darthandy
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Everything posted by darthandy
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After we hit the deer last night (See other post), as we waited for the police and tow truck, several cars went by and some of them slowed to look at the deer and our car, but none stopped. A young guy on a crotch rocket pulled over and asked if we were OK or needed any help. Doesn't surprise me a bit that a motorcyclist was the only one to stop. Had a car stopped, I would have expected the driver to also be a motorcyclist. Makes me proud of us! Andy
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The guy on the Suzuki forum is wrong. greg-in-london has it right. Andy
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Oh, yeah! Right! Of course ... who would want an automatic, anyway, right? Andy
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Good luck! Wish I could catch a deal like that! Andy
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I'd settle for more deer hunting in this area. With no natural predators left around here and lots of feeding areas, these guys are breeding like rabbits. Bambi isn't looking all that cute these days! Thanks to everyone for your kind words. Mike, Bob - let me know where to get those pliers and that rubbing compound of which you speak. If they work that well, I know where I can get a five year old Corvette really cheap that just needs the body and mechanicals "fixed" to be road worthy again! Andy
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Sorry about your bad day, but it could have been worse. I'm glad it wasn't. Our deer encounter last night (Early this morning, actually) resulted in the car being towed away with lots of fluid left on the road and bad noises coming from under the hood. Makes me want to get back into deer hunting! Andy
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Well, we had a couple of close calls with deer this spring, but one finally caught us tonight! We were on our way back from visiting our youngest daughter for her birthday up in Toronto when a doe jumped from behind the pillar of an overpass and landed in the grill of our car (Just 20 KM from home...DAMN!). My wife was quite upset (I wasn't exactly overjoyed either!) but as I told her ... we are OK and we weren't on the bike. I shudder to think what would have happened if we had centre punched that deer with the Venture. Here's what the car looked like. Now to see if they'll fix it and then hope it won't have a hidden problem showing up in a year or so! Damn - we were finally able to buy a decent car when my wife got a long term contract a couple of years ago. Thought we were set for our "retirement" vehicle. HA! No such luck! Oh well, as I said, we're alive and uninjured. We'll settle for that at this point. Andy
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I've seen them for sale at several bike shops around here for less than $20/pair. Try looking at some of the bigger shops in your area. They should have them as well. Andy
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Hell on the blood pressure, isn't it? Andy
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Oops - sorry Gary - it's my 2000 Venture. Thanks Earl - that seemed to make more sense to me, especially given the wording - but I hate to take chances with brakes. Not being able to stop can really take the fun out of a ride! Andy
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Any chance you can get to it with an impact driver? Andy
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Ouch!!! Glad you avoided the worst of that. Wish I could help but no extras available at this time. Andy
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I was about to put some anti-squeak compound on the back of my front brake pads. I notice that the manual says 18 ft-bls of torque for the caliper retaining bolts. In the tech section there is a "service data" sheet that states 29 ft-lbs for the front brake caliper bolts. So... I'm assuming that the 29 ft-lbs is for the two bolts that attach the caliper "carrier" to the fork and the 18 ft-lbs is for the bolts holding the caliper to the "carrier". Can anyone verify that for me before I take things apart? Thanks. Andy
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I wasn't aware of some of tee alternatives to regular trikes that are available these days - especially for those of us who are, uh, financially challenged. Or maybe you only need the trike when you stop ... or maybe some days are better than others. Here are a couple of links to some of these companies. A guy in the Goldwing chapter that I belong to has the Voyager kit on his. Basically, he needs it when he has a passenger. When he's solo, he's OK to handle the bike at stops so he can remove the wheels in about 10 minutes or less! http://www.trikealternative.com/ http://www.mtcvoyager.com/ Don't know the pricing on the Trike Alternative kit, but the Voyager is $4,100 US and is a relatively easy do it yourself job. And for those of you looking for some kind of Voltage meter to install on your bike, here is an interesting one - the Battery Bug. http://www.argusanalyzers.com/ Andy
