Bob and Mary

With the inexpensive cameras, if you use them in a car, do you need to take them inside when it's hot out? Or will they tolerate being in a closed up car when it's hot? Obviously when on the bike I'd lock it up or take it with me.

Thank to everyone who shared information. I had the same issue with my '86. No doubt caused by using the left peg to get on the bike ( I'm 5'8" so I need the boost). I showed a friend the pictures of how to reinforce the bracket. Took about three hours start to finish. That included getting caught up on things and talking bad about some of his customers that want the impossible. Good thing his shop has wide open bay doors.... it was almost 90 degrees with 80% humidity...... and just for grins I tried using the left passenger's floorboard to get on this morning and it works fine. Any way thanks everyone for the information.

Thanks to everyone for the advice and links. I went with the ebay adapter.

Just what I needed. Thanks.

All, I bought a new (Harbor Freight Tag Along) trailer to tow behind my 1986 Venture Royale. Trailer has 1 wire for running lights, 1 wire for right brake light AND right turn signal, 1 wire for left brake light AND left turn signal and 1 wire for ground. The trailer I had been borrowing had 2 wires for the turn signals (right and left) and one wire for the brake lights , one for running lights and a ground wire. If I try to run a turn signal and brake light on the same wire I'm not so sure it will work, because my '86 uses a separate wire for each turn signal. Do I need to rewire the trailer or is there an adaptor device that will allow me to keep the stock trailer wiring and not fry my bike wiring? Thanks for any advice you can give. Bob

Had a fork seal leak a year ago. Replaced both sides while I was doing it. Left the forks attached to the bike, dropped the wheel and lower tubes. The seal that was leaking has not leaked since I replaced it. However the seal that didn't leak at the time started leaking almost immediately. I replaced it twice now... last time I got about 3,000 miles on it before it blew. Am I cursed, or is there something else I should be looking at when replacing the seal? I use Yamaha original equipment seals. I cover the inner tube with saran wrap and oil it so I can slide the new seal on. It has progressive springs, installed two years ago. I use a 2 piece seal seating tool store bought, not home made. Inner tube has what looks like a small dent in the area above the seal. I cannot feel the dent, but it's visible. I buffed it with a green scotch brite pad, nothing snagged on the pad. On a side note, the front end had begun bottoming out when I go out of my driveway. It's the kind of curb that is a rounded drop to the pavement, not a regular curb cut. The front forks will not hold air pressure. Used soapy water once to try to find the air leak, with no luck. So I'm going to change the seal again... are there any special Yamaha incantations I should be using, or are regular swear words OK?

