camos

Yes, there is more wear in the middle. My riding is mostly back roads with a little on the highway and, as mentioned, I am not a terror in the corners. I think the wear pattern looks good for getting the most out of a tire. So I would say that would indeed depend on how the dual compound was combined in the tire. As can be seen on my E3 there is no issue with having a dual compound tire on the front. As with so much, a lot depends on the brand you are buying.

A while ago in a discussion on tires BlueSky mentioned a concern that tires constructed with a harder compound in the middle and a softer compound on the edges would wear to a point... of sorts. I tried to find that post but gave up and decided to make a new one. Here are some pix of an E3 that is worn to the wear bars. As can be seen there is no excessive wear either on the edges or in the middle. Indicating that multi compound tires are a good thing and will give a tire an extended life by not wearing out prematurely in one area. It should be noted that I am not an extreme carver of corners so for those who are more aggressive a bit more wear might be expected on the edges.

Winter storage??? What's that? It's actually maintenance season. Keep in mind, replacing the pipe stubs is not a normal muffler shop duty. They will need to have enough time to focus and think of what is necessary to get the job done. Best to get the collector to them during a time when they are not too busy. After the rush to get winter tires on and before the rush to get the studs off. Might seem a bit odd but around here, at least, the local muffler shops do more than just exhaust systems.

Winter storage??? What's that? Keep in mind, replacing the pipe stubs is not a normal muffler shop duty. They will need to have enough time to focus and think of what is necessary to get the job done. Best to get the collector to them during a time when they are not too busy. After the rush to get winter tires on and before the rush to get the studs off. Might seem a bit odd but around here, at least, the local muffler shops do more than just exhaust systems.

What wires came off? Seems to me if any wires came off the R/R should not work at all. I don't think it is overcharging at all. As far as I know 14.2 is the generally acceptable upper limit.

Prescription pill containers work well enough and are free. Course you might not be old or broken enough to have a steady supply.

The part you refer to is actually called a collector. When my 90 experienced this issue I took the collector in to my local muffler shop and had all of the pipe stubs replaced. This worked out to be less expensive than buying an old used one which may need to be repaired anyway.

Apparently there is a replacement caliper that has the bleeder in the correct position while most(?) are upside down. Anyone know if that is so and which ones they are?

Yes, in the same way the Gen1 Venture was the answer to the Goldwing. It's so pretty that if it wasn't for the logo no one would know it was a BMW. A bagger or a cruiser are not up to snuff for touring. It is not just the lack of a tour pack but the miserably inadequate seating for the co-pilot.

I never considered a trip to Costco or Home Depot to be worthy of recording for posterity but certainly having a deer as a passenger should qualify.

Totally awesome!!!

I take my Venture to Costco every 2 or 3 weeks and fill it up. If I remember correctly their flat of eggs is 30. Once or twice a year there is a 36 pack of TP strapped to the passenger seat. Went to the Co-Op a couple of weeks ago and got two 6 lb frozen chickens and two 9 lb pork picnics. Had a 26 lb turkey in the trunk also a 30 lb leg of pork... not at the same time though. One time had two 8' gutter down pipes strapped on, that was a bit awkward. The Venture isn't just a pretty face.

I don't know about the other provinces but here in BC scooters under 50cc with CV transmissions do not require a motorcycle license but do require the driver to have a valid motor vehicle license and insurance. A moped whether gas or electric are deemed to be bicycles which do not require either licence or insurance. All cyclists are expected by law to follow the same rules of the road that motorists must. Far too many cyclists display an attitude that they are not or should not be held to follow any of the rules of the road that motorists are required to follow. They are a danger to themselves and to everyone around them. The problem is so large that there are not enough police available to enforce compliance and since there is no licence required there is no way to prevent frequent abusers of the rules. It is not a good situation.

That is my only pet peave. On my 90 VR I rotated the angle of the dash to be more vertical by about an inch. It helped but needed more, probably another two inches would be close. To get more rotation it will take adding an extension rather than just reshaping the mount. One of these days I will get to it on the 89 that I am now riding.

