pbjman

Hi. That is the F4 tallest/widest. One of the best things I've done to the bike! I'm 5'11" and the wind was never an issue for me anyway. Mostly got the tallest one because my wife rides with me a lot and at 5'6 she was getting heavy wind buffeting from the stock windshield. Now it's minimal as it is goes mostly over her head. The windshield is clear and scratch resistant, sheds water well, the vent is nice but funnels bugs straight into my helmet so I put a screen on the vent. Some guys prefer to see over a windshield rather than through it, but I don't mind. The protection is so good and the only time I don't like looking through it is if it's dark and raining with oncoming headlights, which is a situation I wouldn't ride in much anyway. Now to finish the ride report but there's not much more to it. I left Brockway and descended to Eagle Harbor along 26 and then back the way I came once I reached 41. Eagle Harbor was charming because the town and roadway were right along the water. There were people at beaches and out enjoying the great weather. Another nice view from roadside: I continued east along 41 for a while and pulled off at a roadside rest area for a quick break and there was a nice brook with a small bridge adjacent to the parking lot. My route took me through Seney and then east on 28. This is through the middle of the Eastern U.P., and there isn't much there. When I got on this road, my GPS indicated the next turn was 51 miles. Other than one roadside rest area, it seemed like a long, flat, straight road with no intersections, houses, towns, or traffic. Kind of peaceful but I could see how someone could get lonely or bored with it. (I'm sure it's nothing compared to the vast expanses out west, though.) I only took that picture because it amused me that I was finally approaching a hill after 37 miles of flat/straight. (Nice clear pic taken through the F4, Statussymbol ) So to wrap it up, I made it across the Mackinac Bridge and through the town of Cheboygan where I grabbed some takeout from a Chinese Buffet. I made it into Cheboygan State park and got set up as it was getting dark and ate my yummy meal in the tent. The next morning I awoke to rain and the radar from my phone suggested that if I timed it right, an upcoming brief break in the rain would be my opportunity to pack up and scram! I encountered the rain on the first leg of the ride home for about an hour then things dried up, although still under cloudy skies and checking periodically on a larger system moving west-to-east across the northern 2/3 of the lower peninsula. I kept moving and got south enough to Saginaw before the bad weather got across, then from there an uneventful ride home. Final tally was 3 nights camping, 3-1/2 days riding, just under 1400 miles, countless good sights, 1 new T-shirt

From Munising, I headed toward Marquette. Once in town I stopped for a meal and looked on my phone for where I might be able to camp. There was a place nearby called Marquette Tourist Campground so I went there and got my tent set up by 8pm which still left time for a shower and a walk around the campground. Only picture I took was this one by the swimming beach at the reservoir, just before dark: The next day would be a bigger riding day. I've never been further in the U.P. than Marquette, so I decided to go up the peninsula to Copper Harbor. My intent was to get there, have a quick look around and see if I could make it back out of the U.P. by nightfall. I arrived in Copper Harbor around 12:30 and got a great cheesburger at some little diner. I was chatting with a waitress who told me she saw "triplets up on Brockway" this morning on her way to work. I knew Brockway meant Brockway Mountain Drive, but I has to ask "what triplets?" She said "Oh, 3 fawns. The most adorable little deer!" Apparently they have a thing where they feed deer in town all winter long, and then they become attached to them and get excited to see the babies the following summer! I told her that it was very cool that she still gets excited about natural beauty and seeing animals, even though she lives there all the time. After my lunch and going across the street to buy a T-shirt, I headed back out of town, and up Brockway Mountain Drive. If you've been there or read about it you know it's paved but kind of rough, twisty, and steep. 4 miles later, at the top, I stopped in the lot for a few pics: It was such a beautiful, clear day and you could see many miles in all directions. Don't forget to watch your step if you go past the stone wall: Fit for a postcard! Sign says "Steep Hill Down"

I was packed up and loaded by 8:30 so I continued north, as usual I would be preferring the county roads to the interstate. I came across this sign somewhere around Atlanta, MI and thought it was cool so I turned around and grabbed a pic: closer view of the sign: By midday I was in Grand Marais, MI and taking a quick break before heading to ride H-58 to Munising. Here's a picture of the harbor/beach at Grand Marais. Along H-58 there are signs for scenic stops, as it is part of the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. Here is a high bluff overlooking Lake Superior. It is a place called the "Log Slide" and it was a stunning view. (I also met a couple from Columbus, OH who were there on their Harley. The man said I had a 'nice v-star' and he had one once but it was too small for long trips.) A bit later I reached Munising and stopped in town to get this pic of my bike with one of the Pictured Rocks tour boats leaving in the background.

