CaseyJ955

A Filipino food bearing a very strong likeness to eggrolls. Pork, beef, veggies. Effen delicious, usually served with pancit which is sort of like a stir fry. Chicken Adobo is another must try. These dishes vary some between Ilonggo and Ilocano cooks but either is a win. Wifey is Ilonggo so thats her style. Im a very happy man!

Valve noise drives me out of my effing skull, but quite normal on air cooled and solid tappet engines. My oldest HD was 59 and it was a cacophony or noise. My first 4 cyl bike was a GS850, quite peppy and silky smooth, and had some pronounced gear whine. Now in some Pavlovian way gear whine is synonymous with smooth reliable power, at least in my warped brain. My gen1 has some gear whine and it never bothered me. Its more like a conversation with an old friend rather than a bothersome noise. With the powersports market where it is these slightly aged Japanese bikes are one hell of a bargain, especially for what you get. Really almost anything that suits your tasts from Honda, Kawasaki or Suzuki is hard to go wrong with either. Both my bikes are Yamaha V4 and its because of the V4. First came the Vmax, then the Venture because I wanted to tour and still have the v4 which is an absolute jewel in the Vmax. Obviously the Vmax is a hotrod version of the V4 but many of the positive attributes carry right on over. Im 6'1+ and even on my worst fibro stricken days top heaviness has never been a problem, it melts away once underway. My Venture is the older generation than what your looking at but weight feels similar to me between the two generations. The lack of low end torque and presence of strong midrange and top end take a moment to get used to but when your passing a row of RVs with a passenger in July you will see some benifet to the V4 beyond the monetary savings, and it wont cook you. The added maintainance items you will have are related to carbs/synching and cooling system off the top of my head. Stay away from ethanol when possible and synch carbs every season (easy) and it should be smooth sailing. The V4 is capable of LOTS of miles before rings/valves etc etc. Overall I believe your cost of ownership will be cheaper even after the price of entry is not considered. I gotta know, is the "13b" a Mazda reference?

Awesome! Your deffs gonna get your value out of this bike. It sounds like you ride much like I do and the Venture is very well suited. I ended up taking 71 up through Scottsbluff and Kimball, very rural and pleasant all the way through the grasslands and back to South Dakota. When I ride I passionately avoid cities like Omaha, but I was very pleasantly surprised by western NE. Your close to SD, make sure and HMU if you wander through the Black Hills, great camping in our little valley here, plus you can grab a shower and some grub. If my wife knows abead of time you may get lucky and get some lumpia haha. I use a specific tent and bugout bag for the motorcycle. I was able to add a few things thanks to the Ventures generous cargo capacity. It seems like a virtually perfect tourer, esp for the $$. Im shocked how well the gen1 Venture handles our scenic and very twisty roads along with the long straight-ish jaunts like hwy 79. Good times!

Often with older vehicles its easy to get more money into them than fair market value. Key is getting that investment back in joy. Not long ago I really enjoyed a ride through your locality on my way back from CO. I dont doubt you will get every cent back. I dont even want to think about how much $$$$$ I sank into my Samurai to make it both trail worthy and daily drivable. Its just how it seems to go sometimes. What you paid does not sound unreasonable for the work done, its a fair bit of labor. Come spring you should be set for some serious riding.

Some of the lowest wages in the nation coupled with some extra deplorable local/state gov make it less than ideal for working folks. I'm seeing a ton of opportunity in northern CO/southern WY, been eyeballing a couple acres and a rural house out that way. I never want to get more than a days ride from here though. Black Hills is motorcycling/ATV/offroad bliss outside tourist season, I may move to follow money and opportunity but this will always be Home.

I agree 100% with this. Life is to short to not enjoy where you live. I lived in the Seattle area for 15 years, aside from a decent food scene and plenty of ladies with ESL there is very little to like about it, traffic is unspeakable, cost of living is far too expensive for what you get and the overpopulation is bordering on the inhumane. Oh, and the rain, wow! it's soul crushing at best. I wasted a lot of time looking over the fence when I should have just jumped. I think it's all priority. I dont mind winter if it means lower population and milder summers. I dont mind lower wages if it means I avoid city life and all the expenses, frustrations and inconveniences that go with it. Traffic and crowds are a quick deal breaker for me, but it might not be for others. If your city/state does not fit your needs/wants than by all means, it's time for a move.

