straycatt
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Everything posted by straycatt
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Something that I noticed between the "G" and "I" baskets was, that with the G basket in place in the engine but with all of the guts removed I could feel zero slop in the basket and crank gear teeth. With the I basket in the same condition I could feel a very small amount of clearance between the two. Perhaps only .001 or .002, but positively there. I'm wondering now if the whine is more due to too tight clearance rather than too loose. This doesn't makes sense, I know, as generally gear sets get louder as they wear. Maybe it's the shape of the teeth.....maybe I should stop thinking about it and just enjoy...
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I ordered an I basket, case gasket, and new lock washer from Partshark.com, 1 week ago today. Mad props to Partshark. The best prices around, fast shipping, and great communication. I received 4 emails from them telling me exactly the status of my order. UPS delivered them today. Also huge thanks to Jeff (Cougar) on this site. I'd sent him a note, asking for some advice and he responded with his TX number and invited me to give him a call. Not only did he give me some good information, but with the owner Joe's (wingrider) permission he mailed to me a clutch tool to use. I'm a fair wrench, but having never been inside an RSV before I wanted to take my time and not miss anything, so it took me about an hour and a half from start to finish. Maybe 20 minutes of that was spent scraping the old gasket off the case. This is an absolutely easy change out. The only snag came when I went to reinstall the clutch cover and spring. I didn't realize at first that you need to compress the clutch actuation rod back into the transmission input shaft before you start bolting the cover and spring into place. I hadn't read where anyone mentioned this in my research, but after playing with for it 15 minutes or so I figured it out. The cover needs to set tight against the disc face. I finished the job just about the time it was starting to rain so I didn't ride far, but the couple mile run around the block was relatively quit. I really won't know for sure but it seems to be about 70% quieter. If this winds up being what I get for my $300, I'm a happy camper. Again thanks to everyone that has helped. Pictures, words, stories, tools, you all made this a lot easier than it might have been. Oh, the basket that was in there was an "G" basket.
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Another set on Ebay, 0 bids starting bid $59. Has 21 hours left.
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There's a set on Ebay right now that is at $71 plus shipping. Only has 2 hour to the end of the auction.
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How much money are we putting into our rides?
straycatt replied to Godlover's topic in Watering Hole
There was that one Craigslist ad where the owner said he had $35000 into his Venture. Generously figure at full new purchase price $18K that's $17000 dollars into add on's. I'm not even sure that's possible without having things custom made. -
Hey, one of them had better be mine. I got an email from partshark saying that they are waiting to get my basket in, usually takes 3-5 days and then they'll repackage it (?) and send it off to me. Seems a strange way to do things, but you can't beat their prices.
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I'm waiting for Partshark to deliver my I basket, probably be next week some time. I am.....cautiously optimistic.
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"Some" rust is relative. For light rust, I've had pretty good luck with BB's. Remove the tank, dump out the gas, remove the petcock and poor in a box of BB's. (the small milk carton style box) Then set around for a few days and shake the brains out of it.....wash, rinse, repeat. Ta-dah!!!
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Good eye on the reflection, I had to go back and check. There I am larger, or rather smaller than life. Ok, Mrs catt has set the next target..... You, your bike, and a fire truck. Bonus points if a fire fighter is in the picture. Now get out and ride!
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The wife and I did 150 or so miles today. Nice day, great ride. When we left we went southwest from the house. On the way home we came from the North, made a big loop. Hit some roads that I have never been on before, and saw some new sites. Never happened across a bulldozer until we were around 20 miles from home. We found this medium sized yellow beastie on the edge of a small farm town. This pic isn't exactly you, your bike, and a bulldozer. It's more your bike, your wife, and a bulldozer. It was easier for me to dismount and snap a quick pic than it was for her. If it's a win, I'll let her pick the next target.
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Like wives, there are plenty more where that one came from.
