CaseyJ955

K&N are not stock on these but a new K&N comes with that sticker to make a tech aware it is of the reusable nature and not to throw it away. If you do go with paper then toss the K&N on Ebay, It should net a few bucks, thats where I got mine. A local powersports shop should have an AGM battery to fit, or be able to order one up. When I get home in the next couple days I'll be happy to look at group size and part # of mine, maybe easier than by application. For fork seals, you still have to slide the fork lowers off to replace, snapping in the other parts is easy at that point if you choose to go that way. There is a good youtube vid, ill link later when im at my comp and not on my phone. Its not really hard but there is some labor involved.

Synching the carbs really only takes several minutes after ya get the hang of it. I like the Morgan Carbtune, its a great gauge for a modest price. The boys on the Vmax board turned me on to it and its been really solid and easy to use There are some brands and ebay specials out there that aint so hot so whatever you choose do check reviews.

My bike runs like a champ, but when I run it without tbe air box and filter it does that exactly. Reinstall your air box and filter, make sure you snug all the screws down and try again. Its normal for this to happen with open carbs. On synching, they do need it if they were off the bike, im very particular about keeping them synched up. It makes a big diff in idle, off-ifle and low RPM operation depending on how far out they are. I do it once or twice a year or any time I touch carbs for any reason, it should become a part of regular maintenance. Let us know how it works. Oh yea, glad you got it this far! Its all coming together!

I had used Turbo Tax and each time I left money on the table. When I used the cut rate services it was the same. They are there to rush you through and get their cut, then on to the next. There is simply no replacement for a dedicated professional, as you now see. I did a review with my pro of many past years and found over $5000 left on the table. I make the smallest quarterly payments possible so that I do not give the IRS an interest free loan, like those that have to much withheld do. Anyone getting a fat refund needs to get with their guy and calculate witholding/quarterlies. Withhold just enough to avoid penalties, then just write a check upon filing. Let your money work for you by keeping ss much as possible through the year. Never forget that the IRS is NOT your friend. The more one has to loose the more one needs a qualified pro to protect them from the of the IRS. It is absolutely imparitave to feed that beast tbe absolute minimum legally possible.

