grubsie

Sounds like you definitely have air in the system. Here's a video explaining how to bleed the line correctly. It also applies if you have air in the system. The same principle applies to your brakes. This is how I have been doing it for as long as I can remember. Have patience. When you have air in the system, you have to bleed like this until you do not see any more air bubbles coming out. Sometimes, you may possibly go through a crap load of fluid to get the air out.

How old is the fluid? Brake fluid absorbs water over time and even though it looks like you have plenty of brake fluid you lose pressure due to the water in the lines. It can cause the symptoms you describe. Also can make brakes feel spongy. The other thing you can do is check under the engine on the left side (shifter side) for any brake fluid. You could have a leak in the clutch cylinder or the clutch cylinder needs a rebuild although rare on a 2nd gen. I had to rebuild the clutch cylinder on a 1st gen only because the bike had sat for many years. It had the symptoms you described.

Great thread going here. It really is. But I find it kind of ironic at the moment. The "hot weather" part. Only because here in New Hampshire, the weather recently has been horrible to say the least. For the past several weeks, it's been cold, and rainy. The few days it's been a high enough to ride have been on work days and by the time I get out of work, the temp has dropped enough that riding is not fun at all. You guys have been talking about leather jackets, chaps & full coverage helmets. The only one that applies here at the moment is the full coverage helmet simply to keep warm. If you want to ride here, the other equipment you would be considering is a ski mobile 1 piece suit. The forecast coming up this week is a little more promising. Going to get to rideable temps towards the end of the week although maybe cloudy, then back to cold again over the weekend. I think we are going to go right into summer heat when this crap passes. So this thread will apply hopefully soon.

Saw your reply and decided not to reply, but now can't resist. Yes I can. No, I can't. It's too easy. No it isn't. But yes it is a the same time. You're twisting my mind!

I lose stuff all the time working on bikes in my barn. There are old wide pine boards for the floor. In days gone by the hooves from the cows that used to be in there wore the pine done down leaving the harder knots sticking up all over the place. Every once in a while, I use a magnet from a roller tool that roofers use to pick up nails in yards to go over the floor . It's amazing what I pick up. But the again, I have lost things that are right in front of me and have spent hours looking for them. I have never lost anything on the road though. Err, that's not true. Last summer, I replaced the thermostat in my truck, filled the radiator, closed the hood and drove to the hardware store. Almost. I got about 1/4 mile down the road when I heard a loud bang/crunch noise so I pulled over immediately. When I got out to open the hood, I saw antifreeze dripping. When I opend the hood to see what the noise was, I saw my 3/8" ratchet stuck in the radiator and the fan blades all bent up. Did someone forget a cotter pin maybe? Just kidding. Great McGuyver by the way. I'm sure most of us "do it yourselfers" have been there in someway.

It may be OK in a car engine or a Harley V-Twin as the transmission and clutch and stuff is separate. Motorcycle transmissions built into the rest of the engine are much harder on oil. I'll stick with what I have been doing with my bikes. It's never failed me.

Nice looking scoot. It's now how fast you mow. It's how well you mow fast! Sorry, couldn't resist. I don't understanding your thinking though. There's a new Yamie being unveiled on June 5th and you spent the money on a mower instead.

They look great. Really great. I have V&H Monster Ovals on my '08 that have the same thing happening to the chrome caps. You just gave me inspiration to paint them like you did on the Bubs.

Just human nature. Kind of like rumors. Talk to the last person in the line and the story is totally different than the original. Anyway, I find it fun to have something to look forward to. June 5th baby! Twice as fun for me. New bike unveiling and my wife turns the big 60 on the same day.

The newer Bosch 3300's now come with the convex dish. Many people that used them have had oil seepage at the gasket area. The Purolator Pure One PL14612has the same problem. I have switched to the Mobil1 M1-108.

