MikeWa Posted June 21, 2011 Author Share #26 Posted June 21, 2011 New Mexico and Texas END Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freebird Posted June 21, 2011 Share #27 Posted June 21, 2011 Note to Freebird. If you feel like this is taking up to much band width please feel free to delete as you see fit. Mike Pics from Nevada Nope, great pictures and we enjoy living the trip through them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeWa Posted July 16, 2011 Author Share #28 Posted July 16, 2011 Followup: After my return from the trip I finally got around to having the bike checked on the dyno at RMC. It tested out slightly better than the baseline test in Motorcycle Magazine. So I guess the bike is ok - normal. The techs did tell me to expect about a three percent power loss for each thousand feet of elevation. That is probably pretty close to what I was feeling. As suggested by others here I punched rather than drilled my gas tank filler neck. It was so easy I kicked my butt for not doing it sooner. Then as luck would have it I ran low on fuel today. I had to switch to reserve just one block from the gas station. It took 5.007 gallons. With the unused one gallon in reserve it means my tank now has the full six gallons of usable fuel. Thanks again to those who were finally able to drive the 'punch don't drill' into my very hard head. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MasterGuns Posted July 17, 2011 Share #29 Posted July 17, 2011 An excellent report and honest. Hope it puts some the Harley bashing to rest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jactana Posted March 30, 2012 Share #30 Posted March 30, 2012 "In fifth? How slow were you going? These things aren't two cylinder thumpers." Yes I have a tach. I generaly like to ride at about 75 to 80mph when possible. I suppose it could have been lugging in fifth at 80 but I don't think so. I also know how to find the rev limiter. For sure fourth should have been ok. I can tell when my bike is working overly hard and it was. I will eventualy find the exact cause and a remedy. But that is for some time in the future. For now it was a great trip. Also for me 6000+ miles through nine states counts as a vacation. Mike I did a similar ride down to Prescott, Ariz, last summer via lake Tahoe and Las Vegas. A lot of that ride was at 6500 ft and up. The bike ran O.K., but the power loss was VERY noticeable as you described. Fuel injection would have been nice, the fellow I was riding with was on a 2010 Suzuki Bandit, no loss of power at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeWa Posted March 30, 2012 Author Share #31 Posted March 30, 2012 I have changed my rear end set up to the V-Max gears since this trip. I expect this to have cured the power issues. So I am anxious to make another trip and see what happens. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ky. Rider Posted March 30, 2012 Share #32 Posted March 30, 2012 An excellent report and honest. Hope it puts some the Harley bashing to rest. The root of most Harley bashing does not have much to do with the bikes. If you could really uncover the bashing it would have alot to do with the Harley attitude that some have that if you're not riding a Harley you don't quite measure up to real motorcycling. Some take offense to that attitude and as a result bash. There is brand loyality in all brands but a motorcycle is just a motorcycle. The character of the rider is what counts and there is good and bad riding all brands. But Harley bashing is driven by attitudes in most cases and not quality. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ragtop69gs Posted March 31, 2012 Share #33 Posted March 31, 2012 The bike ran O.K., but the power loss was VERY noticeable as you described. On my trip to Montana, going over Beartooth, 2 up, pulling a trailer, I had no issues with power loss at all. The bike ran great up there. MPG may have suffered a bit but some of that was the head wind on 4 of the six times we went over the top. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GolfVenture Posted March 31, 2012 Share #34 Posted March 31, 2012 I have changed my rear end set up to the V-Max gears since this trip. I expect this to have cured the power issues. So I am anxious to make another trip and see what happens. Mike Being that were kind of like close distance neighbors, when the weather gets good in our area, I'd like to do the North Cascade Loop, or maybe around the Olympic Peninsula. The last time I did the North Cascade Loop was in the early 80s with my new 1100 Goldwing. I’ve never done the Olympic Peninsula. Also I need to make a trip to Entiat WA. There is a golf course there that I played at and they were all out of logo balls, so my collection has