BigShell
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Everything posted by BigShell
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The RSTD handle bar has a nut pressed inside the bars. I guess it's pressed in... I don't see any screw, brad or weld marks on the bar. Are they supposed to stick out like that (about 3/16")? The way the weight is machined, it looks like it should fit inside the bar about 1/8", with the weight flush to the bar. Instead, there is 3/16" gap. These are bars and weights for an '05 RSTD. If they are supposed to be that way, no problem... it just looks funny. If they are supposed to fit flush, I'll see if I can 'press' the nuts in a little more.
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Can't speak to the wind deflector screw problem. Mine went right in. As far as the "bending" an allen wrench... that's why they make ball-end wrenches. They will work at an angle. I think the design is poor too. There is a member here who sells a bracket that pushes the lights out and away from the fairing so you can clean better and also split the fairing without removing the passing lights. Something like that should have been designed in. -
How come ya'll get get the good stuff! I've heard most of the tunes listed... but not mine! "'The Third Man' Theme" by Anton Karas -- played on the zither! [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFz79SBnuk8&NR=1]YouTube - Anton Karas Zither[/ame]
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RSTD handlebars on the Venture
BigShell replied to BigShell's topic in Royal Star Venture Tech Talk ('99 - '13)
Tempting as that sounds... I guess I'll just put up with all this. Now in about 3 months, I will probably wish I was up there! -
Got everything ordered for the RSTD bars. We'll see how they feel. The hoses and cables will work with RSTD or Flanders G2 so I can change my mind for not a lot more money.
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VMax rear end - first 600 miles
BigShell replied to BigShell's topic in Royal Star Venture Tech Talk ('99 - '13)
I know this description won't mean a lot because you can't really quantify it. The bike just seems to 'like' these gears. I haven't changed my riding style, but the bike seems 'happier'. It seems to have more 'energy'. That's just my subjective take on it. Another rider may find that nothing feels good about the change.... and both of us would be correct. I still think this mod is right for me. BuddyRich... if you are thinking about the swap, let me know. You're close by. I bet we can arrange for you to sit in seat and run through the gears a few times. Todays fill-up brought the avg since the swap down to about 29.1. Been fighting winds though. I'll post the results when I have 10 tanks through it. That helps smooth out those times you don't top off or have unusual conditions like todays winds. -
I power mine through a 3 switch housing on top of the brake reservoir. That switch is wired from the factory to use one power input for all three toggles. I powered it from the battery through a relay. I activate the relay off the back of the cigarette lighter so the switch is hot in acc position. I feel better when I can power off the cradle when I don't have the Zumo in place. I run my Zumo and grip heaters off the switch right now. I like having the switch lose power when I shut off the ignition. That way I don't have a powered cradle exposed to the elements or have my heaters draw down the battery because I forgot to turn them off when I shut down.
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VMax rear end - first 600 miles
BigShell replied to BigShell's topic in Royal Star Venture Tech Talk ('99 - '13)
Blue Ridge Mountain SportMax I logged in to answer your post and their advertisement was in the upper right corner. John's been on vacation the last 2 weeks but I think he is due back on the 27th. $300 for the rear end (+$25 shipping) with a $300 core charge. I wanted to keep my OEM final drive, so when I saw Brad (Squidley) had one for sale, I bought it to use as a core. -
So far, I would say I have a keeper. The bike just 'feels' stronger. She moves easily through the gears. She responds when I twist her throttle. Everything just feels more comfortable. I don't know how else to describe it. I'm getting a little more noise, but I can still hear my tunes... no problem. As far as fuel mileage... First lets agree to limit any comments to the bikes rear end. I know I get bad mpg compared to many of you, but why that is would be another thread. Yes I keep the tires within 2 psi of max sidewall pressure. Changed the plugs... one was a little darker, but not bad. All were dry. I use SeaFoam several times a year. Chokes all the way in. Carbs are tuned regularly by me. Engine runs good and can haul my rear around faster than I have any business going. Maybe it's a combination of being as big 1up as most of you are 2up... of pushing a lot of air with a wide windshield and lower deflectors and a wide body... or flying the two 11x14 flags (a buddy said his mileage went down when his flags went up)... or riding at the speed limit +5mph (real speed, not yama-speed)... or not wanting to waste time getting from 10 mph to 75 mph... or who knows what else. I've fueled up 234 times since she first hit the driveway. I've averaged 31.5 mpg in 31952 miles. I also keep a running avg of the last 10 fill-ups. Over the winter, that avg has dropped from 32.5 to 29.5 now. I say all this so you can decide for yourself if you think your mileage may be affected in the same way as mine. Four tanks before the VMax rear swap - avg 29.57 Four tanks since the VMax rear swap - avg 29.47 Yep... I think it's a keeper.
