New 2006 Venture, gots questions...

[Seaking]

Hi folks, I'm new to the Venture side of the bike world, I recently purchased a 2006 Midnight Venture and got to ride it for a week prior to being laid up for surgery (another 2 weeks of recovery to go).

 

While laid up, my friends are changing out the tires, spark plugs and small service work on the bike so that it'll be up and ready to roll when I'm ready.

 

I'm looking at this beautiful bike and have a lot of questions already after riding some 500 miles on it in a week. I hope someone is kind hearted enough to help a lad out.

 

(A) The seat.. I'm 50/50 sitting on the fence about this one. Replace it... stuff it, or what? Not bad for short hauls but I'm cringing at the thought of doing a long haul with it.. I have a Mustang seat on my 1100 VStar.. would I expect the same comfort from a Mustang seat on a Venture?

 

(B) Plastic paint and finish: I've read high and low looking for what people are using to clean up their black finishes on their bikes.. Mine has some blemishes, swirls and wear areas that I think could be cleaned out or polished out.. What would you recommend using or can you point me to somewhere that has more than enough info?

 

Thus far I'm spending a lot of time in the forums reading up on this new bike and I have a ton of questions,.. and I'm eager to get out there riding next week!

 

Cheers

[Jerry W]

I don't know what the shipping would be on the seat, but you might contact Rick Butler on doing some modificaitons on your seat. Rick has an ad in the classified section. I have heard nothing but good concerning his work. I plan on sending my seat to Rick later this year. He is on vacation until after July 4th.

[RedRider]

Does your bike have the pillowtop seats? If so, well .... you will either love them or hate them on a long trip. If you have the standard seat, you will hate them for a long trip.

 

The Butler mod may help (likely would - may be a next winter deal for me). However, I would suggest looking at an Airhawk seat cushion. It is about $160 US (yup, it is expensive), but is extremely helpful keeping your butt alive after a couple of hours in the saddle.

 

With it, I'm good for about 300 to 500 mi per day forever, 1000 mi per day for one day.

 

Money well spent.

 

Check out the International Venture Ralley being held in Kitchner. Would be a great opportunity to meet several of the members here to help direct the spending of your money on accessories and safety chrome.

 

Hope you are feeling well soon and can get back out on the road.

 

RR

[Seaking]

I don't know what the shipping would be on the seat, but you might contact Rick Butler on doing some modificaitons on your seat. Rick has an ad in the classified section. I have heard nothing but good concerning his work. I plan on sending my seat to Rick later this year. He is on vacation until after July 4th.

 

I'll check it out thanks.. That will prolly wait till this coming winter though,,

 

Cheers

[Seaking]

It's not the pillow soft seat.. Butler mod and Ai Hawks, I'll give them a gander.. Many thanks for the reply..

 

Cheers

 

Does your bike have the pillowtop seats? If so, well .... you will either love them or hate them on a long trip. If you have the standard seat, you will hate them for a long trip.

 

The Butler mod may help (likely would - may be a next winter deal for me). However, I would suggest looking at an Airhawk seat cushion. It is about $160 US (yup, it is expensive), but is extremely helpful keeping your butt alive after a couple of hours in the saddle.

 

With it, I'm good for about 300 to 500 mi per day forever, 1000 mi per day for one day.

 

Money well spent.

 

Check out the International Venture Ralley being held in Kitchner. Would be a great opportunity to meet several of the members here to help direct the spending of your money on accessories and safety chrome.

 

Hope you are feeling well soon and can get back out on the road.

 

RR

[Docdet]

As for your swirls, try a 3M product called Finesse. It's meant for exactly that,, best to use a good buffer for application. You'll find it at auto paint stores, maybe advance or autozone, I got mine at a local painter,,, its what the pros use.

[Seaking]

As for your swirls, try a 3M product called Finesse. It's meant for exactly that,, best to use a good buffer for application. You'll find it at auto paint stores, maybe advance or autozone, I got mine at a local painter,,, its what the pros use.

 

Many thanks M8

 

I'm that bored waiting to heal up that I'm gonna pop over to the garage and polish up a bike.. 'just because'..

