camos

Going on the strip LED theme, I bought four 20 inch strips off ebay and have installed one strip on the inside of my headlight. This could work the same on an MKI or MKII, but years ago I installed the MKII headlight assembly in my 83. I got the badge double sided tape from an auto paint store and the guy said it was good to a pretty high temp. I will see how well it works inside the headlight lens. How difficult is it to get the lens off?

Are you referring to the case mount that I mentioned first?

Went to RAM and according to the wizard these parts are what I need to mount it. The cradle holder: http://www.rammount.com/CatalogResults/PartDetails/tabid/63/partid/082065077045072079076045071065053055085/Default.aspx The mount: http://www.rammount.com/CatalogResults/PartDetails/tabid/63/partid/082065077045066045049055052085/Default.aspx Pretty sure I saw a simpler ball mount somewhere. Their site sure doesn't make it easy to find what you want. Think I'll look on eBay next.

I like durable better than cheap. The way the Garmin suction mount connects to the back of the GPS also looks like a weak point. How does the RAM system attach? I'm only familiar with the ball part of it but not with how the GPS is actually held. Coming back from The Dalles there were a few bikes at the hotel we were staying at that had mounts that clamped around the ends of the GPS. Looked solid but couldn't identify the manufacturer. Didn't look like the mount was waterproof either. More research seems to be required. Thanks for the advice guys. I'm sure my GPS will thank you as well.

I just ordered a SnaggleSTUD for my newly acquired Garmin 2598 and now need to get a mount to for it. Has anyone tried one of these "waterproof" GPS mounts? They are relatively inexpensive and come with a handlebar clamp. http://www.aliexpress.com/item/GPS-SAT-NAV-Waterproof-Case-Mount-Holder-for-ATVs-Garmin-nuvi-2595LMT-2555LMT-2555LT-Black/1394973048.html

I get mine from the Yamaha dealer. They are not very expensive so it is not worth the trouble for me to get them online and have to deal with cross-border shipping which always seems to be a soaker.

Yes. The wires don't need to be cut. Once the cover is off the grommet will lift out of its slot and the wires can be worked through the holes so they can be cleaned. Put RTV on the wires and pull a bit past where they originally were. Add more RTV and slide them back to original position. Put a dab of RTV around the slot before putting the grommet back in and some more on the outside edge to seal to the cover. This method worked for me when I replaced a stator that did not come with a grommet.

I used Yamaha OEM gaskets for the 2Gen. There is no indication of any oil coming from those valve cover gaskets.

Oil supply tubing lines, not sure what you are referring to and the same for the breather cover. Is that the Twinkie thingy between the cylinders?

Thanks guys. As mentioned earlier, part of the maintenance I did just before this issue arose was to adjust the valves. Replaced the cover gaskets and the rubbers at that time. The valve covers were the first place I checked when I found the oil leak. When I got to work this morning it really looked like the oil was coming from the Twinkie area. Although I will have another look at it when I get to work again in the morning.

Rode the VR to work today. Oil was visibly leaking on both sides of the engine in the middle between the cylinders so it seems fairly certain the leak is coming from the Twinkie. That's where the crankcase is vented isn't it? Perhaps the reason there is no leak at lower RPMS is due to only a partial blockage of the vent to the air box. No oil made its way into the air box. Does this make sense? In any event I stopped off at Yamaha and ordered a new o-ring for it. Is there anything in particular that I might need to know to R-n-R the Twinkie?

After doing a bunch of repairs over the past few months, close to 12, I took the bike out for a spin today. Ran OK-ish considering how long it was laid up. Unfortunately, when I parked in the driveway it appeared someone had traded my Venture for a Harley when I wasn't looking. Couple of good sized drops of oil splattered down by the kick stand. A closer look revealed the whole engine was covered in oil with a little puddle right next to the twinkie. Cleaned it all up then ran the engine on the centre stand for 15 min at 3000 RPM. Not a drop showed up anywhere. My maintenance included changing the stator and setting the valves, both of which could result in a leak. Paid close attention to both those areas. Also looked in the air filtre to see if there was an overabundance of oil but there was next to none. It's a mystery. Will be riding the Venture to work tomorrow so will see what happens then. Anyone have a guess, I'll even accept first hand knowledge , as to how a significant amount of oil could leak out when the bike is running on the road but not when running in the driveway?

