cowpuc

Hey George, sounds like you had a great ride, congrats!! That Coure De Lain area is beautiful,, its to bad summer is sooo short - I could head out there right now!! Besides, that Dennys in town has the bestest pancakes ever (its amazing how starving in the after being lost in the mountains makes your food taste so good)!! Thanks for posting Puc

Hey Spear, thank you for sharing your friends with us here in the States.. My wife and I FINALLY had the honor of meeting them both at Vogel this year.. What a wonderful time we had!! That loveable Annie even came up with a couple stickers for our bike from your homeland - we are now proudly displaying the flag of your country on the windshield of our bike, plus a signed "I Luv Australia" to boot!! We will send Annie and Al home well fed, a little tired perhaps and FULL of great memories!! Annie and Al, ride safe out there and thanks for some GREAT times at Vogel!! Puc and Tippy

Yep, that Annie can stir the pot and not even realize she is doing so.. I got to see this with my own two eyes!! Puc

That is beyond words terrible, our love, prayers and condolences go out to the family of this young man... Tippy and Puc

It was down at Wilton, just off Alta Mesa Road,,, it may be on "Blake Rd.. We did visit a larger range up by Rancho Cordova (I am terrible with all these strange none michigan names) but just to get Ammo...

When we left the Redwoods park we took 199 into Oregon with a heading for Crater Lake.. At the time there were 3 major fires going on and 199 was one smokey puppy!! Worse I have ever encountered! All the way up to Grants Pass in Oregon my eyes were burning!! We didn’t want to drop tent in the smoke so we rode hard all the way to a place called Gold Hill Oregon.. About 2am and Tippy spots an old Cemetery and we pulled in.. Real quiet place with the quietest neighbors I have ever seen hahaha.. During the night Tippy thought she heard a Cougar growling so I got up, took my flashlight and pocket knife out to do battle with the cat.. It happened again only I thought it sounded more like a deer snorting than a cougar.. I yelled my battle cry and that was the last we heard of what ever it was,, thankfully.. The road leading into Crater Lake is just beautiful biking!!! Huge Douglas fir trees line the path and the air is just amazing!!! There is "chasm" with falls along the route, stunning!! About ¼ of the way around crater lake we had a pedal biker ask for some water, carrying that 1 gallon jug of water may look goofy but boy does it come in handy!! Crater is tucked into a volcano and is almost 2 thousand feet deep – you swear you can almost see bottom it is that clear.. Amazingly enough, by the time we finished our tour the wind had changed and the lake hallow had almost completely filled with smoke from those fires miles and miles away!!!

One of our sons is a Staff Sargent in the USAF and is based at Travis Airbase in California. He got us on base and we got to tour the base.. We had the honor of seeing his work, visiting the flight line and touring the outside museum.. WOW!!! Sad to end our time out there but Tip and I said our good byes and headed for Lassens National Park. We camped at the waterfalls (high altitude) – beautiful but man those mountains get cold!! The early morning sun never felt better and, even though stinky, visiting the hot sulphur springs was down right refreshing.. Lassens is an amazing place – when the volcano blew it shot garage/car size boulders miles away!!! Unreal!! Headed to the coast n hwy 101 for a tour of the Redwoods Nat Park.. Another beautiful ride into the park, thru the grand old trees, went whale watching (twice), never saw one but hey – it was awesome, we did however see lots of ELK,,, no not while we were whale watching!! Drove some dirt roads back to a WW2 Radar Station where our guys monitored Japanese sub activity on OUR coastline – never knew that!!! It was designed to look like a farm house but was actually a radar station!! Another thing we found out was that the Japs actually BOMBED us 30 miles north of this station on the mainland!!! Very interesting stuff!!!

