LilBeaver

If it does turn out to be the fuel pump, that ought to be covered under the warranty...

You say you need to replace your seat(s)... One thing you may want to consider is getting in contact with Rick_Butler as he has been reworking seats for a long time and might be able to provide some insight into fixing it for you or actually fix it for you. Just a thought as an alternative.

Howdy You picked the best color (although I may be slightly biased) Some feel it is a little top heavy at low speeds. For a 900 lb bike, with a lot of weight up top, I think it is fine. I'm no giant by any stretch of the imagination (5'8" with a 31" inseam). Just STAY OFF the front brake when doing low speed manuvering. I also have an 82 wing (GL1100 interstate). The wing definitely feels lighter (lower center of gravity), but I can still throw the RSV around pretty well. Just take your time getting used to it and like I said, whatever you do, do NOT use the front brake at low speeds - especially if the bars are anything BUT straight. - That is a recipe for disaster. Since you've ridden/owned so many bikes, I doubt you'll have any trouble getting used to this one. If you do, there are plenty of options to help low speed maneuverability and handling that can help account for vertically challenged people, as well as those that are monsters and need the bike raised. I would suggest spending some time on the bike before making any of those types of changes though - that will allow for a 'proper' adjustment period so you can get accustomed to the bike. Only differences from 2001 to 2010 are: - in 03 (or 04) they added a vent hose to the rear shock - Colors - I think I read that in 2005 something was changed with the mounting of the radiator, but that has not been verified and I have only seen that mentioned once - 2010 had some 'awesome' flame stickers, no whiskers - 2009 The CD player as a standard accessory (instead of the available option) - 2004 (+/- 1 year or so) and beyond Yamaha switched the silver/chrome color engine to a blacked out version But these are all extremely minor changes White walls have never been OEM. The Dunlop 404s do have a whitewall option in the correct size for this bike, but the venture never came with that as original equipment. The clutch basket whine thing was not a recall. There is a service bulletin on it, but no recall. As far as I know, the only 'problem' with it is the whine associated with it - some bikes are worse than others. Mine is like a woma... I won't go there. Lets just say, mine has a mind of its own. Some days at certain speeds (RPMs, really) I can't hear it at all and the bike just hums along. Other days, it is quite obnoxious. I think that since it deals with the gear tolerance, ambient air temperature makes a difference, along with several other factors. But again, nothing mechanically wrong with it - it just gets a little annoying after a while (sometimes). It is very much like your royal star. Same motor (I believe), different cams and carbs though - but it is essentially based on the same bike. You too bud, and welcome to the site. When you get there and do your initial inspection on the bike, make sure you take a real good look at the rear shock and look for ANY SIGN of oil dripping from the shock. Push up the rubber cover (it looks like a mini accordion) and see if you see oil. If you see oil, you'll be in need of a rear shock relatively soon (if not already) and OEMs start around 450. The shock is a known weak point on these bikes. Also look at the lower cowlings (the plastic deals in front of the floorboards). Some have had issues with these cracking. Maybe its too late for further negotiation, but this could be helpful in cutting the price down a little so you can have the bike in great condition. Anyways, I'll cork it now as this post has gotten quite long. Again, welcome to the site and I hope that your new-to-you bike is great and gives you plenty-o-miles Any other questions, just hop on and ask. There IS a search function on the upper tool bar on this site, that makes finding things very helpful. Also, for common technical things (maintenance items, etc.) when you click on the 'forum' link on the toolbar, scroll down a ways and you'll see "Second Gen technical library" or something similar to that. There is a lot of good info in there too. Okay, shutting up for REAL now.

Nice pictures!! Thanks for sharing. By the way, when I read this at first I had to scratch my head and read it again. What I had thought I read was: "Lost my $200 camera, I gave it to a bear to hold and for some reason he dropped it off the bike at 65 MPH..." So, here I am with a mental image of you vs. a grizzly, for which you give your camera to, then both mount up the bike and take off. So this 800lb grizzly, on the back of a 1st gen snapping pictures had me a little confused... It has been a long day.

Maybe you should find some with the fishes in them too. Maybe she'll like those. AND as a bonus, if you let her feet ride on the exhaust for a while, when you stop for a rest break you can have a snack too!!

