nyc 84 venture

Update: I went back and rebled the clutch. Put it in first, hit the rear brake - bike dumped. My bleeding skills are... meh, ok - done it a lot, pretty sure that end is fine. Though yes - it's getting time to replace the old parts. Ran through all the gears with the bike off as mrich2000 suggested, it made it to 3 and then wouldn't go to 4. I jimmied the wheel back and forth a bit and it clicked into 4 and 5 and back down. Then ran through the gears up and down with the bike on - no problems. Tranny is fine. Then back in 1st gear I hit the brake and the rear wheel stopped - bike kept running. Ok. Interesting development. Not really sure what just happened there. Back to both wheels on the ground - clutch engaging with no trouble it seems. Will wait till daylight to take it on a test spin. So I'm not sure exactly what the fix was and what the problem was. Air in the line, the claw not sitting pretty, a combination of things or just a moody Venture that was sulking because of the tip - but it seems I'm back in business. Thank you all for your input. Seeing the bike laying on it's side kinda made me nutty, not think straight and assume the worst. There's a long history of bikes going down in this area due to jerky cagers. It makes me crazy. I've picked up my share of bikes in the morning that aren't mine. Thank you for your calm suggestions. I am, however, going to install impact charges for the next time.... boom.... Thanks a bunch everyone. DBarn

Haven't tried stopping wheel with brake. Going to go out and bleed the clutch line again, just in case. Will hit brake while I'm at it and report back. Thanks.

Brian, Sadly yes, I bled the lines thinking it might just be air (paragraph 5). It's the clanging while the wheel is in motion that is leading me to believe there is trouble afoot in the belly of the beast. Funny enough, Brian - you're the man who turned me onto this site. About a year and a half ago you sent me some photos of your fusebox and helped me sort out an electrical issue I was having. (I think I had given up and was contemplating selling on craigs list. I found your email this morning with the link to this site. So once again - thank you.

Hello all, I'm new here - thanks for letting a visitor in to ask a few questions. Lovely first day of spring here in NYC - I began it my picking my 84 Venture up off the ground - it was knocked over in its parking space during the night. http://venturedown.yolasite.com/ (pardon the over exposed photos - cheap camera phone - bright morning light) This wouldn't sting as bad is it does - but there's a brand spanking new battery in there as well as a very fresh oil change. The bike was happy, we were about to go on a nice long ride. Anyways - here's the state of things: Bike in neutral, two wheels on the ground, shift to first - feels like a clutch dump even though the clutch is in. (I bled the clutch right after this just to make sure there was no air in the line.) Bike on centerstand - rear wheel in the air - from neutral it will shift into first with or without the clutch. In first gear (or second) the rear wheel spins. It doesn't stop spinning when the clutch is pulled in. There's also an audible clanging coming from somewhere in the lower rear of the engine while in gear and the wheel is spinning. I'm feeling like the clutch rod has been thrown or broken but I don't know. I've never been in the guts of this bike so I turn to you folks for opinions. I've done rebuilds on various bikes before so am not new with cracking cases and putting humpty back together again. However, at the moment I'm without a garage and tools. A major operation is a near impossibility. I really try to be a motorcycle shop free zone. I lack the money and the trust to deal with the mechanics in my area. Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Thank you, D. Barn NYC 84 Yamaha Venture (bought in Long Beach, CA - we likes to ride)