Venturous Randy

Well, the guy that was run over was an aspiring rapper and his wife wants the SUV driver to pay for what he did. I know that if I was in the Range Rover, I would have checked out 4 wheel drive and reverse before they would have drug me out of the car and beat and cut me. Like said, a 4 wheel drive with flats would be real hard to stop if the driver gave it everything. What has not been said is from everything that I have seen, it appears the bikers were black. RandyA

Poof.........

We really did have beautiful weather. The long range forecast had a couple of days with rain and it just did not happen. I wish your trip could have been that good. Yes, it was really nice to be down there with Linda. She is a lot of fun and enjoyable to be around. I do believe she is a keeper. I did almost mess up one time. Three years ago when I took the Maxima, I drove down the long sand road to the point to the beach and where it had rained, the sand was packed. I thought I would try that again with the Infiniti and when I got about 300 feet from the beach, it was no longer packed but soft. Before I could do anything, the bottom of the car was sitting on the sand. I rocked it a little and was able to get it moving back ever so slowly and was able to get back on firmer sand. Whew! I left a big imprint of the bottom of the car in the sand. RandyA

Just trying to be nice. RandyA

Yeah, when we were last there with you guys, I had trailered the bike down and did get to ride some, until Tropical Storm Nicole came through, which I think only lacked a few miles per hour in being a cat 1 hurricane. Most of the roads on Ocracoke were like riding around in a river. I'm glad I had taken the car down then. Linda and I talked about trying to do a meet & eat, but we were kind of winging it with only a few scheduled things. and we also wanted to come back 264 through Swan Quarter. RandyA

I suspect it was because your battery cables were loose. RandyA

This brought back some memories as I t-boned a bear many years ago in a 280ZX Datsun. He ran across in front of me and there was no way I could miss him. When I hit him, he did a slow roll and went off the right side. I was real fortunately that I did not get under the bear, or run over it. I had to go about 50 yards before I could get out of the road and walk back to see if I could see him. I notified the local sheriff's dept and Ranger and they also could not find the bear. You were real lucky as a few years ago we did have a local fatality on a bike from hitting a bear. RandyA

Linda and I took off last Sunday afternoon for a five day vacation. With all the stuff we were taking, we took the Infiniti I35 I picked up this past spring. We spent some time in Goldsboro, NC, where I was stationed at for part of my time in the USAF. We then went to Morehead City and Atlantic Beach and visited Fort Macon. That area has really built up since the last time I was there. The next day we got on the ferry at Cedar Island for Ocracoke Island, where we stayed three years ago on my 60th birthday when we had the party at Deadwoods and we stayed at Arthur's place. Ocracoke is a neat place to stay and has a lot of history. It is like a seaside village. The lighthouse there was built in 1823 and is still in service. We had beautiful weather and I would have enjoyed the bike, but the cage did great and it was nice to not have to worry about packing or weather. We had a wonderful time. I will try to attach some sunset and sunrise pictures. RandyA

Did you buy a Harley or a boat? RandyA

Linda's van came with this and the light stays on almost all the time, no matter what the pressures are. RandyA

Riding Deal's Gap at night is like riding most of the roads around here at night. Before I lost the vision in my right eye, I loved to ride at night. Now, not as much. RandyA

Yeah, I am the perfect gentleman, when coming from the carport or garage, I always let Linda go first, then I just stoop down a little. RandyA

Probably some deer, bears, raccoons, skunks, bobcats and a few other critters that are glad it is quiet. RandyA

My overflow hoses extend down to about the center stand. On the side stand, I can easily see the tips hanging down. Not sure what you mean by; "hang out the back right above the rear headers, I guess that is so because then no fuel will hit the ground". In 140,000 miles, I have had an overflow problem one time and it dumped out fuel right in front of the rear tire. To fix it, I pulled the inlet hose and blew some air into the tube on that carb and the problem went away. RandyA

Well, that may well be, but it may also depend on how much you paid for it. RandyA

And just think, I paid $49 bucks for a complete 03 RSV trans that also had the shift cam with the upgraded end that is made as one piece and does not have the pins to worry about. This is what the new one looks like. RandyA

This is a little more scientific. RandyA [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9t3r0kBT0vY]Man's vs. Woman's Brain (see the difference!) - YouTube[/ame]

A couple of days ago I was on Craigslist and ran across an ad about an 83 Venture with the owner saying it had about 5,200 miles on it. I looked at it yesterday, thinking it must have 105,200 miles, but I am confident it had 5,200 miles. He had gotten the bike from the son of a guy that had it for a long time and had parked it because of dropping it due to the weight. This bike still had the original white lettered Bridgestone tires that came on the bike new. The rotors on the front looked almost new as did the exhaust. It was like looking back in time. He said the bike ran good and had a lot of power, but needed a battery to run. The plastic was in good shape other than the upper right fairing where it had been dropped and a piece broken out. It was a blond Royale, but what killed the original value of the bike was he had spray bombed the front half of the bike blue to see what it would look like, as he liked blue. He wanted $1,500 or make offer for the bike and I told him with the paint job, he is probably looking at a parts bike now and his price was probably a bit high for that. He and his son both had bikes with the son riding a VTX1300. They were both nice folks and I told the son that he should keep the bike and put a good paint job on it and keep it and I told him about VR.org. I noticed that this morning the bike has been removed from CL. I thought it was interesting to look at a bike that was over 30 years old and only 5.200 miles on it, but I also know that it would probably take a lot of work to get the bike streetable. RandyA

Wow, this post is over four years old. RandyA

There comes a time when we all must accept that slowing down is part of the maturing process. To accept with grace that comfort and going slow is a good thing. Just remember, it happens to all of us................. But, I am NOT there yet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :cool10::cool10: RandyA

I have almost always used Automotive oil, Valvoline 10 40, and for a while now used oil designed for a diesel engine, Rotella T 15 40. My bike has 164,000 miles on it and still does not use any oil. The only engine related failure was the thrush washer wear causing the 2nd gear problem and I doubt motorcycle specific oil would have helped, as I am confident that many other Venture and V-Max engines had the same problem with only running Yamalube. I did experience clutch slippage at one time and replaced the six springs and that went away. Now, this is on a bike that has also pulled a 450 pound camper all around these mountains and also a bike that has NOT been babied. I can not imagine how many times it has exceeded 8,000 RPM's. Right now. if I crank it on and hit 2nd gear hard, the front wheel will definitely come up. So, given my experience on this bike for the last 17+ years, my Yamaha seems to do just fine with automotive oil. RandyA

When you are replacing the seal, are you covering the groove where the ring clip goes with tape? I use scotch tape to keep the sharp edge on the ring groove from damaging the wiping edge of the seal. Is your seal leaking on the area wiping tube or on the outside of the seal? Are you using Yamaha seals or after market? RandyA

Gee, I enjoyed the debate and thought it enlightening, Debates can be fun and interesting and I enjoyed our lengthy debate...... RandyA

As a suggestion, rather than cram it in to 1st gear with it running, kill the engine and put it in 1st and then pull the clutch in and try to start the bike. With the clutch in, the starter should turn over and pull the bike forward enough for it to start. RandyA

Herb, to me, the correct position to run the bike on the bypass is if the top of the letters are pointed toward the 5 o'clock position. RandyA