Freebird

Yamaha can say what they want but it would never hold up in court. This has been beaten many times. As long your chosen oil meets the specs required, they cannot deny warranty based on you using a different brand. I use Mobil 1 synthetic in everything I own and will continue to do so. There are consumer laws that make that very clear and Yamaha and other manufacturers very well know it and would never choose to fight that battle.

Yes, Diamond R shut down a couple of years ago. I'm tagging @Carbon_One with this post. He used to make some Don't know if he still does or not. I'm sure he will reply.

Eileen and I rode over to the Quaker Steak last night for dinner. While there, I let them know that we planned to be there again this year on Friday night June 1st. Weather permitting, they will reserve the outside patio area that overlooks the river as we have done before. If it rains, we will be seated inside. I told them maybe 30 people but I just looked and so far, we only have about 15 signed up for that dinner. So please, add your name as soon as you can.

Folks, it hurts me more than I can say to have to report this news but it has to be done. We lost one of our longest and most active members today. Yammer Dan has forever left our group and this world. I don't have all the details yet but understand that he had, at long last, found and purchased a trike somewhere down in Tennessee. He, his wife, and his son or son in law drove down to get it. Yammer paid for the trike and headed home and I understand only made it about 4 miles when something happened. It is very unclear right now but it is possible that he had some type of medical condition that possibly caused him to come off the trike. It is with such a heavy heart that I report this sad news. Yammer has had more than his share of bad luck over the past few years. More than many people could take. I understand that he was so very excited that he had finally found a good deal on the trike of his dreams and was so very excited about surprising all of us at Maintenance Day. Yammer was the first to admit that he was generally a loner and did not easily take to groups of any kind but he had found a group within VentureRiders that he felt accepted and comfortable with. I am so thankful for that and that we were able to count him amongst our many friends. There will be more posted as more is learned but for now, please keep his wife and family in your thoughts and if you are so inclined to do so, please say a prayer for the entire family. I will miss him. I'm sure that many of you will as well.

There have been many gun discussions here. I don't have a problem with it so long as it doesn't end up about being political. There are many different opinions regarding the banning of guns but most of the discussions here have been more along the lines of the enjoyment of the shooting sports or just the guns themselves.

This is pretty much a regular even in conjunction with Freebird's Maintenance Day. On Friday June 1st, we will leave from my house at a time to be determined, usually around 5:30, and ride over the the Quaker Steak in Vermillion, OH. Please sign up on the calendar if you plan to join us so that I can let them know how many of us to expect. It's always a great time. Also, please sign up for Maintenance Day if you haven't done so. It helps if we have a close estimate on how many to expect before ordering food for lunch on Saturday. We are thinking about going with Fried Chicken this year. http://www.venturerider.org/forum/calendar.php?do=getinfo&e=507&day=2018-6-1&redirect=1

Unless you know the year model that they came off of or a part number, the only way is to look inside the muffler. I THINK that 2010 and later had them in the header pipe. Also, I think before 2006 and earlier did not have them I'm not 100% sure though. I can tell you that on my 2013, there were none in the Mufflers.

Skid, it's easy to find them without the cats. There were only a couple of years when the cats were in the muffler, then they started putting them in the down pipe. I will also tell you that some are louder than others and I'm not sure how to know before buying them. I once had them on my '99 and they were just very slightly louder than my stock mufflers. When I bought the '05, it had a set on it already and they are quite a bit louder than stock. Not TOO loud but certainly louder than the first set I had and neither were modified.

Supposed to be. You can hose it out and etc. I bought the hitch from Carbon_one. Easy install and should work well. That sounds like a decent price out the door with those accessories already added. The aftermarket gull wing top is 2500.00 and the fender, depending upon which one you get, can run close to $1000.00. With my fender color matched, I paid $965.00 for it. Nuts in my opinion.

