RSTDdog

I have an 06 RSTD. It has some whine and Jetsons chirp. Prior owner had the dealer put a basket in it. Windshield on is louder than windshield off. I wear a full face helmet and with the faceshield up you can hear it more that with it down. Louder when its hot out. I can tell you it doesn't whine at all when going through the mountains in third gear :-). In general if its whining you need to down shift. While it looks like a cruiser you can't drive it like one. RSTDdog

Thanks. I am at half that (19K) and out warranty. No problems so far just wondering what to expect. So did changing the filter fix it you think? RSTDdog

How many miles on your bike? Thanks, RSTDdog

I am also currently running the Rotella Synthetic and a Bosch 3300 filter (the one that costs more than OEM Yamaha filter). Rotella is great stuff. My bike is also out of warranty. Not sure what's in a CD rated oil that they don't like. Not all CD oils are JASO and not all JASO oils are CD rated. The point of the above quoted statement and my rather long winded post was not to disparage anyone's use of a specific product but rather to illustrate that Magnuson Moss gets thrown around rather loosely on occasion and may give people the wrong idea that if they use an Automotive filter that it won't void their warranty. I don't think you can get any one of the Auto filter manufacturers to tell you that filter is approved for use on our bikes. These motors are essentially bullet proof and will run as long as there is oil and water in it. People with in warranty bikes should weigh out there choices.For the first five years its in warranty, is it worth running a non approved filter or oil? Everyone has to make their own decision on that one. RSTDdog

The above is a bit misleading IMO. Not one of the Automotive Filters that "FIT" our motorcycles is specified or approved for use on a Motorcycle or listed as an approved replacement by the FIlter manufacturer for the OEM Yamaha filter. One member even contacted Purolator about the PL 24612/10 automotive filter and using it on our bikes and Purolator refered him to the appropriate part number for their line of Motorcycle filters. That is posted here somewhere in one of the many oil and filter discussions. So assume you had an oil related failure using the Purolater Automotive filter on our bikes, and it was proven that the filter caused the failure, Yamaha could deny your warranty claim since the filter is not specified for a motorcycle application by Purolater. If you then went to Purolator to get them to pay, Puralotor would also point out that filter is not a specified replacement for the OEM filter on your bike and would point you to their cross reference list of approved Motorcycle filters you could have chosen. Dave's Roxie had a broken rod with no apparent bearing failures. The nature and type of failure does not sugest it was oil related. If Dave had a bearing failure on his engine, the filter and oil he was using would have been under much closer scrutiny. Yamaha specifically details in the Owner's manual NOT to use CD (diesel) rated oils in these motors. So you have no Magnuson Moss protection using this type of oil as it is not specified for use by the OEM. The MSRP on a OEM yamaha filter is $10.98. They can be had at online at boats.net for 7.98 each and likely cheaper at other high volume OEM online parts dealers. Last time I checked the Purolater Gold Automotive filter that "FITS" at Advanced is 6.95. The premium longlife version of the Bosch 3300 is 12.99. More money than the OEM filter and not a specified replacement for it. The use of the automotive filters does not really represent a huge savings in the grand scheme of things but they are convenient since you can run down the street and pick one up. Many people here have used the Automotive filters with no reported problems. If your bike is still under warranty you should carefully weigh out the risks and benefits of the maintenance products you elect to use. The oil change interval is 4000 miles. Whatever you use, keep all the receipts. If you keep the bike 100,000 miles that's 25 oil changes. The differential between MSRP at 10.98 for OEM and 2.97 for the Super tech is 8.00. You should decide if saving $200.00 over 100,000 miles is worth it. Keep it less miles, or choose different filters and the savings are less or non existant. RSTDdog

Only place in Florida by me I have found to buy non ethanol fuel is marinas. They sell 90 Octane recreational marine fuel-ethanol free. Haven't priced it lately.Back in December when Fuel here was in the low $3.00 range (3.19 IIRC) they were getting 4.00/gallon for the ethanol free stuff at the marina. I'm not aware of any road stattions that sell it. RSTDdog

Thanks for all the responses. I can't take the credit for thinking outside the box though. That credit goes to user remmertb the OP of the link posted in my first post above. He did the leg and guess work to see if it would work. The looks sold me on the idea. I rode it to work today, through construcion areas rough road surface seems to be fine. Hit the interstate and did 80 for a bit. Seems stable. Didn't have the windshield on, so I had a alot of wind blast at that speed. "The Yamaha Raider comes from the factory with a Bias rear and Radial front. I wouldn't worry about the bias vs. radial thing too much." This is interesting. I did not know that. Thanks! "is that Strat tire mounted in the correct rotation? It looks similar to the Michelin Commander on the front of my RSV and the outside tread grooves on it are pointed in the opposite direction as your picture." Yes. I just went and double checked it to be sure. If you look, the E3 treads run that same direction as well. The only real downside is one more shiny thing to keep clean........... Derrek