Been somewhat busy with the work I've done to my "new to me last fall" '08 RSV in the past 5 weeks. The bike had only 5K miles on it when I bought it. (6K now) Think I should be set for a while. Took the Baron's rear lowering kit off my '02 RSV with the intent to put it on the '08. Still debating whether I am going to do it or not. New Mobil 1 V-Twin oil and Mobil 1 filter Handlebar risers that I had customized at my friends machine shop Avon Cobra tires Cleaned and re-greased the splines and pins Kuryakin highway pegs New windshield 13" Black leather clutch and brake lever covers New fork seals - one was leaking causing a sag - real fun job - previous owner probably put an air hose to it. 10w Belray fork oil EBC semi-sintered brake pads all the way around New brake fluid front and rear Installed Dion's ignition bypass switch Die electric greased every connector I could find in the fairing, under the tank and under the fuse cover Plug the AIS To do list: Barnett clutch pressure plate - Only 6K on bike at present so I think I have a while Hagon rear shock - still have a few miles before having to switch yet Upgraded speakers and add an amp. Go to some yard sales to get me some cassettes. Ride it like I stole it and ride it until I can't anymore. What has anyone else done? Always looking for ideas.

Let's start a little conspiracy theory. I wonder if anyone in the videos are members of any of the Star forums, but the admins have been requested to keep mum about them. Hmmmmm! We can call it YamaGate!

I have always wondered about a v4 that operates like a vtwin. Both front cylinders fire simultaneously and the rear do the same. What that would do is make the motor feel like a vtwin only more powerful. It would do so with 4 valves per cylinder so the front cylinders would would simultaneously have 4 intake valves (vs 2 on a vtwin) feeding the fuel on one power stroke and 4 doing the exhaust on one exhaust stroke and the same on the rear cylinders. EFI controlling the fuel. Same displacement as a vtwin but better intake and exhaust volume due to more valves. 2 coils too. Makes everything simpler. Just have to get the buzzy highway vibration feeling out of it like present on the Road Stars. Maybe rubber mounted but better than HD. I wonder if any engine company has ever tried this. I am pretty much where I want to be on my '08. The biggest problem if I like it is, how I am going to be able to sneak it past my wife!

The 1/4-20 is an SAE size. Sounds like the previous owner lost the original metric 6mmx1.5 allen bolt and tried to make the 1/4-20 work thereby crossing the threads as it's larger in diameter than the metric one. As long as what you did works, you're good to go.

June 5th may surprise us all. One can only hope. This is the 3rd vidoe of the series from Yamaha. https://www.yamahamotorsports.com/cruiser-touring/pages/journey-further?utm_source=SingleMessage&utm_medium=Email&utm_term=JourneyFurtherEM3_content=Motorcycle&utm_campaign=Event

One thing I have learned when buttoning up the outer fairing is to get the bolt under the headlight started first before moving on to all the other bolts. It typically is an Allen head, but have seen Philips heads also. If you look into the hole where the screw is supposed to go, you will probably notice that outer fairing hole is not lined up with the bracket hole. What I have found best in this situation is to something thinner than the hole like a screwdriver or Allen wrench, slide it in through the fairing front and the bracket hole and use ti to get the holes aligned. If that doesn't work, loosen all allen bolts in the fairing and windshield to get the holes aligned.

They will fit any year. The only draw back and one that doesn't concern me at all is that the risers contact the ignition cover when the front end reaches the right and left turning stops. It makes the ignition cover bend a little bit but nothing serious. The better news that under no circumstance, would anyone ever turn their front wheel that far while riding. The only time anyone would ever turn the front end that far would be while stopped and moving the bike while sitting on it. Most likely only while walking the bike back out of a parking space so the ignition cover would get minimal contact. For me, the trade off for the comfort level far outweighs the minimal ignition cover contact. I am however, having my machinist buddy take a look at this minor detail to see if he can figure a solution to eliminate this minor problem just because. It appears that the contact is only made by the top OEM (original) cap. He's very sharp and will most likely figure out an easy solution, but it costs me a lot of beer that he makes me share with him for his services. The horrible things I have to go through for the betterment of all RSV's.

Just in case anyone is wondering Lugnut crashed this bike just over 2 months ago. He's OK, but I imagine still hurting. I don't know him personally but I wish him all the best and a speedy recovery! This is his post on the Road Star Clinic form the day after it happened: http://roadstarclinic.com/component/option,com_fireboard/Itemid,187/func,view/id,1001679/catid,49/limit,10/limitstart,0/

Tom finally decided to tie the knot with his long-time girlfriend. One evening, after the honeymoon, he was welding some stuff for fun. His new wife was standing there at the bench watching him. After a long period of silence she finally spoke, "Honey, I've just been thinking, now that we are married maybe it's time you quit spending all your time out here in the shop. You probably should just consider selling all your welders along with those stupid motorcycles you have." Tom got a horrified look on his face. She said, "Darling, what's wrong? He replied, "For a minute there, you were starting to sound like my ex-wife. "Ex wife!" she screamed, "YOU NEVER TOLD ME YOU WERE MARRIED BEFORE! Tom replied: "I wasn't."

