Venturous Randy

Well, when you run it into a tree out in the woods and it busts your head wide open, make sure they examine your head real good. RandyA

I have a Megellan I bought cheap off the daily deal places and it works good. The volume is louder than the last one and that is better. I call it Gipsy and the only time I have been misdirected is when I put in "shortest route". I figure that is the "As the crow flies" route because it usually will end at some farmer's pasture. About the only thing I would wish was better is if I take a different route, it tells me way too long to "make a legal U turn", before it finally gets on track. I keep waiting for her to say, "OK, if this the way you want to go, I can deal with it." I do have to say that if I am going some place I have never been before, it is neat getting there. RandyA

Five minutes. RandyA

The thing is, this is going to get worse. How many 10 to 15 years old do you see texting constantly? Unless something is done, these same kids are going to be driving soon and we will see even more people on the road texting. To some of these kids, it is as necessary as breathing and this is the way their parents are raising them. As long as the kids are quiet and not bothering them, thats great. I guess we will have to let Darwin take care of it and we will just be the collateral damage. RandyA

Jemery, one thing you need to do before you go screaming down the road is the tires. With these being 15+ years old, I would be scared of them. When you do replace the rear tire, make sure you take the rearend off and remove the driveshaft and grease both ends and the splines inside the rear hub. RandyA

I run Autolites in mine and they work fine. RandyA

And, its made in the USA!!! RandyA

Anytime I try to respond to anything on Craigs List or other things, my computer automatically goes to Windows Live Mail and I have never set it up and don't even know how to get into it. I use Comcast mail and Yahoo. I need to either set it up or change it to go to an account I now use. Any suggestions? If giving suggestions, please make it basic. I am somewhat computer challenged. Thanks, RandyA

I suspect caps also. When you replace the caps, cut a 1/4 inch or so off the wire and it will probably work fine. We hope you will join us and it will be the best $12 you will ever spend on your bike. And, you will get some entertainment too. RandyA

Mine has 153,000 miles and runs great. Are you sure your's is not 142,000 miles? Do you know any history on the bike? 42K is less than 1,500 miles per year and 142,000 is less than 5,000 miles a year. For many of us, 5,000 miles would be a slow year. I have had years where I put 10,000 to 12,000 miles on my bike and I am not a big rider compared to some of these guys. We hope you join and it will be the best $12 you will ever spend on your bike. RandyA

Happy Happy Happy Happy Birthday to you!!! I hope you have a great one and many, many more. RandyA