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Glad that your recovering from your accident. Please hang around here. It doesn't take a bike to be part of this family ... just a healthy dose of insanity. Andy
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Our condolences to the family. DAMN! This kind of stupidity seems to be spreading. My wife and I very nearly got nailed in our car a couple of weeks ago as we were heading into a left turn lane near our home. A pick up ahead of us in the lane for going straight suddenly nailed the brakes to make a left turn, apparently without looking and certainly without signalling. He came within feet of going head on into another car approaching the intersection from the other direction. That guy nearly stood his car on his nose as we did the same to avoid hitting the moron in the truck. As I turned left and headed into our neighbourhood, the truck also turned there!! I couldn't believe it. All he had to do was go another 1,000 feet and he could have turned left into the next street going into the subdivision. I had to restrain the urge to follow him till he stopped (It was a younger guy) and then get out and express my dissatisfaction with his driving ability. But then, I think I'm too old to start going to jail at this point in my life! Andy
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Very nice!! Have you thought of adding some "Venture" name plates (From the our gas tanks) to really play some neat head games with people? Could be fun and they are chromed!! Andy
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Glad everyone was OK. This could be a chance for some real wild custom work ending up with a strictly four passenger Merc with each passenger having their own little cubicle of car. Just sayin... Andy
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Well worth the $12. Even if I live to be a hundred (And can ride the whole time) I won't come close to repaying what I've saved using this site. And that's not even getting into the social aspects of dealing with the other inmat....err, I mean members. I'll keep my opinion of this fool to myself as I think everyone has made it clear what we think of him. Perhaps years of sitting on his brain has led to his problems. Andy
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That's quite possible. The top speed runs by Cycle World are done at the end of a half mile run and a lot of bikes, especially the bigger, heavier ones with a lot of "drag", can easily take more than a half mile to reach their top speed. Quarter mile runs are about horsepower, weight, gearing and available traction. Published figures (By Yamaha) show only about a 70 pound weight difference between the 1st and 2nd gen's which seems like too little to explain the rather large difference in quarter mile acceleration times. Then too, there were 13 years of difference between the two runs and they were done at different drag strips. As any racer can tell you, that alone can make a big difference in E.T.'s and even speed. The only way to be certain would be to take a "like new" example of each gen. and run them side by side at the same strip several times. My understanding is that the gearing on the 2nd gen's is higher in the top two and possibly three gears. This could certainly have an effect, especially with the weight difference. Anyone have some time and a couple of bone stock 1st and 2nd gen's they would like to try this with? It could be quite interesting! Andy
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OK. this is from my post to a thread in Sep 2011. The info came from a couple of Cycle World issues (I have them going back a looooooong way.) Hope it answers your question. Andy ""For what it's worth. From the June 1986 issue of Cycle World: 1986 Venture Royale - 1/4 mile 12.95 sec. @ 102.72 mph top speed on a radar gun 118.00 mph dry weight 774 lbs From the June 1999 issue of Cycle World: 1999 Royal Star Venture - 1/4 mile 13.75 sec. @ 91.14 mph top speed on a radar gun 105.00 mph dry weight 850 lbs (Yamaha says 805 lbs dry - must have been a misprint in CW) Let the arguments begin!!"
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At our club bike night last night, a guy and his wife showed up on a 2001 RSV with pillow top seats. My wife noticed that the pillow top passenger seat is a good 4 to 6 inches wider than our stock 2000 seat. So... is it a wider seat base or is that just extra padding adding to the width? A wider seat base would give more support but extra padding at the sides doesn't look to me like it would make much of a difference in comfort as there would be little, if any, extra support. Anyone? Andy
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Glad to hear you're still around after a nasty fall like that. Losing a beautiful bike is no fun but being around to talk about it is a definite plus. Andy
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Last time I checked, they only had them for the Harley's. They sound a whole lot better on our Ventures though. Like a 327 Chevelle with a low restriction exhaust. Wish I had the money for a set. Andy
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Must be a pretty decent dealer. The guy around here would have swept it up at the end of the day and tossed it. Wish I could join you! Andy