There are a lot of people turbo charging and super charging the Slingshots. It all depends upon how deep your pockets are. Several kits available. Around $5,000.00. I won't do it. It is quick enough for me as is. I'll change the exhaust at some point but that's about it. Any other changes and/or additions will be comfort related. These kits take you from the stock 175HP to the 300HP range. https://www.slingmods.com/turbos-superchargers

Those T-Tops look pretty nice but I decided against it for two reasons. 1. PRICE. It will set you back around $2500.00. The fabric top I bought was still high at $1300.00 but at least a little better. 2. FUNCTION. I actually like the fabric top because you can easily remove the canvas and have a completely open cockpit. It folds up and can be stored in the compartment behind either of the seats. The fact is though, the accessories for the Slingshot are just crazy expensive. The aftermarket guys are making a killing off this stuff. I know that all bike parts are expensive but it seems to me that the Slingshot bling is exponentially higher than motorcycle goodies. One thing that I quickly realized was needed was a rear fender. I was blown away at the prices. Carbon_one made his own rear fender and if I were more patient, he would have made one for me but he has been really busy and I didn't want to push him. So, I broke down and ordered one a couple of weeks ago. It turned out really nice and came color matched and SHOULD have been very easy to install. It WOULD have been very easy to install if ANY of the holes in the mounting brackets had lined up properly. As it was, I spent a lot of time modifying, drilling, grinding, etc. to make it work. What should have been a 20 to 30 minute job ended up taking me about 2 1/2 hours. I think it looked great when I finally got done but wanted to choke somebody when I was installing it. For the money they charge, I shouldn't have had those issues. I will also say that a rear fender should be standard on these things. You can see how dirty the rear of mine is from just a short ride last weekend. You end up with mud and water all over the rear end if you don't have a fender. Here are a couple of pictures just after I got it installed yesterday afternoon.

Utopia products are always fantastic. They just get it right.

You better listen for sirens. You stole that rig.

Looks like most our our local brands are on that list. Good to know.

I think I posted about these last year. I ordered several from Rural King and they work great. I hate the new cans.

A lot of the old threads still contain very relevant information. I can't tell you how many times I've been asked to restore pictures in various 10 year old threads. Now the main ones are in the tech talk areas. I could purge threads in the Watering Hole and etc. Right now, the only ones that get purged are the classifieds and links to Ebay forums. The only way I would consider purging threads in any form would be simply by date. I certainly don't have time to go through each and every thread to determine which ones should be kept. That's why it is important to post tech type information and questions in the proper forum. I do delete posts by date every so often and when I do, it is simply by date and some good tech posts would get deleted in the are posted in the watering hole.

As I mentioned before, I got up on a Saturday morning and decided I was going to buy a Harley that day. I got to the dealer in the afternoon and after quickly deciding on the Road Glide instead of the Ultra Classic I sat down with the salesman to negotiate the deal. I didn't dicker around much. The 2013 was the year before they added the boom audio system as standard. It did have intercom and CB standard though. Mine was single color black with some minor stripes. I don't remember exactly but the tag hanging on it as around $23,500.00. He came back with a quote that just added the prep and tax and etc. to that price. I just told him, I'm not going to sit here and dicker with you. I'll pay the $23,500 out the door. That will include all extra charges and sales tax. I also want $1,000 worth of accessories included and a 20% discount on them. He was gone about 5 minutes to talk to his manager and came back and said "ok, you have a deal". It was quick and easy. I probably could have done a bit better if I had been in the mood to negotiate for an hour or so but just wasn't interested. I left with almost the full thousand worth of accessories that I wanted. Riders backrest, saddlebag guards, a couple of other things. The only thing that they didn't have in stock was the handlebars that I wanted. I took the accessories with me and installed them at home the next day. Went back a couple of days later to pick up the handlebars and they offered to install them while I waited for $125.00. Having installed handlebars, I knew that it could be time consuming so let them do it. The first service was also included in the price. The service with synthetics was usually $300.00 or so. After that first one, I did it myself.

I don't think I've ever seen replacement plexiglass for them. You would think it would have been available and maybe it was but if so, I sure never ran across them.

