for thought.. Puc

Thats terrible news George, condolances to you and all who knew and loved Harley!! Puc

Like Colonel Hannible Smith used to say on the A-Team - NICE!!! That .22 is cool too!! I saw a gattling gun made from a pair of Ruger .22's laid on their sides once at a gun show - I always thought that idea would be fun (and maybe closer to a "legal" way to have fun BUT, the way Homeland Security is buying up 22 Shells forcing the ammo prices up its almost cheaper to shoot the shotgun or one in 223 or something in a 30 caliber,,, shoot - even a real Tommy in 45 acp... Wow,, you guys remember when cheap .22 rounds could be had for a few bucks a brick? My oh my how times have changed..... Like Yammer, I too go with a short barreled, no choke 12 gauge for the house... Not as likely to shoot thru a few walls and than into a neighbors house and, dont have to aim - just point and pull the trigger, shells are cheap, and there is nothing like the racking sound of one.. Besides, they double as a flame thrower,,, nothing prettier at in the dark!!

And if for some reason it doesnt work out with Eck you could put Tippy ( my wife) next in line... THANK YOU for the posting and the offer either way!!!!! Puc

Indeed!! My first Venny was exactly that, 83 Royale and it had a reserve tap.. Next was an 83 Standard - no reserve tap.. All three next bikes were standards and none had the reserve tap (includes the one we are riding now).. All makes me think that Yamaha actually considered the reserve petcock assembly part of the Royale package...

Yea,, rock n roll!!! Course, making one of these 1st Genners rock n roll aint really that difficult,, why I bet even ol Bubba could handle one Their that user friendly,, in a dominating/addictive sort of a way..

You got that right, May is definitly to early for that region!! They are still snowmobiling out there into april at times.. I like late July into August for northwest mountain riding, the only problem with that though is Yellowstone is CRAZY busy at that time - the lines and lines of motorhomes can drive ya nuts!!

I just noticed how old this thread is,,,, I wrote a response back to 86er's comment that was done back in 08 :rotf::rotf::rotf::rotf::rotf::rotf::rotf::rotf::rotf::rotf::rotf::rotf::rotf::rotf::rotf::rotf::rotf::rotf::rotf::rotf::rotf::rotf::rotf::rotf::rotf::rotf:

b 10-4 back door, with ya on that one 86er!! I love being the one in control, if I have to ride a little faster to get to a safe pocket - twist er up, bottles necks - stay back and let the fools duke er out and then when they do - a twist and the 1st genner is miles ahead of em... My first Venture (83 Royale) had a CB, like most of you, used it very little.. The next 4 were all standards, have only missed the CB on a couple of occasions, that being when riding with groups that had em.. Personally, I really dont like ANYTHING that I find distracting while I am on a bike, or even driving a cage.. If I need directions I prefer to stop - take a break - and visit with folks, OR, and this is my usual case, I just keep riding and riding till I get good and lost,, have found getting lost is usually when the real fun begins!! Carry a cell phone for emergencies.. Puc

No doubt about it, it would be 287 for me, there are some GORGEOUS mountain lake areas up on 287 that you really dont want to miss!! Something else that I personally would go out of my way to ride again is 14A going into Cody, the main road into Cody is 14 (crosses the Big Horn Mts) BUT you have to ride 14A (alternate route)!!! One of the passes on 14A took over 20 years to complete, the grades are over 10%, the views are spectacular!! Also, Little Big Horn Nat Park is a short ride above Sheridan (where 14/14A) come out east of Cody.. Thats my story and I'm stickin to it!! Puc

What a fantastic way to honor someone who really deserves it!! OUTSTANDING!!

You and the Hubby would throw the biggest, baddest, funnest, longest, greatest, touringest, Harley Trikingest, kangaroo jumpingest, swagingest party that the USA has ever seen from a couple of fun loven Aussie bikers!! Believe me Annie, I KNOW where you would go!! :cool10:

Now see ladies and gentleman, THERE'S a man who knows how to invest!! Plus ol Yammer has a really good start on his porfolio - low risk, high yeild and reinvesting on his profitabilty!! All he has to do is control the throttle and he will probably never end up living with Bernie..

A leprechaun jumped right out of my black and tan with that one..

