bpate4home

Well, I know I'm a newbie to this forum, just took a while to find y'all. Bounced in and out of quite a few others, some were good and some were . . . . let's just say lacking and even more were just locations for *****ing and critiquing beliefs. I came on board early this year after I sold my '06 Venture and picked up the '18 SVTC. This group has easily been the best group, BY MILES AND MILES. Your experience and willingness to help anyone says a lot about the membership, but it all starts at the top with Freebird. Don, your efforts do not go unnoticed and are greatly appreciated by all. Thanks Don.

congrats

Hope it gets better for you soon. I'm in Houston and ride just about every day depending on travel for work whether I might get on the way to work. Not worried about the way home. Rode in this morning and it was 39 F when I left. Realized that even with the heated grips my old gloves need replacin' and soon. One of these days I may even pick up some chaps. Just have a hard time justifying them with so few 'cold' days here. When I was younger I rode year round in norther Ohio. Here, it's easy to do.

I'm on the Gen 3 V-Twin and put between 12 and 15K on the bike each year. Does this still fit your 2 - 3 year estimates? I feel comfortable with it based on everything I hear and what I've read, that would also put me at 40K mi per plug change. I see the solid input throughout this forum so I put a lot of weight on y'alls opinion.

plus old threads have a lot of merit and sometimes need to be brought back to the front for others to see or someone would just like more input.

I've read through as many of the posts that I could find. As has been stated Yamaha want NGK Standard plugs every 8K miles but why not go with NGK iridium plugs that can last up to 100K miles. Everything I can find shows better firing, better fuel efficiency, less corrosive or fouling etc etc. Even my mechanics and mechanic friends state this is the best route.

Congrats on the turn around and good luck with the new jobs. As for the snow, not so sure about that. Left northern Ohio about 14 years ago for Houston and can't see myself ever moving back. Life without snow (winter in general) has been better and I even like to ski, but it was horrible on my knees. I had a hard time even just walking in the mornings for about 4 - 5 months during the winters up there, here it's 4 - 5 weeks .

I think it's good -> reasonable. I always have basic concerns about low mileage bikes. Engine, Carbs tires etc etc. A good look see is needed. That being said, I sold my '06, virtually identical but with 105K miles, new clutch, new rear shock and needing a few other minor items repaired for ~3K.

Congrats Venturesome. Our loss is your gain!

I was born and raised in northern Ohio and when I started working in downtown Cleveland I would give change or a few bucks to some of the beggars. Later their was a push to stop giving cash so I started offering to buy meals to those who asked for money. At the time I was in my mid 20's and I was shocked when all of them turned me down. In 14 years only 4 took me up on my offer. My daughter worked at a convenient store that was throwing away sandwiches 1-2 days before they expired knowing they wouldn't sell. She talked the manager into letter her have them and she 'made' me take them into downtown. I would hand out 15 - 20 sandwiches in a week. This was more effective but I still watched some throw them away without even looking at them. After moving to Houston 14 years ago I still do the same thing, offering to buy a meal. It's sad to say that even fewer have taken me up on it. I've pretty much given up on this. On the positive side, Cleveland had a news paper called the Homeless Grapevine. There was a regular guy selling this paper and I stopped to talk to him several times. The deal with the paper was simple. They would buy the paper for for .50 and sell it for a dollar. They just had to sign an agreement with the publisher that they would use the money for housing and food. No alcohol or drugs. He was just a guy that was down on his luck, a vet who had lost his job, his house and his family as his wife had left him. I bought that paper from him any time I saw him. I hadn't seen him for a year or so when I ran into him on the street. He was in dress clothes minus the tie, had found a job and was mostly back on his feet. He gave credit to that paper. As he put it, that paper and the associated agreement saved his life. He was a man of commitment and he signed that agreement, that commitment.

Are you suggesting a saddle and just cut off the foot of the stirrups?

Glad to hear you're good.

I wish I would have found this forum 5 - 6 years ago when I first bought my '06. Huge wealth of knowledge here. The other forum I was in can't even touch the soles of y'alls shoes.

I’m in. Good luck all.

Welcome to South Texas . Born and raised in Northern Ohio but would not go back up north. I ride pretty much every day I'm not travelling and I never wake up to 6" of partly cloudy.