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I've been down twice with a woman on the back of my bike. Different girl each time, one was the second date with my first future ex-wife. And both were more than 30 years ago. Does it suck to go down and take someone with you? You bet. But neither time was on purpose (both were on dualsport bikes out in the boonies) and there were no substantial injuries. I got lucky. I still felt bad, but....... Sheit happens. Both girls got back on, many times, and we continued to have great adventures on the bikes. All of the women in my life ride with me. Wife, daughters, friends, etc. and I'm careful with all of them. None of us wants to be responsible for possibly hurting someone that we care about, but even if you hide from everything in life that's dangerous....you're still going to die some day. I can't live my life on the premise that there are things that I should hide from because they are potentially dangerous and I won't deny the freedom to make that decision for themselves to the women that I love. I've had some of the best times of my life on the back of a motorcycle with the women in my life and I know they feel the same. If they want to ride with me, they're welcome to get on and I'll do every thing I can to keep them safe. Knowing, full well that if I fail, it was still worth the risk.
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If your tires (specifically the front) are getting worn, or the air pressure is down, you can get a wobble. I would check the steering head as well, but my first guess would be tires. You might check air pressure in the forks as well.
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A year ago I had four bikes in the garage. A Suzuki ts 400 dualsport, a Yamaha TY250 trials (not trail) bike, a Honda CR250 MXer, and a Honda 1100 Spirit. I sold them all to pay cash for a Venture, and I miss them all. I keep thinking that I miss the Spirit until I realize that the Venture is faster, rides better, handles better and is more comfortable than the Spirit ever dreamed of being. No I don't miss the 1100 any more than the other bikes I've had, but I will be looking for another big bore dualsport. Likely an XR650 Honda. I'd also like to find another newer trials bike. Something like an Sherco or maybe a Beta if I can find a deal.
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How Happy Are With Your Auto Cancelling Turn Signals
straycatt replied to YamaDude's topic in Watering Hole
The Venture is the first scoot I've had with self canceling blinkers, and I love it. Even though I do cancel them some times myself. Custom Dynamics has several programmable flasher units if your interested in something different. http://customdynamics.com/loadequalizer.htm -
I just finished my trailer rehab, going from incandesent lights to led's and had this exact problem. The bike has a Drawtite 5 to 4 wire converter on it. The bike is running all conventiional bulbs and the trailer all led's. When the bike is not running with the ignition on, the bike turn signals will flash normally but the trailer lights only flicker. Hit the brake and and the whole trailer/bike combo flashes as it should. Start the engine and all funtion properly, brake or no brake. Battery is fully charged, all wiring checked and double checked for resistance and voltage with a multimeter I even temp wired in a test light at the flat four trailer connector, and it blinked like it should while the trailer still just flickered. Tried wiring in a 2.5K resister as well with no change. I did not try a battery charger, but will tonight when I get home just for fun. I suspect it has something to do with the load on the led's, but I accept that it's just the nature of the beast as I can find nothing wrong with either scooter or trailer. This would have been good information to have a few days ago when I was going crazy looking for an mystery problem that didn't exist.
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Well, it's finally done. Two tone is probably cooler but I like the way it turned out, and I'm not redoing it again......at least for a while anyways.
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We're good Goose. I had deleted my post almost as soon as I made it, but I wasn't quick enough. It was a knee jerk reaction to what appeared to be a direct attack. Your comment didn't actually bother me, I just felt like it needed a response. We all have different risk thresholds, and that's a good thing.
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I dress for the weather. If it's cold, I'll be in chaps or riding pants-leather coat-work boots-full face hat. If it's hot, I'll ride in sneakers-t shirt-shorts-non Dot lid. When I'm on the dirt bikes I always wear more gear. It's a safe bet I'm going to fall off at least once per ride. Not so on the street. I play the odds. I've had road rash. I bled, I hurt, I healed. Big deal. Pain reminds you you're alive.
