dragerman

Is that $200 CDN... if so where? The best I've seen is $189 USD

Yup to all that!! This is a great site, love the layout and all it has to offer but it’s the people that make it a special place. More then a few times I’ve almost fallen out of my chair with spontaneous laughter from some of the comebacks and quick wit comments. Equally impressive is peoples willingness to help others anyway they can... even if it just sharing an opinion. It certainly is a lifestyle envious to many and a family of a different sort! Bravo!

I’ve been shopping around for oil filters for the Venture and until I read this post ( http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?t=100&highlight=motorcycle+filter ) I haven’t had much luck, particularly since I was doing my search by make and model. Wal-Mart Canada didn’t stock any and Canadian Tire only sold the K&N-303 for $25… that’s nuts!! My favorite filter is Baldwin, I’ve been using this brand in my diesel truck for 12 years now and researched filters at the time for the best one available. After talking to the good people at Ontario Filter (just off Dixie Street north of 401) and seeing cutouts of more common brands it was more then clear that the Baldwin was of superior construction and filter medium. With the posted information on filters (nice work thank you!!) I was able to do a cross reference with Purolator, Mobil and Bosch and each linked to the same Baldwin filter. Oddly enough the product guide for this filter does not list Yamaha but does say Kawasaki Motorcycles. Here are the specs; Contains: Anti-Drainback valve 14 PSID By-Pass Valve Thread: M20x1.5 O.D.:2 21/32 (67.5) Length (B1400): 2 5/8 (66.7) Length (B1402): 3 ½ (88.9) I. Gaskt - The 2.5in filter is B1400 - The 3.25 filter is B1402 I’m very satisfied with this and am going with the B1402, the other nice thing is that it only costs $6.44. That’s more like it! ... Now if I could only make a decision about which oil to use.

Good observations and I like your opinions. It certainly is very clever marketing. It seems that motorcycle advertising is either about “Speed” or “The Dark Side” ... why doesn’t everybody just get a Venture and they can have both!

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Well done James! This is a “safety issue” and one would hope they give it the attention it deserves. Tailgating is a serious problem for motorcycles. Emails often get deleted quite easily, it’s a good idea to follow up your email with a letter and cc a copy to the next in command (separate envelopes). Good luck!

My experience is similar to yours... In my younger (teen) years I was riding an on/off road motorcycle through town and came up to a four way stop. There was a police cruiser pulling up to a stop in the opposite direction. I figured I better come to a full stop (which wasn’t always the habit at the time). As I rolled up to the stop I down shifted and went to put my right foot down... On the lower right side of the bike is a rocker lever that you can hit one way or the other with your heal to flip the transmission in high or low range. Well you guess it... my pant bottom (bell bottoms) was draped over the lever and I couldn’t get my foot down. Needless to say I went down like a falling tree and hit the ground just as hard! The office stayed around long enough to see me get up then drove away laughing, likely thinking I should have training wheels!!