7 lakes

I agree, I think you priced it too low. I flip bikes and if I'm in the market for an $800 project I search craigslist with a price ceiling of $1200. If I'm looking for a bike for a friend who's asked me to help them find a reasonably reliable not-perfect rider that they can enjoy without breaking the bank, I'm looking in the $2500 - $3500 range. If I'm asked to find a bike for $1100 my search ceiling would be $1500. In my market, a bike listed at $1100 is effectively being advertised at $800 - $900. That puts you in the cheap seats. I would suggest pulling it off the market for a little bit, then list again in a higher bracket in order to attract a different type of buyer. I think that besides us fans of the bike, commuters are your target market. Lots of room for carrying crap to and from work, great handling in town and awesome highway cruising, these are great commuting bikes. I would list it at $1800 to get it in front of buyers who are expecting to spend $1400 - $1500, let them be thrilled when they "talk you down" to $1200. Or maybe you're thrilled when they happily offer you $1500. I would suggest searching everything on craigslist at $1100. Are most of those listings bikes that you would consider over-priced? If not, then you've listed yours too low in comparison to your competitors at that price point. Hope this helps, Tim

Also, those aren't Phillips screws, they're JIS (Japanese industrial standard) which is why they're always stripped out. Grab a set of JIS drivers like the excellent ones made by Vessel and you'll be amazed at the difference, because they are square cut they won't cam out like a Phillips. They even work better with Phillips screws than a Phillips driver does. I've removed countless screws on bikes that were rounded out by a Phillips bit,, by doing nothing more than using the correct JIS driver. Using a Phillips driver on a JIS fitting is like going after a head bolt with a worn 12 point socket. It might / usually / should work ... Tim

Yeah, what he said. In WA it wouldn't matter why you stopped, the driver behind is responsible for maintaining awareness and a following distance which will allow a safe stop if the driver in front has to make a sudden stop. The presence of the school bus would either be moot or act in your favor, as the driver behind should have taken the school bus into account in their evaluation of the situation. Tim

Today's gas doesn't last very long, in addition to the above good advice I would suggest draining the tank and replacing it with new gas and the Seafoam. Tim

Those washers can be safely re-used as long as you're bending fresh metal up against the flat of the nut. When you aren't able to do that then it's time for a new one. Tim

I believe that is the actual definition of experience. And if you're only doing it three times to get it down yer doin pretty good. Tim

If you're weird, I'm weird 'cause I could say exactly the same thing. The only bikes that Miss Right would ride with me on were an old Electra-Glide and the Venture, for the very reason that you mentioned. I had a 1400 Intruder for a little while and she hated it, wouldn't get on it again after a near miss / hard swerve on the freeway at 80 (to miss a Coleman canoe flying through the air at us) she said it felt like sitting on a rolling barstool and she thought she was going to be pitched off. And the handling characteristics of the bike with two up always impressed me, I liked the passenger and I to be sitting close to the same level, definitely impacted the handling of the bike in a positive way but I don't have the education to explain why. Tim

I would try pulling the clutch while it's doing it, if it fades away as rpms decrease then you know it's the engine for sure , always a good first check. In my experience, light throttle cruising issues that go away when accelerating are almost always a fuel starvation issue. Although folks like to measure performance with their wrist low and their eyes wide, I pay more attention to light throttle behavior and transitions as a measure of tuning. It's actually pretty simple to get an engine to idle well, or cruise well, or accelerate well, but moving between those conditions smoothly and maintaining a smooth light throttle cruise is all about those four hunks of pot metal with all the little holes drilled in them. A small obstruction in a carb passage or jet can cause slight fuel starvation, but the condition is masked when you open the thnrottle and overcome it with more fuel, or when you close it and aren't asking anything of it. I would suspect a small obstruction in the pilot circuit, I would first drain and rinse the tank then fill, add half a can of Seafoam and ride it. If it doesn't clear in that tank then it's time for a carb clean. Im not a fan of adding fuel system cleaners without dumping and rinsing the tank, if you have an issue with crud breaking loose, it makes sense to me to try to remove the crud from the source before loosening more of it and flushing it through the system. Also, did you treat the fuel with Seafoam at the end of the season? It's a good cleaner but not really a preservative treatment. Hope this helps some, Tim

Congratulations! Grandchildren are one of the few benefits to getting old! All the best to your family! Tim

