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Freebird

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Everything posted by Freebird

  1. Freebird
    Here is a link that shows what they are and the story. http://www.guardianbell.com
  2. Freebird
    I'm not sure but can say for certain that it is NOT a Venture seat. I DO think that it is a Royal Star Seat but am not sure. I looked up the part number for the seat on a '97 Royal Star and it is 4NK-24710-00-00
  3. Freebird
    I'm getting some better quotes now. It's not just the setup fee. They first have to make a model of the bell with our logo integrated into it. A model maker will do that. Then the mold is made from the model. I'll let you know but right now I'm getting some decent quotes with setups about half that and less.
  4. Freebird
    Well here's my take on it. Yes, you read a lot of problems here but most are either minor or can be corrected. All bikes have the same thing in one way or another. Look back at the first gens even when they were new. There were stator problems, frame problems, gear problems and more. The older Wings had stator problems that required pulling he engines to replace. The new Winds had a problem with frames cracking. The Harley EVO had a problem with base gaskets leaking and the new Twin Cam had problems with the cams and also some of the same tranny whine problem as some complain about with the second gen. As for a track record, my '99 is over 8 years old now so that's not a bad record. As for the size, I owned an '88 Venture and was severely cramped on it. I'm 6' 2" tall and most of that is LEGS. I've never owned, ridden even sat on a bike that is as comfortable as the RSV for riders with long legs. I've look at a lot of bikes since buying my RSV and have not yet seen one that I liked any better. I sort of have an itch for a new bike now but probably won't be buying one anytime soon and if I did, I have no idea what I could buy that I like better. I want to try an Ultra Classic someday but I know they don't have as much room as the RSV. The best testimony I can offer to the RSV on my own behalf is that I have owned literally dozens of cars and motorcycles in my life and have never owned ANYTHING for more than maybe 2 years TOPS. Never thought I would keep any bike as long as I have this one.
  5. Freebird
    Yes, just plug it and you should be fine. As soon as my warranty was up, I removed it all completely.
  6. Freebird
    I was an industrial electrician for 20 years. We used to send the new helpers after pipe stretchers, sky hooks and long stands.
  7. Freebird
    The front grills don't come off if I remember correctly. you remove the 4 screws from the back and remove and install the speakers from the back. It's been a while so I may be wrong but I THINK that is how I did it.
  8. Freebird
    I don't really care about topping off...I don't figure that little bit of gas is going to matter but I DO like rounding off the price to an even number...just a little quirk of mine. Some of these pumps make that VERY difficult.
  9. Freebird
    I keep hearing about solvents and removers and etc. but to be honest, I've found that when you wet any of these stickers it just makes a mess. I simply used a razor blade to gently lift one of the corners and just slowly pealed it off. It left no residue and came off clean and in one piece. Maybe I just got lucky.
  10. Freebird
    Yes, I would not use the Yamaha logo because they would not be happy about it. Besides, I'm doing this for us, not trying to get rich.
  11. Freebird
    Naw...here is Charlie's new bike. The Yamaha Bobby. http://autoshow.autos.msn.com/autoshow/Tokyo2007/photogallery.aspx?cp-documentid=5631781
  12. Freebird
    OK folks...another update. I've now received some quotes. The first one scared me a bit. Usable model and production tooling $875.00. Then the price per bell. That scared me a bit. I've since gotten a couple more quotes though that cut the model and tooling cost to about half that. I knew that this was going to cost me some money up front but not THAT much. Anyway, my goal is to get these with our logo and be able to sell them for about the same price as the mass produced ones that are all over the Internet. That would be between $8.00 and $12.00 per bell. I know that's a pretty wide range but I'm obviously shooting for the lower end. I'll keep you posted but I do think this is going to happen.
  13. Freebird
    Propane where I live is not half the price. It's already up to about 2.45 per gallon and still going up. What kind of mileage do you get as opposed to gasoline? If you suffer in gas mileage, it will quickly wipe out the bit that you save.
  14. Freebird
    hmmm....I think I'll stick with the Carbtune.
  15. Freebird
    PM Sent. I may be interested if I can find the extra money.
  16. Freebird

