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Rick Butler

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  1. Rick Butler
    Yeah Keith, That's them. So have you had them for a while and just hung onto them or did you manage to find a set. In my time with Ventures, I don't think I have seen more than 6 sets, the last one I managed to buy and ran them on my 91 when I had a Flexit side car. But when I didn't have the car on, all they did was drag in the corners. They are probably great on the trike, and they really look good with your Kurakyn pegs. Thanks, Rick
  2. Rick Butler
    Well, They have center chrome raised piece through the rubber that has BMS stamped into it. As it's the only set of floor boards that was made where you kept the pegs with the standard shifter and brake pedal. In other words, they were just boards that allowed you to move your feet off the pegs. BMS was one of the manufactures of chrome motorcycle accessories who went out of bussiness when the GL1500 came out in 88. So, does anyone out there have a set? Rick
  3. Rick Butler
    Hey Guys, I know this is a long shot, but are there any of you out there who have BMS floor boards installed on your 1st Gen Venture.....or up in the attic in a box Thanks, Rick
  4. Rick Butler
    You know Brad, It would probably be a good switched source to trigger a relay to provide power to an external fuse panel or maybe a set of running lights? That way you are just pulling miliamps from it, even if it's part of a circuit monitored by the computer. But if it has a 20 amp fuse, you could probably used it for anything? But to be safe, I'd probably use it as a relay trigger. Rick
  5. Rick Butler
    You know guys, I've been riding these Ventures all over North America since 83 and early on a Dairlyland agent gave me the best advice on securing a bike from being stolen.......cover it up with a full m/c cover. If they don't know what is under the cover, they are not going to mess with it. Besides, if they can't get it in 60 seconds it's not worth the effort. It's worked for me since then and I leave the key in the bike with our helmets in the seats under the cover (and my GPS and radar detector on their mounts). Oh, want to know who makes the best full cover on the market.....E-Z Touring http://eztouring.com/products.htm I'm on my second in over 20 years. Their best features are that they pack small and have a small bungee cord sewed into the bottom seam, so the bottom of the cover is alway taunt. Hope this helps, Rick
  6. Rick Butler
    Alfred, If it were me, I'd use a Ram mount that was designed for your Hero. Yopu can do your research here and then google tha part number to find the best price: http://www.ram-mount.com/Products/CameraMounts/tabid/109/Default.aspx#/wizard Then Motorcycle Larry makes a reservoir cover that has a ram ball mount in one end of the cover which is a clean mounting solution. http://www.motorcyclelarry.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2_119&products_id=8 However if you want to have it more center mounted, you might be better off with a handlebar Ram Ball mount that would allow you to get it centered better with probably a long arm with a base that screws into the camera base. http://www.ram-mount.com/CatalogResults/PartDetails/tabid/63/partid/082065077045066045050051049085/Default.aspx Hope this helps, Rick
  7. Rick Butler
    Jim, Take a look at the Baxely which started this product line that everyone followed: http://www.baxleycompanies.com/Chocks.html And it's adjustable for the front tire width and clamps the tire after it snaps over center. Hope this helps, Rick
  8. Rick Butler
    Jose, I just remembered another seat option that you might consider....and that is a 1997 to 2001 Royal Star Tour Deluxe set of seats. They only made these seats for the early TDs which were a much wider saddle from the other early Royal Stars. And these seats rework very nicely and will mount on your bike with no modifications. And I know there are some folks here who have this bike where you can check out their pictures. Rick
  9. Rick Butler
    Mick, Check out a sheared Alaskan sheepskin butt pad.....that will help your seat breath. Rick
  10. Rick Butler
    Well Jose, If you choose Russell Day Long, Rick Mayer, or Bill Mayer, you will have to send your seats to them because they use the seat pan and in some cases, some of the foundation foam. However, the Ultimate, Mustang and some of the others build their own pans for their seats. And if the seat you have now is the one in your pictures, I think you already own one of the Corbins made for the Yamaha Royal Stars. If this is true, I probably can't help you much since I have swore off making changes to the Corbin foundation foam. The covers on the Corbin have a mind of their own on how they fit to the foundation foam. Wish I could hel you, Rick
  11. Rick Butler
    This bike was originally owned by one of the members of the first Venture Owners Group, the Venture Touring Society (later to become the MTA in 96 after Yamaha dropped the Venture in 94). And the striping was done by Scare Crow at V-Daze in Sault Ste Marie in 91, Michigan. It looks very familiar, but I don't recognize the owner. Dave Henderson and I owned Tri-Star Industries and were vendors that year. Rick VTS member 00007
  12. Rick Butler
    Ivan, If you know for a fact that your 87 has a Progressive rear shock, then you have one of the earliest aftermarket monoshocks that were made for the Venture. It should have a spanner nut on top of the spring to adjust the preload and possibley an adjustment screw at the bottom to adjust rebound dampening. And what you think is the air valve is really the schrader valve to charge the shock with nitrogen. If all of this is true, then you should already have a rebuildable shock? If you have a friend who rebuilds shocks, take your shock to him and see if he can work on it? Hope this helps, Rick
