luvmy40

I can highly recommend the Harbor Freight portable tire changer and motorcycle adapter. It does need some minor modifications but works very nicely when they are done. I made a duck head tool for mine that works extremely well on car and truck tires but only moderately so on motorcycle tires. I will be investing in a NoMar mount/dismount tool soon.

What are you going to use for this adventure?

I picked up a 2005 Vento, V Thunder 250 for my wife as her first bike. She wants to learn to ride and she loves wrenching as much as I do. We got this for next to nothing as it needs some work to be road able. It's an interesting bike. Built around the Yamaha XV 250 from the Virago and Route 66 models. Made in Texas from mostly imported parts, some Yamaha, some Honda and even some Harley stuff. They are no longer in production. The engine will be no problem as there is a plethora of information and parts available from multiple sources. I have found break pads and a little information about the calipers but I cannot find any real technical info on the chassis. I had hoped to find there was a cult following of these bikes, and there does appear to be a pretty big following in Mexico and South America, but nothing really to be found anywhere else. Some youtube videos, all in spanish about exhaust mods to make it sound like a Harley but nothing at all on routine maintenance. We started tearing it down yesterday and found there is no fuse panel and only a main fuse inline. We also found the rear brake rotor is making contact with the caliper mounting adapter, It looks to me like a spacer was left out or put in the wrong pace in the wheel stack up. The fuel pump and carburetor were plumbed completely wrong. The good news is the ignition system seems to be OK at the least as it would fire and run on ether. We are contemplating stripping the wiring completely and making our own harness as I cannot find any wiring diagram anywhere to suss out what should be there that isn't. I'd sure appreciate any helpful advice in the wiring area as I have, to date never wired a bike up from scratch. Any other advice would be appreciated as well. The end goal is to make this look like a 1950s Harley Davidson.

I know you said you checked all the fuses, but that sure sounds like a blown fuse. It wouldn't be the main, that would have killed the head light too. Sadly, I have no personal experience with that bike. I'd be t there is a V-Star forum with much the same kind of folks there as here though. I'd start by looking through the manuals for safety switch(tip switch) or secondary "main" type links or fuses that may not be in the main fuse box. Good luck!

Mine with the driver's back rest was $740.00 delivered.

It does indeed look like a 3/4 scale Harley Fat Boy. When I sat on it the fist time, I almost threw it across the parking lot when I picked it up off the side stand! I don't think it weighs the 320 lb. it's speced at.

Kris and I just picked up her first motorcycle. It's a 2005 Vento V-Thunder 250. Evidently, they were originally built in Texas from parts sourced from Mexico, China and Japan. The engine is the Yamaha Virago 250cc V-Twin. This one needs some work, The fuel pump is not installed correctly and the battery is AWOL. The paint is atrocious and the front fender is broken. there is no wiring to the rear end and there is no muffler mount. BTW the top muffler is just for show. It's not functional. Both cylinders are piped though the lower can. I'm not sure if the Virago 250 was the same or not. Any way, Kris is very excited that she has her own bike to wrench on now instead of just helping me with mine. Now she just needs to get her permit and learn to ride it!

I did not have to do this on my Ventures, But I did on my Maxim, which has the same style handle bar system. I just used a Dremel to make another position available. You do have to be careful to not stretch the cables and hoses, but if you add one more position in either direction on both the upper and lower adjustments, it makes a huge difference in available configurations.

To be perfectly honest, I 'm surprised the '83(or any Gen1 for that matter) actually has a vacuum operated petcock. On a gravity feed carbureted engine, the vacuum valve is almost a necessity. The gen ones are reliant on the fuel pump to feed the carbs. No way can a stuck float cause a carb to flood if the electrics are not enabled.

I think I've found a Gen1, MK2 trailer hitch locally. I have no idea what it looks like yet and I have no idea what it might be worth. Any idea what a realistic price would Be. Are there many different makes out there? I know I've seen several different styles of hitches for the MK1.

The core of the cable broke about 8" from the bottom. The 8" piece fell out when we took the cable off the drive assembly. We havent been able to get therest of the core out yet. If we can get it out we may just replace the core. I ordered a new OEM cable from Partzilla yesterday. We are going go on the assumption that the speedo is good as it did not make any noise before the cable broke.

