BlueSky

I also have a Ruger LCP .380. It's small enough to carry in my pocket. I use a leather pocket holster to disguise its shape and to protect the trigger. The leather holster was tight at first but loosened up so when I pull it the holster stays in my pocket. It's a reliable shooter. When I first got it, I fired about 80 rounds and my hand was sore the next day from the kick from that little booger. Being double action, my accuracy is not as good as with the P226 but it's for close up protection.

I stumbled on a Sig Sauer P226 9mm handgun from a coworker for $350. The P226 and the Beretta were tied in the competition for the military purchase and the Beretta was a little cheaper is what I read so the Beretta was the chosen one. Except I also read that the Navy Seals use the P226. The P226 is a great handgun. I can drill the target with it. I also picked up a Smith & Wesson stainless steel Model 639 9mm from another coworker along with over a 1,000 rounds of ammo for $600. I'm not as accurate with the S&W but it's neat being SS. So, if you get a chance to fire a P226, you might like it. Everybody I let shoot the P226 tries to talk me into selling it to them.

I suppose it's like car insurance. They give you a low rate to get your business and then increase the premium at every renewal. Lately I've been switching car insurance every year because of that. I only have liability on my bike, so it doesn't change. I think the state sets the liability rates.

Keep an eye on the clutch fluid level. If the slave cylinder is leaking, it should go down. You will have to refill and bleed the system if you rebuild the slave.

Maybe it's the engineer in me, but I would never buy a new expensive touring bike with an air cooled V-twin. I don't mean to flame anyone who likes them. It's just not something I can understand. Yeah, my old 85 Kawasaki is air cooled but I paid $1200 for it when it had 1k miles on it in 2009.

Well, the V-Strom forum has been informing me of all the potential problems with the 1000 up thru 2012. And I just went to the Dealer and looked at a 2014 V-Strom 1000. Supposedly, Suzuki fixed all the issues with the older version in 2014. They had a new 2014. It's really tall for an old codger with a 29" inseam. So, time to forget about that V-Strom I suppose. However, I saw the bike that I wanted, there it was sitting on the showroom floor, a red 2018 Honda Goldwing. It's beautiful! I really like it! But, I'm not spending $27,000 on a motorcycle. Sooooooo, the next best thing is to get my 89 Gen I Venture on the road. That's the plan.

Time to move on Dan. I'm sure it's not the first time you ended up with the short end of the stick.

Oh, I don't do the mountain climbing and skydiving. Those were just examples. I think I will stop by the Suzuki dealer tomorrow and sit on a V-Strom 1000. I spent some time on the stromtrooper forum and those guys are fanatics about their bikes, especially the 650s. The 1000s have had more issues than the 650s but the 1000s were redesigned in 2014. I saw a youtube video of a V-Strom 1000 with some slipon Two Brothers mufflers and it sounded really good. That 90 V-twin is supposed to have good primary balance which the typical 45 or 50 degree or the parallel twin does not. And it is water cooled!

My wife's attitude is that the last thing she wants me to do is sit in my recliner watching tv. Skydiving, mountain climbing, motorcycling, almost anything is good, not sitting in front of the tv. Yeah, I'm fortunate in that respect.

rrr I have a Gen 2 manual on CD and all it has is something it calls a Caburetor Joint Screw, M4 x 0.8, Qty 4, 2.2 ft. lbs. I rarely put a torque wrench on anything. I've been working on my cars for over 50 years and just use my calibrated hands and arms on most stuff. I did use a torque wrench on my trucks front hubs since it was speced at 221 ft. lbs and other stuff like that, that is critical.

Lots of stuff, mostly typical: Leaking fork seals and now the front pads are soaked with oil Leaking clutch slave cylinder (I think) Howling speedometer (the last time I rode it that's what I think I heard) Corroded spark plug wires Carbs aren't right. It runs rich and the idle mix screws have to be turned down to 1 full turn out. I plan to remove the carbs and go through them replacing the enrichment diaphragms. I'm sure the weak ignition from the corroded wires has an effect on this. Nothing real serious that I'm aware of. I just need to get off my butt and git-er-done. Now that my knee is getting better and the weather is getting warmer, I'll probably get to it. Just the idea of getting a newer, FUEL INJECTED, more reliable motorcycle is appealing.

What I need is a good mechanic to fix my nice low mileage Gen 1!

Never mind on the Vstrom 1000. I just read enough on the internet to warn me off. Turns out that they don't run right because they are way too lean to pass the emissions testing and Suzuki can't legally fix them so they will run right.

It might be worth it to design some training wheels that will be easy to attach to your bike. Shouldn't cost too terribly much to get a machine shop to fabricate them. Might even be something you can market.