A couple straight clamps on the ends of the wood block (cut to length) that would sort of 'nestle' the block around the floor boards may be an alternative to drilling through the floorboards them selves. Or, cut little tracks in the edge of the block of wood for the zip ties to sit into, thereby eliminating the slop in them all together. I do hear what you are saying about the possibility of them sliding off though. Just some thoughts.

In your first post you said that you get this 'noise' when the radio volume is turned way down. Later you said that you get this noise when you change the volume at all. This would indicate to me that there IS some issue with something, possibly two different issues. First of all, make sure the CB is off, then adjust the volume and see if you still get the noise. If you do, then you can skip down to opening the fairing (although these other options won't take very long and are good to do anyways) If it does not make that noise, go to the antennas on your bike and trace the wires that come from the bottom of the antennas. Make sure that the CB antenna (the one with the little black thingy in it) goes to the black box under the trunk. Then check to make sure that the one from the radio antenna (the one without the little black thingy on it) does not go to that little black box. If it is, in fact, backwards - you'll need to switch the antennas and this could have been the source of much of the noise with the CB. Next, there are two large black (5-pin c-bus) connections under the passenger seat of the bike. Press each one of those together and take careful note to see if either of them were loose at all. Regardless of whether it was loose or not, I'd then pull them apart and press them back together 5-10 times (to help clean any build up/corrosion off). Squirt some electrical contact cleaner in each connector, let sit for 1-2 minutes, then blow out to ensure dryness. Put on a dab of dielectric grease and press them (firmly) back together. If one of the connectors were loose, that could have been a possible source of the problem. The next thing to do would be to pop off the fairing and clean the radio connectors (bundle of 4 large connectors). Before you take them apart, try pushing them together more and see if any of them move. If one of them does, trace the cable back to wherever it goes to - if it goes to the radio head, then you can probably be pretty confident in that it was just a loose connection there. While it is all open, go ahead and clean the connectors anyways, put in a little dielectric grease and button it back up. The next thing to check (to be complete about your investigation) would be the grounds on your bike. The one for the radio system is located under the plastic neck cover piece to the right (brake side) of the ignition switch. You do need to remove the fuel tank to get to this (but that is literally 3 bolts and a hose clamp - real easy stuff). The next ground is down by the horn - a bolt that goes into the motor. And the CB ground I believe is actually under the trunk, but I do not recall if the trunk needs to come off to get to it or not (no big deal if it is, just undo the electrical connectors and take out the 4 bolts in the 'floor' of the trunk). If the problem still persists with the noise when adjusting the volume, then unfortunately, you are probably in need of a new radio head or maybe the amp it self. Some noise, that breaks squelch on the CB, IS normal for driving under powerlines, next to big trucks that have CBs, etc. Lastly, if your bike is still under warranty, I would definitely be on the way to the dealer if none of these checks worked since used the radio controller head goes for ~$200, amp for ~$300 and the CB (if you can find one) for ~$300. New: Radio controller head $600, main amp and CB ~$1200 each. Anyhoo, let us know if you have more questions or run into any other symptoms that could help the diagnosis.

+1 to this... Unless you wanted that outlet hot all the time.

Thanks for the update boomer

My girlfriend (who rides only on occasion) is fairly short. She has complained about having to use her 'tip-toes' in order to touch the floor boards. A quick, cheap and non-attractive solution was to take some scrap wood I had laying around - cut it to the appropriate length then attach it to the rear boards (I simply use zip ties to attach them). Like I said, it isn't attractive but a few cents for the couple zip ties and whatever the leftover wood was worth. It sounds like you are looking for something not so Macgyvered though...

This weekend when I did some PM work on my bike, I had inadvertantly left one of the plug wires off one of the times that I started the bike. It started a little hard (meaning it had to crank a little more than usual) but I had drained the fuel out of the carbs and such, so I just figured it had something to do with that. After I shut it off, I saw that plug wire hanging off the other side - put it back on and started again, and it started right up and it was a little more smooth. With the performance difference you noticed, you may have had a bad plug.

For 5-10 bucks at Autozone, murray's, napa, (or whatever) you can get a roll of stripe. To match what is on our bags you might need to go with two separate rolls (for the 'two-tone'-ness) but you can get them there. It might not be exact, but 10 bucks beats 100. If you do want it to be exact, find a local pin stripe guy/gal (like Jer suggested) and pay for them to be painted on.

