camos

I think that's a recipe for misery. I eat three meals a day with a snack before bed and virtually never feel hungry. Going hungry is not a good part of any sustainable diet. A small portion of meat protein, about 1/4 of your plate, two portions of veggies, about 1/2 your plate and 1/4 of your plate beans, lentils or brown rice which adds protein and digestible fiber all of which takes a while to digest. That combination gets me through to the next meal without ever getting hungry.

Most veggies naturally have salt and sugar in them, some more than others. It's the added sugar in processed food that adds up too fast. Both my sons refused to eat cooked veggies when they were young. The eldest would not eat any veggies that were mixed together, even raw ones. Fortunately he grew out of that. A bread machine takes about 20 minutes to prep a healthy 100% whole wheat, whole grain loaf. I live alone so that works out well for me. For a family it would take perhaps 30 minutes to prep four loaves done the traditional way. It's also way less expensive.

A diet is what you actually eat. A weight loss diet is something most people should stay away from because most, if not all, are not particularly health or sustainable for a long period. Put together a healthy diet that you enjoy with a reasonable portion of meat and complex carbs that contains lots of fiber and stay away from refined carbs. Once finding what you like to eat then work on portion size.

So, you are not yet serious about losing weight and eating healthy? Go cold turkey and give that crap away. Great cooks can cook healthy nutritionally balanced food as well. Making healthy choices taste good takes some knowledge and ability so you are lucky to have her.

Rather than staying away from bread, make your own whole wheat multi grain bread. Most, if not all, off the shelf whole wheat bread is partially refined flour which is what turns it into junk food. Whole wheat, whole grain bread is actually good for you. Read the label on everything you buy to eat. A lot of the food for sale is actually of questionable value and it is often necessary to decode the information you are given.

Diet soda may have zero calories but your body does not know that. When drinking diet soda with other food the body assumes the sweetness is loaded with calories and stores much of the food as fat for later. Problem is there are no calories from the soda so your body crashes and wants more food. Stored fat is more difficult to turn into energy so you end up snacking. Probably mostly on junk food. The sugar rush you get from pop is addictive whether it is from artificial or real sugar. The most healthy diets include no more than 1/3 of your plate be meat, 1/3 vegetables and 1/3 high fiber or resistant starches. High fiber would be lentils, beans, quinoia, brown rice and potatoes. To make rice and potatoes resistant starch, cook them and put in frig for the next day. Lentils, beans and quinoia are a good source of low fat protein. Fiber and protein take a while to digest so help to keep you from wanting a snack. Healthy fats such as olive oil are also part of a good diet and will help to extend the time it takes before you get hungry again. Eating real food every 4 to 5 hours should stop you from needing a snack. It does for me anyway.

Neither the clutch or brake M/C's hold very much fluid but since you should be flushing not just changing the fluid you will likely go through a bit more. I usually buy almost a litre of DOT 4 which I think is a US quart. That is quite a bit so it lasts for a while. Brake fluid is hygroscopic which attracts water when open to the air so I'm not sure what I am doing is actually a good idea. Been doing that for a few years and haven't noticed any issues. I think the next size down would be all you should need to do both brakes and the clutch.

Here is a post I made on bleeding brakes which is the same process as bleeding the clutch. http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?104745-Cleaning-and-Bleeding-Brakes&p=917153#post917153 At the master remove the bellows and if there is crud in the reservoir it is best to clean the reservoir first rather than pushing the dirt all the way through the system. The cover needs to be in place when pumping the lever to prevent splashing from the pressure relief valve in the master. That means you need to watch the level to make sure it doesn't get low enough to pump air back into the system. There are basically three steps to take: First: you need a hose that fits the bleeder valve tightly. I have used both 1/4" and 5/16" clear thin wall tubing. The 1/4" thin wall works better but standard thicker wall works just as well but needs to be warmed and opened a bit before it will fit over the bleeder valve. It is important that the hose goes up at least an inch or two from the valve before turning down into the waste container. Second: open the valve and leave it open. Third: pump the lever at the master cylinder fairly quickly so any air in the system will be carried down to the bleeder valve and not have a chance to rise up. A fast flow will also help move any crud or dirt out with the brake fluid. That's about it. Pump fluid through until it gets clear then close the bleeder valve. Assuming there are no loose fittings, holes in the line or issues with the slave cylinder this job should not take more than ten minutes.

Stumbled over this interesting read on the Harley incursion into Japan and the beginning of their motorcycle history.

Most people never drive without their wallet and license. For me, the best place for a spare key is in my wallet. Just in case, also have a spare key in one of the many pockets of my riding jacket.