I'm sure it isnt, I hope you are at least able to visit or talk to him. Can you visit him and spend a little time? I'm really sorry he has to be there for Christmas, thats effed up.

I too was told "Merry Christmas" this morning during my handful of shopping stops, it has a great and happy ring to it so I reply in like. I cant speak for all my fellow Atheists and Agnostics but I really enjoy knowing and being around folks with varying religious beliefs. Diversity is great, I really like all the various holiday greetings as long as they are delivered with enthusiasm and good cheer. I have to admit that it would feel sort of empty of nobody said Merry Christmas.

Amazing, I know very well how you must feel. All in time for the holidays too, what great news! Congrats!!!

4933 is what I got when I looked mine up, I think all the cartridges are the same part number but their application guides cover our bikes so they can look it up in store too.

IIRC I got some oil filter cartridges for mine from Napa, which are made by WIX. http://www.nfhconnect.com/Lookup/PartDetail?Part=1890555&Brand=NAP

I do a spit sizzle test and while less scientific it quickly lets me know if they are all hitting approximately the same. One day I'll stop being cheap and buy a quality IR thermometer, sadly to get one regarded as accurate you have to part with a couple bones. A cheaper one might not be as accurate but it will show you consistency between pots, or lack thereof. These V4s run pretty well even if they are missing a cyl. A couple quick things that come to mind would be to check your carb synch. When was it last done? When were plugs last changed out, I assume your using the NGKs. Check condition of the HT leads, especially where they join the coils and can get that green muck buildup. I noticed this on mine before getting the carbs synched and dialed in.

Imagine the dumpster fire he would be had he given up riding along with those other things!

I have used gravity bleeding on my old VWs and a few other vintage turds, Sometimes traditional bleeding is a bear, especially if your solo. One thing I have never tried was tying a clutch or brake lever to the bar, and like you I cant rectify in my twisted mind how that could work. I'm not sure how a master cyl can pass fluid through if it is in the actuated position. I do recall a clutch lever zip tied to the handlebar overnight trick in my Triumph days. The rational as I recall was not one of bleeding but was supposed to take care of the spongy lever feel by "training" (lack of better word) the seal to conform with the sustained pressure. I have no idea if it works. Other than traditional bleeding I have used gravity as mentioned above or a vac pump. Any time I use gravity or vacuum I finish up with a few pumps the traditional way if possible. When I did the R6 calipers/SS lines on my MKI it took quite a lot of furious handiwork with the Mighty Vac but finally we got there. If I'm doing a quick flush I wont even bother dragging out the vacuum pump, it's when we start with dry lines or after doing some work that it seems to be a time saver to throw some vacuum on her with the system in the at rest position.

In my experience it will make a huge difference if the fuel that sat in it all this time is tainted with ethanol or not. If not you probably have no real issue. If so draining the tank and lines is probably a must but EFI is pretty straight forward stuff. My guess is a fresh battery, some fresh fuel and a splash of seafoam for a couple tanks will get her straightened around if you can drain off the old fuel. EFI is generally much less finicky than our antiquated carbs if one wants to store old fuel in it. Ive not worked on a strat before but generally EFI is not bad to work on at all. I like the above gravity bleeding idea, I also use a vacuum bleeder with good success. Good luck.

A word on forks and fork oil. If your going into the forks it would be prudent to replace fork seals and maybe instead of lowering the front forks you can possibly find Progressive lowering springs. Either approach works but if you still have the stock springs the Progressives definitely improve ride and handling. Since your already a bike guy I'm sure you know to stay away from the Chinese aftermarket (yup, this again) and use only OEM Yamaha seals. I'm not sure off the top of my head of the gen2 has bushing forks but I'm pretty sure it does. With the amount of mileage on the bike it might be a good move to go ahead and replace those too. I have two V4s and carb synch is a part of normal maintenance, I do it a couple times a year minimum and when it's done I can always feel that sharp crisp responsiveness return. I like the reasonably priced Morgan Carbtune and it seems to be a popular choice.