Looking thru craigslist this morning and saw a nice 2012 Suzuki V-Strom 1000. Anybody on here have one of those and if so, how do you like it?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1996-yamaha-xvz1300-royal-starter-motor/253534332810?hash=item3b07d2e78a:g:Wv4AAOSwblZZLkdz

The slow starting can be helped by cleaning up the starter and connections, maybe adding an additional internal ground and larger cables, but the real problem is that the starters through 1990 were two brush weak starters. The real fix is to buy a 4 brush starter for a 91 or newer V4 and replace the 2 brush.

Thanks Godlover, but I'm sort of set on a gold or red GW if I buy one. And some improvements were made in 2006 such as better cooling as I understand so I want a 2006 or newer. I think 2006 is the only year for a Gold colored GW. I just checked out the drive to the dealer. It's 855 miles and supposedly would take 12.5 hrs to drive it. Fuel and tolls would be $400 or so to make the round trip plus a motel room. Wish it was closer. I suppose I just need to get off my arse and fix the things I need to fix on my 89 Venture. It only has 6k miles on it.

$3k for an alternator failure sounds like BMW territory! Yikes! Thanks for the tip! The CTX1300 didn't sell well and I think was only offered for the year 2014. I'm not crazy about the style of it either. And they neutered the ST1300 engine before putting it in the CTX. Maybe it was because of the cruiser chassis design and that design is not made for performance handling in the twisties. I'm sure it's plenty fast still but. I'm not sure what I will do. I wish that GW was close by. If so, I might not be able to resist. It would be a 2 day trip to go buy the one I want. Where I live the only new bike dealers are the Harley of course and the Honda/Suzuki. And the owner of the Honda/Suzuki dealership is one of the biggest buttholes I've ever had the displeasure of meeting. I used to take my Hondas to the Kawasaki/Yamaha/BMW dealership (now defunct) to get my bike inspected and buy stuff. The price of used BMWK1600GTLs is coming down!

6 weeks ago, I was doing sets of 50 squats as part of my exercise program. So, I'm assuming that in a few more weeks, the shingles nerve damage to my knee will be healed and my knee won't be a problem. Hoping! It is very slowly getting stronger and the numbness is going away very slowly. I also decided that I was going to lose some weight so I cut back on the calories. I'm losing weight and that single thing will help many areas of health, arthritis, blood pressure, cardiovascular, energy, probably everything. Yeah, I'm 74 but I refuse to give up! Middle finger to age!

I wish I could ride a GW for a while first but I haven't had the opportunity. I test rode one for a short distance in 2010, a gold 2006 that I haven't been able to forget about. The dealer wanted $17,500 for it and I wasn't ready to pay that much for a bike at that time. I think that gold is the perfect color for a Goldwing. I used to be about 6' tall but now I'm closer to 5'10" with my flat back discs. I have a 29" inseam. I've been reading some negative posts from current GW owners about the new GW. Some don't like the smaller seats and smaller luggage since it is supposed to be a long distance tourer.

A dealer has it so I'm positive it will be sold to the first guy who comes with the cash or credit. I also don't know how many BS fees he will try to tack on to the price. I've been watching the subject GW for a while and the price just dropped from $9,999 to $8,999, which judging from the prices I see on local GWs is not a bad deal.

I just watched Rick's West Trip video again getting fired up to ride. Almost makes me wish I had kept my 2004 Kawasaki Concours. Loved the sound and perfomance of that sport tourer. With a 7.5 gallon tank it had a long fuel range. It's biggest negative is how top heavy it is. I don't know how Rick was able to ride it in the mud in the Redwood Forest. I've been watching some of those "Living off the Slab" youtube videos too. Some good information there for a novice tourer.

I was jacking up the front of my Kawasaki today in preparation to replace the fork seals for the 3rd time in 9 yrs. when my wife walked by and said that I should get rid of my old bikes and buy a newer more reliable one. So, I told her that I did have my eye on this 2006 Gold colored Honda Goldwing with 20k miles on it that cost $8,999. She said buy it. I then told her it's about 700 miles away and it would be a long trip. It's tempting though. I still have a numb in the front very weak knee from the shingles and I'm still not feeling normal so I have to take that into consideration too when thinking about making the trip.

Maybe ask a mechanic at the local Yamaha dealer if he can recommend a mechanic who does work on the side. Maybe check craigslist. I looked one time and there were a couple motorcycle mechanics who had an ad. If you decide to tackle the carbs yourself Damon Ferrara's video would be well worth the money to buy. He sells a very detailed video about rebuilding a set of Vmax carbs which are about the same. I think I paid $20 for his carb video and engine video and since it took him a couple weeks to get around to shipping them, he refunded the money. I thought that was beyond honesty and decency. If he had mentioned it first I would have told him it was okay.