As I mentioned earlier, Tip and I have two kids in Sacramento. We spent a bunch of time with them and the grandkids.. While there I repaired my grandsons PW50 and his dads KLR250 and or course, spent time riding them.. When I left the grandson had talked his dad into mounting his tent on the back of his pw so it would look like gramps bike. Also went trap shootin with the boys, been better off tossing rocks at those goofy things.. The other daughter lives in town, she had a huge silver maple die over winter and the two sons in laws were busy cutting it into handleable pieces.. One of these fine young men has a wood milling business and all this gorgeous wood is going to be put to good use!! Across the road from this daughters house is where I met a new friend, his name is “Sam” (name changed to protect the innocent). The day that we pulled in I immediately noticed Sams 05 Vette setting out front and his 1970 Stang sitting in the driveway.. Both the wife and I KNEW I was in trouble, the stang is an almost duplicate of one of my cars as a kid.. About two days later I get a text that reads, Sam wants to meet you and wants you to drive his “Chevy”.. NICE!!! Couple days later I find myself driving Sams Vette across Sacramento into worlds unknown!! What a car!! So we are cruising along with folks staring at the cool ol dudes in the sports car and I ask Sam where we are going.. He says he has another Vette he wants to show me.. We go to a Storage building in another town, Sam opens a door and HOKEY SMOKEYS, she’s a gorgeous mint 72 with original close ratio 4 speed!! Sam squeezes between the car next to it, climbs in, couple pumps and its running!! Backs it out and hands me the keys – what a guy!!! After driving the 72 Sam says,, hey,,, you ever driven an AC Cobra?? Sure enough, opens a garage door and BINGO!! Nope, never have and probably never will have the chance again so you KNOW I was all over that!!!! When we got back I took Tippy, my daughter and Sam out in the stang and had the pleasure of showing my daughter what life was like back in the early 70’s for her old man..

Not that you would ever want to but we found out by accident that the rear jug shut down switch can be turned off.. It is amazing to me what all can be done with modern day electronic wizardry.. Yapping with the HD folks out at sturgis about the water cooling that is coming,, heads only and it sounds like this is REALLY gonna help on the hot leg syndrome.. I think its already been mentioned but the fans are tentavily gonna be mounted on the lowers.. I am really not clear where they are going to go with the warm air off the rads/fans,, hopefully not back onto the riders legs... Hey don, I have helped two friends with the Cat removal on thier bikes and it really helps!!! Did the RG come with an oil cooler on it?? Not to sound dumb but if it didnt getting that hot oil out for cooling may help too!! Another something crazy I have thought about.. I know that HD has really struggled to meet regs and have to run their bikes as lean as possible to pass regs, life has taught me that this alone makes one hot engine AND may add in creating the need for higher octane fuels .. The race tuners HD is selling are tunable at every 200 rpms,, I wonder if purchasing the race tuner (450 bucks - ouch), dropping the cats and running fatter on the bottum would actually make em run cooler,,, just yappin off the cuff... be fun to have a dyno and the equiptment to play with one... Love this stuff....

Seems like Suzuki had some issues with the Bandit,, I may be wrong but cam journals or crank problems come to mind.. Now a Suzy 109,, that would be fun.... Of course a Ural like Brians would be too,,, Maybe even a newer 883 sporty with 1200 jugs, cams and a tuner and set of side pipes and tuned out to 95 horse and made to look like an XR750,,, jeeze guys this is a toughy.... I would LOVE to have a 2 wheel drive ural,, winters coming... Puc

Hey Sandy, I have bars adjusted back and down and ride most of the time leaned back against tippy with my feet on the engine guards so I am low in the saddle.. This position is extremly comfortable for me (and her) on my back/legs and arms and it also eliminates that glare!! I never really thought about what you are saying until now but yea, if I am sitting upright with my back straight I do recall the glare your speaking of.. Even when I covered many many miles alone on one of my other 83's I would adjust my backrest (drivers backrest) rearward so I could put my bag/tent on the rear seat behind the backrest, ran a cut down windshield and left my trunk at home.. Rode many many miles leaned down in the same position I mentioned earlier and NEVER had glare issues.. First thing I have always done to my bikes is drop in Progressive springs in the forks.. I have NEVER owned a good set of OEM springs,, even though most of the 83/84s I have owned have had under 25k on them when purchased the front springs have been sacked out - I honestly believe this happens just from sitting/being stored with the weight on them.. I bought Progressives for the one we are riding now for 70 bucks (free shipping) off ebay.. Seems like I paid 140 for my first set years ago so not a bad deal!!! Never did the aftermarket fork brace but was always tempted to.. I have had multiple bikes that "shimy" right at 46 mph if you let go of the bars - I fixed this by only going no handed above 46 but always wondered if that stiffer brace would fix this.. Yea, that stupid speedo noise.. Lube it or loose it I always say, simple to do.. Mine is still noisey when real cold even after being lubed many times. It stops though after it warms up above 40 degrees... You ever had your carbs synced?? I got the tools if you got the time --- freeby to a fellow Venture rider!! Hey,, did you get my phone number?? You wanna try and hook up before monday?? Not for sure whether we are heading back out at that time but Tippy is ready and the bike is almost ready.. We are thinking about touching base at Vogel to give our worn out ol 1st gen an ego boost after rubbing shoulders with all those ritzy HD's at sturgis on our way out to Texas and we wanna ride the Nachez Trace to get there so Monday is almost a must.. Anyway,, give me a jingle if ya wanna chat!! Puc