This seems to be straying away from audio but, in any case, I can't think of any good reason to install a second battery. The OEM charging system is adequate to operate the stock equipment plus two 55w aux lights. Going more than that would get iffy. The Rick's Hotshot is a better choice when it comes to replacing the stator because it ups the wattage. Keeping the charging system connections clean will maintain the output and likely prevent the stator or the R/R from dying. Putting in a higher output stator should not stress the wiring system any more than the OEM one if the connections are kept clean.

To this point, a battery is a storage device as well as a method to flatten the output beyond what the R/R does. Having a second non-charging battery to run an audio system is not a particularly good approach considering the added bulk and weight. Apart from that there is no reason why the OEM charging system could not be used to keep a second battery topped up. The charging system's job is to replace the power used by whatever is running. Second battery or not, there is a limit to how much load can be added to the notoriously low output of the stator before it can't keep up. Think trips longer than one day. Good lighting pretty much uses all the normal output so a heavy duty audio system would probably stress the whole system. There is no reason why a deep cycle car sized battery could not be added so you can go to the beach and drive everyone away with your bad choice of music.

Yes, Watts = amps x volts so the rated watts of the radio and amplifiers will be drawing on top of what the bike would normally require to run the ignition and lights. The electrical system is not meant to handle much more than what comes with the bike. Adding a couple of 55w driving lights is pretty much the limit of the OEM system but adding 20% more with a high output stator does make the system comfortable with those lights. Personally I think, as mentioned earlier, it's better to stay away from high output car audio systems and go for Bluetooth headsets. You get way better sound in your helmet. The price is less than the cost of the audio system and the bikes electrics will handle it better as well.

I put the Rick's Motorsports Hotshot stator in my 90 and 89 Ventures and they both work great putting out 14v at idle. The 90 has a Shindengen mosfet R/R and the 89 has the stock R/R.

I was referring to the OEM AUX circuit that comes on with the ignition switch. In this case, the USB adapter is powered up with the ignition and the Bluetooth transmitter which is powered by the USB automagically pairs with the headset. As far as having something in your ear while riding, the helmet headset is not in your ear and the volume does not have to be high enough to interfere with hearing traffic around you. The OEM radio has a sensor that controls volume according to the ambient background noise. As many have discovered, it doesn't matter how powerful the amp or sensitive the speakers while riding at highway speeds the dash speakers do not give very good service. They probably work great when the bike is off but is it a good idea to chance a dead battery?

If you wear a helmet the best audio available is a Bluetooth headset like the Sena which has really good sound even at highway speed. An MP3 player or phone can be plugged into the headset. The OEM radio/cassette needs a 5 pin to 1/8 stereo plug and a Bluetooth transmitter to connect to the headset. My current setup has a USB adapter connected to the bike's AUX circuit and a Bluetooth transmitter that plugs into it. More convenient than the previous transmitter I had which was battery operated and needed charging after about 10 hours of usage. If I remember correctly, both parts cost about $20. If you are interested, I can dig up more specific information on these. Got them on Amazon and the 5 pin adapter on eBay.

More likely the battery posts and the cable connections down to the starter need cleaning. There is enough juice getting through to turn the engine over but not enough left over for the spark.

Just to be clear, the motor isn't slower, it's the drive train that is slower. The 1300 has more torque and will get to the marginally slower speed faster.

I don't know about the rear brakes being compatible but the fronts are if you also change the forks, different bolt pattern. The 1300 Mk II engine will bolt in but you will also have to change the TCI and carbs. Not sure about the importance of the differences with the wiring harness. There are quite a few threads on here about doing this.

Very good advice.

That side car is awesome and would be a great addition to my 89 VR for winter riding and of course, my monthly trip to Costco. Wonder how it works? Had a quick look and found a bit more info on the ARMEC sidecar which seems to have been around since about 2000. https://haulnride.com/leaner-sidecar-combination-bike-leans-sidecar-doesnt Also found this about the ARMEC Sidewinder in particular. http://www.ck-inter.net/deu.htm?http://www.ck-inter.net/r1150gs.htm

Chrome is porous and needs regular wax or polish to keep it from discoloring. The best chrome job is nickle plate to rustproof and then chrome to shine it up. I don't think Yamaha spent the money to do that. Crumpled aluminum foil does a pretty good job of cleaning rusty colored chrome. After cleaning give it coat of your favourite polish.

I don't need to rebuild the calipers at this time as the deep cleaning seems to have done the trick. Thanks Bob. Earl usually has a good supply of oddball items. Getting things across the border is a bit of a pain so sourcing locally if possible is my preferred method.

OK, it was worth asking. Thanks.