TwoStars
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Everything posted by TwoStars
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I made my assessment in a Motel 6 parking lot, 2000 miles from home. I'll take a closer look over the weekend.
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I found the same thing, but only during a recent cross-country trip. Normally don't see it. I also assumed it was from the breather tubes.I keep my oil at the 1/3 to 1/2 level in the sight glass.
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I have an Arai SZ Ram3 that I'm very happy with. It has 3 top vents and 2 on the side. The visor can be flipped up or completely removed. When the visor is removed, the visor brackets go back onto the helmet so the visor mechanism is hidden. Very nice. Very pricy as well. http://www.araiamericas.com/default.aspx?pageid=57#/helmets/moto/xc-series/xc-ram/black-frost
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First ride impressions
TwoStars replied to warp1's topic in Royal Star Venture Tech Talk ('99 - '13)
Cool. I had a CB 160 in high school, some 40 years ago - way after Jesus had one. I bought my 2008 RSV 18 months ago. It had 7800 miles at the time. I noticed the whine on my first interstate ride - kicked in around 50 -55 mph. When I changed the oil, I went with MOTUL 7100 synthetic (10W40). The whine is gone. Just went cross-country (2800 miles), the whine stayed at home. Just another data point. -
Just completed a 9 day, 2800 mile trip on my '08 RSV. It was outstanding on both the interstate and the twisties in the Rockies. We had two days of strong cross-winds in Arizona. Beat me up. While gassing up, I talked to several GW riders who didn't seem to have a problem with the wind. I'm guessing that having the fairing on the fork rather than the frame makes a huge difference. Any thoughts from you 1st GENS?
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He's too fast. Could have hit for the cycle but lacked the single. Needs to slow down on occasion. Nice story - go Nationals.
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2001 Black Sahara soft top - 120,000 miles. Still fight with the wife to see who gets to drive it.
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In that case you're dealing with charge capacity (Amp-hours). The charge capacity divided by the current will give you the time to discharge. Multiple cells (in series) won't change the charge capacity but will increase the voltage of the battery (like Freebird's example). The higher voltage might cause the circuit to draw more current which would shorten the discharge time. Keep in mind the voltage drops as the battery discharges, sharply at the end, so you may not get use of the full charge capacity.
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Where is the best place to see Fall Colors near DC
TwoStars replied to scottbly's topic in Watering Hole
I'd agree with that. -
Where is the best place to see Fall Colors near DC
TwoStars replied to scottbly's topic in Watering Hole
DC Beltway to 66W toward Front Royal, VA will get you to the north end of Skyline Drive. DC Beltway to 270N toward Frederick, MD will get you access to 15N and Catoctin, Gettysburg, and PA country. It will also get you access to the Cumberland, Frostburg MD area (70 and 68W), great views along 68, especially on 2 wheels. 70W will also get you to central PA (Breezewood and Rt. 30). You'll have to check maps for mileage. If you want to sightsee as well, I’d opt for the Gettysburg area. You can get into mountains from there pretty quickly on Rt. 30. DC Beltway to 95N will take you to ..… well, you’ll want to avoid that. -
I put Venoms on my RSV last week. I checked the balance of the wheels after pulling off the OEM Dunlops and both wheels were heavy toward the valve stem. When I put on the Venoms, nothing changed. It would seem that the Venoms were nicely balanced. I added 42 grams to each wheel, opposite the valve stem, to bring both wheels/tires to balance. They run great.
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When I got my V-Star 6 years ago, I had the same gas questions. My google search was overwhelmingly in favor of 87 octane. Some claimed that performance degraded with higher octane, most just said it didn't help. I've run regular with no problems. The valves still make a racket but that's another issue.
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This is all good to hear, even for someone who's already taken the plunge. Had a Honda CB160 in high school then stopped riding for 35 years (what a waste). Got the bug again and bought a V-Star 1100 Custom six years ago. Bought my Venture this past January. It is a beast. I'm 5'9" and 170 lbs and if I'm not fully upright at a stop, things can get quite exciting. The V-Star is far more forgiving. I've decided to keep both bikes because they are so different. Compared to the Venture, the V-Star is my scooter.
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Chesapeake Bay blue crabs - and beer
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That picture of a tortoise; that's exactly how I look after a long run - I must be doing something right - 392 more years to go.
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What doesn't kill you makes you stronger - at least that's what my son's high school cross country coach used to say. He got me into running about 10 years ago. I'm now 58. I've done a couple of half marathons and plan to run the Marine Corps Marathon this October with my daughter (she's 25 and quite fit). I'm up to about 30 miles per week. I like 5 mile runs because it takes me 2 miles to go numb. It's good therapy - for the mind and body.
