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allwx

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  1. allwx
    I went to start my 07 RSV this morning, all dressed and ready to ride. Starter sputtered, making sounds like dying battery. End of ride. Bike has 33k on it. So here're the symptoms that I've measured so far: Battery open circuit voltage is 12.3 after trying unsuccessfully to start the motor. I put it on my charger, and got a green light after five minutes. Open circuit v now 12.8. I put the battery back into the bike and it cranked normally. I measured the v across the battery with motor running. At idle I get 13.7. At very high engine speed (no tach) I get 13.9. It never gets above 14v, and only varies between those two points, 13.7 to 13.9 at any engine speed. Book says should get above 14v charging, up to 14.5. Does this below-14v output, and the fact that it varies only .2v, point to a stator or regulator problem? Interestingly, I had a year-old battery fail, and also spit battery acid out into the battery box, some of which then dripped down onto my swingarm. It was a Westco. I suspected an overcharging situation then, but if anything, my charging output is lower than it should be. The new Yuasa that replaced it four months ago has worked flawlessly until this morning. I suppose the new Yuasa could be defective, but how odd to have two battery failures within four months? One suggesting overcharge, the other undercharge? Erratic Regulator? I'm checking connections now. Thanks for all help.
  2. allwx
    It sure sux when things like this happen. We just had $40k of work done on our house with some mixed results because the contractor got distracted with personal business during the project. Sound of grinding teeth. Anyways, wishing you some zen moments of bliss.
  3. allwx
    That's true, it is very common. Most bikes will start to shimmy as they decel through around 35 mph with hands off the bars. But at least on the Venture (2d gen) it can be all but eliminated by keeping the head bearing snug. A little more snug than is called for in the spec. My 07 handles the way Indianajones described his riding after sprucing up his front end. I have to work hard to induce a wobble at any speed. The bike handles beautifully, as good as anything I've ever ridden.
  4. allwx
    I put a new shock on my 07 a few months ago. Bike had 30k on it at the time. The original shock wasn't leaking, but I assume that shocks wear gradually at first, so gradually that the rider doesn't really notice it until things are bad. Putting the new shock on the bike didn't make a heckuva lot of difference, though, at least not that I could detect from the saddle. So now I've got an older spare shock with 30k on it that I will keep in reserve for the inevitable. I bought the new shock from a mail order dealer out on the west coast. Yamaha Sports Plaza. I've bought a few things from them over the past couple of years. They are dependable and their prices are the lowest I've found anywhere. I seem to recall paying $428 for the shock.
  5. allwx
    The valves were not done because the bike "was running fine." This is the sort of hare-brained thing we've come to expect from our professional "mechanics." Valve adjustments and carb synchs are done to keep the bike running fine. If the bike was already running crappy because of lack of valve adjustment, then it'd already be time for a valve job.
  6. allwx
    Yeah, those little grease points need lots of attention. Many people ignore them, or just don't know about them. After awhile the friction points dry up and the little brass bits get worn out in a hurry. The basic problem is that many people don't realize that motorcycles are not like cars. Modern cars truly can be run for about a 100k with very little maintenance apart from oil and filter changes, and a set of new tires and brakes. But motorcycles are more like very old cars, the kind where you needed to carry around an oil can, a box of tools and lots of spare parts. Motorcycles typically run at at least a decade behind cars in tech development. Probably the reason for this is the perception, if not the fact, that motorcycles are recreational machines while cars are necessity machines. BTW, don't forget your shifter pivots, as well as the rear brake lever pivot point. These will dry out, too.
  7. allwx
    Most likely this is oil coming from a blown fork seal. Your bike is plenty old enough to have started leaking fork seals. It is possible a leak is coming from a caliper, and this should be easy to discern, by examining the caliper on the offending side very closely. If you don't see any oil above the fork covers, and there is nothing wet around the calipers, then it surely is fork oil you see. BTW it is a good idea to rebuild both forks, rather than just the one that is leaking.