Be careful now, this is a PG rated site. RandyA

So Brant, you bought a fixer-upper and you are up in the middle of the night trying to figure out what to do and where to start, hummm..., sounds familiar. First of all, welcome to our little group and if you join, it will be the best $12 you will ever spend on the bike, plus you may also get a bit of entertainment to go a long with it. Secondly, I did not see anything that you mentioned that has not been addressed on here multiple times and the best way to find out is to do a search on each specific item. I think you can do a search without being a member, so find the search button in the header above you and try it out. You may have to weed through a lot of stuff, but as I said, everything you noted has been addressed and is somewhat common, but not necessarily at one time. My first question to you is do you have some basic mechanical skills? I ask this because we do have some members that are basically limited to being able to put gas in their bike. I will try to lightly touch on some of the things you have questions on. 1st. Fuse box needs to be replaced with modern, blade type fuses. You can pick up a multiple strip at an automotive store, or one of our members on here, Skydoc17 has done most of the work for you and offers a great fuse panel kit. 2nd. Any icon on the panel that stays on will cause the red light to blink. It may be because you have a problem in the system of the icon noted, or it may be a problem with the computer monitor itself. 3rd. the battery light is usually associated with the battery being low on water, or if the battery does not have the water level pickup, you can do a bypass to fix that one. Many of us on here have a DEKA battery that does not have a water level and we have an easy fix, just search. For the brake fluid levels, the one on the handle bar should be in the middle of the sight glass, but I suspect your bike is in need of a fluid replacement anyway and should be flushed. The foot brake applies fluid pressure to the left front caliper and rear caliper and if you bleed the brakes, don't over fill the reservoir, which is inside the side cover at right above where your right ankle would be. Be careful taking the plug out as these reservoirs are easy to break. Also, don't fill it to the top and take off down the road, or you will be dealing with brakes locking up. On the headlight, make sure it is working or not and we will go from there' 4th. Sounds like you need to do a good cleaning on the carbs. Many on here swear by using Sea Foam, a gas additive, and it does help a lot, but does not fix everything. Sometimes a good carb cleaning has to be done. The gas smell usually indicate a float bowl valve may need cleaning or adjusted or replaced. Each carb has an overflow and you need to determine which one is giving you a problem. With the gas mileage you noted and the popping, you may also be running off of three cylinders. 5th and 6th. There are several plastic epoxies available to help with the plastic repair and many of the plastic parts show up on ebay or are still available from the dealer. Many of us have painted our bikes as mine was Burgundy at one time and several years ago I painted it purple. Brant, without a doubt, you will have some time and money invested to make this bike back like it needs to be, but in fixing it,it is like "How do you eat an elephant?" "One bite at a time." Once you get your bike running good, you will be amazed at how strong it will run. In a good state of tune and some carb tweaking, these bikes will get in the upper 40's for gas mileage running 40 to 60 mph. 70 and up on the interstate will bring the mileage down some. Things these bikes are a bit sensitive about; Spark plugs. A fresh set of cheap Autolites from the auto store works fine. Spark plug caps. there is a resistor that can corrode in the cap. You can take it a part and check them. Carb diaphragms. They get pin holes and this will affect lots of things. Easy to check. Search. Carb sync. Not a big deal if you know how to do it or have a friend that has a manometer or gages or go to one of our get-to-gethers like Asheville and someone will do it for free. Carb pilot jets. These are small jets in the carb that can get clogged and about the only thing you can do is take carbs apart and clean them. Sometimes Sea Foam will help. There is another inherent problem with the 83 thru mid 85 and that is associated with 2nd gear. Not a great big deal with some mechanical skills. Computer control panel. these things sometimes need a re solder job. This can cause a multitude of problems. Not a big deal, just a bit of work. Be real careful of dealers. If you find one that will work on your 29 year old bike, they may not know much about it. Most folks do a lot better addressing problems on here and fixing it themselves. Tell us about your bike and a little about you and I am sure you will get some help. RandyA

Why not bleed a little out of the rear or left front caliper? RandyA

I bet it was the beer that was cold. RandyA

Throwing marbles or ball bearings toward some people is just like pulling a gun. Some people would take you down in a heartbeat if you don't get away from them. I did take the lid off my water bottle once and slung it all over some girls car. As I have matured, I am a lot more likely to wave my hand indicating them to move back or wave them around, even if it is a rural two lane and double yellow, if it is clear. If it is bad enough, I will almost come to a stop waving them around. I also do the weaving thing and a lot of times that works. Yes, I will also say that a lot of bad tailgaters are young women. I also like to wave them around when my radar detector is going off. RandyA

That guys got a death wish. If I had a snake crawl out on me, the last thing I would do would be to take off like he did at about 70mph plus on the rear wheel in traffic. RandyA

To me, as long as they were still in the building and still had a weapon, you keep firing, even if they are running in the other direction. RandyA

When my 83 was knocked over a couple of years ago, Nationwide, the trucks insurer, gave about $3,460 for it and I bought it back for $200. RandyA

I have it on my cable and watch it often. Yes, they do some crazy things, but also drive some really neat cars. RandyA

One other thing, put some grease on the nylon strip where the headlight adjustment contacts. It should just push back from the top once you put the pins on the bottom of the headlight into the grommets in the bracket. Yes, it can take a bit of force to push it in place. RandyA

Speaking of camping at Asheville, I have a three room tent I can bring with me if anyone needs or wants to use it. I am planning on staying in my little camper. Just let me know. RandyA

If not switch, it sounds like a loose or corroded battery cable to me. RandyA

How about CRBN1? Yes, DenDen is a great guy and Vicki is a sweetheart. The first I met them was at the Country Inn north of Knoxville during the Honda Hoot. I was there meeting the Venturers group. They took me under their arm and I spent the whole day with them. When they were in my area and had the crash in Boone, NC, I was able to go there and help them get the motorcycle out of storage and just try to help. That was where his riding ended. When I told him about my plans to put a 2nd gen trans in a 1st gen engine, he gave me a V-Max rearend and would not even let me pay him for the shipping. They are really great people and I wish he was still active on this site. RandyA