greg_in_london

I was thinking something similar - a new filter wouldn't hurt, but I want changes to be upgrades wherever possible and not just 'good enough for another year'. The same goes for the fuel pipe - the petrol composition here may be different to your side of the pond, but it seems to be getting more caustic across the board and I don't trust the old stock in a lot of shops - a lot of old timers think if it's black and still flexible it's okay (and younger ones just want a part number) - so I want to know what the spec is that exceeds current requirements without costing an arm and a leg. Edit - after reading around I've ordered 1m lengths of SAEJ30R9 pipe in different diameters.

This may be more use further into the diagnostic cycle, but I'd chip in with two points. The first is that if you have an intermittent spark it can be hard to diagnose, as you may see it when you test for it and also the exhaust will still feel hot (ouch !). I bought a cheap temperature sensor from Ebay (and then a much better one from Lidl) - check out http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LCD-Non-Contact-Infrared-Digital-IR-Laser-Thermometer-Probe-Temperature-Sensor-/271517740132?hash=item3f37b7ec64 With one of these you can see if one exhaust is cooler than the others without burning yourself. It's cheap and easy. The second is that sometimes there is a break in the wires in the pick-ups, though maybe all the duff ones failed 15-20 years ago. My money would be on an HT lead or a blocked jet. Or maybe a naff spark plug.

This is why we do not try to explain modern day British problems to Americans, though we do understand that there are similar issues in Texas. There have recently been changes to the regulations as hitherto child benefit was paid to the primary carer, or the mother by default. It is not paid to the child. Universal credit was introduced but failed, not least because they could not programme the computers. The primary question would be whether the parents are unwell, claiming ESA (employment support allowance) , JSA (job seeker's allowance) as they are unemployed or child tax credit for working families on low incomes. We have people employed to provide advice to explain the possibilities as the people who calculate the benefits are not encouraged to explain what families are eligible for. Simple answer - it would be the primary carer that would be eligible for child benefit and the couple would decide who would claim WTC, but maybe I've not treated it as a joke. Or maybe I have. Maybe I shouldn't have started on the spiced rum...

I've been playing with that MIG welder I bought and have replaced the broken nipple/stub. Now I need to finish making another mounting bracket and weld that on. I wonder if I'll magically get a good seal on those rear downpipes when the exhaust stops moving - I haven't been that successful getting a good seal in the past.

I agree that you should touch the exhausts as little as possible, but in my case it was removing the right hand silencer to get to the back wheel that killed the junction point on the first one. The one I replaced it with was second hand and after a while the mounting bracket came off which put a bit of play into the whole system. Basically the weather here means that exhausts eventually rot away - the downpipe double skin rotted through and taking it off to weld it meant more movement. That really is why a good collector box solution would be so good - it would mean we could sort out issues with the exhaust system without creating new ones. I've ordered my MIG welder...

BTW - this one might help somebody over there, though it has a loose baffle apparently. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1983-1993-Yamaha-Venture-Exhaust-Collector/161796037467?_trksid=p5713.c100044.m3207&_trkparms=ao%3D1%26asc%3D20140502135644%26meid%3D9959b9363c624ac691976c1dd97e4787%26pid%3D100044%26

I'd really like to know if anything's going to get done with the collector boxes. I finally started rebuilding the exhaust with new downpipes and tightening up those really strange connectors on the rear manifold/downpipes, but the junctions into the connector box are pretty rotten. There are a couple on EBay in the states, but postage and customs duties rack the price up to near the new price in Europe, though they're listed as temporarily unavailable on a lot of sites. My other choice is to invest in a MIG welder and have a go before it rots out completely. I've always struggled with a stick welder before, but I'm out of practice now and think I'd just make things worse. That will only get me a bit more life out of it and a decent alternative could be a good investment, so I'd be interested.

I think they're great - the only dryers that actually work ! And I like the way they make little rippling waves in my skin...