Ill do my best and try to.take.these in order. I went to Dunlop Elite3 from Metzler marathons. So far so good and no more feathering/cupping. There are many good choices and it might depend on how/where you ride and what you meed your tires to do. I want a tire to last and still have reasonable grip. EBC HH pads really do work quite well to.stop these obese machines. I dont have the manual handy but the factory recomended NGK at the factory gap is ideal for a stock bike, and very cost effective. They have been great for both my Vmax and Venture. I have stick coils (COPs) so I run a different gap. Cheap Yuasa batteries suck, Ive been lucky to get anything more than a season out of one. I spent a little more last year and got the least expensive AGM battery I could find from a motorsports shop and Im very happy. Its got good zing and this is year two and still starts like new. I avoid buying anything from walmart, its really hit/miss IMHO. There are pretty fancy spendy batteries out there but the basic AGM is working fantastic. NEVER use a Fram. If you have one on the bike get rid of it today. I have a stack of NAPA Gold filters (made by WIX). There are other good filter choices but Fram aint one of them. Im sure someone will expand on other quality choices. As far as oil, simple Rotella 15-40 non-synthetic diesel oil is a highly popular choice for Vmax and Venture. That you can safely buy at walmart. I think T4 is conventional but cant recall exactly. I know some folks run semi and full synthetics, others CO oil leaks and other issues with synthetics in older engimes. Like tires you will hear many varying and passionate opinions. I have had my best luck running exactly what the factory calls for with regard to synthetic or conventional oils in all my cars and bikes. I know the conventional Rotella is an overwhelmingly popular choice and using it I can see why. Its cheap and works great. Is your air filter a K&N style reusable gause filter? They do flow better but the CV carbs are very sensitive to resistance of the intake/air filter assy. A free flowing filter may actually hurt performance. I had to do some dialing in on mine to make it work right, Ive been through my carbs and not stock. I use a reusable filter because I live miles down a dirt road. I suggest trying a paper filter if you have one and see if you can feel a difference in performance and MPG. I suspect the paper filter may work better but YMMV. Your care of the reusable filter is appropriate. I spray mine with the green, then let it sit in the sink a while, then spray it out with the water. I dont submerge it in the green, just spray it good and let it sit 15-20 min before rinse. I gently shake the water off and sit it on a shop towell and lightly oil after dry. Get all the pleats but dont get carried away with the filter oil. It doesnt take much. Your fuel should be fine. Avoid ethanol when you can but if the bike has to sit then absolutely avoid ethaanol tainted fuel. When it sits over winter get the tank as full as you can. Both my Venture and Vmax fired right up after being stored outside all harsh long South Dakota winter, so its okay. I hate to store bikes outside and next year Ill have a garage! But if it worked for me under these conditions you should be good to go. If it sat with ethanol in it and in the carbs you may be in for some headaches, the corn squeezings tend to gum stuff up and draw moisture in to wherever it is. If you find its a problem let us know and we'll go from there. Again, never ever store with ethanol. Both my Vmax and Venture run best with the LOWEST octane pure gasoline. I will use premium if its the only pure gas and ethanol as a last resort. Sometimes its all you can get, just dont store it with that stuff. Your filter should be fine. If you store with pure gasoline you should not have to flush or anything, just drop the battery in and go. When storing long term I so use a few oz seafoam. For.the forks, I have done mine. First and foremost NEVER EVER EVER..... EVER use aftermarket seals or any fork parts. ALWAYS use OEM yamaha parts here. Make sure your tech uses only OEM. These are bushing forks so it might be prudent to get bushings as well as the seals and dust covers, only OEM. I cant overstate that enough. There are youtube vids out there showing replacement of the Venture fork parts. Watch and see if you feel like it falls within the scope of your ability. Boats.net is one good place to get a deal on genuine Yamaha parts. The dealership prices are high bit deals to be had online. Did I mention to use only genuine Yamaha OEM parts in the forks, good! Read up on Progressive fork springs and see if you like the idea. If you do them now is the time to do it. Better handling and no need for air or anti dive systems with progressives, they run about $100 online. Im not sure what your budget is but its worth mentioning. I did them and its well.worth it YMMV. While into the forks make sure your steering head bearings are properly adjusted, its critical for proper handling. There is ayoutube vid on that and I hope someone can link it, I cant on my phone. I tried to separate this into sections for ease of reading but often when I post it forces into one giant paragraph, I apologize in advance for that. I hope this helps and invite others to correct me if I got any of it wrong. This is all stuff I have done on mine, and my Vmax and works awesome. If it works Ill take one of those cigars!! Haha. I hope this long winded response helps.

Fantastic! So glad its working. Its never a waste of time to dig in a bit and get more familiar with how she is put together. Better to learn now than along side the road somewhere. I hope it was just the ground preventing the battery from charging but were you able to get some voltage readings just to make sure she is working 100%? Even the other trick mentioned above would be prudent to make sure the battery wont die again. Let us know and enjoy the sun!

Ditto, really enjoying the story, it brought me there. Amazing. Of course you have exacerbated my already intractable case of spring fever. I think I speak for others too when I say this is the sort of experience we live for!

There are a couple cool bobbed Ventures here, one or two in progress and a couple others with some upper engine Vmax hardware for a hefty boost in performance to an already decent running bike. I cant seem to get anything linked off my phone but you will find them here somewhere. This issue of tank came up not long ago and using a retro tank and altering it for storage was kicked around but not sure what direction the owner went. I never get enough of the custom work. Keep us updated.

