Leaderboard

Hi Everyone I am pleased to announce the Venture Max HD is now complete and off the Lift, now I just some good weather to take it out on its maiden Voyage, and put a few Kms on the bike before heading to Laconia in the 15th. Here it is fully assembled and ready for the road. I have also added some photos of the Blacked out Signal lights and the rear Lights. Thanks for all your Support thru out this process I will update the post after I have my maiden Voyage. Thanks Herman

I got rid of the OEM fuel pump back in '17 and haven't looked back. This little electronic Facet fuel pump as proven to be very dependable. The following is from the original thread back in 2017. If you search the forum there are quite a few posts about this pump. Replaced the stock pump with the Facet 40178. I drilled and tapped an 8-32 screw to mount, isolated with rubber on back. Screw is located behind the flare nut. As an FYI, NAPA carries this pump under their part number BK 610-2403. Took it for a 50 mile test Saturday and bike ran fine. On my arrival home, I immediately pulled the side cover and the pump was cool to the touch. On a side note, I have a Koso digital volt meter. With the Garmin 550 and XM radio on, I always ran a consistent 13.9 VDC. With the new fuel pump, I am at a consistent 14.0 VDC.

Hi Everyone Second coat of Blood red Candy went on this morning this really brought out the dark Cherry color, then the Final coat of Black Candy went on tonight to bring out the Final color of Black Cherry. next step to Buff with 1000 to knock down some dust bumps then apply 2 coats of 2K clear. more pictures to come once the clear is on Herman

Hi Everyone Made more progress on Tuesday Nite and the bike is really coming together. We installed the lower fairings to complete the front end, then went to work on the rear, installing the rear fender and the new Rear filler panel between the HD saddlebags including new LED Lights for Park/Brake/ signal. Also installed the saddlebags. Thursday evening I finalized where I was going to cut down the windshield and Cut it and finished the edge then Polished both sides with 5000Grit wet sanding. Also removed the Front Signal Lights then sprayed these and the inside of the Windshield with Black candy paint. Back out in the garage after supper tonight to Wet sand the Lights and Windshield and applied a second coat of Black Candy, I will spray the clear tomorrow on both sides of the windshield and the lights, also sprayed some gloss black on the inside of the Trunk to freshen it all up. A couple photos to show the progress. Shifter Linkage and Fairing dash pieces tomorrow, finish wiring up the rear lights and final adjustments to the Trunk mounting, also Mount the windshield and re-install the Lights. Have a good nite Herman

Hi Everyone It is starting to look whole again, My Buddy Brian was over on Saturday to assist with the Brake bleeding as well as the clutch, all is bled and functional and no leaks. We also did the final adjustment of the Handlebars. I completed all the wiring and built a mount for the Rear Brake switch for the new Forward control brake peddle, while Brian re-assembled the Jigsaw puzzle of the Trunk and the saddlebags . After Brian left I continued to Work on getting the Fairing installed and the Front Fender, my LED headlight was covered in minor scratches from being moved around the shop so I gave it a wet sand with 5000 then sprayed on some gloss clear. After getting the fairing done the Signal Lights were sticking out like sore thumbs, I temporarily covered these with some Limo Black Tint (too dark) so I am gonna spray some Black Candy since it goes on transparent this way I can control the Tint level The Lights are still fairly Bright even with the heavy Limo tint so somewhere in between should suffice just to blend them in with the Black Cherry. Brian and I are set to work at the Bike tomorrow after work, so we should be able get the rest of the Bike together and knock a few more items off the completion List. More pictures and updates as I work at this project Good Night all Herman

Hi Everyone Finally spraying the paint, late nite last night, I had all the pieces ready to spray in the paint booth only got the primer coat on last nite but it all looks good, I went a bit heavy on the first coat due to not having the gun set correctly and ended up with a couple runs, finished up the second coat and let it dry overnite. I was able to knock down the couple runs with a bit of wet sanding with 1000 so i am good to add color today. I will post additional pics tonite.

Good Morning Herman, I just wanted to take a moment and personally Thank You, my friend for documenting this build for the Forum Members! While NOT everyone has the ability to dive in as deep as you have on your custom build Herman, I am hoping that this build will inspire the other Forum Members to work on their own bikes to keep them on the road! I find myself checking the Forum daily to see what headway you have made on your latest project. I am excited to hear this bike run, and drive in the near future. Keep up the "Good Work" Herman, I'm sure you will be putting on the miles very shortly! Great Job, Sir!! Earl

She's doing great. I have to tell her to slow down and not over do it all the time!

From single to triple bay, slight custom mod needed but I’m happy for $400.

