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Guaranteed my rear brakes won’t lock up. I changed the oil recently and left the drain pan in front of my bike in the shop, a few days later some circling wind decided to relocate my shop roof into the woods out back. Two days of downpours followed raining into the shop overflowing the drain pan into a nice big slick on my floor, the falling rain splattered the oil all over the bike including I guess the rotors. Without really thinking about it I took it for a test run the next week, I quickly realized at the end of the driveway no matter how hard I stomped the pedal there was absolutely no chance of lockup. I can’t really recommend this design of antilock brakes though as the stopping distance is exponentially increased. 🤬🤬🤬

My sister and I headed out on my 1999 Honda Valkyrie Interstate crossing the boarder at Port Huron, destination- northern California. We allowed ourselves 6 weeks for this adventure but ended up completing it in 32 days. We drove up the east side of Michigan to Mackinaw City and across the Upper Peninsula and across the northern states. I learned that the Mississippi River headwaters are in the upper part of Minnesota-never knew that before. The landscape started to get interesting once we were in South Dakota as we toured the Badlands, Custer State Park and Mount Rushmore. We bought a national park pass at the insistence of the park ranger which is good for one year and it more than paid for itself as we explored multiple parks over the trip. We headed to Billings Montana and the next day drove the Bear Tooth Pass-that was spectacular. Full concentration and eyes on the road when going up the pass and the views were amazing. Stopped several times to take it all in. Spent 3 days in Gardiner and used the Travel lodge as home base as we explored Yellowstone. Kept my eyes open to get a picture of Kevin Kostner for my wife-but didn't see him. 😁 My wife told me later that he was killed off in season 2 anyways. I think it was the perfect time of year to be there as the crowds were not too large yet and it was plenty warm. We saw some majestic landscape as well as pronghorns, black bear and cub from a distance, bison and elk. We said goodbye to Yellowstone after seeing Old Faithfull and drove to Idaho Falls and had a down day as we found a nice Best Western right across the road from the river and some green space. They even had peddle bikes we could sign out, so we explored the market and the restaurants along the river. This was a cool hotel as the GM was the one making omelets in the morning at their continental breakfast-a nice touch. The hotel had been in her family for over 50 years. We met a group of young people while sharing a beer at one of the local outdoor patio's. The one gentleman was an Evie Knievel fanatic and insisted that we go to Shoshone Falls and see where Evel Knievel tried to jump the Snake River. We never considered this attraction but glad we checked it out as the falls were spectacular. From here we made our way to Craters of the Moon National Monument. This wasn't on our list of things to see but we were driving right by, it looked interesting so decided to stop. It was amazing to see all the small flowers blooming amongst the old lava flows indicating the resiliency of nature finding a way to flourish in this desolate environment. I didn't realize how desolate parts of Idaho and eastern Oregon are and also very desert like. I made sure to fill up at every gas station in these parts and also carried a small jerry can which fit nicely in my saddle bag as it had a tapered fit to take up less room. We literally drove hundreds of miles without seeing a home and the one's we saw looked like they had been abandoned, a testament to the harsh conditions of trying to make a go of it as farmers in this area. It appeared that the successful farmers need to use spray irrigation-otherwise there would be not much of a crop. Headed to Oregon and Crater Lake National Park (got to use my park pass for the 6th time) to check it out. Well worth the ride in. Still snow on the sides of the road as we got higher in elevation. Beautiful water, almost purple in colour. No water gets in from external sources and it's not spring fed, so there's no silt at all in the lake and has this amazing colour. Also, the deepest lake in the USA (thank-you Google) as a result of a volcanic explosion. From here, on to northern California to see the redwoods. Toured Redwood National Park and then up the coast of Oregon. The Oregon coast was beautifully rugged and was cool and overcast for several days so we decided to have a down day in Bandon. (It's helpful the iPhone records the location of most pictures when recalling names of places). This was my sister's favorite part of the trip on the Oregon coast. This was probably my least favorite part because as the driver, this was the most challenging for me, following Hwy 101, fully loaded pulling a small single wheel trailer through the twisties and up and down was tough. Also, made the mistake of not checking tire air pressure enough and my tires could have been pumped about 4 lbs higher so there was some wear starting to show. Made it through Washington and crossed into beautiful British Columbia. I'm convinced that there is no part of BC that isn't beautiful...at least the parts we saw. Stopped to see my nephew in Kamloops for lunch. The best part of ride for me was from BC to Banff Alberta on the trans Canada hwy. The bike was easier to drive on this hwy and the scenery was just amazing with snow covered peaks around every corner. From here it was the trans Canada all the way to Winnipeg, then south and crossed over once again into Minesota and back to where we started. When we crossed back over into Canada the boarder guard asked, "so where are you coming from"...I smiled and said, where do I start? Made it safely back having travelled 11 K kms. All in all a great trip...and my sister and I are still on speaking terms😀 Bucket list ride completed. Mark