I spent a lot of time on this about fifteen years ago because I needed heavier duty suspension for the sidecar (and trailer tent). If the air suspension is good you could just pump more air in to boost ride height. If you can make up a tool to do it safely, you should be able to make up a spacer with the standard spring, or else you could purchase a heavier duty spring. I used G F Faulkner in England. That still wasn't enough for me and I then tried the spacer AND the thicker/heavier duty spring, but the combination meant it became coil bound and bust the spring seat on a bumpy road while on holiday in Ireland, which dropped the back seat considerably... Finally I had a shock absorber made to measure for a quite reasonable price by Gaz-Shocks - threaded spring seat for full adjustment and a 1/2" longer to get a better ride height. Unfortunately the spring weights I used wouldn't work for you because the weight isn't the same. I'd offer to send one of the old springs I tried, but the postage means it would probably be cheaper to source one in the USA.

I wouldn't recommend driving far on the left hand side of the road in Belgium either...

I suspect that you have your sidecar fitted on the wrong side. I have had a sidecar fitted to my 1983 Venture Royale for 15 years and it has never been in the way of the oil level sight glass.

I used iridium plugs for a while - they might have been good or lasted longer, but I didn't keep good enough records to be sure. I was put off using Champion spark plugs years ago though as they had way too many duds, so changing spark plugs to eliminate a possible problem became too hit and miss. They might have improved in 25-30 years, but I've had no reason to go back.

??? Or just have a block of wood to go under the centre stand. Don't try and lift it all in one go - put the bike on the centre stand, lean the bike one way and push the block under the stand on one side with the toe of your boot and then lean it the other way and kick the other end of the block under the other leg. You still have to take a silencer off though. I won't say not to change your brake fluid, but DOT4 or later is good for a fair few years without changing it. It doesn't take long to do, but I doubt I'd be changing it every year.

I have to be honest, 1700cc just seems way over the top to me for a solo bike. I've been waiting since forever to get my old first gen and sidecar back on the road and doing holiday mileage again. One thing I think that we're all saying is these are not the occasional Saturday night, run down the local pub/club bikes that never go further than a few miles. These are bikes that will be used for long distance touring and to do trips that others would think are long distance in a car. My DL650 can do high fifties to the gallon and has just over a 4 gallon tank (speaking imperial here) and so has a range of about 250 miles. Our old saab diesel can do up to 550-600 miles on a tank. Somewhere between those figures would be goods, so with fuel injection, engine management and cruise control I'd like to be able to see over 50mpg reliably and maybe a six gallon tank for a range of over 300 miles and there's no point unless the seat is comfortable for that and further. In fact the seat has been the biggest issue with my last few bikes, affecting long distance travelling more than anything else. The same applies to the pillion seat. With a good engine management system I'd hope that the above would be possible, but there's no need for the same configuration to be used when playing manually as when the computer is in charge on cruise. ABS okay, but no linked brakes. I'd go with first gen type styling rather than 'custom cruiser' as I want the fairing to work and not be a bolt on. I wonder if Yamaha could make it work in two sizes (as Suzuki did with 650/1000 V-strom or Honda did with the earlier Gold and Silver Wings [CX500 and 650 based variant] - or even Yamaha did with a range of XVs and Viragos). A 170bhp 1700cc monster would be fun, but the original power with a bit less weight - 100bhp from 900-1000cc, or 80bhp from a 750cc could be a lovely peach of a European tourer. Unless there's a real upturn in the economy I wouldn't have the cash to get one new, but I could be part of the cult following keeping resale figures up, in the same way as I got my V-Strom a few years further down the road. What Yamaha would need to do is make a real tourer in this size that can eat miles without spending too much on R&D. Surely engine tuning, sound systems and saddles should all be manageable by now though. Oh - it would be nice if it would go round corners too, but I was taking that for granted. And also a plug lead to connect readily available computer diagnostics which don't have any limitations. I'd quite like that to be configurable to output to custom displays so I can see which cylinders are playing up when I have to diagnose problems in 20 years' time once they change the recipe for petrol etc. That should be no extra cost as all cars have these systems and so getting chips without is probably more expensive - it's really part of getting away from the 'anti-tamper' mentality. That would be better for them in Europe because EU regulations force suppliers to 'open source' their diagnostics so alternative suppliers can provide other sources of parts.

Well after I left it I was thinking that even if it's not 'valuable' when we do Scottish events (bagpipes, ceilidhs etc) it could be an interesting prop to discuss Highland Charges etc - even if it's not right for Culloden or Waterloo. He was asking £190 - $250 ? I just knew the missus would want to know which bike bits I was throwing out to make room for it though...