On Wednesday, thanks to the help (he did most of it) from Carl (Marcarl) and Phil (Sleepy2) we replaced the clutch slave and shifter shaft oil seal. Early Spring I was getting a drip of what seamed to be brake fluid under the bike. The old clutch slave appeared to be dry when we pulled it out though. The day we did the work, in the morning before I rode to Carl's I found the first drips of oil under the bike. There was oil seeping out from the oil seal. 105,000 km on the 2009 RSV Venture Big thank you to Carl and Phil for the help doing this !!!

It will try to find it's own way on the road, so do some test running first.

I was just about to push the button on a new set of Pirelli Diablo for the duckie when I noticed the rear was stamped “Made in China”. Sorry but not trusting my life to that. Ended up going with Dunlops made in Japan.

For that reason I bought the Dunlops from my local dealer instead of online.

We stayed in the RV to go through Bryce Canyon. When we got to the top of the mountain there was 6 ft of snow on the ground.

I don’t disagree.

Hey Drew! It will be great to see you two again. Glad you're still hanging around, we need some younger folks to keep us straight. LOL You will enjoy Blairsville, GA. It has lots of beautiful roads to ride. Joe, tell Marty any kind of steaks or seafood will do after Woody's eggs for breakfast. I am looking forward to another good gathering...

Hi Everyone Worked all day painting the parts, first step after the primer is 4 coats of Createx Hod Rod Sparkle red, Then applied 1 coat of Createx Blood red Candy 2o to bring out the red, I will apply a second coat of red tomorrow, followed by a a coat of Black Candy2o to Blacken out the red, so in daylight Color is Red Metallic and at night it will appear to be red. The first 7 pictures are the Hot rod sparkle red the remaining 6 pictures are with 1 coat of the blood red. More Pictures tomorrow Thanks Herman

I ran across this video about motorcycle engine design pros and cons. Interesting.

Thanks Earl You and I have chatted on this Build over the past couple years; as I was building up parts to move forward on this build and I appreciate your Knowledge on these Bikes. For the most part it is turning out how I envisioned but like any project changes occur because either they just do not fit (with torches grinders and welders you can always make it fit LOL) usually it does not fit aesthetically and sticks out like a sore thumb so you have to adjust so everything looks right . The key things on this build I was aiming for are in this order Safety ; Reliability ; and then enhance on the classic style that was already ahead of its time ; and of course Functionality. I have had positive feedback from many members and appreciate the nice comments as it reinforces that I am moving in the right direction with the built I thank you all. So you want to hear it running; click on the attached video Clip I toke tonight just to post here. Enjoy and have a good evening Herman IMG_3326.MOV

Saw this on Facebook and thought I would share it here. Rick F.

Between the rain and wanting to ride when it was nice out, I finally got a chance to get the bike cleaned up. I also decided to try my hand at hydro dipping my side covers instead of polishing them.

I have a 1983 Venture and I did lower the bike 1 1/2 inches by relocating the shock lever pin 1/2 inch lower which then lowers the bike 1 1/2 inches which brings the balance weight down making the bike easier to learn from the left to right ( also found the radio is very heavy which adds to the lean problem ) ... I have tried all sorts of batteries , and that includes the GSM type which I will never buy again ..I have been riding since 1964 and have had the best result with a good Lead acid . The key is to maintain all connections ...

Yesterday, I finally got the chance to replace plugs, final oil drive and coolant. They were all past due for service. Almost 8 years on the coolant, over 10K miles on the plugs. It was so refreshing today weather wise as well as working on my ‘07. Rear tires has been ordered. Took only 3 pics, because I was so into it. 🙏

Very nice.

Don’t blame me. 🤣🤣🤣 I became a believer the first time I rode in the rain. Kandi even mentioned how much smoother the ride was on her first trip.

from what I can tell it does not take much to make a difference but I would put some miles on and see if it settles in before making anymore adjustments.

5 US qt total, 4 US qt @ oil change with new filter. Gen 1 MK2 oil spec.pdf

To be fair I was about to order from Amazon so they could be counterfeit…but still all the more reason to pay attention. Counterfeit Chinese tires are even more scary than production😬

Hi Everyone Here is the finished Paint with 2k Clear, I am very pleased with the end result, I have included pics of the Paint used as well as the 2K Clear. The finished paint color is called Murdered Black Cherry Candy and originally demonstrated on Createx You tube Channel by Chris Arpin from Createx, he is a very good presenter and explains the steps and procedures very well. I will be continuing the Re-assembly this weekend and hoping to have it completed next weekend. More pictures and updates as I work at this project Good Night all Herman

Oh sorry was pulling my utility trailer behind.

Just did a 300klm(round trip) ride today to pick up a rear tire on rim and a rear fender with turn signals from a guy that had a Hannigan trike conversion done to his 2006 and wanted to get these out of his garage. Great day for a ride!

YUP, "Such a fine site to see"..

