Jump to content

Venturous Randy

Supporting Member
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    6,488

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    1

 Content Type 

Everything posted by Venturous Randy

  1. Venturous Randy
    This is about 20 miles from home for me.Yes, it is a beautiful ride, especially during the week. It has become quite popular and has drawn the attention of the LEO's. I think the saying is one valley, three roads and 486 curves. We have had our share of incidents over the last couple of years, including deaths. I tend to avoid it on the weekends, as I do The Dragon. Just too many squids going way too fast going around blind curves on the wrong side of the road. Ryder magazine did a piece on this area a few months ago and without a doubt, Shady Valley is a beautiful serene place. It is surrounded about 80% by mountains and the water drainage goes north to Damascus, VA, so it is more of a bowl than a valley. It is actually in Tennessee and the road north goes into VA and east after Mountain City goes into NC. If you do a Google earth search, go to north east TN and find Johnson City, go north to Elizabethton then north to Shady Valley. RandyA
  2. Venturous Randy
    There is a ring, if I remember correctly, just on the inside of the swingarm on an 86 up where the driveshaft goes in that is not in the 83/85. You might be able to put a differential off an 86 up into a 83/85, but not vise versa. I know when Richard lost his diffrential on his later 1st gen, we could not get my 83 differential and shaft to go in. RandyA
  3. Venturous Randy
    What happened Thom? RandyA
  4. Venturous Randy
    I sent the two estimates to State Farm a week ago today. I had not heard anything back, so I called the main office this afternoon. I was told that they were going to assign it to an agent and I could have him meet me at the Yamaha dealer, my work or my home. I told them my home would be better, but it would be at least 5pm. It is going to be interesting because this woman was talking about the Yamaha shop doing the disassembly and then the paint shop doing the custom paint and the Yamaha shop putting it back together. Even tho I used the Yamaha shop to get the estimate for parts and labor, I would not let them work on anything I have, even if State Farm did pay for it. So, I am going to see how this comes about and see if there may be a basic settlement, which I would do all the work except the paint myself. I am new at this stuff and really do not know what to expect. Thanks for asking pegscraper. RandyA
  5. Venturous Randy
    86 up caliper and fork mounting spacing different from 83/85 Headlight changed in 86 to include different headlight bucket, top frame that mounts dash, adjustment mech, left side upper frame and headlight ring. Windshield chrome strip changed in 86 Differential, swingarm and driveshaft from 86 up different from 83/85 later bikes have factory installed zerk fittings in lower shock mount assy I think Good post condor RandyA
  6. Venturous Randy
    Man, you folks in Canada must make a lot of money. RandyA
  7. Venturous Randy
    My only reservation about this bike is making sure that you know that you do not want to take it to a dealer. There may be some independent shops around that may be able to help you, but it is a lot better if you have some mechanical skills and do not mind working on it. As noted, there are a lot of guys on here that will do just about anything to give you a hand. RandyA
  8. Venturous Randy
    This happened yesterday. RandyA By Josh Smith Anchor / WJHL Published: July 7, 2008 A high speed motorcycle race on a rural Tri-Cities road ended in the death of one of the racers and the injury of two women in a passing car. According to the Tennessee Highway Patrol, the bikes were racing and weaving in and out of traffic on Highway 321 just outside Greeneville about 8:30 p.m. Sunday. The driver of a 2008 Harley Davidson motorcycle was identified by the THP as 43 year-old Eric Jennings. He lost control of his motorcycle and slid into the path of an on-coming station wagon, police said. Jennings was killed. Two women in the station wagon were injured. No charges were filed. News Channel 11 asked about the other motorcycle rider who wasn’t injured. So far, no information was available from the THP.
  9. Venturous Randy
    When I was 38, I became a grandfather and just became a great grandfather at 57. RandyA
  10. Venturous Randy
    Man, talk about a crappy adventure. I wonder if he had any insurance on his truck? I guess this week I should hear from State Farm on my knocked over bike adventure. RandyA
  11. Venturous Randy
    If you want a nice ride and you want the mountains, from Asheville toward Black Mountain on 70 takes you by our KOA Campground where this years rally is. Then when you get to Marion, turn up 80 to the Blue Ridge Parkway. When you get there, turn left again and that will take you to Mt Mitchell, the highest point east of the Mississippi. The BRP from Asheville to Mt Mitchell is closed. Heading north on the BRP you will come to Little Switzerland, a MC friendly community and a good place to stay. In fact, there are several places to stay within a few miles of there. Then north toward Boone, you will go past Grandfather Mountain and the Lynn Cove Viaduct. Make sure you stop at the Viaduct visitor center. These places are not very busy on the weekends and even less during the week. I am about an hour from these places and if you want to have a M & E with several of us that are local, just give us a call. RandyA
  12. Venturous Randy
    I agree. Now turn it to where the picture does not show it up-side down and the top of the letters should be toward the 5 O'clock position, right? RandyA
