Gary N.

It's has been a few years but I believe I bought a set of Avons but had to go to the smaller front tire. For myself, I didn't care for the handling with the smaller front tire so I went back to the 404s.

I forgot to mention, there's one less raccoon in Norfolk county. No damage to our truck that I have found.

Made it home around 4:00 pm. We took the long, slow way home and had rain most of the way. It was nice to be in the truck. Thanks to all the organizers for a great few days with friends. Thanks also to Mike and Tammy, your lunch in the park was fantastic.

Hi Dave, my first trailer was a 6X12 enclosed, single axle. I made a custom wheel chock and was able to haul two bicycles sideways in front of my motorcycle. The trailer was 1200 lbs empty and was just over 6' high on the inside. I liked being able to haul the bike inside to keep the salt spray, rain, or snow off of it. Plus it's nice to be able to store the bike inside at night. I have a friend with the same trailer and he keeps his gold wing in it all the time as he only has a single car garage at his house. If you decide to go this way I suggest that you get rear corner stabilizer jacks so that you can use the ramp door to load and unload even when the trailer is not hooked to your motor home. It really isn't that hard to maneuver a trailer going forward as it will follow you wherever you go. Reverse takes a little more practice but really isn't that difficult. Remind me to tell you about the time we got on a dead end road in New Mexico with no place to turn around so I had to back up 1 1/2 miles in the dark. Actually get Mary to tell you....she tells a better story...LOL.

Today in Windsor Ontario sunset is at 9:08 pm. We are about as far south in Canada as you can get without having a boat. Right at the 42 parallel north latitude, the same as northern California.

For my '06 RSV with full coverage, $1000.00 deductible, one million liability, it went up to $1271 this year. $160 more then last year. State Farm or what ever they call themselves now. ???? Agent said they rearranged their territories plus 8% increase. I live in the country and what ever territory I used to be in was one of the lowest cost ones. But I'll bet they have lumped us in with the city of Windsor and you know what that means. Been with State Farm for 40 years. Everything is with them but they have changed underwriter in Canada and now the prices are going up. Time to go shopping.

It was great to see you again Scott. Glad you were able to make it.

Can you imagine the valve and ignition timing on one of those. What a piece of engineering.

Very sorry to hear this news. RIP Dan!

Make sure your health insurance covers you when out of country. Buy CDN dollars at a bank to get the best exchange rate. Tell your credit card company where and when you are traveling. Black flies will be in season on the North Shore in June. Make sure you're sitting down when you see the price of fuel.

@BuddyRich was making replacements in a dark tint to match his lower cowling deflectors but that was quite a few years ago. I don't know if he is still into that or not. I could use a new set too. Here's a link to the deflectors he used to make. http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?36265-Getting-the-wind-off-your-knees&highlight=wind+deflectors

You may find this site interesting. I used to spend a lot of time on it when I still had my antique tractors. http://www.yesterdaystractors.com/

Congratulations GREAT Grandpa! WOW! you must be old.

I met this interesting character on a bike ride in Texas Hill Country.

Sorry Puc, I'll have to take the penalty!

