CaseyJ955

I still like Ebay for hard to find stuff and sometimes the previously-enjoyed cheap stuff. In the last many years I have had only two issues, both times Ebay stepped in and righted it. My only real issue with Ebay itself is that the fees cut too deep into net seller proceeds. As a buyer I have good luck but I strictly stay with sellers that do not use gimmicks, like ending prices in 95, 98 or 99, or masking country of origin, or using phrases like "American seller" or "Ships from America" or the little American flag icon to try and disguise substandard Chinese crap manufactured under almost non-existent quality control standards. Although not as bad as some other online retailers, Ebay does still struggle with counterfeit and knock-off items coming off the slow boat. Some sellers are just plain flakey or sell so much stuff that errors start cropping up, but when they do it is usually reflected in their feedback before long. There is a ton of money to be made reselling Chinese junk and a lot of people are doing it by any means necessary, including deception. Oh yea, the all caps guy, forget about him too. Sometimes flakey sellers are selling good products at fair prices, but their feedback still reflects not treating buyers properly, hopefully. When I buy I stick with sellers having feedback of 99.9% or better, and any gentle aroma of gimmicky sales is a hard no right off the bat. You CAN NOT trust anyone using sales gimmicks, not online and not in person. Although not nearly as bad as some other online retailers, they still do suffer with counterfeit and Chinese made knock-off items. Very much buyer beware on that. I may ask a question if I'm on the fence just to see how fast and comprehensive the answer is. I can see who is tilting toward customer service and who is just greedy. When using Ebay I scrutinize sellers before the the products, and so far using the above tactic and gimmick avoidance has worked out fairly well. YMMV.

Bub It was great to talk to you. Barring any silly weather I expect to be in attendance.

I wanted to do this before but I was working strange hours/days. I see Laporte was 111 ppl in 2010 so I'm assuming it's not a metropolitan area now. Looking at the map I should be able to get there without hitting congestion or cities. It's looking like a tentative go but I know by end of July. I've ridden rural MN before and enjoyed it quite a bit. I got the best beef commercial in New Ulm. I didn't even know what that was before. It looked like school cafeteria food but it blew my mind. Amazing. It's looking good for me according to this map. I'll obligate as soon as I know for sure I'm not earning at that time.

I have been using Synthetic Import PS fluid, synthetic import ATF works too. I got the idea from Morley and used it in my Vmax with good results, then again in the Venture when I tossed in the progressives and new bushings. I guess the Import and Synthetic parts are vital, but either PS or ATF is acceptable. The WT on oils like this run around 7.5 - 10w, generally. For anyone reading that may be doing this job for the first time, DO NOT buy the Chinese aftermarket seals, Yamaha OEM only, it's worth the couple extra bucks to not have to go in and do this job again. This is true of any motorcycle make that has fork (or any) seals.

The sight and sounds bring me back, smokers are awesome. What a beautiful bike!

There is a slight ratio difference between the MKI and MKII. IIRC 5th gear is a little leggier on the superslab, but verify before taking my word. I found out that these bikes can be incredibly photogenic. So much so that I crossed 2 states to buy a nice minty one that turned out to be a dumpster fire. I would put eyes on the other one before agonizing over it too much. These things can be money pits, if yours is known good and solid, and it works for you then you may be taking a chance on having to sink a bunch more cash into the new one. Sounds like you have already addressed some MKI deficiencies, so unless you really need that extra baggage space, not sure how much of an upgrade it would be, aside from the info already put out here. I wont lie, that luggage space is pretty nice when I take off for days at a time.

I live on a dirt/gravel road, the first thing I did when I got this bike home was de-link the brakes. Seems linked brakes, gravity and any surface south of perfection do not mix really well.