My win7 was so easy to tell it not to auto update. Give this a shot for your windows 10. I'm pretty far from an expert but I went through a lot of these to try and make win10 acceptable, but failed. Give this a shot. https://www.cnet.com/how-to/stop-windows-10-from-automatically-updating-your-pc/

I'm using Cyanogenmod on my Android phone (Galaxy III) which has been rooted. It's never run better and there are no forced updates, for which I share your healthy skepticism. In fact my V of Cyanogenmod is many generations behind, but it runs perfect so why bother with it. Rooting and replacing the Android OS was the best move ever. No bloatware and full permission management. I have an HP win10 laptop, what can I say, I need the comp for work as much as I need the deduction. I got hit with some amazingly bad software/bloatware/spamware/spyware that came from both MS and HP. Luckily there is a really knowledgeable fellow on the Vmax board that has given me essentially every resource needed to upgrade from win10 to Ubuntu. Thats next when I get time. My faith in MS has moved to 0 since examining win10. It's truly awful, so much control has been taken out of our hands. I finally put Cortana to sleep but I know shes still there, more work to be done! MS and Google (Android) just cant be trusted, at all. It' appalling how much control we have relinquished to use one of the later OSs. I'm still using win7-64 on my desktop and after some adjustments it's working quite well. For the later OS versions some great alternatives exist.

Okay, I'll set it up tomorrow. I dont know for sure if it's a gen1 kit but it came with the bike with all the factory headsets and all so pretty good bet its the right one. It sure has all the right stuff in it, so thats pretty nice. I also have a supplementary tool pouch with a few knick knacks.

The kit in my 1st gen has the same plug socket. If needed I'd be happy to snap a pic of the kit.

Although we dont share exact taste in vehicles, I have to say that I have some healthy respect for the contents of this post. Buying for cash with no payments and saving buttloads in financing charges and interest, and hassle. All this and you got a vehicle you both love. If you can drop $21k in cash you sure could have put that down on a more expensive vehicle, but instead went this way, and searched out the best price. I have in the last few years started listening to a mentor and radically changed my attitudes about managing money and living beneath my means. I know a whole lot of folks upside down in their vehicles that should have taken this to heart. This is a good example for guys like me who sometimes loose our good sense when it comes to vehicles. Hats off to you, Just sayin'.

Poor MPG was one of the first issues that I had to fight with, I could barely kiss 30 MPG on a good day. Like yours mine was running great, I just couldnt get over 30 regardlss of shift points and riding style. I learned on my Vmax that float levels and jetting are crittical adjustments with regards to both economy and performance. I also had some pinholes and wear spots in the diaphragms (back on the Venture now) I replaced those from a seller on the UK that makes them himself (no Chinese parts) and they work quite nicely, and for $100 for the set it was a win. I rejuvinated the jet block plugs, they were not quite snug. I think all this helped some, probably more performance than economy. I even tried different maps and papameters on the Ignitek with limited success, sure got it running well but my economy was still in the basement. From all the reading I did on this Venture tuning I learned that consensus is that factory jetting is ideal. Im now believing this may not be true in some cases, especially those of us living at altitude. Here is the rational that led me to this conclusion; Having tried everything else suggested and using tuning experience gained on the Vmax (except jetting, based on above mentioned consensus) and reading a couple others restoring MPG using Skydocs needle shims, I ordered and installed the shims. That took me from 30-ish to the 38-42 I enjoy now. It ran with just as much power, mabye a touch more responsiveness. Hard to tell without a dyno. What this told me is that I was in fact to rich, duh, but had to RO other stuff too. The carb rack being a nuisance to pull, unlike the Vmax where I tried several different jetting combos to get great MPG and blistering performance, I opted to simply leave the shims in place as a bandaid. Regardless, I was getting proper MPG and it ran fantastic. I had a trip to CO planned and was suck of ****ing around with it, so off I went, loaded with all my crap. This is how I left it, how it is today and how I plan to leave it. Good MPG and runs great. Done. I will say that next time I have to pull the carbs I'll play with jetting and experiment with the shims, but for now its doing what I want. Im not sure if this is your issue, this is just my experience. I even replaced all brake calipers with freshly gone over R6 calipers/new HH pads to RO brake drag (and help slow the beast). It did need it. Some jetting can be experimented with without pulling the rack and I'll get to that some day, but for now I'm just going to ride. Like I said I went through the carbs first and IMHO its sound reasoning to make sure these aged carbs are up to snuff regardless. I hope some part of my longwinded blathering on helps in some way. My altitude is 3000' and I ride up generally more than down, often over 6000'. Stock exhaust, COPs, Ignitek and nothing else. I know the Vmax like to be a touch lean and come a touch rich, It sure seems like the Venture is the same in that regard. The float adjustment I used is on the Factory Pro website under Vmax, I set it at the lean end of the range. Sean Morley let me know its the same for Ventures and its working great for me. Hope you get it sorted.