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RSTD handlebars on the Venture
BigShell replied to BigShell's topic in Royal Star Venture Tech Talk ('99 - '13)
That's mostly my neighbors area. He keeps his cut a little better than I do. I might end up with flanders in the long run, but I want to try this first. The RSTD bars have a little more pull back plus they have 2" more height. I think I want that height. No way to know for sure until I try them. If I don't like them, I'll go flanders... maybe with the risers. Selling the RSTD bars will not be a problem if I don't like them. I've had the narrow front tire, leveling links, and both together. For me, the best overall handling came with using the leveling links with the stock size front tire. -
I'm using stock bars with 1 1/2 risers right now. I'm thinking about trying the RSTD stock bars with no risers. I decided to brave the weather and see how the RSTD bars would fit. It was a brutal 75 degrees with a 10 mph wind from the south, but I know you folks wanted to know. I put on shorts, sunscreen and a cap and got started. First thing I looked at was how the bar end weights attached. Not even close. If I'm going to use these bars, I'll need RSTD weights. Anyone have a good picture of what the RSTD weights look like on the bike? I only took two measurements for position comparison. I measured perpendicular from the top of the pivot point on the shifter to the center of the bar at that point. About 30 inches. I measured from the widest point on the fairing to the center of the bar end (not the weight). About 8.5 inches. With the RSTD bars, the first measurement remained about 30 inches. The other measurement was now about 9 inches. I was a little surprised that they didn't pull back a little more, but that is a 1/2" more than with the 1 1/2" risers. First thing I noticed with the RSTD bars in place was the open center space. The bars passed to the outside of the speakers. I think I like that. One drawback for some is that I'm not sure the cigarette lighter type power point will be easily accessable. I have never used mine so not a problem. The throttle cable looks like it will need replacing. The risers have it stretched pretty tight in a full right turn. The clutch and upper brake look like they might work stock, but I think to be safe, I'll go a little longer. I expect the same cables and hoses used for the Flanders conversion would work here also. No way to judge comfort or picking up more wind on the hands due to the width until I actually do it and ride some. I'm sure I'll end up doing this, but it may be a few weeks. I have some other stuff I want to look into before I get started. One other thing you might have noticed in the attachments. The larger mirrors. I always hated the view from the stock mirrors. They may look good on the bike, but I couldn't see enough in them. These are about perfect for me. My only complaint is they are easy to move. I haven't had riding affect them yet, but it doesn't take much to move them. I like to hang my helmet on the right mirror and I usually end up needing to readjusting it. Time will tell how well they hold up, but for $25 + $13 shipping, I'm happy. Here is a link to a set he has for sale and a link to his store.
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Got it! Probably be this weekend before I can even look at it. Thanks!
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I love my sheep skin. It only comes off to wash the bike or if the skin is wet and I want to ride. There is a place near where I work that deals only in sheep skins... can't remember the name right now. I bought a fairly large curly haired skin, cut a slit to fit over the back rest and trimmed it to fit. I put some grommets in it and use a small bungee under the front and behind the front seat along with a little larger bungee around the back under the trunk. If I'm out for a long ride, I'll carry my beads I made cutting down a set made for a car. When I need a change, I through them on top of the sheep skin... until I need another change and I take them off and use just the skins again.