This morning I did something I haven't done in years. Let the bike shut down in gear . Of course, I couldn't understand why the bike died in the first place. It just wound down from idle... Then nothing. Wouldn't start. Wouldn't even crank and the overheat light was on. Well, I thought it was overheated. This is Arizona! Checked coolant. Nope good. Checked oil. Nope good. What the heck? Gave up and went inside restaurant for breakfast... Thinking maybe when it's cooler it will start. I had no idea if the RSV had a shut off switch if overheated. Never heard of such a thing having had both gens of Ventures . After eating I came out and.... Nothing. Decided to call Ronnie. I know he has both gens so he would be a good bet to ask. I'm a pretty good mechanic and have rebuilt lots of cars, trucks and bikes, but for whatever reason, my brain wasn't thinking! He called me back right away. And took me through some procedures. Then he asked if the bike was in gear. I hesitated because I never shut bike off in gear unless I'm parked on a steep slope. But he was right. Dumb me! For whatever reason, I left the bike in gear with kickstand down. Sigh. So thank you Ronnie for calling me back and helping me through this. I'm glad I got to know you at a Maintenance Day in Ohio. And double glad you remembered me! This is what the $12/year is for... Friendship. So if your year is about up, don't hesitate, send in the $12! You never know when you might need help. David /Videoarizona

Just added a new concealed carry option. Kimber CDS9. 9 mm, 13 + 1 as pictured. Also came with 15 + 1 magazine. Love this thing.

Hey guys! It’s been a little bit since I posted, but I just wanted to give an update. My first son was born May, 11th on Mother’s Day. My lady’s water broke in March at 27 weeks and she was stuck in the hospital for 7 weeks until Little Man was 34 weeks. At 34 weeks they performed a c-section and William Alonzo Umberger-Valencia was born at 5lbs 6.4oz and 18 inches long. He has been doing really well and hasn’t needed any oxygen or any extended care. He spent about three weeks in the NICU and we finally got to bring him home Saturday. He’s a sweet little boy, and we are so grateful that he’s going as good as he is and he is as cute as he is!

Saw this on FB and had to share it.

Late reply here....my wife and I travelled down that way through a short section of Skyline Drive in early October. The Blue Ridge Parkway was closed at that time due to the hurricane damage. The section we travelled was beautiful that time of the year. We came across Hwy 250 from the 219. Hwy 250 from Huttonsville to Staunton WV looks fairly straight on a map...Wrong. It was a beautiful twisty road with breath taking scenery. It was obvious to me afterwords that going over the mountains is going to be a little twisty and up and down. It was a challenging ride to say the least, all loaded up with my wife on the back. I'll bring the Venture next time, I think it would handle the twisties better. We made it to the Howard Johsons just after dark, which wasn't wise travelling in the dark as we noticed lots of deer appearing at dusk. Made it safely and there must have been 25 motorcyclist's staying at HoJo's. Most of those bikes were in the class of adventure touring, which seems to be a popular way to ride, especially through the mountains. It was a great ride and hope to do it again next year and this time travel south down the Blue Ridge Parkway. Mark

Finally got out yesterday for a few hour for the first ride of the season....and the first real ride of more then an hour for a few years. The bike purred like a happy kitten and I was smiling the whole day.

Was going through some stuff and look what I found...

