bpate4home

Welcome Back.

Now that's a good woman there.

Love it. Great Job.

Absolutely agree with the saving $$$. Wish I would have found the site sooner. Would have been a huge help on my gen 2. The $12 to help keep the site running is well worth the spend.

So Glad I live in the south now. Don't miss that stuff at all. I had a friend here post a picture of her car dash and it just said 'low outside temp'. After I got done laughing at her I responded that when I left my house the bike said 30, when I got to work it said 29 and her car needed to grow up. Even the cars here in the south know noting about the cold.

36 F when I left the house this morning in Houston. Gear listed above. The heated seat and grips on the SVTC help a lot but the wind over the top of the thighs was cold. Was I cold, yes. Was I uncomfortable, not really. Tomorrow should be a good test though as the low should be 30. As long as there is no reports of ice on the road it'll be another good day to ride. I still need new gloves though . Will have to check if I have some of the old ski gloves, not sure after 14 years in Houston.

Yeah, I remember a few of those days in NE Ohio where we had to shovel our leaves due to the 6" of partly cloudy. Glad I'm in the South now, only miss the skiing part of that.

I live in Houston so the weather should be similar. I had the '06 Venture (had full fairing and lower deflectors), now I have the '18 SVTC but no lower deflectors. 55 - 65 I wear Leather Jacket, jeans and thin leather gloves. Around 50 I add a military neck gaiter given to me by my son. Under 50 I just add the liner to the leather jacket. I used to call it quits at 40 but with the SVTC, the heated seat and grips basically take that a lot lower. From just below the knee to the upper thigh would be cold. I've been debating chaps and I do need new gloves (I've worn holes in them). I need to add that I wear a half helmet with the muffs for a Cardo headset at all times, including over 100. My wife just picked up some faux leather from Hobby Lobby ans said she is going to make me a set of mini chaps. Should be interesting. As a kid in NE Ohio I wore long johns, Jeans, heavy leather coat, ski gloves and heavy boots and rode in everything except icy conditions. Even below 0 a couple of times which was awful but when you have nothing else you do what ya gotta do.

Late last week the ride temp in the AM was 39. This morning 64, beautiful morning. With the annoying exception of I10 in Houston. Rush hour seems to be starting earlier and earlier.

Well, I know I'm a newbie to this forum, just took a while to find y'all. Bounced in and out of quite a few others, some were good and some were . . . . let's just say lacking and even more were just locations for *****ing and critiquing beliefs. I came on board early this year after I sold my '06 Venture and picked up the '18 SVTC. This group has easily been the best group, BY MILES AND MILES. Your experience and willingness to help anyone says a lot about the membership, but it all starts at the top with Freebird. Don, your efforts do not go unnoticed and are greatly appreciated by all. Thanks Don.

congrats

Hope it gets better for you soon. I'm in Houston and ride just about every day depending on travel for work whether I might get on the way to work. Not worried about the way home. Rode in this morning and it was 39 F when I left. Realized that even with the heated grips my old gloves need replacin' and soon. One of these days I may even pick up some chaps. Just have a hard time justifying them with so few 'cold' days here. When I was younger I rode year round in norther Ohio. Here, it's easy to do.

I'm on the Gen 3 V-Twin and put between 12 and 15K on the bike each year. Does this still fit your 2 - 3 year estimates? I feel comfortable with it based on everything I hear and what I've read, that would also put me at 40K mi per plug change. I see the solid input throughout this forum so I put a lot of weight on y'alls opinion.

plus old threads have a lot of merit and sometimes need to be brought back to the front for others to see or someone would just like more input.

I've read through as many of the posts that I could find. As has been stated Yamaha want NGK Standard plugs every 8K miles but why not go with NGK iridium plugs that can last up to 100K miles. Everything I can find shows better firing, better fuel efficiency, less corrosive or fouling etc etc. Even my mechanics and mechanic friends state this is the best route.

Congrats on the turn around and good luck with the new jobs. As for the snow, not so sure about that. Left northern Ohio about 14 years ago for Houston and can't see myself ever moving back. Life without snow (winter in general) has been better and I even like to ski, but it was horrible on my knees. I had a hard time even just walking in the mornings for about 4 - 5 months during the winters up there, here it's 4 - 5 weeks .

I think it's good -> reasonable. I always have basic concerns about low mileage bikes. Engine, Carbs tires etc etc. A good look see is needed. That being said, I sold my '06, virtually identical but with 105K miles, new clutch, new rear shock and needing a few other minor items repaired for ~3K.

Congrats Venturesome. Our loss is your gain!

I was born and raised in northern Ohio and when I started working in downtown Cleveland I would give change or a few bucks to some of the beggars. Later their was a push to stop giving cash so I started offering to buy meals to those who asked for money. At the time I was in my mid 20's and I was shocked when all of them turned me down. In 14 years only 4 took me up on my offer. My daughter worked at a convenient store that was throwing away sandwiches 1-2 days before they expired knowing they wouldn't sell. She talked the manager into letter her have them and she 'made' me take them into downtown. I would hand out 15 - 20 sandwiches in a week. This was more effective but I still watched some throw them away without even looking at them. After moving to Houston 14 years ago I still do the same thing, offering to buy a meal. It's sad to say that even fewer have taken me up on it. I've pretty much given up on this. On the positive side, Cleveland had a news paper called the Homeless Grapevine. There was a regular guy selling this paper and I stopped to talk to him several times. The deal with the paper was simple. They would buy the paper for for .50 and sell it for a dollar. They just had to sign an agreement with the publisher that they would use the money for housing and food. No alcohol or drugs. He was just a guy that was down on his luck, a vet who had lost his job, his house and his family as his wife had left him. I bought that paper from him any time I saw him. I hadn't seen him for a year or so when I ran into him on the street. He was in dress clothes minus the tie, had found a job and was mostly back on his feet. He gave credit to that paper. As he put it, that paper and the associated agreement saved his life. He was a man of commitment and he signed that agreement, that commitment.

Are you suggesting a saddle and just cut off the foot of the stirrups?

Glad to hear you're good.

I wish I would have found this forum 5 - 6 years ago when I first bought my '06. Huge wealth of knowledge here. The other forum I was in can't even touch the soles of y'alls shoes.

I’m in. Good luck all.

Welcome to South Texas . Born and raised in Northern Ohio but would not go back up north. I ride pretty much every day I'm not travelling and I never wake up to 6" of partly cloudy.

When my son was 16 years old he had a Cavalier with a rag top that we replaced. I had never done any upholstery work but we were able to get it on and looking pretty good, seemed to take forever stretching it back and forth. I think Balesman has done a good job. It's tough for a laymen to get the button style look without the right tools for the job and keep the seat soaking up a ton of water. Your thoughts of restretching it is a good one. Once that's done please post the final product. I think it will be well worth the effort.