Don, Me too. Bell received.

The speedo cable broke on The Beast today. Is there any chance it's just a broken cable or is it a sure bet the speedo is seized?

I got the new tires done, mounted, balanced and back on Beauty. That Harbor Freight tire machine is well worth the price! I also changed the oil and installed the spin on filter adapter, changed the final drive oil and synced the carbs. I am surprised she was running as good as she was, the carbs were way out of sync. I had planned on flushing the coolant, mounting the new horn, and servicing the desiccant dryer for the CLASS as well but with the heat and the fact that I had to do everything three times because I was in the throws of a heat stroke and just doing stupid stuff all day, I didn't get that far. I found a few more imperfections to further burst my bubble of minty euphoria. Nothing major, a few well done repairs and a broken mounting tab on one of the lowers that I should be able to fix easily. The irony is that I have a brand new lift table in the shop but I had to do all this work in the driveway because the lift is occupied by a partial ton down Maxim 750 at this time. I secured the center stand to the front cross bar with a ratchet strap, pulled the front wheel and lowered the front end to the ground making plenty of room to pull the rear tire without removing the rear fender or the luggage rack. BTW, what's the trick to getting the mufflers off? I got the right side off but I could not get the left one off to save my life!

I can't really see what #1 is but #2 looks to be a vacuum port where you would connect the vacuum advance. I don't remember what year bike you are working with, but the '83 boost sensor would connect there. Probably want to use a restrictor as that port looks to be about 3 times the diameter of the port on the stock carb.

These retail around $40.00 USD

I picked up a WOLO Bad Boy horn and relay for the '86 today. Has anyone mounted one on a Gen 1? If so where did you place it? I'm thinking I'll just fab up a mounting bracket that runs straight back from the OEM mounting point and mount the WOLO unit in the recess of the lower fairing next to Cyl. 4

The desiccant gel, spin on oil filter adapter, oil filter and ACF50 all arrived today. I picked up a WOLO Bad Boy horn and relay at AZ on the way home. I will pick up a 10 x 10 pop up awning from a buddy tomorrow and then the sweating will commence!

I think you're correct Puc! This stuff is super slick. I ordered a 32oz. bottle yesterday and it was on my doorstep when I home this afternoon.

I'll take these if they are still available.

The odd thing is it's much easier to get the '86 up on the center stand than the '83.

I ordered the Nelson Rigg DE400 All Weather Cover and the UV-2000 half cover. By their(Nelson Rigg) sizing chart, I need the Large defender and the Medium UV-2000 so That's what I ordered. That is by the measurements from their sizing chart. I ordered from Amazon so the return/exchange will be easy if they don't fit. It'll just be a frustrating delay.

Another difference made itself known this afternoon. I was aware but really hadn't thought about the fuel petcock having a reserve setting. On the ride home from work at 70 mph on the freeway, she suddenly lost power and was bogging like she was fuel starved. I looked at the fuel level gauge and it was at half a tank. She never stalled, just wouldn't run over 3500 rpm. My fist thought was the fuel pump had died. Then I remembered the reserve petcock. I pulled over to check the petcock position. Sure enough, it was in the run position. I tried to switch it to reserve and it wouldn't budge. Then I remembered the factory tool kit in the right side bag had a pair of pliers in the case. Switched to reserve, started her up and waited for a break in traffic. When I hit the throttle, I almost cried. she bogged down and barely started to move. Then, all of a sudden I was hanging on for my life as the after burners kicked in! Evidently the reserve tank is half the main tank. I'll just leave it in the reserve position from now on. BTW, I got 36.7 MPG on this tank.

I forgot to mention the cruise control! I'm not sure i like it. It's much more cumbersome to work with than a simple throttle lock. It also feels like it adds resistance to the throttle twist.

Dennis Kirk has the 140/90/16 Challenger rear for $67.88 https://www.denniskirk.com/kenda/k657-challenger-tire.pfp542207.prdf?rs=642221 The challengers are not available in 120/90/18 for the front.