SilveradoCA

Have you tested the Michelin Commander II? I just mounted a set front and rear (130/90 on the front) and so far am well pleased. Buyer reviews seem to praise these for high mileage and wet traction.

My basic plan was to head down inland, and return, if I return, up the coast. Hammer through the mountains to get to the deserts. That's simply because I'm from Calgary, and have lived and played in the mountains most of my life. I've seen parts of the mountain National Parks that few ever do. I've also lived on the West Coast, twice. Once in Vancouver, and once on North Vancouver Island. I've never been to a proper desert, because Medicine Hat and Osoyoos don't make the cut, for me at least. At this point I'm not sure I can even afford this trip, but I don't believe I can afford to put it off any longer either. It's only partly about riding a motorcycle someplace warm. If it takes that long to get myself positioned to go, such that the likelihood of snow is significant, I can stage at my sister's place in Surrey and leave from there, heading down the coast. It's not a big deal, just incorporates more of a lot of stuff I've already lived more or less.

Thanks Puc, your description of riding in the moonlight through the desert is exactly what I'm looking for. What does CTFW mean?

Funny! My name is James, and I'm from Calgary originally. I have to go there in a week or so, perhaps I'll get in touch with VanRiver for a chat. I'll check out your route on the google machine too, thanks.

I carry my stove fuel in an MSR bottle, and am well familiar with them from my younger backpacking days. The biggest one they make is still a hair under a litre. I feel like I'd have to carry 5 of them to make a difference a long way from anywhere? Fully loaded, I've never seen 300Km (~180 miles) on a tank. 250 is about average; it's either climbing mountains or droning along the highway into the wind, but something always makes her a thirsty whale. Average consumption works out to about 7.5L/100Km. I do imagine that riding speeds in Mexico would be somewhat slower, given what I've read about curvy roads and/or poor asphalt.

It's a 2008 RSV. They're designed to only work in 4th and 5th, and only within a certain speed range, something like 50-140Km/h.

I've used throttle locks on numerous prior bikes, and they're OK. This falls in the category of 'gee it would be better if'... the bike will work with CC in 4th at 60Km/h, it's just way low in the RPM range. She makes plenty of torque, just several thousand RPM higher. I appreciate the feedback though.

Since last summer, I've had no low beam, and no passing lamps. Was going to fix it, and just... didn't. Because depression. I've read (and commented in) this thread already: https://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?48075-Headlight-problem-Please-help&highlight=beam Here's what I can tell you, after splitting the fairing, and replacing the headlamp bulb - I just wrote a long post, then went back and did some more messing around, and here's what I THINK I know:: 1. It's not the headlamp fuse, unless there is a separate fuse for the low and hi beams? The manual doesn't say this is so. 2. It's not the headlamp bulb. I bought a 2-pack and tried them both. Hi beam, no low beam. 3. The power for the passing lamps seems to be tapped into the power for the low beam, using some splitter connectors. One end goes to a rubber button next to the 12V aux plug in the fairing. I honestly thought this was a reset for that aux plug, but I've confirmed it's a switch for the passing lamps. 4. It's not the 10A inline fuse that's behind that reset button. 5. I can get the passing lamps to light by jumping the power supply to them (red wire downstream of the 10A inline fuse) to the yellow/3 silver dashes (HI beam power) wire, or the power for the running lights. I have a multi-meter, and have poked around trying to find a broken circuit, but honestly I have NO IDEA what I'm doing. Wires to the back of the headlamp socket are yellow/3 silver dashes (HI beam power), green/3 silver dashes (LOW beam power?), and black. I really don't understand 12V DC wiring very well... I had assumed the green was the ground. I SEEM to have no voltage or continuity at the green/3 silver dashes wire, inside the blue connector from whence it comes. I think this means there is no power to the low beam circuit, broken someplace upstream of that connector? I CAN make both the low beam and passing lamps light by jumping the split connector that feeds them, to the yellow/3 silver dash pin inside that blue connector, with the headlight switch in the HI beam position. Jumping to the green/3 silver dash pin in the same connector, with the switch in the LOW beam position, delivers nothing. With everything plugged back in where it belongs, I've tried squeezing, probing, pinching etc. on the 2 inches of exposed wires entering the back side of the blue cube connector, and the wiring harness/loom as far up and around as I can reach. Nada. Now what? Do I have to rip apart everything in the fairing to find the problem? I'm working in front of my house, which is a tiny RV in a campground. Is it the headlight switch on the bars? How do I test this? How do I even get it apart? There seems to be only 1 screw, at the bottom and facing forward. I've undone that, and the switch assembly is loose on the bars, but doesn't want to easily come apart. I don't want to force it. EDIT: I've reviewed the RSV wiring diagram here on the site, and it seems the problem can ONLY be either the green wire between the switch and that blue cube connector, that connector itself, or the HI/LOW switch on the bars. Can someone double check my fuzzy logic here? Any help you can give is dearly appreciated.

