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pegscraper

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Everything posted by pegscraper

  1. pegscraper
    I wondered why that should be an upside too, the thing showing higher mileage than it really has. That would be a little hard on whatever the value might be for selling. I'd like to get a speedo healer myself, as I'm piling the miles up pretty quickly, but I have no way to calibrate the thing.
  2. pegscraper
    So that means that when someone makes a gas mileage claim, we have to consider whether actual GPS miles or Yamaha miles are being used. If I calculate with the factory odometer that I'm averaging 40 mpg, it's going to be closer to 36. What a drag.
  3. pegscraper
    It's a known thing that the speedometer in our bikes is off. It reads roughly 8 - 10% or so too high. My question is, does the odometer read that same amount off, or is it actually accurate? Some of you with a GPS should be able to answer this easily and without any guessing.
  4. pegscraper
    For anyone who has access to a mill, this gear ratio swap can be done for peanuts. The basic casting for the V Max rear gear is the same as ours, but with different features machined out. The V Max rear does not have the speedo sensor hole, while it does have a hole for a rear shock mount. I got a rear gear unit from a V Max on ebay and milled the spot out for the speedo sensor to match my stock one. I pulled the shock bolt out and tossed it. There is still a hole there, but with side bags it's not seen anyway. Then I sold my stock one for about $5 less than what I gave for the V Max one. The hitch is that not many have access to or know how to operate a mill. I'd never go back to the stock rear gear ratio. Better acceleration, it lets the engine run closer to its powerband, and I didn't see any gas mileage drop with this gear ratio either. The engine is running faster, but it's also running more efficiently because it's nearer to its powerband. Most every new vehicle has an OD that is too tall, and it does not save gas.
  5. pegscraper
    The Venture has a 10/33 gear ratio and the V Max has a 9/33 ratio. The V Max gearing lets the engine run a little faster for a given road speed. Gear ratios can be played with in the transmission or the rear end with the same ultimate result. But changing the rear gear is MUCH easier than changing the transmission gearing. Besides, the only other transmission ratios available would be those from a 1st gen, where 1st gear is about the same, but high gear is quite a bit lower, and then you'd buy yourself into a 2nd gear slipping problem besides. (Incidentally, lower gear ratios in the transmission is the only reason that 1st gens are any faster at all than the 2nds, if they actually are, which I don't believe anyway.) Don, you won't be sorry you did it. The OD on these bikes, and most new vehicles, is way too tall. As you found out, running an OD does not always mean that gas mileage will go up. Usually all it means is that performance goes down as the engine is running too slow and lugs over any slight upgrade.
  6. pegscraper
    At first I thought there'd be no way this was modified. But over 75 of them was pretty hard to argue with. I went back and took a closer look. It doesn't jump right out, but indeed the short one does look like it was cut down. The new weld spots don't quite look like the factory welds, although it was pretty good. It's a good 2 inches shorter, and I'm guessing it must have been done for a lowered bike. That would also explain why the fronts of the feet (on the bottom when it's raised) are scraped down to almost nothing. When I first saw it, it looked like it had been dragged along the ground, and now I know why. Fortunately I didn't give anything for this one. But the guy who gave it to me did.
  7. pegscraper
    Is there a difference in the height of 1st gen centerstands? I've examined two now and they're not the same, so I guess the answer is yes. But what years have what heights? One I've seen is marked "'86", and the other one is not marked for year at all. The '86 one is shorter than the unmarked one. Otherwise they are styled exactly the same. Was anyone else aware of this height difference? Maybe this is why some were unhappy with the centerstand operation when mounted on a 2nd gen. Could some of you 1st gen owners measure the distance between the ground and the mounting bolt axis of the stand on your bikes and post it, along with what year you have? I'd appreciate it. TIA.
  8. pegscraper
    Help is available in NE IN also, Fort Wayne area.
  9. pegscraper
    I wonder if you'd be able to fish it out if you pulled the petcock valve. I've had mine off, but I forget just how big the opening is there.
  10. pegscraper
    There are only a couple of factory seats that will fit, and one or two aftermarket options. Others can be modified to fit. I've modified a set of pillow tops to fit mine. Or you can try reshaping the stock seat. I had reshaped my stock seat with pretty good results before getting the pillow tops. I carved out a more square corner at the back instead of having it so rounded to relieve pressure on my tailbone.