Gorgeous pics! Thanks for sharing!! We too have only been home a couple days and its shots like that that make my wrist twich and my back side ich for more saddletiime!!! Nicely done!!! Oh yea, I have found that I cant change yesterday so I might as well enjoy today before its gone too,, at least thats what we are trying to do!!! Congrats on riding again!! Puc

Lucky sucker!!! We were there for the unveiling party and knew they were doing the demos (they announced exit 30).. Had to beat foot it home to hook up with daughter or I would have signed up and waited.. I KNEW IT, I KNEW IT,,, I knew the report you are giving was what was going to happen.. Those things are gorgeous!!!!! I cant wait to see the final tally of Indians sold at the rally,, dealers probably wont see one till 2015!! I actually told my wife we should have ordered 5 of them and resold them,, adding enough to keep the 5th one free and clear hahahaha,, I got an evil mind I tell you.... Thats why God keeps me poor I guess...

I always give a wave to fellow riders, whether on the CT90, Helix, venture or even on the Dual Sport.. Tippy and I had sooooo much fun waving at the groups of HD out at Sturgis - picture the two of us on an 83 Venture covered with stickers from all the sites - a tent with two sleeping bags on a rack I built on the back and a set of antelope horns that I pulled off a dead antelope in montana mounted on the mirrors and you gotta ask yourself - would you wave back at something like that??? We found that the best way to be sure we got waved back at was to ride at the back of a pack of HD riders One really cute situation was once we were doing that and a couple guys went by us, giving the two finger down sign at about 20 bikes in front of us and as soon as they came to us they jerked their hands in quickly I take no offence, seriously,, if I found one of those guys stranded I would stop and help them too, guess I been biken long enough and have owned enough bikes that it really dont matter anymore, I wave cause I love riding!! On another note, the HD riders that we stopped and helped who were stranded on the the highway didnt refuse help hahaha... Oh yea, and I rode on the back of a Beemer to a gas station cause I ran out of fuel!! Guy was on his way to the Beemer International in Oregon. Nice as could be, refused any payment and loved our bike and what we were about... We bikers are nice people!!! Puc

Sounds like a bad spot in a neck bearing. I know one thing, if there is any chance of that bearing getting sticky or stuck (and it sounds like thats where it might be headed) I would fix it, when they get stuck (never had this happen) or get tight (have had this happen lots of times on both dirt and street) they really get squirrely - almost undriveable.. As far as driveability goes, loose is nothing compared to tight!!

We just finished a month trip from Michigan to Sacramento, up into Montana, down to sturgis and back home.. Left with a new 404, bald in Fairfield Utah and bald when we got home.. Bottom line on the 404 is, like already mentioned, it doesnt wear good in heat or the extra weight of two riders and loaded up for tent camping BUT for rainy mountain riding they are awesome!!.. I always used e-2's in the past and had really good results, with 3 times the mileage on the rear.. I have yet to try the 3's but hear really good things about them.. Has anyone tryed the new "dual compound" tires? Talked with lots of folks about them out west and had a couple guys mention delamination due to high tempature riding.. Anyone have any thoughts on this? I also do my own tire changes on the road, I really wish the manufactures would match front and rear rim sizes so you could carry 1 spare tire (off rim of course) for road travel.. Tippy and I are thinking of riding down to Quademala and this is one of the issues I am contemplating.. Puc

