meach

Yea I had thought of that as well, had been going up and down a lot of hills just none above 7,000. Although I could could shift at higher elevations later the clutch felt softer the higher I went. Possible I guess that the elevation affected what air I had in the line when I was up at 10,000+ Yea the fluid needs to be changed. It was an over site on my part not to change it out prior to my trip. Because the sight glass is somewhat hidden behind audio control (being tall I have to stoop over to see the sight glass) I overlooked it, also all my older bikes were cabled clutches. This will give me an excuse to go back out to the Rockies to make sure my clutch is working fine. This last trip I rode thru Glacier (Sun Road), Yellowston, RMNP, Beartooth, Chief Joseph, and more.

So recently returned from a trip out west. Did around 7,800 mi in about 24 days. Visited some family along the way. Bike ran great the entire trip, even at the highest elevations with the exception of following clutch problem. No issues with clutch until I came down from Stanley, ID passing thru Sun Valley. Not long after you climb to around 8,000 ft. I had pulled over to an over look and when I went to change gears I had virtually no clutch. Yikes. I got going again by rolling down hill from the pulloff and putting it into gear and was able to change gears without the clutch. As I went down the other side the clutch pressure returned either as a result of lower elevation or fluid cooling off. Turns out fluid was low so eventually found some DOT4 and added fluid which seemed to help. Still didn't shift as well at higher elevations (or maybe due to being hot due to climbing or old fluid). After leaving the mountains back across KS the clutch seemed fine even after riding all day in 90 degree heat. comments/suggestions?

In case you're not very familiar with the geology of TN you can google it but, Nashville and surrounding area is in whats called the Nashville basin (part of Central Basin) surrounded by Highland Rim which tends to rise in elevation as you leave the basin. You can look at a topo/terrain map and see how the terrain is around the area you have an interest in. As you go east (and actually south as well) from McMinnville you go up on the Cumberland Plateau which tends to be cooler in summer and more snow, etc. in winter. Where Plateau meets lower terrain you have a lot of steep grades, rugged terrain. Due south of McMinnville is Beersheba Springs which is a nice summer cabin type of area, also nearby is Savage Gulf State Natural Area which is great for hiking, etc. The three sections of TN (west,middle,and east) tend to be distinctly different. Nashville Basin as I recall is much like central KY with limestone rock near the surface which allows for mineral rich grasses thus a lot of horse country in central TN.

It's a nice area of TN, I went to graduate school at Tenn. Tech. (in Cookeville) back in around 1980. It's mostly farming country, slower pace of life but fairly easy access to larger cities (Nashville being the closest but Knoxville, Chattanooga also not bad). Cookeville a typical college town with art/culture/sports related due to Univ. being there (around 10K students give or take). Also not far to Murfreesboro, another college town (around 20K). Upper middle TN has grown over the years due to Big South Fork federal area along KY/TN border. Tons and tons of nice roads to ride. I cut up thru there from time to time going to different places in TN. (My family was from just south of Nashville, I grew up in Knoxville) FYI - B2MOM lived (I think I read they sold their house) lived other side of Nashville closer to Memphis between Martin & Paris in Dresden, TN. I went to a gathering at their place few years ago. Tons of outdoor stuff, several state parks not far, large reservoir south (Center Hill Lake) nearby or go north to Dale Hollow Lake. I used to take off with my college advisor at lunch and run down to Center Hill and get some fishing in before evening classes. He kept his boat at a marina there. Typical to most small towns, people tend to be clannish, if you don't have family, local connection, etc. locally can be a challenge at times but TN people pretty friendly.

Its a shame but I hear more negative things about them than I do positive. For years have seen several articles how most of the money they raise goes to paying themselves and their fund raisers big salaries, etc. very little actually going to vets. One of the local Atlanta TV stations did a story just recently saying the same thing. Seems to be a lot of charities in the name of vets making money for themselves. (btw I was USAF 70-74, year in Thailand during Vietnam) Wife and I would be interested in riding down to Macon area, several Atlanta area folks on forum, I've met some over the years but only one I have been in touch with recently is "Motorcycle Mike" up in Lawrenceville, they (Mike & Shirley) might wanna also ride down. They are currently out of town on a cruise.

