RedRider

Your bike has a rev limiter. Use it sometime to find out how far it winds out. 50 in 3rd gear isn't winding it out. 90+ in 3rd gear is winding it out. It's fun, try it. Just don't panic when it dies at 90+ mph. That's the way the rev limiter works. Scared me first time I hit it. And to answer your question, at 50 mph, I would ride in 4th. RR

For the tire plug kit, get a sticky string kit from Walmart. Replace the glue every year and/or once used. Sticky strings don't fail. RR

:rotf: We did that with my Mom's Delta88. Outstanding. RR

I don't really need the diaphragms but if you will let me know the nuts, cotter pins, etc. you need, I will gather them up and send them on to you. Most items I can likely get from our local hardware store. Glad to help. RR

That looks pretty nice. And they are in my backyard. Didn't know about them. Once the weather clears up I may need to go for a ride and find them. RR

I don't think the center stand will lift it quite high enough. My Venture does not have a center stand. It would be nice to have the deck opening extend all the way to the back. However, it would eliminate some of the strength. RR

I also have a HF platform lift. Best $300 I ever spent. Replaced the front wheel chock with the HF upgrade (http://tinyurl.com/HF-chock-link) and have been very pleased. My Venture has been on it for the last month as I went through it rear to front. Purchased a small jack from HF to lift the belly so I could get the rear wheel/end off using the removable deck opening. The KLR is now up there for some engine work. The Venture is a little heavy for the HF unit to work smoothly. Kind of jumpy when lowering. However, steady as a rock when being held in place. I drilled several additional tie down locations along the side rails and installed loops to hook to. And I agree with what was said earlier - if the 3/4 steel holding bar bends, there is something really wrong going on. I understand there was a batch of these lifts sold with a flat top (edges were not bent up). These allowed the top to bend and fail. Make sure the unit you have has the right angle bends on the sides (about a 1" lip on each side). I would buy again. Although, if a used Handy lift falls into my hands, the HF unit will be for sale immediately. RR

That's the advantage of having lots of motorcycles. They rotate as my password. Trying to get up to one for every month. Wife isn't too happy about that. She doesn't buy that it is for security reasons. RR

This is what you use. http://www.aerostich.com/a-to-b-utilities/for-the-bike/tire-studs/self-tapping-carbide-tire-studs.html RR

Very nice. Hang onto the Carbon One adapter. You will need to put a lift under the middle to get the rear wheel off the ground. The adapter helps. You may want to hang onto the lift you put in the classifieds. Wait until after you change a rear wheel to see if you need them. Does this lift have a section under the rear wheel that pulls out? RR

I read this letter while .... er... um ... shaving .... this morning. Was wondering if they were an inmate. Thanks for pointing this out. RR

Not uncommon up here. Every year before deer season, one of the local jewelry stores runs a promo giving away a Benelli shotgun with the purchase of an engagement ring. RR

Mine are HID's from Martin Fabrication. Mount to an extended bolt that attaches the front fender to the forks. The headlight is also HID. Will try to get some pictures of the mount tonight. RR

You need 3 sizes of Allen wrenches to split the faring. The small bolts on the rider side of the faring require 3mm. The top bolt on each side is longer than the others, so keep them separate. The light bar requires 6mm. Place a towel over the front fender before you start to remove these bolts. You WILL drop the wrench, a bolt, the light bar, one of the spacers behind the light bar, etc..... There is also a long bolt at the bottom of the headlight ring. This requires a 4mm wrench. Once you do it a couple of times, it is no longer a concern. Easy to do. FYI - Don't go cheap on a set of Allen wrenches. A stripped out bolt is a difficult and expensive (at least time consuming) occurrence. You don't need to go Snap-On expensive, but I would stay away from HF or the bargain bin at the True Value.

I believe the Honda part number is 08734-0001. RR

Yes, that is what we are talking about. Pull the pumpkin and the drive shaft should come with it. Pull the drive shaft out of the pumpkin. Use Honda Moly 60 to grease the shaft ends. Reinstall. Several threads on here about aligning the drive shaft to get it back into the U-joint. RR

Under the fairing. I used double sided tape and have not had a problem with several years and 10's of thousands of miles. RR

I've been happy with Odyssey.

Why turn it off? Did you have the tank off? Just make sure you move it to reserve periodically to keep the seals wet. Other than that, I just leave it on. RR

Venturefar, With your ordeal and writeup showing how the fuel pump points can be accessed while the FP is mounted, I checked mine out. The points look brand new. Still the cross hatching on them (assume it was made like that since they are so uniform). 112,000 miles on this original pump. I feel better even though I have recently picked up an emergency spare. May need to check that one too. http://2000rsv.smugmug.com/Motorcycles/Misc/i-T8mbtZk/0/M/Fuel%20Pump%20Points-M.jpg RR

Check your local HD shop. Many are gearing up to trailer bikes down and back to Daytona for bike week. They may have some room to pick up the trailer on the way back. RR

And to answer your original question - No, there is nothing you are doing wrong. It is one area of stupid design on these bikes. Fortunately, this is one of the very few. I just changed mine last week. It is a PITA. RR

Yes, yes it will. If you are concerned with that, turn off the fuel petcock and run the bike dry. RR

Just for a point of reference, my father and my younger brother both purchased a N104 recently. They both have fairly narrow heads (egg shaped - or - in helmet parlance - long oval). Brother was previously in an Aria Profile and Father was in an HJC that got the forehead pounded out. They both like the helmet fit. Neither has done any long days in it, but the preliminary evaluation is that this helmet will fit a long oval head. I won't believe it until I try it. I also have a Profile shaped head. HJC is a slightly narrow shape (slightly more oval than round). If the HJC fits, the Nolan N104 may be too sloppy front/back. Try them on to make sure. RR

You may be able to do it on the bike, but it is really easy to take it off. Since you are needing to solder and there are a couple of small screws, I would certainly feel more comfortable changing out the points on a bench. Only real key in removing the pump from the bike, mark which hose goes to which nipple. Get a couple of twist ties, zip ties, etc. and put one on the hose and the other on the appropriate nipple. Good luck. Let us know how it turns out. RR P.S. Nice shirt. Time to find a Long Distance rally and put those LD chops to use.