circa1968

Finally got around to processing from pics from my camera. Wow, it was fun to relive the trip for a few minutes in pictures! In order, the pictures are from: Sunset on Rockies, Garden of Gods, Royal Gorge Bridge, Black Canyon of Gunnison NP, Arches NP, & Zion NP

As a relative newcomer here, and someone who is new to working on motorcycles, the way I was not only accepted but encouraged and taught is unheard of on the internet, in my experience. I quickly learned to shun social media and do not regularly share my life experiences online other than through communications to friends and family - which grew immensely upon joining this group. God Bless all of you and your families!

Well, that's the least I could do considering all the help I've gotten here getting my girl running right & looking good! still working on those pics though.

Prayers are up my brother! Stay positive and get well soon!

Yeah, I know...working on it. Unfortunately, I was so in awe of the scenery, the Venture never made it into any of my pics.

So, a quick update on this little project after ~4k miles. It has held up well and seems to be doing what I hoped it would - catching oil droplets before they get sucked into the airbox. Attached is the oil collected after the 4k miles since installing. I have not pulled the tank to inspect the airbox or #1 carb closely but just doing a quick visual look up under the tank, I do not see the buildup of oil residue that was previously occurring on #1 (left/shifter side, rear).

I just went through Zion last week and spent two days there. Weather was perfect. Not sure if that was normal or an anomaly for mid-May, but I loved it. For your return ride, consider hiway 50 from Colorado Springs to Montrose, shoot up to 70 and then find 128 on the map and take it into Moab. You will not be disappointed. The ride into & through Zion was awesome! We came into Zion via the eastern route via 89 to 9. Ride Safe!

Pretty cool idea! I just finished a 9-day trip and took some pictures along the way for memories, but there was much more to the trip than what was captured in photos.

At the beginning of April, I rode my '07 Venture to KC to help my brother out after having back surgery. Due to a variety of unforeseen circumstances, I ended up leaving the bike in his barn and fly back home to San Jose. Fast forward a month and my son wrapped up his 1st year of college in St. Louis and wanted to drive home and see some of our National Parks along the way. We threw together a quick plan, made some reservations and my wife & I jumped on a plane to KC to pick up the bike and meet my son to start the journey. As it turned out, my wife never got on the bike with me as we only packed warm weather riding gear for her. There were only two days that would have been appropriate for her riding with me. I was extremely tired from a long hike on the 1st day and the 2nd was a miserably hot day going into Vegas. So, the trip highlights, in order: Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs (highly recommend!) Royal Gorge Bridge (cool to see, but not my favorite) Highway 50 from Colorado Springs to Montrose (2 of the best days of riding scenery I've ever had....at this point...) Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP Arches NP (amazing! Did a nice hike to Delicate Arch) Bryce Canyon NP (pretty cool, but not something I would make a trip just to see, but I was also wiped out from the ride there.) Zion NP (Wowsers of all wowsers!) We did the Angel's landing hike on day 1 but I chickened out of the last mile which required holding on to chains as you climbed up with a straight dropoff 1500' down! 2nd day we hiked the Narrows @ Zion, best hike ever! We rented water boots/socks & poles as the hike is up a river in water that ranges from ankle to waist deep. We got very deep into the slot canyons & had to climb up a couple of small waterfalls, fallen trees, boulders, etc. It was quite an adventure! Was completely wiped out at the end of the day. Las Vegas - hmm, I actually don't have a lot of good to say about Vegas itself, the strip is way overbuilt, overcrowded and apparently a favorite hangout for pot smokers (to each his own, its just not my thing and I don't like to be around it - and it was inescapable). But, the highlight from our day in Vegas was at the Vegas speedway. My son & I each took 5 laps behind the wheel in a 760HP Shelby GT500 Mustang! That's an unreal amount of power and one intense experience. And now, the favorite part of the trip for all three of us: The drive down highway 128 from I-70 to Moab (on our way to Arches). By chance, we met a couple from Ohio the day before who recommended taking 128, even though every mapping app does not tell you to go that way. We said what the heck, let's check it out. OMG! And I say that with all due respect because the one thought that kept popping into my mind on hiway 128 was "This must be where God goes to hang out on his day off..." If you ever make it westward, hiway 128 is an absolute must see. Its ~40 miles and will take an hour to drive. I hate to oversell it, but I am not ashamed to admit that the beauty of this place literally moved me to tears. Perhaps my expectations were so low that they were easy to exceed. Perhaps its some weird manopause hormonal thing I got goin on that made me tear up. Perhaps I need to get out more. But in any case, after a little over 2,000 miles in 9 days, 4 National Parks in 4 days, it was the favorite part of the trip for all three of us. Highly recommended! And my love of my Venture just grows deeper! I got more than one "Nice Bike!" comment along the way.