I just spent a couple of hours in the garage doing various things (first time I have been able to do that in a couple of months, boy was it nice); One of which was changing the coolant (and flushing the system, replacing those stupid little rubber plugs). I read over the article in the Tech section and it made changing the coolant a breeze. The coke bottle method worked great except for the front left cylinder which Pheonex had warned it wouldn't work. But an old T-shirt did the trick So, just wanted to say thanks for that great write up. Don: thanks to you for keeping this place up and running. For those of you that haven't done this yet, I think the hardest part was refilling the coolant slow enough so that it didn't come up and out of the filler opening. Me, being impatient, had a few spills. Luckily it was just distilled water that I spilled (I got some practice since I flushed the system twice).

I know someone who has done this on more than one occasion. I won't say anymore - just in case she reads the forum without my knowledge... Now I'm going to go hide in the corner, just in case. :crackup:

you really should learn to turn the petcock into the 'OFF' position before pulling that fuel hose off though. :stickpoke:

The front two calipers on the R1 have a total of 4 pistons per caliper opposed to the current design with 2 pistons per caliper. You are correct in that the rear calipers have a total of 4 pistons in it already. Hope that helps.

There have been a number of folks that have reported these plugs hardening and cracking over time. This, coupled with the shrinkage from the cold contribute to leak(s) developing out of these plugs. As a temporary fix, some (myself included) have taken a few washers and taped them to the inside of the fake fins to provide a little more pressure on the rubber plugs them selves to temporarily stop the leaks, then when you get a chance, go ahead and replace the plugs. The plugs themselves are a few bucks a piece... Well, at least in the U.S. they are.

I sure hope he heals up quickly, completely and as pain free as possible... considering the circumstances. Wish I could do something to help him out.

Yes, any of those would be acceptable.

You are probably going to get both yeses and nos to this question. I will try to include some information here to explain the why behind my suggestion. As is the bike has 2 main grounding points; one is down near the horn and the other is behind the plastic cover on the neck near the ignition switch (front right of the fuel tank). In pure theory, all of the metal components on the bike are an equipotential surface, so it it shouldn't matter. However, in practice, there is a chance that grounding in multiple places could create what are known as ground loops - that is slight differences in potential between, what ought to be, different 'grounding' points thereby creating a potential difference (gives rise to currents since the metal frame of the bike is not a pure conductor) in what ought to otherwise be a standard/common ground. So, to answer your question, to be on the safe side a [truely] common ground (ie, a 'ground block') would, in my opinion, be a good idea -- or at least run all of the accessories to one of the two existing grounds (or the '-' terminal on the battery). If you put in an auxiliary fuse box this would be a very easy thing to wire up and you could directly link your ground block to one of the two existing ground points on the bike. Hope that helps a little bit.

Called me too. Wonder if he's going to come out to the MD this weekend? I forgot to ask him about that when we chatted...

I'm here in Lubbock and just wondering if anyone in the 'Panhandle' or from anywhere, say, northwest of Mckinny, TX is going to be headed down there this weekend and wants to meet up and ride down there together? If no one wants to tag a long, my plan will be to leave before the first sparrow's fart in the morning from Lubbock to get to GW's sometime between noon and 2, stay the night somewhere nearby, then ride back to Lubbock in the morning. Although, I may end up taking off for Nashville in the morning too - I haven't made up my mind yet. Anyhoot, let me know if you are planning on riding down, I'd love some company!

I guess THAT is what it means to be in deep doo, eh?

+1 to this Also, with these silly soft yamaha bolts, don't waste your money or time with the extractors. A set of left-handed drill bits has been very successful for me with the few I've dealt with on my bike. But as others have already said, make sure you are careful to get that puppy centered. Also, some have mentioned having good luck with a sharpened torx bit, pounding it into the head of the bolt and using that to back it out. Or welding a stud to the bolt... Hope it 'works out' for you!!

Actually, I couldn't agree more with the lawyer. Crap like this has been happening FAR TOO LONG for this to be the 'example case'... However, I certainly won't argue with it, since it FINALLY HAPPENED. Now that the precedent is set, hopefully the rates of these incidents will decline sooner.