    New Seat

    Freebird replied to a topic in Watering Hole

    I'm 6' 2" tall and about 210 lbs. Long legs. I've tried the Airhawk, the AirRider Gel, the pillow top seat, the stock seat, the Travelcade Roadsofa and maybe a few other things. None of them worked for me. What finally worked for me is the Corbin Dual Touring seat. It feels hard as a brick but has great support and once you FINALLY get it broken in, is the most comfortable seat I've ever ridden. Different things work for different folks.
  17. Freebird
    Those splines look fine to me. That should not be your problem.
  18. Freebird
    Yes, as well as I knew how to. I saw no wear on anything and the carbs were very clean inside.
  19. Freebird
    I have had it happen a couple of times. Both times I was able to control it and stayed in control but would prefer that it didn't happen. One time was NOT a panic stop. I just almost missed a turn and got on it a little heavier than usual. I did not feel that it should have locked up that time. I feel that I am a decent rider. I have practiced emergency stopping even locking up the rear brake on purpose. I have also taken the advance riders course where you do it on purpose. The brakes are too sensitive in my opinion.
  20. Freebird
    Mine were all about the same. Actually, I'm not sure the tang was even touching anything. It appeared that they were going all the way up and resting against the head of the screws that hold the tang in place. I just got back from a short ride and it is really running good. Just have to wait and see on the gas mileage. I'm not optimistic because the gas mileage seemed to have gotten bad all at once, like something really drastic changed. I've checked and changed plugs, tested the coils, etc. though and haven't found anything.
  21. Freebird
    The Black Cherry and BLACK combo is a 2008 color. I don't know that guy...somebody should invite him.
  22. Freebird
    Yes, I have the manual and that is what I went by. It is not clear to me though if the floats are just resting there are being held up. Anyway, I just finished syncing the carbs and that was the problem. I won't even pretend to understand why the float levels affect the sync but I can assure you that they do. After putting it all back together my sync was WAY off. They are now synced again and it is purring like a kitten. Now I just have to put some miles on it and see if it had any affect on my poor mileage. At least I'm not out there pulling the carbs again right now.
  23. Freebird
    This is actually the first I have heard of a drive shaft problem. There have been a few wheel bearing problems and some rear alignment problems but this is the first I've heard of your problem.
  24. Freebird

    Cars we DROVE

    Freebird replied to dray's topic in Watering Hole

    That was pretty cool. Most were just slightly ahead of my time. I've owned a lot of cars in my life but in my early days they were 60 Chevy Belair, 67 Pontiac Tempest, 69 Camaro, 69 VW, 73 Chevelle 454 SS, 74 Dodge Challenger. There were a couple others mixed in there that I just happened upon and bought/sold pretty quickly...some year Corvair and a 62 Chevy Impala.
  25. Freebird
    OK folks...I need some input here. I've seen several discussions on setting the float levels. I'm NOT much good when it comes to carbs. I can sync them and etc. but am always nervous about getting inside them. So yesterday, in my unending search to figure out my gas mileage problem, I decided to pull the carbs and check the float levels and etc. Several of you, including Cougar, Pegscraper and some others have done this and have reported that it's not a big job. WHATEVER...it took me about 10 hours to pull the carbs, set the floats and get it all back together. To make it worse, I'm now thinking that I may have done it wrong and need to pull them off again. The manual says that you set the floats at about .32 with the floats resting on but not compressing the needle valve. So, does that mean that with the carbs upside down that you lift the floats with your finger so that the tang is touching the needle and that is when you measure? Unfortunately, I set them with the carbs upside down and the floats at rest, not me lifting on them. I'm attaching a picture. You will see in the picture that the near side is laying way up in the housing. The far side I have adjusted and it is at about .32 with it just sitting there. I think I did it wrong but please tell me for sure. Here's the deal. Yesterday morning I check all four cylinders using my Colortune. At most all RPMS I had the nice Bunsen blue color as I should but had intermittent flashes of yellow. According to the color tune booklet, that is a sign of floats set too high. That is why I pulled them off. Finally got it all back together last night about 9:00 and fired it up. Now I have a definite backfire, pop, miss or something from the right side. Now I have not synced them yet and will do so but I really don't see where adjusting the floats would through the sync off. So.......HELP.
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