camos

There is no way to get around the instant gratification of buying a CD on the road and being able to play it. However, is it worth $200 for that option? For $40 you can get a external CD/DVD writer with a USB connection for your laptop. Glad you found what you were looking for though.

I wasn't very concerned about losing the clamp although I guess wrapping wire around it might help to keep it from backing off. Would prefer using a clamp because it would look better. The guy who did the welding on the new pipe extension cut the chrome cover in half to get it out of the way instead of cutting the two welds on the cover so it could be reattached afterwards.

Sorry I can't help with the CD changer but I feel the need to ask why Peg wants one. It's not difficult to export the songs from the CD to MP3 format. There are no skipping or storage issues and if anything happens to the player the music will not be forever lost. I don't know about other MP3 players but my iPod organizes the music so the songs can be grouped together as if they were on the original CD. There are a lot of different ways the music can be organized and played. Not trying to put you or Peg on the spot here, just wondering.

The muffler clamps for the 1st gen seem to be in short supply. I had to cut two of them to get my collector out and the local dealer could only find one. Got a hose clamp on one but they have a tendency to work loose or strip. I'm wondering if the clamps for a 2nd gen will fit?

I got re-interested in the possibilities of a hybrid by a recent thread on V-Max forward controls for a 1st gen. I don't think they will work so that left the possibility of swapping cases. Just a long shot fantasy query. Thanks. When I have some time to actually attempt this modification I'll probably bring it up again in its own thread.

By 2nd gen transmission do you mean installed the 2nd gen gears into the 1st gen case or do you mean you bolted a 2nd gen transmission case with gears onto the 1st gen engine?

The only real problem that I see is the shift rotation appears to be different between the V-Max and the Venture. The V-Max rotates clockwise to shift up and the Venture rotates counter-clockwise to shift up. This may not be an unsolvable issue but will most likely make it somewhat more difficult to adapt a V-Max forward control to the Venture.

Dress up your old girl with a black leather bra. Add braided leather trim and a couple of silver conchos. I can see her now, wearing a top with no bottom. She would be hot-t-t but not reflective.

I found a '90 VR rotor with 43,000 miles on it at Pinwall for under $43 with free shipping to the US. After carefully considering all the input I decided that would be the best route to take. Thanks a bunch to all for the help. Special thanks to Peder_y2k who was easily coerced into acting as my delivery agent.

Here are my solutions to mounting my new GPS. First got the Snagglestuds. Ordered a combination setup with 1" SS round bar mount, 2x1" ball mounts, 1 short extension clamp and the roller clip in holder. The complete RAM setup from GPScity in Canada. The cost was $39.95 + $3.99 shipping within Canada. Worked out to be cheaper than the individual parts. Ordered the waterproof zip bag as well for about $13. It hasn't arrived yet but when it does I will most likely get another 1" RAM ball mount to replace the one that comes with it if it looks the least bit fragile. There is also the convenience factor of being able to mount both GPS holders to the same mount base. Was initially very interested in the X-mount holder but decided to go with the roller cradle type because I intend to make a sunshade/rain shelter from ABS that will be held on by the RAM ball mount to the cradle. Even got 2 sets of longer mount screws with the combination setup first mentioned. All in all, the many suggestions were a great help in kicking my brain into gear and coming up with an all weather solution to my GPS mounting project. Many thanks to all who contributed their thoughts and suggestions.

At this point I don't know what has caused the rotor to become loose. I have probably put only about 10,000 miles on the Venture since getting it four years ago, might be even longer than that. Anyway, have been mostly riding the Virago due to the unending list of things that have had to be fixed on the Venture. The washer on the axle is correctly positioned. I'll have a look at the parts fiche and check the caliper installation as I do not know what enables the caliper to float. Weelll, not racing but perhaps flying. Unlike with the Virago, the Venture does occasionally feel like it's approaching lift off when dealing with traffic on my way to work. Thanks Pete.

Pete, I never would have believed you could be such a big joker. Of course, you were responding to Condor so while it might be possible for him to stay out of the wet it's unthinkable that I limit my riding to just the summer months here on the North Wet Coast. Seriously though, I was about to take everyone's advice and go for the semi-floating rotor but a rusting rotor does not seem to be a very good choice for me. So is there something about the caliper that makes it float or should allow it float? Is there enough possible side movement in the swing arm to require this floating behaviour? The waffle is once again on the table.

