jfman

Day 9 and 10 - Entering Mexico I wake up at Skizzman's place in Austin. It's now Monday so JD has to go to work and I have to get on the road and head South, Pronto! Of course the bike is still leaking coolant from the water pump impeller seal. Predictably as soon as I warm the bike up, it quits leaking. I ride a little past Austin and pull into a Dunkin' Donuts for some food and to have a cool place to make some phone calls in the hop of finding a seal and a rear tire. It turns out many of the local dealerships are closed on Mondays in The Austin and in also in the San Antonio area. I manage to get a Yamaha dealer on the phone but the parts counter claims there is a 3 business day wait for the seal I need. They also dont have my tire size in stock. I call Harley and they have plenty of Harley branded tires that are compatible with my bike but they also want 250$ for just the tire. I scour the Craiglists ads and I find a slightly used Harley tire for 60$ near McAllen, TX. I also seek advice here on advrider to see if I can source a seal while in Mexico. I am basically told that I am better off getting a seal before leaving the US because parts are very hard and slow to get in Mexico. Against all advice from the Mexico veterans, and more importantly not wanting to spend 4 days in Texas waiting on a 20$ seal that only leaks only when cold, I decide to ignore the repair and enter Mexico with the leaky bike. Afterall this bike is expendable and I only have two weeks left before I have to fly out of Cancun. My reasoning is that if the bike gives in, I will just take a bus to Cancun and sip margaritas until I have to leave. I ride from Austin to McAllen. It's a 5 hour ride only but today is the first day of the trip where the heat is significant, well at least for this Canadian. I ride to small neighborhood off I-2 to pick up my ''nearly new'' but sadly ten year old Craigslist Harley tire from the seller. The same guy that claims there is nothing wrong with listing 10 year old tire as nearly new, warns me not to travel to Mexico unless I want to be ''cut in pieces and buried'' in the Mexican backcountry. I crash at a Motel 6 and I purchase some liability insurance for Mexico before going to sleep. The next morning, on Skizzman's tip, I ride a little bit west to Los Ebanos to take a hand ferry into Mexico. It's a little bit of a detour but a very cool way to enter Mexico. The cost is only a few dollars and there is virtualy no wait. As I pull up to the border station, on the US side I see a car with blown out tires, two police cars and a guy getting handcuffed. I ride past the scene and I ride down the hill to reach the ferry. In my rudimentary Spanish I ask the folks on the ferry ''Que pasa con el hombre'' pointing at the US side. My understanding of their explanation is that he was actualy on the US side trying to escape to Mexico. Getting pulled across the Rio Grande. Once into Mexico I ride back east to the aduana station to get my paperwork taken care of. There was little to no wait at the station and the process was quick and smooth. I then ride on the 40 to General Bravo where I get some Mexican Pesos out of the ATM. It's a pretty flat and quiet ride. Then I ride the 35 to General Téran. What is nice about this stretch of road is that you get to ride thru orange groves. This time of the year is orange picking season for the region and as you follow dump trucks filled with them, you get that nice wiff of oranges in the air. Also, everytime a dump truck rolls over a topes, a few oranges spill out onto the street. I did grab a few. They are smaller than Navel oranges and have a smooth skin. They still taste very sweet but are a little thougher to peel and eat. I have never seen those in Canadian grocery stores so I can only guess that these oranges get turned into juice or are just sold in Mexico. I finally turned right on 85. There is a pretty darn sweet road that snakes up and down the mountain range you see in the far distance. This is where I am headed. I then turned left on 20 and start riding right up the mountain. Nice curves but the pavement quality is not the best. Maybe I am just getting picky. I could be stuck in the Canadian snow right now: life is good. This road delivers As I near the top of the mountain, the road enters a gorge and follows a dry creek. I love stuff like this It's getting dark as I reach my destination for the day: La Cienaga de Gonzales. When I got there it seemed deserted. Most of the Cabanas were closed but as I got to the edge of town, one hotel was opened. I got a room for about 400 or 500 pesos. The hotel had about 30 rooms but I was the only one there which seems to be typical in rural Mexico. After I got settled into my room I got to work on the bike to swap the rear tire. It was my first time pulling the back wheel from this bike so it took a little bit of headscratching at first but I got the wheel off without problems. I then took advantage of the well lit (and deserted) lobby to get to work on the tire. It looks like I squeezed the most I could out of that old tire. With the new tire on, all I had left to do was put some air in it. That proved to be a difficult task. I tried it all, motopump compressor, ratchet straps, bouncing the tire, CO2 cartridges, wd40 shot then hit it with a a lighter then tried the same technique with a little gas as well. I was just unable to set the bead on this tire. Big fail on my part. As I was struggling with this problem, a van pulled up. Two Mexican ladies, in their mid forties, came out and got a room right next to mine. I messed with the tire a little bit more but since I kept failing and was getting tired, I decided to put the wheel back onto the bike and just wait until the morning to get it filled up with air at the local tienda. I went back to my room, got into the shower and as I got out and slipped into my bed, it started: Insane, wild and very loud sex. To paint an auditory picture for you, this hotel is all on the same floor, all concrete with steel doors, wide halls and high ceilings in the middle of a secluded mountain. The furniture and beds are made from logs, cabin style. The screams echoed throughout the hotel like the end of a murder scene in a slasher movie. Except the banging and the screaming lasted for over 30 minutes. Then it stopped, at first I thought for good but after a few minutes it got going again. The screams were now almost just as loud but different. I realized at this point that this couple probably traded positions and I can only guess... equipment. Part of me was curious, aroused and yes even jealous that I was not a lesbian that night. (Did I just write this?) The first night in Mexico as a cultural experience: It delivered, but not in a way I expected.