Somebody has to pay for all the folks who pay nothing in taxes or even get $ back after paying nothing. I did get a nice surprise when doing my taxes last year. I've always done my own, last several years been using an online software, while entering data it shows what you owe or refund $, while doing my state taxes (yes here is GA we have state income) it kept showing a huge refund compared to what I was used to getting or paying. Thought I was making a mistake but after a little research found out when you turn 62 the state exempts 35K of income, jumps to 65K when you turn 65. I didn't know that, ended up getting all my state money I had been paying back but now have to use that to pay the feds off.

Yep, turned out a little warmer than we thought it was going to be, we thought about riding our RSV (also an 07 ) with a cargo trailer for the camping gear to Little O. SP in McRae and camp which we do sometimes when we visit Chester, GA but thought the night might be a little cool and the wife is not a big cold/cool weather rider. Ended up just driving the car down and back for the day. I'm ready for summer for some longer camping trips. We'll probably head up to the UP of MI again this summer which ends up being our longest trip of the year, would like to take a trip out west on the bike but not sure how wife would do that long on the road.

Congrats. Just noticed your post. Guess that means you'll have more time to brew and do all sorts of other fun stuff. Its nice to be able to do or not do what ever you want. I sent you a PM about riding over some time.

Going to replace my rear wheel, (found a dent in current wheel while inspecting everything) Going to lubricate everything when I switch out wheels, replacement wheel is from an 09 with similar miles as my bike. I lubricated this on current wheel about a year and a half ago. All noises are currently gone, everything seems to be running smoothly now. Also going to change out my rear shock while I have it all apart.

One last post in this thread just in case someone runs across it down the road. Have run several errands around town on the bike with NO noise what so ever. Went ahead and pulled drive shaft, etc. and everything seemed to be in good order. Shaft spline needs some grease but looks fine. Everything in final drive is fine, still had good grease from last time I greased it. (I use molly paste). So as to clanking noised appearing to be coming from the middle gear area, It must have been the collar in front hub coming loose when bearing failed and bouncing around in hub and sound was transmitted back somehow. Wife on back thought sound was under seat as well. It wasn't until collar got stuck in one position out of alignment that it started rubbing front hub that I could feel grinding thru handle bar grips each rotation of wheel. Doing some routine stuff while everything apart but should be good to go when I get it all back together.

Yea that's what I was planning to do, just thought I'd see what was out there first. Awesome. I'll PM you to make arrangements, thanks.

Just by chance if anyone is triking out their RSV this winter I'm looking for rear shock & rear wheel. It appears my shock has been leaking for a while, bottom is wet & gummy, recall a while back a drop of oil beneath bike. Also looking to replace my rear wheel while I have bike all apart this winter. Must have caught the edge of a pot hole at some point and put dent in edge of rim, not real bad but want to go ahead and replace it. Thanks.

It seems most folks have a favorite brand of tire, I've used several brands over the years, currently on the RSV I changed from the stock 150/80/16 to the 130/90/16. I had put a Com. II on the rear a few months earlier and back in spring looked at the Com. II for the front which doesn't come in the stock size but does come in the 130, other reason for 130 front was for handling. I had read others who went with the 130 so I went ahead and I'm glad I did. For me its much better handling at parking lot speeds, seems much more nimble and I can balance bike much better. Couldn't tell any diff. at road speed. I believe both front and rear are bias. (fyi I got Front Commander II 130/90HB-16 Blackwall Tire from Denniskirk for $110 including shipping)

So I got new front wheel bearings (replaced both sides & seals) installed and took bike out for a spin, noise in inner bearing area not there. Everything feels fine, runs smooth. Coasted down the road with motor off and in gear to listenenfor any noise, sounded like normal gear noise, not like a gear missing a tooth or anything. Ujoint seems tight when moving forward and backward (how we used to check em on cars in the old days) Don't see how there could be any connection between bad front wheel bearing and knocking noise around middle gear area. At some point still going to pull axle out to inspect & lube. Will ride locally over the winter and see if it ever returns in the mean time.

