vzuden

Thanks Chuck for the great tours of the area. Best of the last four IR's I have attended. Not home yet but getting close. I left the lodge at 7:30am EDT yesterday and pulled off the road at 11:00pm EDT for the night last night in Rockford Illinois after 15 1/2 hours of traveling. My goal was to make it to near Madison Wisconsin for the night but the second round of rain (1 1/2 hours of light rain) on the trip home wore me out. I had 2 stops beyond fuel stops - 20 mins at a McDonalds somewhere in Ohio and at 15 miles east of Indianapolis to wait out a storm. I saw the skies darkening and pulled off at a rest area to put on the rain gear. I got my luggage covers on and pulled out the rain suit just as the wind hit. Almost pulled it out of my hands. I headed into the cover of the building and watched. Checked the radar and the weather warnings said there were 50mph wind gusts and hail. I didn't see any hail but wondered a few times if the bike was going to get blown off the side stand. I was there for maybe 20-30 minutes and while still raining, the worst was over. Pulled on the rain gear on and hit the road again. Problem with this delay is it put me into Indianapolis right at rush hour with the added feature of rain. I'm not sure how much that delayed me but I had clear sailing until the aforementioned rain a few hours later. This morning I drove the 1 1/2 hours to my son's house to see my new grandson. I will make the four hour trip south to get home tomorrow afternoon.

I see you have a 2008 model. Is there any chance it is the original tire? Bridgestone was commonly the brand from the factory and if it is 5 years old or older I would not be riding with it. Plus, it is likely the cause of your noise

I bet you stopped chewing on bumpers after that!

I had a Tour Deluxe prior to my current Venture. As stated above the differences are few but I did notice nobody mentioned the fuel tank size. The RSTD is 5 gallons give or take and the Venture is 1 gallon larger. But they key point I wanted to share is that my wife much prefers the Venture. The seat is more comfortable but it is also slightly higher than the RSTD so rather than looking at the back of my helmet she can see over my shoulders much easier.

As bongo said you were at pretty good price but now that you added cleaning and repacking the steering head and swing arm bearings it sounds like a really great price.

http://www.nbc.com/jay-lenos-garage/video/dry-cell-batteries/3082694 Pretty good video discussing the advantages of and charging process of AGM batteries. (I have no connection to nor do I endorse this brand)

Like Jamsie said, setting the cruise is a two step process. Press set and then accel immediately thereafter. Pushing set twice in rapid succession may also work. I have done it without thinking for so long I don't recall exactly.

I believe what you are looking for is the starter solenoid. Pull the left side cover near the passenger footrest. To the rear of the fuel pump you will see it. It's a bear to get out and clean thoroughly but it a common point of corrosion. Check the connections on the main fuse which is part of it.

I am on my second one these bikes and never had the need to disconnect the AIS. I had some backfiring once on my last bike and a carb sync took care of it. I agree with the thought if it's in proper tune and there are no exhaust leaks it shouldn't backfire.

You could attend a school board meeting also. Contact a member to see how to be added to the agenda.

Is the chrome trim at the top of the fairing covering the windsheild mounting bolts loose? The mounting tabs are frequently broken

The bullies need to be addressed because their actions could escalate if they get away with this. The 14 year old daughter of a woman who works for was being bullied and chose to not tell anyone. Unfortunately the bully ended up raping her. The girl still withheld telling anyone until a few months later. Authorities eventually got involved but it was difficult to prosecute without DNA evidence. It is still being pursued but has been a long journey for all involved

Rob, Getting together would be great and I live 3 miles from Mt Hawley however I work in E Peoria. The reason we charge our batteries in transit is the navigation apps draw the batteries down quickly. When riding solo I almost always have navigation and using streaming music.

We have a pouch on the back of my backrest for her phone. She has it out an using it much of the time while riding since she is chief navigator. She is always looking for new roads or routes and it works great. We are bluetoothed to each other and to the phones so it is easy to communicate wireless. I added a power outlet under the pillion seat area so her battery stays charged and I have a charger hardwired into the bike inside the fairing for mine. (wire is routed up out along the handlebars to the phone mount on the handlebar.

If I'm not mistaken an 08 is 2nd gen right? If so does the tire and lowering come into play? Yes it is a 2nd gen and the ride height/tire change does apply. There is a tab at the top of this page called "History" and if you read that you will become a Venture expert!

STAT, Bongo describes above the need to lower the front forks to improve handling but since you are a taller guy you may want to raise the rear instead. This involves changing out the "dog bone" links at the rear shock to raise the back end about an inch which of course accomplishes the same thing as lowering the front. There is a post in the tech section for this also. I did this to the 2 2nd gens I have owned and it makes a huge improvement. Enough that I have always stayed with the stock front tire size.

The best way to clean up the oil is pull the fuel tank and disassemble the plastic ducting for air intake to the carbs.. Wipe it out with a little solvent on a rag. Then use carb cleaner to spray off the outside of the carbs. Will probably want to put some rags under the carbs to protect and keep clean the side of the engine

I have always used the Purolator filters until last week. I think I finally used all of the local stores' old stock of their old design. I bought the Bosch and Mobil 1-110 and the Bosch was too long so Mobil is what I am switching to. i found that the Purolator that would thread on would bottom out and not fully tighten enough to compress the seal enough to not drip. The last one didn't drip until after about 1,000 miles.

Or you can see them more clearly. Or.... maybe you can see the sound??

@Yammer Dan Voyager is about 1 1/2 hour drive from me. If can help let me know. I plan to be at the International rally next month

@cwhite123174 I wanted to fix my crooked saddle bag rails, do the mod to straighten them out with the saddle bags where you aware you can simply bend the rails to align them? With the bike stable on your lift you can apply enough pressure to bend them. Go at it gradually at the rear of the rails and you will get a feel for how much pressure it will take

I am pretty sure the 42s does not have the fuel shut off in it. You will need to turn the petcock off to prevent a potential hydra lock. I had one on my last bike (42s) and still have the habit of shutting off the fuel petcock whenever I turn off the ignition. I did hydra lock once (OEM fuel pump) but was extremely fortunate the piston in the cylinder full of fuel was at TDC so no damage at all.

Frog Toggs for me. Had the current set for 4 or 5 years. Never had a problem

If using hockey pucks it helps to notch one slightly for the left front to avoid the side stand switch. Not mandatory - just helps a little

Freebird, Licensed massage therapists can work wonders on the shoulder/neck/ back issues. We try to go every month