Keysyrider

You had to have been there. My friend behind me had a trailer, passenger, and at the same speed as me had no problems whatsoever. He was on a Wing. I am not bad mouthing the Venture. It is just a different motorcycle and not designed to take corners as fast as a Wing.

Thanks guys. I take no offense to any of the comments posted. I think my wording was a biy off when I said "Wailing into a corner". I going quite a bit slower than if I had been riding the Wing. As I said, I bought a cruiser without taking it for a test ride--now how wrong is that! I still like to ride a bit on the aggressive side and the Wing allows me to do that. The scraping pegs serve as a warning that you are getting close so ease up a bit. My last Wing had the pegs worn down to the allen bolts. No bad call's against the Venture--it's just not my cup of tea. I got away with a warning but I gotta say that it quite a rush when you are in a full lock slide sideways . Reminds me of my younger years when we raced indoor oval on pavement. Full lock slides on the tarmac in the Agrodome at the PNE grounds in Vancouver, BC . Now that was fun!! I'll be checking in here every once in awhile as I still have several months paid for in advance ha ha. We head for Cape Breton and PEI in August then to England and the Isle of Man in September. Got a Triumph lined up for the Isle of Man, then a tour of the Triumph factory in Hinckley, and then a visit to Rickman Metisse to see the Steve McQueen replicas being built. Hope to get a wee ride on one also. Life is good!!

So folks--it looks like the lean angle of the Venture S is about 36 degrees unloaded. Got a kick out of some of the replies especially the ones that questioned my riding ability. With five National Motocross championships under my belt and as a member of the Canadian Motorcycle Hall of Fame I have a bit of experience to draw upon. What my experience told me was, "Get rid of this motorcycle!" Everything drags the road way too soon. And although somebody mentioned that a Gold Wing won't ground out before a Venture--well that is just wrong. The Gold Wing has a 52 degree bank angle unloaded. compared to a Venture's 36 degrees. I think the Venture is a great bike for some people and when just cruising down the super slab or meandering along country roads it is in its zone. However, it is not what I thought it would be and I should have traken it for a test ride before I bought it. Anyway, it is sold now and I am back with another Wing. It has been pleasant talking with you guys but each to his own. As long as it has two wheels and an engine then the rest is personal choice. Adios amigos.

Does anyone know what the bank angle of a 2013 Venture S is with 2 up. I had a near death experience wailing into a corner on CR 26 in the Ohio Wayne Forest towing a trailer. Grounded out, ran out of road, struck a line up the shoulder, trailer went sideways into the ditch, bike came back onto the asphalt totally sideways, grabbed a hand full of throttle, put my foot down and slid sideways, fishtailed a couple of times and rode on. That's when I said to myself, "I am selling this f&%$#%*@g piece of crap and getting another Gold Wing" It over steers, carries too little gas, is very top heavy, and the cruise control is just an aggravating bad joke. Hope Yamaha does and better job with the next edition---if they plan on making one. This was just a bad experiment for me. The only positive thing I can say is this bike is only comfortable when floating down the Interstate, and there, it is quite comfortable. The Wings have about a 45 degree bank angle and the Harley is around 25 degrees. I suspect the Venture is somewhere around the same as a Harley.

I cut the wire so I could connect them to the Powerelet socket and use that to power my jacket etc. Anyway, I called Gerbing today and talked to a technical adviser. He thinks it is a faulty unit and that there is an open circuit so they are sending me a new unit.

I am connected directly to the battery using the inline fuse block. The round pinned connector that connects to the controller button will only connect to that. I then cut the wire from the lead that connects to your jacket and determined which was the positive, then I installed bladed connectors and connected them correctly to the Powerlet socket. I did it right because I have positive at the centre of the Powerlet. Have you checked your socket connection to see if you have power there when the controller is turned off?

I have just set up my Gerbing heat controller using the Powerlet outlet. I have constant power to the center, positive, of my Powerlet outlet, even when I turn the heat control switch to the off position. Is this normal? I would have though that when I turn the hat control knob to OFF there would be no current coming through the Powerlet socket.

I never hooked up the ipod but I noticed that my Gerbing seems to draw power even when I have turned the controller knob to the off position. However, the battery was really low before I hooked up my Gerbing stuff so it can't be that.

Well, as it turns out, charging a 21v battery with a 6 volt charger does no harm at all. Apparently it just take twice as long to charge it because you are putting half the voltage into it. I checked online and found a few answers to my question. I have an excellent trickle charger so that is not a problem at all. I have used it for five years charging my Gold Wing battery all winter and it worked perfectly. I suspect I inadvertantly have left the bike turned on Accessory and that has discharged the battery. Time will tell.

I should always wear my glasses but last winter I put my battery on the trickle charger. I didn't see the selection knob and I had it on 6 volts charge for about three months. When I put it in the bike it was pretty much discharged. Would that mistake ruin a battery. I charged it and did a couple of short rides but noticed yesterday that the battery was just about dead. Anyone ever made this dumb mistake before and if so what was you experience afterward.

Yup, we are all Americans, but you guys commandeered the name to be inclusive of only those south of the 49th. I guess, to me more accurate, we are all North Americans.

I used to be a Wing Rider but switched over to see what the Venture would be like. Going my first long ride on the Venture from Newcastle Ontario, Canada to Branson, Missouri on May 2. I'll no after that if I made a good choice or not.

Just outside Highlands you can ride behind the Bridal Veil Falls. Make sure you take your camera for this.

I did that ride from Miami to Key West a few years ago. Flew to Florida, then Peterson's Harley Davidson loaned me an Electroglide for a couple of days. I wrote a story for a magazine about the ride and I can send it to you, but you absolutely have to stop for lunch at The Islamorada Fish Company Restaurant and Market. The grouper sandwich is phenomenal and their key lime pie is the absolute best! You eat while sitting above the water and you can throw food to the waiting huge fish that patrol the water for treats. Let me know if you want the story. Too big to place here. keysyrider@gmail.com

I always thought that too, but it was the British that burned the White House and other government buildings in Washington, not we Canucks. They first met the Americans at the Battle of Bladensburg and the Americans literally ran away. It has since been referred to as The Bladensburg Races by the British. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Bladensburg The British did get their comeuppance at the Battle of Baltimore. Although the Brits never really lost--they just sailed away out of Baltimore harbor. That's when my distant relative Francis Key wrote that popular American tune that they still sing today while holding their chest with their hand.

Got it!!!! Opened the inspection cover and with a 17 mm socket and a Johnson bar I just wiggled it back and forth and the drive shaft came right out. If the Yamaha Shop Manual were a bit more clear then one would know what was hidden up there. Without taking it completely apart, it looks like it is a spline coupling on a universal type of joint that accepts the spline on the end of the drive shaft. I can see why it takes a bit of patience and time to slide the shaft home into its proper placement. After inpecting it looks like the seal on the shaft is fine also. Tonight it goes back together--but I missed two lovely days of riding. Thanks for the help everyone.

I have the wheel and the final drive off. Is there a place where I can get at the engine to rotate it backwards a bit?

I'll give that a try tomorrow evening. Was worried about damaging something but I think brute force is the only way this shaft is going to come out.

Any ideas how to get it out? Plastic explosives maybe?

The bike was in neutral.