greg_in_london

Bikes and sidecars nearly all have some level of steering wobble, but with mine I have almost none, so I've always thought that the Venture was pretty good for this. My suspension system is not standard anymore, but even when it was, I had no problem. Mind you, I hardly ever take both hands off of the bars... Except when stationary. But then I don't have to put my feet down, it is so steady. . .

Would this be the one ? Only rhs listed, but... http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Yamaha-YZF750R-YZF750-YZF-750-R-94-Right-Front-Caliper-/400116446004?pt=UK_Motorcycle_Parts&hash=item5d28cc7334 Six pistons, or 12 if unliked and two calipers, I'd be surprised if a 1/2" master cylinder was enough !

Hmmm - 105 secs using a touchpad on the laptop. My eyes are feeling tired and they seemed to be moving pretty quick - that's my excuse.

If taking the cable ot kills the noise, then some oil sprayed up the drive connection might help. For a quick check it would be easier to disconnect from the bottom, but make sure you tape it somewhere safe AND block the end to stop the inner cable falling out (or remove it).

It's surprising that you can lose so much fluid without seeing any trace of a leak anywhere though. Where have you looked ?

It is a linked braking system and not obvious, so not daft to ask. It could be working perfectly and you have just not known how to check it, or it may need an overhaul. If the 'back' is slowing you down surprisingly well, now you know why ! Yup - they sure have, but PLEASE don't ask which is better until you've searched and read the existing threads.... (and then - please still don't...)

I was surprised at the range you got. Ignoring one odd figure, you got from low thirties to fifty mpg (imperial) which is a massive variation (+50% !!). Just how much did your riding vary ?

I think it's the general price, but that might be worth checking. I used the Sirius diaphragms without any problems, though having noticed the JMB instructions, will check I got the slides the right way round when I next look in the carbs.

That's a shame - it was worth changing the diaphragm as part of a diagnostic process before. The JBM kit is worth looking at as it is the same price (I haven't tried, but was thinking for an XJ550). The difference appears to be that with sirius, you squeeze the lip of the diaphragm between the edges of the two disks, whereas with the JBM you remove the disk and use the thick rubber of the diaphragm, making it a one-way change. http://jbmindustries.com/Yamaha650.html This is the link for the 550, not the venture.

I didn't fiddle with the the wiring to the compressor because I killed the air seal on the shock. I had another shock made up which was a little longer than standard (about half an inch) and had a screw thread for the spring seat, so I have a lot of adjustment. It cost £120 several years ago, but I think the machine shop kept the measurements. If you really want to try this, it would give you some leaway to fettle the suspension until you got it right. You could try a stiffer spring which would stop it bottoming out, though obviously the ride would be a little stiffer. You could do the maths on a shorter stiffer spring and a weaker one too, but you'd have to be careful to avoid the coils locking and busting the spring seat. (I did this after preloading an uprated, thicker spring, waiting for the replacement. That was while on holiday abroad - getting back was not great fun, but the effect of Irish roads should have been predictable in retrospect...)

Chitterlings ? is that like tripe ? I guess it would depend on how you cook it. I don't suppose it is anything like haggis, which is good and spicy and has a pleasant texture. Tripe I never fancied trying though.

Without air in the back the Venture sits pretty low anyway - no matter how short your inside leg, lowering too far will mean you don't need a centre stand and might need to avoid roads with bumps or bends in.

Well done, nice pics. PUNISH those V-Maxes..

Well done, nice pics. PUNISH those V-Maxes..

some differences depended on model and market. My '83 has cruise control. It doesn't work, but it's there...

Yup, liked them.

Mayonnaise - nuuurgh ! I bet you have vinegar and sugar in your mustard

Randy, Is there a polite way of saying this....