After seeing the idea in this thread: http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?t=46995 I started looking for one. Found one from the Stratoliner S (RoadlinerS wheel is also the same)that was polished. Ultimately decided this was easier (and cheaper) than buying the painted Strat/Roadliner wheel and having it either polished or chromed. Was able to get the complete rim with tire and rotors. The Strat and Roadliner rotors are full floaters so will be ideal when I do the caliper upgrade. The tire is 130/70R-18. Its a radial and only has a 63H load rating (600lbs) versus the stock 150/80-16 71H loadrating (761 lbs). Haven't worked out yet how big a deal that is going to be if any as of yet. 130/70-18 is the same size front tire as the wing and it has the same load rating. Since no one makes a 15" radial motorcycle rear tire, my choices are to run mixed radial front with bias rear or purchase a 130/70-18 Bias Dunlop E3 Front although the recommended rim width for the Bias E3 in that size is only 3 inches and the Strat rim is 4" wide. There is a 140-80R -18 front radial that is close to the stock OA diameter and width and fits a 4" wide rim. That would fill out the fender more. Riding it, there doesn't seem at this point to be any noticable ill effects from the Size, radial, bias mix. That being said I'm in SOuth Florida- 11 turns in 318 miles- Not sure what it will feel like in the mountains or pushing it hard. The Slow speed handling is noticably improved as would be expected from the smaller tire. It looks to be over all about .8 inches shorter in OA height, something I don't really want, but it is what its unless I replace the tire. These are all the caveats I can think of at the moment. As I ride it more may have some more input. Put some pictures here and put them all in a gallery. RSTDdog

Both my exhaust collectors leak, but I have no popping interestingly enough. They both leak from the Crimp. Where the crimp is makes a little square shape. You can see some black on the pipe surface inside and behind the square and you can feel it blowing exhaust on your hand. I actually had some popping, left side only. I pulled the carbs (they had been off before by someone else) to put the bowls back on correctly. While I was in there I checked things out, everything looked pretty clean, pulled the jets and inspected them and pulled the needle valves and seats. On the left side carbs I noticed some light corrosion in the carb body where the brass seat pushes in. The seat orings had "prints" that corresponded to the corrosion. The seats with the oem orings are a loose fit for lack of a better term. You can't get new orings from Yamaha with out buying seats. I had some of the green orings in an Automotive AC oring pack for doing 134a conversions, slightly larger than the stock ones but fit and mad the seat more snug in the body. Polished up the carb body openings where the seat pushes in and replaced the orings on all 4 seats with the green AC ones. I also reset the float height per Goose's write up. These are the only two things I did. Re-installed the carbs, didn't even sync them since my sticks need servicing. No more popping. So whether I was getting some fuel past the seat oring(s) or just the float height letting it over fuel a bit on decel I'm not sure. I do know that checking those two things cured my pop and that's with currently leaking collectors. Someone else had pulled the mixture caps and richened the bike in a previous attempt to cure it. Glad to see your bike is getting fixed under warranty. I used to work for a multi-line dealer back in the early 90's. Yamaha then was real good about repairs, even goodwill repairs on out of warranty products. I used to see the regional Service Rep several times a year. He even spent 3 days with me diagnosing a transient noise in a Yamaha PWC. Unit was just over a year old. Sounded like a bearing noise. We had put a new pump in it, driveline bearings, swapped motors, etc. Nothing cured the noise. Best guess was something in the hull lay up. They replaced it with a brand new one even though his unit was technically out of warranty. Of course that was then and this now. Anyway would be interested in hearing the official diagnosis of the cause of failure on your bike. I can tell you I don't recall us ever taking 3 months to fix a bike, that's excessive IMO. We had a CBR1000 Honda that was burning oil at the first service (600 miles). Short version, we diagnosed it had a casting flaw in the valve guide. Have to pull the motor to R& R the head. No heads in the US. BIke was the guys primary transportation. Honda overnighted the head from Japan (actually took about 2 days). That bike was down less than 10 days IIRC. OF course that was then and this is now. Good luck with everything. RSTDdog

And of the Millions of dollars this will likely generate, who benefits? How much will the Hotels in Vegas be donating and to what cause?? 100% of the proceeds (hopefully) of the memorabilia sales goes to whom?? If I missed that info in an earlier post please expand on this or provide a link. There's a 70th Anniversary coming up on December 7, 2011. Anyone planning a big three day party for that one?? RSTDdog