I had a few days available between jobs so I went for a ride. Made the decision to go about 1:30 on a Sunday and was rolling two hours later after packing some clothes, air mattress, tent, and a small cooler. I decided to head north and since I always wanted to motorcycle camp at Little Wolf Lake state forest campground, I headed toward Lewiston, MI. I went there because it was my favorite place on earth when I was a kid and my family used to take our camping vacations there, and because of the late start I figured it was about as far as I would go before dark. I got there and chose a site and finished setting up just as the sun was setting. I had to fill out the self-registration and put my tag on the post when it was almost too dark to see what I was doing. Here's my camp the next morning: It's a small rustic campground and I had one side of the park to myself: Like the big lakes, the water level in this small lake is up this year (higher than I've ever seen it). There is usually a little area of sand beach and a small sand island, but not at this time.

Puc went touring in the U.P. and all we get is driveway pics?

"...have any positive/negative experiences...." You made a funny! I too am interested in the micro/pocket chargers, but haven't tried one yet. Here's another popular one on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/DBPOWER-18000mAh-Portable-Starter-Charging/dp/B01D42TYFC/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1500350031&sr=8-5&keywords=Jump+Starters

So I was just looking around for the web for new Star Venture first impressions and ran across a thread on roadstarclinic from a few years ago. They were talking about how great a Venture could be if Yamaha would drop the 1900 into one, and they don't like a V4 in a motorcycle, etc. http://roadstarclinic.com/component/option,com_fireboard/Itemid,187/func,view/catid,49/id,825799/

When I bought new ones for the passenger floorboards, I lubed up the pointy tips with windex and then tugged them through the holes with pliers.

Disclaimer: I'm not a candidate to buy any new $24K-26K motorcycle, but I was rooting for the V4 anyway in case I get one someday. It is a great looking motorcycle and I would be thrilled to try one out. Looking forward to reviews, and the first member on here to have one, and my first on-the road sighting!

Hey Puc, Tweeksis has more personality in one proverbial pinkie than most do in their whole body! I bet we could find her in a herd of a million MK1's! Thanks for the pics.

I should've taken a pic before I picked out the dead bee, fly, gnats, and miscellaneous fuzz! Those probably would have ended up in my face. The screen isn't hard to do, but it just made the re-assembly of the vent pretty fussy as I was trying to sandwich the two halves of the vent and the screen onto the windshield and holding it all together without dropping a screw!

Hey all! I haven't posted much lately but I always follow along with the board to keep up with what's going on. So I've had my '99 for 3-1/2 years and although it is mostly stock, there are some things I have done to personalize it, hence the idea for this thread. Even though my bike is typical at a glance, there are little things that I have done that were my own idea and if I saw a row of one hundred of the 1999 Purple/silver RSV's, I could pick mine out in an instant. Added a screen to the vent in my F4 windshield, because it funnels bugs directly into my helmet without it. Added reflectors to the saddlebag hinge, because that spot looked like it was missing something. (Also, not many 99's with the pillow-top seats which I added.) Put on a 'custom' cord retainer for my communicator wire: Covered the smudged, stained, and ugly clear panel on my Hopnel with carbon fiber pattern adhesive sheet: Added a constant reminder to my windshield! (from the painter guy at Freebird's Maintenance Day a couple years ago) Anybody want to share the small personalizations that make your bike YOURS?

Interested in Carbtune, message sent via "contact seller" link in the ad.

always been one of my favorites: http://assets.amuniversal.com/358596409e06012f2fe500163e41dd5b

Hi John, glad to know you and Sandy got to enjoy the trip! Got pics?

Don't think of it as 20,000 lbs, tell yourself it was only 8-10 yards then maybe it won't hurt as much.

I have the F4 wide/tall windshield; wouldn't trade it! Rode home in the now-legendary monsoon after Freebird's maintenance day last year, and it really shed the water. I did not have a problem looking through the windshield while wet due to the way it beads/sheds the water. My wife and I also experienced a lot of rain on our northern Michigan trip last year and our West Virginia trip, too. This windshield has been great in every condition except one time, and that is the combination of medium/heavy rain, a dark night, and headlights from oncoming cars (especially bad when the road is curving left) creating glare through the water droplets. Since I almost never ride on dark, rainy nights, it's not a concern for me.

