My experiences with dealers, Yamaha and the "whine"

I bought a new 08 Venture from Motions in Marietta on 8/28/08. It was perfect for the first 1800 miles. I did the 600 mile service and everything went smoothly. At 1800 miles, I started hearing a whine coming from the rear and it got progressively louder as time and miles went by. At 2400 miles I took it to the closest Yamaha dealer to my house, which was Mountain Motorsplrts in Conyers, to get the whine fixed. (I had only had the bike 7 weeks) One week later, they called me and said the whine was just a characteristic of the bike because of straight cut gears and there was actually nothing wrong with the bike. They also said my tires were low on air (20 PSI fromt and 25 PSI rear) and they were cupped and that was part of the noise I was hearing. I didn't pick up the bike and immediatly called Yamaha's South East Reginal Service Manager and asked him to check out my bike. His phone number wasn't the easiest number to get and I ended up getting it from someone here on the forum because I wasn't getting anywhere with the dealer. I talked to him at about 9:00AM one morning and by 1:30PM he had already ridden my bike and had called me and said it had a bad final drive and they were going to install a new final drive. He too, confirmed that my tires were cupped and that was a small part of the whine. It took another week for Mountain Motorsports to repair the bike because they had to order the final drive. I picked it up last Saturday and it doen't have the loud gear whine but I can now here the tire whine although it is not near as loud as the gear whine was. I feel pretty sure Motions didn't check the air pressure when they serviced it as a new bike. I have never seen a bike loose 50% of the air pressure in 7 weeks with no leaks. I called Motions to see what they intended on doing about my tires and they basically said nothing because I was suppose to check the air pressure every day. I normally check the air pressure about every 6 -8 weeks. I have talked to several people who ride bikes to see how often they check tire pressure and I have gotten every answer from every week to whenever it looks low to the eye. I plan on riding the bike another couple of weeks to see if I loose any pressure. If not, I feel like it had to of left Motions as a new bike with low pressure and I am gong to try to get a little better response out of Motions.

In summary, Yamaha has been great but the dealers seem to SUCK!!!

All tires lose some air. Because the volume of a motorcycle tire is so much smaller it becomes an issue much faster than on a car or truck tire.

Realistically they should be checked before every ride. I check mine at least weekly.

I check mine before every "longer" ride... such as last Aug when we went to VWIV. I never checked them during that trip until after we got home 3000 miles...there was almost zero air pressure loss.

A tire should not loose that amount of Air Pressure you are talking about.

If its loosing, 20 to 50 percent air pressure, in 4 to 6 weeks, Its Leaking !!!!

If the Tire is allready cupped, as you say, Take the bike to an independent Shop, have a Dunlop E-3 Tire Installed. ( Or Avon, or Michilean Commander, or Continental Tire )

The OEM , ( STOCK ) tires are Junk anyway. ( Bridgestones, OR , D-404's )

If I decide to buy a New 2nd Gen, ( or any other HEAVY Motorcycle ) ) I would remove the OEM Tires very soon, and replace them with some, High Quality, Safe Tires !!

Realistically they should be checked before every ride.

Monday through Friday, I get on the bike at 5:40AM and ride to church (I'm a lay pastor). At 7:00 AM I ride to work. At 1PM, ride home for lunch. At 2PM, ride back to work. At 5PM ride home. After supper, ride to a church meeting or choir or do a visit. Ride home when done. This is on the calmest of days. Often I ride to several sites at work each day.

Saturday schedules are less consistent. Sunday has as many rides, but to different locations than MTWRF.

Exactly how many times per day should I be lying on the floor checking my tire pressure?

I check the pressure each morning on long trips.

I check the pressue about every 2 weeks with a gauge, for local driveing.

I Eyeball, and Kick them every morning on the first ride.

I Visually check them at Every Stop, during the day, or any ride.

Once long ago, I had a Blow out at 70MPH, it was not a fun Experience.

Monday through Friday, I get on the bike at 5:40AM and ride to church (I'm a lay pastor). At 7:00 AM I ride to work. At 1PM, ride home for lunch. At 2PM, ride back to work. At 5PM ride home. After supper, ride to a church meeting or choir or do a visit. Ride home when done. This is on the calmest of days. Often I ride to several sites at work each day.

 

Saturday schedules are less consistent. Sunday has as many rides, but to different locations than MTWRF.

 

Exactly how many times per day should I be lying on the floor checking my tire pressure?

Lessee...by my count...looks like you should lie down and get your clothes dirty about 7 to 10 times during the weekdays, and maybe 5 to 20 times on the weekends.

Seriously, gauge check them about every two weeks people, and before any long highway ride. You can kick them, if you feel confident about that, or use a gauge. I gauge them every 2 weeks or so, and kick the front and shake the rear about every couple of days. By shaking the rear, NO...its not doing the macarena...standing on the high side of the bike, with the bike on the sidestand, I grab the passenger grab handle in my right hand, bend over slightly and watch the rear tire, and give the handle a good back and forth shove. I'm watching and feeling for the rear tire 'side play'. You can get pretty good at this after awhile, and be able to judge it to within 5 pounds of pressure thats in the tire. Only doing this when the tire is cold helps with accuracy.

If its low enuff thats its unsafe to ride, you will be able to see way too much sideplay in the tire. Time to fire up the compressor, drag out the hose and lay down on the low side of the bike and add some air.

Mine is up on the jack getting a bath almost after every ride, and while I am cleaning the white walls, I find it very easy to visually check the tires for nicks and or road debris punctures and check the air pressure while it is up in the air on the jack and convienent to get to..but Im not normal either as they say....