this one spot for their golf ball. When I do the North Cascade trip I definitely need to make a stop there. Then I need to decide if I’m going to fly or ride to Las Vegas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maineventurerider Posted March 31, 2012 Share #35 Posted March 31, 2012 Hi Mike, Looks like you had an awesome trip, and you are a great photographer! Like a lot of guys on this forum, I've done my share of long distance touring on the Venture. I appreciate your candid assessment of the Venture's performance at high altitude. I have done some miles at higher elevations, but nothing major. (Mt. Washington in NH, Mt Mitchell in NC, and a pass in eastern Wy at just over 8000 ft). I never noticed a significant performance decrease, but that was 2 up with my wife on the back so I wasn't really trying to push it anyway. We are looking forward to a 6000+ mile trip this summer-from Florida to the Grand Canyon, then on to Grand Teton and Yellowstone, and Rocky Mountain National Park and then back to Fl. Obviously in those areas we'll be riding hundreds of miles at a time between 8 and 10,000 ft, and of course Trail Ridge Rd in Rocky Mountain Natl Park is over 12,000 ft. My question for all you experts out there is,,, do any of you have any advice for running a Venture at high altitude? I know about being in the right gear, but what about fuel? Does higher octane help-or hurt? What about carburetor adjustments? I'm all ears... Thanks and ride safe! 1/2crazed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phoneman1981 Posted March 31, 2012 Share #36 Posted March 31, 2012 Great information everyone!! Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeWa Posted March 31, 2012 Author Share #37 Posted March 31, 2012 Yes it was an awesome trip. I really enjoyed the Venture. I cannot think of any motorcycle I would rather have been riding. The Venture handled high speeds, low speeds, traffic and desolation. We encountered high winds, passing semi trucks, freezing cold and hot desert. The Venture just shrugged it all off and provided an enormously pleasant ride. The bike was absolutely reliable. That said, I felt like there were a couple of areas that could use some improvement. The gas tank turned out to be easy. I just punched the filler neck. Done deal more fuel capacity, yea. Getting more power turned out to be a little more complex. The Harley guys spend a lot of money putting in stage two kits and stuff like that. Not something I want to do. The fuel octane seemed to make no difference what so ever. So expect to pay a mpg penalty for altitude and wind. Matter of fact when my Harley friend was searching for hi test I was quite happily pumping the cheapest stuff they had. No pings, no knocks. All naturally aspirated engines loose about three percent of their power for each thousand feet above sea level. I can't help it. It's science. Look it up. You will notice it more depending on where you start out from. For me I started at sea level. So it boils down to reserve power. Does your engine produce enough power so it can withstand the loss without your noticing it? I noticed it. I felt my engine was sluggish and not liking fifth gear. I felt like it was lugging. My gas mileage and jumping out of cruise control seemed to confirm this. Dynomometer testing later indicated no problems with my bike and even showed it better than the Venture tested in Motorcycle Magazine. So what to do? Some people just run in fourth or third and that is fine. But if I have fifth I want to use it. That's just me. So after much agonizing I finally switched the differential to the lower gear V-Max set up. Wow what a difference. Even riding around town here in Seattle the bike seems much happier. More power in all gears. More torque and I get to use fifth. I am looking foreword to my next trip. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeWa Posted March 31, 2012 Author Share #38 Posted March 31, 2012 Being that were kind of like close distance neighbors, when the weather gets good in our area, I'd like to do the North Cascade Loop, or maybe around the Olympic Peninsula. The last time I did the North Cascade Loop was in the early 80s with my new 1100 Goldwing. I’ve never done the Olympic Peninsula. Also I need to make a trip to Entiat WA. There is a golf course there that I played at and they were all out of logo balls, so my collection has this one spot for their golf ball. When I do the North Cascade trip I definitely need to make a stop there. Then I need to decide if I’m going to fly or ride to Las Vegas. I have not done the Peninsula yet either. So if the weather settles down we can try and set a ride. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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