M61A1MECH

I have used this site with good luck. https://www.decodethis.com/

Interesting, I just found what I believe is the bike that luvmy40 test rode, listed on Cycle Trader, it is listed as a V-Star, I hope the dealership knows what they really have there. Other than the clear coat peeling on the top of the tank and white walls looking very old, it looks to be in pretty good condition. I would be tempted if it were a bit closer, now that I am retired I have time to ride more and could justify a second bike. There is a sister bike to that one in Lakeland Florida (100 miles from me), it has been at the dealer for nearly 2 years and is more than double the price of this one and it has a set of ugly (IMHO) fishtails on it, but I have been watching it to see if the price starts to drop, but it has not moved a bit. https://www.cycletrader.com/listing/1998-Yamaha-V-Star-Tour-Classic-5005803311 https://www.cycletrader.com/listing/1998-Yamaha-Royal-Star-121096062

I owned a 98 Tour Classic for 9 years and 96000 miles, loved that bike, wanted to keep it after getting my 07 Venture, but just could not justify having 2 bikes. The 98 was not getting ridden enough after I got the Venture and I decided to sell it. Regretted that decision the next time I saw the bike, new owner was not keeping it up to my expectations, but that is how it goes. It did not exhibit the same top heavy feel of the Venture, for the reasons you stated, I did install a DYNA ignition and BUB pipes, both helped the performance. It was great in the first 3 gears, in 4th it was OK but 5th it was just for cruising. I wish I had put a V-Max rear end in it, that would have perked it up a good deal. I only had two problems with the bike, the ignition switch had to be changed under warranty and later the water pump seals failed and I got oil in the coolant, not uncommon for these bikes. Not sure what color scheme the bike you rode was, but for 98 the TC only came in Green and Ivory or Black and White, Green and Ivory was the best. Here is what she looked like at 96000 miles.

I will also attest to SKYDOC's fix using the heavier spring. The clutch on my 07 started to slip around 40K, put one of Earl's springs in and no more slippage. I pull a trailer on occasion and used synthetic oil, at nearly 80K when I sold it no slippage, I did not change out the inner most friction plate (half thickness one) with the full thickness one Earl includes in his kit, so it told me the spring was the issue. As Flying Fool stated, easy job to do, if the bike is on the side stand, you do not even have to drain the oil. Worst part of the whole job is removing the old gasket. Do be sure to use a properly sized inch pound torque wrench set to the proper value when installing the bolts, several on this and other Yamaha forums have managed to snap off the heads using the wrong setting. Good luck, keep us posted.

Chances are what you saw were from Diamond R accessories, they made a lot of items for Ventures a number of years ago, but sadly they got out of the business for a while and got rid of their Venture, eventually they bought a CAN AM and now are making accessories for the Can Ams, you may find them on face book to see what they are offering now. I have these https://addonaccessories.net/footrests/gl1800-adjustable-passenger-pegs.html on my Goldwing, they may work on a Venture, if AddOn has a good return policy maybe you could get them and try them, if they do not fit or cannot be adapted, you could return them and only be out the cost of shipping.

We made it home a few hours ago, ran into rain every now and again, once back in Florida, it was hot enough that we did not stop to put rain gear on, just rode through it and got wet, each time we dried out, it rained again. Anyways had a great time, and we are home safe.

Do not forget that one reason that Yamaha did not put the counter balancer in the original Royal Stars was the fact that they were targeting the Harley crowd and wanted that V-twin like lope, as I recall Harley sued Yamaha for infringing on their "Potato-Potato" exhaust note. In my opinion it was poor marketing on Yamaha's part not to use the V-max motor or something more like it in the original Royal Stars , Royal Star Ventures and the new Gen 3 Ventures, but tat is an entirely new topic.

Most common problem that causes oil in the coolant is the water pump seals going bad, there is a vent hose for the chamber between the coolant galleries and the oil galleries that may show signs of coolant dripping that would indicate the seals, I had one fail but never had any weeping at the vent.

Actually I think we may all wasting our time on this thread trying to help the OP, he has not been back to the forum since he made his 1 and only post, when he returns with some insight on his riding habits and condition of his bike, we will have a better understanding of his real issue. It may well be he is just trying to ride the V-4 like a V-twin, as stated above they are very different and require different riding styles. I will continue to monitor the thread hoping for more information from the OP.

I think the original Royals have 28mm carbs and the Venture and later model Tour Deluxe have 32 mm carbs, not that it really matters much to the OP in correcting his issue.

Earl, Right on the money.

One thing you can look into is a DYNATEK ignition system, it will let you change the spark advance and the set the rev limiter a bit higher, here is a link, http://www.powercommander.com/downloads/Support-Released/Dynatek/Manuals/D3K7-4_7-5.pdf One thing you have to watch is if the rev limiter is set to high with the stock valve springs you can float the valves and damage the engine, if you want to push the rev limiter above the DYNATEK recommendations you need to change out the valve springs to the ones used in the V-Max, for the more handy types, I am pretty sure you can also change the cams out and use the V-Max cams, but more knowledgeable folks should be stopping in soon for additional information.

