BlueSky

On the Kawasaki forum, a FJR1300 owner said he used Rotella and had samples checked and it didn't last long at all. He switched to another brand that held up much better. The only way you know for sure what oil holds up is to get samples checked at the lab.

That bike looks nice. However, I owned a 1983 Yamaha 750 Virago for a while and I didn't like it. I didn't like the vibration and the lack of power from the V-twin. I much prefer a smooth, powerful 4 cylinder bike such as the two I have now.

I can't imagine learning to ride on a Venture. How much will it cost you if you hurt yourself or destroy the bike?

My wife and I recently went to Monument Valley. It's located just north of the AZ border. Going north on 163, you turn east on I believe Monument Valley road. A few miles down you will run into the Navajo museum. There are 1 1/2 hr and 2 1/2 hr tours of the valley on rough dirt roads. I chose to let them escort us on the tour but if you have a truck or suv or maybe a trike, you can check it out yourself at no extra charge. The old movie director John Ford filmed many John Wayne western movies in Monument Valley. My wife was in a hurry to get to Vegas and didn't even want to go to Monument Valley but afterwards, she said that was the best part of the trip.

That's a nice looking boat. I'm sure you will enjoy it! I bought my first boat 7 years ago, an 18' Boston Whaler Ventura with a 150hp Yamaha OX66 2 stroke on the back. I work away from home most of the time and we haven't used it that much but it hasn't let us down yet on the water. It's a great feeling to be out on the water in our own boat!! I live a few miles from the coast. Other than a couple of batteries and regular service, the fuel pump failed probably due to getting gummed up from sitting and not being used. So, it hasn't been too bad so far. (Knock on Wood!)

Yeah, but Puc is also carrying a cute chick!

If you do not have riding experience, I highly recommend you buy a small cheap bike and ride it for a couple thousand miles while you are sorting out the problems with the Venture before you try to ride the 800lb beast. After you get used to riding, then it will be time to try the Venture.

I'm so glad you and Tippy survived that tire!!!! With the load you carry, you do test a rear tire pretty good. Maybe go for the best of the best on the rear? Michelin or E3? I think the E3 has the highest load rating doesn't it? A few years ago, I had a 2004 Kawasaki Concours and the forum members for that bike did not like the Metzler 880s due to its perceived lack of grip. My Concours had a worn out dual compound tire on the front when I bought it. The soft sides had worn down and left a 1"wide strip down the center. This made an already top heavy tippy bike really tippy. I vowed to never put a dual compound tire on the front of a bike. But, it might work out great on the rear with the hard compound in the center and softer sides to hold when cornering. Rear tires tend to wear flat anyway. I've never heard of a Full Bore tire. I'd trust a Korean tire before I would a Chinese tire though.

I buy the Valvoline motorcycle oil and NAPA filter for my 89. As long as the oil has the proper Jaso rating, you can't go wrong. Oil filters are available in many brands specifically for your motorcycle. But this subject can go on and on and on.

Looks like a heck of a deal on that bike!

I like the looks of those trucks too. However, I traded my 94 F150 4x4 on a new 2000 F150 4x4 because there was so much wind noise around the cab on the 94 and the front tires cupped out and there wasn't any way to stop the cupping with those sort of dual ibeam axles. The 2000 was so much quieter on the interstate and the front tires did not cup. I drove on the interstate a lot. In my opinion the 97 - 03 F150s are the most reliable trucks Ford ever made except maybe for the 97 and 98 V6s. I currently have a 2002F150lariatSCAB4x4 that I never intend to get rid of.

I use my weatherbug app to look at the radar for the area. During the summer in NC, there is a 20 or 30% chance of rain almost every day. If you wait for 0%, you won't ride much.

Nice project but I just bought a 5' x 8' utility trailer from Lowes for $600 and it hauls my bikes just fine. Its load rating is 1600lbs. You may buy smaller cheaper ones there.

Is the left front brake caliper working correctly? If it is you may have to rebuild the rear caliper. Make sure the master cylinder is not too full as informed from a previous post.

My 2 cents- If it were me I would replace it with a paper filter or whatever the stock filter was. I've read many times that K&N filters do not filter as well as paper filters. I admit though that the factory filter for my Kawa ZN700 is a foam filter that is oiled. The owners manual will tell you what oil you should use for the bike. I would guess 10W40. That seems to be the standard factory recommendation. If you live in a hot area 20W40 may be best although most motorcycle oil that I see is either 10W40 or 20W50.

Weren't those actually made in Italy?

I think it was just two bidders. I bid first and put in a max bid. Somebody kept bidding until they exceeded my bid. This was repeated several times. My last max bid was $172 and the other guy exceeded it. A new Yamaha starter can be bought for $344 and I bid up to half of new for a 2007 starter with 30k miles on the bike. Probably a member of this site was the other bidder.

Some people like living on the edge of disaster!!

Quoting what I read recently. "Turning your guns in at a gun buy back program is like castrating yourself because your neighbor has too many kids!"

Looks nice! I think it's a good choice compared to the two you were looking at first.

Congratulations to your daughter for her great accomplishment!!! I know you and your family are very proud!

Are you sure? When I look up new starter motors, the part number for the 93 and older is 00 26H-81890-00-00 and the 96 up starter motor part number is 4NK-81890-00-00

if you search on "starter xvz13" and "starter xvz1300" you will find several on ebay. The cheapest one left I think is $89.

Could it be as simple as the clutch?

http://www.ride-on.com/motorcycles.html