Homiachok

Tank you. I don't own any bears stuff, but I think I just may buy some for this rally. (;

So this is the bike i picked up few weeks back- 1987 venture royale. Thanks to lots of good advice from members here, as well as some old threads she is road worthy again! This Saturday I finally got to take her for a test ride. I can't believe how amazing this motorcycle is! After almost 450 miles and 11 hours on the road, I realized this is the most comfortable I've ever been on a motorcycle. No highway pegs yet, and I didn't feel any soreness or paint at all! Plenty of power and easy to corner. This motorcycle is older then me, and yet I've never been so excited about anything I rode before. I have to admit, I am fairly new when it comes to motorcycles; I don't have more then 15K miles under my belt. My learner bike was 2005 yamaha road liner, which i only owned for two seasons. Since that bike was sold I purchased membership at Eagle Rider, which I would use once in a while to rent a Harley or an Indian. To the point, I just wanted to say hello to everyone and thank for all the amazing info i found on this site. Im very excited to get out/ride this season and possible meet some of you!

So I finally got a chance do some work on the bike. I followed all of Pucs suggestions. Class system was resauderred in local electronics shop and working just fine. I ended up replacing all the seals in the rear caliper and bleeding all brakes/lines. Clutch was bled also and working much better. Tank and carbs are in good shape. Replaced engine oil and filter. Put new Shrinkos on and went for a short ride . Seems like I have a small leak at rear valve cover gasket. How much of a pain is it to replace that? Where would I get new gasket? (Can't seem to find them online). Also, one of the forks seems to have a bunch of small gauges and looks like it may be leaking a tiny bit of oil ): . Should I attempt to replace the seals, or just start looking for new forks? Thanks in advance guys!

Thank you guys very much for all the info! Puc, thank you for taking the time to type all of that up! As far as my skill lever goes, I'm practically new to all of this, but eager to learn. I haven't had any time really work on the bike yet except a few things I got the CLASS board out. Someone had already done a hack job on it, so instead of making it worse I took it to local electronic repair shop. For $20 guy went through all the connections. I put it back on the bike this morning and bam! It works like a charm! I took the side panels and saddlebags off. I'm missing all of the carb drain hoses, so I'll have to reinstall something before I drain the carbs. (I found Puc's youtube video and it made that very clear) I'll have to find that security socket to check diaphragms this weekend. Coolant reservoir is is pretty much empty, with some nasty stuff swimming on the very bottom. I removed the rear caliper and two and two out of four pistons are stuck. Ill see if I can get them cleaned up and working this weekend without doing complete overhaul. One problem I see so far is getting to the fuel filter. I searched this forum and found a few tips, so hopefully it won't be as bad when I get to that. Puc, thanks again for all the tips, I'll definitely follow those steps!

*Thanks for the reply. I don't have much history on the bike. What I know is that it was layed down at some point and left front fork was bent. Previous owner got it from an auction, replaced forks and titled it as rebuilt. Last registered in 2014. There are few scratches and cracked tabs on the left side, but nothing major. The bike has been sitting in the garage for the last 3 years. The amazing thing is, it started right up with a new battery and I rode her home (about 25miles). Tires are really old and in a bad shape. Brakes seemed ok, but I feel like back is "stuck". The rear rotor was getting a little too hot without much braking. I'll try to take more pictures towards the end of the week. *Ill definitely stay on as a member on this site once the trial thing ends. Just reading through some of the old threads gave me way more then $12 worth of info! * The 20 min ride home with soft brakes and horrific tires, was absolutely amazing. I am extremely excited about getting her read ready and putting some miles on! * This bike is just over 29k

I just got lucky and picked up 87 royale. It was layed down at one point, but outside of few scratches it's in really good shape. CLAAS system is showing E4, but I think I found enough info on here to troubleshoot properly. Tires are about 16 years old, but I found a bunch of decent options online. Outside of tires and fluid changes, I think I need to go through the bakes. What brake pads do you guys recommend? I'm thinking I should also replace the rotors as they have quiet a bit of grooving going on. Which kind would you guys recommend? Where should I start shopping? The bike is 30 years old, should I also consider replacing brake lines? Thank you!!

Thank you gents for your replies. Definitely all valid points. I will be sure to post som pics once I find the one for me.

I've always wanted older big bike, and finally made a decision to look for a 86-93 venture. I am going to see one next weekend, and was wondering if there are any specific things for me to look at before I buy. Thanks in advance!