So, it turns out one of the bearings had failed like I had thought (after 5K mi if they indeed put new ones in, I noticed later my old wheel had both bearings removed). I would have seen it had I gone ahead and taken off the other brake disc to get to bearing which I couldn't because 3 of the screws were in so tight and then with locktite I had broken two star bits and was going to buy a better one the next day. Dealer had to drill em out to get to bearing, he showed me how it had come apart enough to allow collar to shift and rub against hub. I went ahead and took parts home and finished removing old bearing which was a pain due to inner race falling apart from outer, got outer race out enough to use dremel to just cut the race in half. Got both new bearings & seals installed, wheel turns smooth on alxe. Got wheel back on bike and took it for a spin. Gonna go back and replace a couple disc mount screws and torque everything down later after some other routine maint. this winter. On a side note, it turns out the hole thru hub is not the same on both sides, left side is about 35 mm and right side is about 30 mm, which is the side that failed.I checked my old rim and it was the same. (I always ask to keep old parts anytime I'm charged for new ones to make sure I'm getting new ones)

Thanks for ideas, So pretty much everything mentioned thus far I had also considered. Something is causing collar to rub against inside of hub. Everything seems straight as far as the naked eye, if either axle or collar was bent I would the think the axle would bind passing thru which it doesn't. Roll test the axle seems perfect. If i have to at some point I can take axle & collar to brothers house about an 1 1/2 hour away and put on his lathe. I had taken out one bearing thinking they were bad, that's when I discovered collar had been rubbing, on the side I took out there appears to be an 1/8 inch or space between collar and hub, would think the other side of hub the same however I didn't pull out bearing, partly due to brake disk mount screws almost impossible to get out due to locktite and torqued in and the fact that now the bearings seemed fine so no reason to pull out bearing, I wanted to leave it as much as possible as dealer had left it. I guess its possible collar was enough out of round on one end to now hit the new hub, don't see how collar would ever be damaged due to being inside hub unless being way over torqued to the point of causing collar to bulge out enough now rub inside of hub. Not sure you could over torque that much by hand. Now it wouldn't surprise me that the shop would over torque it as poor as the other work was that they did. Rolling collar on a flat surface it appears to be perfectly round and straight but now scrapped as seen in photos. Took the wheel, spacers, axle to different dealer (but now part of same chain, used to be independent). Older tech couldn't tell what was going on without pulling bearings and taking measurements which they agreed to do at no cost to me. So will see what they say. I'll post back results for future references.

So while troubleshooting noise in drive train I discovered a noise in front wheel, after pulling front wheel I discovered what I thought was a bad wheel bearing making noise each time wheel rotated. Turning bearing with finger could feel what felt like rolling over gravel, went ahead and ordered new seals and bearings, they came today, was in the process of removing bearings, removed left bearing and nothing wrong with it, pulled out collar and low and behold that's what is rubbing. See photos below. Axle and collar both seem perfectly straight, both bearings seem fine. Now mind you this is a new wheel & bearings installed by dealer about 4K mi ago after an accident. Its probably been rubbing ever since work was done, just been getting worse. In the pic you can see on the bad side of the collar where it is rubbing, and looking inside hub can see shinny area, notice collar only rubbing on one side. Only way to get collar out is to remove bearing. Any Ideas what the problem is, wheel hub defect?. The dealer didn't charge me for a new collar or axle so I'm assuming used old one. Did charge me (or rather my insurance) $700 for new wheel, bearings, and seals. Prob. going to take wheel by dealer that did work and see what they say. They did some other work replacing a few parts, I ended up having to go back and fix all their sloppy work, they even left some electronics under fairing disconnected. I wrote a nasty email to general manager of this local chain of MC dealers (Mountain Motorsports) here in Atlanta area. Local service manage offered to have another tech go over all the work they had done but I took a pass, had already fixed all their mistakes and didn't want them touching it again .

I been wanting a vstrom as well, several folks here on motocampers ride em, everyone that I've spoken with love theirs, maybe they will chime in. I've been thinking about selling my vtx (which I love and took on a 3K trip up to the UP this summer) and getting the vstrom in order to do more off road camping.

Nice photo, I must confess I've never noticed crossing the bridge along US2, most recently this last august. Guess I'm too busy watching out for traffic or something. Love riding the UP, this last trip up rode on up to Copper Harbor, had beautiful weather. Next summer want to ride the Porcupine Mtns. Have a former foster daughter in Big Bay (north of Marquette) that we go visit and ride different roads each trip

I love my hitch Larry made, have used it now about 15K miles with no issue. I had a hard time finding a smaller insert for it so I contacted Larry and he made me one for a reasonable cost.

