spartikus

Nice folks thank you for the responses. I missed shift yesterday from second to third instead dropped it to first and the bike got all excited Didn't seem to hurt it though. heh. Next outting I'll try some kickdown passes. Next summer I'll be doing some 600km long haul rides in bad traffic so I Want to be able to get around yahoos I don't feel comfortable behind. As for joining I have intended to. No excuse except sheer procrastination

Was riding today with a Ducati and some other crazy sportbike. Obviously I don't expect the Venture to compete with those bikes for raw power and torque but was wondering where the bike comfort level was. I was cruising for a couple hours at about 4500 RPM in 5th gear which was about 120-130 KM/h. I've read that these engines wind out pretty nicely, but would you cruise much faster than that? I don't think I would need to go much faster but when I want to pass someone who is being unsafe or poses a risk to me I want to do it in a hurry. Can I drop down to 4th and wind the bike up to 7000 RPM? Thanks in advance

I've had the bike 2 weeks. Rode it around the block a few times as I am a new rider. Couple of buddies offer to take me out for a real ride (As I need to be accompanied by a fully licensed rider to be legal until I do my road test). Great.. They show up, I promptly go to turn around and lay the bike down.. No big deal rookies do this and I have no problem admitting it. Here is the kicker, I watched several videos of guys explaining hwo to safely lay the bike down and get it back up again. Every single one of them says let the bike go. It's 800 lbs and when she's going shes going and thats that. So what did I do? Instinctively put my foot down to push back. I have bad knees and she just popped like a cork on a bottle of champagne new years eve. I sucked it up and still went riding in excruciating pain. My knee is the size of a softball right now many hours later and several ice packs later. The lesson here? When she's going she's going. Let her go. Bike didnt have a scratch and just sat on the pegs. My knee however? Not so robust. Can't say it enough to new fellow riders. I know it's natural instinct to try and save the bike at low speeds or a standstill (which is what I basically was at) but don't. Break yourself of that instinct because your knees and legs are way more fragile than the 800 pound chunk of metal between your legs Other than that was a beautiful ride.

Good call Neil thanks. Im coming down with a cold and not thinking clearly heh. Hope your cold cleared up. Lotta nasty going around this Fall with the crazy weather.

Availability and they operate on the exact same principle. IMO it is an easy wiring job but dont want to frankenstein the bike for future owners to try and figure out. Finding the relay unit is still available $180 from most bike parts suppliers but $100 from online vendors. + $30-$50 shipping

I stand corrected.. :/ Hmm. Could probably yank the wires required and just wire in a standard relay. Will do some more research. thanks again

Really Gary? The electrical diagram just shows straight up connection to hazard and turn signals. I dont see the tie in to starter circuit. I'll go relook. Would utterly shock me though.

I have tried to research this bot not quite clear yet. The flasher/hazard relay can be replaced with a standard 12V flasher relay from canadian tire? Use the electronic one not the thermal one as they require load on the wire. Thanks in advance.

Thanks guys. Just wanted to make sure it wasn't some other Rotella variant folks were using. I use the 15w40 diesel stuff in my old cars too. Great stuff.

I am aware of the great oil debates I have read nothing but great things about Rotella T 15w40 in these old bikes. I don't think putting the new T6 synthetic in is the way to go but the Original Rotella T 15w40 is ok right? It has the JAS/MA cert on the back and seems to be what folks can agre eon as a decent oil. My riding will be mostly limited to long highway rides. Any thoughts?

Closing the loop on this. I think I had several issues that were combining here. Anyways before I got it to fire I did the following: - Cleaned contacts for all 12V lines. - Replaced the spark plugs - Turned down the fuel on the carbs ~40% The old girl cranked up right away. Ran a little rough for a couple minutes as it burned off all of the fuel that had been dumping in there. Now it runs like a top. I tossed a half can of seafoam in just under half tank of fuel. Ran it for 20 mins. Drove it around the block. Runs great. I put a little seafoam in the oil and ran it for another 5-10 and now I'm letting it rest. I'll let it sit for a few hours to give the seafoam a chance to work then I will bring it up to temp again and let it rest. Likely do an oil change tonight. Bike runs awesome. Brakes are good. oh yeah and... I HAVE SECOND GEAR!!! Or at least I appear to, will see how she behaves under load and hard pulling. I want to thank everyone who provided assistance on this. Sure appreciated the support. A special thank you to Neil who made it his personal mission to get me all of the info I needed and was a rockstar helping a noob like myself through the pitfalls. Man I got to say it's been 20+ years since I've ridden any kind of bike. An 800lb cruiser is going to take some real work to get used to. Drove it around the block a few times and I can see I really need to get comfortable leaning and cornering. Good times. Thanks a million folks. Mark

Just the main cables Neil. 1 main power feed and 1 main Neg feed. I have removed all shenanigans from the fuse block. (with the exception that I still have the splice in place that the PO had to the rad fan so that it is always on. I assume either his thermostat sensor is shot or he was running hot) I'll put a switch on the fan to remove it from the equation for sure. I would really hate to think that this is a bad ignition switch. It sounds like a real pain in the backside to drill out the bolts that hold it in. Not like the last 4 days haven't been a huge pain in my ass The real stupid thing here is that the bike was starting just fine before the brake wiring fell apart. I know the accessory fuse was blown after that but I can not say for sure it wasn't blown before. Anyways at this point it sounds like a 1.5V drop to the fuse block is not cool and it would certainly put me back up over the 9V during cranking. Can anyone positively confirm for me that 11.3 at the fuse block is not cool? On these bikes I don't know what kind of V loss due to wiring is acceptable. *EDIT* Just FYI. It occurs to me that the cooling fan is actually a non-issue as the voltage loss of 1.5V is before it even gets to the fan. There is a difference of .1V between the power to the fan and the power at the TCI (11.4V vs 11.3V). I'll still remove the fan from the equation by tossing a manual switch in between it and the fuse box.

Thanks Bongo. I did test the voltage and continuity on the engine stop switch but I cant for the life of me recall if I got 12.8 or 11.3. Is it safe to say from your post that the 1.5V drain is not normal then? I'm used to old muscle cars and having that kind of voltage loss through the old wiring is total normal but obviously on a bike with an electronic ignition control that expects over 9V when cranking and I'm getting 8.4... that 1.5 loss is potentially messing with me. I'll take a look at the price of the aftermarket unit. New in box is worth something to me

Would I be insane to temporarily jumper 12V from the Main fuse to the TCI just to see if I get spark again Neil?

Battery is being fully maintained between test sessions. At the battery 12.8V At the 40A fuse 12.8 V At the ignition 2 wire plug (R and Br) 12.8V At the fuse block 11.3V on all 12V leads At the TCI 11.2 between R/w and B but when cranking drops to ~8.3-8.5V Two ground connectors (left side to frame and right side to lower part of crankcase) tested thoroughly no corosion, rust or broken connector.