Thats a good looking vehicle, liking the blue. A good excuse for a road trip! If you activate the touchscreen the Aswang will be able to triangulate your location. I made that last part up. Probably. Serously, glad its a good fit and a comfortable ride, also thats darn impressive MPG, and now you get that savory new car smell for xmas too. Tis the season for AWD/4WD. Congrats and enjoy

Point taken. I guess its all relative. I still dont like automatics I live up high so I sure like heated stuff. I find it hard to fault features that increase safety, but I was pretty down on air bags until I cleaned up a few fatality accidents, and accidents that should have been fatal. The older I get, the more safety conscious I become. I really cant say which features are wanted by which drivers but I sure take exception to ones that could potentially compromise safety, like any interface that requires more steps or time than simple controls. I cant see why a touch screen would be a problem if it takes no more time than turning a dial. I just hope we are not using modern technology in ways that increase profits for mfrs while possibly hindering safety. I dont really care if someone wants to use e-commerce or the like, thats none of my business until it compromises the safety of the rest of us. Privacy concerns aside, this e-commerce looks like nice tech but its use is for profit of GM and seems to have the potential to be a safety issue.

Oh yes on the comforts. Im spoiled by all the goodies like the zillion-way adjustable heated leather seats with awesome lateral support, columbs tilt/tele, cruise and great sound deadening. There is something to be said for a door that closes with an easy but solid rattle-free thump. Its not only the features but the way the car speaks to you when you slide in andd it barks to life. That wont be on an equipment list, it has to be driven. I even take a reliability hit to experience this. You bring up an excellent point my friend! As far as I know on most cars the ECU that tells the car how to steer and brake, and adaptive cruise functions are not directly linked to the infotainment systems and a hack would not be able to control any of that. With GM onstar im not sure. When I first saw it years ago it creeped me the **** out that someone somewhere else could lock/unlock, access microphone/speakers, know my exact location and start/stop my car. Thats beyond okay for me. I dont fully understand the system but maybe someone who does can comment on the specifics on its reach. I found on some VW/Audi cars I can plug in with a VAGCOM and change steering boost level at speed, light and lock behavior, make windows/sunroof controllable with the key fob remotely, I can tell the car it now has LED lights, or not, its a huge list along side watching precise engine parameters like cam advance and position of N devices and sensors. It has no wireless access, you have to go key on and access the OBDII port to even see it. Hackability comes with wireless connectivity but I believe (dont know for certain) that access to infotainment grants a remote user access to vital car functions. Maybe they can lock you in and blair Miley Cyrus until you suckstart your own Glock, dunno. Im still hot/cold on a car that senses an imminent front end collision and slams on the brakes, how many of our brothers and sisters would still be alive if all cars had that? The auto swerve and auto park I find laughable. If you cant park your car than hang up the keys and call uber. I am excited about self driving cars, it has so much promise to save lives. Protection from hackers or external devices that can scramble sensors is still something that concerns me. How great would it be if anyone caught using a phone or drinking while driving had to use self driving technology in order to keep their license. It would clear up dangerous drivers faster than police patrols IMHO. I worry about my wife and kids on the road and if anything can help protect them from drinkers or cellphone wielding idiots, lets hear it and have a sensible discussion about pros, cons and ways to make it less intrusive and safer. We've all seen drivers that need something more to be safe. A lot of this tech seems like a real double edged sword but all in all I think we're findning some good uses for it, maybe not GM, but others. Can a hacker access vital functions, or can a hacker get in at all remotely without wireless/BT function?