The odometer is in Kilometres and only reads up to 99,999. It's reading 42,000 km + (26,000 mi) so the minimum distance would most likely be 142,000 km (88,000 mi) but from how the bike looks it could easily be 242,000 km (150,000 mi), perhaps even 342,000 km (212,000 mi).

Sage advice I'm sure. Well.... what if the solid one won't be subject to whatever it was that caused the first one to get loose at the rivets. Perhaps it is just my normal waffle maker decision process. Heck, I don't know!!!

The rotor used to be tight but now it is flopping about. The rivets have become loose for some reason. Not a clue why or what might be the cause of this happening.

Me too, but what if....??? What can I say, I can't seem to make a decision without fussing about it.

I was leaning towards the semi-floating one just because it looks like the one that came with the bike. Of course, I don't know why the original rotor decided to fall apart so there is still a question about whether perhaps the solid one might be a better choice. Am I making this decision more difficult than necessary?

I need to get a new rear rotor and have found two different EBC ones on eBay. One is described as semi-floating and the other as solid. They both have the same replacement part number and are the same price. The OEM rotor is the same as the floating rotor. The two rotors are made from different materials. [ame=http://www.ebay.com/itm/111021832181?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2648&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT]Solid Rotor[/ame] [ame=http://www.ebay.com/itm/330869215355?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT]Floating Rotor[/ame] Any thoughts/opinions on which one would be the better choice - whether it matters and perhaps why?

You are showing your age Peter. There was a time when I thought paying 30,000 plus for any vehicle was ridiculous. The economic reality is such that average vehicle prices range in conjunction with average income. Throughout the past few decades the majority of vehicles seem to be valued somewhere around the average yearly income. MC's always seemed to be significantly less than the cost of a four wheeler which would appear to make sense. In North America, MC's do not make up a significant portion of normal transportation and are commonly considered to be a sport or a leisure pastime. As such they can demand a higher value than would be common to something considered a necessity.

I have no solid knowledge about the rear braking system but I do believe there is supposed to be a floating component in there somewhere. I had thought the caliper was the part that did the floating, not the rotor. Perhaps there is a two part float system that included the caliper and the rotor. When I had the rear wheel off I checked the brake pads and the rear caliper parts did not look to me much different from the front calipers. Hopefully Peter is right and just replacing the rotor will fix the issue, however, if there is something in the caliper that is not floating properly then perhaps that is a reason for the rotor to have been wiggled back and forth enough to loosen the rivets. I think rotors are still available from EBC but I should pull the caliper and give it a good examination.

For the past week every time I got over 100 kph the speedo needle started jumping back and forth about 1/2". I surmised it may have been caused by the cable sticking so today I oiled it with motor oil. Took the bike out for a fast run and no more wobbling above 100 kph. This is not a scientifically arrived conclusion and has not been exhaustively tested so results may vary but it seems so far to be a reasonably accurate heads up that a little maintenance is required. Keeping in mind, that by the time the needle starts to jump there might already be more wear than is good for the cable. Just thought I would throw that observation out there for anyone that might find it helpful.

For pumps that don't have a Zip Code requirement, the Canadian chip cards work just fine. If I recall correctly during my Venture West week in Washington and Oregon, somewhere around 40% of the pumps required the zip to be entered so a small majority did not. Personally, I think the zip code thing was a failed attempt to make CC purchases more secure. With the advent of the chip CC the zip is not needed. Stations with old technology pumps will be stuck with the annoying zips until they upgrade the pumps which is not likely to happen any time soon. Oh yes, forgot to mention: Taking the three numbers out of the Canadian Postal Code and adding 2 zeros does not always produce a valid US zip. If the first zero, zero does not work then try zero, one or zero, two etc until there is acceptance.

Today while checking the air in the rear tire I noticed the outer part of the brake rotor was much looser than I had remembered it to be. It's the part of the rotor that is held on by what appear to be rivets. Mine is loose enough that it can be rocked back and forth by hand. This does not seem to be the way it should be. I'm thinking the rotor needs to be replaced but what could have caused it to become as loose as it is? Anyone ever encountered a situation like this before?

That doesn't seem to be a very difficult thing to accomplish, even for me. Thanks Randy.

I'm not sure if I have a good heat gun, it's 1500 watts with Hi and Lo. I think, but haven't used it for a while. Would Lo be the right temp so the plastic does not get deformed or worse, melted? When you separate it do you use a tool or just pull with your hands?