jcdas

Get some clear Plastex and you can repair your old one. I've used it to repair all the fairing tabs that start to brake with age. http://www.plastex.net/

Hi folks. I added an LED brake light to my 86 VR. But it isn't a bright as I hoped for. When I check the voltage at the brake light, it's abut 10.5V with the brakes applied. I've checked all the fuses, and everything seems OK. The grounds seem OK. Traced the ground wire from the battery to the main ground behind the throttle cable junction box. No loose connections or corrosion. I checked the connectors under the seat, and at the instrument panel. All seems OK. Anyone else experience this? Can someone verify what their brake light voltage is? In a related manner, my front hand brake switch has 4 wires. One pair of the contacts has had some heat damage. I've cleaned everything up for now, but I should replace it. I ordered one from my Yamaha dealer, but the replacement has only 1 pair of wires. Probably not a Royale version with cruise control. Anyone have a spare for sale? Anyone know the correct Yamaha part number ? The right side switch for the brakes seems to be different from the left side for the clutch, as the brakes didn't work when I tried to swap switches.

Check out buckeye performance. Better price. VentureRider discount. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

One other thing to check when buying tires is the load rating of the tires. From the Dunlop tire web site, the weight ratings for my size of tires is 760 lbs Front, 930 lbs rear, total = 1690 lbs for E3s. For the D404s it's 639 front, 761 rear, total 1400 lbs. So the E3s have a 290 lbs increase in gross vehicle weight rating (assuming appropriate front/rear weight distribution). Another way to look at it... My Yamaha Owners manual says that my bike weighs 783 wet lbs, + 386 lbs max load (rider, passenger, luggage) = 1169 lbs. My guess is that was the total weight rating of the original tires back in 1986. I'd guess that I weigh about 200 lbs dressed with riding jacket, boots, helmet etc. That would leave only 186 lbs for everything else. If I have 50 lbs of luggage in the bags and trunk, I'd have only 136 lbs for my wife. Jennie's not telling me what she weighs, but she was worried about that max load number. But with the increased capacity of the E3's I think we're OK. So if you or your spouse are carrying a bit more weight these days, I'd be checking the Gross Vehicle Weight Rating of your bike and it's tires. Don't go with cheep tires that happen to fit your bike's wheels. If you ride with a full load, or tow a trailer, get tires with increased load ratings.

I bought my rear Dunlop K491 Elite II in July 2005 for my '86VR. It currently has about 37,000 KM or 23,500 miles on it. The tire still has about 50% tread left! It has worn perfectly smoothly. No cupping. No dry checking on the sidewalls. Road tread is still soft, not rock hard. Still handles beautifully straight line, or pushed hard in the curves. When I had to replace the front one, I couldn't get another Elite II for the front, so it has an E3. No problems in handling with the mixed Elites. The bike is always stored indoors out of the sun. In a warm garage during our Canadian winters. My average speeds are probably 100KM/h or 60M/h. Sometimes at 115M/h or 70M/h. The tires are always set at 40PSI. Most of my riding is 1up. Sometimes 2up with luggage for long trips. I'm sure someone is going to tell me that I should be replacing my tire due to age, but I'm not riding enough, far enough (no cross country trips planned), and avoid hot rides (don't like riding without a riding jacket)... Now that I'm retired, I'll see how much I ride. If I do start to ride more/farther/hotter weather, then I'll probably buy a new tire. One problem I'm finding is that motorcycle dealers are closing down. If I do have to buy a tire, I probably have to bring the wheel to a HD dealer to get it installed and balanced. My local Yamaha dealer (Mitchell's in Wyoming ON) has just closed down. All to say that I STRONGLY recommend the Dunlop Elite series of tires. Nothing better in my opinion.

Sorry to hear of your loss Abdul. May God give you comfort during this period of sorrow. John.

Thanks Carl. I glued mine back together. All I really need is 1 or two of the venetian slats. I'm missing one. One is missing the pin that goes into the adjusting bar. So far nothing messing up with my May 28 weekend. I might be able to visit this year.

Hi folks. I'm looking for a used air control grill that goes into the left side plastic engine cover for my 86 Venture Royale. Should be the same for 86-93 I think. Not sure when it happened, but I discovered it was all cracked up inside. Some of the flaps are missing, and some are broken. Even a damaged one will do. Maybe I can make one out of two with some Plastex. I checked on Ebay, and didn't see one at the moment.

I presume that the new Eureka tents are high quality. I have a Eureka Timberline 2 person tent that I've had since 1976. Stayed nice and dry through some torential rains. It's been strapped on my bikes for trips all over the country, including this shot from the Canadian Rockies, on my bike honeymoon trip coast to coast in 6 weeks, and 17,000 KM.

Oh that looks ugly!!! Take it easy. Let it heal. I dislocated my shoulder when I was younger, and didn't let it rest like the doctors told me. After several other episodes, I had to get it fixed with surgery. Much better to let the ligaments and tendons rest and maybe there won't be any permanent damage. God Bless Carl.

