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Semi-retired

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  1. Semi-retired
    Randy, thanks for your support/input. I thought about Watering Hole vs Tech: The reason I put this in the technical area is because I think a lot of guys shy away from this safety oriented product simply because of the somewhat "technical" nature of the installation. (As opposed to a new mirror or grips.) We shouldn't be shy about saving a life.....especially our own. My advice is that anyone who's not technically inclined (I'm not the greatest) should ASK A FRIEND to help them install one of these potential life savers.
  2. Semi-retired
    You're right, Schlepp.....it IS funny. Put my new horn on on Friday.....didn't blow it once (except at those short-shorts) all weekend. I think it might be the infamous "nuclear deterrence" factor! You know, once you've got FIRST STRIKE capability, you're just slightly less likely to let go and OBLITERATE someone. (Note to car drivers: read above again, where I said "just SLIGHTLY less likely". Mike
  3. Semi-retired
    I hear ya, Steve. (pun intended).....but if the RSV gets much heavier outta the box (not to mention add-ons) those Chevy's won't weight much more than we do before long!! LOL:thumbsup2: Mike
  4. Semi-retired
    Just HAD to post a new thread to extol the virtues of my new Stebel horn. I love it! Haven't even blown anyone's doors off yet........but I know I'm gonna! If you DON'T have one......go buy one today. Never let that goof in the Ford pickup or that little old lady in the Mercury Marquis drift aimlessly into your lane again!! I can't WAIT for my first altercation. Am I sounding passive/aggressive yet? Too many years of being cut off, I guess. Have a great weekend, folks......I know I WILL!! Mike
  5. Semi-retired
    Hi, Ross. I bought an 03 Midnight last year. The PO (great acronym, by the way, whoever's that was) had added chrome choke knob (cute, but I thought they ALL had one), tank bib with pouch (good for holding the iPod or GPS), chrome passenger floorboards/footpegs....what the hell ARE those things (they look great, but are/were pricey...for him, not me, thank god), passing lamps (anything that gives you more visibility can't be bad). What I just added, today, is a Stebel airhorn. Best $52 plus tax you could ever spend. Make your bike sound like the diesel train is really is. Stop those f**ckers from cutting you off with one Herculian BLAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSTTTTT from the allegedly "compact" Italian Stebel Nautilus air horn. You'll never be intimidated by an encroaching Cadillac again. Oh, and on the performance front.....forget the fire breathing aftermarket carbs, filters, pipes and all the rest. This bike runs like a pussy cat, until you crack it open.....then it's a screaming tiger. What my friends and I used to call a "sleeper". Looks tame.....goes like stink. Put your money into acoutrements....little nicities that make the world go round....like cup holders, a tach, luggage rack....you know, the good stuff. Enjoy it when you get it! Mike
  6. Semi-retired
    Does anyone happen to know where there might be a couple of up-close-and-personal shots of the Stebel installation location? (top, side, back view would be great. (the link below, if it went to these shots, is dead; FATAL ERROR message.) Either I'm not understanding exactly how/where the little devil gets mounted, or Stebel has changed the casting so that it mounts differently than it used to. The one I just bought (a new chrome Stebel Compact) has a protrusion out the top-back with a VERTICAL hole drilled in it. The bolt on the engine (near the horn) (referred to in other posts) which secures the grounding strap, is also of the VERTICAL persuasion. This kinda suggests that just a straight, flat bracket with a hole in each end would secure the horn. I'm able to shoot and post pictures of what I'M looking at, but thought I'd save "re-inventing the wheel" if there are already some pix on the site that will straighten my little brain out! Thanks for any info, guys!
  7. Semi-retired
