Chaharly

Had a similar situation with the current 88 that i have. I wrecked my 99 and was looking for a first gen because i missed it. Found my current bike and saw the photos. Talked to the guy several times. Said he moved out to Montana and the bike is at his buddy's in Ohio. Hasn't run in a few years and he only put like 3k miles on it in the 7 years he owned it. Said he was the second owner and the body is in GREAT shape. Asked a pretty high price on it that i agreed to and drove from Randolph Nebraska to Cleveland Ohio to get this bike. Got there and every piece of plastic had some sort of break. The drilled a hole in the trunkand wired a lawn mower battery to the actual battery. Ran like crap which i expected. It was covered in cat prints and only 1 speaker worked. I told that guy that his buddy is a crook as the guy who was actually selling the bike was 2k miles away but since i invested so much to get it we took it anyways. I've done a ton of work to her but she's been an amazing machine for me. I just wish i could get my hands on that dude

I wonder if the little speed sensor in your speedo is going out? Do you maybe have another cluster from a royale to try? Also when was the last time you lubed and adjusted the freeplay on your cables? That, to me, made the biggest difference

Glad your okay man. I was instantly pissed when i found what happened

Thanks!

Do you still happen to have this @mralex714

Looks like the bumper of a pickup

What size are the bolts that i need to use with the puller? Like what thread? I gotta drive 30 miles to work on this bad boy so i'd like to know what bolts i need! Someone said you also need to replace the allen bolts on the starter clutch. Does anyone know what size these are as well?

I'd love to come to a meat and eat! I live backwards from normal society though. I work Friday Saturday and Sundays. If it was during the middle of the week like say, a Wednesday then I could do it. (Wilmington is about 540 miles from me, and it'd be pretty much all interstate)

So by shimming it you're effectively moving the needle further into the emulsion tube to counter the excess fuel coming through

I always wondered if you could roll one of these up off the ground! In your vid you also describe worm emulsion tubes and I've seen a few of you guys shim your main needles 60thou of an inch. Whats the advantage to doing this?

I know the starter is interchangeable The cables I'm sure are the same as well I just did this upgrade in my 88 and you wont believe the difference. Even the fuel pump sounds better!

@Prairiehammer Gotcha! Thanks for that! Mines already got the tee fitting and all that, so now I guess I'll be pulling the air box again to re-seal everything. @cowpuc that E6000 looks like some super high quality stuff. Did you ever get a chance to test that diaphragm out?

I feel i tend to agree with @Venturous Randy

Thats a shame. I love pulling up the front wheel, and I try to remember to do it in a safe place, but any place can become unsafe REAL quick. Stay safe out there guys!

In my case the only unlucky thing about that mirror would be seeing the dude looking back at me! Scary!

Hmmm... I think I'll slink over to the youtube and see if I can find that vid. Curious to see how much they dented em

I'm not the type of guy to bury it in the red anyway. I let it just kiss the red line! I've always wondered about it since some of our bikes are 36 years old!

This is a tough question. I've seen this post up for a day or two now and I've tried to answer but I cant come up with anything. I'm really fond of the goldwings just because I grew up on the bike of one and have done many 1000+ mile trips on them by myself. Dad had a Kawasaki Mean Streak that i fell in love with. Wasn't that fast and definitely no where near as cozy as a venture but it really turned heads! My first street bike was a 99KZ 650 that we took to the new hampton rally. Got 50mpg on that bike going 55 through iowa in a group of goldwingers. But I cant come up with a second favorite. Every bike has just been tons of fun in its own way.

Suns out guns out! Am I right?

Lol well I suppose then, brother puc, all we can do is wait and see what I got for clearances. I'll wait until I get the new gasket before I pull the cover. If I'm a thousandth shy though I think I will wait until 100k to do a valve job on it. Another thing I've always wondered for people who like to spank that red line.... do valve springs get weaker with age? Would that effectively lower our "red line"??

I guess what I'm asking is if, for example the minimum clearance is 5mm and i find one that's at 4mm. Should i bite the bullet and get a shim kit and do both sides? Or should i look for a more extreme difference? Remember that's just an example. I'm at work right now or I'd look at what the clearance is

Well when i did my valve job on the 99 i remember they were all in spec except for one or two and they were both so close to being in spec i wondered if i should have even changed them. I've got the manual and they've got that nifty little table to tell you which valve to switch it too.

Yeah I've already got one on the way. Front and rear are the same. Really appreciate it though! How far out of spec would you consider too far that i should contact skydoc

That's a good idea puc. I'll definitely slip in feeler gauges in between and see what i got for clearance. If theyre just on the edge of tight I'll leave em. I'm only replacing the front valve cover gasket because it was PUKING oil over the years, i still have all the plastic dudads on the rear two cylinders

The hardest part is getting to the point that you can get the valve covers off. To change the valve shims you need a shim too that will push the valve shim's holder away so you then just pop the old shim out and replace it. Real easy to do. I did it on my 99. I think on my MK1 i can do it with the carbs still on