  11. pegscraper
    This removing of zinc from diesel oil scares me. Zinc has good purpose besides being a last ditch effort to save an engine when the oil has broken down. Its purpose is to prevent metal to metal contact in high pressure areas, like the camshaft and shims, or cams and lifters in other engines. This is a particular problem area for engine oil and this can be an issue long before the oil breaks down. In fact it can be an issue with brand new fresh oil. This was discovered the hard way in the automotive hot rodding world as people would rebuild an engine and then wipe out a new camshaft almost immediately. Standard automotive engine oils had been quietly reformulated and no one paid much attention. After all, they wouldn't really design an oil that wouldn't protect your engine properly, would they? Zinc has been gone from the so called energy conserving oils for a while now, and when this oil was used in a fresh engine, flat tappet cams and lifters didn't last. It is less of a problem in roller cam engines. Having zinc in the oil is one of the biggest reasons I like to use diesel oil in my bike. Diesel engines don't have cats and zinc shouldn't be a problem for them, so why does zinc need to be removed from diesel oil? Maybe I'll have to find a zinc oil supplement and start putting it in my oil. GM's EOS (engine oil supplement) is a good possibility. Another thing I wonder about is why was zinc only removed from oil within the past few years when cars have had cats for over 30 years now? Zinc must not be that much of a problem for cats or it would have been removed from the start, like leaded gas was. The d$#@ greenie weenies need to stop messing with stuff. They need to be shut down.
  12. pegscraper
    In general, diesel oils are fine for bikes. I've been using Rotella T dino oil for the past 20,000 miles and had no problems. However, I also noticed the label change on the last jug of it I picked up, and the information on the jug about the oil seemed a little more vague. I also wondered if they might have reformulated it. I have to figure that the possibility of that is really high. This is something that definitely needs to be investigated further.
  13. pegscraper
    Still thinking of you and praying for you, Sherry. It sounds like you're doing a pretty good job of hanging in there.
  14. pegscraper
    Wow, Seafoam didn't fix the vibration? I can't believe it. I thought that stuff was supposed to work miracles. I would also look at tire balance.
  15. pegscraper
    Gee whiz. For that kind of money, I hope they like them.
  16. pegscraper
    The weight of our bikes plus two people gets pretty darn close to the maximum weight capability of the tires. And that's before you start filling luggage bags. I guess you didn't notice.
  17. pegscraper
    Changing oil in the rear gear housing so frequently is really a waste of money. The biggest killer of crankcase oil is blowby gases that loads the oil up with carbon and contaminates it and breaks it down. In rear gear housings (and any manual transmission that doesn't share oil with the engine) there is no blowby gas and the oil will last a very long time. Even 50,000 miles would be more often than necessary. When is the last time anyone replaced differential gear oil in a car? (Engines that burn propane also don't have the tendency to break down crankcase oil because they burn so cleanly.)
  18. pegscraper
    The recommendation in the owner's manual is for OEM tires. If you have anything other than OEM tires on the bike, go with that manufacturer's recommendations, what's printed on the sidewall.
  19. pegscraper
    What's the recommendation on how many miles to run between tire rotations front to back, you know, like we do on cars? Y'all do rotate your tires front to back periodically, don't you?
  20. pegscraper
    Thanks for those. And after I asked about the one I started wondering about the overall width too, which you already mentioned. One more, if you have a set of these setting on a bench, what is the overall height? I'm asking questions because I'm having some rather sinister thoughts about stuffing some V-Max carbs in my bike and reconsidering my previous statement elsewhere about how they wouldn't fit. Maybe I'll just have to get a used set, and then if they don't work for me I could resell them. I'm also curious if that vacuum spark advance part is a separate part that could be taken and used on other bikes. I would either have to use that or rig a way to mount the TPS on the V-Max carbs. I was going to walk right on past the comment about the V-Max being out of production, until a couple others chimed in. My local dealer knows me real well, so I just called him and asked. The V-Max is still in current production. Brand new bikes and parts are still being made. I don't know where you get some of your information. I don't doubt that you've seen what you say - in Germany where you are. But you don't have a very good handle on the bikes that come to America. About those rear gear ratios, I'm sorry my friend, on the American bikes that are actually here in America, you're mistaken.
  21. pegscraper
    You have a V-Max I think, right? Can you tell me what the distance is between the centers of the throttle bores front to rear of the carburetor pack?
  22. pegscraper
    Production of what was stopped in 2002? Do V-Maxes have electronic ignition? What do they do for load based spark advance? The Ventures use the TPS to advance the spark under part throttle and retard it under WOT.
  23. pegscraper
    I'm suspecting that the newer V-Maxes probably use a throttle position sensor on the carburetors, and I figure the older ones didn't. Can anyone verify whether the newer ones really do or not and what year they started being used?
  24. pegscraper
    Boy, I forgot you telling me about that place. And dang, I just got whacked elsewhere getting them mounted and balanced too. I won't be going that route anymore. Does he have a sign out that can be seen when driving by? Pretty hard to beat that price. I'm going to have to go find him. No light spot on the tire anymore, eh? I guess now we'll be balancing to compensate for the tire stem. Been out the past few days Joe? I had to go to Geneva this morning, about a 35 mile drive from me. Let's see, the car gets about 13 mpg, the tires aren't back on my bike yet but the wife's bike gets about 45 mpg, the price of gas sucks, the roads are clear and the sun is (was) out. I rode. So what if it's only 25* outside and snow flurries are flying? I was the freezyrider this morning.
  25. pegscraper
    Isn't there supposed to be a dot on the side of a tire indicating the light side of the tire that is supposed to be put next to the valve stem? I just ordered some Avons through SWMoto and they don't have any such dot. Now what? How should these be mounted?
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