I made the mistake of hosting the wife’s family dinner, a very small group. I seem to only be able to cook like it’s my family (35-40 people). There’s enough left over for a Venture rally supper. Now we get to go Saturday for the big one, at least we can leave the leftovers at my brother’s house.

Hey guys! Friday I took off from Omaha, Nebraska and road down Highway 75 to Tahlequah, Oklahoma. I then went southeast to Van Buren, Arkansas, and then from Van Buren to Crescent Iowa on I40 to I49 to I29. (I went to crescent because I was going to be about 8 miles short for the full 1000 miles). I took off at about 3:15AM and got home a little after 10:00PM. It was 102 degrees in Omaha that day, and low to mid-90s in Oklahoma and Arkansas and muggy. I could have done it a little faster, but I took more breaks because of the heat. I had a tremendous headwind going south and an even stronger tail wind going home. If you've never been on I49 coming north from Fayetteville, it is a beautiful stretch of interstate. The 1988 Yamaha Venture, of course, performed flawlessly. I got poor mileage on the way down and great mileage on the way up! My start mileage was 104,331.8 and my ending mileage was 105,344.4. I still have to get the paperwork sent in to be verified

I hired an Amish crew to redo the shop roof. They got here Tuesday morning at 7:00 by horse and buggy and the four of them tore off the 1/2 of the old roof still there, installed new lathing, repaired a damaged truss, and had the new 2000 foot roof on by 1:30. They had a great system and worked together like a well oiled RSV. The best part of my day was they saw my Bluetooth speaker in my boat and used a phone I didn’t know they had and were jamming to some 80’s country. I really got tickled to hear Amish men singing to the Oak Ridge Boys. Elvira Oohm poppa oohm poppa mow mow.

Keep the carbs clean with good fuel and do scheduled maintenance and you can expect 250k miles easily. The only engine failures I’ve heard of were all from carbs overflowing and hydrolocking the engine. Some have a clutch basket whine that can be annoying but not a mechanical issue. Check the rear shock for oil leaks. There’s nothing on it that can go wrong that the fix can’t be found here. It’s a top heavy bike but eats miles comfortably. They like to wind, keep the revs up around 4000 for the best performance, don’t touch 5th gear (overdrive) below 65mph. I’ve got almost 90k on mine and we’re planning a month long tour out west soon.

I took this pic on KY Lake about a year and a half ago.

Just wanted to let you all that I'm still here despite the odds! I still have the RSV but haven't ridden much due to a broken leg as well as putting the bike up on the stand to check the valves, change oil, etc.. Just never did those things as life kept getting in the way. I'll get to it someday soon.... Happy belated Holidays to all of you and hope all is well.! Earl, I'll PM you when I finally get ready to work on the scoot. David

I got my new vanity plate for the bike today. Looking forward to putting some miles on it this spring.

I honestly donn’t know. but I feel that the government has somethinng to do with it. I just don’t believe that in this day and age that all these drones can be flying around and the government has no idea what they are. With all our advanced technology, radar, night vision, etc., they have to know what they are.

Had a good weekend ride to AR this weekend, was going to try to catch the bike rolling over 100K miles but lost track of time and miles and missed it by a few. It looks like it happened a few miles after Chelsea, OK and Vinita, OK on RT 66 so that was pretty cool. I took a few pictures after we stopped in Afton, looks like someone is working on a really cool exhibit. Here is a few pics I was able to take before heading further on the trip.

I was finally able to pick up my 2018 Venture from the shop after a complete rebuild of the motor which was covered under warranty. I haven't had a chance to ride it yet because of heavy rain starting as I was unloading it off the trailer, but the service tech put about 100 miles on it before changing the oil. The bike does sound good though.

Yep, there are handle bars, a seat under your but, throttle to twist, air in your face, invisible on the road and an eye to the sky or rain clouds. The rest is different. The lean is different, steering is different, cornering has a learning curve, wind can come from your back and make the flags fly forward,,,, but once learned you'll be surprised at the wonderment of it all.

