bamico

Update and Thank you! Wanted to thank all of you for your input. Thought you may be interested in how it played out... I went back to the shop this am, and explained to the owner my concerns. I thought he handled it pretty well. He heard me out, and then stated his position that although the tire is a different size, its barely so and that he'd used the smaller size before with no issue. He also stated that the smaller size is a V rated tire where the larger size is a lower rating. He also stated however, that the mechanic/tech should have at least checked with be before mounting the smaller size. He agreed that the smaller tire would have increased revolutions but didn't feel the tire would wear out that much quicker. Bottom line... he asked me what I wanted to do. As I was considering it, he looked at me and said, well, if you're thinking that hard you're not comfortable, give me till noon and I'll have the 90 mounted for you (note it was 10am). Is your bike here or do you need a ride to your house? At 11am I was riding away with the OEM stock size mounted. Put ~ 50 miles on it this afternoon and all seems well. Thanks again for the responses. As always, the VentureRider forums have proven my resource of choice for all things RSV. Have a great day. Ride Safe. Bob

I talked with Yamaha reps at both Americade and Laconia earier this month. If anyone knows about a Touring option coming that includes the trunk, they're not saying. I had one Yamaha rep at Americade tell me she'd love to have an answer as she spent most of the day answering the same question. I guess we'll have to wait till fall to see what happens. Would be nice if Yamaha came out with an option... Bob

Hoping for some help/guidance. Picked up my 2007 RSV from motorcycle service shop this pm after ordering new ME880s and having them installed. RSV manual states 150/90/15 for rear tire, however, when I picked up bike, the shop put on 150/80/15. Shop was closed when I got there, so won't be able to talk with anyone until tomorrow am. I understand that 90 vs 80 # is the aspect ratio. I have no idea why the shop put on the other size other than maybe they ordered the wrong size ? Question is, is there advantage/disadvantage to running the smaller aspect ration in the rear ? Wondering if anyone has done this ? Is it ok to do so? Need to determine if I go back to shop and have 90 put on bike or keep the 80 ? I'm heading out on a trip 4th July weekend so need to make a decision soon. Also need to be ready to acid/reality test whatever the shop tells me tomorrow. Would greatly appreciate any thoughts on this. Bob

shmily, I too have had great luck with the steaming proposal. Here's another thought... whenever I have multi-city trips that extend over a week or two, and/or large amounts of materials to transport, I'll ship clothing/items to myself to the hotel I'm staying. Most hotels will accept shipments from arriving guests. It'll be there when you arrive. Good luck with the trip. Bob

+1 for Carbon One. Larry's offering fit perfect. I've had mine installed for years with no issues. The Carbon One bracket and wiring harness make the installation a bolt on project. Bob

deepforkriver, Thanks very much for the response. Looking at your further posts, it looks like the shield is really working for you. Hope it treats you well. I'm thinking I may try it out. Ride Safe. Bob

deepforkriver, I've been following your thread on the baggershield. Sound like its working for you. Sounds like the upper clear shielld mounts within the lower smoked shield. Do you find that in the rain, this configuration forces water between the shields, (and down onto the tank/riders lap?) That was my only concern with the shield is what happens when it rains... Certaily one gets wet with the stock shield, just curious if its worse with the baggersheild due to funneling of the water? Would appreciate your thoughts on the topic. Bob

Congratulations on your purchase. I own an 07 and can confirm with the others' postings that CB and Intercom were stock. Good luck with the new ride! Bob

ScottW, I get ~2-3 years out of a battery on my RSV. I run passing lamps in the front, an Ipod and a GPS. It is not unusual after the first year for me to run into bouts of hard starts if the bike has been sitting 2-3 weeks. Just to make it worse, much of my riding is 2-3 miles, at low speed, so the battery often doesn't get a chance to charge. Asked my indpependant bike mechanic about it and he suggested the trickle charger. Works great. I installed the pig-tail on the battery, and I plug in the trickle charger once a week or so. Keeps the battery nicely charged and now the bike always starts strong. I believe the electical system on the RSV is pushing the limit of the battery. Especially with some of the accesssories I mentioned. If you poke around on this site, I'm sure you'll find a number of posts regarding this issue. The Battery Tender was well worth the $. Interested to see how much additional life I get out of the battery now. Hope this helps. BobA

