BlueSky

Political but not partisan.

Corporations are and have been bringing in skilled workers for decades under the H1B visa program whether or not there were similarly skilled people in the USA. They work for less and will take more crap. Plenty of unskilled workers coming here all the time. https://www.ifers.org/h1b.html?gclid=Cj0KCQjwm9D0BRCMARIsAIfvfIboX0kY9druS1NyI0ZZywDlQQ5hy6dPakjOH1Iw_NGppQVRZ_PvlswaAkhFEALw_wcB

Well, thanks to our trade agreements and government allowing our corporations to close our factories and move them to China, we are almost totally dependent on China for so many things. Even if our China bought and paid for congress would put a stop to it, it will take a long time to extract ourselves from this dependency.

Sorry for your troubles! I just got a call from my son saying a tree fell on his Mom's (my ex) new house, collapsing her utility shed and puncturing her home's roof. She is living in the mountains close to Hendersonville. About 20 years ago, a big pine fell on her house in Raleigh collapsing the roof. Those trees look nice but are dangerous.

That ad does say the one in the photo is an 83. Probably introduced in late 82? I do know that I bought a new Honda 71 CB350 in February of 71. But, it was really a 70 model. A few months later the newly restyled 71 CB350 came to the dealers. So, I think that back in 71 they must have gone with the date of sale instead of the model for the year designation.

Welcome! Congratulations on the bike! Some photos would be nice! The Ventures had weak two brush starters until 1991 as I understand when Yamaha installed 4 brush starters finally. There are some things you can do to make yours stronger such as using larger cables and clean up the starter and install another ground inside it. There are threads on these changes you may find if you do a search. Or you can keep an eye on ebay and buy a used 4 brush. As I understand, any 1300cc V4 Yamaha starter from 91 up will work. The Venture was stopped in 93 but then the RSTD came out in 96 with the 2nd Gen Venture starting in 99.

You and you wife take care my friend. Bill

Actually, now he occasionally smokes and the artists he works with smokes but it isn't an end unto itself like it was as a teenager. Much like alcohol, a little bit usually doesn't hurt but if you over do it, it can be harmful to your ambition and life.

Whew! When I read this I thought they had built a vibrating V-twin!

Exactly what year and model bike are we talking about here?

You will probably have to remove the carbs to clean them again. The idle circuits are most likely plugged on the front two cylinders. In the mean time, I would put an ample amount of cleaner in the gas such as the board favorite, seafoam, or my personal favorite, Gumout for high mileage engines with PEA.

I don't think that will buff out?

The Royal Star Venture definitely has more leg room and may be the most comfortable bike out there. The water cooled V4s have been known to go over 200k miles too. No worries there. The Wing has a lower center of gravity and may be easier to handle at low speeds. I personally don't consider the RSV to be top heavy. The RSV fairing is attached to the handlebars and combined with the wide front tire has heavy steering at low speeds. In my opinion, the two things I don't like about the RSV is the heavy steering at low speeds and the fact that almost all of them have an annoying clutch basket gear whine that is fairly loud at certain speeds. The positive thing is that you can buy an RSV for probably half of what a Wing costs and it is probably just as durable.

I use a weld tip cleaner to poke the carb holes. Something like this. Maybe try another type carb cleaner. How about the spray carb cleaner? https://www.ebay.com/itm/Welding-Torch-Tip-cleaner-Carburetor-Cleaning-Tool-TCSTDI-13-Rods-W-File/163498661071?hash=item26114794cf:g:7d0AAOSwleRcRkeq

I'm doing more of the fixing things. The 26 yr old garage door opener had been getting jerky and finally quit. The motor would hum for a few seconds and quit. The plastic gear about 3" in diameter was worn and jamming against the worm gear on the motor. I lubed it and it worked until the new plastic gear came. Now, it works really smooth. The temperature and compass indication on my 2002 F150 ceiling console didn't work and had not for years. So, I took it down and resoldered a couple of resistors and now it works again. Sprayed the grass with atrazine to kill the weeds. Charged the dead 7 yr old riding lawn mower battery and it took a charge and mowed the grass or rather weeds. That atrazine is really working after a week or so. Took my el cheapo Black and Decker rechargeable screwdriver apart to see how to change the batteries. They wouldn't recharge any more enough to use the screwdriver. Gotta see if the wife will let me out of the house long enough to buy some rechargeable AA batteries. They have to be soldered in place. She doesn't want to lose her sugar daddy I suppose. I gotta do our tax returns. I gotta pressure wash the driveway. I gotta paint the house exterior. Polish the Magnum's headlight lenses. I have some work to do on the 07 RSV and a lots of work to do to the 89 Venture. My old Kawasaki seems to be the most reliable bike I have. Replace the plugs in the boat motor and clean it up. It's past time to take it down to the wet slip. The list is never ending......

Remember 85 and 86 when Bill Elliot's Ford Thunderbird was a sure winner on the high speed Nascar tracks. At one of the high speed tracks, he lost a tire and made up the 2 (2 1/2 mile) lap loss under the green flag. Some guy in Texas had come up with heads for his engine that had a swirl type combustion chamber that could be used with compression ratios up to 18 to 1 and it extracted more power from combustion and the exhaust gas was much cooler than normal. GM jumped on the bandwagon with new "vortec" heads for their cars. This is when he set the all time track record of 212mph at Talladega. Not long after Nascar limited compression ratios to 12 to 1 and used restrictor plates to reduce speeds. Nascar also disallowed Ford engines built on the Cleveland engine block forcing engine builders to use engines built on the Windsor block. This curtailed the room for building high flow heads since the Windsor engine was a small block and the Cleveland was more of a big block engine. Passenger cars are not allowed to run too high compression ratios because it increases Nitrogen oxides, a pollutant.

With the piston speed equal to a Formula 1 race car engine, it would cost way too much to build it, so not much chance of it being put into any vehicle that consumers buy any time soon. Remember those Honda race bikes that would rev to about 23,000 rpm?

The smallest F150 engine is the 2.7L V6 ecoboost. 0 to 60mph I think it is the quickest of all the F150s, even quicker than the 3.5 eco to 60mph. From what I've been reading the ecoboost engines are fairly reliable. The 3.5 eco has been on the market now for 10 years. The Mustang hotrodders have been testing the limits of the 2.3L 4 cyl ecoboost and it's supposed to be a good engine. It's the only engine option for the new Ranger. I'm old school though and I'm still hanging on to my 2002 F150 with the 5.4L 2 valve V8 that is a very reliable engine. One of those in a van lasted 1,299,000 miles before it blew. Google Million Mile Ford Van to read about it.

I got dizzy just watching! Looks like a skilled rider.

Oh NO! Ford will be putting one of those tiny turbo engines in the F150!

Freebird, Please give us an update! We are all concerned about you and wish the best for you!

Puc, you, Tippy, and Tweeks have made some epic trips around the country! I have really enjoyed reading about them and seeing all the photos and videos!

In the Army they taught us to did a trench around the high side of our tents so water would flow around instead of through the tent.

I rode my RSV about 25 miles today to wash the carbs. I realized my rear brake was barely functional if at all. I kept riding anyway. I did have the front tire shrieking in protest at one stop light. Tomorrow, I'll check it out.

There isn't but so much we can do. Even retirees like me have to go out sometimes and buy food, go to Dr. appts. and other necessities. I went for a ride today on my Kawasaki enough to wash the carbs. I rode for 10 miles or so and then bought gas touching the gas pump, and then went to the Pharmacy to pick up one of the necessities of life for old codgers, drugs!