  13. Venturous Randy
    I replaced the 18 bulbs in all my running lights from this source and have been very happy with the results. I figured the 18 bulbs take about the same power that 3 of the old bulbs took. You can get them in about any color and have them shine in about any direction. RandyA
  14. Venturous Randy
    Condor, with your last comment, I believe you hit the nail on the head. On our bikes, as with most cars, under load, the engine will not run cooler with the thermostat removed or in our case, with the by-pass being open. The water does go thru the radiator too fast to be cooled properly. For those of you that do not know, when looking at the hex on the by-pass valve that is at the lower part of the cooling system on the front of your engine, The top of the lettering should be point in the 5 O'Clock position. A while back while doing some work on my 83, I inadvertently left my by-pass valve in the open position. I noticed that something was wrong because it was taking longer for the bike to get anywhere near the normal operating temps. I also noticed that under load, as in pulling the camper or running interstate speeds that it ran hotter than normal. When I realized my valve was left open and when I closed it, everything went back to normal. Two other factors that will affect engine temperatures is having the carbs in sync and not having a restriction in the carb pilot jets. Either can cause a cylinder or two to run lean and that will definitely tax your cooling system. RandyA
  15. Venturous Randy
    Take a dull punch and stick it against the inside sleeve of the flywheel that goes over the crankshaft. Give it a good whack and be prepared for the flywheel to come off, as in having something under the flywheel for it to land on. This is the same as impacting the loop on the end of a car tie rod end. You are slightly deforming the metal for a fraction of a second and causing it to give. You will have to do it at a bit of an angle and I hope your puller is not in the way, but it does work, or at least it worked for me on two different engines. RandyA
  16. Venturous Randy
    Hey Ken, are you going to be bringing that big camper up to Asheville? RandyA
  17. Venturous Randy
    Lew, I appreciate the comeback and also from the others. My problem, as I have stated before and is like several others that have stepped forward, is I am not the only 1st gen that has had the 75mph and up rear end wobble. We have also had a couple that took new Avons off because of the high speed wobble and it immediately went away. I have run Dunlaps, Metzlers and now Avons for over 90,000 miles. There was something I did not like about each brand and really do love the way the Avons handle and the quiteness. In the last year or so I have replaced both front and rear bearings, cleaned and regreased and retightened head bearings, cleaned and tightened rear swing arm bearings and a few other things. My bike's running gear is probably better now than with any of the other brand tires and I never experienced the wobble before the Avons. Scott, with what you are telling me about the EliteIII on the back, I may go to that next time. Thanks everyone. RandyA
  18. Venturous Randy
    After reading the threads on the Elite III, I am wondering if there is any concerns with mixing an Avon on the front that looks almost new with 10,000 miles on it and an Elite III on the back of my 83? The Avon on the back is beginning to get a little shallow on the center of the tire grooves. I noticed this when I was walking around it when it was laying on it's side. I really do like how the Avons feel, but I am not sure I want another Avon on the back with the 75mph and above rear end wobble. I have not done the homework as far as finding out if one is bias or radial. RandyA
  19. Venturous Randy
    We like our 1st gens, we just have to revarnish the wooden spokes occasionally for them to look good. RandyA
  20. Venturous Randy
    Tires with any cupping at all will produce noise, and some do without cupping. One thing I would definately do if you have not done so far is to take the driveshaft out and make sure it is lubed real good on both ends. This is routine maintanence for these 83/85 bikes. The fact that it is more noticeable while leaning left is the sound may be being bounced off the ground more and you hearing it. RandyA
  21. Venturous Randy
    Do you get any vibration? Looks good. Randy
  22. Venturous Randy
    I am getting ready to deal with the same thing about my bike getting knocked over (Hit & Run). State Farm has accepted liability on this and has had me get an estimate for everything. My total came to $2,670. What complicates my situation even more is the cuctom paint job. Evidently, ghost flames don't come cheap. So, I faxed off everything the other day and I have not heard anything back yet. I guess it will be sopmetime after the 4th weekend. Anyway, I wish you luck dave and you please do the same for me. RandyA
  23. Venturous Randy
    WOULD THEY MAKE HER A BLONDE? No, just striped. RandyA
  24. Venturous Randy
    I have been wondering how that project is coming along. Is it correct that you are only replacing just 4th and 5th gear sets or all of them? CAZCOM, I have found that Devcon Plastic Weld works real good and costs less than $3 at Wally world. RandyA
  25. Venturous Randy
    We have a guy in the lab that bought a new Harley full dresser. He had mufflers installed that were a little louder with baffles and all. Last weekend he and some other riders got caught up in a State Trouper seat belt check in Virginia. He ended up getting a ticket for loud mufflers. I don't have a problem with this other than his bike is more quite than about 90% of most Harleys. RandyA
×
×
  • Create New...