Thank you all that chimed in. Well Guyz I still have the carbs from my Cancun bike and those carbs worked just fine for me. (not 100% perfect but just fine 98%) I am going to do the Seafoam trick on the old carbs and pour fresh gas in the tank afterwards (I already drained the old gas from the tank) After this if the bike doesnt run like it should, I am going to pull the carbs and install the carbs from my Cancun bike. I trust the carbs from the Cancun bike to take me anywhere in North America Afterall. Cheers!

Here http://www.kijiji.ca/b-moto/quebec/venture-yamaha/k0c30l9001?sort=priceAsc

Day 6,7 and 8 - Texas with Skizzman Let me just start by saying that Skizzman is a great host and an awesome dude. Skizzman knows Mexico pretty well and since he had seen that I had done it so wrong on my 2014/2015 trip, I think he felt he owed it to himself to take me under his wing(and his roof) to teach me a few things about Mexico before allowing me to enter this amazing country once again. My last trip to Mexico went not without a hitch: Broken down 10,000$ bike, riding at night in areas where I am clearly not supposed to and with the consequences we all know. As a Mexico newbie with a pretty horrendus knowledge to guts ratio I could not miss this opportunity to pick his brain. This time I am going to do it right. This time I am riding this 31 year old bike and I am going to avoid dirt roads at all cost(yeah right!). Lets hope I can learn a few things from Skizzman. I headed to Austin and picked up these very essential clutch springs at the local Cyclegear. These bring a promise to stop slippage and allow me to experience the full grunt of the 1200cc V4 motor. 35$ very well spent After this errand I meet Skizzman at..... Wholefoods?!? I am at first a little skeptical and slightly concerned about meeting a strange man in a grocery store. It almost felt to me like I was walking into the scene of a Cohen Brothers movie. However the worrying quickly faded when I noticed that the Wholefoods has a craft beer pub right between the cereal and the canned food aisles. Gotta love grocery shopping in Texas. We down some pretty darn good beers (on tap) and we get to know each other a little bit. Of course I had to kiss a little bit of his behind to make sure I was not going to spend the night stealthcamped in the middle of a hipster fest(South by Southwest is going on in Austin) My strategy worked flawlessly and Skizzman took me home after we ate some pretty good Mexican food. After this, the drinking continued at Skizzman's house. I fell asleep and then I forgot what happened.(I may have the order wrong here) Anyway the next morning I was feeling fresh and while Skizzman was getting up and ready I popped the clutch cover from my steed. I slapped these new springs over the bikes clutch basket. Just by looking at the photo, you can see why they will do a lot better job than the old ones. I then put the cover back on but not before applying a generous amount of RTV on the cover's mating surface. While the RTV was curing we went to eat a hearty breakfast at 1431 cafe. Then it was time to test the low budget machine against Skizzman's R1200GSAW. I will take an an old man's bike on a trip I said. There will be no spirited riding I said. Old, flexy and comfy bike will force me to ride sensibly I said. It will be a safer trip with this bike I said. Of course with all of the vintage ponies now on tap(there's a few on this bike) and a GSW leading the way at a sporty pace, all common sense is flying right out of the window. Common sense on two wheels is not my forte. We are having a lot of fun, a lot more fun than I should be having on this bike. Everytime I am passing a car or correcting lean angles, the whole bike flexes and dances side to side. It is a little nerve-racking but still manageable. When looking forward I see