  8. allwx
    No road goes straight and level all the time. In fact, roads rarely are straight and level. You're almost always going either uphill, or downhill. Plus you've got wind factors. You need a bit of nuance here. Let's say that you're trundling along at 60 mph on your Venture and you're going downhill in fifth gear. Not a problem to roll on gentle throttle at 60 mph in 5th gear. Or even 50 mph for that matter. But if you're going slightly uphill, then maybe better to either shift down for acceleration, or calibrate your roll-on to make it nice and gentle, so that you don't load the motor up with more fuel than it can convert into torque. My point is that this motor is no different from any other motor. There is a myth going around that claims that this motor must be kept unnaturally high-revved to keep it in its "powerband." Nonsense. Just ride the bike the same as you'd ride a Goldwing or any other tourer. This motor will pull well down to very low rpm. But like every other engine, you don't want to lug it. If you get signs of lugging, back off the throttle a little until the shaking goes away or at least gets a lot less, and as long as the bike is actually accelerating, then you're good where you are, no downshift necessary. This is the same manner you'd ride any other bike or drive your car. I found that when I stopped revving the bike to keep it in its "powerband" my fuel mileage went up dramatically. If I ride the bike just a hint above legal speeds, ie the same way most people drive their cars, keeping the motor rpm lower rather than higher, avoiding any hard acceleration, then my city mileage stays in the mid-40s.
  9. allwx
    I had a set of Chambermaids on my 05 Roadstar. They were nice and light, but very loud. Bike ran pretty good on them without much in the way of carb tinkering. However, Bub had some quality problems. This was several years ago. I had a set of Chambermaids on my own Roadie, and then about a year later bought an identical set for my wife's Roadie. Problem was, the second set I bought would not line up with the brackets on the bike. Bub sent me another new set, but it had the same problem. I was able to verify that it was the pipes and not the bike by mounting my original set of Bubs on her bike, and they fit fine. Something at the factory jig got screwed up and they manufactured some pipes incorrectly. We finally solved the problem by grinding material off the face of the pipe where it goes into the head and seats against the gasket. This changed the angle of the pipe relative to the rear bracket. After mucho grinding and repeated fitments, I got things to line up, though I did have to use a half inch stack of big washers to get the final bit to the bracket. I had to grind so deeply that the pipe had to be sent back to Bub to have the ends welded back on. Bub folk were apologetic, and sent me a couple of nice T-shirts for my trouble. I appreciated their ideas and willingness to send me new pipes. I had to work pretty hard to make them work. Would have been better I suppose to just get a refund, but I couldn't find a set of pipes that I liked better than the Chambermaids.
  10. allwx
    My 97 RSTD would BAM!! during a long decel in most any gear. Let's say, a run halfway to redline in third gear, then decel, then BAM!! and I'm talking gunshot loud. It did this from the very beginning. I think they all did it back then, because I recall others talking about it. My Venture does NOT do it, and I haven't heard anyone mention this for several years, until now. I learned to feather the thing during decel if I wanted to not scare the neighbors. Once, while riding ***** on it behind my GF, at night, she caused it to BAM!! during decel, and I noticed that a long flame spit out the pipes when it did that. Seems to me, the most likely thing to cause that would be a buildup of flammables in the exhaust pipe which then ignite and go boom. Maybe caused by over-rich mixture? It might be helped by doing the carb float adjustment.
  11. allwx
    The decel popping probably has more to do with the air injection. Fresh air is injected into the exhaust gas just aft of the ports, and as it burns it makes a popping sound. It does it with the stock exhaust, too, but is a lot less apparent. It is also possible that you've got a leak somewhere in your exhaust system, given that you've recently man-handled your pipes. That will also cause popping. Cheap way to check for leaks is to hold a long fireplace type match flame next to each joint, motor running. Goose the throttle a bit and see if the flame deflects. Fix the leak, if necessary. Popping may be reduced after fixing such a leak, but if your air injection device is still in place, you'll always get a little popping from that. Best advice? Ignore it.
