Great White

It's important to do a "pre-flight wallkaround" when anyone besides yourself has had hands on your machine. I've caught all sorts of things by doing so. Missing oil caps, rad caps, low fluid levels, etc. Trust, but verify.

As mentioned above. How was it stored? If it was outside or in an area of high humidity, or it wasn't properly preserved, you might have to deal with rusty cylinder bores. If it at least turns over, you're probably good.

I'll agree with older and not immortal......

Both the people in the Audi and the riders on the bikes were idiots. Complete and utter idiots. I could care less if they had killed themselves, that's just natural selection strengthening the gene pool. But they were risking evryone else's lives on that public road. Idiots. Why is it there seems to be idiots everywhere these days?

No worries on the cruise control. My 83 is getting venturecruise and CLASS from an 86 royale this winter. I wasn't really looking for how the RSV handles, just how the gearing felt, but I'm sure some one will read your mini review and benefit from it.

I use a g1wc in the truck. Great little unit. True 1080 hd video for about 50 bucks. not suitable for the bike as it's not water tight in any way. no idea on the one you're asking about, don't have one.

If you ever make it up Halifax, Nova Scotia, you would probably enjoy taking a tour of the HMCS Sackville. Last of the WWII Corvettes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMCS_Sackville_%28K181%29 Those things had to have been crewed by men of pure iron....

It's different for everyone. It's all part of the flight, flight or freeze response. It's innate and automatic to everyone. It's a coping mechanism. I remember pretty much every little detail of every bump or scrape in every dump (or stupid move) that's turned a motorcycle into a wad of crumpled metal on me. I'm one of those fortunate (?) individuals that time goes into instant slow mode in an accident (I'm the "fight" response type). I have ample time to reflect on how much it's going to suck when it's all done and the general meaning of life as I "slow mo" soar though the air.......suddenly motorcycle-less. Usually, I've figured out what went wrong (or what I did wrong) just before I hit the ground. Oh yeah, and also a full appreciation of how much this is going to suck.....

Already ordered and received a complete 2002 RSV gearbox. Sitting on the bench right now. VMax final drive is on. It's way....

No worries, I'm an old hand at setting up gears. Yammy only calls for a shim calculation but I'll probably do the gear blue test to make sure. I'll have all winter after all. The rear drive I'll just strip down and refinish. It's easy enough and even if no one else sees it, I'll know it's there! the gears showed up today. Looks darned near factory fresh. Barely even a hint of contact of the gear faces and not a lick on the shift drum or shift forks.

We don't talk like that. Accent yes, but not like that. You're thinking about Newfoundland....or, maybe, Cape Breton.

Meh, spell check got me....and Canadians are not "Brits". Not by a long shot.

Sounds like battery is junk....

If I hit the wear bars on any tire, its gone. 2 or 4 wheel vehicles. Wear bars = Gone. Its not worth trying to milk a few more miles out of them. Winter and/or hydroplaning will drive that lesson home PDQ!

You can also live just fine without a gall bladder. I do. The gall bladder produces and stores bile. So does your liver. If you loos the gall bladder, you still have bile production, just not as much. Some get sensative stomaches as a result, some don't. Fats and things like skins sometimes cause gastric distress. I'm lucky in that it made absolutely no difference in my diet. Everything I could eat before i can now. This is not the case for everyone though. I have a cast iron stomach. Gall bladder is also not to be dismissed as "not serious". I was about an hour of two from death when mine went. It wasn't the gall bladder itself but when it passed a stone it inflammed the entire areas right down to the duodenum. This closed of fmy pancreas and my liver so they couldn't dump their toxins and I was going septic. Doc figured if I had been and hour or two later I would have been in complete septic shock and might not have recovered. I could hardly breath when I got there (everything pushing up on diaphragm) and was in unbelievable pain. Funny thing was; he asked me how I got to the hospital. I told him I was laying subfloor in the house and just couldn't take it anymore and I drove myself. He was in shock that I could even move let alone drive and didn't believe me. I handed him my keys, told him which car was mine in the parking lot and he came back saying I must be one tough SOB.....then he shot me with morphine and I don't remember anything else until the next morning! here's what I ended up with after the surgery. DO NOT CLICK ON THE LINK IF YOU DON"T LIKE GRAPHIC IMAGES OR CAN'T HANDLE WHAT MAY HAPPEN TO YOU! IT IS THE NON LAPROSCOPIC PROCEDURE AFTER EFFECTS! THEY PUT ME BACK TOGETHER WITH STAPLES! http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e235/gr8twhite/lockeddownalbum/Picture-006.jpg

Not sure on the percentage, I would guesstimate higher. But quite correct on all points.

Maybe this will help: http://tech.bareasschoppers.com/wp-content/image_gallery/resources/tires/cutaway.jpg That a steel belted radial, but the principle is the same. A bias ply just has a few more fabric belts running at different angles. As you can see, once you're through the tread surface, there's very little between the sealing surface in side and the road. The belts and rubber they are imbedded in are not designed to survive contact with the road surface like the outer tread. Tire failure will happen fairly rapidly once into the carcass. As mentioned, 1/8" tread is taking your chances. Unless it was measured with a tire depth guage its hard to tell exactly how much tread is left. But, something to consider: tire manufacturers put the wear bars at 1/16". That's where you start to see them. Car tires are the same except they usually state it as 2/32", since tread depth is measured in 32nds. Its not the "dual compound" I'm talking about, it the difference in carcass and tread compounds I'm referring to. Here's a snippet from a website/blog that might make it a little clearer:

Front brakes do then lions share on vehicles (2, 3, 4 wheels and more) due to weight transfer from rear to front with brake application. Its why the front end dives under braking. Even if you just use the rear brake, you still get the weight transfer effect, the bike just squats more because the rear brake is used. The weight transfer effect also makes rear wheel lockup far more likely unless the rear brake is modulated properly. Also why proportioning valves are used in cars and trucks.