So, here's the deal.. A riding buddy and his wife stopped by on their way out of town a fews days ago.. Gave Tippy and I a couple instant lottery tickets for Christmas, WE WON $3 - YEEE HAWWW!! Now, we dont usually play the lottery but, we decided to take our winnings and buy a Michigan Power Ball ticket. I figured that with a drawing date of Christmas day, we had an additional chance of winning the 30 some millions of dollars.. Tippy and I talked about what we were gonna do with all the money.. Gonna give 200 thou to the attendant, 1 million each to the kids, 1 million each to our parents, 1 million to charity, 1 million the neighbors who bought the first tickets for us, donate 10 brand new bikes to Don for a Venture Rider drawing of his choice and than spend all of next summer meeting new faces from Venture Rider... Well,, bad news,, we didnt win squat,, I guess you guys are gonna be stuck with your old bikes,, hey - we tried,, oh well,, its the thought that counts right..http://venturerider.org/forum/images/smilies/confused24.gif About the only thing this doesn't affect is our plans for next summer, aint getting rid of me that easy http://venturerider.org/forum/images/smilies/rotf.gifhttp://venturerider.org/forum/images/smilies/rotf.gifhttp://venturerider.org/forum/images/smilies/rotf.gif

Both my girls and future son-in-law flew safely in from Sacramento today! Puc's a happy camper!!

HEYYYY,,, FUTURE VENTURE RIDERS OF AMERICA - COOL!! :bighug:Great shots there Tom!! Now grandkids, listen very carefully,, you have to eat lots and lots of ice cream before your ready to ride - now throughout this new year dont you let your grandpappy go by an ice cream store without reminding him of this!! Do it like this,,, Grandpaw - I SCREAM YOU SCREAM WE ALL SCREAM FOR ICE CREAM!! Doubt I had to post that reminder:whistling: MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL OF YOU! Puc

Should have known,, from the same folks who brought us Cricket,,, another one of those ruddy things no one really understands, especially not before tea time:backinmyday: That being the case, I can tell you from experience that if this is the true, our good ol Canadian buddys have no monopoly on that market!! Another thought I had was that this was the day the parents would wake up on the day after Christmas to find their children playing with the boxes all their new toys came in :rotf:

Hey Eck, never knew anything that went well with dates, cant see how saying Happy New Years makes em taste any better (been a long time for ol Puc) Seriously though, GOOD POINT!!!

I know one thing, if we get anymore white stuff I am gonna have a boxing day, gonna start boxing it up and sending it back to those Canadians from whence these cold winds cometh brrrr Just kiddin guys, please dont punch me,, I'm a lover not a fighter.. HAVE A GREAT BOXING DAY UP THERE!! (probably ought to investigate what is meant by "Boxing Day",, hmmm) Puc

Thanks Dragon for the compliment. Interesting thing about the maroon 87, that bike sat for over 20 years in the neighbors garage. He owns a trucking business (great guy), thru the years the bike got covered with soot from his diesel equipment. I mean it was solid soot when I got it!! When he first offered it to me he took me over, while showing it to me he was embarresed by how bad all the chrome and everything had gotten. I smiled, took my fingernail and scraped some of the soot off it, I told him he actually couldnt have protected it better if he had dipped the whole thing in cosmoline, if it dont say sunkist on it you dont know whats inside .. Few weeks later, after it was back together mechanically and cleaned up he couldnt believe it was the same bike.. He had already boughten a Harley Ultra or he said he would have bought his fixed bike back from me.. About 5 months later, after Tippy and I had some fun on it, an elderly couple came to look at one of my 1500 dollar Ventures, saw it sitting in the front yard, guy was about 5' 7" inches in height, took one look at the Kawi, asked me how much, him and his wife climbed on it - gone for about 1/2 hour - fell in love with it, peeled off 3800 bucks, loaded her up and headed to Florida with it.. Heard back from them - they are still down there somewhere riding the socks off the old girl!! I was always amazed with the MPG these things got.. After I discovered how frugel the 87 was I talked to the PO about it, I was concerned that I may have not gotten the carbs cleaned completely (they were nasty from setting so long), Puc dont like runnin em lean.. He said my findings were right on target with what he experienced since day one!! I have redone a number of 1200 Wings, as well as lots of Ventures.. Never did get 1200 Wing to get near the mileage my 1st Gennys got but this Kawi out did both.. Pretty neat bikes all in all, however, I totally get your "not looking back" comment about our Venny's, owned/ridden lots of touring bikes (all old stuff though) and there is just nothing that compares to the entire package of the yam for what I do, how I roll... Puc