As with everything on these old bike "it depends". On mine the collector was relatively easy to get off. The bolts for the rear exhaust clamps were quite rusty but were not that difficult to access and did come out without much trouble. Getting the right side muffler off was somewhat evil though the left side one was easy enough. To drop the muffler there is a bolt that is accessed through the passenger floor board. The proper bolt to remove for this has a sort of mushroom shaped head with a smaller hex head. The left one had that bolt however the right one had been replaced with a "normal" cap screw type bolt with a larger head which did not leave enough room for the socket to fit through the hole in the floor board. I had to remove the floor board to get at the bolt. One of the floor board bolts was seized and had to be drilled out. If that scenario had not happened I would say it is not such a difficult job to get them off. My collector had both rear muffler pipe stubs rusted almost off. Took the collector to a muffler shop and had two new pipe stubs welded on. Gave the guy an exhaust gasket to use for sizing the pipe. I will be re-installing the collector this weekend so will find out if the new stubs were welded on in the right direction. Fingers crossed.

I have laid my bike down three times on purpose and zero times by accident. What I found was, to keep it level, the front engine guard needs to be shimmed up by a 2X4 or two to match the saddlebag guards. I don't recall having any issue with the fairing plastic being even close to contacting the ground. Remember, this is not dropping it but laying it down which are two very different scenarios. I don't think it is a particularly good idea to lay it down on a grassy surface which might not support the weight being applied to the engine guard contact point. When in the process of laying it down in my shop, I was able to slide a 2X4 under the guard with my foot. Not so sure that would have been as easy on grass.

Perpendicularity huh? I love it even more than functionality!!! Unless I'm misunderstanding you, getting the perpendicular and horizontal alignment of the bike frame and drive wheel exactly in line with to the front end steering and suspension is absolutely critical for proper handling. However, probably no more so than it would be for a rear wheeled trike configuration. Building an alignment jig of some sort would seem to me to be the only way to be certain of getting the two sections pointing in the same direction. Don't think it would be all that difficult to extend the rear wheel positions out to the side for final alignment tweaking of the front. Yes, I've seen a T-Rex in person. Very cool looking vehicle. There is also a sporty little 3 wheel car using a Porche front end and engine that may make it into production in Vancouver B.C. Those ones all use car engines though. What I have not been able to find is any home built front end trikes never mind a front end trike kit. After reading a few threads on how tiring it is to steer rear end trikes I'm pretty sure I don't want one even if they do look very cool.

The steering and suspension from a car are already DOT approved and have the camber and caster adjustments and shocks built in. Should be able to get a rear ender donor vehicle that's been written off from a wrecking yard for less than the cost of one of those trike rear ends that have been mentioned in this thread. Around here, there is no way a trike with parts from an ATV would be allowed to be registered for road use. Yes cowpuc it would be an interesting build. Since no one seems to have done it, I'm wondering what I'm missing.

I wasn't thinking about making it like a quad or trying to re-invent anything. Keep the steering and suspension OEM and replace any structural body parts with a frame to support them and attach to the MC. Like a V or a wide U coming down from the steering head to the front end with a couple of frame pieces coming back on either side of the MC engine frame to about where the swingarm is located. Kind of like the running boards on a standard rear trike. Think of the days when vehicles had frames that the body was attached to. Since most vehicles these days do not have a frame it may not be so straight forward. Issues regarding trail would not be relevant since the handlebars would not be trying to steer the whole front end. The handlebars could operate a rack and pinion steering using a push-pull cable or two pull-pull cables. Here is a link to an open source vehicle concept that may or may not ever get into production but might provide somewhat of a picture of what I am trying to describe. This thing will probably never be able to be licensed which is why it is beneficial to start with parts that work together are already DOT approved.

