SilvrT

Oh man you're HILARE ! I will have to try that ... but it won't be just the ears .... (well maybe not!)

Yes, you will have to experience it to really know. For the most part I could handle it ... but it took effort and concentration. Something to consider which might have been an effect for me is depth perception. Mine isn't as good as it should be and this can contribute to imbalance. Another thing that probably contributed to my struggles with that bike is age ... I'm well into my 60's and no where near the strength I had when I was 40 or even 50. In my 50's I had an '85 Venture. Another top heavy bike but I had no problems man-handling it then. Times when I would struggle are; Coming to a stop at an intersection. If the road surface was irregular, I had to focus on balancing the bike and coming to a full stop first before I could check traffic, etc. Not an issue with the Vic. Making a tight turn at low speed in places like a gas station or making quick turns. I'm not afraid to admit I wasn't comfortable with that and therefore could not do them very well. Again, not an issue with the Vic. Backing out of my driveway onto the street. Hardly any incline at all however, the concrete was old and slightly broken up and irregular. Plus there was the curb. While stopped I was unable to comfortably hold the bike with my left leg while keeping my right foot on the brake. Had it not been for that one thing, I'd probably still be riding that '06 as it was a beautiful bike, I'd put a lot into making it my own, and my wife loved it. It did have the clutch basket whine but I could have lived with that. That said, I simply can't be happier with my current ride and the wife loves it too ... just not as much as the Venture. Go ride one ... test it under various conditions and do it with a passenger too ... only then will you know if it's something you can handle. Good Luck!

THAT is one thing I won't forget. I learned that lesson the hard way. Several years ago I went on a ride from Kamloops, BC, down thru Spokane, over to Butte, down to Salt Lake City, over to Reno, then to Sacramento and back up the West Coast hwy. It was late July. Never put on any sunscreen. By the time I got to Salt Lake, I'd badly burned my nose, upper and lower lip, chin, ear tips. By the time I got to Reno, some of it was pussing, bleeding, and scabbing ... I can't imagine how bad I looked to others. No wonder I couldn't get any ladies to dance with me that night in Reno LMAO!!!

For us "northerners" in the West who've been basking in great spring weather (well at least the West coast area) with temps soaring around 25-30 celcius (77-86 f ) ... what's another 14-23 f (8-13 c ) degrees? Yep, Yreka forecast is for temps around 100f during VW2015 ... bring lots of sunscreen y'all! We're almost there!

As a former Midnight Venture owner who's 5'10" and 150lbs I never did get "used to" that top heaviness at low speeds and it was even worse for me when riding 2-up (which was most of the time). I changed the front tire to a 130 and installed the leveling links ... that helped a lot but not enough. After 3 years I decided the only resolve was to change to a different bike so I bought an '03 Wing. Night and day difference. Now I'm riding a Victory CCT ... same thing. Extremely easy to handle at any speed. Not meaning to discourage you on your purchase ... just stating the facts from my perspective. Other than that, the RSMV is a great motorcycle.

That's where I hung out when I had my Wing. A pretty good site although there are a few a-holes that like to get under ppl's skin.

I was gonna click the "like" button but I was too lazy ....

I wuz gonna say that but I like bragging about my Vic ... LOL

No petcock on a Vic ...

I've seen another product advertised that is dual fans, one for each cylinder ... either black or chrome. What I'd like to see is a fan system that disperses / redirects the exhaust header pipe heat away from the rider and passenger. Vic engines have no overheating issue and the majority of heat felt by rider/passenger comes off those head pipes / collector / crossover. hmmmmmm... maybe I'll have to design something ... make myself a TON of money!

Even though I'm biased, I agree ... "butt" ugly. I feel it needs some design changes to the fenders so that they flow into the lower trunk better which will make it's BUTT more attractive. Nothing's better than an attractive butt...

They're all parts bikes to keep his 1st gen's running

Can't really say for sure ... I'm getting appx 45 mpg on average.

That's the same with the Vic ... gut the CATs, add a Power Commander, high flow air filter, set of performance mufflers and dyno tune it and they run cooler and smoother and are significantly more powerful. And then throw in cams and WOW ... you're upwards and over the 120 mark on HP and Tq.

I'm 5' 11" and I felt fairly comfy but sure didn't like the lack of room on the floorboards. Nor did I like how high I had to lift my foot to apply the brake or shift gears. I felt "scrunched" when I rode the "low" version as it seemed the seat design pushed my butt further forward in comparison to the standard configuration ... it wasn't long before my back started bothering me due to that. Absolutely LOVE my floorboards and leg room / seating position ... I've been tossing around the idea of getting some highway pegs but I really don't need them as I can stretch out my legs just fine with what's there. I have a 32" inseam. About the only thing the pegs would do for me is provide a place to rest the toe of my boot on.

You see it with the Indian but not with other, similar bikes (like the Victory for example) ??

Since aerodynamics and wind has been mentioned above, .... a few weeks back we had Harley demo days ... Saturday at one location, Sunday at another, and I went both times and rode 3 times. Each was on an Ultra Limited, one being the "low" version. Compared to my Vic, or my Wing and RSMV, I found the Ultra to not be as good. I was getting more head buffeting and body buffeting on the Ultra. I could really feel it under my arms and on my knees. Never felt any of that on the Vic, Wing, or RSMV. As for the water cooled Harley, has your cousin come across any issues with that as I've heard there's been some problems with it.

Those Audi's are quick ... I tried once ... couldn't keep up with it ... I became a speck in his mirror real quick ... I shut it down around 190km/h LOL

Just saw these on another forum .... I kinda like them both ... but perhaps my bias is to blame LOL

I've got a Mobius Actioncam and really like it. https://www.mobius-actioncam.com/

WHAT??? YOU JEST ... YES?? NO? ... then maybe you should advise all the manufacturers of motorcycles about this as apparently none of them know about it LOL

When I get off the bike I always turn around and look at it ... and I like what I see and how I feel. It gets less clunky over time. If you forget the side stand is down and do a left turn, it will just pop back up when it comes in contact with the road. Watch the vid ... it's demonstrated appx mid way.

Just came across this link ...

Oh, another thing ... a lot of owners complain about the noisy shifting ... yes, it does go *clunk* when you put it in first and yes, there's a bit less of a *clunk* when you shift to second but after that, nothing really. The trick is to "pre-load" the shifter a bit before you pull the clutch in. Also, they have a stalling issue if you blip the throttle as if you're ridin an old Harley and sittin at a stop light tryin to impress everyone LOL It's got something to do with how the ECM is programmed, lack of vacuum, etc. That said, I have no problems rev-matching as I down shift. Did you know that the shifter mechanism and the foot brake mechanism can be adjusted forward or reverse with 3 different settings? Do you know about the tip over protection? Do you know about the kickstand safety? EDIT: FWIW, mine hasn't stalled since a few times the first year ... and that was probably due to the fact it was bone stock, not fully broken in yet, and I didn't know about the blipping ... which seemed to occur then when you rev matched when downshifting to 2nd or 1st. No problems since I've done some "tuning" on it although I still won't blip when stopped at a light.

Created a new thread soas to not hijack Freebird's thread .... after all, he's the boss and we could get into a big heap of kaka if'n we wuz to do that .....