  12. allwx
    The bushings for all practical purposes never wear out, as long as they are kept clean and greased, at least once or twice a year. Here in dusty New Mexico seems like I have to do it every three months. Levers tend to get replaced from tipovers, though, so who knows if they actually do last "forever."
  13. allwx
    Last resort you can replace the entire lever. pretty sure the lever comes with bushing. And they don't cost much.
  14. allwx
    Once you get the bike up off the floor and stabilized, grab the forks down near the bottom of them, below the calipers. Alternately pull and push in a line parallel to the ground. There shouldn't be any noticeable play, except a little that is in the fork tubes themselves. If there is any play in the steering head bearings, it should be immediately noticeable as a clunky sound when you push and pull, and you may also be able to see the movement. Again, the fork tubes also have a bit of play in them where they slide in and out of the sliders, and this may be accentuated by having the forks fully extended when bike in up on the lift. So if you feel some movement, make sure it is not just the fork sliders and tubes. Also, the steering assy should move easily side to side, but not TOO easily. To test, first try to clear anything on the front end that might prevent the steering from moving freely, such as cables. Then nudge the wheel to one side and bounce off the stop. The assy should bounce away from the stop and then stop before it goes much past center. If it bounces and continues on over to the other side, that is probably too loose for tight riding, though it probably wouldn't show up as play in the stem. IOW your steering might be too loose and yet show no play in the stem. To large extent this is a personal taste thing, and there is no set rule. Some like it stiffer. Good luck!
  15. allwx
    Yeah, but put change the tires at number one, and the other two below it. He's got a set of D404 oem tires on this thing with over 9k miles. They are surely worn out. Even if they aren't causing this particular problem they need to be replaced, and getting new tires on there properly balanced will eliminate that area as a possible cause. Even so, he most likely needs the carb balance and steering head snug-up, too, LOL. It's just that those two things are much less likely to show up as a bouncing ride.
  16. allwx
    I'll throw a bit of cold water on this by relating my own story about valves. This was on my 97 RSTD. Same engine, less horsepower due to intake and cam differences. Anyways, at right around 26k miles I opened up the top end to check the valves. All were within spec except one intake valve. That lone intake valve, (I can't recall which one, but it doesn't matter for purpose of this conversation) was almost completely closed against the cam lobe. And this was with motor cold! My smallest feeler guage was something like .0015", and it would NOT go into that gap. Naturally I was horrified, and very grateful for having checked the valves at the proper interval. It probably came this way from the factory. Yamaha has had quality control problems in a few areas, such as final drives, so it shouldn't surprise anyone that once in awhile a motor doesn't get set up quite right. Because of this, I don't think it is a good idea to skip the first valve adj interval. It's a lot of work, and almost certainly unnecessary. But if it happened to me, it could happen to anyone.
  17. allwx
    OK I think I've got it now. By "top half of the bottom bearing" you must mean the RACE. Both races are driven into the frame neck. In an earlier description of work I did I referred to the bottom race having to be cut off the bottom of the steering stem. What I meant was, I cut the bearing itself off the stem. Once I demolished the bearing cage and got the rollers out of the way, the inner race of the bearing was exposed and able to be cut off with a dremel and chisel. This is done on the bench with the steering stem (or lower bracket, as the manual calls it) in a vise. The races, top and bottom, should be able to be tapped out of the frame neck with a drift. Yours evidently got stuck in there. I can see why you would be afraid of cutting into the race seat. Fortunately, when I did this job on my Roadie I do not recall having any trouble with the neck races.
  18. allwx
    I'm trying to picture removing the bottom steering bearing without removing the steering stem from the frame. How'd you do that?