Skizzman in front of me on his rock solid Bavarian machine. He and his bike are perfectly planted and looking so good that it almost looks slow. I, on the other hand, look like a crash waiting to happen, but I am loving every second of it. This bikes engine is writing checks the chassis can barely cash. It's controlably out of control at all times and as the handlebars dance side to side while I try to manage ground clearance I have moment of epiphany: This bike is awesome! During our two days of riding, not many photos were taken because we were simply were too busy having fun and going around cars and cruisers. We did stop for a drink at this nice restaurant overlooking a river. Here we are at a creek crossing. Skizzman's R1200GSAW makes even my hunk of vintage tourer look a bit small... or normal. Another shot of the same area. This is us in Oatmeal, Texas We ride some hill country roads until dark then we hit Hopdoddy's in Austin where they serve amazing burgers. After our ride, Skizzman offers I park my bike in his garage for the night. I decide against it simply because I know the bike has zero chance of being messed with. This decision was a blessing because the next morning I woke up to this: A massive coolant leak. This time the leak does not come from a bad o-ring. It is much more serious; the impeler shaft seal is failing (probably from the stress of the spirited riding.) I crank the bike up and I notice the leaking stops as soon as the bike gets warm. I make the decision that I will try to find a seal tomorrow as today is the lords day and were headed to church: we are going to ride the 3 Twisted Sisters in the Texas Hill Country. We ride just like we did the day before. It is a lot of fun and these roads are sublime for our large steeds. There are very little safe spots to stop on these roads so I kept the photos to a minimum. We stopped to eat lunch at the Frio Canyon Motorcycle stop. It is cruiser heaven up there and our two missmatched bikes do look slightly out of place. After lunch, we hit the road and we end up coming op on this guy riding a forty-eight Harley at a spirited pace. He's actualy the only guy we run into for that whole weekend that is riding at a pace worth following or leading. His name is George and he was a good guy. We chatted with him for a little bit and told him he liked speed way to much to be riding that particular bike. I also gave a little bit of crap for not wearing a helmet. I did get his email address and sent him a quick email a few days later but never heard back from him. Anyway George if you read this, join the board and let us know how you are doing. A last shot from our ride in the Texas Hill country. After the ride we head back to Austin and we grab some food at a local restaurant. After going home, we drink and we chat about the meaning of life and even more important things like bikes and logistics in Mexico. Overall this weekend was a pretty successful bromance story. (Yes I used that word) Tomorrow I make a run for the border. That is, if I can find a water pump shaft seal and a rear tire. You see when I arrived at Skizzman's place I had a rear tire, with actual threads on it. After our two days in the Texas Hill Country with Skizzman, I had a bald tire. Damn you JD!

Well mystery solved.... as I was reinstalling the clutch cover a detail caught my eye. The cover says "1300" on it. So I guess somewhere along the road, my motor has been swapped for a 1300 motor. Now I understand why the bike came with so many spares I got with it spare water pump, spare fuel pump, spacer coils, spare rr, spare stator etc...

Is it good or bad that I have a vmax clutch setup?!

And there are no springs at all in there!!! Well crap.... does that mean my bike nay have a vmax motor?!? How can I tell?

is this OEM? My other 1985 Venture did not have this setup?!?

