luvmy40

I'm far from an experienced, expert welder, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last month. In my limited experience, High School metal shop 35 years ago, one adult education basic welding course about 15 years ago and 35 years of making do for myself when I needed to, I have found that preperation is the key to solid welding. That and understanding where and why the heat is going where it goes makes getting good, strong welds a bit easier to achieve. I still have to waste some rod or wire and scrap metal everytime I need to weld anything. It is a perishable skill. PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE! My last welder was a Silver Beauty MIG box. Bsically the same welder as the very bottom tier Chicago Electric MIG. A real piece of junk. But even with that, with the proper metal preperation and patience I could get mechanically strong welds if not pretty, smooth beads. Lots of slag splater regardless of technique. From all the reviews I've read and watched of the Vulcan series, They are very far above the average cheap welders out there.

Clean and tighten the electrical connections at the sending unit.

I just got a fantastic deal on a Vulcan ProTig 165 welder at Harbor Freight. I was just killing time while doing my laundry at the laundramat down the road from the hotel I'm staying in so I was looking around at the HF around the corner. I wasn't really looking for anything in particular. I always check the clearance rack first thing. There was an "Open Box" ProTig 165 for $350.00. They sell regularly for $699.99. The manager said it was just an open box and not a return and I have five days to return it if it doesn't work. I called my local branch and the manager there told me she would extend the five days to 5 days upon my return to Ohio as I would not be able to test it until then. I opened everything up and there are a couple things missing, one of the three tungsten elctrodes and the shoulder/carrying strap. All the boxes and bags had been opened, but none of the wire zip ties had been removed. It powers up and the selector switch works, but that's as far as I can test it here. I'm keeping my fingers crossed as this is a sweet deal. I had been holding out to save enough discretionary cash to get the Vulcan OmniPro 220, multi process welder but at 1/3 the price tag, I'll make do without the Mig capability.

Do it on the center stand, but you want to use a ratchet strap to hold the center stand in the forward position. You will want to be able to let the front end down to compress the fork tubes several times at different steps of the procedure. Then you will want to put a jack under the front frame cross member(be careful not to hit the oil filter or pan) to lift the front end up and keep it solid when you replace the top tube caps.

I've dropped a street bike 3 times since 1985. I was riding my first Big Twin, an '84 FSXT that had a 10" over stock front end and factory rake, off the Yamaha (I went to buy a Seca and got a Harley, go figure.) dealership lot in Colorado Springs and stopped short when a car changed lanes right in front of the entrance. I was already leaning into the turn and down she went! The long front fork made it very difficult to get her back upright. The next time was about 35 years later or so. I had The Beast('83 Venture) up on the center stand and for some reason I cannot remember I thought it would be a good idea to take her down from the left side instead of from the saddle. Stupid! fortunately I was fairly close to my POS ford ranger and The Beast wound up leaning against the bed. Busted the right side mirror, but no other damage. The last time was just a few weeks ago. Kris and I were returning from a weekend trip on the fairly new to us '06 RSV. it was our fist time hauling a trailer on any bike. The trip had been uneventful with the exception of having to navigate a very narrow and rough dirt logging trail for about 8 miles to get to our destination. The RSV with trailer in tow was surprisingly easy to control "off road". Any way, when we got home I foolishly attempted to ride into the front yard, past a driveway full of cars with a shallow storm ditch to the left. We were moving very slowly and turning onto the grass when I saw the trailer in the right mirror looked like it was going hit the rear bumper of Kris' car so I hit the brakes and down she went. It was a slow gentle drop onto grass but we were both semi trapped between the bike and the car. We both managed to get turned around, Kris grabbed the passenger grab bar and I had the engine guard. We got her back upright fairly easily and Kris went around to put the side stand down so I could let her down. No damage to the bike or the car.

STOP THE PRESSES! Head Line: "luvmy40 washes and waxes his RSV!" I have never waxed a motorcycle in my life. As a matter of fact, I rarely wash them. This Black Cherry '06 is just too beautiful to let her sit all bugged up and grimy.

The reported clutch whine was the only thing that held me back from adding a Gen 2 to the stable for a long time. Then I got a deal I couldn't pass up and took the plunge with an '06 RSV. Either I got the ONE that Yamaha got right, or the whine is the same pitch as my tinnitus. :banana: Seriously, I was expecting this horrendous howl at some unspecified RPM. What I got is a barely discernible murmur that comes and goes.