Bought some 1 1/2" handlebar risers for my RSV on ebay. Brought them to a friend of mine who has a small machine shop in his basement to make the mods I wanted. I had him make 1" dowels to add to one side of each so that the bumpers on the fairing would fit on them as if the old position handle bars were still there. He did an amazing job. They look awesome. All the cables fit OK except for the throttle cables. A little re-routing and they are fine now. That little re-routing required removing the outer fairing and removing the bolts holding the inner fairing so that I could get some space between the inner fairing and the forks so I could re-route the throttle cables. Not a hard job though. Only took me about 1/2 hour. Having owned 3 RSV's I can remove the fairing and re-install it in my sleep. It's like a new bike now. Went out for a 3 hour ride. No more pain in my shoulders or neck. Would have ridden longer but I had an appointment I had to keep. This damn work thing gets in the way of everything. A few pics: http://s1312.photobucket.com/user/grubsie/media/2008%20RSV/20170424_112028_zpsofiqccrz.jpg.html?sort=2&o=0 http://s1312.photobucket.com/user/grubsie/media/2008%20RSV/20170424_112043_zpsv1z79hiy.jpg.html?sort=2&o=1 http://s1312.photobucket.com/user/grubsie/media/2008%20RSV/20170424_114452_zpsuyrhdfmm.jpg.html?sort=2&o=2

Thanks people. A lot of good info. I forgot about Seafoam. I am going to give that a try and see what happens. It just seems kind of weird that when the f indicator comes on that I still have 2 - 2 1/2 gallons of gas left. That means I should be able to go at least another 60 miles safely before I really have to fill up. I could see the F indicator and low fuel light coming on at 1 gallon like my 86 Goldwing did. Gotta also find a way to eek out a few more miles a gallon. Sigh, wishful thinking.

The fuel filter was changed at the time the bike was serviced. I had pretty consistent readings before they serviced the bike. Now the readings are all over the place. Is there a sensor in the tank? There must be. Just wondering if they somehow screwed it up by maybe disconnecting or reconnecting with the ignition on or something?

Something is wrong with my fuel gauge readings on my '06 Midnight Venture. I had the bike serviced by my local Yamaha Dealer. New plugs etc so the tank had to come off. (First Time Ever) I drove the bike for a few days after getting it back. The fuel gauge was on 1 bar left and the Low Fuel Warning Indicator came on. Always used to come on with 2 bars on the fuel gauge. Anyway, I pulled over and switched the petcock to reserve. I got about 2 miles and the bike ran out of gas. Never did that before. Got some gas from a generous nearby homeowner then filled the tank at the nearest gas station. Ran the tank down over the next few days and the indicator came on when I reached 2 bars on the fuel gauge. I pulled into a gas station not very far away (maybe 2 miles). Filled the tank and it only took 4 gallons.??? Being very confused, I decided to take the bike back to the dealer to have them check it out. $103.00 later, they said that nothing was wrong and everything worked as it should. This particular would never admit to anything as I have found out from other riders. I have ridden the bike bike for several months now not really sure how much is in my tank except when it's first filled. I went on a long ride through the mountains this past weekend with my main squeeze. I have to say it was beautiful. On the way home the Fuel Indicator light came on and 2 bars on the gauge, so I pulled into a gas station and filled it up. It only took 3 1/2 gallons. Huh? Anybody else run into this? The local dealer is not the place I want to take it to ever again. How many bars do you people have left on your gauge when your Low Fuel Indicator comes on? How much fuel does it take to refill your tank if you refill immediately once you see the indicator? Is there a way to replace the gauge in the tank? Thanks.

Had the exact same problem. Found out that the fuel pump was going. Sometimes it would work and other times it wouldn't. Check the electrical connections to the pump. Probably would not make any difference. Don't drive too far from home until you have it figured out. Luckily we were at a friends house 120 miles away when it finally quit for good. Borrowed his truck to get my truck at home. Replaced the pump with a a used one that I got on ebay and it has been working fine for the last 6k miles. I also bought a backup from ebay and carry it on the bike at all times just in case. Both cost less than a new one. They very rarely go so a used one is typically a safe bet. Hint:...It's not your key.