Cold is hard on electrical stuff, everything shrinks and any iffy connections get worse. Then ya get them hot and when they cool they're worse still. I agree with Puc that checking cleanliness of connections and grounds is the way to go. Man, that sucks, sorry you have to deal with that. Tim

Did you try pulling the clutch and coasting to see if uncoupling the engine made any difference? If it feels the same then its likely an out of balance or worn rotating part of the drivetrain. If it calms down with the engine out of the loop then you know its there. Was it doing this at light cruise, light throttle, steady speed and then cleared up when you accelerated? Any chance your gas is old? Tim

Nice, nice look. What a pretty, clean bike! Tim

After seeing the photos and no clear titles ... ugh. Parts bikes. Do you want or need parts bikes? Tim

All sounds good to me! Love to meet some good folks to ride with, and a West Coast rally sounds great! Tim

It can seem like that sometimes, but there are lots of parts out there for these things. One advantage is that the venture isn't the bike that is being bobbed or otherwise modded heavily as many other vintage bikes are, so bikes get parted out or sold on Craigslist instead of becoming "street trackers" or something. Another is that so many parts are shared between the first gens, and in some cases parts from the later years are upgraded. For instance, I run Venture auto cam chain adjusters in the XS100s because they're an upgraded unit and more reliable than the originals, and they're also easier to get cause the Ventures had two each and lots more bikes made. Its just a matter of research and asking questions, and this is the right spot for it! Tim

Thanks for the warm welcome, I appreciate it. I've stayed away from forums for a while, have been on a few for bikes and other vehicles but don't care for where they always seem to go. I lurked for a while and you guys seem like folks I could get along with. Never enjoyed the company of folks who like to snipe at each other, life's too short. Asheville sure sounds like fun, but man that's a haul for me! I'm up in the Pacific Northwest, darn near to Canada. I'd be up for the trip, but not until I semi-retire in a few years. Then I'm planning a good long cross country trip, but no firm plans where. Heading south sounds good. Tim

You might also try freezing it and then gently warming it the next day. Amazing how much aluminum moves with temp. I have a bike in the future project shed that had a head stud broken off from the PO`s impatient removal. After I unloaded it I backed the stud out with my fingers, apparently the result of the parts temp cycling in an unheated but dry shed for a couple years. I've had real good luck with breaking things free using temp cycling. I would leave it in the freezer overnight and then gently warm the corner around the bolt while avoiding heating the bolt as much as possible. Another approach is heat the entire thing, soak with penetrating oil, let cool, repeat until it breaks free or until you get tired of screwing with it and replace it. Tim

I would bring those home if they were in my area.

Thanks! I was looking at your bike last night, love the cheese! And your sig almost made me spit coffee on my keyboard, so thanks for that.

Thank you, I appreciate the warm welcome. I plan on more work next winter, for now since the forks and anti-dive work just as they should and appear to be in great shape, I'm going to rebuild the brake and clutch hydraulics, install the stainless line kit get new rubber on there and get on the road this summer! I live in the sticks and the majority of my riding is country roads (I live in one of those places that other guys ride two hours to get to heehee) and I do not ride like I used to, which is why I'm still here. I like the linked brakes and feel that the biggest issue with this system is the use of rubber hoses. That's just a lot of hose. I was taught to use the rear brake for better control, use it for gentle braking such as to slow for curves and to control your speed down hills etc, but use both when stopping or slowing quickly. The linked brakes work well with my riding style but I can see how others wouldn't like it. Not really a "performance" setup. I appreciate the input on the forks and brakes, I was originally thinking Progressives and removing the anti-dives but now you guys have me thinking about replacing the lowers and calipers. Hmm. Something to look forward to next winter.

It's the factory Bright Cherry Red, it looks nice in the photos but it is really quite sun faded in person, big depth-of-color difference between the horizontal and vertical surfaces. And I can't take any credit for anything cosmetic other than polishing the engine and valve covers and wiping the bike down with Final Finish. I literally haven't even washed the thing yet! Most of what I've done doesn't show, I painted the collector with silver header paint, baked it, looks awesome if ya wanna lay down and look at it. And the approx 30 hours I have into restoring the fairing isn't visible either. Otherwise I just lucked out.