The oil warning light is level indicator, not a pressure indicator.

Talk to skydoc_17. If you buy your head cover gaskets from him, he lends you a shim kit and tool.

You think this place is bad? Don't take the dive down the espresso rabbit hole! There's folks on them thar forums that don't blink at the thought of paying $3000.00 to get in line and wait 6 months to get an espresso grinder that is going to be out of date 4 months later. There a couple pictures of home espresso bars with $15,000.00 in grinders and espresso machines and they are talking about upgrading!

Nothing to defend against. Before I got my '06 I had no idea the Gen 2 had two side mounted filters.

No, not pods. We are talking Gen 2 RSVs. The K&N filters are just cleanable/reusable versions of the factory filters. They may have higher flow ratings than the OEM filters but they do not modify the air flow the way pods in lieu of the air box and filter would on a Gen 1.

I'm running K&N air filters on an otherwise stock '06 RSV and the only popping I get is on decel due to a slight exhaust leak on the right slip on muffler.

Today the '06 RSV to me and Kris to visit with our youngest on her birthday. Got to play Go Fish with the grandson and then we went garage saleing. Found a guy selling his entire knife making shop with forge. I wish I could have made an offer but he has well over $50,000 in quality equipment and steel stock and does not want to sell off piece by piece unless he has no choice.

OK, I ordered the cup holder and mount. Now I need to know where the vented wide wind screen and storage pouches came from!

I changed the oil in the '06 RSV and took a look at whether I might be able to make the RSTD Mustang seat work. It might be possible, but I do think Kris is going like the original Pillow Top seat better than the much narrower and thinner Mustang Pillion saddle, so I will be selling the Mustang. I also ordered the CIRO Big A** Cup holder and mirror mount.

I have the same trailer, also bought used from forum member dfitzbiz and it does the trick. The iMESTOU phone holder with wireless quick charger gets an A+++ from me! I love mine. Rock solid and the charger works perfectly. Can you source that cup holder? I need one exactly like it. My 24 oz. travel cup won't fit in anything I've found, but that one looks to be perfect.

You won't be disapointed with the LCP II in .380. It's ten times the pistola that the original LCP was. I had one for a few months and shot it a good bit before trading it for a 9mm Pittbull revolver.

First Gen. Walther PPS, 9mm para. Slim, light weight with a fantastic trigger, ambidextrous mag release and it's a tack driver.

I was not saying you wouldn't hear the difference when you pull the wire on a running cylinder. I was meaning that the hanging throttle and rough idle are probably a separate issue from the cold cylinder. I just did a bad job of implying that.

So, stupid question; If #4 isn't firing, is the spark plug fuel fouled or dry? If you really have a hot blue spark that jumps 1/4"(I think that was this thread) on the # 4 jug, I'd bet the plug is dry, indicating no fuel being aspirated. BTW, these engines will run like a scalded dog on 3 cylinders it's even tough to hear the the miss at idle until you really get used to hearing one run right.

This is the only way to tie down a motorcycle. You don't need the tank straps, though they are fantastic. Just good quality straps.

I just received a very nice 3 piece Mustang seat for an RSTD. I had no idea the RSTD and RSV seats would have completely different mounting methods! Is there any chance the RSTD seat can be modified to fit the RSV?

A little off topic, maybe... A little remembered factoid. The term suicide shift is actually a flawed evolution of the term suicide clutch; The jockey shift motorcycles of the '40's and '50s(maybe even the '30s?) had foot pedal operated clutches. In the factory configuration, they had a solid linkage from the pedal to the clutch actuating arm. They could be locked into the engaged position by pushing the pedal over the top. Chopper builders tended to replace the solid linkage with a chain, which eliminated the ability lock the clutch out. That coupled with the lack of front brakes on the vast majority of custom choppers made taking off from a stop on hill very difficult. A lot of chopper riders would run lights on hills regularly. Thus, the Suicide Clutch. Here is a good short essay on the subject. https://sturgis.com/blog/suicide-clutch-a-definition

The '86 should have a bleed fitting on that manifold.