http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh10/greg_in_london/queen.jpg To the citizens of the United States of America from Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II: In light of your immediate failure to financially manage yourselves and also in recent years your tendency to elect incompetent Presidents of the USA and therefore not able to govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective immediately. (You should look up 'revocation' in the Oxford English Dictionary.) Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will resume monarchical duties over all states, commonwealths, and territories (except Kansas , which she does not fancy). Your new Prime Minister, David Cameron, will appoint a Governor for America without the need for further elections. Congress and the Senate will be disbanded. A questionnaire may be circulated sometime next year to determine whether any of you noticed. To aid in the transition to a British Crown dependency, the following rules are introduced with immediate effect: 1. The letter 'U' will be reinstated in words such as 'colour,' 'favour,' 'labour' and 'neighbour.' Likewise, you will learn to spell 'doughnut' without skipping half the letters, and the suffix '-ize' will be replaced by the suffix '-ise.'Generally, you will be expected to raise your vocabulary to acceptable levels. (look up 'vocabulary'). (I love that one) Using the same twenty-seven words interspersed with filler noises such as ''like' and 'you know' is an unacceptable and inefficient form of communication. There is no such thing as U.S. English. We will let Microsoft know on your behalf. The Microsoft spell-checker will be adjusted to take into account the reinstated letter 'u'' and the elimination of '-ize.' ' (I love that one too) 3. July 4th will no longer be celebrated as a holiday. 4. You will learn to resolve personal issues without using guns, lawyers, or therapists. The fact that you need so many lawyers and therapists shows that you're not quite ready to be independent. Guns should only be used for shooting grouse. If you can't sort things out without suing someone or speaking to a therapist, then you're not ready to shoot grouse. 5. Therefore, you will no longer be allowed to own or carry anything more dangerous than a vegetable peeler. Although a permit will be required if you wish to carry a vegetable peeler in public. 6. All intersections will be replaced with roundabouts, and you will start driving on the left side with immediate effect. At the same time, you will go metric with immediate effect and without the benefit of conversion tables. Both roundabouts and metrication will help you understand the British sense of humour. 7. The former USA will adopt UK prices on petrol (which you have been calling gasoline) of roughly $10/US gallon. Get used to it.) 8.You will learn to make real chips. Those things you call French fries are not real chips, and those things you insist on calling potato chips are properly called crisps. Real chips are thick cut, fried in animal fat, and dressed not with catsup but with vinegar. 9. The cold, tasteless stuff you insist on calling beer is not actually beer at all. Henceforth, only proper British Bitter will be referred to as beer, and European brews of known and accepted provenance will be referred to as Lager. New Zealand beer is also acceptable, as New Zealand is pound for pound the greatest sporting nation on earth and it can only be due to the beer. They are also part of the British Commonwealth - see what it did for them. American brands will be referred to as Near-Frozen Gnat's Urine, so that all can be sold without risk of further confusion. 10. Hollywood will be required occasionally to cast English actors as good guys. Hollywood will also be required to cast English actors to play English characters. Watching Andie Macdowell attempt English dialogue in Four Weddings and a Funeral was an experience akin to having one's ears removed with a cheese grater. 11. You will cease playing American football. There are only two kinds of proper football; one you call soccer, and rugby (dominated by the New Zealanders). Those of you brave enough will, in time, be allowed to play rugby (which has some similarities to American football, but does not involve stopping for a rest every twenty seconds or wearing full kevlar body armour like a bunch of nancies). 12. Further, you will stop playing baseball. It is not reasonable to host an event called the World Series for a game which is not played outside of America . Since only 2.1% of you are aware there is a world beyond your borders, your error is understandable. You will learn cricket, and we will let you face the Australians (World dominators) first to take the sting out of their deliveries. 13. You must tell us who killed JFK. It's been driving us mad. 14. An internal revenue agent (i.e. tax collector) from Her Majesty's Government will be with you shortly to ensure the acquisition of all monies due (backdated to 1776). 15. Daily Tea Time begins promptly at 4 p.m. with proper cups, with saucers, and never mugs, with high quality biscuits (cookies) and cakes; plus strawberries (with cream) when in season. God Save the Queen! http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh10/greg_in_london/trailer.gif

@Pegasus: All hydraulic systems have a bit of a trade off between volume of fluid moved and pressure. If you use a larger diameter master cylinder, (ie for the front) then you will be able to operate two calipers, but at slightly lower pressure (80-85%?) so although the brakes will be more powerful, you won't have have quite double the braking force. Staying with the original master cylinder could mean that the level comes all the way back to the bars (though one poster said they had managed okay. To answer your point, though, using a rear master cylinder 'designed for two calipers' will tend to make it less grabby, or slightly more wooden, than one designed for one caliper (narrower diameter). It would not be more likely to lock up. @Saddlebum: As I understand it, and from discussions of older British cars with proportioning valves, there are two parts to this system. 1) There is a restrictor near the headstock. This restricts the flow to the front left caliper. The IDEA is that it prevents the front left disk from grabbing too hard too early. A simple restriction would not stop you reaching maximum power over continued braking, so there is less control over the front brake as the fluid flows through. If maximum power does not lock the front brake, you will see no problem. If you only lock the wheel when you use the master cylinder for the second disk, then you're probably also happy with the system. Assuming this arrangement is sufficient to stop you. If you want maximum feel, control and power, then you want to delink. [if your pads are old or the system otherwise not well maintained (not saying that this applies to anyone, just describing a scenario) so that you are struggling to get maximum pressure, then admittedly you will get more pressure on the rh disc with a 13mm master cylinder and POTENTIALLY more on the lh disk by standing on the brake pedal.] 2) The proportioning valve. The idea is that as you brake, the bike's weight is transferred onto the front wheel, so there is less weight on the back. The argument is that using the back brake is then likely to lock the wheel and is therefore dangerous. The proportioning valve has a sliding valve which is intended to reduce the pressure to the back brake as deceleration increases. I'm not sure that it can actually work like that - overcome the pressure of the foot pedal, but that is what it is designed to do. The aim is therefore to take the pressure off the back brake while the pressure slowly increases on the front, matching the relative weight distribution on each wheel. As deceleration reduces (and weight transfers back to the rear) the proportioning valve allows full use of the back brake. Without measuring braking force/pressure, the initial proprtion might be 70% rear, 30% front on application, passing through 50%, 50% as the weight transfers and THEN 30% rear, 70% front as pressure rises. I assume that this would take less than a second, certainly less than two, under heavy braking, maybe longer if braking is gentle. I can entirely understand why anyone would prefer this system in certain emergency situations - it operates to make it less likely that the wheels will be locked up in an emergency (assuming normal road conditiond) - but it does it by reducing the effectiveness of brakes, which it is presumed are powerful enough to have capacity to spare. The wide margin for error on brakes which I really wouldn't have said were powerful to start with, together with UK road conditions which might be different to yours meant the decision to change was easy. I haven't tried linked brakes with R1 brakes, so I can't comment on those, but my experience with the original set-up might have biased me against them, especially as my day-day commute bike has unlinked brakes so I'm unlikely to adjust easily. @ Condor: The Venture was only imported in 1984, maybe a couple of hundred, maybe less. The story I heard was that Honda complained that Yamaha was breaching design patents by having a motorcycle with a radio ?? Sounds odd to me, but it seems Yamaha backed off from the argument and did not import the Venture after that until it beacme a Royal Star. I think that the Suzuki Cavalcade and Kawasaki Voyager were only imported for a very short time and in even smaller numbers around that time. We started to see more Ventures with the easing of markets thro' the EEC and upsurge of the 'grey import' market from Japan, plus other bikes from dry areas of the states which were imported as old bikes, but to the UK market appeared new as they were devoid of rust ! So - maybe 10-20 1300 Ventures ever in the country ? Who knows.