Does it have a fusion reactor in the trunk?

Nice! Seeing you got another Venture prompted me to renew my subscription!! (I was going to get around to it anyway, but I wanted to do it now so I could see the pic!) Congrats!!

That's a fine setup you are running there. Can't say I disagree with it one bit: And when I was running my purple/silver '99, two up, loaded, and pulling my tag along trailer my mileage was usually 33/34 mpg. (Mostly 2-lane roads, 55-60 miles per hour, 4th gear.)

Hrmmmphfff! Still miffed that you weren't home last time I went to Muskegon! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (Real reason = work! So have for me!)

We're doing great and trying to take good care of this area for you until you return...... (When we are home, that is. I've got some more posting to do about the rest of my up north trip and then our ride down to WV. A total of 2900 miles in the last 12 days or so.)

It's a Chevy Astro van, 4.3L V6.

Sometime after 5pm today, I was starting getting my work van and trailer ready for tomorrow because I'm starting a bathroom remodel. I started the van and pulled it forward away from my enclosed trailer so I could back it up next to my utility trailer which I use for hauling demolition debris to the dump. I switched to my 1-7/8 trailer ball and before I backed up to the trailer, I decided to hook up my Tag-Along trailer to the van just to see if it would sit level enough to tow behind the van, which it did. Then I turned the key to "run" without starting the van and left it there while I did a quick check of the trailer blinkers and lights to see if they worked good while hooked to the van, which they did. Then I turned the key off and disconnected the trailer and put it away. Then I tried to start the van again and it wouldn't start!! What the heck, it just started fine a minute ago and now it won't turn over at all, just a single, 'click' from the starter! This got me scared a little, because I was thinking what if something in the trailer shorted out something in my van! I first thought to rule out the battery, which is fairly new, and even though I was pretty sure it was good, I put the charger with boost-start mode on and still just one 'click' each time I hit the key. I then checked all the fuses under the hood and swapped a few, same with some of the relays, swapping a few to see if anything was different, but no. All accessories working, lights staying bright even when we tried to turn the key to start. Just 'click'. So I crawled under and listened while my wife turned the key and the 'click' now sounded like a loud knock or tap in the starter. Since it was now 7:30 and Autozone is 20 minutes away and closes at 8 so I asked my wife to go get a starter for me. I called ahead to make sure they had it ready. Then I jumped online and after a quick visit to YouTube University, I knew exactly how to remove the starter so I jacked up the van, blocked it up, and took the old one off. Wife got back right when I needed her to and I installed the new starter. The old one had a frayed and disintegrated cable going from the solenoid into the starter motor, so I was pretty hopeful that that was the issue. I said a prayer and turned the key, and it started. Whew! Put tools/equipment away, moved van, hooked up trailer, etc and got done as it was getting dark. At least the starter replacement is pretty easy on my van. Just two bolts facing straight down. Oh well, could've been worse, right? My theory is it failed when it did because I left the key on and since the cable was already weak and brittle it cooked it? Or was it that it just had one last start in it and that cooked it? How'd your evening go?

So my wife and I got up Friday morning and decided to go for day ride to Caseville, MI and back. (about 150 miles each way). We took M-25 up the Lake Huron coast and enjoyed a fine ride with great weather. Stopped for a bit in Caseville, bummed around a gift shop and used bookstore, then headed back. When we were getting near Port Sanilac, driving by one of the beautiful roadside park/scenic overlook areas, I spied a Black RSV in the lot as we drove by. They are always easy for me to spot, even at that speed and distance, because of the distinctive shape of the trunk and saddlebag hinges. Anyway, I told her through the intercom, "we have to turn around for a minute!" We turned around and went back to the park, where I eased into a spot somewhat near the other venture. I got off the bike and as I was taking off my helmet, waved to the other RSV owner to make sure he saw me. I approached and we started chatting a bit and it turns out he is a member here as OLDYELR. He has a beautiful '04 Midnight RSV that might just have every chrome add-on imaginable! So, anyway, Jack is a fine gentleman and although he didn't get in the shot, his bike is not camera shy! Jack, thanks for letting me invade your day for a bit, and it was a great pleasure meeting you while out on a ride.