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Use mine on group rides, mostly PGR missions. I use it on the highway some. When on, I usually squelch it way back. About all I can hear are the folks I can see. I've used it for traffic, but I've also used it on occasion to let a driver know I'm coming up and around. Sometimes the truckers are surprised to hear from a two-wheeler and we'll ride along for a while trading jokes and polite insults. A couple of times I've been caught in some really bad air behind a rig. If I can get them on the radio, sometimes they will make an effort to get out of the way and let me through. If the garbage gets too ugly and I can't squelch it out, I'll turn the volume down for a while and hope I get out of range soon.
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Why? I have extra lights on my hitch mounted flag holder and use a trailer wiring harness to plug them in.
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I heard from a guy that says he has done it... and loves it. Even with +2" height, +2" pullback, and +2" in width, he said he only needed 2" longer cables and hoses. I've got a set of bars ordered. I'm going to put them in place to get a rough feel for them and to measure hose and cable lengths.
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I haven't had problems with clip-ons. Never had magnets. What I don't like about sun glasses is riding through an area with a lot of transitions between heavy shade and bright light. I can't see much when I move from bright to shade if I have sunglasses on. I bought some window film and put it on the top 2" (more or less) of my clear shield. This is the static cling kind that removes easily. It's just above eye level so the sun only has to be up a few degrees for normal head position to block it. If the sun is low, I just tilt my head forward and look through the tint. Drawbacks so far... static cling type of tint is thick. The shield doesn't close completely (can't get that last 'click'). It isn't as dark as I would like. One day, I'm going to go to a professional tint place and get them to lay some 'permanent' dark tint in the same place. I have no clue how it looks... I haven't stepped in front of a mirror with my helmet on. Those that know me, know I don't try to make a fashion statement. No way can I look 'cool'. I just want to be comfortable and see where I'm going.
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Gary... As I read your posts I can't help but think about some time I spent with a Gold Star Mom recently. She had lost her son in Iraq. We sat holding hands as she told me how much she loved and missed her boy. At one point she smiled and said, "You know, if God had told me he would give me a wonderful gift, a son I could love, but I could only have him for 19 years then He wanted him back, I would have said 'Yes, please let me have him.'" God loved Leslie. too. He wanted her near Him. He let you have some wonderful years with her first, though. I pray that God will share His Love and Strength with you... that the pain will pass quickly and good memories give you joy forever. Doug
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I had a problem with noise and water. Came from the mic connection on the cradle after it got pretty wet (I washed the bike and forgot to unplug and cover the holes in the cradle). I let it dry a couple of days and all was fine. I then coated the top half of the mic pin with dielectric grease (hoping to get a moisture seal) and plugged it back in. So far, no more problems... but I haven't washed the bike with the mic plugged in either!
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I learned a couple of things today...
BigShell replied to BigShell's topic in Royal Star Venture Tech Talk ('99 - '13)
I love the speed bleeders and intend to keep them! I can't be sure they were the cause. The only reason I suspected them was because I had tried everything else I could think of. The proportioning valve was wide open for the bleeding. I'm assuming the bleeder works with a check valve and needs enough pressure behind it to overcome the spring and flow fluid out. My thought was that with a line full of air I couldn't get enough pressure to open the valve. You know how weak a brake is and how little pressure you get with any air in the system, and much less with a whole line full of air. Remove the bleeder, remove the need for pressure. I'm not saying my assumptions are right, just what worked for me. -
