phertwo

Did you change your oil before your trip? Did you switch to a synthetic oil? As soon as I switched from Yamalube to Royal Purple full synthetic my clutch started to slip when I would rev up in 4th and 5th. Since its a wet clutch the synthetic oils seem to cause this slipping problem. Its no wonder so many of us upgrade our clutches to pcw or barnett springs. Food for thought anyway.. This is a very easy fix though. Just call up PCW or buy a Barnett and you will be on your way with a 1~2 hour job.

Okay, well if you can believe it I finally got my high output stator from Buckeye Performance. They did not have any in stock when I placed my order Mid-June. They were claiming electrical storms knocked out their operation. They shipped my stator on July 8th. Then the nightmare happened, Canada Post lost my order. After much fussing and fighting and listening to Canada Post consistently tell me that "we can't do anything, we're sorry" even though the package was in their possession, I finally got my package on August 6th. I finally cracked open the side cover and found that 3 of the coils on the original stator were charred black. One of the leads coming from the wire harness was black. So with the new stator installed the problem is now fixed. I am getting a running voltage of 13.7 ~ 13.9 VDC. I am very happy and relieved. On a side note, the instructions found in the tech library on stator removal/replacement aren't too clear. Unless if you are Houdini you need to unbolt the muffler from the engine to allow wiggle room to get the side cover off. There was no mention of that in the instructions. Other than that I used the Colortune set that I got to adjust the pilot mixture screws on the carbs. That was not as straight forward as I thought it would have been. One of the cylinders is at the correct setting (Bunsen burner blue) with the screw almost completely tightened. I guess I will have to keep an eye on that plug. I just have to install the new air horns and reassemble the rest of the bike and I'm ready to enjoy the rest of the season that I almost entirely missed! Thanks for the help everyone!

So if you do fix the problem, probably something loose or gummed up, then who's to say that he won't come back another 5,000 miles later? Like everyone else has said though, make sure you end this potentially vicious cycle.

Are birds not aerodynamic?

I wonder, is there even a point in wearing a helmet and leathers at those speeds? You're tempting fate anyways, might as well do it in a speedo or a chicken costume.

Perhaps the float bowl height needs to be readjusted. If you are stuck with his bike and an ultimatum I'd probably start by pulling the carbs, cleaning them, adjust the float height, adjust the mixture screws, check all the pipes and connections. Check the air filters too. I know what its like to have friends that have expectations of you because of your willingness to help. Good luck!

Though I tough it out and wear all the gear all the time, the hot weather seems to make people come to a compromise. This weekend I was out for a ride when a young guy on a cruiser passed me just wearing shorts and a half helmet - Shirtless! I couldn't believe it, especially because he was headed down a twisty road that was under construction, nothing but loose gravel and stone for a few miles. At least his hair will be protected if he goes down..

That is surprising! I'm also pretty jealous of the motorcycle parking. We don't have any of that around here, that I know of.

I'm still in the process of resolving my charging system problem (just waiting for the stator to come in the mail...) but I can at least suggest this. If you are worried about your rectifier potentially doing damage to your bike, you can ride it to your dealer with your charging system un-plugged (just pull out your rectifier and the charging system is disconnected to the battery and rest of the bike. If your dealer isn't really far away of course. You just would be riding on the battery alone, but as long as you don't stop and start the bike up you should be fine to make it there. Then just charge the battery at the dealers. Well, just a suggestion anyhow.

I had my rear tire quickly deflate on my while on the highway once - I was in the passing lane this time. At first I felt a little bit of a wag on the rear end, but it quickly got much worse. Scared the living hell out of me. I found an almost 1/4" hole in my rear.. I really want to invest in a tire pressure monitoring system as it would most likely would give an early warning if something is wrong, potentially save my life. It also would allow me always know what the tire pressure is whenever I'm riding, which I honestly check it less than I should. Here are two systems. Still pretty expensive, but I think I value my life enough to get one.. https://www.kisantech.com/index.php?cat_id=6 http://www.doranmfgstore.com/ItemForm.aspx?item=%23360M&ReturnUrl=Categories.aspx?Category=b42f0f3a-382d-40c0-8dbe-85d5bdd464dc

My GPS max. speed is 854 km/hr (530 mph). I was riding my 2nd Gen over the Atlantic to Paris. What a nice trip that was, but my gas mileage wasn't so good..

I just finished the valve shim adjustment a few days ago. The job took a while but it really wasn't difficult at all. I do have one thing to add that I don't think that I read in the wonderful instruction guide written up by V7Goose or anywhere else.. If you remove a shim, make sure you put it back in if you plan to rotate the cam at all. I was stupid enough to remove two shims, then rotate the cams without putting them back in . Well the cams will push the buckets down, but then become stuck. The lip that goes around the shim to hold it in place kind of locks the cams, the only way to get the cam back out is to push the buckets down somehow; I just wedged something between the cam and the lip of the bucket.. I definitely wouldn't want to do that again! I had the logic of wanting to remove all the shims that needed replacement, swap them at the dealer, then reinstall them. DO NOT DO THIS! Just figure out what shims you need, buy them, replace them one at a time, then take your old used shims to the dealer and they will give you a credit. I'm sure that most of you know this already, but for anyone who is tackling this for the first time like me, be forewarned! Other that that its a pretty simple but time consuming job.. To me anyway.