Thanks for the links fellas. It seems to me I read that RR over on ADVRider, but I'll have a second look. Driver's license? The same one I've had since I was 16. Just a regular class 5/6 (car/motorcycle). But hell, we're not even allowed to cross YOUR border without a passport anymore, so that's not an issue. (In theory... I have to get my renewal sent out this week, will probably take about 4 weeks to get back.) How about while I'm in the USofA? If you drew a big swath from BC to Mexico through the western states, what would YOU want to see, where would YOU want to go? I assume that by the time I'm south of MT/ID, winter weather isn't much of a problem in October/early November? As long as snow isn't sticking to the ground, I'm good.

I've searched the forum, and all the posts on this topic seem to be years old. The last year has been... something. At this point, I'm about one half second away from selling off everything I own (which ain't much), and pointing my bike South before winter gets here. I have an idea that I could possibly find someplace cheap to spend a few months down in Baja; maybe ride a surfboard, catch a fish, eat a taco. I've had discussions all across the web, but thought I'd ask here as well: has anyone ridden a big touring bike down through Baja? I'm thinking all the way to BCS - La Paz, Loreto, Todos Santos, El Pescadero. My intel says that it's probably doable taking Mex 1, which is supposedly paved to various degrees. Apparently Mex 5 has some unpaved/gravel/dirt sections. An ADV bike would probably be more sensible, but ya run what ya brung, my dad used to say. If I can make this happen, and do so before winter, I'll leave from the Kootenay region and take the inland route South. I like to camp most of the time, but usually grab a motel once or twice a week. I'd like some ideas on where to go/what to see through the US. Was thinking to take a month to get to BCS, but all I can think of is to check out the Bonneville salt flats, Death Valley, and...? I've been to Vegas, but will probably stop there as it's en route. In particular I'd like to check out any stops/attractions/etc. related to car and motorcycle culture, or any good concerts/musical venues to hit. How do you folks carry extra fuel on your Venture? I've heard that some places in Baja have longer legs between fuel than my RSV will go on a tank. Any other intel, suggestions, meetups, offers of daughters in marriage? LOL Thanks friends.

A month ago I finally had to take the bitter medicine and replace my tires. It was damned expensive, as I have no place or means to remove the wheels myself. I would have been happy to try the famous Shinko tires, but the local shop said their supplier didn't carry them. OK, next choice was the Michelin Commander II, front and rear. I've loved every set of Michelin tires I've ever owned, on bike or car. (Their HD pickup truck tires are dangerous garbage though.) After giving it some thought, I went with the 130/90 on the front. RUN, don't walk, to your tire shop and do this. Never has a single part so drastically changed the handling of any vehicle I've owned. Cherry's ponderous largesse seemed to be completely gone the second I sat on her and stood her up. I did a few figure 8's in the parking lot of the shop, and almost (ALMOST) immediately forgot about the huge bill I just paid. It's like they somehow removed 50lbs worth of weight from the fairing or something. Yes, the front end is now more sensitive to wind; passing a B-train in a sweeper must be done with serious care and attention. The front end does feel less planted in crosswind or headwind at 130Km/h+ (that's 80 US speed units); very very rarely do I ride that fast, as most of the roads in this area are 2-lane with posted limits of 100Km/h or less. At low to average riding speeds, this feels like what Yamaha should have spec'd on the bike from day 1. Amazing.

Hi gang, long time no post. Life is not so easy some years... Cruise control is one feature of the RSV that lets me ride; I've got severe carpal tunnel syndrome, as well as some nerve damage in the arm/shoulder, and arthritis in the cervical spine. All that at the ripe old age of 40something. I use CC all-the-time, except in heavy traffic (and even then, a little bit). I do find that this bike is almost comically over-geared relative to where the engine wants to make good power. (Would like to do a VMax final drive, but that's just going to have to wait.) So, my question is: is it possible to spoof the CC into operating with the bike in 3rd gear? There are lots of times when I'm riding around 60Km/h, and 4th just seems too high, though it does work.

Is it possible that your bike has been raised in the rear somehow? I'm 5'6" with 28" inseam, and I can flat foot my 2008 RSV with boots on, provided I'm sitting on flat ground. Admittedly my knees are fully straight, but stopping at a light I've got both balls of my feet firmly planted, no tippy toes. I've had the bike for about 10 weeks and ridden ~7000Km; it seemed really big at first, but seems to have shrunk in my perception as the miles roll over.

That's interesting Freebird, and shows how subjective recoil can be to different shooters. One of my favourite rifles to shoot was a BDL in 7mm Rem Mag - recoil is almost identical to a 30/06 in most loads. Every body is a different shape, and each shooter mounts the gun differently.