I was pulling the rear wheel getting ready for the VMax rear end swap. To get the axle out, I usually use a wood dowel and hammer on the threaded end to start it moving. Once inside the wheel, I continue banging it through using a long extension. Once its about half out, I can grab it from the pinch bolt side and pull it on out. Today, I couldn't get it moving at all. I checked the pinch bolt... ok. Nothing in a bind that I could see. Banged some more... nothing. I was getting rather frustrated. For some reason I stuck my finger into the axle on the pinch bolt end. I thought I felt a hex hole. Looked in and there was a hex opening. I grabbed my 10mm allen wrench hoping maybe I could turn the axle and maybe break free whatever was holding it. It turned fairly easily. I also found I could pull out on the lower end of the wrench, putting it in a bind in the axle, work it back and forth while pulling, and the axle slipped right out. No more banging. Maybe everyone but me knew about this, but I hadn't seen it anywhere so thought I'd post it. Next was bleeding the rear brakes after doing the Butler mod. I couldn't get the master cylinder to prime. Pump, pump, pump... nothing. I figured that maybe I had an air lock in the tube feeding the MC. I used a set of long needle nose pliers to gently squeeze and release the tube. Sure enough. I got a lot of air out the top and fluid down the tube... but still nothing through the MC. I've got speed bleeders installed. I thought that maybe with so much air in the line, it was compressing the air and not opening the speed bleeder valve. I took the speed bleeder all the way out. It worked! A few more pumps and fluid was moving. I pumped real slow so as not to shoot brake fluid everywhere. As soon as most of the air was out of the line and fluid started bubbling out, I put the speed bleeder back in and all was well. Still took a little while to get all the air out, but it's done. I can't say for sure that the speed bleeders were the problem. Maybe the MC gravity primed while I was messing with them, but I sure suspect them. If I had pulled the bleeder first, I might not have needed to clear air from the tube connecting the reservoir and MC. The first image is pretty blurry, put you can just make out a hex shadow inside the axle. The next three show the allen wrench in place and me pulling and turning the wrench to slip the axle out.
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Let me see if I can save you some work. Go here to batch convert addresses into latitude and longitude. It works to make POI's for the Zumo. I entered every county seat in Texas and made POIs of them. One of my looooong term goals is to visit every county seat in Texas... all 254 of them. Anyway, I used this site to give me the lat and long for all of them at once. They have a link to a page where you can do one address at a time if you want to. The format given is (for my address): Lat: 29.137004 Long: -98.153456 I don't remember all the steps or where I found all the info needed (field names for example), but it does work. Here are the sites I had bookmarked from doing the research and building the POI's: http://www.zumoforums.com/ http://www.batchgeocode.com/ http://www.poi-factory.com/ http://www.gpsbabel.org/screenshots.html Hope all that helps.
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Found a place I can get OEM RSTD bars for under $90. They have a replacement part # so I wrote the vendor to make sure the center/height/width/pullback and end weight attachments are the same and to ask what if anything did change. Also asked about shipping cost. Could be an oversize item. If nothing significant has changed, and shipping isn't too outrageous, I'll probably order them. I'll mount them up too get a general feel. See how much extra hose and cable length I need. Lock to lock comes close to my abs now... want to see what the extra pullback does. And yes... I have abs... maybe not 6 packs... more like keg... or maybe barrel! If they don't work for me, I see on another forum that some V1100 guys have changed to the RSTD bars. Maybe I can sell them and not take too big a hit.
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New Owner - Best and most critical mods?
BigShell replied to jimtxas's topic in Royal Star Venture Tech Talk ('99 - '13)
For safety: 1) Rick Butlers rear brake mod 2) Extra lights up front 2a) Headlight modulator... some people hate them... I know mine has helped some folks see me when they wouldn't have otherwise. 3) Extra lights in back 4) Stebel horn For handling: 5) Levelling links 6) If you have Dunlops, I'd use them If Bridgestone, I'd lose them... I like the Avon tires. For comfort: 7) Backrest (Utopia or Diamond R) 8) Highway pegs 9) Lower wind deflectors. I like the Yamaha ones. 10) My big, wide Clearview shield has been nice this winter Think I'll vent and cut down the stock shield for the summer. 11) Sheepskin on the seat... summer and winter For fun: 12) GPS and some tunes for the road! Or you can just enjoy the ride! -
If the G2 Flanders need longer cables and lines, how can the RSTD with 2" more height and and 1/2" more pullback than the Flanders get by with stock? Just sitting on an RSTD might help get a feel for the width, but is the place where they mount have the same relative position to the seat as on the Venture? I don't think the width will be a problem. I often ride with my hands out on the weights.