Wow.. That looks really mean! I'm loving the blacked out engine fins too.. Looks like a dragster to me. Awesome!

SilvrT, I don't think a Harley will fit in the Venture Trunk..

Good story Brian! These things are pretty fun to ride that's for sure. Kind of a nice change of pace from the road sofa. And for those insurance/gas rates there would be no real reason to sell them off. Always handy to have one of those around. I figure the vino would fetch a better price now, but she's really enjoying it. If anything I think she would want to get a bike and keep this little bugger. Well, we will see in a few months what happens.. I think the new engine should keep her happy for another few weeks. I'll have to take a few pics of the vino beside my rstd to show the difference in scale.

I'm trying to find this certain accessory for my RSTD. I think it may help with these situations... http://www.neatorama.com/images/2006-12/scooter-cannon.jpg

Thanks for the kind comments everyone! She is really enjoying her new ride, but yes I am thinking that she's going to want to take my RSTD soon. I wouldn't mind her taking it out, but its a little heavier than the 240lb vino. Maybe in the future I'll take her to a parking lot if she really wants to try it out. I did take her little scoot for a good ride around the Muskoka back roads this weekend. I managed to hit 93 km/hr (58 mph) on level and sloped road which was quite a rush. Unfortunately it doesn't have the torque and power to keep it going strong up hills. I think her new engine upgrade should do the trick though.. I wonder what the next upgrade is,, probably a CB. But hey, at least there's no gear whine!

Though she has dubbed it the "baby beast", my girlfriend has joined the world of the two-wheelers on her very own Vino 125. We have been seeing each other for a few years now and I felt that I wanted to give her something special for Christmas (the one that just past). She enjoys riding passenger on my RSTD, but I knew that she is more of a driver. After we came back from a trip to Paris for 2 weeks and having seen her have the dreamy eyes at the sight of many 'cute' Vespa scooters and comments like "ohh I wish I had one! Wouldn't it be great?" I felt that I wanted to make her wish come true. So back in September 2010 I started to look around for used scooters. I was shocked to find that the price of a used Vespa was too high, and also the amount of knock off/fake Vespa's was kind of dodgy. But then I started to find that Yamaha had a retro-looking scooter called the Vino, and the used prices were much more affordable. Then I stumbled on to a deal-and-a-half for a Vino 125cc for $400. It has a bigger engine than the 50cc scooters which can barely do 45mph, so I felt that this was a much safer bike to go with. The only catch was that this scoot was pretty roughed up with high mileage, given the engine size, of 14,500 km. All of the body panels were pretty scratched up with huge gouges on the front fender and front panel. The tires were shot, torn seat, very dirt, poorly maintained, but it seemed to run. So I bought the Yamaha Vino and decided that I would transform it into a 'cute' scooter. In the next few months before Christmas I pulled the entire buggy apart, fixed up all of the panels, repainted them, reupholstered the seat with new marine grade vinyl, replaced all of the fluids, cleaned the entire engine compartment (there was an unbelievable amount of dust/sand in there), added chrome trim to the panels, cleaned the carbs and replaced the tires with new white walls,,, all under her nose. I almost got caught a few times, but I was lucky every time to keep it a secret. I managed to turn the ugly ducking into a beautiful looking machine. Well, on to Christmas Day.. I had to bring the scoot to her grandparents house and I only had one way to take it there. No! I did not drive it in the freezing cold and snow. I can actually fit it in the trunk of my Chevy hatchback. Try doing that with a Royal Star! So I pull into a school parking lot a few blocks away and unload the little thing. I put my gifts for the rest of the family in the foot area and under the seat (lots of storage under there!) and put the key in the ignition. Hit the started,, and, nothing. Stranded there with the this beautiful..paperweight. Well fortunately I got her going after 10 minutes - god bless this machine that it also has a kick starter as well! I rode the scoot a few blocks down and parked it right in front of her grandparents door. I let myself in the house and was just in time for the present opening. Well I was pretty excited and nervous about the gift, but was also very cold since riding a scoot even a few blocks in -15C weather is enough to chill anyone right down. When it came time for me to give her my gift, I gave her a fake present (empty box with a card in it). The card instructed her to grab a coat and head outside. She was very curious and confused, but when she saw her new scooter she was so excited. She was completely caught by surprise and was so excited. She kept looking at it from the window throughout the day, unfortunately it was winter and she couldn't even take it out for a ride. So fast forward a few months and she got her motorcycle license, as you must get a full motorcycle license for any vehicle over 50cc. Although she was kind of intimidated by the motorcycle she had to learn on at the course, she did enjoy it. She was the best student in the class as she just seemed to do things naturally. We had the license and insurance completed and it was time to ride. She was nervous on the roads at first but she is absolutely LOVING her little beast. We went on a few riders where I would follow on my RSTD and she looked like a natural. Now I know that there is so much talk about when you get a motorcycle you will end up spending even more on the accessories, well the same is true with the scooter world. So far she got a really nice retro helmet, a beautiful stylist Italian scooter trench coat with hidden armor (just looks like a stylist jacket), a wicker basket for the back of the scoot, new chrome turn signals, a stereo system with an ipod near the front foot area, and a soon to arrive 150cc engine upgrade kit that is 'bolt on'. I keep joking with her that it looks like a baby Venture with all this stuff on it. She is loving it, but I just recently noticed an interesting and perhaps scary incident where I went to the garage and noticed that she was sitting on my RSTD playing around with the controls... hmmm.... Anyways, I thought that I'd share a few things with you guys, maybe you might consider trading in your Ventures for the Baby Model... New White Wall Tires - $30 each Monthly Insurance - $26 (first time rider, less after 2 years) Gas Fillup - $4 Gas MPG - 85~100 Now I know it doesn't compare to the Cadillac's that we ride, but after taking this thing out a few times I can tell you that it is a blast! Before Shot - The damage and torn seat is not visible from this angle. Clever photography by the seller. http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/ad85/phertwo/Baby%20Yamaha/before02.jpg Christmas Day and one happy new Yamaha owner! http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/ad85/phertwo/Baby%20Yamaha/DSC03771.jpg Front shot http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/ad85/phertwo/Baby%20Yamaha/DSC03720.jpg Side shot http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/ad85/phertwo/Baby%20Yamaha/DSC03722.jpg Other side shot http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/ad85/phertwo/Baby%20Yamaha/DSC03726.jpg Rear end shot http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/ad85/phertwo/Baby%20Yamaha/DSC03734.jpg Front end shot http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/ad85/phertwo/Baby%20Yamaha/DSC03733.jpg Handle bars http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/ad85/phertwo/Baby%20Yamaha/DSC03730.jpg