Hi Jack. Got mine in the mail today up in Canada. That was fast! Canada Post didn't even charge me for any taxes. Surprise, Surprise, Surprise. Mine was just slightly tight. Wouldn't just drop in, but after loosening the axle nut and pinch bolts, it tapped in real easy. Once it was straight and true, it dropped right in. I'd say it was a PERFECT FIT. The whole point is that it has to mount securely to the fork sliders, an not just via the bolts. Looks Great. Expectations Exceeded. Unfortunately, I can't go for a ride tonight as I'm waiting for gaskets for my left side covers and my "oil leak turned to starter problem". Oh well. Hopefully I'll have a nice ride on the weekend. Thanks again for pulling this together. I am wondering about a group buy for progressive springs and seal kits.... John.

Not sure why heat might really bother the starter. (not saying it doesn't). I'd maybe be convinced if it was a permanent magnet motor like on some newer cars, but it's a series wound starter, so hot or cold, it should create the same magnetic force I would think. That being said, the newer 4 pole starters do seem to cure the problem as well. John.

If you still need one, I have my old ones from when I replaced mine with braided SS as well. You'd need to tell me which one, and how long, as there are several pieces. I think it's a real short one to the solid tubbing along the frame. That being said, I'll bet that the problem is not necessarily with the brake line, but the slave cylinder itself. When I replaced my lines, I took the slave and master cylinders apart and put new seal kits in. The slave cylinder was especially nasty. krud & corosoin. Rick from Buckeye performance told me it was due to the engine heat. He recommends complete clutch fluid bleeding every year or so. Just watch out for the brake fluid. Makes a mess of the plastic radio controls. You wouldn't think it is possible, but if you twist the slave cylinder just right, it slips right out without much effort, once the middle gear cover is off. John.

So I took it apart again tonight. Mia Culpa. Jason is correct that the gasket is critical for thickness. There was some evidence of the tight pressure on the faces of the gears that were rubbing a bit too tight on the cover and case surfaces. Oh well. All cleaned up again. I had checked it by dry fitting everything, and it looked like the cover had nothing holding it back. So it isn't much, but it is critical. I'm still wondering though if something does get tight during the cooldown cycle that gets things just a bit too tight for a moment. My bike used to be OK if I stalled it and had to restart it. But if it was off for a quick gas fill, it would complain. Leave it an extra 5 minutes, and it was totally normal. I think a fresh battery really helps though. I also checked, and there really isn't a way to put the gears in backwards to decrease the mechanical leverage of the gears. So you really can't goo too far wrong here. It's just ABSOLUTELY critical, that you use a gasket. Now I just have to order gaskets. I guess I'll get both sets, though the middle drive gasket doesn't look critical. The oil was indeed leaking from the gasket surface though, and not significant amounts from the electrical wire gromets. during my first attempt to find the source of the leak, I had the wire area nice and clean from the brake bleed cover. I couldn't detect any leakage from that location, but there was definitely a stream coming out of the front gasket area. It was getting bad enough that it was looking like an old Harley when I parked it anywhere. So far, this is the first real gasket leak I've had with several Yamaha's over 30 years of riding. Thanks for both of your prompt replies. Great to have help on this forum.

Well, this one is a little different spin on the 1st gen starter problem. I have a 1986 VR which I've upgraded the starter wiring, put in new starter brushes, new solenoid, all done in 2006. This spring I put in a new regular lead acid battery. The starter was operating nicely and wasn't giving me any problems. As part of my spring mainenance, I adjusted the valves. I've been riding it a bit to work this spring, which is about 115KM round trip. So far about 3000 KM this season. I started to notice an oil leak on the left side, dropping from somewhere under where the clutch slave cylinder is. I checked the valve covers, and there was a hint of oil leakage, but nothing significant. So I washed the whole left side off with Varsol solvent, and rinsed it off with water. I went for a short ride with all the lower body parts off. When I got back to my garage, I noticed that the leak was really coming from the cover seal right around where the starter is located. Not from the starter o ring, but the left side case to main crank case gasket. So I pulled the left side case covers off. Front cover, and middle drive cover. When pulling the main cover off, the starter gear idler came out with the case. I cleaned up all the gasket surfaces. I didn't have a gasket, and I was going to try just using grey RTV silicone gasket cement. I checked out the starter idler gears, and put them back in, in what I think is the only way that they can really go in so that the gears fully mesh. The small gear can go on two ways, but in one position, the gears will only mesh on 1/2 of the gear faces. So I assembled everything. After sitting a couple of hours, I tightened up the screws a bit extra, and poured in some oil. Now when I started it, the starter turned the engine over very slowly. Just enough that my finely tuned machine started, but definitely NOT NORMAL. I thought it might be that the idler shaft might have gotten a bit dry with the solvent, so I let it sit and cool down, hoping that maybe some oil might seep into the case cover bearing surface. Still extremely slow. So has anyone else ever had this experience? Could the missing gasket cause the case to be tight enough to tighten up on the idler gear shaft which has to flote in the journals in the main case, and cover? Is this a hint about what causes a warm engine to give starting problems when the idler gears are tight? Is it possible to actually reverse the idler gear to drop the effective gear ratio between the Starter and the crank gear? Anyone have a spare engine appart that can check this? I'll probably pull it all apart tonight and see what I find. Maybe some extra silicone when into something it shouldn't. Appreciate any suggestions.