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Gary, was that Sunday or Saturday?? I'm sure that was a couple of the guys I talked to at the Yamaha open house there at Great Lakes on Saturday. Unless maybe they were back on Sunday cleaning up. There was also a black Venture there that had so much metal flake in the paint that I almost confused it with a bass boat. Looked good though.
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I used to like the Honda spray cleaner/polish, not to clean a truly dirty scoot thats been in the rain but to detail a slightly dirty one in between cleaning jobs. The Honda juice is expensive, so now I use Lemon Pledge. It is the best quickie clean/polish I have ever seen. The key is to turn your cleaning rag often. I use old bath towels torn in half, and I wash them after every use.
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A field full of cows?.......... A couple of years ago I was out for a ride a few miles from the house. The road is a small paved two lane, ditch on each side, then a fence enclosing pasture land. I'm tooling along when I notice half a mile up ahead the road is all black.....what is that? As I get closer, I start passing the stragglers and have to stop. The road is completely blocked by 2 or 3 hundred dairy cows that have escaped the farm back up the road a ways. I'm setting there on my bike trying to figure out what happens next, when I notice in my mirror a large quad coming up behind at a fast clip. It's the farmer (or cowboy) come to reclaim his wayward flock. He passes me, goes down into the ditch and makes his way to the head end of the pack. I'm thinking, hey this is interesting I wonder what he's going to do? Bear in mind that I'm still sitting on a motorcycle in the middle of the spot that all of those large mobile milk bottles just came through. This reality had NOT dawned on me quite yet. About this time John Wayne has made it to the front of the herd, has parked his four wheeler sideways in the road and is standing on the seat waving his arms and yelling something that I can only assume is "baaad cows, get home!!!". Well, whatever he yelled, worked. On his command 200 cows turned around as one, and headed home. At top speed. With only one obstacle between them and the barn. It's strange the things that go through your mind when there's several hundred tons of portable Big Macs bearing down on you........TURN AROUND AND RIDE LIKE THE WIND. Nope, too late. JUMP. Abandon the bike and head for the fence. Again a trifle tardy for that one too. I wonder if this will hurt, HEY, I bet this will make the paper tomorrow. Cool. No not cool, you don't want to be that guy......Oh crap they're here! I'm sitting there trying to make my self real small (you know, like a real small guy) and wondering if my scoot will be ridable when it's over, when a strange thing happened. The herd parted like water in a Cecil B Demille movie and went right around me. Neither the bike nor I got so much as a bump. The cows moo their way past followed by the farmer and his quad. I pry the bike seat out of my crack and continue to have a great ride. But, after that experience, I am NOT going out purposely looking for cows. I figure a guy can only be so lucky, and I'm not pushing it. Don't even get me started on the two years that I spent working at an American Saddlebred horse ranch.
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Well.....I got the rest of the color on the trailer, even towed it around the neighborhood. It tows great, what little I pulled it. Then I (and when I say "I" I mean the wife) decided that the color didn't quite match the bike or even the two shades on the trailer, sooooooo. Off it comes to be repainted. I'm not certain what color it's going to wind up yet, maybe black or the burgundy lower shade that I like a lot. Maybe a combination of the two. Just waiting on the weather to spray some more paint.
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I happened across this on Craigslist. http://detroit.craigslist.org/mcb/mcy/1651149236.html Would you pay $185 for an oil change if it was done in your driveway? I wonder if they'd double the price for a V-four.
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Nothing is going to be as durable as chrome. It's just not, but that's not to say that powder coat won't last. I've had some experience with powder and it holds up to abuse better than I would have thought. The finish on my wind deflectors is a two coat powder. It looks fantastic and I like it a lot. The bike has gone only a couple hundred miles since I installed them, so it's too soon to be certain how well they're going to hold up. I did have to clean a few bugs off the front end of the bike after today's ride and the ones I wiped off of the Ruffy Specials left no evidence of ever having been there. Time will tell. Check my previous post for pics of my bike with the lower deflectors in place.