I had about 3,000 miles of tread left on my Metzlers this spring, when I broke the Sofaglide out of cold storage. Whatever shall I do with that, I thought. Can't switch out tires with tread still on them. I know! I'll go to the Johnson Space center in Houston. That's about a 3,000 mile round trip. So, I changed the oil, installed new rear brake pads and off I went. It was a wee bit chilly when I left the NW burbs but, by the time I hit St Louis, it was warming up nicely. Down I went, through Arkansas to Texas. I have never driven in the eastern part of Texas before. I was lied to by all my John Wayne movies. I was expecting flat and desert and tumbleweeds, but here it was all hilly and tall forest almost all the way to Houston. Luckily, the Lord of Hosts saw fit to restrain his rains,... mostly. There is nothing quite as sphincter tightening as getting caught in a sudden downpour while cresting a hill in the Ozarks at 75 mph on a road covered in clay dust. Friends who live in the Houston area took me out on a couple rides, first through the Sam Houston National Forest and then through the surrounding countryside. I could easily live in Texas if I wasn't trapped in IL. Apparently, late April was the perfect time to go, temps weren't super hot and I was right in between storm systems. All good things come to an end, however and eventually, after visiting the Johnson Space Center, I had to leave. On the way home, I decided I would come up The Pig Trail in Arkansas. I overnighted in the town of Ozark, AR and started on the trail in the morning rather that trying to navigate it in the dark. That was when God decided he hadn't blessed me enough and insisted I ride through the mountains in the rain. It rained on me all day. The Pig Trail looks like it would have been fun in the dry but it was pretty scary in the rain and cold. On the plus side, my Frog Togs work perfectly. Somewhere along the way my GPS decided it did not want to be on the Pig Trail anymore and it took me onto AR-412. Not knowing where I was I just followed the Garmin. Eventually, I ended up on a back road that was not paved, WPA N I think. This is an access road, made for tractors and farm equipment, (I call it the cow path.) By the time I realized the GPS was trying to kill me it was too late. I had gone down a hill that I was never going to get back up. I couldn't turn around so I had to continue for the rest of the 8.8 miles to AR-65 North, in the rain. At 1,000 pounds, me and my Venture were now on a hill climbing adventure! I was a muddy trembling mess by the time I got back to the highway. Lessons learned, never trust the Garmin and the RSV is an impressive hill climber. I rode in the rain all the way up to Hannibal, MO. where I overnighted again. In the morning it was cold, (45 degrees!), but the sun was shining and it was dry. I ate breakfast at a little place that was full of farmers and then made for The Flat. The Flat is what I call the middle portion of Illinois, that vast featureless prairie. Coming out of Missouri on I-74 is not so bad at first, it's hilly and the sun was shining. Eventually, though, it flattens out and then, Blah. I hung a left at Springfield and rode I-55 the rest of the way home, fighting the GPS all the way. As a punishment, I guess, it tried to take me off the highway and through every little town we passed. Stupid Garmin. I set it to avoid tollways and gravel roads and on this trip it put me on both. The bike ran like a champion the whole way. 400+ miles a day every day for a week. you'd never think it had 70,000 miles on it. I think I'm gonna head to Deadwood, SD next time I get a few days off. Cheers!

My father carried an electricians knife with him for most of his life. It was a tradesman's style and was sharpened so many times that it was worn down to a narrow blade..lol.. When he passed, at the funeral, I put it in his pants pocket so that he'd have it on the other side in case he needed it; I miss him.....sniff....

Rode for three days each way to be there. It was a hoot.

I still ride my 1988 daily and on big trips. My mom who's 69 years old went with me to the Olympic National Forest last fall. She took her 2005 Goldwing Trike and we put on about 5000 miles in ten days. My old bike rolled over 100k miles on that trip. Since we got back in the second week of September, I've put over three thousand miles on her since then. We are looking to finally upgrade after eight years of ownership to a 2021+ Goldwing. Certain parts are getting hard to obtain, especially in decent condition. My rear spring is starting to get pretty soft, and its hard for me to trust buying one off of Ebay that I have no idea the condition of. I don't have room to have multiple parts bikes laying in the garage right now. I do all my own maintenance, including tire changes and balances. I'm pretty meticulous with my old Venture. I didn't have to touch a single tool on that last road trip. After we get the Wing, I'll keep the Venture and still ride the crap out of it, but I'll take my lady with me on the Goldwing on big trips. The Venture has been and continues to be one of the most consistent, reliable and solid aspects of my life. I've been through alot in the last 8 years (haven't we all??) and the Venture has been reliably by my side then entire time. We have our first baby on the way, due in June, so it'll be a slow riding year this year, so I'll focus on plastic repairs and keeping it running in tip top shape. I'll share a few pictures of our Washington Trip for proof.

