LilBeaver

Looks like a great time! Definitely looking forward to the video. So, I take it the Ural did alright in 2WD through that light stuff? I figure it should considering this 'west' Texan "snow" is no match for Mother Russia... Now lets see the video of you doing that on the Venture! Yeah right; do you have some ocean front property just outside of Plainview to sell us too?

I believe that fella was misinformed. They are NOT identical products; similar yes, but they are not 'exactly the same thing'. I have attached the MSDS for both so you can see for yourself. Once again, I am making no claims on how well one works compared to the other -- just making the statement that they are, in fact, not identical products.

I sure hope you go up with him! Flying is such a blast. There are a few pilots in my family so I have been up a time or a few -- there is nothing quite like it

mtwhitford: Have you tried draining the carbs [via the drains on the float bowls] and looking at the fuel to see how it looks? As others suggest, it sounds like changing out that fuel filter and some fresh gas are a good place to start.

Earl, I am a little confused as to your statement here. I do not understand how our 4 separate carburetors with ONE fuel input and only two fuel level manifolds could actually produce the symptoms you described here. Additionally, if I recall correctly, the two left carbs share a manifold and the two right carbs share the other fuel manifold both of which are nominally the same distance from the input line [one is a little further, but not by much] -- again, I do not understand how our bike's configuration could behave as you described. I am no expert mechanic and am certainly not trying to rustle any feathers here, I just want to improve my understand and of course anyone else that reads this too [obviously help the O.P. as well].

Glad to hear you made it back and enjoyed most of your ride. Certainly looking forward to reading whatever bit of a ride report you decide to put together. As others have said -- listen to the doctor and take the time to heal up before pushing it too much...

I'm not sure how I feel about that flowered seat cover... But whatever works for you...

Mine pretty much did the same thing too. I had 2 different fronts and two different rear Avon Venoms do it. The end of it was the Avon tire rep bought me a set of Dunlop E3s and could not apologize enough. The cracks were on one side and there were one or two that were a few inches long and I did not need to 'flex' the tire to see it. I got the 'some checking is normal' thing from EVERYONE I talked to until I convinced them to come out and take a look and the response was always "oh wow -- that is not normal". http://www.venturerider.org/forum/album.php?albumid=435 Here is a link to my Album on here that shows some of what mine looked like. These developed within a few weeks I liked the way the Avons rode and handled -- soft, smooth and quiet. However, I am not quite ready to drop 200-300 bucks on another set of tires that might do this to me again -- or worse yet, fail while riding. I have nothing against them other than I do not trust them, for me and my bike, right now.

Just to be clear -- not only do I HAVE a 4-wheeled vehicle, that is what was taken to go get lunch. Brian -- I am glad it worked out and we were able to catch up a little as well as check out your fancy new wheels. 'Flying' in the 'chair' was a weird feeling but pretty friggen cool all at the same time! The slight off road experience was surprisingly comfortable as well. As for me being scared to ride it... well... I do like to be cautious, especially on someone else's brand spanking new bike. Definitely different than anything I have ever ridden before but after some time on one of those puppies, I could certainly see it being all sorts of fun to putter around on and off road with. I am sure you've got plenty of kilometers and hours of good fun riding ahead of you with it! Thanks again! For those of you that have not seen one of these in person, the pictures do not do it justice, it is a good looking scoot. Until next time

Sorry about that... :rasberry:

Forgot or chose not to? :no-no-no:

