greg_in_london

They're catching up then...

I never meant to suggest.... :whistling::whistling::whistling::whistling: ... anything.

Me ain't saying nothing, but...

For $650 I'd have it like a shot, but the shipping would be as much again and then there'd be import duties :-(

They were only imported to the UK for one year. There was a story going round (that sounded far fetched to me) that Honda threatened to sue for design infringements for putting a radio on a bike and Yamaha backed down and stopped importing the Venture.

This is a link to the act: https://www.legislation.qld.gov.au/Bills/54PDF/2013/VicLawAssDisB13.pdf Be careful who you visit, because while most of the related offences are pretty serious and you'd probably not want to associate with anyone indulging in these, the list also includes section 328A(4) (Dangerous operation of a vehicle) and obviously meeting any stoners is dangerous territory - section 5 (Trafficking in dangerous drugs)• section 6 (Supplying dangerous drugs), section 9 (Possessing dangerous drugs). It would all depend on how individual officers enforced this, but being in a bar, demonstration or maybe shopping queue would all be grey areas which would only be clarified through the courts. It surely makes no sense that any of the offences should automatically have a further 15 or 25 years (section 7, sentencing) to a sentence because you've been to a biker party, meeting or demonstration: (or © has attended more than 1 meeting or gathering of persons who participate in the affairs of the association in any way; or (d) has taken part on any 1 or more occasions in the affairs of the association in any other way.) It's worrying. I'm not likely to go there, but that I might be stopped because I'm on a bike and have long hair is a concern.

Yup - Yamaha sells Yamabond for a reason, though I pick one of a range of silicon semi-hardening gasket gloops depending on the application. I've just looked for Yamabond in Ebay and found it, though I've never seen it in a shop. I have used plain gaskets when I haven't been able to find my sealant of choice in the past (or it has set in the tube ), but it has been hit or miss whether it sealed on older engines. Torquing down requires more care, but is well worth it for the reduced leaks. Especially in pre-internet days when replacement gaskets were not readily available ay any sensible price and the old ones had to be re-used.

@ Flyinfool I didn't say I didn't hit those revs, though I do like the lazy tune of the engine and peak torque is just over 3K, which makes that or a little above an easy cruising speed to hold (60mph is the legal towing limt here, or 50mph off of dual carriageways). It's just that I don't often pull away on full bore throttle, so if the throttle was 3/4 or less, or the revs above or below 3-4K, the clutch did not slip, which meant I could put off doing anything about it for ages. The washers did help though. Actually, it REALLY is that low down torque I like - I'm happy to run through the rev range, but feel that I'm proving some kind of point when I'm keeping the revs up - possibly the engine sounds louder with sound bouncing off the sidecar...

I think it's just all of you in the states that have this issue. Over here when you buy screwdriver or socket sets they come with inserts for a range of types of screw - at least two, but usually three - the third type is 'posi-drive' and they are most common in construction. You just get used to trying each bit in the screw head to find which fits best and keep the screwdrivers that work on the bikes you fix. Philips head screws - they're the uncommon ones now. Over here anyway.

I was a cheapskate and put a washer under each spring, but then if I had stopped using oil with a friction reducer I might not have had a problem anyway. In any case it only slipped slightly on full bore throttle and at 3,500-4K revs, which I didn't use much. I pull a big sidecar and often a trailer (though it's been sitting for too long now :-( )

I've got a few years to go before I reach 67, but even so, the Venture is a heavy bike and an even slightly uneven surface will make it hard to push. (Even more so with a 300lb/150kg sidecar attached) Even so, if it is hard to move when it is upright then it suggests dragging brakes or flat tyres. I think you call paraffin kerosene - something non-flammable to clean metal parts with, though degreasant is probably friendlier to the skin if you have it.

Lots of strange comments here - except that there is no need to lift the bike on the exhausts and worn bearings will not make the wheel hard to turn - not if you are able to ride it ! If the wheel is hard to turn, free off the brakes or scrape the hedgehog out from between the wheel and the mudguard. Put the bike on the centre stand and do one or more of three things - suspend the front end with a rope/chain from the ceiling/rafter (if available) attached to the headstock, put a large weight in the top box or on the back seat to keep it down and/or use two axle stands/jacks under the frame on either side (the lips of the axle stand will go round the exhaust pipes and support the weight. Note that the rope/jack/weight is not to take the whole weight of the bike, it is just sufficient to over-balance it backwards on the stand. If you have not used two jacks, make sure that you put something under the engine so it CANNOT fall forwards on top of you. If things go wrong, it might damage the bike, but not as badly as it could hurt you. Or buy a jack/work bench that will allow you to strap the back end down. Secondly - the bearings themselves. If there is significant play when you grab the rim and you can hear a rumble when you spin the wheel with the brakes off, your bearings are knackered. When you take the wheel out you will see movement on the inner race and when you turn it with your finger you might feel roughness. That will mean that the seals have not kept grit and moisture out, the lubrication has failed and the bearings are worn and need replacement If those things haven't happened, why do you want to re-grease the bearings ? You can only do that by removing the seals (which is possible with rubber seals, but not metallic ones), adding grease and then replacing them with or without the seals. By taking the bearings out you will be doing damage unless you use a bearing puller. That is because, even if your drift does not slip and damage the seal when hammering it out, you still have to hammer onto the inner race, which hits the balls, which hit the outer race to move them (to remove). It won't cause catastrophic failure very often, but it cannot help. If your bearings are beginning to fail, then removing the bearing, taking out the seal, rinsing with paraffin and relubricating before reinstalling will extend the life of the bearing (indefinitely if you keep redoing it) until you can replace the bearings. If there is no noticeable wear, don't touch them though. The bearings are best left well alone while they are working. As Marcarl said - if you suspect them with good reason, save your time and energy and replace them.