I'm right behind you Dan...well....WAY behind you.

Haven't looked at the new models but the CB was standard on my 2013.

I meant to add one more thing to my post. If I actually WERE in the market for a new bike right now, I would absolutely be taking a very close look at the new Venture. Though I actually liked and got a kick out of the vibration of the Harley at idle, I love the looks of the new Venture and even more importantly, I like the technology that they brought with it. Different ride modes, traction control, reverse, etc. I haven't ridden one and am scared to. I'm afraid I would want one if I actually rode it. Haven't even seen one in person. I still think that the Venture is a great choice for your Plan A. But the Harley is certainly worth consideration for your Plan B. Here is a picture of the 2013 that I had. This was before I added the Vance and Hines large ovals and a few other extras. Of course, the new ones got a re-design a year or two after my '13 model.

We've had all kinds of bikes here. Just point it this way and join in on the fun.

@BigLenny, I just realized that I didn't answer your question about helmets. We'll see. We did not wear them on our ride this weekend. Eileen thinks that we should and I think it looks dumb wearing one in this thing. I don't know. For now, if we wear one at all, it will probably be a half helmet. Ohio is a no helmet state so it's our choice here. I also haven't researched the laws in other states. I'm sure that in states where they are registered as motorcycles then you would be required to follow the motorcycle helmet laws and most states do, I think, register them as motorcycles. Several states, and likely more to come, have created a new vehicle classification called "Autocycle". I'm not sure how that affects the helmet laws in those states. Same for seatbelts. It has them and we did and will continue to wear them but I would assume that if you are in a state where they are registered as motorcycles, then you wouldn't be required to wear the seatbelts. That's just conjecture on my part though.