A quick way to narrow down to a battery problem or a leak somewhere is to disconnect the battery then give it a full charge. When you come back later if the battery voltage has dropped below 12 v then there is probably a problem with the cells in the battery. If the charge has not dropped then there is a leak somewhere in the wiring system.

Right, since the resistance reading may be inconclusive why bother with it? The output voltage is the only thing that really matters no matter what the cause. But, as you say, it only take a minute or five to check the resistance.

Not necessarily, Win7 will do it too.

I got your point but in a way, the cost of our vehicle insurance is tied to the cost of health insurance. This would be due to the higher incidence of extreme body damage to the rider compared to the cager and of course to the fact that the Province is in charge of both vehicle and health insurance. The fees for vehicle insurance are arbitrarily assessed. In BC and Ont the cost is the highest in the country, about three times that of the Maritime provinces for the same coverage. As for healthcare, as a single person I pay $75 per month which is apparently very good compared to the system in the USA. We are covered for everything except prescriptions, dental and optical. The likely reason for the big difference is because everyone in the country has to be enrolled. Our system is not perfect and there are holes but for the majority of people it does a good job. There is also the option for adding more comprehensive coverage with third party insurance.

What you have said is absolutely correct but IMHO testing the resistance is a waste of time. If the AC voltage does not come out in the correct range then there is a problem with the windings, no resistance reading required. A voltage of 50-60 VAC will still give enough voltage at the battery to operate and charge adequately but should be considered a heads-up to find a new stator so you will have one on hand when it goes tits-up.

I suspect this question relates more to a blowout rather than just a flat. Recently I had occasion to ride my VR for two days with no air in the tire front tire and for two days before that with probably not much. A week earlier I had gotten a new tire mounted to my spare wheel. As I intended to re-pack the head bearings it was decided to mount the new tire afterwards. The next day I'm off to work for the first ride and it did not feel right. My assumption was that something had not gone together correctly so two days later I loosened everything off and reassembled the forks. Off to work the next day and it still steered like a truck only worse. This was a real puzzler, the job is so simple that I could not think of what had gone wrong, twice. The next day It occurred to me to check the air pressure. It was at zero. Turned out the valve stem was faulty and had not been re-seated when the new tire was mounted. So this experience has been added to the growing list of my most embarrassing moments. This whole thing was also very interesting in that I had no idea a tire would stand up to being ridden with no air in it. My ride to work is along a back road with a speed limit of 30 mph and I'm sure I did not go over 40 mph. The worst part was navigating through a couple of round abouts. Steering was very heavy in the corners and a little skittish on tar snakes but doable, not scary. Being one up with no other load was helpful but I expect the stiff side walls of the E3 were a big advantage too.

Find the stator flat connector with 3 white wires on the left side. The voltage between each of the 3 pins should read at least 55-60 VAC and could be up to 100 VAC. The important thing is they should all be relatively the same within that range. If the stator voltage looks OK then the problem will be with the R/R... or between the R/R and the battery.

Following up on this. When cleaning the pistons, after pulling the caliper remove the pads, spray with brake cleaner then use that toothbrush you saved a long time ago. Then put the two pads between the pistons and use the lever to push the piston out. Pay attention to which ones move or don't move easily. Spray the pistons again and brush. Push the pistons all the way back in then spray and brush again. If all the pistons do not move at the same rate do it again. I made a clamp out of 1/8" x 2" flat bar with two nuts and bolts that make it easy to do this job without scoring the caliper.

Along that line. Shaping metal to fit non linear shapes can be difficult without the proper tools. Much easier to use two layers of fiberglass and polyester resin bolted together. It would be perfect for doing something like that.

How about Tricky as in "You tricky POS." on a bad day. Or Tricky as in "Tricked out." Or Tricky as in hard to deal with, complicated. Depending on the mood and whether it is sunny, raining or snowing.

ABS is for the most part very easily repairable. The most difficult is when there are pieces missing that are in a visible area. A pic or two of the break would be helpful.