joboo

There are the usual touristy things like Dunns River Falls, the water is freezing cause it comes out of the mountains so be prepared if you do that picture. Most of the places have become all inclusive because it is just not safe to travel around on your own. It is a very poor economy and you will get totally accosted by the locals offering transportation, beading your hair, weed and just about everything else. Also be careful about eating the "jerked" food at any of the roadside stands. Best advice is don't venture outside of your resort after dark, and drink lots of Red Stripe!

Thanks Twigg, I have seen some of these saddles that are not in very good shape, and because of the seams that run across it I would be afraid of stuffing anything into the 17 year old original, seems that is their failure point, not even sure what the material is, I don't think it is leather looking at the back of the pieces under the saddle.

I had to throw my 2 cents in on this. I have had 2 originals from yamaha. I had serial number 33 of the original tour package bikes from yamaha, a 1981 XS Venturer. ( Venturer is what they were back then) I sold it in 1994 cause it was having tranny problems I didn't want to fix, still looked like new though and it was a mistake to sell it(in hindsight). That bike NEVER had a single mechanical problem up to that point, the only thing I didn't like was it had too much vibration and would put your butt to sleep on long rides. I still have pictures but would have to scan them or take a pic of a pic to post them if anyone was interested. I now have a 96 RSTC. serial number 41 that I bought in 1995. It also has had very few mechanical problems and I caused the only ones it has had from leaving it sit for extended periods of time. It was one of yamaha's first 5 year, 100K mile bumper to bumper warranties, but I never needed it. My only complaint to yamaha was and still is the stock saddle. I wanted to keep the bike all stock so have never replaced it. ( I am going to now and just hold the stock saddle for when or if I ever decide to sell it) My complaint, in writing to yamaha was that the stock saddle, met at the tank instead of going up over the tank as they fixed in later models. On long rides if you don't sit back in the saddle it sort of pinches the crotch of your pants (and other things) between the tank and the saddle. yamaha refused to fix it but they did change it on new models and the new model seat brackets don't fit. Other that that I have no complaints at all and love my bike!

I am really tired of sitting on my bike and rocking it back and forth to fill the tank to the top. I am thinking of drilling some holes in the inside sleeve of my gas tank. The sleeve is solid and goes into the tank about 2 inches from the inside edge of the collar. It keeps me from filling the tank that last half gallon unless the rocking ( which looks really ridiculous) and it burps fuel all over sometimes. Anybody else have this kind of experience? Editing because after this posted the threads for this topic came up and I saw the fix and comments from V7 Goose. Don't know why these threads didn't show up on search. BTW thanks V7 Goose, I would have drained the tank, pumped in co2 and drilled it but like your idea much better!

I have a new 40 gallon Rheem on one side of the house and a tankless on the other side. One of the posts mentioned that the insides are all about the same, which is true, the price varies with the warranty which is either 6, 9 or 12 years. You can get a nice electric GE or Rheem (GE is Rheem) 40 Gallon for under $300 with a 9 year and under $500 for the 50 gallon. The only real difference between the 6 and the 9 is element wattage. My 40 gallon is new because The little ball valve snapped off in the "open" position when I was draining it, which after 16 1/2 years is the only thing I have ever needed to do even here in Florida on really "scaly" water. Changing the fittings and the anodes are "feel good" fixes for the few dollars but really are not necessary in the overall picture. If you spent $500 for the tank and had it for 10 years the cost is only $4.16 a month and only $2.60 if it makes it to the 16 year mark. Considering what it does....buy a new one!! Now for the other side, tankless. I have a garden tub in the master and it takes more than a 40 gallon tank to fill it with hot water. After a ton of research, BTW...I have had the tankless for 9 years now, and they are all over the place in quality and cost. The 2 biggest factors in deciding which one is average incoming water temp and size. Once that has been determined, the guts of the thing need to be sorted out. The basic models have an incoming sensor to turn on the elements and outgoing to turn them off. The more expensive models will have multiple heating chambers with multiple sensors that will vary turning them on by incoming water temp and smooth out the process to keep the temp even. A whole house computer controlled model should be under $1K, anything more and you are into commercial level or have a mansion with 5 or more bathrooms. If you go with a multichamber model, look at the elements and make sure they are common hardware store variety for easy replacement. They usually are spa heater elements. The sensors are the screw-in type and should also be common. The higher end models will contain a circuit board which as any electronics are prone to failure, just make sure that you are dealing with a reputable company that will be around for awhile. Those boards are full of electronic relays. I have had to exchange my circuit board once in 9 years and no elements and one sensor. The board exchange was around $150. the sensor less than $10. These things take a lot of power to hook them up so if you are replacing a tank model you will have to add on several new breakers and wire from the box. They take up very little room and you are never without hot water as long as you have power or gas. I have a Siesco whole house unit that cost under $600 9 years ago and I would not trade it for any amount of money. Some of you will ask why I have both, and the answer is that I am very rural and we do have a lot of power outages, The tank unit can be powered by my backup gen set but the tankless can't, mainly because of the size of my gen set (8K). I could do it if it was the only thing I was running but that is another discussion. Hope this helps! enough of you guys have helped me on my bike stuff!

I have noticed that we have LOTS of visitors...Welcome!! For those of you visiting, this site is an awesome place to get information about your bike and share others experience with their bikes. The information about anything and everything from accessories, where to get em, maintenance and how to do it, paint, pictures and just general bike talk can be found here. I visited this site many times to get help with maintenance stuff and a big Thank You to the guys like Condor, Freebird and Goose to name a few who have taken the time to explain stuff to newbies or guys that just want to avoid taking their bikes to a dealer or shop do get some very expensive repairs that they could easily do themselves. To take full advantage of the site only costs you $12 bucks for a whole year, I made that up on the first part I bought and membership allows you to see the pictures the guys posts that have worked on the same parts. I changed the needle valves on my 96 RSTC and the parts from a dealer and many online stores were about $36 apiece. Using this site as a resource I purchased them online from OBB in a 5 pack for the same as it costs for one! My reason for posting this is not only to thank the guys that spend their time posting to help others but to keep a great site going strong! Become a member! Remember there is strength in numbers and in brotherhood! Great Riding!