Silverado6x6

I picked up an 85 three years ago here in Alaska, it was in a house fire, right side of bike had heat damage, rear fender, right mid panel, right upper fairing, dash top and windshield melted, no damage to any wires or hoses of and part of engine. Bike was totaled, stored in a warehouse for 17 years, bike only had 17,000 miles on it. You could not even smell gas in the completely clean gas tank, but all brake fluids crystalized, even the clutch. Carbs were ok but the cdi had corrosion and i had to replace it. Bike still isn't road ready but it runs great, worst problems were the master cylinders, had to replace them and still replace the windows. And the rear master cyl reservoir was corroded very badly. And naturally all the clear coated aluminum was corroded, to the point i am just buffing them up and painting them black like a v max.

I own a 2009 Star 1300 Tourer, its a water cooled v twin, but looks like it isnt, its fuel injected, 5 speed, belt drive. Gobs of power, very quiet smooth motor, the engine is well liked by owners though the early model years had teething problems, stripped steering head nuts, fork klunks, poor handlebar pullback, factory set too lean from factory but easily fixed by a 50 cent part to fool the oxygen sensor. But its a cruiser trying to be a part time tourer, i see them for sale well below NADA prices. I think with some upgrades they are a good value for the money, the newest versions have batwing fairings.

My local Yamaha shop is selling only models from the Star 1300 Custom with the bat fairing on down, no Roadliners, Strats, Raiders or RSTD bikes. New bike sales are stagnant. Too much social uncertainty. Even i am passing up local used bikes for sale, at last count i still have 18 motorcycles. I am just not feeling any positive vibe to buy a new bike.

I think they call it the Super Tenere, a very popular sport touring bike, i see a ton if them here in Alaska.

On a hill it came to life? Float needs to be adjusted.

I removed my driving lights that came with my 86, installed a pair of 18 watt Cree spot off road lights. From Ebay.

My 85 Vmax has similar problems, i added an additional 6 gauge wire from the starter mount bolt back to the negative terminal of the Odyssey PC680 battery. But i kept the two pole starter but did an improved ground internally, works every time now, hot or cold. I soldered the tangs on the brush plate to give more contact area. Filed them flat but higher than original.

Was going to take my recently acquired 86 for a ride but several things intervened, one it started raining, two the throttle felt weird, found out the cabled is just a few strands away from breaking at the carb, again i do not want to keep steeling parts from the other Ventures i found a good complete set off ebay. Wish i could post pics but every single time it says upload failed. Its not a size issue, its something else. But in case anyone cruises over at Goldwingfacts i can easily post images there all day long, they like Ventures. I did a quad group pic of both my Gl1500 bikes and my 86 and 89 Ventures. Its in a thread called What did you do to your Goldwing today?

Needs a trunk.

Well i already stole the mufflers off my 85 Venture, might as well take the headlight cover, did not think the mk1 and mk2 covers would swap.

Led bulbs are changing every month right now, but are just shy of being better than a 55 watt HID, but those aftermarket cree 4x4 spotlights do put out pretty good light, i had a pair of old Hella driving lights on my 86 Venture, both were 55 watt h1 halogens, pulled them off and installed a pair of 4" square cree spot version off road lights, nice sturdy aluminum finned housing, they each draw 18 watts. My next goal is to retrofit dual projectors in my Ventures headlights, remove the outer cover and to install a sturdy lexan clear one, inside will be either a dual projector or a triple. Similar to the new Harley or Indian headlights.

Harley owners are used to riding bikes with engines that have missing cylinders, the iconic design and po-tay-to sound comes from an engine that is designed from an aircraft radial design, so be it 3,5 7 or 9 cylinders the Harley engine is just a pie slice with two cylinders, thus the sound and vibration. Lots of people think my Ventures or Vmax are twins, i just tell them its a "bi-twin" .

I do believe transparent aluminum is now a reality.

Gotta love those Harley take offs, i put a pair on my Honda cx650, sound sweet! Just about the ONLY Harley part i will ever own.

Any engine but one that is designed from a radial aircraft motor but missing 3/4ths of the other cylinders. I know somebody made a Wankel bike, would love to see an updated version.