We left Moorehead, KY this morning and it was 60 degrees, windy and clear, that soon turned to very windy and overcast, which turned into cold, windy and rain for the last 150 or so miles. We checked into the Red Roof as planned, but decided we wanted a bit better accommodations so we are in the Hampton Inn in Elyria for the next few days. Looking forward to seeing everyone at MD.

We went there last year when we left for home after MD, well worth the time, we spent 6 hours inside, did not tour the outside static displays. I recommend anyone going near Dayton should stop in and tour the museum.

Yeah and that was before we started the tasting portion of the tour.

Our journey continued into Tennessee yesterday, stopped and toured the Brushy Mountain Penitentiary, wo what a scary place that is, they is where they held James Earl Ray, if you are in the area of Petros, TN it is worth stopping to check it out. Today we got our Bourbon Passports stamped at 3 distilleries, Markers Mark is well worth the time, tomorrow we tour Woodford Reserve, just so happens we stumbled on their grand opening of the new welcome center. We should be headed for Parkersburg WV sometime tomorrow.

So we need to clarify a couple of things here. The Royal Stars all have 2 overdrive gears, 4th and 5th, neither is meant for any sort of hard or aggressive accelerating. If you are in say 5th gear tooling along at 55 MPH and want to pull out an pass someone and open up the throttle, it is going to bog down, shutter and lug the motor, all because the gearing is to high, if you gently roll on the throttle it will gently gain speed and RPM. The same will happen in 4th but to a much lesser degree. If you have not done this, take the bike out and instead of clicking through all the gears and motoring down the road in 5th, stop in 3rd gear and get a feel for the performance the bike is capable of, then find a nice wide open stretch of road and while still in 3rd open the throttle up as fast as you like, if all is good with the carbs, air filter , plugs and other systems that will affect the performance, it should accelerate at a very nice rate. If that does not happen, then start looking at performance issues, noted in the previous post. If you are going along in 5th at 65 MPH and need to pass some one, click it down 2 gears and open her up, my 98 Tour Classic would do 85 in 3rd gear before hitting the rev limiter. Keep us posted on what you find.

That is just one they are working on, besides, sheet metal, hydraulics and electrics all work the same old or new, we used the same technology on the Pipers I built, as we did for F4s , F15s and Tomahawks, just take the knowledge you have and apply it to the job at hand. Looks like a fun place to work.

As our journey continued north today we stopped in at Wheels Through Time in Maggie Valley, another place worth stopping at also. Here is a bit of trivia I learned while there, back in the 40's Harley developed a 2 cylinder horizontally opposed shaft driven bike for the Army, call the XA, looked like a BMW boxer, they have two of them, and only a little over a 1000 were ever made. Had a left hand throttle so the rider's right hand was free to fire a hand gun. Just Google it you will be amazed.

It is really worth the time, you may find an employment opportunity there if you are still looking, they are currently rebuilding a B-17 and have lots of other projects in works for the look of it.

Stopped for the night near Macon and went to the Air Force Museum at Warner Robbins, if you are ever in the area and have a few hours it is well worth the time.

We left Edgewater this morning and headed north, taking slow leisurely ride through GA, SC, NC, KY before getting into Ohio.

Interesting, I was sure when I found those on the Yamaha website a few weeks ago, they required a payment even to download a copy. Good to know thanks for double checking on that.

I had a Carbon One adapter when I had my Venture, it also was the style with the legs you would slide it and bolt after the bike was up. I always inserted the pin from the right side, on the first attempt I had to slightly bend the tab on the left side of the bike to get the pin to go through it and I always had to put some pressure on the middle of the pin as I was trying to get it into the left tab to slightly bend it or it would never align. I would put a 2 x 8 under the kickstand to get enough room to side the jack under awith the adapter stand attached to the bike. Once the jack started to lift the bike it would naturally settle flat onto the jack adapter and all was good. If you need to pump up the rear shock and the front forks, only use a zero loss hand pump, I had two, one for the front shocks o to 30 psi range or so and then the higher pressure one I used on my Bustec trailer shocks for the rear. Never try to use a compressor on these, way to much volume and pressure for the job.

Although I am not riding one of the new Ventures, my Goldwing has reverse on it, I also seldom use it, but it has been very handy to have on several occasions, especially in those dirt or rock filled parking lots you find at some of the out of the way places that have good food. Slipping on a rock has nearly landed the Hondapottomus on her side a few times, the reverse does away with that problem. I have also used it when backing up with my trailer, much easier to back the bike with reverse than by pushing when the trailer is attached.