BlueSky

One thing I vaguely remember from basic training is to dig a little trench around the high side of the tent so water will run around it rather than through it.

The 2008 is an air/oil cooled boxer. I was thinking it should weigh 550 lbs. with all the luggage. But that is 235 lbs less that a Gen I Venture.

The timing does advance when the engine is revved. You could confirm that it is indeed advancing. But the bike would be low on hp if that was the case. Timing check is briefly mentioned in this maintenance video.

Here ya go! https://wilmington.craigslist.org/mcy/d/bmw-r1200rt/6570079177.html According to this link it only weighs 450 lbs. https://www.bikez.com/motorcycles/bmw_r_1200_rt_2008.php

Or modify the shed to allow you to drive it out? If you really want to sell your Venture, a member might buy your bike. They will know they would be getting one they could immediately ride. I went to Best Buy this morning and a sparkling BMW K1200LT was sitting out front. That is a beautiful bike and not as large as I thought. It's at least as heavy as the venture though.

During the winter, you may be lacking vitamin D. Not enough vitamin D will affect your energy level. Energy loss though apparently comes with age. Dang it!

It has been over 2 months now and although my left knee is very slowly recovering, there is still some numbness and weakness in the joint. I am able to do 12 squats though with my right knee doing a little more than half the work. (Was doing 50 squats) Saturday before last, I drank 3 beers. The following Monday, I felt really bad with chills, fever, and aching all over. I felt just like I did right after I got shingles so I believe it was the shingles causing this. It took 4 days to recover. And that caused some sort of uti. So, I went back on Valtrex for the shingles and cipro for the uti. Seems it's going to take another month or two for my knee to recover completely. I'm glad this didn't happen when I was working because I would have missed a lot of work. Just letting you guys and gals know what you might be in for if you get shingles.

Dang! I thought only those tiny chinese girls could do stuff like that!

I haven't tried seafoam yet. I use Gumout for high mileage engines that has PEA in it. It works well.

Carbs will plug up if they sit too long with alcohol free gas too. I live on the east coast and alcohol free gas is available here mainly because of the boats I think. I never put ethanol gas in my bikes and the carbs still plug up. So, I suggest just keeping some additives in the fuel occasionally if you are not riding the bike regularly, or draining the carbs when parking the bike for an extended time.

A lot of us have commented about the changes Yamaha made to the Venture, air/oil cooled v-twin instead of the more expensive water cooled V4, belt drive instead of the more expensive drive shaft and made similar statements about how it isn't a Venture. I'm sure it's a great bike but nothing like its heritage. All in the way a guy perceives things. The new GW is mainly just a little smaller, lighter, with an updated flat six and new front suspension. It's not even close to an FJR. The FJR has a semi-sport bike seating position with your legs folded up and leaning forward with weight on your arms with only 26 degrees rake. New GW has an upright riding position like always with a 30.5 degree rake for cruising. I can understand why some GW owners are disappointed if they want those huge comfy seats for all day touring. Yamaha went after the Harley touring market and Honda has never done that. Looks like they went a little to the German touring bike side.

I was about to be drafted when I volunteered. So, I wasn't really a hero trying to save the world. But, I would never have considered going to Canada to avoid the military like many did. The training was tough and the assignment to S. Korea was a hardship tour, but I'm glad I got the experience of being in the military. I learned a lot about troubleshooting electrical equipment and I learned a lot about the world and life. Just about everybody my age knew someone who died in Viet Nam and that includes me. A friend died over there, a cousin came home with a bullet hole in his abdomen, and another friend came home with a bullet creased helmet as a souvenir that he had been wearing. 58,220 potential Venture riders we lost in Nam. About 350,000 more were wounded. Terrible times.

My 81 CB900C had a fairing that I believe was the same as the Goldwing fairing. They also have a driveshaft. Nobody has mentioned that yet.

Thank you for your service Joe! I googled navy designations and found that ET usually meant Electronics Technician but couldn't find what the C meant. What does that stand for? Looking at the navy designations, my job in the army would be FC for fire control since my job was repairing the equipment that tracked the target, tracked and guided the missile, and fired the missile. It was nerve racking when we had a drill and the operators found something out of tolerance and I was called in to repair it quickly or advise the Battery Commander on what to do next, such as the signal from the missile was too weak. That happened one time and after advising the BC of it, he terminated the drill instead of selecting another missile and continuing and he caught some heat over that. If I had been smarter, I would have suggested selecting another missile and saved his butt. I don't think he held it against me though because he praised me when I left to go home from S. Korea. The maintenance group in the fire control area was headed by a Warrant Officer who could BS with the best and knew very little. I was tempted to suggest to the BC that he request another but I was afraid he would hold me over and I didn't want that to happen. We were on a site way out in the rice paddies and the Warrant Officer was changed at least 3 times. The first two were good at their jobs, but the last one was a complete zero. At least he wasn't nasty or at least to me because when I left I was the best tech that he had.

Look at it this way. The USA already has a trade deficit with Canada. And as the Canadian money loses value against the USA dollar it will help Canada sell more goods to the USA. Canada is currently our 2nd largest goods trading partner with $544.0 billion in total (two-way) goods trade during 2016. Goods exports totalled $266.0 billion; goods imports totalled $278.1 billion. The U.S. goods trade deficit with Canada was $12.1 billion in 2016."Feb 9, 2018

I bought a CD off ebay that has many of the Yamaha bike's manuals. Accoring to it the slider pins are supposed to be torqued to 18 ft lbs and the bolts that hold the caliper to the forks should be torqued to 29 ft lbs.

I owned a CB900C also for quite a while. It's a great bike. That two speed second tranny didn't change the gearing that much but it helped.

Sounds good Skid! I'm always ready for burgers and fries!

Ahh, I didn't even notice the two exhaust pipes instead of four... 45 hp from what I read.

After googling 86 nighthawks, I can't find a photo of an engine that looks like the one in yours?

And one front brake disc. My Kawa has two. Is it a 700cc? Is that your GW?

If you hadn't traded trucks, would you have still busted your budget?

Very similar to my 85 Kawasaki ZN700. Except my Kawa has 74hp instead of your Honda with 80 and my Kawa has a 5 speed. The other difference is my Kawa has a disc brake in the rear and the Honda has a drum brake. Both have shaft drive. Yep, fun to ride for sure!

We'll be happy to see you return if you settle down and buy another bike. Heck we'll be happy to see you return if you don't buy another bike. Best Wishes!

Maybe change the thermostat? Maybe even use a lower temp thermostat?