RDawson

You can lower the front by raising the forks in the triple tree by about an inch: https://www.venturerider.org/forum/topic/152-lowering-the-front-end/?tab=comments#comment-3804 To lower the rear you need a lowering kit that has longer (yes longer) dog bones and a caliper relocation bracket to keep the caliper from hitting the rear fender. Baron’s is the only brand I know of. If you decide to use a lowering kit I have one I’ll let go cheap. It was on my bike when I bought it but I’m too tall for lowering.

I ride what I like and is comfortable to me. If I worried about what others say I’d be on an HD like all the followers, besides that I am an old man so it works.

The RSV has more leg room.

Check your oil to make sure it’s not full of gas. If a float fills a cylinder with gas it’ll break rods.

Instructions to make them are in the tech section. I can punch out a set of you need me to.

Jump it from the six plug in the fairing and it will turn on with the key. Edit since Steve beat me to it, use his kit shown. He makes good stuff.

Now that is an oxymoron if I ever heard one.

The part that really bothers me the most is that kit has been mailed and insured how many times? They’ve made money every time it ships and won’t stand behind it. Thanks again Earl for what you do, that kit saved me a lot of time and headache.

Check the cruise cut off switches at clutch handle, front, and rear brakes. Sloppy levers are a common cause.

I would pull the plugs first thing to try to get a read on them. It should give you an idea where to look further. A second thought is did you get bad gas at your last fill up? I stopped at a Mom n Pop station last year going up to meet Eykamp and my bike started running rough. I got less than a 100 miles on that tank, it took about 3 tanks of fresh gas to completely purge that stuff out.

When parked is there a puddle of gas indicating a stuck float? All 4 pipes heating up equally? Going really rich all at once is unusual.

Checked plugs? Make sure it’s running on all 4 cylinders.

I think the “S” refers to the midnight edition each year. There shouldn’t be any difference in the engine. Somebody correct me if I’m wrong.

Clutch spring is usually the culprit. Mic your clutch plates, OEM plates are pretty stout.

Lots of opinions about exhaust. To me it’s a touring bike and the radio should be louder than the pipes, I listen to it up to 16 hours some days.

How long since the oil was changed? Notchy shifting and trouble finding neutral are an indicator it’s due.

Don’t take my comments as a dig toward you. I am one of the worst about leaving mine turned on and I know better. All it takes is one piece of trash in a carb or a sticky float. I’m thinking of adding an automatic valve to mine before I end up where you are.

I mentioned the same thing, kind of an I-D-10T proofing step. I got out of the habit of turning off the gas with my 1st gen and never got back into it. My bike is setting in the shop right now with the gas on. We got in around 75 miles and supper this evening.

I’ve been considering the last couple years of adding a vacuum petcock to my bike like the Virago and some other smaller bikes had. The hard part to that will be getting gas to the pump on start up. Maybe a 12v solenoid valve instead would be the answer, key on and gas flows.

Glad to hear that @saddlebum . Sorry to see you on the other side of it @Squidley. We discussed it at work last week wondering at how if affects people in such different ways. My wife, one daughter, two brothers, one sister, and several of my nieces and nephews have had it with no major issues other than loss of taste and smell lingering for a long while. One brother has been 4 months with no taste or smell. My wife masks up everywhere and sanitizes constantly and still got it while I took no precautions even at home with her sick and as far as I know never had it yet.

Try bleeding the system at the banjo bolt on the master, then finish at the slave. They trap air right there quite often. Make sure no fluid gets on the plastic, it will melt the the body parts.

The hard start referred to is caused by hydro locking the engine. If carb floats stick or leak with the gas left on it will fill the cylinders with gas, then when you try to start it the liquid can’t be compressed so it bends or breaks rods. Gas will also fill the crankcase. If you replace the engine make sure to get the carbs rebuilt and set correctly or you could very well blow the new engine the same way. 1st gens aren’t near as likely to do this since their gas tanks are below the carbs.

https://www.venturerider.org/forum/topic/187-a-list-of-known-problems-on-the-second-gen-venture/page/2/?tab=comments#comment-641876 Don’t let this list spook you, it’s pretty comprehensive of things to look for over time. They’re great bikes.

I’m sure it’ll depend a lot on location but around my neck of the woods $4000-5000 is what they bring. The Ventures never caught on here for some reason, Wings and HD hogged the touring market. I got my 07 three years ago for $4k with 30k on the clock.

Uhhmmm I thought the WNY is the week before?