I've been seeing them at garage sales and such. Was gonna get a pair for mine but decided to just leave it alone until I get the Vmax parts ready for installation They should run $10-20 a pair unless they are minty, even then they have about as much value as used dental floss. The market is saturated because so many HD buyers seem to be in a hurry to make them as obnoxious as possible. I've seen the take off mufflers for $50-150/set which I think is just insane for used OEM HD exhaust cans. I'm holding to $20 tops if they are nice. I see them often, next time I stumble across a set I'll grab em and put them up here at cost.

I have yet to ride an MT, ridden alongside one and they sure seem able to hold their own. I considered one before I bought the Vmax. I think Yam went with the big twin because they knew they could do a better one, and because that is what they were told by those they asked, which seems like a pretty valid way to decide what customers want. Even though the gen3 is not a bike for me I figured it would be pretty well received. I think they asked the wrong people given that there are still heavily discounted models on showroom floors well into the next calendar year. I am interested in what they do going forward. I'm not sure how factual but somewhere I read that there would be no 2019 Gen3 and no hard promises of any more to come. I hope I stand corrected if that is not accurate. I'm not sure how many more Gen3 are going to get made and sold, but I'll bet they become highly desirable bikes r/t lack of numbers/rarity. I guess the part of this that has always stumped me is the vast majority of the twin riders seem to be graying it up. Not seeing to many younger folks on narrow twins, but of course we have covered here how many younger folks just don't seem that interested in bikes at all. I feel like all that R&D could have been allocated to a machine that would be an alternative to a GW and not to an RK. A gen3 is not a machine to attract young buyers, which is something it would seem the whole motorcycle industry should be seriously concerned with right now. I understand Yamaha's rational for the Gen3, I just think it's about 15 years too late. I'm still not convinced that this 1700 V4 will not resurface outside a Vmax. I think it will show up in a sport tour/tour bike in the coming years, I think it will have to. The R3 is not for everyone, although it would work just fine for me. I'm not sure how much of a tour bike Triumph will make out of the R3, they already have a very nice tour bike in the lineup, as an added bonus it's a triple too. I bought a new Triumph in 2000, owning it has made me a pretty big Triumph fan. I love my Gen1, I think it's the perfect blend of all things fun for the long haul. I really thought we were getting a new version of it the Gen1 but I think Yamaha has lost interest in buyers like me, but BMW and Triumph still make performance tourers, dang nice ones at that.

That is a magnificent machine. Looks like it actually needed more tq and hp, who knew? I rode one of these the first year they came out. I had my Triumph Sprint ST at the shop and noticed it. I told a friend about it, he went and rode and bought it on the spot which was surprising for a dedicated lifelong HD guy. I think it was the first one sold in western WA. I rode it all over Snohimish County for an afternoon. Anyhow, this bike was impressive before this boost on specs, I have no doubt it is still awesome. Triumph has been a very tough act to follow since restarting in Hinkley. Yamaha should have been doing something like this instead of churning out an improved Road King. I suspect Yamaha's shareholders may agree. While BMW has the K1600, Triumph has the Rocket III, Honda has GW but Yamaha has no performance tourer in their lineup. I suspect Yamaha knew it was much easier to build a bike to compete with HD then with Triumph or BMW. Yamaha better take that 1700 V4, stop screwing around and make a touring bike for the rest of us. I know they have the resources and they must have folks on their engineering team that ache to be turned loose on a full touring project that rivals K bikes, Rockets and GWs. Should Yamaha take notice... I do believe so! Edit: If they had a full dress version I would own one too, no doubt! I've read the tour version is quite a nice tour bike but it still looks to me like a power cruiser that got some fairings as an after thought. Just like Yamahas V4, Triumps massive I3 would be amazing in a full-on touring bike.

I used Progressive until I needed to use their claims dept, unbelievable headache with AT&T levels of poor customer service. They cant make it cheap enough for me to go back. I use a local State Farm guy now, cars are marginally more expensive but it's $20 cheaper per bike to insure over progressive, and the difference in customer service is night and day. I would pay more to avoid another experience like the one I had with Progressive, but I'm actually paying about the same for a vastly superior service. I would check around locally before getting into bed with Progressive. I did a little searching around and found out my experience with Progressive was pretty far from unusual. Solid quality insurance is worth a little extra cost.

