BlueSky

Well, it was wonderful that the old girl decided to start again and finish the trip!

Yeah, I'm embarrassed! I really wasn't looking at what I was doing. But the oil on the calipers is bad news. No wonder it wouldn't stop! The rear tire was about all the brakes I had a couple days ago when I rode it about 20 miles. I replaced the fork seals twice on my Kawasaki ZN700 in the first couple years of ownership (bought in 2009). Looks like the Venture is a whole lot more work. And I may as well install some progressive springs while I'm at it. I need to go read all the instructions on the forum after we get through with my son's Mustang. It's a new 2015 GT with the performance package and he still had to swap out the springs, sway bars, shifter, and a ton of other stuff to destroy the ride and get rid of wheel hop. Makes me sad to think about it. But, it's his car. Ain't mine. We did the same thing to his 2004 Mustang GT almost a decade ago. It's a good thing the wife is on a 2 week trip back to her homeland. Maybe we'll have it together by the time she gets back. It took us 3 very long days to do the first one. Long days aren't in my vocabulary any more!

Thanks guys! I'm confused. In my defense, my son from NYC is in my garage and we are installing a suspension kit in his new Mustang and I'm not paying much attention to what I was doing on the bike!!

OMG, So, I took the bling off the left front caliper and it is missing the 2 bolts that hold it on too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Looks like partzilla will get an order in a couple minutes. It also looks like the left side fork seal is leaking!!! The caliper is covered in oil. Looks like I need to tear this bike apart and build it from the ground up. The clutch slave is leaking. The carbs are in need. I need to install the 4 brush starter. On and On.

Yep, I was confused. I was looking at the 4 allen head bolts. Turns out my RF caliper doesn't have the two bolts that hold it in place. They FELL OUT somewhere. The caliper bling was holding the caliper somewhat in place!!!! That might help explain why the RF brake wasn't working well!!

Well, I just took another look at the stock RF caliper on my 89. It has 4 bolts holding it on. So, it appears that an R1 won't fit. Even Skydoc said it would fit!

Now ya tell me! My bike has that useless bling cover over the front brakes so I never looked. I just took the bling caliper cover off and you are correct! Stock with 4 pistons! I'll compare the size of the pads/pistons and decide if I bought an R1 caliper that I don't need. If I do install it, I will rebuild it first. It's old and I don't want any trouble out of it. My stock caliper looks brand new. The bike only has 6k miles on it and I think some of the pistons are stuck because the front brake barely works at all. If I install the R1, the bling cover may not fit? I'll see.

Looks to me like you get 4 seals and dust covers if you buy K&L http://www.ebay.com/itm/89-YAMAHA-VENTURE-ROYALE-1200-NEW-K-L-FRONT-BRAKE-CALIPER-REBUILD-KIT-32-7599-/371112471802?fits=Year%3A1989%7CMake%3AYamaha%7CModel%3AVenture+Royale&hash=item566806ecfa:g:KbIAAOSwVFlT2Upo&vxp=mtr

Well, I looked on ebay last night and decided to buy that right front R1 caliper that was listed at $26.99 with free shipping. Now, I need to buy a rebuild kit, pads, and maybe that tool. I don't want to de-link so I don't plan to change the left front due to the proportioning valve and possibly changing the brake balance front to rear when the pedal is depressed. The reason I don't want to de-link is that the only motorcycle crash I've had is when I locked up the rear brake and the rear came around. Broke my ankle!

I just went to the garage and looked at my 89's MC. There is a "14" stamped on the side. Your idea of going to a 16 sounds logical to me.

From what I've read you will have to buy more SS brake lines to fit the R1 or R6 calipers. The hose has to be rotated 90 degrees to connect and the SS hoses can't be twisted. I don't know. But, I read it in one of the posts on this site.

From Yamaha, the seals are more expensive for the R1/R6. On ebay, the K&L kits are both expensive, $40 to $50 for two calipers.