100% agree, Mike is awesome. He not only helped me get my bike running right w/ rebuilt carbs, he helped me getting it looking right too! He will tell you differently on that last point though as we seem to have a difference of opinion on how much chrome is too much chrome. 🤣 He's a standup guy and genuinely cares about helping a brother out. Between @eusa1, @Patch, @cowpuc and the many others who gave me advice, encouraged me and taught me, I'm enjoying the heck out of my Venture now that she's running right!

Awesome @cowpuc! Sorry, not to be judgmental, bossy or controversial, but please wear a proper bicycle helmet when riding. I ride ~1300 miles/year, road and trail/Mtn. I average going down 1-2 times a year, mostly on the mtn bike but I’ve gone down on the road bike too. I track my rides on a garmin gps & have literally gone from 15-20mph to 0mph in an instant when crashing. It doesn’t sound like much but I can assure you the noggin is along for the ride at that point & will hit the ground hard. Look for a helmet with MIPS design. The outer part of helmet is designed to rotate slightly about the head on impact, taking up part of the impact energy. They may look dorky, but so do wheelchairs. Ok, off my soapbox now. Enjoy the bikes, have fun & be safe!

I've been told that getting old is not for wussies. I plan to find out. I'm 52 and turning 50 was a wake up call to take better care of myself. Cycling, working out and an occasional jog are part of my regimen now along with intermittent fasting, eating lots of fruit & veggies and drinking green tea. But damn, I still like pizza, a good ribeye, hamburgers and ice cream! Be well @bluesky and keep inspiring us!

Words of wisdom and prayers for you to have a speedy recovery.

I’m interested, about 500 miles from you. Just sent you a PM with my info.

Thank you for the compliment Sir!

What I did to my venture today.... Gave her a bath after finishing a 5- day, 1900 mile road trip! BTW, does anyone else ever think about selling all other worldly possessions and spending the rest of your life just seeing the country on your Venture???? Couldnt stop thinking how awesome this is! Photos from middle of nowhere(northeast corner of New Mexico, Hiway54). Small town with three buildings, one of which was this tired old service station. After snapping a few pics, curiosity got the better of me & I had to peer in the garage bay windows. I was floored by what was inside!

Good for you @cowpuc Cycling is my other 2-wheel passion. I was once a naysayer when it came to electric bikes but I’ve seen so many people out enjoying cycling that otherwise would not be doing so without an e-bike. That’s a good thing.

Very cool! I imagine there would be a slight loss in audio quality but nothing you are going to notice on a motorcycle. I might have gone this route if I’d known about it at the time, but chose to remove the cassette play, make a storage cubby and hardwired a BT receiver to power & the aux input. All hidden inside the fairing. In the end, I’m happy with what I did, but it was a lot more work than this solution. Just finished a 5-day road trip to KC and having some good tunes via BT while traversing the desert was a blessing!

@KC61, the Venture is a great bike. I had a '99 until I gave up riding after my son was born and just picked up a 2007 last year with 21k miles on it. I loved my '99 Venture and had no reservations about picking up another one to get back in the saddle all these years later. However, it turned out I did have carb issue due to my bike having had some sit time on it. One of the members here does a $400 carb swap, which is what I ended up doing & the bike runs great now! BTW, ironically, I am leaving in a few days to ride it to KC!

They are made by Cardo. Scal-rider Teamset.

$200 for the lot? Anyone? Tired of looking at these just sitting here, they need to go to someone who can/will use them.

@Fresnojoe I picked up a 2007 last year with just 21k miles on it and ended up having to have the carbs rebuilt. That's not so much a bike issue as it is a crappy ethanol gas and probably not stored right issue. In my case, the bike ran extremely hot due to running lean due to gunked up carbs. With such few miles on a 2000, I would place a bet that a carb rebuild is not far off. Changing the air filter and coolant is not terribly difficult if you have basic mechanical skills. Going from memory, for the air filters you will need a 10mm socket with ~6" extension and a longish phillips screw driver. Loosen the clamp screw holding the boot on behind the airbox, then remove the bolts on top & bottom of the airbox. The whole box will come off and there are about 5 screws holding the two pcs together. Remove those & then once inside, two screws hold the filter in place. Coolant change is a bit more involved and requires tank removal for refilling. The drain is located at the bottom of the radiator. Not difficult, just more steps involved. I'm about 3 hrs north of you so if you get it, give me a shout and will see if we can sync up. They are great bikes.

Congratulations! Beautiful bike! Now, can you do something about the weather back there? I'm planning to ride to KC at the end of the month and will be there most of April, bouncing down to St. Louis on a couple of occasions.

Winter? I gave that up 30 years ago.... Great looking bike! Nice work

We've never met, but I still wish you a happy birthday and many more Don! I sure appreciate what you've done here with this website and this group and hope to get to meet you in person some day.