Mary and I finally had a chance to see the 2018 Eluder and Transcontinental the other day. No test ride but we got to have a good look and sit on them. The Eluder is not what we would be interested in but it is a very sharp looking eye catcher. Mary said it looked like a transformer but she wasn't interested in even sitting on it without the passenger backrest or trunk. With the cut down wind screen and blacked out paint sceem I thought it looked very stealthy and mean. It had a real nice low rumble sound when running. We had to seek out another dealer to find a Transcontinental. We both really liked the look of it although I think I like the side profile better then the front and rear. I guess a little to modern looking for me. It will probably grow on me as time goes on and I see a few more. I really like the lighting both front and rear. Sitting on this one I really notice the lower sitting position compared to my '06. My '06 has been raised up in the rear with shorter dog bones. The low centre of gravity on the '18 made it a breeze to get off the side stand and flat footing with or without the passenger is no problem. I could actually get the bike up straight just using my arms without pushing anything with my leg if you get what I mean. Mary's first impression on the back seat was that she missed the wrap around back rest. She thought the floor board position was good and that she had a little more room for her feet compared to the '06. She said the seat felt good but knowing her as I do, I know after an hour or two she would be complaining that it's too hard. I'm pretty sure that I wouldn't have the same issue. I hate the pillow top on the '06 and use rider beads 100% of the time so the firmness of the '18 I thought was more like the '03 that we had and I liked much better. I found the seat much narrower in the front and no pinch point like the '06. (Lots of Ball Room). The trunk is huge and I liked the little shocks that hold it up. As soon as you push the button, up she goes. And it looks like you could open it even with the passenger on the bike, without to much trouble. The saddle bags look very big on the outside but the opening looks small. The gasket around the top looks like it would do a great job of keeping water and dirt out. I was happy to see the front crash guards but disappointed not seeing anything to protect the rear. There's a lot of plastic to get damaged in a minor fall over. Running the Transcontinental, I thought it might have been just a bit quieter then the Eluder but without having them side by side, that might not be the case. Or the top trunk helps to muffle the sound a bit, I don't know. The motor revs up smoothly without any noticeable vibration. I figured out how to operate the reverse function (salesman didn't know how it worked) and although the bike is very easy to push around, I can see that it will be a great feature and wish I had it on my '06. I find it hard to believe that the new bike is 100#s heavier then the 2nd gen. Standing it up and moving back and forth in the showroom was real easy for this old man with bad knees. I'm kind of old school when it comes to the infotronics. I didn't even get into looking at them all on this bike. I don't own a cell phone and don't want too. Just to complicated for my little brain I guess. Remember when cars had two knobs and five push buttons on the radio. So would I buy a new Venture?? I don't know. I still would have to ride one. I want to look at the new Goldwing. I still love the old school look of the Indian Roadmaster. It remains to be seen what the out the door selling price with be compared to the competition.

Congratulations Don!

I did the Top of the world Hwy. on my 2nd Gen but that's only about 100 miles and it was dry. Bike and wife got filthy dirty. I'd do it again in a heart beat.

Can't do that in the north. Calcium chloride or salt brine. Works good for the added weight but hard on the tractor wheels. Chains work best for snow. A 3ph weight box can be removed for lawn work.

Just an FYI in case someone might be interested. I stopped into Destination Cycle in Kerrville, TX today and they have a Silver '05 RSV with the Voyager Trike Kit already installed. Salesman said it's on consignment. $7500. http://www.destinationcycle.com/default.asp?page=xPreOwnedInventoryDetail&id=4495596&p=3&s=Year&d=D&fr=xPreOwnedInventory

So sorry to hear this news Craig. Keep your chin up my friend and know that we are all pulling for you.

Our sympathy and condolences to you both and your family. Gary and Mary

With the tailgate down you could run into a problem when towing a travel trailer, depending on the length of the tongue, especially when doing a sharp turn. Now without the tailgate and a longer box where the bike isn't hanging over the back of the truck as much this would be less of a consideration. I have had trailers that I couldn't drop the tailgate down without it hitting the tongue jack.

Here is the loader I use. I like the fact I can leave the tailgate on and close the back on the truck up after the bike is off. http://www.mountainmaster.net/motorcycleloadingsystem.html

Mary and I are spending Christmas visiting some friends in Tomball Tx. This morning I was out washing my truck up and the neighbour behind us came over to say hi. Turns out he was a member here many years ago. His nick name on the site was Skid Row (Dan). He lives here in the park and now owns a Triumph. I don't really remember him from the site other then seeing his nick name on posts but he totally remembered me because of my bike accident ten years ago. It's sure neat to run into Venture Riders anytime, whether planned or by chance.