LilBeaver

Handy enough, when I rode through Yellowstone in July, some bright fellow slammed on his brakes in front of me, got out of his car and chased something into the woods. Yup, you guessed it - a friggin' bear... Natural selection at work.

After reading this post and thinking about mine - I bet I look like a neurotic squirrel hiding his 'essentials' for the winter, when I start rummaging through the oil containers looking for the non-energy conserving jugs. Glad I'm not the only one that is 'nuts'.

I don't know about you guys, but my Venture has these things beside the passenger seat surrounding the rear wheel, and another one behind the passenger's backrest that lets me keep stuff in. But, then again, maybe it was just a fancy add-on from the previous owner and I got lucky :stickpoke::witch_brew: I keep my garage door opener in the pocket of my crash-jacket (which goes on me when I get on the bike - so it is actually a rather convenient arrangement). Sunglasses/clear glasses have a case that goes in the little pouch in the trunk. I try to keep my 'etc' collection to a minimum, but I do have all sorts of extra crap in those fancy crap holders that surround the rear wheel (a few bungee cords, a crap ton of tools, tire plugs, compressor, first aid kit, tire pressure gauge, hand-pump for shocks, portable shower, extra large kitchen sink with garbage disposal attachment... you know the essentials. Okay so obviously not the last two, but the rest is in there). I wouldn't mind having a bib with a pouch on it... Just can't justify the 50 bucks for the Hopnel one.

:sign yeah that::sign yeah that: Maybe a Panhandle M&E is in order. We could come up with some common destination between Lubbock, Amarillo and Wichita Falls

This is very easy to do; especially with the way mobil 1 keeps changing their labels. Sometimes it is energy conserving and sometimes it isn't. The doofus stocking the shelves doesn't help either - when they play mix and match. I've returned a few quarts for that reason - not noticing until I walk out of the store. Now I look at every jug before it goes in the cart, then I double check again at time of the check out.

If you were in 5th when you did this, you could have continued to pull away if you shifted into 4th Lets just say the ride across the desert this summer had some really really long and desolate stretches

Where do you have your lights grounded to? How do you have your LEDs hooked up? These could help give appropriate information to explain why the radio is being 'wiped out' and what can be done to alleviate that problem.

Had a date like that once... Oh wait, this is a family site.

I had thought (an been told - by old biker wisdom ) that the two down was for 'keeping rubber side down' - since we have two wheels; in conjunction with what Brake Pad had commented on: Once I got the 'white power' wave, which scared the crap out of me and caused me to boogie on out of there rather quickly... Quite frankly, I can't usually see how many fingers someone is pointing down at the ground with - especially if they are wearing gloves and they are on the other side of a divided highway. I will usually do two fingers down if I am on the typical two lane road, if on the highway with lots of traffic, I'll do the dorky two fingers or whole hand up and to the left (to not potentially confuse any of the cagers into thinking that I am a) getting ready to change lanes or b) telling them they are number 1). But hey, that's just me and I am a dork like that. You can do whatever you want, it certainly does not matter to me at all.

Wait... I thought said there was supposed to be a bike in those pictures Maybe I need a closer look.

Nice write up. I would add though that in my experience the only way to actually bleed the clutch (without a pump) involves the pumping of the clutch handle a few (4-6) times in between the opening of the bleeder valve to help get the fluid down the lines. I will certainly not argue though that for the clutch, a pump is a good way to go!

Mike: I did not mention it in the other thread. I did contact both distributors in the U.S. though, to see what they would say (the one you contacted in CT and the other one in San Marcos, CA). I only heard back from one and their response was that the RSV was too heavy for any of their current setups so he would have to look into it and get back with me. He never did. However, I did not follow up with them either. So, apparently they've got it figured out now. - Rick.

I'm going on 20k on my last set of rear pads and they are wearing quite evenly (so much as with a side-by-side comparison about 2k miles ago there was no visible difference (to my naked eye). I use the rear brake quite heavily for low speed maneuvering... For what it is worth they are the ERC Organic pads (not the HH sintered).