There seems to be some misunderstanding about multigrade oils here. Oils are graded by viscosity. 0 - grade oil is a thinner oil than 20 - grade, which is in turn thinner than 40 - grade. All oils get thinner as they get warmer and thicker as they get holder. Multigrade oils thin less as they get hotter (and thicken less as they get colder, if you prefer it that way around. The W is used in the description to reflect early marketing that it was a 'winter' oil, but it makes the designation easier to read, so it has stuck. 20W-40 is as thin as a 20 - grade oil when cold, but has only thinned as much as a 40 grade oil when hot. 10W-40 is likewise as thin as a 10 grade oil when cold and also no thinner than a 40 grade oil when hot. 0W-40, 10W-40, 20W-40 and straight 40 weight oil are therefore all the same thickness when hot. 0W does not mean that the oil has no viscosity - it is still relatively thick when cold and, like blood, is certainly thicker than water. If people want numbers for this I'm sure I can find some, but as the units are centistokes, the numbers are pretty meaningless to most of us. I've never noticed any tendency for synthetic oils to leak more than mineral ones and can see no reason why that should be the case. I'm afraid I'd write that off as a myth too unless anyone has any hard and fast evidence to back it up. (Synthetic oils are produced from gloopy long chain mineral oils using a 'hydro-crack process' which shortens them to give chains of predictable length and greater consistency, but not Houdini-like qualities.)

As people said, the welding didn't look that clever, but the absence of any attempt to prime and/or paint them worried me even more. I've looked at it a few times and can't quite visualise how that swingarm moves. It looks as if parts of the top and bottom are welded together, though that's probably just me.

I like the idea, but think I'd want to know someone else's experience first for torque and mpg. For that trouble and expense though, I'd hope to be going a long way towards full fuel injection.

Well it's certainly true that I spend a bit more on a gallon here than you do over there, but you have to pay for quality. We don't get as much gum in our juice as you from what I can tell.. We had a thread on this years ago and there didn't seem to be much consistency in mpg figures. Different markets also had different jetting. Nobody seemed able to mention one thing they had changed that had made a big difference, or even made a big difference by lots of tinkering.

Petrol works best for me...

I might be suggesting something that just creates work, but the rubber pipes (connecting between inlet and carb) also connect to some vacuum chambers. It is just possible that someone has disturbed a connection. Donkeys years ago before the big split in Venture websites the 'other' site had a lot of stuff on testing those chambers for leaks. It might be worth testing that they seal and that the hoses are seated properly - they're thirty years old and if you are anything like me, they've been forgotten about most of that time. Airleaks could make it stutter on take-off. Or I might have given you a red herring to fish for...

Errr - I'm not quite clear what you're saying. What has made the difference ? The oil change ? Did you use a thinner oil ? Is it running hotter, colder, faster, slower or is the whine back. I didn't understand from your post either what is different about your new oil or what the effect has been.

There's only one sure way to get more miles to the gallon for all of you stateside and that is to switch to proper imperial gallons. You won't get so many in the tank, but they'll take you 10-15% further.

I'm sorry to say it, but I'm usually on a lot more when I'm riding the Venture combo and especially if I do any work on it, but it has been off the road for a year now with basically nothing wrong with it - I just want to sort out the leaky exhaust. I just seem to have no time to fiddle with the bikes and I've bought a DL650 V-Strom for daily transport. When I log on I usually check the jokes page and skim the other posts, but in the tech forum I'm thinking about what I did several years ago, rather than something I've seen recently. Having said that, I'd miss it if the site wasn't here for me to come to and I do check in once in a while, just not as often as I used to.

The starter button is releasing completely ? As well as operating the starter solenoid it also cuts the headlight and sometimes if it is sticky the dip beam stays cut. Probably not that (I'm not sure it kills the dash light), but it costs nothing and only takes a few seconds to check .

I'd check what 93 Venture said. It seemed to be a common fault 10-15 years ago but I hear of it less often now. The explanation was that the wire was too short in the resin block and, while it was okay when cool, the expansion eventually breaks the contact and disconnects when it gets hot. I don't know if that was true or not, but I suddenly went onto two cylinders when the engine was warm 12 years ago and then found that the length of time that it would run properly after starting from cold became shorter and shorter. Replacing the pickups solved it. It sounds a little like your problem, but I thought it only applied to 83 models.

Check that you are using the right specs for your model though. Different markets had different jets and different float heights specified for those settings. It's hard to believe it really made that much difference, but I guess those with bigger jets may have had lower float heights and vise-versa, so getting it wrong could make the mix overly weak or rich and if too rich, then it might smell a bit too. It's probably not the issue here, but I thought I'd mention it.

Be careful when you wiggle it - the bent metal lifter arms are not that strong and it is possible to break the end of the plunger where the groove for the lifter is :-(