I talk to him occasionally but it’s been a while. Last time I did, he indicated that his riding days were pretty much over. He had bought a couple of electric bicycles and was enjoying them.

Here’s the blinker fluid I use.

I’m trying to decide between the bike or boat today.

New bag lid covers from Ace High Leathers.

At least I was the only one on the road to work this morning.

If we don’t have at least one -20° night, we haven’t had winter!!🥶

Wishing my entire Venturerider family a very Merry Christmas !!! Hope Santa's good to you. Hopes for a healthy and prosperous New Year. Remember to take some time to reflect on the reason for the season.

Merry Christmas right back at you and to all the members of our Venture Rider family. May we all be safe and loved.

Hope your bellies are full and family is happy n healthy.

oh wow did I get full and because not as many showed up we brought enough home for a couple of days.

Thank you to all my fellow Veterans, Happy Veterans Day

If you haven’t heard yet, I am now riding a new 2024 Road Glide. I ended up going to the Myrtle Beach Fall Rally and unexpectedly decided to trade the Ultra Classic off. I finally got away from a black bike. To introduce the new ride, here are some pics. Color is “Sharkskin”

After 39 years of road maintenance, I get to hand my duties off to a new younger guy. The way it was looking I told Sharon that it looks like another winter of plowing snow and sanding icy roads. I had put my winter plan together and along came just the person we were hoping to find. He likes the work and lives a half a mile away from the Town shop. He went through his 60-day trial period and has done pretty good. Needs a little guidance and some more experience and I think he will do fine. I will still be doing some work running the road grader, He said he wanted to slowly work his way into it. So a few days a month I will go in and play around with the grader. And I can pick and choose the days. So now it's time to get to work on the house and get some hunting in and wait for it to snow and all I have to do is put some wood in the stove kick back and watch it fall. And it is going to feel good to know that I won't have to be up at 2:00 in the am to head out into the weather and head to work. Orlin

Now the winter is fast approaching just remember us folks here down south and remember You're all invited back again to this locality To have a heapin' helpin' of their hospitality. Hillbilly that is, sit a spell, take your shoes of Y'all come back now, y'hear? In other words if you are around Charleston drop in.

I rode one bike to Bike Week, and this bike followed me home.

Finally a Grandfather!!!

Remember to do the air line first. Not a hard job to do.

I don’t know but I lifted the bike until the rear tire just barely touched the floor. The removed the bottom bolts and then the top.

Concerned about long distance riding after the upcoming back surgery I decided to buy a trailer just in case. Decided I didn’t really like it so I sold it and built my own. You don’t see too many 10’ trailers with a dovetail and tandem axles but that’s what I wanted. Ramp gate folds flat on the dovetail out of the wind.

I’m back and better than ever Restoring the same model bike you guys helped me with, back in 2019. Some of the names I remember from back then, if my memory serves me correctly:Venturous Randy, Cowpuc, skydoc just to name a few. Anyway, current bike has not been started since 2009. It was stored in a shed so that’s good news! I did choose to go with a single carb this time. will keep you updated. I’m almost ready to fire her up

The wife and I rode to lunch after church yesterday afternoon. DANM, IT WAS HOT!!!! We got about 100 miles in before we found the shortest way home and put it up. It was a fun ride, but very different than a bike and was even different from the Venture Trike I had. I will get used to it and am looking forward to our first long trip. Probably to the Northeast so I can ride in the 7 states I haven't ridden yet. 😁

Merry Belated Christmas to everyone!!

More painting done! Allowing for curing times and when we have time to work on it, we ought to be finished about a week from Friday

We made it home about an hour ago, great seeing everyone again. Thanks to all who make this happen, already looking forward to Vogel next year.