Proper use of the brakes on a motorcycle involves using both front and rear brakes. Thats why they can up with the "linked braking" concept in the first place. Problem is, most guys just mash the rear brake. It needs to be modulated while the front brakes are also applied. Thing is, the average rider doesn't have these skills. It takes instruction and then practic (and lots of it). You would think something a simple as braking would be something that would be easy, but its actually a very advanced skill on a vehicle with separate front and rear systems and it takes a deft touch. Again, why they came up with "linked braking" in the first place. Same reasoning for abs on 4 wheeled vehicles. Too many scoocer moms driving cattle haulers and not enough actual drivers out there....

One of the things I usually do for my bikes is get larger diameter grips. I don't have arthritis yet, but my hands do hurt if I'm holding skinny grips too long. Arthritis runs in my family and no doubt its waiting for me, probably when my hands hurt on skinny grips. I drop into the local shop and order a set up. I tell the guy I don't want open cell foam and just plain end caps. He shows me a nice set of rawhide covered grips in the catalog. Looks OK, black leather, chrome ends. He tries to order 1" grips for a Harley and I tell him mine are 7/8". We have little back and forth about "even jap bikes are 1 inch bars now". I finally get him to realize I'm not on a newer jap v twin and its an 83 v4 Yamaha. He clues in and orders the 7/8 grips. I have to pay up front since they don't carry it normally. No big. A week later I pick them up. I can't find my receipt but the same guy is on the counter and just hands them to me. About 4-5 days go by and I head out to the garage to put my new grips on. I pull them out of the package and they've got a big screaming eagle and vtwin written on them! http://i1174.photobucket.com/albums/r618/justonepict/984EAED6-7A6A-474C-A037-B3A60250F30F_zpsyshyeifg.jpg This just won't do on my v4! I drive up to the shop and the same guy is behind the counter. I show him the grips and he says he can't do anything without the receipt and there will be a restocking fee even if I had the receipt. What?!?! I point out that he gave me the grips without the reciept but he won't budge. I'm pissed. I scoop up the grips and walk out. No worries, I'll be talking with the owner on the weekend about his customer service policies when we go for a ride together. I get back home and instead of tearing the house apart I figure I'm just going to modify those bloody grips. I fire up the lathe and start spinning some aluminum: http://i1174.photobucket.com/albums/r618/justonepict/E3591797-E81F-48C2-A15A-BA1C70272240_zps4wzgn8wy.jpg I never need much excuse to start making chips! After a bit of work, I've got a nice aluminum end cap made: http://i1174.photobucket.com/albums/r618/justonepict/B8BC6C4B-EC68-4458-9297-EFA3A4C44077_zpsrtpylge2.jpg I had to make a recess to bury that damned v twin logo since its recessed into the end but raised in the middle; http://i1174.photobucket.com/albums/r618/justonepict/44EFE55D-F1DE-4B80-B29A-976E4E7AC04A_zpsnizccysy.jpg Fits nicely, looks pretty good: http://i1174.photobucket.com/albums/r618/justonepict/01537E51-5B48-466F-A1F0-457A2DDD27E4_zpsdbl2gndi.jpg I like that it makes the grips look nice and long again as these grips ar a touch shorter than the OEM grips. They have plenty of space for big hands, just visually a little shorter than the stockers. I figure I'll just epoxy it on the end after I polish it up and give it a coat of clear. I had considered just making it flat and machining "V4" in the end. I'm not sure which way I will go as the final form: stepped "tits" or flat with v4 etched in it. Either way, better than a Harley screaming eagle and v twin on there and counter boy can go "suck it"!

Had mine out years ago. If they do it Laparoscopic, no worries. In and out no troubles. If they have to convert to conventional, it sucks. No thte surgery, but the recovery. They had to convert in the middle on me and I woke up expecting a couple small cuts around the belly button and ended up what damned near felt like cut in half. took months to recover and then months of physio. Best wishes that it goes well for you.

Dunno what to tell ya. My 83 stays where I set it. Doesn't move until I move it....

I've only seen that type of wear pattern in two conditions: 1. lockup 2. burn out completions I've seen similar conditions in aircraft tires and hydroplaning, but that's waaaay above speeds we'd be dealing with here. Not saying that's what happened here. Just that I've never seen that type of wear during "normal" use in 35 odd years around vehicles. Something to consider: once you're through the wearing surface of a tire and into the carcass, it's going to fail in pretty short order. The carcass is not designed for road surface wearing conditions so it burns through fast.

Way too early to think about riding again. Too early to think about bikes, trikes and what not also. Now is the time for healing, especially with a head injury. I'm fighting off a concussion myself right now. It sucks and I hate all this down time, but ya just gotta let it heal.

I've had thoughts of building adjustable lovers for the openings. A bit like the 85-ish and up lovers, but behind the opening instead of in/in front of it. An open all the way type of thing instead of just the small adjustable opening on the OEM version. Mostly because I have also noticed a tendency for my calves to roast sitting still in hot weather.....