 

fun ; )

 

Cheers

[RoadKill]

I went to a Corbin Seat on my 03 and love it. It sets you a little lower and is made in such a way that you set in the seat, not on it. It also provides some back support. Not cheap, but personally I will never have anything but a Corbin.

 

Jay

[Freebird]

I also have the Corbin seat and love it. Some folks truly hate the Corbin though. They are very hard and it takes a while to get one broken in. You said 500 miles in a week though? If that is correct, you have nothing to worry about. Most folks here are OK with pretty much any seat for 300-400 miles per day. It's the 500 mile per day and up rides that the seat starts being a real issue.

[Gary N.]

I had the same seat issues as you when I bought my '03 midnight. For me the cure was a set of seat beads.

http://www.beadrider.com/

I know every butt is different and these don't work for everybody but for the price, you're not out too much if you don't like them.

Also if you don't have a driver backrest, you might like to add that accessory. I just happen to have a nice Utopia backrest off of my midnight available. It's listed in the classifieds here.

[Seaking]

I also have the Corbin seat and love it. Some folks truly hate the Corbin though. They are very hard and it takes a while to get one broken in. You said 500 miles in a week though? If that is correct, you have nothing to worry about. Most folks here are OK with pretty much any seat for 300-400 miles per day. It's the 500 mile per day and up rides that the seat starts being a real issue.

 

I pounded the miles on the bike soon as I got it due to my being laid up the following week so the 500 miles, it could be more as I put over 3 tanks of gas through it at around 200 miles per fueling.. Though i could walk and sit afterwards, I was doing a lot of 'shifting' in my seat to get comfortable for the longer runs of 30-60 minutes.. So yeah.. pushing for something more comfortable.

 

The one thing I'd hate is to purchase a new seat and only afterwards find out it wasn't comfortable at all.. and a waste of coins.. and there's usually no way to find out early..

 

I do like the idea of lower on the Corbin but yes, I do find them on the hard side..

 

Cheers M8

[Seaking]

Interesting concept indeed.. I have the full backrest (comes with velcroed purse?)..

 

At these prices I might give it a try until I can run into someone with proper seats to test out..

 

Thanks M8

 

I had the same seat issues as you when I bought my '03 midnight. For me the cure was a set of seat beads.

 

http://www.beadrider.com/

 

I know every butt is different and these don't work for everybody but for the price, you're not out too much if you don't like them.

 

Also if you don't have a driver backrest, you might like to add that accessory. I just happen to have a nice Utopia backrest off of my midnight available. It's listed in the classifieds here.

[craigatcsi]

I had a Corbin on my 99 Vulcan Classic and LOVED the driver's part, my wife didn't care for the passenger's part.

 

I now have an 07 Venture and my wife LOVES her portion of the stock seat but I don't care for the Driver's portion. Since the Stock seat is 2 parts, I wish the Corbin came that way, I would buy just the driver's portion.

 

So, I have to try to modify the driver's portion to fit me better. After riding 100 miles or so, it feels like I am sitting on a rolled up pair of socks in the Crack of my A$$. I have ordered the Utopia Backrest which is supposed to ship my 6-30, once I get it installed, I plan to find a local upholstry shop to 'carve' on my portion of the stock seat.

 

craigr

[Seaking]

And that was the other option.. locally there is a gent who does recovering with a material that helps reduce monkey ass and at the same time will see about shaving the back of the seat.. so I sit a wee bit further back into a bucket and not so much up on the boys (ouch)

 

thanks for the additional option idea.. cheers

 

I had a Corbin on my 99 Vulcan Classic and LOVED the driver's part, my wife didn't care for the passenger's part.

 

I now have an 07 Venture and my wife LOVES her portion of the stock seat but I don't care for the Driver's portion. Since the Stock seat is 2 parts, I wish the Corbin came that way, I would buy just the driver's portion.

 

So, I have to try to modify the driver's portion to fit me better. After riding 100 miles or so, it feels like I am sitting on a rolled up pair of socks in the Crack of my A$$. I have ordered the Utopia Backrest which is supposed to ship my 6-30, once I get it installed, I plan to find a local upholstry shop to 'carve' on my portion of the stock seat.

 

craigr