Yes, I have seen a few of those VW hybrids. Most of them, although very practical, were a little too funky for me and the wrong configuration. About 40 years ago I had an opportunity to take a few rides on a bicycle trike and found it to be extremely unstable in the corners. Then there was the ATC which, quite rightly I think, was banned for being too dangerous. I haven't driven my car in 6 years and I'm not ready to give up on 2 wheels yet but at some point it will be inevitable. The Spyder is great but unfortunately will never be in my budget. Seems to me attaching the front end of a car to a bike would be less difficult and better than doing the same with the rear end. Sent from La-La Land North..... hahahahahaha.

Recently I have been having thoughts on the practicality of getting the front end from a small rear wheel drive car like a Miata or a Smart Car (I think they are rear wheel drive) and attaching it to the steering head of a Venture Royal or more likely a Goldwing since they do have the reverse option. Keeping the fairing and windshield as original would mean no messing with electronics and would not require a great deal of front end body work or messing with the drive train. What do you think?

I just picked up a few bottles from NAPA for $8.88 each. While there inquired about getting it by the gallon. They didn't have it in stock and the price was $90 per.

Mmmmm... That just means that they are already crooked, have the law on their side and are a monopoly to boot. Not a highly recommended situation.

How about the Venture West at The Dalles OR June 19-21? http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showpost.php?p=788805&postcount=1 There will be a bunch of Canadians going, possibly even one or two from Saskabush.

I did that once with one of the studs holding the carbs onto the manifold of my Jeep only went one or two better. Broke the extractor off in the manifold then broke a carbide and diamond drill bit trying to get the extractor out. Each broken tool being harder than the previous one. The solution turned out to be using a nibbler which is essentially an electric arc cutting torch. And, no I did not do that part myself after getting in well over my head on my own decided to seek 'professional' help.

Looks like I may have killed this thread. Oh well.... So I still don't know what Venturous was saying about using Vise-Grips. My last post was after I had disassembled the drive shaft and pumpkin and I could not see any splines that could be gripped. It is a moot point anyway since today I put the drive shaft etc. together, actually did it three times just to be sure, and each time took about ten seconds. It was like magic. The first time I put it together dry just to see how it would go. The second time I put it together after greasing the universal joint spline end with Moly 60. The third time I put it together because I had removed it again cuz I could not believe it had been so easy. Talk about a non-adVenture!!! I'm reasonably sure luck was on my side due to the universal joint having fallen to about the 5 o'clock position which made it relatively easy to get the spline started into the coupling. Of course, that is just a guess on my part.

There is probably an approximate stock position for each bike that is set at the factory or when the dealer puts it together. My preference is to have the hands well below the shoulder with my forearms almost parallel to the ground. Not stretched out at all. I want to be able to turn lock to lock without having to significantly move my body. Keeping the hands well below the shoulder seems to aid in keeping the blood flowing which likely prevents numbness in the hands. When adjusting the bars it was suggested to me to sit in the saddle with eyes closed in the position you would like to sit, remember it's for hours and hours and hours, then put my hands out in a comfortable position and that is where the bars should be set. Since most bikes seem to be designed around Asian sized people, there will most likely be a requirement for some customization to get it right. The issue I have had with the handlebar position is not so much about the height as with the angle of the grips. Both my Virago and and my VR had the same problem with kinked wrists that made any long ride quite uncomfortable. On the Virago rotating the bars down put the grips almost vertical which allowed my wrists to be straight. It was necessary to put taller risers on in order to get enough clearance with the tank when doing tight turns. I tried adjusting the bars on the VR down but they hit the stop pins before they got to a comfortable position. Other than filing the pin off to allow more rotation, it looks like it will be necessary to fabricate some risers in order to get the angles right for me.