BlueSky

I like the looks of these Ventures without the bags and trunk!

http://wilmington.craigslist.org/mcy/5608252439.html

Well, I dusted the bedroom furniture today. Then I discovered and pumped up the leaky left rear tire on my ol f150. The tire is leaking. The AC is leaking. My truck is not boring. It keeps me busy in its old age.

My lower back problem does involve arthritis or so I'm convinced. When it was at its worst and I also had sciatic pain in my right hip, the best thing I seemed to be able to do to help it is go on a low calorie diet avoiding fats. This helps reduce the effects of arthritis. I know it sounds weird but for me situps also help my lower back. Another thing I've noticed is that when I was taking the bp med Triam/HCTZ for an extended time, it make my arthritis much worse. My back got so bad, I had trouble putting on my pants and shoes.

might could use a piece of hose with a screw in the end in a pinch.

I saw a link to ventureriders.org.

Good Luck! My daughter promptly wrecked her 85 Chevy Cavalier twice in the first 3 months, totaling it the second time. After 3 months passed I bought an $800 pos 85 Buick Skyhawk that she drove 2 yrs without incident. Then I bought a 92 Pontiac Sunbird that she wrecked and was repaired. My son didn't do too bad. He banged up his 89 Escort but still drove it. My stepson wrecked the 2007 Focus I bought for him. Later I traded it for a 2006 Miata that only had 12k miles on it. Six weeks later he stepped on the gas too hard in the wet and wrecked it hitting another car. The driver of the other car had a bad back so he got a shyster lawyer and sued saying he couldn't work and was living off money borrowed from his family. The Ins co secretly filmed him working on 3 occasions and lifting heavy items. He only wanted the policy limit of $100k and the ins co wouldn't pay. Then he got a back operation that he evidently needed anyhow and my ins co tried to pay him but they wanted $350k now. I hired one of the best lawyers in this field in the state of FL where it happened and eventually the ins co that had mishandled the case so badly paid $250k, $150k more than the policy limit and under the threat of a law suit from my attorney, they paid his fee for me! I was sweating for a year over this fiasco thinking I might lose everything I had. Hope I didn't depress you too bad, but this was my true story.

1989 Venture Royale, 6,500 miles

Synthetic oil used to be PAO, polyalphaolefin, or an ester. Now, it is a Group III dino oil, with possibly some real synthetics blended in. Nobody really knows what is in "synthetic" oil these days except the oil companies and anybody who wants run lab tests on it to determine what it really is cuz they won't tell you what's in it. The bottom line is that "synthetic" oil is nothing like it used to be, maybe better, maybe worse, who knows?

The highest point in Yellowstone Park is about 11k ft. above sea level which lowers the boiling point of any fluid. With riding in the hills and using the brakes more often adding heat, there could be a little more risk of DOT 3 boiling. My wife and I are discussing going to Yellowstone this summer (in a cage unfortunately) and I checked the average temps last night. In July, the average day time high is 72 and low is 40. So, it never gets very warm at that elevation.

Incredible story and lucky you missed the incident. Some of life's turns or coincidences really make you think and wonder. Stories like this is why I decided to carry. I hope the animals are caught and incarcerated.

I try not to ride or drive behind a vehicle carrying a load of anything. The rider was not seriously injured. He was lucky. It looked to me like he had time to avoid the accident and just didn't react quickly enough.

I try not to ride or drive behind a vehicle carrying a load of anything.

Sounds like you judges are like NC judges. They are elected and don't have to have a law degree.

"Dumb Sxxt" came to mind when I saw the crash!

An infrared thermometer available at Autozone or Harbor Freight might save your finger. I'm sure Puc can do it without burning himself but the thermometer will provide a little more information to us non-gurus.

[quote name= Man I hate making decisions..ha.. [/font] Not a problem Eck. We just love spending your money for you!

Many sport tourer owners install bar risers to help eliminate the slight leaning forward sitting position. I owned a 2004 Kawasaki Concours for a while and it did have a slight leaning forward riding position. If I didn't grip the bars tightly, I could sit straight up. I bought bar risers but never installed them before selling the bike so I don't know how much they would have helped. What bothered me more than the leaning forward was folding my legs up. At my age of 72, I suspect that is not a great thing for blood circulation in the legs. The 04 Concours was very top heavy with its 7.5 gallon gas tank up top making it tricky to ride slowly. When I first bought it, my riding skills were very rusty and I dropped it in a parking lot. I tried very hard to keep it upright and only succeeded in trapping my right foot under the bike breaking my second metatarsel. Then, sitting at a desk all day combined with my age, I developed a large blood clot in my lower leg. Warfarin injections for 4 months and I was okay but the wife insisted I sell it. It took a good while to sell and I rode it almost daily to work and I was liking it more and more as time passed. From what I've read, the Honda ST1300 and the BMW R1200RT are the easiest to handle at low speed. The video link is interesting.

Buy an infrared thermometer from autozone or harbor freight and check the exhaust temps. #1 may not be firing.

I've been doing a lot of reading about sport tourers thinking of maybe buying a newer fuel injected bike and I have been impressed by what I've read about the BMW R1200RT. The drawback is the initial cost and BMW repair costs for labor and parts. It's also air/oil cooled which in my opinion is not as good as water cooled. I googled information on these bikes and found a LA county police bike test. One thing that stood out to me was that according to BMW specs, it's okay for the oil to get up to 300 degrees F. (Also noted that Harley specs say it's okay for the Harley police bike oil to get up to 410 degrees F. From what I've read the ST1300 is not far behind in comfort and handling and it costs a little less. The ST and the RT are police dept favorites.

Yeah, I recommend anxiety pills!

When I was younger I never had allergies. Now that I'm an old fart, every spring when the pines start having sex and dropping the pollen, I get the sniffles and red eyes. I have been using Alleraide. My wife who is a homeopathic medicine expert bought the first at a local grocery store. Now, I have to buy it on line. It used to be made in the Netherlands but now it's made in Mexico but it still works. I highly recommend it. Here is a link. http://www.vitacost.com/boericke-tafel-allergiemittel-alleraide

Wow! That sucker looks like a brand new bike!

About 3 or 4 years ago, I was changing a tire on my F150. I was using a pull handle and socket on the lug nuts. And like a dummy, I was pulling up rather than rotate the handle and push down using my weight. Anyhow, I pulled my arm out of my shoulder socket. It popped back in by itself but it hurt like crazy. I don't know what damage was done because I didn't go to the doctor. But, it hurt and I had limited use of that arm for a good while. I moved it as much as possible every day and as soon as i could I started doing pullovers on my Total Gym. It healed up nicely by itself and now I have full use of the arm without any after effects. I'm still doing pullovers and other exercises 3 times a week. It took probably a year for it to completely heal so there was no after effects at all.

The reason I asked to be sure was my CD has about 30 shop manuals and some are for the Road Stars.