Well friends, I'm finally home after an absolutely EPIC 4 weeks (less a couple days) on the road. I have lots of words to share, and I'm working on it, both for you, and for me. I'm a sometimes-prolific writer, but suffer from Hemingway's method, meaning I write best drunk, and edit best sober. This is tricky as I don't drink nearly as much as I used to! LOL. I will say that it was a life affirming experience, and for the moment leave you with something I gleaned from the current social media meme school of philosophy: "Sometimes, you find yourself in the middle of nowhere. And sometimes, in the middle of nowhere, you find yourself." Second preview: hammering countless salmon, a California beach right here in Canada, a route that is absolutely MANDATORY for all bikers to ride, and a girl who might be the one that got away. Stay tuned, but gimme a minute!

In a handgun, it would be the one I owned first: a S&W 686 in the 2 1/2" barrel. Whether with the factory 'target' walnut grips with finger grooves, or the Hogue grips I fitted, that little thing was pleasant with mild 38sp target loads, and simply nasty with full-house 357mag loadings. Loud, dirty, punchy in the hands, and generally awful. In a rifle, it would be either the 45/70 I mentioned in the other thread, or a Rem 700 in 300 RUM with an aftermarket muzzle brake fitted. Both were FAR too loud, and the Rem was also ferocious on recoil in spite of the brake, and didn't shoot to my standard of accuracy for all that (the only 700 I ever owned which did not, and I've owned about a dozen of them; I'm also pretty skilled at handloading, and don't shoot store bought loads in my rifles, mostly). In a shotgun, it was a Rem 870 Tactical with a Knoxx recoil reducing stock. The stock reduced the felt recoil to the shoulder incredibly well, but the mechanical movement of it created an unbelievable amount of cheek slap, as well as being so 'busy' that managing follow up shots was difficult to say the least. I shot faster, with more rounds in scoring zones, with a regular stock. ETA: I just remembered that I once fired a 460 Weatherby rifle, owned by the father of a friend of mine. He had bought it for an African hunting safari, fired it a few times on that trip, and not much afterward. I don't blame him. That thing was an intolerable bastard of a gun. Like almost all Weatherby's, it was hideous to look at (Jack O'Connor once blessed them with the "California Cathouse" moniker for design), and almost impossible to shoot. Expensive garbage, in my opinion, but if you wanted to shoot to the Moon, I suppose it might get you close.

Nice summary of your experience Jamaha. Though I haven't ridden a new Venture yet, I do like them a lot. Yamaha makes a great motorcycle (my favourite brand, honestly). I've only owned my 2008 Royal Star Venture for less than two months, but having put just about 7000Km on her, I can say that I'm suitably satisfied, and retain my fondness for Yamaha bikes. I'm in the camp that is disappointed that the new Venture doesn't carry a V4, but only because the Venture name has a proud history with that motor, and because the new V-Max mill is a monster that, even in a subtler tune, would destroy all comers in the segment. That said, as a former Road Star owner, and having extensively ridden a number of V-Star and Virago bikes, Yamaha makes excellent V-twin engines. All else about the new Venture bikes seems well sorted, and they look cool with that '60's muscle car front grin built into modern lines across the rest of the bike. Free advice being worth exactly the price paid, I think you should go with your impression and... Buy It. Ride It. Smile.

45/70 isn't particularly pleasant to fire rested from a bench, but it's fine from standing, kneeling or sitting, provided you're well practiced in handling recoil from a large bore rifle. I never recommended anything over 30-06 for inexperienced shooters when I was teaching. The one Marlin GG that I had was fun, however... it was an older ported model. Once I decided that I should shoot it without ear protection, as if in a hunting situation taking a snap shot. I sold the rifle the next day! My ears rang for 2 days; it had a far more savage muzzle blast than any rifle before or since. In terms of recoil and shootability, my favourites have been in 375 H&H and 375 Ruger. My perception of the recoil is not much worse than a stout magnum in the 300 class, honestly, but MAN do they carry some energy.

Humans learned how to party in the late Neolithic period. That is, we figured out fermentation, and use of the opium poppy and cannabis. (It's tough to say about tobacco, as it's indigenous to the Americas, and recorded history is fuzzier on that front, owing almost strictly to occupancy by peoples who did not develop written languages.) That would be somewhere between 6000-9000 years ago... just about the same time we learned basic agriculture. It's preposterous that all three of those can be useful and even medicinal in proper doses, but only two of those three substances are lethally toxic in ingestible doses, and cause an indisputable litany of health and social problems, yet are deeply woven into the fabric of western society; while the third, which requires no processing nor enhancement before consumption (by the most common method), has active compounds which are not toxic in the body, and has far fewer adverse primary and secondary effects, is absolutely illegal, and mere possession of which carries severe criminal penalties in many jurisdictions. The most hysterical part is that cannabis has only been illegal for about 100 years! Further, it's illegality in North America began in order to protect a very profitable TEXTILE crop: cotton; and more insidiously, to further racist agendas against black and hispanic people. The only true challenges with legalizing cannabis are not specific to that product, but involve issues of impairment and misuse (cannabis is not, strictly speaking, addictive, but it's use certainly can be habit forming).