I've read the same thing about 08-10 KLRs. (Another forum I visit occasionally has an ongoing post with these owners adding info on their bikes -- quite a few of them actually).

A compression test may also be helpful.

I would have never guessed that. Boy you are clever! :crackup:

Yes.

I've been with the same insurance company for quite some time now and have never had an issue with this. Maybe I'm lucky, but my agent and I discuss what kind of coverage I THINK I need/want, then he makes suggestions accordingly. The under/un insured covereage is something that I had mentioned and he said not only does he highly recommended it (despite the spike in the premium) he told me that a good amount of folks dont' know about it or insist that it isn't necessary for them, blah blah blah, but the agent is the first one they come to when something happens and they want a pay out even though they didn't have the appropriate coverage. Regardless -- Good call on getting this info out there for anyone that may not realize whether they have it or not. For what it is worth, I usually adjust my life insurance policy before I take a log bike trip too - just in case.

After reading about all of the folks with failed shock, I too was not looking forward to the day that mine keeled over and blew oil in my garage. Since I had been reading about the expense, I had done some looking around before I actually had mine fail. Then, sure enough, at some point there was some oil on the garage floor under my bike, looked underneath and it was obvious where the oil had been coming from. Mine leaked slowly for a few weeks then the last time it leaked, it left a little puddle under the bike. Mine is a 2001 and the shock gave up its oil somewhere around 35k miles (or so - like I said, the slow leak sort of made it difficult to pin down). I rode for a little over 2 months after the last of the oil made its way out of the shock, but probably rode for a few months between the first appearance of oil and when it finally 'gave out'. Rideability and the quality of the ride decreased, as did handling. I noticed it the most when I would hit small bumps at very steep lean angles as well as the occasional 'bottom out'. I kept my shock somewhere between 25 and 40 psi (if I recall correctly). I did notice that my bike sagged a lot when sat on it or there would be a lot of play (with little resistance) if I pushed down on the rear end - even gently. The options I sought out were OEM (best price ~450 after S&H), EPM (see below), YSS (bigger waste of time than EPM) and the works performance (700 after shipping). Ultimately I ended up with the works, and still incredibly ticked that after 11 years of these dumb things failing it doesn't seem that Yamaha is doing anything other than adding a vent hose in 2004. I called yamaha 'customer service' a few times, just for kicks, and got the same story "the failing rear shock is not a common problem on the RSV, but it does happen from time to time with any suspension, blah blah blah". I did not really expect anything from yamaha, but I did want to express my disgust with the cost of replacement for the same craptastic unit - not to mention the manual does say "for any comments or questions please call 1-800-..." So, I did. Honestly I do feel that this is a safety issue, BUT I do understand that suspension is a wear item that will fail at some point - at least if you cannot change the oil in them, etc etc. But after only 30k? and at the high failure rate we seem to have on our bikes... Come on Yamaha. Anyhoo here is my expereince with the following: OEM/Yamahahaha: I think I have said enough about this piece of... shock. EPM: YSS - Similar to EPM except they were more upfront about needing the measurements, etc and that they would have to build it. I believe we have at least one member on here that successfully got one from YSS, but I have no clue who it is and don't recall a report on it after it was installed on the bike. Works: I can't seem to find my post where I discussed my issues with the works shock and their 'customer service' (believe me the word 'service' there is used loosely). I'll summarize here: Ordered mine direct through works (like you have to do). Got an e-mail a few days later saying that they couldn't start my order until I told them what bike I had, rider weight, gear, passenger weight and % of time riding with passenger. This really irritated me because that conversation was had when I placed the order originally, as well as had it in a confirmation e-mail. I asked when to expect my shock and salesman said 2-6 weeks from the order date, but he figured it would be much closer to the 2 weeks because they did not have very many orders in front of mine. I called again at the beginning of week 6 to see what was going on with the order and got handed around between a few salesman - no one knew anything of my order; I got sufficiently ticked off that I hung up as I was tired of waiting on hold