camos

Do you have any more information on gaining rake by re-welding the triple tree? I've been thinking of doing that to my Virago before adding 4" longer forks. Thought it was possible but have never heard of anyone doing it.

Generally speaking any equipment for a motor vehicle that has not gone through testing by the DOT is not approved and therefore may not be used on public highways. I believe headlights over 55/65 watts are not allowed on the road. Some of the LEO's on here could likely give a more accurate opinion. Regulations of the DOT kind, in fact most guvmint regulations are not often worth the powder it would take to blow them to hell. In this case, 55/65 watts assumes a light output limit that with new technology is no longer valid. HID at 35 watts put out waaaay more lumins/candlepower than halogen does at 55 watt. Another case in point, as we all know, an 1100 V-twin comes up seriously short in HP when compared to a 4 cylinder sport bike of the same displacement. Why then do insurance companies raise the rates relative to displacement rather than HP? Anyway, it is not very likely a vehicle will be stopped to verify whether any part of it is not DOT approved. On the other hand if your headlights were to blind a LEO, he might very well chase you down do a check of some sort. If an accident were determined to have been caused by a non DOT approved part then there would be some serious explaining to do.

Helmets are mandated here so I choose to wear a flip-up helmet when riding anything on 2 wheels, mostly because of the convenience and the sun visor. At work I ride a Jazz scooter, my flip-up and chaps. Get a few snide remarks about it from the peanut gallery but since its my skin and my brain bucket I get to make my choice. When tooling around in traffic it doesn't take much to take you down even at relatively slow speed. Approximately half of the cost of cigarettes is tax. If the guvmint used the tax revenue over and above GST, PST or HST for healthcare it would more than cover the extra cost of smoking to the system. People with lung cancer rarely last more than a year so the actual cost to the system is not nearly as bad as with many other unrelated afflictions. The sad thing is the guvmint has the power to rate tobacco products as dangerous goods and significantly control access but they do not seem to want to disrupt their cash cow. Non smokers are getting quite a tax benefit from the taxes charged to smokers so they should really be quite happy about the current situation. Excepting, of course if a loved one is succumbing to their addiction aided and abetted by the crass greed of guvmints. This could be another thread but what's the point... really... it is what it is and will never change.

The Sylvania - HID Hi/Lo comparison pix clearly indicate the HID is adjusted too high, significantly higher than the Sylvania. There is not much value in comparing glare or light patterns with a maladjusted headlight. Here is a simple method to set the headlight. The loading of the MC will significantly affect the aim so for general bopping about do the measurements with a normal load including driver. Going for a ride on a dark road is a good idea so you know where the beams should be. This would be particularly important on a bike like the Venture which has an adjustment knob that allows the headlight aim to be easily varied and not forgetting the dramatic load changes possible with the large storage areas at the rear.

Reminiscent of the recently posted video of Chinese drivers. They really are everywhere, bad drivers, that is.

Is this the one you mean? http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showpost.php?p=26527&postcount=1 Maybe not, it's older than a week.

Thats a good start, thanks. The progressive springs have more coils than the regular ones so the level may be a bit higher with the OEM ones. I suspect erring on the lesser level would be less of a problem than over filling, particularly with the air assist. Probably not much fun but when the oil needs to be changed the forks probably need to be pulled to do it properly. Some bikes have drain holes in the bottom, but my 96 Virago doesn't although the earlier models do. Haven't looked at the Venture forks yet. Thanks for the correction Gary.

When changing the oil, unless you know the forks have been completely emptied adding a certain volume, either 13.8 oz or 400 ml, it is still a crap shoot. Seems to me when changing the oil it would be a very good idea to also flush out the forks with some mineral spirits to get any sludge out and ensure the passages are clear. On my Virago the correct amount of oil is 7" down from the top without the spacer or the springs in the tube. Knowing the the actual level of the oil is also useful if for some reason it ever needs to be topped up. Has anyone measured the correct fork oil level in the Venture forks?