Im a 1099 guy, no LLC, just independently insured and working. Taxes are such a hassle that its worth a couple bones to just take it to a guy. Finding a good tax preparer is not easy. I had used H&R before and another cut rate preparer, my guy ended up amending three previous years, some from my W2 days and found several thousand dollars left on the table by the cut rate places. I eventually found my tax guy by asking my lawyer if he had a recommendation. This was a great move. In my experience one will never loose money by paying a pro for anything north of a 1040EZ. I drop my stuff off, answer a few questions and done. I no longer dread tax season beyond the gnawing dread of knowing how my tax dollars are squandered. YMMV, I'm ingorant to tax law so this works for me to remove stress and errors. I envy folks that can properly do their own taxes, but sadly Im not one. What did Clint say, "a man has got to know his limitations" haha.

Thats awesome! I could read most of it but some on the top is hard to make out on my phone. Once I get home I will be sure to read the rest, probably easier to see on a full monitor than a 4" phone screen. Absolutely continue, at your leisure of course, but I am interested in seeing what I cant see now. I have been through to WY but many years ago. Thats about to change. The trail system has changed in recent years but still vast. I'm so looking forward to spending plenty of time in the woods this riding season, well outside the reach of tourists and rally traffic. Im beyond excited. I think you should take a trip out here with your favorite plated dirt bike and there is no way it wont be a great time. I can always make room for brother Puc. There is a Dual Sport Rally here in early June, cant wait for this, aawwww dayum, its gonna be a fantastic season! I haven't looked forward to a riding season like this for a very long time. BRAAAAAAAAAAP ding ding ding ding. Soon! But right now were about to get spanked by winter storn Xanto. Were expecting blizzard conditions and another possible 12" snow in the next 24 hours. Some of our most notable blizzards come in the spring, not always winter.

Since the weather came up with Puc, I felt compelled to groan about this weather obstructing riding. Last week when the weather was nice I rebuilt the calipers and MC of my Vmax, along with flushing rear brakes and clutch DOT, oil change and battery. I remounted the windscreen and got her all synched up and she barked right to life with the anger and snap I love her for, then over night we got a dusting of snow, just enough to make it to risky to ride the nearly 3 miles from my cabin to the paved road. There is a grade in the shade that does not thaw like every other road in the known universe, so with a heavy heart I slid her back under the cover, not having ridden. The Venture is last this year for a ride, I'm going to play with the Ignitek mapping and oil chage is about all she needs but she is taking me house hunting again this spring all over SD and WY. Only the Venture is suited for days on the road like that. I know this wont impress the folks with brand new 2018s that have not ridden r/t inclimate weather, but a couple weeks before spring I picked up a KTM and still have not ridden it once. It kept looking like spring was here, only to be pelted by more freeze and snow. Anyone familiar with the Black Hills knows it's world class street bike territory (Puc knows!), what not everyone knows is that it is equally blissful for off-road bikes and other recreation. Our trails, oh, and Buffallo Gap Grasslands otherwise known as "Farmingdale" are balls out fun for dirt bikes. No matter where I buy a house it will not be to far from the Black Hills, nooo way! Im at work this week and wont be home until next week, hoping when I get home I can simply ride. So, this KTM 250 XCW sits inside my sunroom by the front door, emitting the gentle aroma of 2-stroke oil and gasoline. Its a sweet scent that once in the woods combines to form a potpourri of pine trees, hills growth and earth to form a succulent olfactory treat words can not possibly encompass. I got plates, registration and insurance, next week I'll get my forestry trail permit sticker (yes, a 2 stroke dirt bike can be plated in South Dakota). I ordered the jets and a cant wait to ride and dial her in. I have not even cracked that new jug of Interceptor yet. Its killing me! I hope spring is waiting for me when I get back home! The anticipation is stifling. I feel the pain of others here getting leaned over the back of the couch by old man winter. But it will soon be over and spring is almost here for real.