Shackbar, You've already gotten plenty of advice on the durability of the bike, so I'll just say... I completely agree. I'm on my 2nd Venture/RSTD and wouldn't trade it for anything. Couple of other points with the Venture vs HD... please note... I'm not HD bashing, most of my friends are HD purists... just stating some facts. Liquid cooled! If you ride in hot weather on an HD, you'll appreciate how cool this bike runs compared to an air cooled. You may hear guys on the site talk about it running hot, but its a universe away from a 1700 HD. Rider/passenger space. I'm 6' and the Venture sits/rides like an easy chair. Riding 2 up, I can't even tell the co-pilot is back there. The HD Ultra had the co-pilot and I touching back/front pretty much continually. On a long ride, I really appreciate the space inbetween us. Durabilty/reliability. Change the oil, top off the gas, ride. That's it. I've got friend doing engine jobs on thier HDs after 40k miles. As you've seen here, at 100k the Venture is just warming up! Quick and plenty of power. Don't let the 1300 size fool you. Its a 1300 V4, not a twin (as you know). I can stay with the HD 1340 (or whatever the older model is), and 1500/1600? all day long. The newer 1700 makes me work a little harder to keep up, but only because I have to work the bike a bit more, and I'm a lazy, crusin rider. Admitted drawbacks.... 4 carbs... yes, even on the 2012... still no fuel injection. Cassette deck... yes, sad but true. Yes, even in 2012. Good news is there is an aux jack, so just plug in the ipod and away you go. Hope this helps. Feel free to reach back to me or send a message if you have followup questions. Oh, and I Absolutely agree on the advice given to join the site. You'll find a wealth of info about the Venture here. In fact I always check here first before going in for service or if I've found some ideosyncracy. The members on the site are amazingly helpful! Good luck in your decision. Bob

Thanks to all for the suggestions. Pulled the battery, had it load tested, and sure enough... it didn't do so well. Put in the new battery, confirmed correct charging of the system, and we're off and riding. Thanks again. Ride Safe. Bob

When I checked the battery, there was some sort of black corrosion around the negative terminal. It came right off with a soft brush.

Went for a ride on Sat, and shut the bike down when I got home to the driveway. Opened the garage door and started the bike to pull it in. Got the bike in place, shut it down and then immediately tried to re-start it. I got a series of clicks and then all the electical shut down. No headlights, no spedo display, nothing. Waited ~20 seconds trying to think what the issue was, and then, all the electrical (including headlights) came back on. Trying to start it at that point, once again gave me the clicking noises and an electrical shut down. Waited another 20 seconds and once again, all the electrical returned (including headlights). I have passing lamps on the bikes and a Stebel air horn with a relay. No other electrical mods. Any ideas on what the issue may be? The dealer replaced the battery when I bought it the bike used in 2009. Claims he put a new battery in it, which would make this the 3rd season on the battery. I run ~10k miles a year, mostly in 1hr rides. I searched the forum for similar posts, but didn't find anything relating these specific symptoms. I'd greatly appreciate any suggestions. Heading to Americade in 2 weeks, would like to get this issue resolved ASAP. Bob

Dave, Had the exact same issue when I added the lower deflecters to my RSV. I ended up moving the longhorns around until I found the room to maneuver the lowers. I got used to it after a while. If you notice the crash bar flexing too much, check out Carbon One's crash bar stiffeners. Best mod I've made to the bike. Ride safe. Bob

I had the Kuryakyn Longhorns on my RSTD. Worked great and the longer ext arm gives you some flexibility on how close/far you want the pegs from the boards. Have them on my Venture as well. On the Venture, they flexed the front crash bar quite a bit. Highly recommend the Carbon One crash bar braces to address this issue. The bar diam is 1". Kuryakyn sells the clamps as well. Not positive, but you may want to check with Carbon One to see if his braces will work on the RSTD. Good luck.