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ISO Grips and Throttle Boss bolts
TwoStars replied to Seaking's topic in Royal Star Venture Tech Talk ('99 - '13)
According to my installation instructions, they are 4-40 x 9/16" socket head cap screws. Sounds pretty standard to me. -
ISO Grips and Throttle Boss bolts
TwoStars replied to Seaking's topic in Royal Star Venture Tech Talk ('99 - '13)
The longer screws have 3/4" of thread whereas the shorter ones have about 1/2". I use the longer ones for the throttle boss and end weights. -
This forum has provided some great guidance so I thought I give an update. I dismantled the running lights and was able to remove the fairing with the light bar in place. Cleaned all 5 connectors and blew them out with an air hose (best to use eye protection for this part). Greased them and stabilized the connections using SEAKING’s zip tie trick. It took some practice but had it down by the 5th connection. The audio is back and sounds great – a successful procedure. With the fairing off, I figured it was time to remove the buggered bolts holding the light bar (that’s what started this thread). An auto mechanic friend of mine suggested I use a slightly oversized torx bit and pound it in to the rounded 5 mm allen head of the bolt, making sure it was fully seated. This worked like a charm for one of the bolts, though it fought me the whole way out. I couldn’t get a good hold on the second bolt so drilled off the head, removed the light bar and spacer and used vice-grips to remove the remaining bolt. Following up on a comment by MidnightSpook that there's something about these two bolts that give people problems. I've got an idea. Both bolts pass through what appears to be the headlight frame before hitting the threaded aluminum block. If the holes aren't perfectly lined up (neither of mine were) they put lateral pressure on the bolt and the threads. I haven't bought the replacement bolts yet but plan to expand the holes in the headlight frame and run a tap through the threads to clean them up a bit before re-installing the light bar. Hopefully I'll be back on the road, with tunes, in a day or so. Thanks everyone.
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I did part of that ride when I went up to New Hampshire from Maryland a few years back. I loved the Delaware Water Gap and Hudson river valley. Orbie, you mentioned that 9W was depressing. I crossed the Kingston-Rhinecliff bridge over the Hudson at sun rise - spectacular. I went up Rt 9 on the east side of the river up to 23 and into Massachusetts, mostly farmland - very nice. I caught some rain in the White Mountains but who cares, the scenery was awesome. Need to do it again.
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Thought I'd ask a few questions before heading blindly into taking the running lights apart. To briefly re-cap I need to remove the fairing to stabilize my audio connection but the two bolts securing the light bar are buggered. I think I can remove the fairing if I dismantle the lights (tell me if I'm wrong). It's not obvious how to proceed. I didn't install these lights so have no diagrams or instructions. You guys are my manual. There is an 8 mm bolt that binds a clamp that holds the directionals. Above that is a "collar" that looks like it could accommodate a 22 mm wrench (that's a guess) but it's not clear what that does. Can I remove the top running light without messing with the directionals? I understand that alignment can be rather tedious, but that's OK if I can get the fairing removed. Ever get the feeling we take one step forward and three steps back? Thanks in advance.
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Thanks for the suggestions. The first thing I did was put everything back together and went out riding. After all it's only the audio. The easy out broke off at the bottom of the hole so I can still get a bit in there. Further drilling will be problematic. I like Midnightventure's center punch idea. I was thinking of using an impact screw driver to add a bit of torque but need to find the right bit. I'll need room to work so will follow BuddyRich's suggestion of taking apart the running lights and removing the outer fairing. All in good time. Thanks again.
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Bought my ’08 RSV back in January. Runs great but has a few minor problems I’ve been getting to slowly. This weekend was cleaning and greasing the electrical connectors in the fairing. The audio has been cutting out intermittently – a problem well documented on this forum. I split the fairing OK but when I went to remove the light bar so I could remove the front portion of the fairing, saw that both 5 mm hex screws were completely rounded. Tried drilling one and using an extractor but broke it off (that’s never happened before:depressed:). I might be able to remove the fairing if I disassemble the running lights but that seems to be getting me further down that black hole I’m trying to avoid. The frustrating part – I can see the connectors I want to clean, just can’t get to them – all because of a couple buggered hex screws. Suggestions? It’s too early to drink.
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I've been meaning to ask you guys about this. The audio system on my '08 RSV powers up sporadically. There's no rhyme or reason - sometimes it powers up sometimes it doesn't. Once it's on, all functions work great. Are there known connector problems at play here?