  13. Rick Butler
    Guys, With the Clearview shields being made from Lucite rather than Lexan, with some Novis plastic polish, you can remove scratches and buff them back to their original luster. So buying a scratched shield from them is a great deal if it's the size you want. Hope this helps, Rick
  14. Rick Butler
    Well Rick, You see all kinds on two wheels Now you will probably appreciate this one better: [ame= ] [/ame] Rick
  15. Rick Butler
    Well Okie, If you are interested seeing what a Vision will really do in a corner look at the following picture. http://xa.yimg.com/kq/groups/20012239/sn/1069935261/name/image001.jpg Check out the front wheel, which is a classic example of counter-steering Rick
  16. Rick Butler
    Steve, I'm not sure of which components are included in your 7 pin harness. For the lights, at a minimum I would see a wire for: 1. Running Lights 2. Brake Lights 3. Left Turn Signal 4. Right Turn Signal 5. Ground But you really need to isolate these extra lights just like you would for a trailer to protect the bikes current wiring. If you look at the link from The Electrical Connection in Don's instructions, you will see: The isolator Part Number 07660 and the sub-harness for the Venture Part Number 07668. The isolator is nothing more than a relay(s) that trigger and provide current to a given circuit. The sub-harness plugs right into the white block connector behind the battery with the blue, yellow, green, brown and black wires. You just need to provide fused power from battery to the isolator, a ground and then it's just a matter of plugging the sub-harness and connecting the wires the your Voyager, and I'm not sure what the extra 2 wires are for in your wiring harness. This is about the cleanest set up I have ever used, but it not as cheap as a trailer convertor....which isolates but also takes 5 wires down to 4 when you have trailer lights that double as brake and turn signals. Hope this helps, Rick
  17. Rick Butler
    Jose, It's most likely the fact that your oem springs have lost all of their sag, leaving your forks very little travel left after they drop from the weight of the bike and you. This results in the upper fork tube bottoming out on hard bumps and hard front braking. It could be your head bearings but if they are that loose, you would experience different handling characteristics....that you would NOT like. The second culprit could be a loose steering stem nut. The torque on this nut is around 60 ft lbs and when it get's loose you will feel a clunk on hard front braking. This is the large chrome nut in the center of your top triple tree. Hope this helps, Rick
  18. Rick Butler
    This is pretty wild for old time machining, but did I miss the spark plugs?
  19. Rick Butler
    Mike, I'm not proud of it, but I have totaled my 02 Midnight 3 times now....all because of "Rear wheel lockup". Now it wasn't until my wife and I were being brought home by friends from my 2nd accident that I realized that "This bike has too much rear brake". And when I put her back together this time, I changed out the front calipers with 1st Gen 4-piston calipers and I moved one of the front calipers to the rear....and I thought this would take care of the problem. But I'll be damned that one year later I inadvertenly locked her up and totaled her a 3rd time. At that time, I was ready to let the insurance company have her and I'd get a GL or BMW with ABS brakes. But because of a broken collar bone, I couldn't do anything for 10 weeks until it healed. I had already done some preliminary work on an adjustable proportioning valve with a friends 99 so I decided to give my 02 one more chance....and installed an adjustable proportioning valve off the master cylinder which required using a Galfer stainless rear line. And this did the trick. But I will admit that I was a victim of bad braking habits after riding a 1st Gen Venture with linked brakes from 1983 to 2000......and using the rear brake pedal in emergency braking situations. My right foot had developed a mind of its own in an emergency situation and it didn't help that you could get soooo much leverage on the brake pedal of a 2nd gen with forward controls.....that was very difficult to modulate with the boards. But for those riders who had already developed good front braking habits from previous bikes with unlinked systems, they don't seem to have an issue with our 4 piston rear caliper. The link below is when I decided to go ahead and build and sell my rear brake modification so all a rider would have to do is change the rear brake line with the adjustable proporting valve. And I even managed to talk Don into being one of my test subjects. http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?t=18846 But if you want to read the history of this issue, search on proportioning valve and cull through the threads. Now my Classified ad inadvertenly got deleted earlier this year and I have not put it back out there yet. But I still sell 3 - 4 of these modifications each year and I do it to help save lives of my friends on this forum. Sadly, I usually get approached by someone who has already experienced a traumatic experience with a rear wheel lockup where they do not want to have this happen again. I've also attached a pdf of my installation proceedures, for your information. Hope this helps you, Rick
  20. Rick Butler