Frank: I do not know how up you are on your science so I will start with a sort of 'quick and dirty' explanation and leave it to you to ask the questions you need in order to fill in the blanks. This is a bit topic that I could write a lot about but will try to keep it reasonably concise. The exact chemical formulation may proprietary to each company BUT the chemistry and physics of the reactions are ALL the same. I will only discuss the 'keeping the fuel fresh' function of stabilizers [since that is what you asked for] that are treated especially with the 'hot topic' of the higher ethanol content in standard petrol/gasoline that seems to keep making the news. First, to discuss the ethanol aspect of the problem. Ethanol is used as an additive to the gasoline mixtures to perform as desired in the application for which they are used. For example, in the automotive application, the fuel needs to ignite at a certain temperature and pressure (more specifically it needs to be a vapor, then ignite within the cylinder AT the end of the compression stroke). A problem with ethanol is that it is highly volatile [with respect to phase stability] -- that is to say that there are extensive numbers of dangling bonds that are available for hydrogen bonding to other atoms or molecular structures -- a direct result of which is that it will evaporate quickly when allowed to contact with other H or O rich environments, such as the atmosphere (which includes H2, water vapor, etc etc). It is true that Ethanol easily bonds with water molecules, but it is also true that since it evaporates quickly, if sat for long enough the gasoline that originally contains say 10% ethanol in a closed container, will have a much lower concentration of the ethanol in the liquid form and a higher concentration in the vapor form (in the 'air' layer within the tank). With a lower concentration of the ethanol in the mixture, the gasoline mixture that is THEN in the tank no longer has the same properties that it originally had when it comes to expected combustible properties. According to the MSDS, Stabil contains 95% propanol and 5% 'additional additives'. Propanol (also known as isopropanol, isrpropyl alcohol, IPA, or rubbing alcohol) has a chemical structure of C3H8O. This structure has O and H available for additional bonding and an electron affinity lower than that of 'air' so the ethanol bonding to the propanol is energetically favorable and, in turn, means that when mixed in with the liquid gasoline more of the propanol (stabil) bonds with the ethanol and keeps the appropriate ethanol concentration IN the liquid/aqueous form of solution instead of letting it evaporate out into the air. The 5% additional additive (in stabil -- according to the MSDS data sheet) is Pentadecanoic acid (C15H30O2) which is an oxidizing agent that is stable. The other functions of the stabilizer contribute to minimizing corrosion and stuff like that. You asked about keeping the fuel 'fresh' and so the simple answer is as follows: To keep fuel 'fresh' you want it to maintain the proper concentration of all of its original components. Simple additives can do that when added in a proper amount. If someone wants to discuss what happens when you add TOO MUCH stabilizer, we can get into that but I will say from a science perspective, the recommended dosages are there for a reason and they are not just pulled out of thin air. -- So I hope that answered your question -- or at least started to answer the question. Please ask if you want more explanation or clarification of something.

:doh: So I did see it on my way out but I had not made the connection to it being yours. Nice looking truck!

Good news! Don't hesitate to get more specific if you want an audience when you pick it up; I would not mind checking that beast out in person

My most memorable and the most joyous are not one in the same, but I will share the latter. This is especially difficult though because when my family gets together we seem to almost always have a good time so there are lots of good memories. As of now, I would say that my most joyous would be the winter of 2004. My family had an especially hard year that year, for reasons I will not go into. What happened in December of that year was quite amazing. Despite all of the hardships, my family was still able to get together and enjoy each others company, independent of all of the other crap that was going on. I guess telling this as a 'story' is not really all that enlightening since there was nothing specific that happened that made it spectacular other than we were just able to get together and be a big happy family and I remember that rather vividly.... Maybe someday soon we will be able to do that again.

Really glad to hear that ya'll are okay. By the way, where the heck do you hide your truck? I swear I do not remember seeing anything except for the tan Civic(?) [Cass's car] out front Admittedly I was pretty out of it so maybe I walked around it when I walked up your driveway...

Saw a friends Windows Mobile 7.5 phone the other day and you are not kidding. Well the user interface anyways has been made to look and feel more like the other kinds [iKinds and Android]. Smooth, quick and even makes toast and coffee. My old reliable Windows mobile 6.5 phone that makes phones calls, e-mail, syncs with outlook, text messages and has a battery that lasts me ~ 1 week in between charges (in addition to the capability of movies, the interwebs, pictures, navigation, weather, etc etc) works for me. It was a huge huge step up from my nearly rotary dial cell phone that my 85 year old grandmother harassed me about hers being more advanced than mine... No, the windows mobile 6.5 is NOT perfect - but it works very well for what I need. I can keep my information synchronized between myself, my computer and my server without having to use google. Not to mention I do not have to pay the silly 'premium' data fees. Sorry to contribute to the thread Hijack...

Does this count as multiple responses? You know, since 1 more would put it above your '2 response death minimum' : )

If I am in town, you can count me in.

I guess someone gave up on 'no shave november'

I thought, In Russia, they torque themselves...

Hmmm - no manual required, no torque specs, no nothing? Hmmm...

Tell you what, that looks like a great time! So when is yours coming in? You going to need someone to drive it back up to plainview for you?

Well played sir, well played.