G'mornin sir Puc! I see you and I are on the same page, or we are both nuttier than Chinese chicken salad, possibly both. In the amazing Black Hills we have enjoyed a couple very balmy, sunny, dry days. Now we are gonna get (maybe) 8-15" snow and a blizzard warning a county over. Its not going to be terribly cold which means heavy wet snow pulling trees and power lines down. Welcome to South Dakota! Still no place I would rather live with the possible exception of Wyoming. One day you will find yourself here outside rally week and you and I will ride the hills good and proper, and smoke some ribs! Now, so I dont get kicked in the cubes for hijacking I would like to add for the OP that if the battery is going on a conventional automotive charger, use the 2amp setting, 10amp can cook a small battery pretty quickly in my e perience. 2amp seems to be about the max safe for a bike battery. A couple hours should do her unless totally flat. I have cheated and used my battery tender to charge a battery bacause my other one has no 2amp setting, if its not completely flat it may work, but agreeing with you that it is not ideal. Sorry I still cant format posts into separate paragraphs.

Welcome! Sorry your having troubles. Ill throw this out until some 2nd gen guys chime in. Generally speaking I would check terminals and grounds around starter and batt, and anywhere you can see. Remove or disconnect the battery and get a trickle charger going on it, once fully charged it should again start the bike (hopefully). After battery is charged the key off voltage across the battery should be around 12.5, and with engine running it should not be much more or less than 14v. Just because a battery is new does not mean its good, but what you describe sounds like the bike is not correctly recharging the battery as you ride, so when battery wears down the fun stops. Depending on your voltage readings I might speculate a stator or regulator bit I digress, the 2nd gen savvy might have model specific things to check. One other thing I have noticed in my 35 years of riding, I have often had trouble jumping a bike with a flat battery but slap a known good one in and it fires right up. I hope this gives you a place to start. Good luck on the fix.

The needle has that rectangular wire loop, there is a little tab on the float that goes through that loop and then installed in place. Moving the float manually should pull/push the needle.

Im trying to get links to work on my phone but its stumping me. Google search "factory pro vmax float level". It will bring you to it. I set both my Venture and Vmax to the leanest end of the range with great results. The V4 responds very well to being a tad lean rather than a tad rich.As for wet checking it is outlined in the service manual, there is a free download somewhere. I cant find it but it involves removing the carb drain hoses and using a clear hose looped upward and opening the drain screw and reading fuel level through the clear hose, one at a time. The hose fills with fuel to the level of the fuel in the bowl, there is a landmark on the side of the carb the level should be close too. Bike must be level, prime up the carbs by cy ling the fuel pump a time or two. Engine off. I hope someone else can link this, I have a feeling I'm butchering it haha.

Welcome! Did all the needles and seats look good, floats move freely? All float levels set? You can check float levels wet without tearing into it again. I dry set mine according to the Factry Pro website for Vmax (same spec) and they all landed where they belong. Did you buy Chinese rebuild kits? If you replaced needles amd seats with Chinese parts it may never be right until replaced with Japanese stuff. If you run it w/o the air box/filter it will be funky. Were you able to run it long enough to synch the carbs, again with air filter/box in place. Im just throwing stuff out there fishing for more info and hopefully a way to help.

I often end up with odd, old and unique vehicles, in my experience its a waiting game (for the right buyer). I skirt lowball offers often, its just a matter of the right guy coming along. When I was buying my Venture I found plenty that were worth $600 but priced over $2k. The first one I found that wasnt hashed beyond reason I picked up for $2050 and of course dropped hundreds more into updating and servicing for real world use. That being said, prices on old bikes are not exactly rising, motorsports market has been weak for awhile now. Still, there is no reason I can see why you shouldnt expect $1500-2500 from a nice clean fully functioning tourbike this time of year. I suppose the final determination of that assertion is the presence or absence of a cash buyer. What I used to hear way back in the HD days was "its only worth what the next guy is willing to pay". I often find that floating things for partial trades drums up more interest but still have to vet all the junk offers.

