I get it... now.....

At 8 pm last night I left home to head to Phoenix. 150 miles in 90 degree heat. Slowed down for an accident and had downshifted to 3rd. But thought I was in 4th. Shifted up and got back up to 75mph. Corrected speedo. Had the earplugs in and enjoying the tunes. Hit Tucson, and got on I-10. I had turned down the stereo to pay more attention to traffic as I merged onto I-10. It was then I noticed the engine seemed to be making more noise than normal. Looked down and noticed the green overdrive light wasn't on.... And shifted to 5th! And realized I had been riding for 30 minutes at 75mph in 4th gear!!. Duh. Realization#1.... These bikes like to rev! Mean...I knew they liked to rev, but never really thought about how well they are built to handle that kind of rpm....

About half way to Phoenix, approaching Picacho Peak, hit a nice cool spot...ahhh. All of a sudden there was a rush of heat hitting me! I thought I was on fire.... It was sudden and hot. After a few minutes, My heart rate calmed down since I couldn't see anything wrong and it dawned on me the radiator fan had turned on. Realization#2. Now I understood when others complained about the same surprise. I had never felt that much heat hit me so fast. Guess it was the combination of the cool dessert spot I was riding through and the fan turning on that woke me right up!

Other than that, it was a nice ride. BTW, even though I spent 30 minutes in 4th gear, I topped off the tank about half way up and ended up with 35mpg.. Not to bad considering.

Lessons learned.

Which bike?

And realized I had been riding for 30 minutes at 75mph in 4th gear.

I took a Triumph Rocket III for a nice demo ride and get on the highway and spin it up to 70-75mph and it's just purring along. Shifted once, then twice...Crap, I was in 3rd gear for 3 miles on the highway!

What I read "between the lines" is that the Venture, much like the Harley, the Victory, and the Indian .... is a HOT ride!

:stickpoke:

Which bike?

Sorry...RSV

At 8 pm last night I left home to head to Phoenix. 150 miles in 90 degree heat. Slowed down for an accident and had downshifted to 3rd. But thought I was in 4th. Shifted up and got back up to 75mph. Corrected speedo. Had the earplugs in and enjoying the tunes. Hit Tucson, and got on I-10. I had turned down the stereo to pay more attention to traffic as I merged onto I-10. It was then I noticed the engine seemed to be making more noise than normal. Looked down and noticed the green overdrive light wasn't on.... And shifted to 5th! And realized I had been riding for 30 minutes at 75mph in 4th gear!!. Duh. Realization#1.... These bikes like to rev! Mean...I knew they liked to rev, but never really thought about how well they are built to handle that kind of rpm....

 

About half way to Phoenix, approaching Picacho Peak, hit a nice cool spot...ahhh. All of a sudden there was a rush of heat hitting me! I thought I was on fire.... It was sudden and hot. After a few minutes, My heart rate calmed down since I couldn't see anything wrong and it dawned on me the radiator fan had turned on. Realization#2. Now I understood when others complained about the same surprise. I had never felt that much heat hit me so fast. Guess it was the combination of the cool dessert spot I was riding through and the fan turning on that woke me right up!

 

Other than that, it was a nice ride. BTW, even though I spent 30 minutes in 4th gear, I topped off the tank about half way up and ended up with 35mpg.. Not to bad considering.

 

Lessons learned.

I here ya! All the bikes I had before I got the RSV trike liked to be short shifted and would lug down low in the rpm range. When I got the Venture I thought this thing is under powered and vibrates a lot. Finally I realized I was lugging it to death,it just likes to have the pi$$ run out of it and all is good now! It did take a little while to get used to the RPM's