Thanks guys. Puc, thanks for the tip on the stator lead, the stator is in good shape and has the cooling kit, I'll check that lead. I have three XS1100s and am familiar with the second gear issue, this one seems fine so far. Yes, the glass is perfect, it was out for repair of the headlight trim and is in a cabinet wrapped in a towel. Nice job spotting that! And progressives are on the list. And Dan the frame appears to be reinforced, there are gussets that I didn't see in the photos I've seen of the early cracked frames. I had the bike in the air and everything looks solid underneath. I found it at just the right time, she was at that tipping point where so many bikes end up rusting under a blue tarp, or parted out, or could have a whole new life if given some attention. Luckily the gentleman who owned her had fallen in love with what was supposed to be just a cheap way to get to work and wanted the bike to go to someone who would bring it back, which is kinda my deal. After 40 years of vintage bicycles, motorcycles, boats and outboards I understand that TLC = Tender Loving Complete restoration, and I'm ok with that.

Hello everyone, I finally got around to shaking some photos out of my phone and wanted to show off my new project, I've been lurking a while and thought it was time I said something. Ya'll seem like a decent bunch so if you don't mind I'll elbow up and open my mouth. Almost a year ago I found this beauty on craigslist for a price that looked too good to be true. Turns out it only had 4th and 5th gear, wouldn't shift below that. Having experience with the XS1100's it sounded to me like the shift pin issue which is about a $40 fix. We had just started a major remodel on the house and I had no time for a new bike but I had to have this one, I've been bringing bikes back to life since I was a kid and of all the bikes I've had the one I wished I hadn't let go was an '83 Venture. Best all around bike I've ever ridden, I think of it as a full-dress sport bike. I'd go on but I think I'd be preaching to the choir. The bike had been well cared for by its original owner who garaged it and had all the regular maintenance done by the dealer, including updated items like the water pump impeller. There isn't any rust anywhere except the expected speckles on the exhaust system, the bike is really quite clean considering that the second owner was commuting about 70 miles round trip a day on it for the year he owned it. All I had time to do when I brought it home was shove it into the shop, but over the last few months have squeezed out a few hours here and there and have made some progress. So far I've fixed the shift issue, removed the oil pan to retrieve the shift pin, removed all the engine covers to fix weeping (mostly to polish them, really), pulled valve covers to check valve lash, (all good) flushed the cooling system (which didn't need it), dropped the exhaust for gaskets and welding of the collector mounting bracket, and pulled all the bodywork to fix an incredible number of broken tabs and cracks. There were some very slight scuff marks on the left side of the fairing, slight enough that they came out with a little rubbing compound, but every darn tab on that side was either broken off outright or cracked like a desert, and there were stress cracks at nearly every corner of the fairing. And the headlight trim was broken at the screw holes. My thinking here is that the elderly (and I do mean elderly, I'm no spring chicken) original owner arrived at the end of his riding career with a slow speed tip-over against the minivan or the riding mower in the garage, breaks out a tube of epoxy and sells the bike to the family friend who needs cheap transpo, who in turn sells it as soon as it costs him anything but gas. At this point all the above is fixed but there is more to do before she hits the road. Here is how the bike looks now Upholstery is good except for the usual stress separation on the front seam - 58,00 miles on the odometer While I had the covers off I stripped the clear coat, polished and detail painted the ends and painted the centers with high temp silver - Looks kinda nice peekin out there - The water pump cover "before", the "after" is above - Missing shift pin - 70 miles a day. On this tire. The bike starts and runs like a sewing machine, but before it hits the road I'll replace the tires of course, and go completely through the brake system. I like the linked brakes and will retain them, but the calipers, masters, and valves will all come apart and be renewed. And stainless lines, I'm a big fan of stainless lines. Same thing for the clutch. I have an overhead lift setup so while the bike is hanging for tires I'll drop the swing arm and service all that mess. I fixed the weeping forks with the "tool cut from a milk jug" trick, other than some slight weeping they checked out just fine. The forks will be stripped and polished, and I'll probably repaint the bodywork if I have time before summer. Thanks to everyone for all the great info collected here, it's been a great resource and enjoyable reading! I'll post some more when there's more to post, for now its back to the house. Waaaaa. Thanks for reading! Tim

The three pieces that make up that assembly are in the factory frame group diagram, upper left corner. They are Cover 5, Cover 6 and Cover 7 in the parts list, #s 29, 30 and 31 on the diagram. On the diagram for my 84 they show them floating above the center of the engine, I would go out to the shop and look for ya but a surprise foot of snow and a warm fire are preventing that from happening for a while. If it helps, I just had the radiator, valve covers, heat shields etc. and all bodywork off mine without running into those. Maybe look above the carbs? Hope that helps Tim Edit: Just found this thread with the answer and photos - http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?127841-Plastic-thingy-came-loose-under-the-fairing