I was about to throw some Barnett springs in my newly purchased Venture but when I pulled the cover I saw something quite odd. there is an external pusher plate on top of the oem clutch basket. It sort of looks like its aftermarket. what is this? Should I stick with this and forgo the barnett springs?

Thanks: I donnu if Canadian Wally will have this but I will check. The gas doesnt smell strong like it should so I am going to dump the fuell and put fresh premium in there.

Got a new update coming once I reach a real computer

Inflation... Is a *****. I tried the best I could to find another 250$ Venture for a bike abandon trip and I failed. I had to spend 350$ this time for a venture. Owner promises 2nd gear is good however. This particular bike has been sitting for 3 years and I bought it with only the rear cylinders firing. The bike would start when cold on choke so I cranked it up and only the rear pipes got hot. So I checked the front coils with a new plug. The bike had spark. So I bought new plugs, threw them in and now I have spark on 4 cylinders. The bike now runs on four and all four pipes and heads gets warm at the same rate. however the problem I have is that the bike only runs on choke. If I try to rev it it bogs and stumbles. If I remove the choke the bike dies. Once the bike is hot, it is almost impossible to keep running. I have not been able to rev it above 3k. I am thinking I have carb issues. And I really dont want to pull the carbs unless I really have to. Any trick I can try my luck at before tackling a carb removal on my new steed?

Thanks to my neighbor no one will steal my trailer for a little while IMG_1712.JPG by Jean Turcotte, on Flickr IMG_1713.JPG by Jean Turcotte, on Flickr

Day 5 - Louisiana and Texas Gulf Coast For some reason I slept like a baby under that concrete picnic table. It was not raining when I left the Mississipi State line early that morning but around 11 am it started to rain again so I got off at an exit in Livingston to buy breakfast/lunch and wait out the storm. I ate and browsed the internet on my cell phone for two hours while looking at the massive downpour. The rain was so bad that the customers walking into the gas station were letting me know about aquaplaning cars and traffic rolling at 20mph on the highway. Looking at the doppler radar the worst of it had not even hit us yet. Damn you mother nature! There was no waiting out this storm. I could lose the whole day here at that gas station. I had ditched my waterproof cold weather riding gear in Atlanta and all I had left was a Joe Rocket summer jacket, riding pants and Frogg Toggs. I slipped the Frogg Toggs on along with my cheap overboots and I headed out west again on I5 in the massive rain. And here I learned about one of the biggest strenght of this 31 year old Venture. This bike's wind and rain pretection is simply amazing, the best I have ever experienced. As long as I kept it above 40mph, it would plow through the rain with hardly any water hitting me. Only when traffic would slow down to 20mph or 25mph would I get rained on. And on top of that, the bike is so heavy that it cuts thru the standing water, making it somewhat safe to ride in the heavy downpour. The rain slowed when I got to the swampier areas of Louisiana so I got off at Whiskey Bay just to check it out and take a snack break. Looking at the doppler radar, I saw that the precipitations were worse inland than on the Gulf Coast. I decided to ride to Lafayette then I headed south to Abbeville to reach HW82 and ride the Gulf Coast. Esther just south of Abbeville I pulled over at the very top of this high Canal bridge to snap a photo. I got back on the bike and as I was just taking off, I got hit with blue lights. I looked back and saw a lifted F250 police truck. The officer came out and let me know that I had picked the worst spot on the Coastal road for a break. As the bridge crests and because of its arch, you cant see if a vehicle is stopped on top of the bridge until the very last moment. I told him that I totally agree with him but being a tourist I wanted to be on the highest point of the bridge to take a photo of the canal. The officer decided to let me go without any infractions. I forgot to take a photo for you guyz but later I stopped at a convenience store in Kaplan and they were selling something the call "boudin." Where I come from, Boudin is a loaf made from spices and cooked pig blood but what our cajun cousins of the South sell as "boudin" looked very different. It looked like a roll stuffed with spiced meat. I asked the lady tending the store if it had any pig blood in it and she said no. Quebec boudin Cajun Boudin I love those Lousiana trees that seem to be purposely decorated by mother nature. I stopped in Cameron for fuel and to check the price of rooms but I was quickly deterred. So I took the ferry and rode all the way to the Texas state line then I rode North to Beaumont for a reasonably priced hotel. Technicaly this is not my first time in Texas because I have cannonballed through some of it on my last Mexico trip. However this time, because I am traveling one way, I have the luxury to spend some quality time in Texas. After getting a room I went to a local bar for a beer. I walk in and it is a slow night in town. There is an older man drinking beer in the middle and there are two ladies on the far right. In front of them, there is a half full bottle of Crown Royal. I order a beer and start chatting with the patrons. I noticed that whenever her glass of Crown is empty, the bartender grabs the bottle and pours her a fresh one. We keep talking for a bit and the Crown Royal drinking lady, who is a proud grandmother and a motorcyclist, tells me stories about the area. History of floods, how the town used to be and how it changed, her childhood as an army brat, crawfish season etc... I love meeting people like this. Btw: I also love going to quiet bars in states where it is still legal to smoke. I have never smoked and never will but there is a certain aura of authenticity and carelessness in a quiet bar where people can smoke and I find myself very seduced and appeased in those environments. After a few Crown Royals, it is getting late and she decides it is time to go. She drops a tip on the counter, wishes me good luck on my travels and a good night to the other patrons and then she grabs the half consumed bottle from the counter and she walks right out with it. At this point I am little stumped. I asked the bartender if that lady works or owns the bar. She says no, just a regular customer. I asked her then why did she walk out of the bar with that bottle of Crown Royal. "It's her bottle bottle" she replies. Ok now I am even more confused. "She comes here to drink with her own whiskey?" She explains to me her bar is a beer and wine only bar and people can bring their own liquor. She just collects tips for setup and she sells them the mix when people dont drink it straight. "All over Texas?" I inquire. "Pretty much!, as long as they dont have liquor license and allow it" she explains. Now I live in a province where your bartender has a wire connected to a widget on the tip of the state provided(heavily taxed) liquor bottle. As the bartender pours a drink, the electronic spout counts how many onces of liquor have been distributed and the system lets the state know how much tax to collect on that sale. Yes, we are quite far from Québec in Texas. So needless to say, my mind is blown. And Texas is now officially F@&/$*G AWESOME!