The day, Saturday April 2nd, started out windy and rainy. Hourly checks of the National Weather web site showed that there would be a break in the weather long enough to allow a 70 mile road trip to bring my new bike home. Granted, there was supposed to be some wind. But how bad could it be? After all, if birds could fly in wind you should be able to ride a bike in most weather, short of hurricanes and tornadoes. So my wife and I set out a schedule and called her sister who loves to come along for any great adventure. Come to think of it, she likes to do many things, up to and including watch paint dry. My wife said she invited her to help load the body into the car in the event I crashed and burned. My wife was dead set against me riding it home. She cited some nonsense about it’s been 27 years since I rode a bike and it was only a 650 Kawasaki W-2. In addition, due to modifications that removed excess weight like rear shocks and center stands, that bike weighed quite a bit less than a full dress, 1300 cc Yamaha Venture. She said I should trailer it back. I explained to her that riding a motorcycle is like riding a bicycle, once you fall off, you never forget how. The trip was from Fort Wayne, Indiana to Peru, Indiana, about hour and ½ away. Off we went, arriving at Max Pitts in Peru, Indiana in a record 21/2 hours. This was due to a stop at the bank for a deposit and a journey thru town to pick up her sister. It also allowed us to stop at a famous name brand fast food place and eat a nutritious lunch. Lunch wouldn’t normally take as long as it did but for some reason, whenever my wife and her sister are in the same restaurant together the orders are never right. After several trips to the counter to get the orders fixed my wife sat down to eat. Of course by this time I was done with lunch and ready to go. Being the gentleman I am, I refrained from going out to the car and honking the horn. Instead I chose to remain with her and her sister and fidget. Finally, they were done eating and ready to drive to the dealer. As we neared the dealer’s lot, my wife asked if I was planning on going to the blessing of the bikes in Arcola, Indiana. I told her that I would decide after the ride home. We arrived at the dealer and found the salesman. He had gotten the bike ready with paper plates, a full tank of gas and tire pressures checked. I mentioned to the salesman that I’d need to purchase a good pair of gloves as my old ones had dry rotted several decades ago. He made the mistake of mentioning that whatever we bought as far as accessories today we would receive 20% off. This meant that instead of leaving soon, we would be enjoying ourselves in the motorcycle boutique. $110 later we were ready to leave. After getting my riding duds on in the parking lot, I was silently kicking myself in the ass for not borrowing a set of leathers a co-worker had offered to loan me. Not that I thought I would really need them, after all, it was at least 40 degrees and sunny, except for the clouds. And the wind was only gusting to 50 MPH or so. The bike was parked outside, at the top of a 30 foot ramp leading to the showroom. I would have preferred to have it pointing down the ramp instead of up the ramp, but I had a plan. Mounting the bike, I planned to start it and use the front break for control to roll gracefully down the gently sloped ramp. As I began rolling down the ramp, it occurred to me just how steep the ramp was and how heavy this bike was. It also dawned on me how high up the center of gravity was. But I took my time and managed to get the bike pointed towards the driveway for my first ride in 27 years. As I nearly hit a parked car in the dealership lot, I thought to myself how inconsiderate that person was. They could have parked out on the highway and given me just a little more room to maneuver. I turned left onto the paved road that led to the highway. I do mean turned. This in itself was no big deal, but somehow the bike thought I should be leaning into it a little more. To emphasize this point the bike immediately headed for a large chuckhole. As I caught on and leaned a bit more, I over corrected and came close to a van pulling onto the road from the highway. Thank goodness, the driver was considerate enough to stay out of my way. Probably respect for a fellow motorcycle enthusiast or he didn’t have time that day to call a wrecker to dislodge a motorcycle from his grill. I stopped for the highway, checked traffic and proceeded across the two southbound lanes. I stopped in the median to check for traffic and pulled out. I remembered to lean into it a little more vigorously this time and managed to aim myself and the bike north on highway 31 towards highway 24. I got rolling very well and adjusted my body for the ride. Once I felt comfortable, I decided not to ride on the shoulder of the highway, which is where I had ended up after the ever so skillfully executed turn, so I got in the right hand lane. Did I mention this is a big heavy bike? My first stoplight was a bit of a surprise. The light had changed and I had plenty of time to stop so I began down shifting. As I began applying the rear brake, I didn’t get the sensation that I was slowing down much. And as I began applying the front break, I had a strange fear that the brakes had gone out. (Later, when I read the owner’s manual, I found out that the bike has a suspension control system that eliminates fork dive) Eventually I came to a stop at the light. When the light turned green, I pulled majestically away. I picked up my left foot to shift to second and again found myself heading for the shoulder. I told myself I’d have to work on stops and starts as my previous bike had the rear brake on the left and the shifter on the right… and it didn’t weight 800 pounds. The biggest challenge was riding in heavy cross winds. I think it would have been easier had the winds made up their mind which direction they wanted to come from and stick with it. As it was, the wind would first come from the right, then from the left, then at an angle and then change again. After the first twenty miles or so I was getting the hang of it. But it does disturb me that we give the government all that money for taxes and they build a four lane highway with such skinny lanes. The next fifty miles were a repeat of the first twenty with interesting variations on wind speed and direction. I did find out that I enjoyed being passed by tractor trailer rigs as they block the wind from one direction for a little bit. (Yes, I was only going the speed limit) Exiting 469 northbound at 37 in Fort Wayne was a challenge. The road is banked at an angle suitable for a sweeping right turn at 65 MPH. As I approached the exit ramp to my right, the wind picked up from the right and blew be back on to the highway. I slowed, leaned more and more and still nearly missed the exit. As I approached home, it dawned on me that the entrance to my driveway is one of those modern curbs with no cutout for the driveway. I had worked it out in my mind that I should approach it as head on as possible just like railroad tracks. Of course the streets are only forty feet wide or so, which really cramps my style. In order for me to turn to approach the driveway squarely, I estimated I would need at least half a football field or a runway suitable for Piper Cubs. I hit the curb at a slight angle, rode over it gracefully, missed my truck parked in the drive and went straight into the garage. Thanks to my wife, who had the foresight to open the garage door as I approached, I glided to a stop inside the garage, as opposed to embedding the bike in the garage door. Once I shifted to neutral and had the bike on the side stand, I pried my fingers from the bars and turned it off. I say pried, not only because I had been hanging on so tight, but also because my hands lost feeling from the cold during the first twenty miles or so. All in all, it was a good ride. The only aches and pains were a stiff hip from the lack of pegs to stretch my legs on. This and the bike seat looked to be about as wide as the seat in my truck. This caused my hips to cramp, but better that than popping them out of the sockets. After all that, I decided to skip the blessing of the bikes in Arcola and try to find out where they bless fools like me. From the ride it is evident that I need work on low speed maneuvering and other miscellaneous items. I plan on taking a safe rider course soon. As a follow up: here it is 40 some thousand miles later and I wouldn't give this bike up for the world... although it would be nice to get out of Indiana to a state with less winter and more summer.