The carbs were the first thing that needed attention on my 89. I ended up sourcing a set of diaphragms from Ebay out of the UK for ~$100/set. DO NOT USE CHINESE/UNBRANDED PARTS. You may not even need diaphragms, visual inspection will tell. The OEM kits are nice, but not cheap. There is a Japanese aftermarket that is known to work well. Not sure these are the exact kit but you can see it gets close. https://www.ebay.com/itm/4-Carburetor-Carb-Repair-Rebuild-Kits-Yamaha-86-93-XVZ13-Venture-Kit-18-2879/192312061034?fits=Make%3AYamaha&epid=182601278&hash=item2cc6b12c6a:g:EU0AAOSw8w1YBTYO:sc:USPSFirstClass!57105!US!-1 DO NOT PUT CHINESE PARTS INTO THE CARBS! or really anywhere on the bike. You will end up redoing them with the better kits if you do, it's almost guaranteed. OEM or aftermarket from Japan. Here is some info on setting the float. I set mine at the lowest end of the range because I live at 4000' and ride up over 10,000. The factory setting is a tad rich, I found that true on both my Vmax and Venture (same-ish engine). This link is for Vmax but float setting is the same if you decide to adjust. http://www.factorypro.com/Prod_Pages/prody11.html. Getting the carbs off a Gen1 can be a little bit of a knuckle buster. Sadly many shops wont mess with older bikes, so often we have to do it ourselves. Luckily your not far from some decent independents. I used to go to EvCC and live in Monroe before I fled back to SD. Your close to the N Cascades!!! oh what a ride!! If you are not comfortable doing the carbs but your okay with taking them off then we've got a guy on the Vmax side who is proven and trusted. As puc said, it's probably not going to be much under 5-6 bones to do them all correctly if you farm it out. If your comfortable working on carbs then these are still fairly simple, if not then it's probably worth the money to send em' off. There is quite a bit of good reading here if you do choose to go forward yourself, also lots of knowledgeable folks here to bounce problems off of if you get stuck. Welcome and good luck!

The batwing looks great, looks like it was meant to be. Nice work!

If it sat with ethanol tainted fuel in it then it is a possibility (likelihood) that you may have some blockage in the carbs. The low speed circuits are pretty easily blocked up. Also if the carbs are way out of synch then it could run poorly but smooth out as the revs climb but from what your saying my money is on ethanol trouble. Anytime mine sat with ethanol for more than a week or two I had problems that sometimes included pulling carbs to clear things out. If the PO used pure gasoline to store it then you may be alright. I've never wrenched on a gen2 but on my gen1 pulling the carbs is a hassle so I generally check everything else first. Also it will not run properly unless the air filter and air box are all fitted and snugged up, that intake restriction is critical for the CV carbs to work correctly.

These V4s run surprisingly well on only 3 holes. As well as the above, when I suspect a bunk cyl I do a spit-sizzle downpipe check to see where the fire aint happening. Did the miss just happened after you swapped out the plugs-n-fixins'? If so I would have a peek at the plug caps and where the plug wires exit the coils. Did the bike sit before you got it? Does it have the correct NGK plug/gap?

Happy birthday mano!!

I've been using a Colt A90 Pocket 9, bought new some 20 years ago and carry regularly. It was the smallest frame that I could find that fired a 9mm+ It's tricky to take to the range, it's just too small for my hand but in a pinch quite concealable. It's actually a damn nicely made piece, don't see as I'll ever get rid of it.

My phone is rooted and degoogled so to install an app I have to snag it in API form and install manually, or use Fdroid. If you have a link, or even a brand of box that you recommend that would be great. Heavy tilt towards any brands made outside China, if any are. It actually sounds like it has a lot of headroom for when my viewing habits change. Do these things work with satellite internet? Thats what I'll have after I move. Thanks!