PM sent

Day 2,3 and 4 : Maryland to Mississippi After a good night sleep I woke up to this sight: A nice slow but steady leak coming from the water pump housing. At first I thought the leak was from a faulty water pump impeller seal but after looking at it closely I realized that the leak was coming from the seals at the water pump inlet elbow. I cranked the bike up and as soon as the bike warmed up, the leak stopped. It did not leak again for the rest of the day but I as I went to pass a car on the highway I discovered another problem: The clutch slips under load. In regular riding situations, the clutch would be fine however whenever I gave it a lot of punch the clutch would slip badly. This had not happened the day before as I was being very careful on the cold pavement. With these two mechanical issues, I rode it all the way to my parents home in Atlanta without a hitch but when I got there late at night I started to scour the venturerider message board for solutions. I read on there that a common cause for a slipping clutch under load was not a worn clutch but oftentimes it was the 30 year old clutch springs that would become weak and allow the clutch to slip. A simple fix was to buy some Barnett springs and swap them in. I could not find any locally so I just called a Cyclegear store in Texas to order them there and pick them up on my way to Mexico. A roughly 30$ fix For the leak, I called the local Yamaha dealer to buy the two seals that go between the cooling pipe elbow and the water pump housing. They were in the process of moving to a new location and since parts could not be had quickly, I went to Autozone, then Napa, then O'reilly then Advanced Auto Parts to find some seals that looked like they would work. Drained the bikes cooling system Pulled the pump My work bench With no gaskets available, I put it all back together using a generous amount of RTV. Then I worked on my auxiliary fuel cell so I can ride remote parts of Mexico without running out of gas(sorry about your lawnmower gas can dad) Then, using packing foam, I carefully installed my Spot Tracker underneath the right fairing panel. The next day, after a quick check to make sure that the coolant leak was a thing of the past, I took the day easy and left Atlanta around 6 pm. Typical late afternoon Atlanta traffic On my way out of Atlanta, I stopped for a meal at the Atlanta South West bike night. Great group of folks! I ran into a couple old friends and met new ones. And I even got to ride Rally Raid CB500X around the lot. I must say that I was pleasantly surprised. This bike is an awesome light and capable package and the motor feels like it could take on pretty much anything. It made me want to buy one myself I must say. After leaving the bike night I got back on 85 and made my way to Alabama. While I was taking a break by the bike at the Alabama welcome center. A woman walked out of the rest area ask me if I had a light. For the first time in my life, the answer was yes. I don't smoke and never have but my 250$ steed is equipped with a cigarette lighter. After she lit her cigarette, having noticed my accent, she asked me where I was from. "Montreal, Canada" I replied. "Where are you headed?" she threw at me. "I am going to Mexico" I responded. Without hesitation she immediately came back at me with "Are you a drug dealer?" I told her no and she then questioned my sanity as to why I would want to go there. I tried to explain to her that because it is there, I have to ride thru it. She did not understand but she wished me luck and both got back on the road. At my next fuel stop, I spotted the first palm tree of the trip. Number one of many to come but I did not expect to see one this early on. That night I rode all the way across Alabama but it started drizzling when I got near the Mississippi state line. Feeling a storm was coming on, I parked at the Mississippi Welcome center, grabbed my sleeping bag and walked to one of the concrete picnic tables, slid under one of the tables and went to sleep. Before falling asleep, looking at my phone, I saw that the next day was calling for heavy rains and flood warnings all across New Orleans. It's going to be a wet one tomorrow.