Tippy and I just got in from a month on the road, left the SPAM Museum (more all about the ride w pics coming soon) in Minnesota (how many of you guys ever stopped and checked that out?) at 2pm.. Anyway,, We left the Sturgis Rally last Sunday morning, hit Rushmore and went up and grabbed 44 heading down to Scenic and than down 27 to Wounded Knee (stopped and played with some indian kids - getting side tracked again..).. While going down 44 we passed an early model Venture (appeared at a glance to be an 86 maybe..) pulling a trailer behind it, it was headed toward Rapid City.. I thought there may have also been a white van following it too?? We were riding our same old 83, unmistakealble - covered with stickers and a set of antelope horns (plucked em from a roadkill in Montana) mounted to the mirrors.. Anyway, thats the only other early Venture we saw our whole trip and just wondered if it happen to be any of our neighbors here on the site.. Had a GREAT month out and made it home in time to meet our daughter here at home (she is an interpreter for the deaf and has been working at a camp all summer) coming in today - just made it hahaha.. Puc

Its 3:15am Michigan time and Tippy amd I just got in from a month long tour.. We made it to Sturgis just in time for the unvieling of the new Indian line.. Awesome party and gorgeous bikes!! Polaris really did the marquee up right. I have been following the process since the buy out and telling Tippy all along how I hoped they (polaris) would follow the lines of the original Chief.. I redid one a few years ago and LOVED the bike.. Well, they did it - it is gorgeous!! Now, here is the major downer, EVERYONE I had talked to and everything I read about their pricing was a starting price of 18900.00 just to get a few on the market.. Since Harleys number 1 seller is the Street Glide and it can be had for 17900 I thought Polaris was walking a thin edge in pricing, like they have been doing with the Victory.. As we left the party at the museum in Sturgis there was a huge banner displayed showing the price had gone up to 20900 as a starting price!! I honestly think they should have gone the other way for a short time to get the bikes out and let them prove themselves.. So people KNOW they arent living in the realm of the old 92 inch Victory again - remember thse years? On the other hand, it is entirely possible that these new Indians will hit the market hard and be in the Zone of a CVO HD Ultra next year,, and than some.. Tippy and I were front row standers and the place was packed - and I mean PACKED - you should have heard the WOWs coming from the crowd!! Some well known riders (I am beat or I would download the video and get names) rode the bikes in and had spent some time on them and they just could not say enough for the dynamics of the bike.. I really think polaris has done it this time,, only time will tell which way the ball goes with the pricing.. If it were me and I wanted one (or should I say, if I could afford one) I dont think I would wait,, could get real pricey real fast.. Puc

Tippy n I are leaving Sacremento today and heading up to Lassen national park, than over to Redwoods and from there up to Crater Lake. gonna hit Yellowstone and do a little cow towning in western montana and that should put us inline for the sturgis ralley on the way back to michigan. I just finished fixing the tail light on the 83 at an all night gas station so probably a late morning depart. I have been going to the rally since 1973, have pretty much wore out the party seen BUT go for the late night chats with other builders down on mainstreet - usually thats where you will find us. Be great to meet up with some of you and say howdy!! I always tent camp about a mile east of the buffalo chip on the praire - quite, cool and peaceful... Puc

Your welcome guys, here is another point of interest for me that you all may enjoy.. coming out of canyonland we pulled into a fuel station (kinda pricey place - 5.29 a gallon for 85 octane). There sat a bike that appeared to be plugged into a 110 volt outlet, it had been "streamlined" like bikes that run on the Bonneville Saltflats, had some decals on it and just looked suspiciously like something I should check into (its a flaw in my charector, always nosing around...).. Of course I left my bike sitting on the fuel island and boogied over to the suspicious bike. Tippy went inside to get something to drink (cool off - it was well over 100).. The bike looked to be an electric motorcycle built for highway usage.. some pretty elaborate fairing type work and lots of NASA looking wiring and stuff.. Tippy came out and told me that she thought she noticed a guy inside that was had probably been riding the bike.. Of course we went right back inside to check him out.. Come to find out the guys name is Terry Hershner (sp), riding cross country on his electric bike. He was on his way to Ohio for some fuel economy competetion with the likes of Craig Vetter (whom he is very good friends).. His goal was 1000 miles in 24 hours (good ole iron butt stuff) at zero cost!! Said he could run about 80 mph for almost 150 miles without a recharge.. I was telling him about our love for coasting downhill and about a 39 minute coast we had experienced at Kings Canyon last year and how I imagined he got the same "feeling" riding an electric bike as we did coasting down mountains - engine off, in neutral (the silence is amazing).. He was amazed at us for doing that - even asked me to sign the back of his bike!!! Anyway, I just did a google search on him and it appears he is in the Guiness World Book!! Pretty cool... I am the old guy in the pics... What a blast,, ya NEVER know what adventuring on a bike is gonna bring into your life..

