BlueSky

if the seafoam doesn't work maybe change the spark plug and/or check the compression.

Before anyone decides to pour a whole bunch of any cleaner in the gas tank or mainifold of an automobile, don't forget they have catalytic converters that can be plugged up. I suspect moderate use in a car would be the way to go. On our old motorcycles pour it in!! Here is a link to the MSDS. http://www.audiosears.com/MSDS/FS0433-Marvel%20-%20Marvel%20Mystery%20Oil.pdf

Yep, nobody has more fun on his bike for less money than Cowpuc and he sticks with the 1st Gen Venture. There's something to learn there I think.

And Kawasaki believes in water cooling.

Seems to me building an air cooled heavy touring bike in 2017 is poor engineering because it will overheat in stop and go traffic. You may not be aware of it every time but the oil temperature will be very high and may not protect the engine as well as cooler oil in a water cooled bike. I don't count though because I'm not buying a new bike, especially an air cooled bike. If I'm still able to ride, in the future I might buy a Goldwing or BMW R or K bike.

Overall it comes across as a great touring bike. Two things that stood out when I read the reviews is that Honda Goldwing has nothing to worry about, and the comments on the heat from the engine and exhaust.

How old is the gas in the tank? Could it have water in the gas? White smoke is usually caused by water.

A neighbor put about 115k miles on his before replacing it. He said it had been a very reliable bike. And it isn't a boxer of course. It's an inline four laid on its side.

Me neither. My Kawasaki ZN700 was 24 years old when I bought it. It only had 1,054 miles on it and the original tires looked almost like new with no cracks or signs of aging. I did ride it about 300 miles sometimes with my wife on the back before I had new tires installed.

Non-college graduates haven't gotten pay increases in the last 20 years on average. That has to take its toll on the consumer market especially non-essentials like motorcycles. New auto/truck sales have slowed too.

Check the front brakes to make sure the fork seals aren't leaking. If they have leaked in the past, there may be some oil still on the pads. If so, you may be able to use some concentrated soap like Simple Green to clean the pads. I did that on my Kawasaki and it worked out fine.

It does sound like it may be running out of fuel. But, if it is only doing it on a couple of cylinders, it could be dirty carbs. Maybe shotgun the carbs? Ignition problems seem to be worse in the higher gears too. I deleted my photobucket account, so maybe this annoying tag will go away tomorrow when their people go back to work and act on my deletion.

Summer of 2014, I worked a job that was about 283 miles from home, so I rented an apt and drove home on the weekends. I have a Superchips tuner for my 2005 Dodge Magnum Hemi car that allowed me to tune the engine for 87 octane or 91. I was using so much gas at that time that I tuned it for 87. According to my rough calculations, I did get a little better fuel mileage tuned for the 91 but I was saving about $12/week running 87. But, my car has MDS which shuts off 4 cylinders when cruising to save fuel. Driving down I95 in South Carolina at 80mph with the cruise set, it didn't take much of an incline for the computer to switch the 4 cylinders back on. I thought it was missing at first before I realized that it was switching the 4 cylinders off and on. That demonstrated a slight hp/torque decrease in the 87 tune. I set it back to a 91 tune afterwards. I like the tuner because it did improve the throttle response noticeably and increased the hp/torque by 12hp/15 ft. lbs. according to the Superchips site and it felt like that was about right. The site has a dyno graph for my engine showing the results.

Last year on my trip to Wyoming, I was curious about the low octane gas that was available. I'm told that at the higher elevations, 85 octane is all an engine needs that would require 87 at sea level since the air is thinner. I still bought 87 octane for my truck not knowing that 85 was okay. And, I was able to notice a huge difference in the horsepower of my truck at the higher elevations. I wasn't checking fuel economy on the trip but it wasn't good.

I use ethanol free 93 octane gasoline in all my yard tools and motorcycles because it is available locally and I've found from experience that the carbs don't clog up as bad when sitting a long time. Ethanol will emulsify water if any is in the gas. Otherwise the water will settle to the bottom of the tank and cause running problems.

Don't know what kind of "fastener" we are talking about. But, if it is a phillips type head you really need JAS screwdrivers and/or JAS bits for the impact driver. I just bought both from vesseltools.com.

The photos of the engine shows the oil cooler. This bike looks massive in the frontal view.

Won't open for me.

The front view makes the bike look HUGE!

I would suspect that if you are riding double in the hills, you would notice if a cylinder quit firing. I've never used Seafoam but I did notice that it costs $6.99 a can in the local Walmart. I use Gumout for high mileage engines because it has PEA polyetheramine in it like Chevron Techron. I've used enough Gumout to know that it won't harm a carburetor.

Thanks for the article. It's always a good thing to review what can happen and keep us thinking about how to avoid a crash.

Okay, let me guess. Her husband came home unexpectedly!!!

Yes, I've ordered some things for my Kawasaki from them this year. No complaints about their service.

Well, if you did that without dropping the bike, you did good! Glad you are going to be hanging out here!

You are probably aware that the RSTD V4 has about 75hp instead of the 98hp in the Venture.