Do you remember the diameter of the original baffle? Is it possible these SS tubes could fit over the original baffle? That would anchor one end with the outside end being screwed or tacked. The exhaust would be forced out the perforations in the SS tube then into the stock tube. Might give enough baffling to not require fiberglass which will likely get blown out before too long anyway.

Here are two links with useful info for reading spark plugs: http://www.dansmc.com/Spark_Plugs/Spark_Plugs_catalog.html http://www.empirenet.com/pkelley2/sparkplugreading.html The first one is a bunch of pix that probably relate to the time when we used to run real gasoline in our engines. The second link is probably for plugs burning more recent fuel types. Hope you find them helpful.

The iPods and iTunes are exclusive to themselves.... purposely made that way by Apple of course. iTunes will not download music from an iPod either, just upload and delete. They do however work with the .mp3 format so the music can be stored and is accessible as files on your PC that can be uploaded to other sources. To get music off an iPod there is an inexpensive application available called Tune Transfer that is easy to use.

In this country at least, a line of credit and a mortgage or reverse mortgage are very different things. I recently got a significant line of credit to do some renovations on my house. The bank holding the mortgage on the house will give a line of credit up to about half of the current net value of the house. My house was almost paid off and to get this line of credit get a line of credit that was enough to do the reno and pay off the mortgage. Unlike a regular mortgage, the only payment required is the monthly interest be paid as it accrues. No payment on the principle is necessary although in the long term reducing the principle is a good idea. Any amount paid over the amount of interest is applied to the principle. It's a pretty sweet deal. Don't know much about reverse mortgages but the situation sqn finds himself in is certainly a serious pitfall that can happen if not enough research is done prior to getting into one. Good luck with getting your situation sorted out Steve.

10 gauge copper wire should do the trick.

You can find out about the Motorcycle Ride For Dad here: http://www.motorcycleridefordad.org/ Then there is the other prostate ride called Ride to Live on June 6, 2010. Find more information about it here: http://www.vanisland.ridetolive.ca

I was in the Ride For dad on Saturday too. After the Parade of Chrome most of us went on a poker run from Langford over the Malahat, through the backroads from Bamberton to Cowichan Bay, and Crofton almost to Chemainus then back to Cobble Hill for lunch. After lunch we went through Cobble Hill to Shawnigan Lake then back to Victoria. Great weather, lots of twisty roads and not too much traffic makes for a fun ride. Here are some pix of the bikes as they were lined up for the parade. There were only two Ventures that I saw. One really mint 89 Royale and a 2nd gen that unfortunately was hidden behind the two guys talking.

One often forgotten thing to do after draining the fork oil the very first time is to put a cup of mineral spirits in each fork, work it a bit then drain and fill. Old fork oil can block the little ports in the leg.

I guess no one is perfect. There seems to be some inconsistencies at the federal level too. In the article it mentions the reason for focusing on the criminal element rather than an ordinary illegal alien has to do with resource management. Since the Sheriff Department is not federally funded why do they care that Arpaio is focusing on all who enter the US illegally, after all it is a federal law he is enforcing. An unnoted inconsistency is the different focus in enforcement within the DHC between the Canadian border and the Mexican border re: the recent thread on strip searching a Canadian girl who was going to volunteer at an organic farm. Fact or fiction, people who get necessary things done in an efficient manner deserve to be lauded. Way-ta-go Joe!