I'm glad to know this, I was out just this morning and picking up a Roku was on my list. I usually get overwhelmed in town before I get to the end of any list of more than about 2 items so no Roku yet. So I'll skip the Roku and try out the M8s box if it might work just as well. Do you have a recommended source for these boxes? I see plenty on Ebay and the range of quality looks pretty vast. Can these boxes be rooted or will already be able to remove Google play and Google services from it? Thanks! I'm actually happy to go the M8 route.

I am but a lad at 50, but old enough to remember when pipes were still seen. Besides not being a cigarette smoker I'm no longer drinker but I damn sure have a weakness for premium tobacco products. Wife and I share cigars now and again, not too often as decent cigars can easily cost more than a tank of premium. I lean towards aromatics but I also enjoy some of the English blends. Aromatics do offer me more of a relaxing effect then the others, but just as foods I sometimes like to shake it up. I keep a couple Savinellis and a Peterson in main rotation and use them from a time a day to a time or two. I found a Stanwell estate that makes a perfect driving pipe, I'll let that go when I'm dead and not a day before. We have a local Tinderbox, which does carry some decent pipe tobaccos but selection is a bit short compared to some other places I had been when I lived in the city. Now I exclusively use Pipes and Cigars and have been for a few years. https://www.pipesandcigars.com/ you can do it all online, but I'm not an expert as such so I get on the horn and call. When I get someone on the blower I'm treated to top drawer customer service. Never hurried, all their folks are experts and will take all the time you need to talk about preferences, characteristics and attributes of different blends and brands, as well as their own blends which I find stellar. I'm not belting out specific recomendations because there are so many high quality variants that some folks like and others dont. I found what I like with their guidance. Besides they quite often throw in samples of things I ask about and that helps me narrow down what I like. I like some of the Hearth and Home blends, Russ' blends as well as some of the Peter Stokkebye offerings. This of course is only a sliver of the good stuff they have. Their website is loaded with customer reviews too, which I find helpful when I'm ordering online without guidance from a real pro. I know exactly what your saying about tongue bite and there are a couple ways to address that. One is to avoid the crappy bails of tobacco found in smoke shops (ask me how I know) that taste like ass and fry your tongue. Pouches you buy off the shelf anywhere other than a dedicated retailer of premium tobacco products is hit/miss at best in my experience. Also the quality of the pipe can make a world of difference in tongue bite and just overall smoke quality. I almost quite messing with pipes until I got my first Savinelli, it's amazing how much impact the pipe can have on the smoking experience, I would say just as much of an effect as the tobacco itself. One of my Savinellis has a mouth piece specially designed to direct smoke away from your tongue and towards the roof of your mouth. YMMV but this is what I do and I'm delighted, my $170 Savinelli was on sale for $110 and some of the best money I have spent. I got a decent Peterson for under $100. Also I found that pacing myself helps greatly to keep it cool. I hope this helps. Enjoy! It occurs to me that you may be a bit more experience than I, but as a source for tobacco and fixins' they are as good as I have ever experienced and their guidance has been priceless in making my smoking experience as great as it is.

Thank you, I was searching best streaming devices and reading many reviews, but somehow the existence of this M8s eluded my attention altogether until it was brought up here. I like it, like it quite a bit. The thought of a streaming device that gives me more control is fantastic. It sounds like the sad part is that it wont work with my painfully slow rural internet. Although DSL it might crack 1.5 on a good day, usually half of that. I can still stream Netflix and Prime without buffering usually, rather than buffering it will go a little grainy from time to time. I've only used the TVs smart functions to stream, before the Smart TV I used the PC directly since it's plugged into the same monitor. Sounds like my bandwidth is well under what is required for an M8s but I'm not done with the idea. It's too cool. From all else that I have read, the Roku might be the best choice for cheap and workable with my ultra-slow internet, so I'll do that for now but the M8s is on my short list as soon as I get moved. I wont expect one to work with my speeds, but I'm not going to be able to resist getting one and playing with it. It should be usable after I get moved. Thanks! I now know what I must do.