Hi All Tippy and I are putting a few more miles on the 83, after spending some time at Arches, Canyonlands, Capital Reefs and Great Basin Nation Parks (gorgeous places - I swear that Canyon Lands is right on par with the Grand Canyon, in its own way maybe even more awesome) we finally got out here to Sacramento for a weeks visit with the kids.. Lots of crazy stuff always happening as always happens on a bike trip (as most of you know).. My new 404 on the rear only made it to 4 thousand miles - the heat out here ate it alive!! After looking around Moab Utah for a new tire (we were almost down to the wear bars) we finally found ONE in Moab - guy wanted 230 bucks for another 404 sheesh).. Passed on that one, talked to some local tire store folks (cars) and found out our closest bike shop was RichField Utah. According to our little trip Map that Tippy picked up at a visitor center someplace in Utah Capital Reefs Nat Park was right between us and Richfield.. Well, after spending a night camping at Hogans Pass up in the utah mountains (outstanding), having trail mix for dinner and very low on gas we finally figured out (thanks to a national forest park ranger) that the capital reefs park was placed about 80 miles west on the map of where it was suppose to have been placed - oh the joys of biken!! A day later we made it to Richfield - bald tire and all.. All the Yamaha Shop (Jorgensans) had in stock was another 404 too (sheesh again) BUT they let us have it for only 145 bucks instead of the 230 in moab hahah, and only charged us 25 bucks for install (wheel off bike of course).. Headed back to Salina Utah to ride Hwy 50 across to California - hit the hardest blowin mountain winds/storm we have ever experienced - got hailed on.. Later found out that this same storm caused a major two bike accident at the Grand Canyon.. Always wanted to ride the 50 but never took time to do it - great ride other than real warm. Amazing the different terrains along that "Loneliest Hwy in America". We had just came over Connors Pass on 50, tippy had been complaining about not seeing any wildlife during this trip and bingo - 2 elk crossed a ways in front of us, another 200 feet and 3 more!!! We went around a sweeper and there was one standing on the side of the road about 50 feet from us - I slowed way down and it bolted and almost ran into us!! It missed the back of the back bike by inches!! We are visiting with our kids in Sacramento till this weekend and than gonna head to the Red woods National park and up to Crater Lake.. The bike cleared 148,000 on this one, has had 2 1100 mile ride days on this trip all of which were in 100 degree weather plus, been thru hail, rain and major winds and is still doing its job honorably!! Gotta love these ol yammies!! It appears I do have a clutch slave to rebuild when I get home - master cylinder was down in window yesterday and I do have some seepage at cover. Yea she's old and tired but so am I hahah Ride safe ya'll Puc

Thats awesome Don, your kindness is shining once again!!! Man I love this web site and the folks associated with it!! Puc

Normal for these good ol carbs..

CONGRATS!!!! Here is to wishing you a fantastic motorcycling experience with your new bike - may the highway treat you to all kinds of Venturing fun and may that "geeked" feeling your getting from these great ol V-4's never leave you (been ridin em since the mid 80's and I still have it too)!! Oh yea, being the typical male of the species I am stimulated by sight - CANT WAIT TO SEE THE PICS!! Puc

I once rode my KX500 home from the U.P. of Michigan with a blown shock and no Nitrogen in it - talk about a scary ride - and that was on a dirt bike!! Gotta tell you guys, riding a "springer mono" on a RSV simply wouldnt be a good idea.. Are there any other alternatives for this guy besides buying exact replacements? I wonder how close a first gen shock would be? Are these shocks rebuildable?