  19. allwx
    By "neck" you must mean the steering shaft. You'd be working on the steering shaft on the bench, as it would be out of the bike. No chance to cut the neck of the frame. If you nick the steering shaft a bit, no harm done. How I did it was to put the shaft/triple clamp assy into a vise. Took a dremel with a cutting wheel on it and started in on the race. I cut as far thru the race as I thought I could get away with without harming the shaft, but again, the shaft itself is just a pipe. A few nicks won't hurt it a bit, so there's no need to worry excessively about that. Then, I took a hammer and chisel and cut the rest of it. Once you get the race cut thru enough, the chisel will make short work of the rest of it. The race will spread enough to make it pop right off. Then, I used the old race to drive the new one into place. Again this was on a Roadstar, but I'm pretty sure the front end is identical to the Venture.
  20. allwx
    I don't think this is possible with the steering head bearings. It would be a pretty hairy project. And you'd still have to remove the faring, most likely, to access the zerk fittings.
  21. allwx
    At 9k miles your original tire is undoubtedly shot. Once the tires get that many miles on them you can feel the uneven-ness while walking the bike in your driveway. The tire is still good for use, but it gets ratty and unpleasant to ride on. But, keep in mind, the handlebars are rubber mounted. You take your hands off, and the bars will shake wildly. If "back roads" means very uneven surface, then it would be normal for the front end to bounce over the irregularities. Especially if you've got your fork air maxed out. Don't fear the D404. Lots of people use them, including me. They are perfectly good tires. In fact, for smoothness and quiet, I'll put a D404 up against any tire.
  22. allwx
    I've done this job on my late, great Road Star, which is probably an identical front end to the Venture, minus faring. Remember faring has to be completely removed to do this job. Forks must be removed. The steering stem has to come completely out, and the bearings and races knocked out. Personally I think the $700 estimate is pretty close to what the labor and parts would be. I can't image ME doing it for very much less, and I'm not a pro mechanic. However, this is do-able in your garage. If you've got a good lift and common tools, you can do it. As was noted you will have to cut into the lower race to get it free. You just need to cut a slot into one side of it so you can spread it enough to get it off the shaft. The top race knocks right out with a long drift from below. Take your time, allow at least a couple of days, and go slow. You'll probably find a few other things in the area behind the faring that need attention, as long as you've got it apart, now is a good time to do those other things, things the mechs at the dealer will not do without charging for it.
  23. allwx
    I've got a couple of scratches on my trunk lid, too. When they first appeared I couldn't figure out where they came from, and had the same idea as you, that someone else did it deliberately, maybe a kid. After awhile I realized that I had done it myself by bumping into my trailer as I was maneuvering of my garage. I keep my trailer parked pretty close to the side of the garage where I keep the bike. I had been hitting the rear of the bike against metal bits on the trailer. And, I was never aware of it from the saddle. The license bracket on the trailer is at the perfect height above the trunk lid to dig a nice groove if I get the bike under it. It doesn't take much to dig a groove into the paint and plastic. As to how to fix it, I'm not aware of anything that will do it perfectly short of a complete repaint. I just try to ignore it. Sorry for your pain. It hurts, I know!
  24. allwx
    You gotta give everybody the benefit of the doubt. However, people who've done this work know how long it takes. Good mechanics with all the right tools and space may be able to do a job like this in around that time, though it still seems too short a time to me. I don't see how it could be done in an hour and a half. No they didn't charge you for work they didn't do. If they charged you for the time it would take a mech to do this job well, you wouldn't likely want to pay the amount. The good news is that this is fairly non-critical. Even if they didn't remove the swingarm at all, the bearings are just fine and will run a long time without a lot of attention. An hour and a half is about what I'd expect a shop to charge me if all they did was to retorque the bearings without any unnecessary disassembly. I'd betcha that's all they did.
  25. allwx
    That's a terrific price to do all of that work. I mean, to grease the swingarm bearings the swingarm has to be completely removed. Then the bearings get inspected and repacked. Then the whole sheebang goes back together, and the bearings torqued down properly. Can all of this be done, and done well, in an hour and half? Maybe with a team of mechanics who are intimate with the drill. You are lucky to have access to such a team of mechs. They are hard to find.
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