I tip the scales at 220-ish without gear. Probably another 50lbs for gear and cargo and run no air up front with Progressives. When wifey is onboard (100lbs lighter than me) I may put an additional PSI in the rear. When I converted to Progressives I also replaced the bushings, seals and dust covers with OEM parts. I used synthetic import ATF instead of conventional fork oil. IIRC it sets between 7.5-10 wt. Love it. Did same to my Vmax and love that too. No air even needed in either. On a side note, when I did tear into the Venture I found some air lines had dry rot and were no longer air tight. I found the fork air collars and a jumble of air hoses on Ebay for some stupid cheap price but have never needed air up front since forks done.

I also use State Farm. Im very pleased and I pay $22 /yr for my KTM (plated dirt bike) and I think the bigger bikes are $45-ish. I newly switched from Progressive. I was happy with Progressive for years, had full coverage on my Audi and smacked a deer, I then found out why they are so cheap. After using their claims department and drudging through some of the worst customer service since Verizon or AT&T. Progressives claims dept is an experience I will never repeat without a lawyer. It was like truing to have a serious conversation with a group of children, I have no clue where they get employees but NEVER AGAIN! I cut my losses and moved everything to State Farm. What surprised me is that overall State Farm is cheaper (cabin, bikes, cars) once all is considered. Besides they have a local office I can walk into. I will never cheap out on insurance again, icing on the cake that I now have quality insurance at lower cost.

I have several high end plug sockets in SAE amd Metric, the only one I have that works on the Venture is the one in its own tool kit. Works like a charm. The other thing about carbs is that they are a little bit of a knuckle buster to pull but these CV carbs are pretty straight forward to work on. I have also heard great thing about the video mentioned above. I pulled mine because I wanted to verify jet sizes and set floats while addressing an intermittent missfire. What I found inside was the PO ran screws into the jet block plugs to try and snug them up. After setting floats and undoing some **** the PO did I had a machine that ran as it should. No tellin' wattup with a set of carbs after a few decades. I knew I would tour mine far from home so there was never much doubt I would go into the carbs and at the very least do a cleaning and set the floats (they are a bit rich from the factory).

Yup, its the same engine/different tune as the TL1000. I know the 650 is a great all around bike but like you, I would probably sacrifice some off road toss-ability for the extra grunt of a full liter. I spent a couple weeks with an SV650 and I can only say great things. It's how a twin SHOULD be done! For only being 650 it was awesome. I'll probably never go with another narrow angle twin. My guess is either of these stroms would make a fantastic steed for a guy that wants something light but still travel worthy.

Darn! I do understand though. I have always been fascinated with and heard tons of good stuff about the Vstrom 650s. Folks tour the snot out of them. Plenty light, reasonably powerful with good highway legs for the long haul. If you bolt it wont be the same around here.

Spring definitely went missing, but I can assure it did not flee to the Dakotas. I'm still waiting to break out this KTM I have yet to ride.

Ive read some interesting things too, like reduced fuel capacity and range. It looks like they were trying to knock some of the stodginess out of the GW. Honda had to return fire somehow, the introduction of a bike like the K1600 could absolutely not be ignored by any world class touring bike mfr. Honda had to do something. I might have voted for a less dramatic revamp of the GW and introduced a new heavy hitting sport tourer to compete with amazing machines like the K or RT bikes. In any event it will be interesting to see how buyers react to the new generation of GW and where that puts the older generations in the market place. The existing model looks great to me, stodginess aside it has all the right stuff for a dedicated touring machine.

I'm about a 36" inseam so I felt a bit folded up. It was disappointing as I really wanted the big flat 6 in a touring bike. My guess is with less inseam it's a very comfortable ride. No doubt they are nice bikes. If your not in a huge hurry to buy then maybe keep an eye on prices and market saturation over the summer. Prices are going to drop and choices are going to become more plentiful. Also we will need pics once you get one!