I have read all the information on first generation water pumps. My 86 has a small amount of coolant that has dripped out the weep hole on the water pump. I assume it will get worse as time goes on. Bike has 84,000 or so on it. It left about a tablespoon of coolant on the floor since I rode it about a month or so ago. What are the chances of a catastrophic failure, that is similar to old automotive water pumps with graphite seals? If I do rebuild it, should I change both the mechanical seal and the oil seal while I have it apart? I think it is the mechanical seal that stops the impeller shaft from leaking. If I rebuild, I plan on new o rings on the elbow and thermostat housing.

Not real knowledgeable about LED s but is it possible that the LED bulb has a built in resistor, So the blinker works because it needs a lot of resistance, but having the additional resistor is too much for the tail light by itself?

New speedometer cable arrived today. I installed it and all is right with the world. Cruise works as it should. Thanks to all who pitched in with suggestions and ideas.

When the issue started my speedometer cable seemed to be working fine. As I rode the bike further, the speedometer needle began jumping and twitching and occasionally I could hear a squealing sound while riding. I borrowed some WD40 and lubed the cable. It didn't seem to help. Is the pickup for the cruise control in the speedometer? I'll probably replace the cable since a new one is available and only $20 or so new. I also found a crack in one of the throttle cable housing ends. Again, still available and about $20. So I'm replacing it. If that doesn't cure the cruise control problem, I'll check the vacuum actuator.

I rode from Fort Wayne, IN to St. Louis. The cruise control began accelerated about 5 mph occasionally. Anyone know how the cruise works?. It used to accelerate a little when going up hill and back off a little going down hill. When it accelerates unexpectedly, it rolls the throttle quite a bit. Any ideas on how to get it to settle down?

I got the side stand yesterday and put it on, fired up the bike and ran a little carb cleaner thru it. So now I'm all set to watch it sit in the garage during the snow this morning and the cold tonite.

I left a message on your phone, with my cell number 260-579-6872.

If you find one, email is bobmaryhome at msn.com. I wrote the email address that way to stymie the bots that might be searching for emails.