Great information, thanks. The photos were great, I've never been much of a tranny guy, even in the old days. Let alone with drive shaft bikes which both of mine are now. So I think I have good news but won't know for sure until later. I may still have issues with middle gear/ujoint but did some slow riding around neighborhood today to do some trouble shooting, drive train feels fine with exception of rhythmic vibration, slight knocking coming thru grips, came back home and pulled both front calipers off to eliminate them, turns out left wheel bearing was shot and right was getting there. (these bearings have about 4K miles, were installed in new front rim that was installed by dealer along with some other work they did, worst job ever and I let them know it, I had to go back and fix everything they screwed up,) I had removed calipers individually earlier and checked for any issues, but after removing both at the same time and spinning wheel did I detect vibration of bad bearing. Will order new bearings and seals, instal and then see how it runs. Will leave rear end alone for now. Only want to do one thing at a time. Will still pull drive shaft, etc. later to grease everything and check everything. Thanks to all for ideas and suggestions. EDIT: Ordered new bearings and seals from ronayers, will get those in when they come and see how she does.

I have run across numerous thread regarding gen 1 tranny work but not much on gen 2, it seems on gen 1 the middle gear drive shaft assembly can be removed, was hoping gen 2 were the same so I could at least inspect middle drive. Just ran bike on stand putting a little pressure on rear brake to remove gear lash, no obvious noises. Might do a little coasting up and down street under different conditions (different gears, neutral, brake on and off, etc) to see effect on noise then will just go ahead and pull drive shaft and see how it looks and go from there. May have to sit the project aside for now, got some other pressing things to get done, out of town, etc. We use the venture for mostly 2 up camping trips, etc. and as the camping season winds down for the wife (she not a cold weather camper) I'll just keep on riding the VTX solo. (Took it solo up to the UP of MI earlier this summer.)

Noise seems more than just the play in the gears, haven't ruled out ujoint. Noise sounded like something in the gear box moving around, would almost go away then clang and bang again then went away on the way back to camp. Next day we drove to town and bike seemed fine then on the way back from town started up again. It was the next morning we jacked it up and listened to see where it was coming from. I could feel the knocks thru the handle bars, almost like wheel hitting frame each rotation. Driving slowly I could tell something not right. Right now just gathering information. Have worked on numerous car drive shafts/ujoints over the years so will check that first once I pull it from bike then will go from there. Perhaps someone with experience pulling middles gears, etc. will chime in, seems it hasn't had to be done very often.

I haven't posted here in a while, have dropped in from time to time to see whats going on. On camping trip last weekend bike started making clanking noises, we were headed to town just going 40 mph or so, long story short I hooked up with maintenance guy at campground and used a floor jack to raise rear wheel to better isolate noise, hard to tell where it was coming from, new it was in the drive train toward front of shaft. Ran motor at idle with wheel off ground and can hear the clanking noise coming from middle gear housing. Went ahead and trailerd bike home rather than risk further damage. Originally sounded like something loose bouncing around inside motor, coasting with engine off you can feel a bind or something each rotation of wheel. While spinning tire in neutral on jack everything turns smoothly, no grinding, clicking etc., its only when in gear that you can hear the noise, doesn't matter which gear I was in coasting it sounded the same, clutch feels & works fine, all the gears shift & feel normal, engine runs fine. Was hoping it was just ujoint on shaft going bad but it seems fine. Bike is an 07 with 40K on it, last couple years have been pulling a small cargo trailer a few times on camping trips. Guess the first main question is can you get to the middle gears without removing engine and having to split crankcase? My plan is to tear everything down over the next couple months and do some other maintenance while everything is taken apart. Fortunately I have my VTX to keep riding as weather allows. From what research I've done there haven't been many (if any) issues with the middle gears, wouldn't think pulling the cargo trailer would be that much of an issues, seems a lot of folks have pulled trailers with no issue. Thanks for any insights or suggestions,

Another mint user here (14 -Nadia) along with cinnamon desktop. When I ditched windows all together I tried several and liked mint the best mainly because it recognized and set up all the hardware with no glitches. Seemed to be one of the best running "out of the box" out there. I setup Wine for the only windows program I still wanted to use (was a graphics program I'd had for years called Paint Shop Pro, have since just been using Gimp. Since I'm retired now don't really HAVE to use puter that much. Libre Office has worked fine for any MS Office docs I still need to access. Have been using iPad lately (or my iPhone) for most internet browsing. Use the wife's Mac Book for updating my Garmin maps as I couldn't find an easy Linux solution. Got my wife the Mac years ago cause her HP laptop was constantly having malware issues and I was constantly having to clean crap off or fix things. We had gotten iPhones and the Mac works so much better with her phone and she is so much Happier, I took her HP which is now has Linux on it. I have a little net book i put a version called "Fuduntu" which works pretty good, designed for port putters .