When my son was 16 years old he had a Cavalier with a rag top that we replaced. I had never done any upholstery work but we were able to get it on and looking pretty good, seemed to take forever stretching it back and forth. I think Balesman has done a good job. It's tough for a laymen to get the button style look without the right tools for the job and keep the seat soaking up a ton of water. Your thoughts of restretching it is a good one. Once that's done please post the final product. I think it will be well worth the effort.

In '17 I was looking at something similar to this for my '06 RSV. https://www.bikebandit.com/aftermarket-parts/electrical/motorcycle-gauges-indicators/koso-db-01r-multi-function-electronic-speedometer/p/31354?rrec=true The size is very close to the actual opening. I didn't get too much int it though as I heard they were bringing the beast back into production. This particular one covers basically everything including adjustments for tire size. This is from the description 1.77"H x 4.72"W x 1.38"D

I put the risers on after reading what seemed to be hundreds of comments here and elsewhere regarding hand numbness. I experienced this on the RSV also. I had tried adjusting the bars on the RSV and it helped some from when I bought it used. Based on the way I sit on the bike I found that I needed the bars a little under 2" further back on both bikes. This virtually eliminated the numbness issue I would experience. I also just feel completely relaxed with the bars slightly back and up from where they were when I got it from the dealer. As a side note I also tried all of the seat positions. I have the stock seat and the small back rest has 3 positions. None of these changed my comfort level or helped with the numbness I experienced.

Good morning N3FOL. I had an '06 RSV and loved the bike putting 75K on it in just over 5 years of owning it. I've had my SVTC now since the end of April and love the change. I have ~8,000 miles on it already thanks to a 2200 Mi. vacation on it and I've had to travel (by plane) for business for 6 - 7 weeks during that time. Basically, getting rid of the business travel, I'm averaging 1800 - 2000 miles a month on it. I have not had any issues with the bike, at all. I believe the navigation could use some changes but to be honest I have not used it much at all. For our trip I used my phone for GPS. The complaints about way points I cannot verify because of this. I did used it to find gas, food etc. As far as the heat issues that have been mentioned by some, I have not experienced those. I live in Houston so it feels a little warmer than the RSV. We are sitting on an engine. I did drill out my exhaust though for a little deeper sound which I think is perfect, still not too loud. I'm 5'7 on a good day :rotfl:and a 28" inseam and the bike fits me well. I ride pretty much every day, the agreement with my wife is under a 40% chance of rain. I had a self imposed low of 40 but that will definitely change with this bike. I also put on Rox risers based on comments here and love them. 2 things I wish I would have done when purchasing the bike was to add the lower wind deflectors and the rack on the trunk. I will probably do both of these later this year.

I was working in a server room in the center of a high rise (24th Floor) in Cleveland OH while this was going on. I had 0 clue, literally. While the rest of the Firm I worked at were surrounding the few TV's scattered about I was engrossed in my work. I found out when someone from my dept. just happened to ask where I was after the order was given to evacuate downtown. The plane that went down in PA made its u-turn over Cleveland and was not responding to the radio and everyone thought it they may just decide to crash it into one of Cleveland's buildings. Remember What Happened Remember those we lost Give thanks for those that ran into the fray instead of away Thank you to our First responders everywhere Thank you to our Volunteer Military and our Veterans everywhere

LOL, yeah baby , actually Makers Cask Strength would be better served cold.

If I see ya, I wave. Have always done that. Sometimes I see a nod in return but mostly everyone throws up a hand.

Glad to hear you're riding some. I too was a little apprehensive going to an air cooled bike. When I was in CA a few years back on business I was able to rent an Indian for a weekend ride from Irvine to San Fran, then back to Irvine and that changed my mind. I was looking heavily at the Gold Wing, the Indian Roadmaster and Chieftain, really being disappointed that Yamaha wasn't making the Venture at the time. I got wind of the Gen 3 just a few months before I planned on pulling the trigger on an Indian. I am so glad I, just by happenstance, waited to get the new Venture.

Sorry I was a little tied up over the weekend. Glad to hear everyone is doing OK.

Dorian has been skirting the NC coast for a couple of hours and should be making landfall soon if not already in the barrier islands. Thankfully it is weakening even more. It should start a northeasterly turn after crossing the islands. Stay safe guys.