Venturous Randy

Gary, with all your knowledge about the 1st gens and learning more about the 2nd gens, what would have to be modified to use a 1st gen rear shock on a 2nd gen? I know there is a difference in how the shocks mount, but is this something that could be overcome by making some kind of adapter? 1st gen shocks are readily available because they hardly ever fail, and everyone knows about the problems on the 2nd gen shocks. Is there much difference in the mechanical leverages on one vs the other? RandyA

Guys, you ain't seen nuttin' yet, wait until the Affordable Health Care Act gets rolling. There will be more scams and identity theft than we can ever catch up on. RandyA

This could also be titled "faith". RandyA http://www.wimp.com/perspectivequeenstown/

My 83 has 164,000 miles and runs great. It also does not use any oil. The only thing done to it has been a transmission replacement and that was from a factory defect on a thrust washer being too soft. Good maintenance and these bikes will go on forever. RandyA

Scott, I was just about to send you a note asking about your right eye and just saw this post. Man, this breaks my heart to hear that you are now having problems with your left eye. Linda and I hope and pray that you will get good useable vision back. We were talking the other day that if you came through this area again that we would love for you and your wife to stay with us for a few days. Keep us posted and give me a call if you would like. RandyA

Reality, to me, the thought that something that every living creature has, but also distinguishes them from not only the type of animal, but to each individual creature, is amazing. This is, as we know, Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). To realize that we are all given something so uniquely individual that also incorporates our genetic history absolutely amazes me. To me, this is a reality that just could not happen randomly. RandyA

I lost my dad back in 2000 at 76 due to a heart attack. I ended up buying my siblings out on his house and still live here. I still run across things in the garage that he put up or saved and it routinely brings back memories of us together. I was lucky that we had a good relationship and did a lot of things together. I am also fortunate that from a young age that I helped him work on cars and became the go to guy as a kid for working on bikes and stuff. He got me a go cart at 7 years old and a motorcycle at 13 and I learned to work on them. I lost my mom to an aneurism in her brain in 96 when she was 66 years old. I guess in some ways I was lucky that neither of my parents died a lingering death. In both cases, it was just a couple of days. RandyA

Thanks puc, I do feel lucky to now have him interested in a Venture and not another crotch rocket. We have always been a mechanical family and enjoy working on things together. I am hoping that by spring we will all have our bikes in good order and can enjoy going places together. I wanted to show him some pictures of your bike, especially all loaded up, but I did not find any good ones. If you could post some more, I would appreciate it. cabreco, He still has some strength issues with that leg, but it is getting better and I hope getting this bike will get him to do some more strength conditioning before spring. He has already sent several hours out in the garage tinkering with it. Maybe before it is over with, I will have another Venture mechanic in the family. RandyA

Man, for $5,000, you could have paved your driveway. RandyA

Actually, the only way you fell for it is you continued to scroll up, down, up, down, up, down......... RandyA

Fuel filter? RandyA

Stan, don't ask. RandyA

To go to 1300 carbs on your 83, you may also have to change your TCI to get it to run correctly. Look at your TCI, which is under the battery box, and see if the part number starts with 26-. RandyA

Glad you are not hurt. BTW, what did your neighbor say when you told them you wreaked your bike while trying to not hit and kill their dog that was in your yard? Surely, they offered to fix your bike. RandyA

My grandson did buy the 83 Venture from Steve Neal (SGN) so we are officially a three generation family with me having an 83 and 85VR and my son Brian having an 86 VR and Shane now having an 83 VR. Do we have any other three generations on here with Ventures? I am really looking forward to spring so we can go riding together. RandyA

You need to look at the number on the TCI, which is located under the battery box and see what the part number is. If it starts with 26, you have the wrong TCI for the 1300 carbs. No matter what your situation was with the 83 carbs before, the 83 TCI does not work correctly with the 1300 carbs. You need to eliminate the known things that are not right before you go on a wild goose chase. One problems with syncing carbs is any vacuum leak must be fixed before the sync is done. Otherwise, the sync will try to include the leak and once you go off idle, the sync may be way off. One more thing, where is the vacuum hose hooked to on the carbs right now? You said this was checked, but by who? Most Yamaha mechanics know very little about these bikes. RandyA

Trader, you sure nailed it. Now, a doctor appointment in the middle of the day seems to take the day, especially when I come home and take a nap after it. RandyA

Given the bike is lighter than a 1st gen and has a lower center of gravity, along with a lower seat, it will probably be easier to handle and ride, especially for those of us that are inseam challenged. But, to me, I am not real crazy with the styling. It looks too much like a stripped Goldwing with some cheap looking panels to cover some of it. Maybe in real life, it will look better, or with at least a different color. Again, as noted, you have to give it to Honda for trying. RandyA

If you installed 1300 carbs on an 83, you may have the wrong TCI. Where did you connect the Boost sensor hose to on the carb/manifold? On the 83 carbs the hose connects to the carb which is above the throttle plate. The 1300 carbs do not have a port on the carbs to hook the hose. If the hose is connected to the manifold, it will need to have an 84 up TCI. RandyA

Hey Don, you do pretty good. Have you thought about working for Healthcare.gov? RandyA

Do you have a leak without the engine running? Do you have a leak when you turn on the ignition before you start the bike. Is the fuel leaking from any of the small hoses hanging down in front of the rear tire? Is it leaking from the fuel filter, which is in front of the rear tire? If you have a fuel leak and an electrical ground, make sure you have a good fire extinguisher close by. RandyA

Hey Doug, that is a nice looking 1st gen. As far as the gas leaks, with as long as the bike sat, I would suspect the gas may be coming from the over flow tubes because you have a stuck float. As for your electrical problem, you may have to chase down a ground, but I would do it as part of replacing the stock fuse panel with the blade type fuses. There is a member on here that sells a kit, or you can pick up a fuse block with about five or six fuses. As far as the plastic repair, I have never had good luck with putting fiberglass on ABS plastic. There are some pretty good plastic epoxy products that work good. In your USAF time, did you ever spend any time at Seymour Johnson air base in NC? RandyA

Yep, know what you mean Dan, with Linda's double bypass and my chest injuries, October was a month around here where coughs or hiccups always had a loud groan with them. Hope you guys get past this and everything is better. RandyA

Are they in good shape? Let me know what you want. RandyA

Sounds good cowpuc, I like smoked salmon. RandyA