Silverado6x6

I picked up an 85 three years ago here in Alaska, it was in a house fire, right side of bike had heat damage, rear fender, right mid panel, right upper fairing, dash top and windshield melted, no damage to any wires or hoses of and part of engine. Bike was totaled, stored in a warehouse for 17 years, bike only had 17,000 miles on it. You could not even smell gas in the completely clean gas tank, but all brake fluids crystalized, even the clutch. Carbs were ok but the cdi had corrosion and i had to replace it. Bike still isn't road ready but it runs great, worst problems were the master cylinders, had to replace them and still replace the windows. And the rear master cyl reservoir was corroded very badly. And naturally all the clear coated aluminum was corroded, to the point i am just buffing them up and painting them black like a v max.

I own a 2009 Star 1300 Tourer, its a water cooled v twin, but looks like it isnt, its fuel injected, 5 speed, belt drive. Gobs of power, very quiet smooth motor, the engine is well liked by owners though the early model years had teething problems, stripped steering head nuts, fork klunks, poor handlebar pullback, factory set too lean from factory but easily fixed by a 50 cent part to fool the oxygen sensor. But its a cruiser trying to be a part time tourer, i see them for sale well below NADA prices. I think with some upgrades they are a good value for the money, the newest versions have batwing fairings.

My local Yamaha shop is selling only models from the Star 1300 Custom with the bat fairing on down, no Roadliners, Strats, Raiders or RSTD bikes. New bike sales are stagnant. Too much social uncertainty. Even i am passing up local used bikes for sale, at last count i still have 18 motorcycles. I am just not feeling any positive vibe to buy a new bike.

I think they call it the Super Tenere, a very popular sport touring bike, i see a ton if them here in Alaska.

On a hill it came to life? Float needs to be adjusted.

I removed my driving lights that came with my 86, installed a pair of 18 watt Cree spot off road lights. From Ebay.

My 85 Vmax has similar problems, i added an additional 6 gauge wire from the starter mount bolt back to the negative terminal of the Odyssey PC680 battery. But i kept the two pole starter but did an improved ground internally, works every time now, hot or cold. I soldered the tangs on the brush plate to give more contact area. Filed them flat but higher than original.

Was going to take my recently acquired 86 for a ride but several things intervened, one it started raining, two the throttle felt weird, found out the cabled is just a few strands away from breaking at the carb, again i do not want to keep steeling parts from the other Ventures i found a good complete set off ebay. Wish i could post pics but every single time it says upload failed. Its not a size issue, its something else. But in case anyone cruises over at Goldwingfacts i can easily post images there all day long, they like Ventures. I did a quad group pic of both my Gl1500 bikes and my 86 and 89 Ventures. Its in a thread called What did you do to your Goldwing today?

Needs a trunk.

Well i already stole the mufflers off my 85 Venture, might as well take the headlight cover, did not think the mk1 and mk2 covers would swap.

Led bulbs are changing every month right now, but are just shy of being better than a 55 watt HID, but those aftermarket cree 4x4 spotlights do put out pretty good light, i had a pair of old Hella driving lights on my 86 Venture, both were 55 watt h1 halogens, pulled them off and installed a pair of 4" square cree spot version off road lights, nice sturdy aluminum finned housing, they each draw 18 watts. My next goal is to retrofit dual projectors in my Ventures headlights, remove the outer cover and to install a sturdy lexan clear one, inside will be either a dual projector or a triple. Similar to the new Harley or Indian headlights.

Harley owners are used to riding bikes with engines that have missing cylinders, the iconic design and po-tay-to sound comes from an engine that is designed from an aircraft radial design, so be it 3,5 7 or 9 cylinders the Harley engine is just a pie slice with two cylinders, thus the sound and vibration. Lots of people think my Ventures or Vmax are twins, i just tell them its a "bi-twin" .

I do believe transparent aluminum is now a reality.

Gotta love those Harley take offs, i put a pair on my Honda cx650, sound sweet! Just about the ONLY Harley part i will ever own.

Any engine but one that is designed from a radial aircraft motor but missing 3/4ths of the other cylinders. I know somebody made a Wankel bike, would love to see an updated version.

Anything is possible if you have the skills and mindset. Even though i never finished it my short machine shop class in college taught me a lot.

Check out the sectioned differentials as well. They cut out part of the rear axle and make a window. The covers are NOT cheap.

I wish i could post the links but at http://www.vmaxforum.net i know many have bought the covers and other with a mill have made their own, i think its http://www.exactrep.com where you can buy them. Put a small amount of green flourescent dye in the green coolant and an ultraviolet led thats sealed proper and yes it would be different. I have seen youtube videos that really scream, vmax owners pull out the stops on mods and custom work, even mine has been tweaked, and they often ask me if my 1300 engine is for sale, it makes a very nice hop up in hp after you add the vboost and other stuff.

I own 6 Goldwings and 4 Ventures (plus two Vmax bikes) but i still prefer my 86 or 89 Venture over say either the 93 or 95 Goldwings. Never rode a Gl1800, up here in Alaska nobody sells them anymore, you have to special order them, but you can buy a new Hardley at any conveniance store restroom.

You want cool? Over at the Vmax forumsa very popular mod is engine side covers that have clear lexan, you see the coolant pumping or oil splashing behind the other covers.

I thought i had retired last fall, spent 19 years at my last job, in july i was assaulted and stabbed nearly 20 times, both lungs collapsed, forunately even at 57 i am built like a work horse, only out of commission for 3 weeks, but that job pushed me too hard in their greedful lust of the almighty dollar, i decided to tell them them i was retiring because if i said i quit i would lose my unemployment insurance. I spent my winter building a wrecked Gl1500, went back to work on may 3rd, new job, part to full time if i can handle it, much better pay than the slave owners before. I have to keep myself busy, it would be nice if i had a ton of reserve cash but thats up in the air for now. But its just for this season, buying a ticket to Australia any day now, always wanted to visit oz, might buy a bike and live off it or a campervan with a trailer. If needed i have at least half a dozen road ready touring bikes i can sell off as well. If i make a permanent stay i will need to sell all 18, its probably too expensive to ship bikes from Alaska to Oz, plus other BS and taxes.

I have a 2009 Star 1300 Tourer, bought it new off the floor room, it only has 2004 miles on it, tags expired in 2013, its been parked in my storage shed, i did some mods to it, thought it was a cool bike, but then after this one i wound up with some older Ventures and Goldwings and suddenly i lost interest in thus Harley clone. I am waiting for the right deal to trade it fir a later model Goldwing. Thats my message to Yamaha, i am NOT going to be identified as a Harley poser. The real question is this, just what features would elevate the new Venture past Goldwing? I do know many Gl1800 owners gripe about an outdated gos and nav system. The Venture could go both Apple or Android compatible. Another first, from the factory a Can Am styled Venture option, i personally think the Polaris version is ugly but a Goldwing looks awesome, now a Venture version, with reverse would be perfect, and a factory trailer.

I just had to order a new agm battery for my 89 venture, bought the ytx24hl-bs frome Chrome Battery, been using these in my Goldwings and with no problems. Did the resistor mod to the sensor years ago.

My bet is the next Yamaha touring bike will be an Indian Roadmaster clone.

On all my Ventures and the Vmax i use 1 quart of the 20-50 Quicksilver and the rest is Rotella T6 5-40 synthetic. Shifting smoothes out a bit when bike gets hot. Probably pretty close to the recomended 20-40 oil. According to Bob is the oil guy forums its a fair to good synthetic.