I bought some of those pressure caps a few years ago and might even have fitted them. I certainly never threw them away, but I've absolutely no idea what happened to them.

That's the answer then - no-one's interested. Probably a good job I didn't buy it then.. (I'm still tempted though...)

I check my tyre pressures every six months whether they're feeling low or not. Compared to 20 years ago, we're so spoilt....

This is just something I came across yesterday. It's not a classified ad as I didn't buy it myself, but if it's of definite interest the seller drinks in a local pub and has a regular stall. I was at Greenwich Market yesterday (the original Greenwich where Henry VIII lived) and came across someone selling a cap fired breech loading gun. I didn't check if it was smoothbore or rifled. It was marked as a 'Tower' weapon and dated 1856, so it is the right date for the Crimean War and may have gone there and returned or maybe never left the country. It has three hoops around the barrel (the first tightens to secure the metal ramrod) and two were loose, but that might be usual. I'm posting about it here because I thought it would be more interesting to people over there as the Confederates bought a lot of British rifles in the civil war and although it wasn't exported, it would be the 'right' gun for the period. I would think that it is probably genuine because there is no real market for Crimean memorabilia over here - Napoleonic yes, Jacobite definitely, but Crimean - not so much. The hammer moved, but don't ask me if it will shoot - it's not encouraged over here... After a century and a half, would you trust it ? I've no idea. Either way - is this something where I should have bitten his arm off for (on behalf of one of you) or is it something that there's little demand for ? I have no idea what it would come with in terms of provenance and I didn't have my camera with me (I was just on the way back from the bank).

I don't know if this would apply if the change was sudden and I'm not sure that I'm the best to comment as your mpg have dropped to not much worse than I get most of the time (though my sidecar might be bigger), but... Only think think about this after you have looked at the other stuff above, but... The carbs will pass more fuel if the o-ring on the emulsion tube has perished - it serves to makes sure that fuel only goes along the prescribed path and some leakage will let more petrol in. The carburation will be upset if the rubber bungs that seal off the ends of the jet block (no - I've never seen those on another bike either) have shrunk and petrol shortcircuits it too. Finally - and I have never really worked this one out - there used to be posts on Venturers.org (showing my age) about the vacuum chambers (above/in front of the cam boxes) leaking air - and any pipes that have worked loose would damage economy. Other than that, you could try using proper English gallons of petrol, which should get you 10-12% better mpg straightaway.

You wouldn't be having roast beef and yorkshire pudding or steak and kidney pie for a traditional Christmas dinner - that has to be Roast Turkey (or goose), stuffing, roast potatoes, carrots, parsnips, brussel sprouts - always brussel sprouts - and maybe pigs in blankets and gravy, plus maybe cranberry sauce - nothing too heavy, all followed with cheese and biscuits, mince pies, christmas (or plum) pudding and custard, cream and/or ice cream, washed down with some wine, maybe a beer, possibly a spirit of choice and a coffee at some point. Just a light snack really...

I didn't take any pictures of crackers this year - this is one from a newspaper of two kids pulling a cracker. Basically it is a paper or card - covered tube which two people pull from opposite ends. One other other end will tear first and there is a small 'cap' inside which goes bang as the two parts split. Inside there is a paper hat, a small toy, novelty or puzzle and a piece of paper with a joke on. The jokes are always 'clean', but generally pretty rubbish.

I've changed rubbers on other bikes (XJ600 Diversion springs to mind, and a Suzuki GR650) but on the Venture I still have the originals. To reinstall I use that red rubber grease (one tub will last forever or until you stand on it...) that is also good for brake bits and does not make rubber perish. That seems to help with the rebuild

Mine's a bit more obvious - starting round on the net I wanted something simple that described me to friends without being so simple that people could search for me (I was a teacher at the time and didn't want schoolkids turning up on forums and commenting, or asking what I did at weekends etc), so I had a number of variations of my name and location "Greg" in London, though the variations were because some forums don't allow gaps or underscores (my email then was greglond@aol.com - long gone). Other than that it is mostly work related emails that have my actual full name.

You have Christmas dinner without Christmas crackers ? Next you'll be telling me that you don't have brussel sprouts or pigs in blankets... Or that your Mum doesn't listen to the Queen's speech.