I head of plain clothe officers standing at red light and then alerting units to pull over the folks who text while in traffic.

If there is a cure, please dont let me know about it

Pretty certain someone with high miles and a bad second gear will want it. But at the same time I been trying to sell a low mileage DL1000 motor for 250$ and no one wants it.

Nice Accord! I keed I keed! great buy!

BTW: can I borrow it for a quick ride to Copper Canyon?

I once bought a bad motor from one of these. It had no compression, Popped the valve cover and there was a pieced of the valve train broken off an loose in the cam valley, Rest of the motor was fine. I chucked the head and sold the rest in parts. NMaybe you just need a head.

Cowpuc: You are the smilie king! Next time I head west and roll thru your area on a bike I will bug you and invite you out for a cup of coffee or beer wichever you prefer. I am thinking "I gotta meet this guy" ha ha!

Leaving Canada Winter did what winter does, and that is to bring more snow and more cold weather our way. With a new battery stashed away in the warmth of a home, the motorcycle, almost ready to go, laid dormant next to my other steeds which were all in various states of disassembly. Of course I had to shovel a path to the garage to get the bike out. These are the first 10 feet ridden with the bike fixed. At this point, I had a total of maybe 18 or 19 km done on this bike since buying it. But I have to give this bike respect, despite the cold, the bike cranked up and was ready to conquer the season. I was set to depart from the Beauce area on March 5th. Early March is a tricky period in this corner of the world. At best it could be 10c outside and at the very worst, it could be -25c. On the evening of March 4th, after a long day at work I drove the 350 kilometers needed to get to the bike. Montreal itself enjoys warmer weather than the Beauce area with less pricipitation and better snow removal. In the sticks, the road conditions vary from town to town. When I got close to the bike I started to look closely at the condition paved roads. Apart from the snowmobile crassings which bring about snow on the road, the main roads were free of standing snow but whenever that main road went through a small town, the street corners had a nice coat of hard packed snow. Another problem is the snowbank melt off from warmer days refreezes into thin ice on colder days. When I got home, I got out of the car and checked my phone for the current temps. This is not good. I looks like I lost out on the weather lottery this time. I moved the bike down to the heated garage and went to bed. When I woke up at 8am, I checked and the weather was still at -18c. In Jackman Maine, where I planned to cross into the US, it was even colder than that due to higher elevation. The weatherman promised better temps for the next day (with some overcast) So I took the day off to pack my stuff, eat lunch with my great aunt and dinner with my cousin and his better half which are good friends of mine. On that day I also did a last minute change on the bike. See this grip? This grip is the custom chromed steel special that motorcycle shop sell to unsuspecting cruiser enthusiasts who think oversize steel grips are a good idea. UNHEATED steel grips, at -18c are a very bad idea. I quickly wrapped a hand towel around the grip with tie-wraps. About 30 seconds later, I realized how stupid that fix was so I pulled it all off the bike. I then robbed two old rubber grips from a stray handlebar I had laying around to replace the steel grips. These salvaged grips were still unheated but at least they were not made of metal and were the proper size. The next morning, the temps were a lot colder than what forecast had promised. At 9h30am, it was -16c when I left and the sun wasn't shining to warm up the black pavement like the day before. To make things worse a few light and lazy snowflakes were coming down at the speed of a feather. The conditions were far from ideal but if I waited yet another day, a decent snowfall was in the forecast. And besides, I was ready to go! Time to head south! The street where the bike is stored is a dirt road. In the winter this means that it turns to slurry on warm days and then to ice when it freezes back up. As a kid growing up, we would ice skate up and down this road pretty much all winter. Of course that ice is what I got that morning. I could not even make it out of the driveway because of the slight upward slope. I got stuck immediately and I had to dismount and coerce the bulky bike up and out of the driveway. Yes, not even 5 feet are covered that I am stuck. The neighbor across the street, who also happens to be my uncle was looking at me from his home and probably thought I was nuts. Once