Got this forwarded to me in an email and thought I'd share it with you all. He is the kind of guy we need more of. You all remember Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Arizona , who painted the jail cells pink and made the inmates wear pink prison garb. Well......... SHERIFF JOE IS AT IT AGAIN! Oh, there's MUCH more to know about Sheriff Joe! Maricopa County was spending approx. $18 million dollars a year on stray animals, like cats and dogs. Sheriff Joe offered to take the department over, and the County Supervisors said okay. The animal shelters are now all staffed and operated by prisoners. They feed and care for the strays. Every animal in his care is taken out and walked twice daily. He now has prisoners who are experts in animal nutrition and behavior. They give great classes for anyone who'd like to adopt an animal. He has literally taken stray dogs off the street, given them to the care of prisoners, and had them place in dog shows. The best part? His budget for the entire department is now under $3 million. Teresa and I adopted a Weinaramer from a Maricopa County shelter two years ago. He was neutered and current on all shots, in great health, and even had a microchip inserted the day we got him... Cost us $78. The prisoners get the benefit of about $0.28 an hour for working, but most would work for free, just to be out of their cells for the day. Most of his budget is for utilities, building maintenance, etc. He pays the prisoners out of the fees collected for adopted animals. I have long wondered when the rest of the country would take a look at the way he runs the jail system and copy some of his ideas.. He has a huge farm, donated to the county years ago, where inmates can work, and they grow most of their own fresh vegetables and food, doing all the work and harvesting by hand. He has a pretty good sized hog farm, which provides meat and fertilizer. It fertilizes the Christmas tree nursery, where prisoners work, and you can buy a living Christmas tree for $6 - $8 for the holidays and plant it later. We have six trees in our yard from the prison. Yup, he was re-elected last year with 83% of the vote. Now he's in trouble with the ACLU again. He painted all his buses and vehicles with a mural that has a special hotline phone number painted on it, where you can call and report suspected illegal aliens. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement wasn't doing enough in his eyes, so he had 40 deputies trained specifically for enforcing immigration laws, started up his hotline, and bought 4 new buses just for hauling folks back to the border. He's kind of a 'Git-R Dun' kind of Sheriff. TO THOSE OF YOU NOT FAMILIAR WITH JOE ARPAIO.. HE IS THE MARICOPA ARIZONA COUNTY SHERIFF AND HE KEEPS GETTING ELECTED OVER AND OVER. THIS IS ONE OF THE REASONS WHY: Sheriff Joe Arpaio (in Arizona ) who created the 'Tent City Jail': **He has jail meals down to 40 cents a serving and charges the inmates for them. **He stopped smoking and porno magazines in the jails. **Took away their weights. **Cut off all but 'G' movies. **He started chain gangs so the inmates could do free work on county and city projects. **Then he started chain gangs for women so he wouldn't get sued for discrimination. **He took away cable TV until he found out there was a federal court order that required cable TV for jails, so he hooked up the cable TV again.....BUT only let in the Disney channel and the Weather channel. **When asked why the weather channel, he replied, "So they will know how hot it's gonna be while they are working on my chain gangs." **He cut off coffee since it has zero nutritional value. **When the inmates complained, he told them, "This isn't The Ritz/Carlton...... If you don't like it, don't come back." More On The Arizona Sheriff: With temperatures being even hotter than usual in Phoenix (116 degrees just set a new record), the Associated Press reports: About 2,000 inmates living in a barbed-wire-surrounded tent encampment at the Maricopa County jail have been given permission to strip down to their government-issued pink boxer shorts. On Wednesday, hundreds of men wearing boxers were either curled up on their bunk beds or chatted in the tents, which reached 138 degrees inside the week before. Many were also swathed in wet, pink towels as sweat collected on their chests and dripped down to their PINK SOCKS. "It feels like we are in a furnace," said James Zanzot, an inmate who has lived in the TENTS for 1 year. "It's inhumane." Joe Arpaio, the tough-guy sheriff who created the tent city and long ago started making his prisoners wear pink and eat bologna sandwiches, is not one bit sympathetic. He said Wednesday that he told all of the inmates, "It's 120 degrees in Iraq and our soldiers are living in tents too, and they have to wear full battle gear, but they didn't commit any crimes, so shut your mouths!" Way to go, Sheriff! Maybe if all prisons were like this one there would be a lot less crime and/or repeat offenders. Criminals should be punished for their crimes - not live in luxury until it's time for their parole, only to go out and commit another crime so they can get back in to live on taxpayers' money and enjoy things taxpayers can't afford to have for themselves.