Hmmmm - agree with Marcarl - you're getting a clunking when the forks compress and no handling issues. Check that nothing is fouling as the forks compress, but you might find it easier without the air in the forks.... If the sound really is coming from the forks, it could just be the springs moving inside. That might not be a problem at all. First consideration though is whether you have changed your fork oil (or checked it has enough in there). Changing the fork oil is a fairly important service item that is often neglected. You can do it with the bike on the centrestand without removing the forks, so it's not too hard, but you'll need a 17mm allan key, or 17mm nuts locked onto a 10mm bolt to undo the slugs in the tops of the fork legs (to pour more oil in). Having said that, I upgraded my front fork springs with Sonic Springs, (linear, not progressive) because mine has a sidecar fitted.

Like I said, I wouldn't want to put you off - I've found sidecars are great fun and when you're travelling, everybody wants to be your friend (and come for a ride). But... when I say that you need to steer it, I mean that you need to physically grab the bars and steer it - in the UK they were sometimes called chariots. Depending on the suspension available and quality of roads, the sidecar wheel dropping into potholes at the side of the road can be punishing over long distances, so it can be more tiring over long distances (although we've criss-crossed Europe on ours). If you have a medical condition, on the one hand try before you buy, but on the other hand don't expect to be able to just jump on without time to adapt. Driving an outfit is a whole new skill, though what you learn will make you a much better driver in any vehicle.

I did manage to locate some R1 calipers, but the 1300 was never sold in the UK, so the fork legs were not easily available before Ebay. I know someone who did manage to buy an imported one and they bought the calipers off of me. I think they found some improvement, though not as much as they hoped. It might well be that the R1 brakes on a linked system outperform a de-linked system with standard calipers, likewise adapting the proprtioning/reducing valve. Remember the linked system prevents the standard caliper working efficiently, or with full control/sensitivity, so criticising them as not being powerful enough on a linked system would be a little unfair (if they actually had any feelings to be concerned about). With all the massive weight on the front end, I'd have to admit that travelling straight on a good, SMOOTH and DRY surface, travelling at speed, I would find it difficult to lock the front wheel. That's fine by me though and the brakes slow me quickly enough. In less optimal settings I could lock up the front wheel if I so chose, or more likely brake heavily under control. Looking at the 2012 Venture ad (watering hole thread) I'm surprised that what used to be sold as a high spec machine doesn't have ABS even as an option, even though the Luddite in me says that I could do without.

Oh you lot - if you're going to fall off because you use the brakes, put a double adult stabiliser on the side. If you de-link the brakes, the back master cylinder has the capacity to run a sidecar brake as well. then it's really hard to fall off. I didn't crash into anything when I had linked brakes, but they weren't powerful. With the extra weight of the outfit though, especially when pulling a trailer, the weak brakes REALLY showed up. De-linking gave me much more braking power, but as the whole rig when loaded and with me and the missus are on it adds up to about a ton, I probably need more brakes than most. With a braked trailer I stop okay, even without changing the calipers. Most others will be okay with the linked setup if you put SS hoses on and make sure the rest is maintained. It just didn't meet my needs.

If you have back problems you really need to get the loan of an outfit to make sure it is for you. The rake and trail on the Venture mean that even with a sidecar, you don't have to work too hard to steer it, but that is speaking relatively. It still takes quite a bit of effort to throw it about compared with a solo, although a suitable leading link front end or hub-centre steering set-up would alleviate that. I wouldn't want to put you off, but getting an outfit set up for you nad then finding that it was no good for your back would be disappointing to say the least. (Especially as I'm selling my old XJ750 and sidecar on Ebay...) I've never driven a trike, so I don't know how much input you need to pilot them - probably less I'd imagine.