and being bounced salesman to salesman (or one really talented salesman with many voices, who knows). Called the next day and got a guy that was quite nice and sounded reasonably well informed, he found my order right away and said he was rather surprised that it hasn't been shipped out yet. He put me on hold and about 30 seconds later came back and said that the spring for my shock had not been ordered (he is THE guy that is supposed to order these heavy duty springs for the RSVs - they are quite unique) and the original order was sitting on the original guy's desk so it hadn't been fully processed yet. He was quite apologetic, quite frankly at that point if we had another feasible option for a shock, I would have canceled my order and gone with someone else. Now, 7.5-8 weeks later the shock was delivered to my doorstep. The following day I got an e-mail notifying me that my shock will be shipped out (ha, thanks a lot for the notification - a lot of good that does, dinguses). I checked the tracking and it took my shock 2 days to get to my door from the factory. So, now I'm excited because my shock FINALLY arrived, go to do the install and old shock off in about 15 minutes, new shock mounts fine on the top but I cannot get it onto the swing arm. The bottom of the shock was too small and did not fit like it was supposed to (see: http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?t=49306 for discussion and a picture). After my test riding and such, everything seems okay. After a few thousand miles I couldn't really get it adjusted the way I like it and wanted to explore their 'ride quality guarantee' to see what they could do for me (I felt and still feel like it is rather stiff unless I'm loaded with 75 lbs of crap and a passenger). The 'customer service' basically told me that they couldn't do anything for me about the ride stiffness or the fact that it didn't fit right (and yes, I was within my 30 days). I realize that many people have been quite happy with their experience with Works, but this is mine. Hopefully EVERYONE else that deals with them has a much MUCH better experience. It has been 10-15k miles since my install and I am happy with the bikes handling after I replaced the bad shock (I was absolutely amazed at what a difference it made) and the ride is nice (when I'm fully loaded - which I guess is when it counts the most anyways). Would I be willing to shell out 700 bucks again to this company -- well, That is a really REALLY tough call. They are pricey, but so is having to replace the OEM shock more than once. I would probably hold my nose and do it again, if I had a different RSV that needed a new shock. I would adjust the weights I gave them and I would be much more aggressive about calling them to check on my order - but I would probably opt for them over the possibility of multiple OEM replacements (especailly out of warranty). I hope that I have answered your question even though I probably sound like a bitter old shrew - better than a 'sub human missing-link' though, (right Forrest? :stickpoke: ) As far as the instructions for the install - I think I wrote up a compact version of them, with pictures, in another thread -- when I get some time later I'll look to see if I can find them. If not, I know for sure I still have the pictures, I could easily do them again if necessary. It really is a rather straight forward job (provided ALL of the parts fit like they are SUPPOSED to). Okay, I'll can it for now.

Brian - if you want another RSV to compare it to, I think I might know someone in Lubbock with one that could meet up with you somewhere for further inspection. Mine shifts relatively smoothly - not quite as smooth as an 07 I rode recently... well back in July, but still smooth enough as to what I would consider 'normal'. Just let me know and we can work something out.

Dang, I thought I was the only one getting bent over by the city I live in... Sheesh. I got a letter in the mail a few weeks ago suggesting that I mow the street or they would bill me 250 + whatever it costs a company to come out and do it for me... I have been complaining about the bushes and tree coming out of the middle of the street for the two years I've been there. Good luck with your sidewalk blocks. As far as the tree is concerned, maybe it could use a nudge or two with a large vehicle to fall in the direction of your soon to be replaced roof. So long as there are no witnesses and no marks on the bumper - no problem, right?

Does the Stebel that you are removing still function appropriately? Do you have any plans for it? If not, I think I hear my bike calling out for an additional one

Hmmm. My experience is that when I say I ride a Yamaha Royal Star Venture, I get a confused and puzzled look. I have yet to meet someone that actually knows what a Venture is (outside of the people associated with this site). As I recall, YOURs does NOT have the cassette deck in it, so nothing to be embarrassed about than, eh?