schultzb1

My buddy had a similar issue on his wing. It would work fine for days/weeks/months and then go dead. After two seasons of riding, and visiting 2 different Honda dealers, it was eventually traced to the ignition switch. Replaced the switch and has not had a glitch in 2 years.

Please beware. I have been to this location in Jordan MN, just southeast of the Twin Cities. They advertise themselves as the largest "Motorcycle Salvage Yard" in the US. There are literally dozens of acres of parts. Virtually all bikes they have for sale are rebuilt with salvage titles. A friend and I went to look at a used Goldwing about a year ago. All the bikes we saw gave new meaning to the phrase "well used". My guess is that someone is very handy with PHOTOSHOP.

This is probably dumb, but here goes. I purchased a used 97 RSTD (XVZ13AT) this spring from a young gentleman living in St Paul MN. The bike was originally sold new from a dealership in White Bear Lake MN as evidenced by stickers and the service records. Interestingly enough, the VIN indicates it is a California model (JYA4NLCO) vs a USA model (JYA4NLEO). Sure enough, when I crawled under the bike, there was the little "time bomb" (charcoal canister for evaporative control of the fuel system) attached to the left of the rear shock. This along with my Clymer manual tends to suggest that this is indeed a model intended for sale in California. Has anyone else run into a California certified model of this vintage originating in states other then California? Other then making adjustment of the preload on the rear suspension a little more "interesting" ,are there any maintenance issues I would need to watch for in the future (vs the 48 state model)? The bike is great, having just turned over 14,000 miles. I rode a 200 mile run with 350 other bikers this weekend commemorating 3 fallen solders from our area communities. No trouble leaving those famous V-Twins manufactured in Wisconsin in my rearview mirror when "turning up the wick" a bit!

I recently purchased a 97 Royal Star Tour Classic with 12,600 original miles. The bike looks as new, was running perfectly, idled smoothly at a low rpm and carburated and excellerated smoothly. At the advice of Steve, my motorcycle, ATV, and boat mechanic for the last 25 years, I decided to give it a complete tune-up as the plugs were original and the tires needed to be replaced from old age. I am glad I did. My mechanic (an independent gentleman who had worked several years as the lead mechanic at a large Yamaha dealership) found 3 intake valves that were out of spec (tight). Two were slightly tight, and the 3rd was actually out of spec. He has all the Yamaha service tools and was able to easily swap out the shims for the correct size to set the valves back to spec. The bottom line is that I am glad that I had this done instead of waiting until the 26,600 mile (42,000 km) service interval. Steve has also had experience swapping in V-Max cams into Royal Stars. The owner at the dealership he worked at had their very 1st Royal Star (his personal ride) modified as such by Steve. I showed Steve (the mechanic) the threads from "pegscraper" on fitting the 32mm carbs. He thought that it was a "pretty neat" conversion, especially the custom turned carb bases, and also noted with interest the use of the V-Boost system actuated manually. Bottom line, service your ride and don't ignore the valves. Any solid valve system needs to be checked as all valve trains wear, even those as well designed and understressed as the V-4 in the Royal Stars and Ventures. Ironically, my Royal Star appears to be a cosmetic match to the "Pegscraper's" ride. Now iif it just had the "suds" like his has...... Keep the shiny side up and Ride like the other guy can't see you!!