AGrengs

Condolences.

I'll second this idea! Best thing I ever added to a bike. Put the phone's music player on shuffle and listen to all my music.

Beetle Bailey.

I keep tellin' myself I should plan to make one of the gatherings that are relatively close, but I work alternating weekends and have limited vacation time. The Boss (wife) only lets me take so much of it for motorcycling. I'd like to eventually make a MD or maybe Pork in the Pines to meet some people (been a member for several years)

Thanks for the reply, Gary, those are some great suggestions.

Thanks. I'm familiar with that site, just thought someone with firsthand knowledge of the area might have specific things to see.

Thanks for the suggestions, Bill. I'll check some of those routes out during the trip planning.

I'm planning a weekend getaway for myself and a couple cousins from MN. Last year we rode down the river into Iowa and went over to Anamosa to the museum. I'm thinking we should explore the Illinois side of the river this year. Looking for someone with familiarity of the region who can recommend roads, places to stop and eat or places of interest to visit.

My sister started on a 250, but was disappointed with it after a very short time. she moved up to a Honda VLX (600cc) and it has been a very good fit. It's lighter and narrower than a vstar650 but can run freeway speeds with stability.

Happy Birthday!

My first bike looked exactly like that! Same year, same setup. Beautiful!

If I had garage space, I would have a '70's era Honda CB750. Was my first bike and I wish I would have kept it. Used to want to chop one, also.

If I remember correctly (and I spent a lot of money in my 20's destroying my memory), the chairman of the company was a fan of motorsports and when instrument sales were a little soft, he decided to branch out.

They're tuning forks. Yamaha was a musical instrument company long before they made motorcycles.

A friend of mine does woodworking and made this based on an old Yamaha racing patch.

I agree that the safety of the rider is foremost in this situation, but the animal is not at fault here. the dog's owner should be who takes a faceful of pepper spray, not the pooch. Call the cops/animal control, whatever, but as an animal lover, I hope we don't take it out on the dog. the responsibility to control your animal falls with the owner.

Thanks, I pulled this apart again this afternoon. Aligned the final drive according to that there service bulletin after getting a replacement nut. Took it for a test ride and it ran real smooth and quiet. Regarding the alignment procedure, there was no way for me to get a torque wrench on those acorn nuts, there's just not clearance along the driveshaft tube. I could only get an open end wrench on them, so the torque is gestimated (but pretty darn tight).

I crawled under it this afternoon and found the problem (kinda embarrassing). The acorn nuts on the driveshaft tube to final gear. I lost one of them and the other three were loose enough I turned them in by hand before putting a wrench on them. Shoulda used loctite, maybe.

I used loctite moly for the grease and double-checked the reassembly at the time. Thanks for the reply.

I recently replaced the rear tire on my '08 RSV. While it was off, I lubed the splines on the driveshaft, cleaned and lubed pins in rear wheel and replaced the rear end gear oil. When I get the bike warm now, I hear a noise kinda like jingling your change. I hear it under load, it doesn't seem to vary by speed or RPM. It goes quiet when coasting. I was thinking I may not have tightened the muffler clamps well and it's a slight exhaust leak, but would like to hear ideas from others as well.

We were up in the Fort Collins area and took a day to ride up Poudre River valley to the pass (10K+ feet), still had snow, real nice ride up. also went to Estes Park near Denver, it had just opened for the holiday weekend and the pass was still closed, but the views from the pullovers on the way up are spectacular. We were in CO for 4 days, the rest of the trip was traveling. don't try to see too much, soak in what you can get to, CO will always be there. Have Fun!

Took a 9 day trip to CO last Memorial day, have an outstanding trip!

What I like is the overall load rating of 419lbs. 20lbs per side case and trunk (60lbs). Trunk rack is limited to 20lbs (I think that's the number). I'm 200lbs so that leaves me 139lbs for a passenger (less when you take into account other things that have been added like passenger highway pegs, changing the stock air boxes to the billet ones, trunk rack, etc) or 159lbs if I don't have anything on the trunk rack. If you are heavier, then your passenger has to be lighter. The more you weigh the thinner your passenger. They also don't recommend towing a trailer but how many of us do pull trailers? See, now this is my excuse for leavin' the Boss at home. I weigh 300lbs, so until she's under 120 I can't bring her with!

I just had this stuff apart last week for new rubber and pin/spline grease. I learned it all here from all the ventureriders whose help I really appreciate. Thanks.

"Zen and the art of Zip ties and Duct tape"