I'm still in the process of doing all of this maintenance on my bike since I'm waiting for a new stator. My stock stator is fried so the bike is dead-weight right now - perfect time for valve adjustment. At 52,000km (~32,000 miles) on the odometer, I completed the valve adjustment and found that cylinder 2 had two intakes 0.001" too tight and cylinder 4 had one intake 0.001" too tight. I swapped the shims and now its all right on spec. The job is time consuming, and there are sooo many things to take apart and put back together, but I didn't think that it was difficult. It just looks intimidating but if you keep track of every screw, hose, various parts, its really not very hard to do. I also have a colortune kit that I've yet to use. I ordered it but never got the chance to use it. I have the kit with 4 spark plugs so I can just adjust all 4 mixture screws at once. If you plan on getting a colortune, I'd suggest the kit with the 4 plugs. I'll be pretty happy when she's all back together (its been over a month of dead-time), it will feel like a new bike!

I bought a Bell shorty helmet on sale for a really good price as a spare. What I like about it is the padding and liner on this inside is much much nicer than the overly expensive half helmet that I have now. I'm impressed with the quality of Bell helmets thus far and I will probably buy another one in the future.

While I haven't done the Model T ride, there certainly are a lot of them buzzing around. So many of them that I wonder if they every have car/car or car/pedestrian accidents. If so, I wonder how confusing that would be to report being in an accident with a Late Late model Ford.. Anyways, enjoy your trip, its a fascinating place.

Hey Bob, I was just there a month ago. Its a really interesting place, that's for sure. If you like to take your time you can do the museum one day and the village on the other. You can do both in the same day if you start early, but that's if you don't stop and read every sign/plaque. Keep in mind that both the museum and the village are huge, though part of the museum is under construction right now.. Depending on the type of museum visitors you are, its a 1 long day or a 2 day affair. Have Fun!

Well I thought I'd give a bit of an update. Due to the Canada Post strike, Buckeye Performance cannot ship my new stator until the strike is over. Just perfect, now I have to wait even longer (hopefully not the entire summer!). So I decided that since my bike is mostly taken apart and I have quite a bit of dead time, I'm going to do the valve shim maintenance. I ordered the head cover gaskets ($35 each) but when I asked about the Valve Tool they said that a new one will cost $165! Believe that! Fortunately I spoke to one of the mechanics in the back, who is a Yamaha expert, who told me that he had a spare valve tool that he would sell me for cash. So $50 cash and now I'm a happy camper. They also have a box of 25mm shims, so I just bring in my old ones and they will just swap them for the different sizes. Not bad! I think I'm going to have a new bike once,, if, it all gets back together..

I agree with pretty much all of those for much of my generation, though none of those apply to me myself. I think any Gen Y'ers that hang out here are exempt.

I think the full face helmet would have saved me some shame when she pulled right into the middle of a pack of Harleys and Harley owners at the Starbucks. Although I think they were more genuinely curious of the Vino, like it was some kind of strange animal that we were sitting on. Maybe I can put some Road King pipes on it or something... Thanks for the tips on sealing the wires to prevent the oil leaks. I am a little worried about that, but I will be extra cautious to do it right.