    ....but it sure makes a difference. I switched to Avons from Dunlops....and also went down a size to the 130 on the front.....so I don't know how much of the improved handling is attributable to the Avon factor, and how much to the size factor.......BUT.....there's definately a huge difference in handling. What used to feel like try to steer a cow, now feels like a 250 or a 500cc motorcycle. Feels like less than half the previous weight on the front end. The comments about being pushed around a bit on the highway are correct, though. On windy days......you'll be kept awake (not necessarily a bad thing!) keeping the front end on track. It's a bit of a trade off, but, overall, I'd rather have a bike that is nimble even if it requires that I pay a little more attention to what's going on.
  8. Semi-retired
    Yeah.....I did the same thing you did. Just went in....peaked around.....found that clip......figured, "what the he** are they talking about in the manual when they say "rotate counterclockwise". I just pushed down on the end of the clip.....boing.....out popped the bulb. Congratulations!! m
  9. Semi-retired
    Gotchya!
  10. Semi-retired
    Hi, Dave. After riding for about two weeks on my new Avons, I can tell you that JUST switching tires will make all the difference in the world. I've owned and ridden about 15 different models/brands of bikes during the 47 years I've been a biker, and as in all of life.....everything is relative. And, relatively speaking, the Venture IS top heavy. Not to mention........it's just plain HEAVY. You add two riders totalling 300 pounds, and you're wheeling well over a thousand pounds down the road. And, especially with the 'stepped seat' configuration for the passenger, this load does NOT have a low centre of gravity, by ANY stretch of the imagination. This design characteristic (combined with 'relatively large profile tires) results in "awkward" handling at low speeds. It's a fact that can't be denied. You can take all the riding and handling courses you want but there's no escaping the fact that the bike will simply handle more 'responsively' if you put different (from stock) tires on it. My new Avon Venoms made all the difference in the world (from my stock Dunlops). (A world of thanks to Squidley, a.k.a. Brad, for not only convincing me, but actually mounting them for me.) I can now do figure eights in parking lots where before, I was terrified to pass between two parked cars. The bike has gone from handling like a log, to handling like a leopard. At Brad's suggestion, I also went with the downsized 130 width version which makes the front end particularly 'nimble'. (although there is a bit of a trade-off in highway stability). In a perfect world, (you know, where money's no object), since the front wheel is pretty quick to remove, I'd have a 150 size front for highway cruising mounted up on one wheel, and a 130 for blasting around town. The bottom line is, there are two or three or four ways to make the Venture a little more nimble than it is when it's box stock: change the tires.....reposition the fork tubes.....alter the fork angle (rake) using load levellers (altering the height of the back end).....or change the actual tire size. All of these factors can be, and are, complicated by whether or not you ride with or without a passenger......with or without a trailer......at slow speeds around town.....or very high speeds on the highway. Fortunately or unfortunately, what it mostly boils down to is trial and error.....and personal experience. Once you own your new bike, you'll play around with all these variables and find what's right for YOU! Have fun......and ENJOY!! Mike
  11. Semi-retired
    I'd love to get into the gun thingy.........but I won't. However, I have it on pretty good authority that the plural of y'all.....is ALL Y'ALL. Is this not correct? :-)
  12. Semi-retired
    Sorry to hear about your "loss". If it isn't one thing it's another, as Rosanne Rosannadanna used to say. I'm always paranoid that the 869 lb. (full tank!) is going to fall over TOWARD the stand, with or without wind.....just from the shear weight that must be bearing down on that 2 square inches of stand "foot". Now I know they can "go both ways". Cool......politically correct falling! LOL. Make 'er good again! Cheers from Niagara, Michael.
  13. Semi-retired

