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We are "Blessed" here in South Central Pennsylvania, we have a local chain convenience store called, "Rudders" (Like a 7-11, only much nicer) that sells ethanol free 91 octane and I run it in all of my bikes as well as all of my lawn equipment. I pay a bit more for this fuel, but the results have been worth it in the long run. My 87'VR is tuned strictly for performance, (VMAX Carbs., VMAX Cams, VMAX Intake Valves, FJR FInal Drive, etc.) where as my 89'VR is tuned for economy. Even pulling my trailer on the 89'VR I get well into the 40's MPG, and have hit 50 MPG Solo. (If I keep my wrist under control) Unfortunately, I can't say that with the 87'VR. What I do notice with all of the equipment I own is the fact that I have very little if any Carb. issues from the fall of the year until the spring of the next year! Both bikes, and all of my lawn equipment including my lawn tractor and snow blower start right up, and run every time. The other thing I do is to run AGM batteries in the bikes, lawn tractor and snow blower. When I keep them on a tender during the winter months, I average 6 to 8 years per battery. (My lawn tractor is going into it's 9th year, but I oversized this battery when I replaced the original!) They are a bit spendy to purchase to start with, but overall save money in the long run due to their reliability and life span. As they say, "You get what you pay for", and in the case of the ethanol free fuel, that has worked out to my advantage. When traveling on the "Open Road" on my Venture, I can't always get the ethanol free fuel, but because I am usually burning through more than one tank in a day, I don't sweat that much. When I get home, I always fill and store my bikes with the "Good Stuff" so to speak!

Earl

3 hours ago, Gruffudd said:

Thanks for the help! 

Just today found the time to have another crack at it. Your advice freed the lock cylinder itself up perfectly smooth, but it still wouldn't release the seat so I took some panels and a passenger peg off for an explore, and managed to reach the cable. Pulling on the cable released the seat and with it out of the way I can see now that the problem is that the cable sheath doesn't seem to  be secured at the key end. So the lock pushes the cable which flexes rather than effecting the latch on the other end if that makes any sense?

Do you know how it is meant to be arranged/secured? Clearly it needs something to hold the cable sheath firmly.

 

At least for now I can finally start on extracting and cleaning the carbs

I wish I had more info for you, but my 98 has been gone since 2007, and I never needed to dive that deep into mine, hopefully someone with a functioning early model Royal Star will be along shortly to help out.

On 11/28/2022 at 10:19 PM, M61A1MECH said:

Try flushing the lock with a plastic safe contact type cleaner, then blow it dry with canned air and apply powered graphite to the internals of the lock and rub some on the key as well. Oils are not normally recommended for locks, the oil tends to gather dirt and dust which will further hinder the proper operation. 

Good luck , keep us posted.

Thanks for the help! 

Just today found the time to have another crack at it. Your advice freed the lock cylinder itself up perfectly smooth, but it still wouldn't release the seat so I took some panels and a passenger peg off for an explore, and managed to reach the cable. Pulling on the cable released the seat and with it out of the way I can see now that the problem is that the cable sheath doesn't seem to  be secured at the key end. So the lock pushes the cable which flexes rather than effecting the latch on the other end if that makes any sense?

Do you know how it is meant to be arranged/secured? Clearly it needs something to hold the cable sheath firmly.

At least for now I can finally start on extracting and cleaning the carbs

I just started running ethanol free 89 and the bike loves it

I bought my Venture off my oldest brother in 05 with 4300 miles. He had been running 92% in it. I tried 87% and got crappie milage also. I went to 89% and my milage went up to around 200 miles per tank and have been running it ever since.