I do not check the tires before every ride....short or long...because when I return home either that same night or the next day it is up on the jack getting a quick bath..and ready for the next ride..

i check mine about 2-3 weeks....before a day trip or more.....never had more than may be 2 psi lost.......i do check tires when i get a new bike home

and..dunlop 404's aren't junk

Mine is up on the jack getting a bath almost after every ride, and while I am cleaning the white walls, I find it very easy to visually check the tires for nicks and or road debris punctures and check the air pressure while it is up in the air on the jack and convienent to get to..but Im not normal either as they say....

 

I do not check the tires before every ride....short or long...because when I return home either that same night or the next day it is up on the jack getting a quick bath..and ready for the next ride..

 

 

I met Eck's neighbor last month and he confirmed what Eck is saying about being on the jack I think his words were that venture has more air time than miles:stickpoke:

Just my 2 cents about some dealers. When I was looking for my Venture I went to motions. It might be me, but it was I was in a car lot, no matter what price we talked about, it always came back to sticker when he got done calculating. I bought the bike out of state, but I have Bartow Motorsports in Cartersville doing my work. First time there the mechanic came out to introduce himself and tell me he has went to a Yamaha school and is qualified on the bike. He asked me if I had any problems that he could help out with. The sales and parts are also very helpfull and friendly. There is usually a pot of coffee going and they take the time to make you feel wanted. If yoour not to far out of Cartersville give them a try! You won't leave there feeling you have to go home and shower

Kenw

I had new Elite III's put on at my local dealer about 2 weeks ago.It's about a 40 mile ride

home.I called one of my riding buddies that night and was telling him abiut the new tires.He asked if I had checked the tire pressure in the tires.I said no,I thought they should know the correct pressure,and he said he thought I should check any way.Good thing I

did.Front tire had 26 psi and rear only had 30 psi.Both were 10 psi too low.Next time I

will tell them what pressures I want when they install them.I normally check them every

2 to 3 weeks unless the temperature drops significantly.

I guess what it all boils down to is everyone has to figure out a maintenance routine that makes you feel safe while riding. I have had numerous street bikes with a variety of tire manufacturers. I would give the tires a quick visual before each ride and I would put a gauge on them about every 6 weeks or if me and the wife was going on an overnight trip, I would check tire pressure before the trip. Rarely have I ever had to add air. In the past, that routine has worked fine for me. I have been blessed by not experiencing a 70 MPH blowout. What the manual recommends is not practicle.......my manual even suggests checking all of the frame bolts to be sure they are tight.......and I am suppose to do that before each ride!!! The Venture is by far the heaviest and the quietest bike I have ever owned and I may have had cupped tires on some of my previously owned bikes but couldn't hear it because of the loud pipes. All that set aside, I am certain it left Motions low on air pressure when I bought the bike because the rear tire has been submerged in water and no leaks were found. The lesson I have learned is to indeed check over everything possible after someone else works on your bike even if it is a Yamaha certified dealer.

Kenw...sounds like you have found a good dealer and I hope you continue to get good service from them. I live in central GA and Cartersville is about 3 - 4 hours away

I got a 2008 RSV last Aug, in Sept I had to have the FINAL DRIVE REPLACED also. this is a problem with the RSV I am glad we were not on a long trip at the time. The bike was not quite 2 months old at the time.

Johnny

]Mine is up on the jack getting a bath almost after every ride, and while I am cleaning the white walls, I find it very easy to visually check the tires for nicks and or road debris punctures and check the air pressure while it is up in the air on the jack and convienent to get to..but Im not normal either as they say....

I do not check the tires before every ride....short or long...because when I return home either that same night or the next day it is up on the jack getting a quick bath..and ready for the next ride..

Knowing Eck, he's got the thing jacked up eye level.

We had to sit for about 3 hours down in Kenneasaw at the Varsity waiting on our friend to ride to Biketoberfest. Seems he was the man from Yamaha that was test riding a venture from Motion that had a rear drive noise and got caught stuck in traffic behind a wreck. Told us he ordered a new one (rear end) when he met up with us ( three hours late)for the trip..... All in all, other than eating to many of the fine hot dogs at the Varsity we had a good week in Fla. Glad you got your bike fixed. The service rep knows his business and as long as ive known him he is always fair and honest to the customer.

Highway

Just brought the bike ( 05 RSV) down from Jasper/ Canton Georgia area. When it arrived via trailer, it would not stay running. Choke had to be out to even keep it running. Towed to Yamaha Shop in Davie Fl, Broward Motorsports... after telling me it was the carbs... I had them cleaned, and new plugs...$ 634.00 dollars later the bike had the same problem another time after riding only 15 miles. They synced the carbs.. AND it apperas its running fine TODAY.. anyone else have this problem? Should this be a warranty issue? Seems like they should have used "vaseline" first! Not very happy right now!

Highway.....I am indeed the one. He did tell me he was caught in traffic because of a wreck and that he was on his way to Daytona. I have been bragging about Yamaha and how he postphoned a trip to Daytona for a few hours to ride my bike. He put forth a very appreciated effort to get my bike repaired. Next time you see him, tell him my bike sounds great and I really appreciated his efforts. As I said in the first post of this thread....Yamaha has been great.......

As a rider I feel it's my responsability to know how much air I have in my tires at any given time. I have picked up new bikes and bikes I've just had tires put on and found the pressure to be low. A good tech or dealer SHOULD have them right but it's MY life on the line, therefore MY responsability.-Jack

I've never heard anything good about motions in Marietta. I've had several friends say not good things about them. I got my RSTD in Roswell but the folks in Canton are good and the Ride Shop in woodstock off Bells Ferry is good. I check my tires but will be putting nitrogen in soon to see if that keeps the pressure the same as it does on my truck.