    Hey, welcome aboard, George.

     

    I, too, have a 2003 Midnight.

     

    I was born and raised in Kitchener but have lived in St. Catharines since 1996. Still get to Kitchener lots to visit family and friends.

     

    You're going to love this organization......it's all good guys.....like YOU and ME!!

     

    Again, welcome.

     

    Michael Scott

  14. Semi-retired
    Steve.......don't even go there, man.......sometimes I leave my screen open....and I've been killed for less than a discussion like this!!
  15. Semi-retired
    Thanks for that note, Jeff......but if/when I install the levelling links, I'll probably be dropping the front end on the fork tubes, too.......so I think something will probably have to be done about the height of the sidestand. (not that I'm vertically challenged, but when you get a 200 pound passenger up-back, it would be nice to be a little closer to the ground!) And, headlight-wise, everyone who contributed to this thread, Gary, Rob, Steve, Alex.......some of you will be pleased, (and apparently some will be amazed) that I was actually able to replace my headlamp with that amazingly bright Sylvania H4 bulb, WITHOUT splitting the fairing. The secret is (or I should say the secrets ARE): 1. Get the bike up on a lift if you can (or a nice blanket to sit on the floor beside the bike 2. Get as much light on the left-hand "crotch" of the stearing head as you can...with the bars turned full lock to the right. 3. Slide the light adjustment knob off for extra fidgeting room (as rek58 mentioned, it comes off just like a radio knob) Also, I discovered through trial and error (mostly trial...since there's not much you can screw up) that it really helps to know what you're looking for; unfortunately, you don't know what you don't know until you know it. (duh) The key 'ingredients' of this job are simple: 1. you simply yank off the headlamp socket 2. yank off the rubber boot that keeps crud from going into the headlamp 3. forget about "turning (anything) counterclockwise" like the manual says...just poke the end of the spring retainer holding the bulb into the headlight socket, (you can see clearly how it's mounted if you have your 500 watt trouble lamp pointed in there!), and the lamp will almost fall into your hand. I will grant one "deferral" to the guys that say it "can't be done without splitting the fairing": although I have large hands (XXL gloves) they are somewhat skinny. So if you're built like Paul Bunyan, you WILL have to split the fairing, or find a buddy with smaller/slimmer hands to work withing the confines of the stearing head. Thanks again for everyone's help.......we took the bike out for a late night trial run with the new light......and Gary N., it was everything you promised it would be! Like day and night (so to speak!) Cheers, Mike
  16. Semi-retired
    Hi, Bill. Sorry, I can't help you....but for the benefit of those who can....are they to assume that the unit you bought is actually from a Yamaha exactly like yours? (Just that from reading your post...you didn't really say. No offense.) Mike
  17. Semi-retired
    Has anyone "dug deep enough" into the radio on 2nd gens to determine if you can auto program all eighteen FM radio presets without encountering "duplication"? I've tried a couple of different sequences of selecting Band 1, Band 2 and Band 3, and going through the a/b/c/ automatic channel writing steps......but I keep getting some of the same stations appearing on more than one band. Suggestions? (Please don't say "buy a satellite rig" :-)
  18. Semi-retired
    Thanks for the encouragement, guys. I guess nothing can be perfect.....otherwise, why would we need our garages and all those nice shiny tools? Actually Sqidley just DID replace my tires for me: New Avon Venoms with the 130 up front; incredible improvement in low/no speed handling....although with a small tradeoff in highway trackability in the wind (ideal, of course, would be to have a two front wheels tired up...one standard size for infreqent long range cruising.....one narrower one for "darting" around town most weeks.) Stebel: picking one up this Friday in Ottawa; heard Gary N.'s and had to have one. Good call for anyone wanting to stay alive on a bike! Will probably try the bike for a few thousand more miles with just the tire change before doing the leveling link thing. (Don't want to have to bend/cut my nice shiny side-stand just yet!!)
  19. Semi-retired
    Hey, Erich.......nice shot with the golf clubs. Was your installation something you picked up on this site? (was it covered in a post/thread that is retrievable?) Or did you do a custom job yourself? Any info greatly appreciated. Mike
  20. Semi-retired
    It's nice to know we have a "mature" audience here who knows what the heck you mean by that!!
  21. Semi-retired
    Took an initial try to get at the headlamp last night, with no luck. Have to take another run at it today...in daylight. Reeeeally hoping not to have to split that fairing and possibly snap all the tabs on my windscreen chrome trim (as everyone warns can happen!) Let's see now: difficult headlamp replacement....wimpy horns.... high center of gravity....I'm accumulating quite a list of design shortcomings that must have been "the last thing they worked on"! :-)
  22. Semi-retired
    Here's that link, buddy: http://www.venturers.org/Tech_Library/?action=category&cat_id=002011 When you get there......click on To enter our free Technical Support Library, Click Here Then scroll down and click on "2nd Generation (1999 to current) " (don't click here......it won't get you there) You'll see "Miscellaneous" as the fourth link down in the middle column. Click that and check the third article up from the bottom of the page. Good luck, Michael
  23. Semi-retired
    Thanks for the input, Rob. My wife's hands are half the size of mine...AND she's somewhat mechanically inclined....so it sounds like she should be able to get in there and do the deed. By the way, (checked your profile)......I'm right there with you on the golf and Scotch. Perhaps it's a biker thing? Thanks again, Mike
  24. Semi-retired
    Right, Gary, thanks. I just realized that after reading the headlight replacement thread from Steve. Yet another Tupperware project!! m
  25. Semi-retired
    Thanks, Steve. Looks like the gang is divided on whether or not to crack 'er open. I'm planning on putting in a headlight modulator and also replace the second horn (which I think is located in there as well), so perhaps I'll pop open the fairing and do a clean sweep while I'm in there. Thanks again for the thread...interesting comments. Mike
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