Hey thanks for compliments guys!! And Randy,,, Can I sing,,, I LOVE to sing!! Me and Willie have been road buddies for many many years,!!! BUT,, I never did quit my day job,, so to speak :rotf: Puc

Phoneman I brought a couple of those back to life not to long ago, did an 87 and a 98.. That bike was an outstanding bike - Kaw had some problems with the 1st models (1300/6), a lot of it related to the EFI BUT they went carburation with the Voyager 2 (zg12) and made a winner.. We put about 6 thousand miles on the maroon one (87) below, got SUPER fuel economy (never below 50 and as high as 62mpg out of it!!). They were rated at the same HP as the Venture BUT, while not a slouch, not as quick or as torquey as the Yam.. They came with adjustabe trunk (3 position), decent stereo, good wind protection for rear rider.. GREAT bag/trunk space! I actually would have kept one of them but they tend to be for a shorter rider, they sit real low in the saddle - PERFECT for a short inseam BUT for us taller people they are lacking in leg room, pretty scrunchy.. Honestly, if it werent for that issue I would have kept the 87 (had 500 bucks in it and it was a beauty) and ridden the socks off it.. Quick tale about how I came about it, a neighbor bought in brand new, put just under 20k on it, was pulling into a trailer and snagged the oil filter cover bolt on the door edge of the trailer, when the filter cap broke off it had a piece of casing attached to it from internal engine.. Thought he ruined it - let it set till 3 years ago when I bought it.. All the parts for repair were still available (Kaw made the zg12 all the way to 2002), I bought all repair parts right from Kawasaki!! Never did have to buy cosmetics but they might be a little harder to find.. Anyway, due to what I experienced, if I would have kept one I DEFINTILY would have made some form of a skid plate for it, seriously!! If you go look at it take a look under the bike, you will notice the the oil filter cap bolt is the lowest part of the bike!! Also, if the bike you are looking at doesnt carburate well keep in mind that the Kawi carbs are an inline and getting them in and out is a difficult task, once out they are easier to repair/clean than our Ventures BUT I would still rather do 2 Ventures than 1 zg12!! If you guys go look at it make sure it runs up on all four, idles smoothly and throttles properly.. Also, down by the rear brake on the side of the engine are a couple of shafts tied together with a dogleg.. That device is an adjustment for the balance shaft gears.. If the bike seems a little noisey in that area in may just be out of adjustment (both mine were noisy and both were way out of adjustment - just a heads up.. Also, in the many many miles I have ridden these old Ventures I havent seen a lot of the Kawi's, that said, I did stop at one time to help out a guy with a ZG that had about 85k on it and had rear/gear problems,, bad situation.. Might not be a bad idea to search the web and see if Kawi had issues with the driveline somehow.. I know that the Cavalcade (suzi) had some issues but not sure if the ZG's did, easy to find out!!! Hope this helps someway!! Puc

Its the night before Christmas and Tippy is cookin. As I play at the puter I think, man she's good lookin. '13 was a good one for my partner and me. Sure had a lot of fun on the old 83. Saw some great sites and met some new faces. While riding our bike in various places. Now the summer is over and winter is howlin. Makes my bones ache, sure leaves me growlin. If it weren't for the fact I knew Santa was near, I would pack up the car and get out of here! He better show up and have lots of cheer, if he doesn't ol Puc is gonna be naughty this year. First thing I will do is eat all his goodies, go out in the garage, slip on one of my hoodies. Than into the car the tent she will go, I'll stick er in drive and plow thru the snow. A sign will be hanging for the ol man and his deer You blew this time and don't bother next year. There's a point in man's life when stuff doesn't matter, cause what good is it all when the snow makes you clatter! Like an old big twin motor with its crankshaft a shakin, every bone in my body that's the sound they are makin. In forty five minutes I'm locking the gate, goodies from elsewhere will be Santa's fate. Just to be naughty cause I'm done being nice, I will leave him some crumbs and a big glass of ice.. Oh wait, whats that sound I hear on our roof it sounds like a sleigh and a BIG reindeer hoof. Its him, he is here and he's sneaking about, He's eating the goodies now he left with a shout!!! Now I feel better cabin fever is leavin, And as for old Santa yep,, Puc's still believin!!!!!!

No but I sure hope he remembers to loosen the neck bearings just a tad on the 1st Genner he uses,, with our super low temps he will have a heck of time steering around here if he didnt..