BlueSky

I suspect after reading the reviews that if it does handle well at low speed like the GW, that I would like riding it. But, I would be wasting my time because I'd never buy one. The air cooled thing would decide it for me. I can understand why Yam did it though. the V-twin is much cheaper to produce and it is the predominant choice among riders, a win/win for them if they are lucky. I'm sure Honda is very happy.

I think they worked 7 days a week dawn to dusk just to survive. Average life expectancy was about 40 yrs I think.

The most likely leak point in the clutch is the slave cylinder. Most of us have had that problem with leaking slave cylinders. Rebuild kits are available as well as for not much more money new slave cylinders. You should be able to find a used rear brake master cylinder on ebay or from a forum member. I buy parts from partzilla.com mostly.

If you decide to sell, consider waiting until spring because it may sell better with the new riding season just starting.

That's ugly! You may have used up some of your luck by not having a tire failure on the road with that one?

Government run anything is very inefficient. This has been demonstrated over and over in the USA.

I paid just over $400 for both my bikes just for liability. So, you might want to check around. If your max coverage is much higher than the minimum that may be why yours is costing more. Right now, I'm paying less than $200 for just the Kawasaki and I don't have the minimums. I don't know about present day but bike insurance used to vary quite a bit between companies.

F6B, I just noticed you live in the Villages. I hope you aren't affected by Irma. Now they are saying it will be a Cat 1 when it gets to Georgia! I lived in Homossassa for about a year in 2008 while working at the now defunct Crystal River Nuclear Plant. I liked that area. I would have liked to move there but for the wife. She thought the shopping malls were too far away.

Well, I hope their research is correct and they sell enough Ventures to make some money. But I highly doubt it. Victory just bit the dust. I am also a degreed engineer and an air cooled 963lb touring bike makes no sense to me from an engineering standpoint. If it was water cooled, I could understand it better because it wouldn't overheat in traffic. An air cooled engine will overheat in stop and go traffic. The touring bikes that I think I might like are the Goldwing, BMW R1200RT, and the BMW K1600 GTL. Even the BMW R bike is water cooled now starting in 2014 from what I read. It used to be called an air head. Then I think 1995, they added oil cooling and it was called an oil head. Now, it is water cooled. And I love my old truck. It is a top of the line 4x4 model and it performs great. I have no reason to trade it. Same for the Magnum Hemi. It's as much fun to drive now as it was when I bought it. I don't feel that way about my motorcycles. I have been looking for a good while for another bike that I would like more. So far, I've only test ridden a Goldwing of the ones I think I would like and I loved it. One may be in my future. An air cooled any kind of bike will not be in my future. Perhaps after I get the kinks ironed out of my 89 Venture, I will like it more. But the time I have spent riding it didn't impress me like that Goldwing.

Very true. But most of the venturerider.org members own V4 Ventures and it seems normal to me that they would prefer a new V4 Venture. Stand by for more air cooled V-twin Gen 3 Venture slamming!

The insurance on my Kawasaki in WI was half what it is in NC. I was told that it was due to the longer riding season? May also have to do with many more illegals in NC driving without insurance causing the uninsured/underinsured costs to skyrocket.

I thought 3% annual growth in the second quarter was definitive but evidently it can be misunderstood.

CBX1000!! That's a collector item for sure.

Yeah, I'm going to rush out and buy one. NOT I can see why riders who like Harleys may want one. But if I liked Harleys, I'd buy a Harley. Why buy a Japanese clone?

I brought this up a good while ago and I was told that folks like Puc lift the bike under the exhaust pipes. If you search for a thread on his trip a couple years ago, you will see a photo of Tweeks lifted this way. I don't want to lift mine that way. I thought about buying a HF table life but the jack fails quickly on those and new seals are unobtainable. I looked under my 89 and an adapter would be difficult to build. Maybe zagger will build one for us!

Those hurricanes coming in on that trajectory have a habit of turning, coming up the coast to hit Wilmington directly. 4 times at least the eye of hurricanes have come over my home since I moved here. Usually they slow down a bit before getting this far north though. Those 4 have been either cat 1,2, and 3.

I think things are changing a little for the better. 3% annual growth in the gdp last quarter! The current admin is trying.

When I dropped my 04 Concours on my right foot because I was trying to keep it from going over like a big dummy, my foot was pinned under the bike and it broke my second metatarsel. I ignored it at first and after about 3 weeks my leg had swollen indicating blood clots in my lower leg. I was working away from home and the doc sent me to the emergency room and I stayed in the hospital for a day taking blood thinners. Being an old codger and sitting at a desk with the foot trauma caused the blood clot. I could see it on the ultrasound and it was about 6" long. 4 months of injecting myself with blood thinner and trying to keep that leg elevated and I was okay.

Reminds me of when I bought a Mark VIII Lincoln. I received a video from Cadillac showing a well groomed guy yuppie driving a Cadillac Eldorado. Not one technical detail was provided in the video. I guess I was supposed to say, "Wow, that guy looks cool driving his Eldorado. I want to be like him." NOT! It didn't work!

The 92's got the 4 brush starter!

I don't believe the V4 is what kept Yamaha from selling more Ventures. Yamaha wasn't serious about competing with the 2nd Gen Venture. In 14 years of production, they could have updated it with fuel injection, something other than a cassette player, lowered the center of gravity, and maybe attached a fairing to the frame. They let it die hoping to recoup their original investment without spending any more design or tooling dollars. Maybe that worked out for them. If they did their research properly, more touring riders want an air cooled twin than a water cooled V4 and the latest Venture will be a financial success.

What if you were a fan of the Goldwing and Honda replaced the flat six with an air cooled V-twin and called it a Goldwing? Most GW fans would be horrified. I think that puts it in perspective. If they called it Stratoliner, probably not as many complaints would be forthcoming. All the folks who like v-twins in a tourer are happy I presume and others who don't view it as a real Venture are not. It's only a motorcycle and we talk about motorcycles on this forum. That is what the forum is for.

The BMW dry clutch is probably a good design too since it isn't contaminating the engine oil. It just makes replacing it a major operation. I think the new BMWs have mostly wet clutches too though.

Maybe I'm all wrong, but it would appear to me that smaller, lighter, less expensive bikes that are COMFORTABLE for several hours of riding would sell. Maybe I'm wrong. Comfortable, what a weird idea!

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