That's an interesting comment. While indeed stating the obvious, nowhere did the statement by az1103 tell anyone how to live their lives. It is really about how he chooses to live his life and leaves everyone to draw their own conclusion about the wisdom of their actions. As for me, ATGATT is a rule not to be broken on the street. I have a pair of leather chaps that can go over whatever I am wearing at the time in a minute or so. It's the boots that take the most time to put on but since I like walking without pins and screws they get put on every time. A loose mesh jacket works great in any weather and will help prevent having an arm that looks like hamburger to wrap around my lovely lady. Light weight padded leather gauntlets aren't a problem in hot weather and will hopefully keep my hands so they can gently hold my ladies face when I kiss her lovely lips. Wearing a helmet is the law here there so there is no option but then I do like having lips to partake of the previously mentioned pleasure. ATGATT is all about me which does make me appear very self centred. Oh well, perhaps in my next life I will be less imperfect.

I managed to get May 15 off so I'll be attending The Motorcycle Ride for Dad in Victoria again. Anyone else going, besides Sailor and me? Suggestions on how we can meet up in the crowd?

I've been pondering what to do about the handlebar position as well. Spent a few hours moving the various parts around and found no perfect position, for me, was available without a modification. The most comfortable was achieved by swivelling the lower pieces slightly forward and the upper pieces down as far as they could go. I think a reasonable good position could be achieved by removing the small stopper tit so the upper pieces can be turned down a notch or two. In making these adjustment there are issues with the handlebars bumping the mirrors at full lock and also the issue of contacting the main cover. Rotating the lower pieces forward made them stand up higher which helped with clearance. Adding a two inch riser to lift the lower pieces up would likely be a good start. Here is a link to a Venture chopper build you might find interesting. Risers were added to the stock handlebar setup here as well as manipulating the upper and lower handlebar pieces. The stock position of the handlebars on my Virago had the same wrist cramping affect as the Venture does. After pulling the triple tree for some maintenance I discovered by accident that rotating the bars back and down gave a very comfortable position that is not at 90 degrees to the front wheel. You might be able to see what I am talking about here with the Virago. This position is what I was trying to achieve with the Venture.

Past halfway on the side stand is normal. The oil needs to be checked while on the centre stand on a level surface. If the top of the oil level can still be seen in the sight glass there is not too much oil to run the engine. If the level is above the top of the site glass AND smells of gas then change the oil otherwise it is not necessary. It's possible but unlikely to have a bent shift fork. To my knowledge the usual cause of a bent fork is kicking the shifter when it gets difficult to shift. This difficulty is most often caused by a dirty and/or dry outside shift linkage. A cleaning with WD40 followed by a shot of clean engine oil or grease will fix that before hard shifting or damage occurs. It's normal not to be able to shift past second without the engine running or without the bike moving. It should easily shift down into first or up into second though. Sometimes neutral can be a little difficult to find without letting the clutch out a bit first to give it a bit of a jolt. The engine should be able to be started with the side stand up and the clutch pulled in. With the clutch pulled in the bike should be able to be moved even when it is in gear. Possibly the clutch is not properly disengaging.

When you say the oil is full do you mean over full as in more than half way up the sight glass? If it is that full the pistons could indeed be locking up. Open the oil filler cap and see if there is a gassy smell. It is not unusual to have a float stick and let fuel dribble down the pistons into the oil pan. If that is the case, sit the bike on the centre stand and tap the float bowl to see if that will free the float. Drain the oil, change the filtre and put fresh in no higher than 3/4 up the sight glass or less.

The bend in the hose from the bleeder valve to the waste container must be above the bleeder valve before going down to the container. This will leave brake fluid sitting right at the valve and will prevent air from getting sucked back into the system. If the hose does not have this fluid lock, bleeding the brakes will take close to forever.

Thanks for the schematic Gary. Is the headlight fuse and the start switch already in the circuit or does some rewiring have to be done to get it that way? Also would not running the main light feed through the start switch somewhat choke the feed to the relay? What I have been leaning towards doing is to add two relays, one each for hi and lo beams. Tapping in to the hi/lo beam wires near the headlight to power the relays should, I think/hope, address the warnings while bypassing the skinny stock wiring through the CMU for the headlight. If the relays do not have enough resistance to cancel the warning some resistors could be added to help out. This method should still allow the lights to be turned off by the stock start switch while supplying power for hi/lo directly from the battery. I have yet to investigate the reserve lighting and do not even know what that is, other than the obvious, or how it works.