Like many here, I have owned a lot of different bikes over the past 48 or so years. I have had a few that I liked better than others but none that I absolutely hated. They all have their own character. I owned an '88 Venture Royale and just couldn't adapt to the seating position. Most of that is because I am 6'2 and have long legs. I used to buy Levis with a 36" inseam but I guess my inseam is actually around 35". I just couldn't get comfortable on the first gen Venture. Then I bought a 1986 Harley FXRD. It was actually a great bike and I had no problems with it at all but the FXRD was a single year production model and aftermarket accessories, exhaust, etc. were almost impossible to find. When the RSV came out in 1999, I loved it and took delivery of mine in April of 1999. I will have to say that the '99 RSV topped the list, by far, of my favorite bike of all time. I rode it until 2013 when I got the itch for something different. I bought a brand new 2013 Harley Road Glide Ultra. Now it was somewhat of a spur of the moment decision. Not that I hadn't been thinking about it for a while but I woke up on a Saturday morning and just mentioned to my wife that I was really thinking about it again. She said, well, you've been wanting to do it for a while so get on the phone and see if you can find what you want. I actually planned to buy an Ultra Classic and called a few dealers. I found one in Medina, OH, about 30 minutes from my house, that had the Ultra Classic that I wanted. They closed at 5:00 on Saturday so we hopped in the car and drove over. We got there around 3:30. They actually had 5 or 6 Ultra Classics on the floor but right by the door, they had a brand new Road Glide Ultra and my wife spotted it. She liked it better than the Ultra. Once I sat on both bikes, I knew that the Road Glide was the choice for me. Though technically, they are exactly the same from the faring back, the Road Glide just felt much roomier to me. I felt really close and a bit scrunched on the Ultra but not on the Road Glide. So we did our negotiations and finalized the deal around 4:30. I asked the salesman what day they could have it ready and he told me that he had already had it taken to the back and it would be ready to go in about 30 minutes. So, I rode it home that day. Now, it happened that we had a lot of family illness issues start about that time so we didn't get to ride near as much as we expected to. I will say though that it came very close to being my favorite over the RSV. It depends on what you want out of a bike but I can tell you, it had plenty of power but more importantly, the power band actually suited the style of riding that I've settled over the past few years. My "speed demon" days are over for the most part and I loved the low rpm torque that the VTwins are so good at. The seating position was every bit as comfortable as my RSV and my wife thought that the passenger seat was better than the Yamaha. Though we didn't ride as much as we hoped to, we did get in a couple of decent trips. I also managed to complete two iron butt rides on it, one was the 1,000 miles in 24 hours and the other was 1500 miles in 36 hours or something like that. The 1,000 miler I actually did 1140 going and then the same coming back and completed he 2280 in just over 30 hours. Rode it non-stop there, slept about 4 hours, rode non-stop back home. I can honestly say that I was very comfortable for that entire ride. I only kept the Harley for about 2 years. Life got in the way and it ended up sitting in the garage most of the time. I think I put a total of around 19,000 miles on it and most of that was the first year. So, I decided to sell it. As for reliability, I can only say that for the two years and close to 20,000 miles that I owned it, it never went back to the shop for any reason other than the first service which was part of my deal. After that, I serviced it myself. Now if I had to place any fault on the bike, it was certainly the heat. I was just brutal on a hot day, especially if you got caught in traffic. We were coming home from the VentureRider rally in Illinois shortly after buying it and we hit Chicago at the wrong time. In that traffic, it was actually painful. I felt that my thighs were almost blistering. My wife didn't complain much but it was her feet that got roasted. Then we also took a little trip to Hilton Head, S.C. and though most of the trip was pleasant enough, when we were pulling into our hotel at Hilton Head it was 101 degrees and about 90% humidity. No doubt it would have been hot on the Venture also but I felt like I was sitting on a big heater on that Harley. If I could point at any fault of the Harley for deciding to sell it, it would certainly have been the heat. I did take several recommended steps to reduce the heat and it may have helped some but didn't ride it enough to really find out. Removed the catalytic convertor, free flowing exhaust and air filters, Tuner and richened up the fuel mixture, etc. To be honest though, it was more of a financial decision. I just couldn't see having that much money tied up in something that was now just sitting in the garage. So, after two years, I sold the Road Glide and then bought another RSV which I still have. There were things that I liked better about the Harley, primarily the low rpm torque but also the lower center of gravity, availability of aftermarket accessories, and yes, we even like the fact that there were so many shirts, jackets, etc. on the market. I wish that Yamaha would offer more branded merchandise as well. I would have no problem owning another Harley. I doubt I ever will but one never knows for sure. The fact is, we still aren't riding like we once did and my '05 RSV will likely last me my lifetime. It is completely setup the way I like it and I really don't know of anything else that I would need or want to add to it. I'm 63 now and we may or may not find that we like cruising in the Slingshot more than on the bike. I honestly don't think so but only time will tell. Like as been recommended, you should rent one first and get a feel for it. I would also try to test ride the Road Glide if I were you. I think that you have written that you also tall. You may, as I did, find the Road Glide to be a better fit. I'm almost sure that if I were to buy another Harley tomorrow, it would be another Road Glide. As for the Indian, I've seen some that really look great but personally, I'm just not a fan. I know those huge sculpted fenders are an iconic Indian feature but I simply don't like the look. I've also spent a little time on the Indian forums and have read many reports that the heat is actually worse than on the Harley. I have also read way too many reports about quality issues and, at least for a while, rider's had their bikes in the shop for extended periods of time while the dealer was waiting on parts. That issue may have been initial production issues and completely resolved by now.

She loves the Murano. It is a 2015 I think...first year of the new model. We've had no problems with it, a couple of very minor recalls. It has about 36,000 miles on it now. It's really a nice ride. It is the Platinum model also and has the "chestnut" color interior. My only small gripe is that the towing capacity is really low, 2000 lbs. if I remember correctly. Not a huge deal because about the only thing we pull with it is the two Waverunners on a double trailer. Even that is getting close to the limit. The old Murano's were rated at 4,000 lbs. and the drivetrain is basically the same. Nobody has been able to explain why they reduce it so much.