Hello Friends. My wife and I made it home yesterday afternoon and are resting today. We went 4500 miles through 10 different states in 27 days and saw so many BEAUTIFUL sights. We had planned on staying out a couple of more weeks, but the trike had a charging malfunction, so we came home early. Due to some rough weather, we didn't get to ride as much as we wanted, but we still had a wonderful time and met some amazing people. I have posted some beautiful pictures in the Pictures Folder so enjoy the scenes we saw. Steve

Cool pictures keep um coming

For future reference; The dummy bolt on the center cover is the same bolt as the shifter bolt. It does nothing but fill a hole on the center cover.

Not sure about the one dry side, this place gave me flash backs to the 70's 😎. gift shop up front, bar in the back and the hamburger was good but since it was the middle of the day they were busy getting ready for later. We walked out to the bikes and was getting ready to leave when a few rain drops fell on us, decided to go back inside and see what the rain was gonna do and about the time we got in the door the bottom fell out it rained so hard we could not even see the road from the front door after about five minutes it stopped like someone shut the valve off.

I am going Thursday at least, may even go up Saturday. Dave and Marty will be there all week. They are staying at Sandpebble resort Surfside

I started to polish my side cover but decided to hydro dip them instead.

I plug my iPhone to the auxiliary port in the radio and fire it off. I also have Amazon music on my iPhone. It will drain the battery after a couple of hours, but I switch the plug to charge the phone while I listen to cassettes. 😁😁

30 to 36 mpg is the best I've gotten from day one.

Plugs? Carbs clean and in synch? Brakes dragging? , high speeds?

The first 3 pics are random shots in Oklahoma, the rest are pictures of our ride from Roswell NM to Ruidoso NM. Roswell is 3500 ft. elevation, and Ruidoso is 6900 ft. It was very warm in Roswell, but that changed quickly in Ruidoso. We stopped for lunch and put liners in our jackets. But the time we stopped for fuel 20 minutes later, we decided chaps and heavier gloves were needed. The locals say this has been a very cool spring for them. These are pictures leaving Roswell NM and heading toward Tombstone AZ. They all were taken in NM. We stopped for the night at a rest stop in Arizona. 4-28-23

These are pictures of the "Bottomless Lakes" near Roswell New Mexico. They are very deep, small lakes that are saltwater lakes. The largest is also the deepest, 90ft., at it's deepest point. This first picture is a large boulder that is on the side of the road near Lincoln MN.

Just about ready to set off on Saturday. We are going to Colmar in the Alsace region of France (that's our 'base') and taking in the Black Forest in Germany and Lucerne in Switzerland. A bit of rain in forecast, so, the only decision left is, do I take 'full waterproofs'? I don't remember ever getting uncomfortably wet on the RSV.

This is the latest I have waited to get out for my first ride. Went out for 1&1/2 hours . Will be ridding to Kitchener tomorrow to meet up (hopefully)with @ReinyRooster & @XV1100SE

Asheville NC. 2022 and some of the same ones will be at Vogel 2023

Looks Goood, football and wings, what a great day.

Doesn’t really matter what kind of speakers you get, even if they are $1000 Bose, once you turn the volume up, climb on the bike and go 70mph down the road, they’re gonna sound like crap. Just my two cents. Please spend it wisely! Bill

OK for the most part these engines are bulletproof. There have been owners who have gotten over 200,000 miles on them. All tyhe brake parts are the same for '83 - '85, and the master cylinders can be replaced with '86 to '93 as well. The clutch slave cylinder is the same for all years, and is easy to replace except it can be tricky to get out as it has to be wiggled, turned, and twisted in a praticular order to get it to fall out. Rebuilding your carbs is going to be the most expensive and time consuming part. To do it properly plan on spending $300 or so when all is said and done. There is an excellent step by step video out there to do it properly. The biggest problem with them is pin holes in the diaphragms, asnd plugged jets in the idle circuit. There is a set procedure for syncing the carbs and you have to monitor all 4 vacuums at the same time. There are several members proficient at this procedure that will be gladto help you out. If you can just plain get it running, you may want to use a product called seafoam on the carbs. You can buy seafoam at wally world or auto zone. You may want to flush and red cote your gas tank too. New plugs and wires are a good bet too, but do not instasll new plugs until you drown your carbs with seafoam and let them soak for a day and then restart it. The seafoam will loosen up a lot of gunk and foul out the plugs. These bikes are terriffic to ride when running right, but with any used bike, require a little TLC to keep them happy. You will find a ton of technical information here as well as helpful members! Welcome aboard!

I'm trying to install a brake speedbleeder on the rear of my 89 VR. I've removed the 2 side bolts, the 2 bottom bolts. the 3 reflector nuts and the 3 bottom screws for the lower chrome piece. The Bag is loose but can't seem to wiggle it out. The center reflector screw is giving me some challenges. What is there left for me to do? Also the bottom, front there is a metal bracket revitted to the floor can someone tell me what that is for?