This may be totally irrelevant. But, on an auto, if you don't bench bleed the master cylinder before you install it, it will take forever and a day to get all the air out by bleeding at the calipers. I recently installed a new MC on my 2002 F150 and it took a looong time and a lot of stroking to get all of the air out with the MC clamped in a vise. The new MC came with tubes that hooked to the outlets and the other end was inserted into the reservoir so I wasn't using a ton of fluid. It was being recycled and since the tubes were clear, I could see when the air bubbles finally disappeared. Also, I thought the idea was to go to a 14mm MC to give better control. From what i've read the stock MC has a 5/8" piston??? I don't know much about this idea.

If you are not de-linking the brakes, you shouldn't put a R6 caliper on the left side. It upsets the balance that the proportioning valve is designed for. Skydoc sells rebuilt R1/R6 calipers for the front and an FJR rear caliper and ss lines that de-link for the Ventures if ya got the money.

Bling!

I contacted Skydoc and he promptly responded and has anything you might want for the brakes. My right front caliper barely works so I plan to rebuild it first to see how effective it is when working properly. Then if it isn't satisfactory I'll install an R1 or R6. All of the R1 calipers on ebay that have pads in them show that one pad wears faster than the other which is not what I would expect with a stationary 4 piston caliper. One side must be seeing more hydraulic pressure than the other.

I won't ask how you know Big Tom's underwear is red:Bunny2:

The police in and around NYC are tough. I know someone who got a DWI on Long Island in Nassau county with 0.09% BAC with 0.08% the limit. He had to go to drug rehab with the drug users, perform community service, big fine of course, driver's license loss, and they tried to take his car. 1st and only offense. And of course the day or two his car was in the impound lot they stole everything of value that was in the car, cell phone, engine tuner, etc. He fought them on the car and after spending a couple years and a several thou on an attorney, they gave up and he was able to keep the car. Another good reason not to go to any large city.

Wow! Beautiful! It appears to have everything you could wish for.

I decided to upgrade the right front caliper on my 89 Venture. I just want to make sure I buy the correct caliper. As I've read on this forum, compatible calipers can be found from a 2003 or earlier YZF-R1 or 2004 or earlier YZF-R6. I just wanted to verify this with the gurus on the forum before I purchase. Thanks Much! And, shouldn't I rebuild the caliper before installing it? And, do I need that special tool to remove the caliper pistons? http://www.ebay.com/itm/PMC-USA-YAMAHA-R6-R1-FZ1-R6S-FZ6-FZ8-BRAKE-CALIPER-REBUILD-PISTON-REMOVAL-TOOL-/322014106659?hash=item4af9895423:g:iygAAOSwFNZWyKTJ&vxp=mtr I also noticed that the 1998 thru 2001 calipers are advertised to fit that range of years and the 2002 and 2003 are advertised to only fit those two years. Does anyone know the difference between them and if all will fit the 89 venture?

From the photo, there is a huge difference in the two springs. Seems like there would be a huge difference in the spring rate too. Yeah, if I look closely, I can see that the "Progressive" spring is indeed a little progressive. I suppose Yamaha intended for the air compression to add to the overall spring rate and maybe make the ride a little more velvety feeling. The air pressure could also have the effect of reducing fork oil foaming. I'm just learning about these bikes and I appreciate all the rider knowledge that goes into all of the posts.

I think Harley motorcycles are somewhat analogous to the American V8 cars, at least the older American cars. They have low end torque but don't have the sophisticated engine and the hp per cu in of the foreign cars but we all love that V8 rumble. The biggest difference is American cars were cheaper to buy and repair and Harleys are quite expensive to buy and repair. I read recently that the Ford Mustang is the hottest selling sports car in Germany now. Take that BMW and Porsche!!

Looks like you could put a fairly long spacer on top of the stock springs to stiffen things up a bit if you are a cheapskate like me? Just looking at those Progressive springs me thinks they might be too stiff.

So, the "Progressive" springs aren't progressive at all.

Glad you got it resolved!