    Sorry Gary, But the 1st gen Ventures are where I got started when I tore the Travelcade on my 86 apart to rework. And since then I have reworked countless 83-93 Venture seats. And even though I don't do upholstery, I can probably fix this area when I have the cover off. But then again, I guess I need to add a 1st gen seat in the pictures in my ad so you all can see that I just don't cater to the 2nd gen Ventures and TD. The fact is that I will rework any oem seat, where they all benefit to what I do to a seat. In fact, you 1800 owners might be interested that my modification really works out nice on your (both of) seats. And I will even rework a heated seat for a little more money (because of the time to remove the elements and put them back). Rick
  21. Rick Butler
    Sorry Dray for the confusion, But I must have inadvertently pulled the trigger too soon? Rick
  22. Rick Butler
    Hey Guys, I just got back from my last big ride of the year and I know that many of you up further north are getting ready to put your bikes up for the winter. So, I thought this would be a good time for this friendly reminder that if you are considering letting me rework your seat (s), don't wait until next spring when you are getting close to putting your bike back on the road. I have been reworking about a couple of hundred seats a year and usually I'm real busy during the winter months. However this past spring, I was absolutely covered up with seats for riders getting ready for that first ride of the year. It's not really a problem in that I can turn around several seats in a day, but it would be better to string them over a longer period. And while I'm on the subject, I thought I'd update some of you of the damage I have been seeing on all of the RSV seats (to include the early 99-2001 standard, Midnight and pillowtop) as follows: 1. All of these seat have cords in the cover that go through the foam and are tied off at the bottom of the foam with a plastic disc. The early and Midnight seats only have 3 of the cords that hold the seat down at the back of the seat and the Pillowtop has 9 that creat the pillow effect. The holes in the foam create a weak spot which makes the foam susceptable to tear between these points. 2. The foam at the nose of these seats is rather thin and is also susceptable to tears from the pressure of the seat pan. 3. I see many tears in the cover at the bottom edge of the seat right in the area of the seat nuts. This comes from using an open ended 10mm wrench to remove the nuts rather than a 10mm socket which tears the vinyl. When I repair these tears, I also sell you a set of my Butler Built thumb nuts so you can take your seat off without any tools so this will not happen again. In each of these cases, I repair the tears just as part of my service. I treat every seat that I work on like they are mine, so I address any issue I see in the seat. With tears in the foundation foam, I glue the tear back together with my spray contact cement and then reinforce that area with heavy duty duct tape (which works well). With the tears in the bottom edge of the cover, I glue a patch on the inside using a heavy vinyl of the same color. And the glue I use (Goop) is there to stay. Then for those seat pans with busted studs, I have found that I can drill and tap the stud base with a 6mm bolt from the inside and get your seat stud back. But, I do charge a small amount to fix this problem. And for those of you who are not familiar with what I can do for your seats, take a look at my ad in the Classifieds that explains what I do as well as everything you need to send me your seat (s): http://www.venturerider.org/classifieds/showproduct.php?product=3738&title=butt-butler-seat-mod&cat=25 And like I said earlier, when you put your bike up for the winter, go ahead and send me your seat and don't wait until the ice is melting on the Mississippi River. And even though the word is getting out on me to other groups and referrals, I still am pretty much dedicated to the members of the VentureRiders (and your best kept secret). Thanks, Rick
  23. Rick Butler
    FYI Guys, I have been soldering wires in various forms for several decades and have more scars from burns from the standard pencil irons than I care to admit to. But a year or so ago I came across the slickest most friendly soldering iron I have used and I found it at Radio Shack. And the most beautiful feature is that I can pack it in my bike tool bag and solder wires on the side of the road or where ever I am. Here's a good Youtube video of it: [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSwnMMTltT4]RadioShack butane iron: heat for heavy work - YouTube[/ame] Hope this helps, Rick
  24. Rick Butler
    Or, You could do what this biker did with his dog? [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdj67XknFrM]Carolina Camera: The Original Motorcycle Dog - YouTube[/ame] Rick
  25. Rick Butler
    Well, There is one other possibility that is the nuetral switch assembly. On our 1st gen Ventures, this same mechanism also contained the wires for our gear indicator. It's located right next to the shift shaft and has one wire going to it. Now either the O ring seal on this piece or possibley the contact point that comes through the plastic to where the wire attaches could possibly be leaking (or seeping) In the parts diagram below, it's item 1. And if this is showing evidence of a leak, then you will have the chance to replace the middle gear gasket again? Hope this helps, Rick http://partstream.arinet.com/Image?arik=71LIQdy2fHozSGJ3N84A&arib=YAM&arim=nMDLAaRFf4eRRnlhLgxy3Q2&aria=kTVwrZi1czW8BtM0EoPs_g2&ariz=2&ariv=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.starmotorcycles.com%2Fpartviewer%2Fdefault.aspx%3Fls%3Dstar
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