I'm sorry to hear this, also happy to hear about a cool new hobby to take into retirement. It's not possible to ride from one end of this state too the other without seeing at least one 9N doing something somewhere. Enjoy retirement, there is nothing like leaving the city behind and heading for someplace with some elbow room. Best of luck too you both and thank you for all the valuable contributions!

It was not that many years ago that I cut cords down to stand alone internet and OOMA (no cell reception at home). When I watch TV it's streaming from Netflix or maybe Prime, I plan to nix prime soon for some glaring annoyances that Netflix has so far not inflicted on it's customers. The real issue I'm having is streaming from my Samsung K8500 55" TV. It works but I do have to unplug it a couple times a week to reset the apps to function again. I can live with that but the deal breaker with this smart set is a "Sponsored" Samsung news link I cant get rid of, cant hide it, cant move it. I own the TV outright and wont accept monetization attempts by the mfr. Being the privacy conscious guy that I am I'm obviously not a Google or Apple customer, I have an Android phone but it's rooted and completely de-Googled with an aftermarket OS. I wish I could do that to this damn TV! Can I do that to the TV? I think I'm through with Amazon too after using Prime for awhile. It leaves the Roku and not much else that I know of. I have sort of a two part question before I can decide on this route. 1. Does Roku have any sponsored links, forced content or any monetization attempts beyond the sale of the device itself? I'm looking at a Roku Premiere 2019 as it seems to have what I need and not the stuff I wont use. I ask because this discussion is not readily available with a search. I want nothing with voice features, just 4k streaming capability. 2. Are there any other good services like Netflix that I can get on Roku, I've read that many apps are available. I dislike Prime due to the forced trailers before a feature and the rows of added cost viewing that almost obscures the included content. I like Netflix because there is none of that crap, making it a bargain even at the recently raised prices. Any other advert/annoyance free services like that that you guys personally like. I have read about 97% of them have some adverts so any that dont I'm interested in, even at a cost. Thanks folks!!

Wow, glad your okay. Still it hurts to see a brand new scoot on the ground.

As usual my friend, I largely agree with you. Fully agree on how to handle bad folks. That running stuff with bikes is a piece of idiocy I could never figure out, and still cant. IF I were (I'm not btw) running anything illegal my choice of ride would not be a 200mph crotch rocket, or an obnoxiously loud under powered cruiser, nope. Give me a 2013- curent white Honda Accord, bone stock, no tinted glass or silly looking wheels. That is a ________ running vehicle, one that is completely invisible with the right driver, and a decent payload to boot. It just seems so counter-intuitive to be up to no good and drawing as much attention to yourself as possible in the process. I ask myself way too often anymore "What the eff is wrong with people?" I still have trouble with the whole permit or police escort thing, these are rules I would probably willfully defy, but I would not be kicking the **** out of pregnant ladies at stop lights and riding a 140mph wheelie weaving through heavy traffic. I wouldn't even run a red light en masse with other bikes. These guys are made of no good stuff and I hope they get the hard payback they so richly deserve. I do recall the bike lynchings in Sturgis, the dicks that did that are no better than the dicks in this story, noting the difference of course between property and person. Even as a misguided kid I saw some real problems with things like this, it went a long ways towards tarnishing the image I had of said counter culture. It's an outrage that a private citizen went to work and earned the cash to have a bike, took vacation and wanted to come to SD and enjoy the party and ride with everyone else, but noooo, we have to string his **** up in a tree and burn it, why? Because he didn't ride the "right" bike. I think B.F Skinner could best explain why we have become so vicious and cruel to each other. Between he and Darwin, so much could be explained. Human behavior often puzzles and disappoints, I have been alive just long enough to see some real changes for the worse. Stories like this effect me more than I would care to admit.