up on the icy road, I slowly rode to the end of the street in first gear and I prayed that no cars would be in sight when I got to the end of the road. You see the dirt road downslopes a little and T's into a paved road so if a car is coming down on the main road that means I have to apply enough brakes that the bike is going to come down on that ice. But I lucked out. With no cars in sight, I let the bike roll into the paved road and I slowly made my way towards Maine. Once on the black stuff, not wanting to take any chances, I kept the speeds around 75-80 km/h. Mind you I was still getting comfortable with the bike and how it operated. The suspension, with the SAE socket for preload and the 15w oil was rock solid in this weather. After riding over a few frost heaves I realized that it barely moved at all. Because of the reduced speeds, everyonce in a while, I would get doubled by a car and all of the occupants would turn their heads and give me a long blank stare as they passed me. But I kept my eyes focused on the road surface at all times and whenever a dodgy, snowy or icy spot came into view, I would pull the clutch and let the bike roll over the uncertain sections. The Venture was doing an amazing job at diverting the cold air around me. I did have a heated vest and chaps but due to a lack of heated grips and boots, my extermities got uncomfortably cold rather quickly. I proceded thru Saint-Georges, the largest town of the region. I expected to run into at least one patrol car there and get pulled over. (our pesky provincial winter tire laws mean no motorcycles can be legally ridden in the winter) I had the proper documents for a temporary exemption but I did not feel like wasting time getting a lecture from Quebec's finest, again... But this being a Sunday morning, no units were out and I made it across town without a hitch. Once out of St-Georges, I pulled over to warm my hands and took a quick shot of this road sign, you know... for prosperity. I arrived at the small border crossing of Jackman, hands freezing. The lot of the border station was not cleared as well as the road so I very slowly creeped towards the border patrol agent, who, through his window, was looking at me with stupor. As soon as I stopped that the booth, the sleepy Jackman border station emptied and all of the agents came out smart phones in hand to snap photos. This could be really bad or could be really good. We had a few chuckles and after warning me that even colder weather was waiting for me further down the road, the border agent let me go. In fact he almost forgot to ask me for my passport and only at the very last moment did I hand the passport over for a quick scan. A few miles down the road from the border station. It did not take long that I was in Jackman proper. Of course I am not an early bird and I missed the Jackman Welcome Committee. Maybe next time... I slowly pulled into Bishop's General store to fill up with that sweet American blend of premium gasoline. I let the bike idle in the lot(nobody would be crazy enough to steal this bike in this weather) and went inside for a quick bite and a cup of coffee. Once warmed up, I hit the road. The day was progressing and I had to be out of the high lands before the sun dropped. There were no other motorcyclists around but I did run into many riders. The whole area of Jackman Maine is a popular destination for snowmobilers and they were very present. Some trails run alongside the 201 and the sleds riding them would be quick to throw the thumbs up when they would see my bike come down the road. Immediately after I left Jackman snow started falling at a rate that was worrying me a bit. It is quite mesmerizing to ride a motorcycle through the light snowflakes and to see them disperse around you. There was not yet enough of them on the ground to cause big problems but I knew I had to head south as quickly as I could. The snow only lasted for about 20 minutes, just long enough for me to be able to talk about it but not long enough to make things more interesting. I stopped here alongside the Kennebec River I think this is getting close to Moscow. Once I got passed Moscow, the temps became more tolerable and I knew I was out of the woods. When I got to I95, it was still below freezing but probably only -4c or -5c. In this weather, I can pretty much ride all day. Once on the interstate, I pickup ed up the pace and started to eat up the miles. The temperature always stayed around -3c or -4c because as the sun set and the night progressed, I kept making my way further south, reaching warmers temps. True to myself I stopped for a late night meal at Denny's in the Philadelphia area. I then got a cheap room in Aberdeen, Maryland and that was the end of the first day of this ride.