I'm going to measure and cut a small stick of wood with a V or U shaped notch in it, and an elastic keeper over the end. The wood will be the correct length so that when attached to the right side saddlebag support, it will touch the ground when the bike is level. This will allow me to pull the bike up level and balance it on the stick while crouching down to check the oil level; right hand on the handlebar, left hand on the passenger grab bar. I used a jack stand to do this before I left on my trip. This is the same idea, only smaller, portable, and somewhat less stable. I believe it will be good enough.

I've been visiting family in Calgary and Vancouver, with a quick stop up in the Shuswap, and then camping on the outside coast of Vancouver Island for a few days, with zero cell service and certainly no wifi. I've got a couple thousand words written, with more to come, but it's almost midnight, and my buddy and I are leaving on his boat at 5AM for 3 days of fishing out of Campbell River. I'll post up a bunch when I get back to the world on Sunday night or Monday morning, but suffice it to say that this trip has been incredible so far. Preview: cute French sisters from Quebec, game changing crab & scallop croquettes, misanthropic log truck divers, and powerslides in the rain. Stay tuned! Catch you on the road.

From what I've read on "darkside" threads here and elsewhere, but not specific to trikes, the consensus seems to be drastically increased mileage before the tire is worn out. The factory front size is a fairly common rear size on other, smaller bikes.

Updates after a few thousand KM, in the middle of a great road trip: The shorter windshield is much better. A little shorter would be better yet; I'll deal with it later. The brakes need work. I get a HARD pulsation in the front, and a mild one in the rear. It's not such a problem at cruising speed, but actually makes low speed manoeuvres difficult, as either the front or rear are not dragging smoothly. The front at very low speed actually causes the fork to move up and down some. Fluids look good, and there is plenty of pad on all 3 calipers, so I suspect it's the rotors. The calipers move easily on the slider pins by just pushing them with my thumb. They don't seem to drag, as the rotors are not hot when I touch them (carefully!). Has anyone used a bar riser? What do you think? I'd be in an almost perfect position if the bar were between 1-2" further back. I know they are available. Handling... hmm. I need to look into this further. This bike becomes so unsettled when upset by bumps while leaned over in a corner at highway speeds, it's borderline scary. Massive wallowing. The rear tire is fairly worn in the centre, so that is possibly contributing. Me and my gear weigh about 300lbs all in - yes, really. I'm a little fat these days at 175lbs. Yesterday I had about 25lbs pressure in the rear shock, and about 5lbs in the forks. Today I upped the forks to 7lbs and the shock to 45lbs. Front tire is at 36psi, rear at 41psi. (The rear was at 38psi until this morning.) Will see how the increased pressures feel when I hit the road again in the morning. I ride with a very active body position in the twisties (weight somewhat forward), and the heaviest part of my gear (large duffel bag) is on the passenger seat. I don't believe this is a load distribution issue. I will see if I can get a new tire done while I'm on Vancouver Island, and have the steering head bearings checked, but they show none of the usual signs of drastic maladjustment or failure. The bike was given a full inspection by it's 'home dealership' late last year, and saw few miles after that. QUESTION: Do the side cases need to come off for a shop to swap the rear tire, or can the wheel be removed from on a lift without removing the bags? (Just need to know if I will have to empty them beforehand.) The louder pipes the P.O. put on have to go. They sound cool when I get on the throttle and at idle, but they're just too loud for me at cruising speed. I suspect a set of factory take-offs may be hard to come by, but I'll look around. Perhaps some HD Road King take offs will be quieter. I can't identify the pipes that are mounted, as they have ZERO markings anywhere that I can see, including on the bottoms. I found a speedometer app for my phone, and my bike reads 10.5% too high on the speedo. This is annoying, due to the factory cruise control limits. The high limit is 140Km/h, which is really only 125. I will be installing one of those electronic speedo fixers in the near future. Otherwise, as this is my first full dress touring bike, I have to say that it is a remarkably satisfying way to travel.

The scalloping you see on the sides of the tire is probably caused by a combination of under-inflation, and hard acceleration from stopped. The first one is easy to fix, while the second one I've found is impossible.

I like the look of the RSV pared down to a bagger. I think the thing that would finish it off best would be a 1 piece seat; the big pillow top pillion seat seems a little to fluffy for the bagger look IMO. Good luck with your project.