Summer 2015 to Winter 2016 A few weeks after buying the Venture, I made the 2 hour drive to the sellers place to pick her up. With jumping cables, she fired right up and idled with ease and revved without any problems. I was very happy. I loaded her up on the trailer. What a beast! And I here thought my Versys 1000 was a pig. I brought her to my fathers place in the countryside. Here she is in all of her glory: Not bad for 250$ CAD right?!? A few weeks later, I pulled the battery from one of my bikes and went for a quick ride to the next town 9km down the road to fill her up with fresh gas. This was an eye opener. Of course going into second gear would produce a sound sure to wipe the smile from any riders face. Think of the worst misshift you have ever had had, insert 100 marbles into the symphony and that is what not skipping second sounded like. The handling was terrible, the front forks were very very soft. Both fork seals were blown and the bike was very undersprung in the front end. The worst feature of the bike was the brakes. The front was very mushy and weak and the rear was simply non existant. She also had a minor exhaust leak but that did not even seem to matter in the grand scheme of things. The bike did have fresh oil and coolant. The rear tire was at 75% but the front was done. First I had to fix the brakes. On these old Ventures, when you squeeze the front lever, only the front right caliper is actuated. When you put your foot down on the brake pedal, the left front caliper and the rear caliper are actuated. I disliked the idea of this system very much so I re-engineered it. Up front I put a master cylinder from and FZ6 that I had laying around. Below I used the split and lower brake lines from a V45 Honda Sabre parts bike I have. The only upper line I had that was long enough was the line from a virago 535 parts bike. It was too long so it looped it over the rev counter before coming back down to the master. Good enough... I also put new front brake pads (9.99$ ebay special) in the calipers. Then I moved to the rear. I plugged the hole going from the rear master cylinder to the front left caliper with a stubby bolt. Back up front, since the little stubby lines going to the antidive feature on the front forks were now defunct, I removed the antidives and inserted a nut between the pistons and the bodies. This way it would stiffen up the suspension a little. The total out of pocket cost of the brake modifications was 25$ (brake fluid and pads) Now the front tire was completely shot. Here I lucked out big time. My friend Martin gave me the OEM rear from his new DRZ400 since he had installed more agressive knobbies on his bike. It fit right onto the front wheel of the big Venture. A few months passed by... Having ordered 10$ seals on ebay and having bought the thickest fork oil I could find at the dealer, I pulled the front forks for a rebuild. Buying new stiffer springs was not an option so I just added some Preload by sticking two large 1/2 drive SAE sockets on top of the OEM springs when I put the forks back together. To give myself more ground clearance, I rebolted the forks about half an inch lower in the triples. I might have overdone it because the front end now felt very stiff. Or maybe it was just that Canadian December cold air? The bike pretty much ready to go, all I had to do was get some vacation time and pick a destination. From Montreal, it seemed like the cheapest one way flights to rideable winter destinations were Miami(boring) Vegas and Cancun. On Boxing day I lucked out and saw a direct flight from Cancun to Montreal for $172 US. Booked! Now I just need to ride it out of this godforsaken winterland.