Freebird

A few years ago, we bought a Sleep Number mattress. I have to say that it's the worse money we've ever spent on a mattress. It quickly developed indentions/low spots, whatever you want to call them. We finally bought a memory foam mattress. I don't remember the brand but it rivaled the top selling brands at a fraction of the cost. It was made in Pennsylvania. The company made different kinds of foams for industrial uses and the mattress business was sort of a sideline for them. They decided to get out of the mattress business and concentrate completely on their core foam business. I found that out when I was trying to find what i had bought because a friend was interested. We have had this one for probably 6 or 7 years now and it seems to be as good now as it was then. I suppose it could be flipped or rotated but never has been. I know this doesn't help you in regards to a brand but I can tell you for a fact that when we have to replace this one, it will be replaced with another memory foam type mattress.

Sorry, those do not appear to be archived. They were likely linked to files uploaded elsewhere.

I assume that Jeff is talking about the missing attachments that Dingy posted. Unfortunately, I am not finding those files in the backup. It is possible that he had linked to them to files he had posted elsewhere. Sorry.

So very sorry to hear this news. Another loss to our beloved family here. Our prayers certainly go out to the family. Godspeed our friend. If anybody has a good picture of Richard please post it so that I can add it to our memorials page.

Registration forms have been added to the 2017 International Rally thread. Please download and get them returned when you can. http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?127614-2017-VentureRider-International-Rally

Somebody asked in an old thread when I might be ordering the VentureRider Guardian Bells again. I can place an order anytime we have enough demand. Just don't like sitting on a thousand dollars or more worth of them. If there is enough demand, I will place an order. I like to order 100 at a time to keep the cost down. I don't mind sitting on some inventory but would like to have 35 - 50 sold before ordering. Please reply here if you have any interest. Details and pricing here: http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?17406-VentureRider-Guardian-Bells

Yes, I can place an order anytime there is enough interest. How many are interested now?

Done

Opinions on tires are like opinions on oil. You will not find a consensus on which ones are best. I just bought a pair of Dunlop E3s for my '05. They get generally good reviews here. I paid $270.00 from Dennis Kirk with free shipping. Another that some people here seem to have gravitated towards are the Pirelli. I think 777 is the model number but am not sure about that. Many of us here avoid the Bridgestone's due to poor performance. Many of us avoid the Metzler's because there have been far too many reports of them chunking big pieces of the tread. Avon Venoms were the choice of many of us for several years due to premature sidewall cracking and also cracks developing between the tread. In my opinion, the choice of most here are the Dunlop E3, Michelin Commander II, and lately, the Pirelli has found favor with some people. Pirelli appears to be the least expensive of this group. The Michelin is not available in the stock 150 size. You will have to go with the 130 if you choose that tire. Many people prefer the 130 as it is known to improve handling of these bikes. I personally have stuck with the 150 which is why I went with the Dunlop E3s.

By the way, the parts are located in Chicago. Telephone number is 773-308-4795 If any of you take this stuff, please let me know so that I can remove this.

I received the following email and agree to pass it on. Sounds like a kind gesture and maybe some of you would be interested. I am a retired Chicago Police Officer & a former member of the Blue Knights M/Club. I can no longer ride due to health issues, but used to ride a "85 Venture Royale. I have several "like new" parts, removed & replaced w/chrome when bike was new, the original seat, and the official Yamaha shop manual. I would like to give these parts to any of your members that still have a 1st generatioin Venture. I am not looking to sell them or ask for money, I just want the parts to go to someone that can use them. Can you please help me get this message out to your membership. I hope you can help me, as I am moving to another state, & would like to give these parts away before I move. Thank You.......Ron Cockrum Ron's email is DaCock@comcast.net

I have a new set of E3s sitting in the garage. Will get them installed once I get over this Flu and then find the time. I ended up paying $270.00 for the pair. Ended up buying them from Dennis Kirk. Shipping was free and they arrived in two days. This will be my first experience with the E3 but from all I've read about them, I expect to be just fine with them. This bike had whitewall D404's on it when I bought it. Have no idea how many miles on them. The front was needing replaced and then on my last ride of the season, the rear lost about a 3 - 4" chunk of rubber. I won't blame the tire because since I didn't put most of the miles on them, I have no idea how well the inflation was maintained and etc. I was never a fan of the whitewalls though and have had better experience with other tires in regards to traction and etc.

I have no experience with the 130 tire with or without the links. Other people here have reported that the 130 tire in conjunction with the leveling links has made the steering too sensitive and the handling a little squirrely. I've always had the leveling links on my RSVs and that alone has resulted in the bike handling to my satisfaction so I've just never felt the need to try the narrower tire.

I have not gone back and read everything you have done in detail but it sure sounds like a lean condition. I just don't believe that changing jet sizes and etc. should have been necessary. I've run all kinds of different mufflers on these bikes with no such problems. Have you actually sprayed around the carb boots and etc. with maybe carb cleaner or something to see if it changes your RPMs and therefore would indicate that you are sucking air? I have that happen once and found that the boots were not seated properly on top of the carbs. I found that I was actually over tightening the clamps and it caused them to slip up a bit on the back side and they were sucking air right at the top of the carbs.

I picked up this bug sometime last weekend. I had to work a trade show in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. Got there on Wednesday the 15th and made it home around 1:00 Sunday morning the 19th. Our rep in Florida worked the show with me and she was coughing and sneezing all weekend but didn't appear to have the flue so when this all started, I figured I had just picked up her cold. Feeling just a little better this morning so hopefully will be close to 100% soon. I sure hope so. I honestly don't have time to be sick.

I knew I was sick but didn't know how sick. I'm the type person who just keeps going. Felt bad all week but stayed on the road. Got home Friday and Friday afternoon had two stairlift sales calls. Made the first call, got the sale, and had about 3 hours before the next one. Decided to stop by the Doctor's office and get checked out. Last thing I remember, I was sitting in the waiting room. Next thing I know, I'm on the floor, have an IV, EKG machine, oxygen and etc. Apparently I passed out. Got an ambulance ride to the emergency room followed by a lot of tests and turns out, very bad case of the flu. A lot of commotion for that huh? Doctor wanted to admit me but finally agreed that I could go home if I promised to stay in bed for a few days. So, I crossed my fingers and agreed. Thing is, I had a stairlift to install first thing Saturday morning. Told the customer that I was sick but would do it if they promised to stay far away from where I was working. They really needed it installed because their elderly father was coming home from rehab on Sunday or Monday. So, got the lift installed and then back home around 1:00. Been in bed ever since.

My E3s arrived last Thursday. I ended up getting them from Dennis Kirk. Now I just have to find the time to get them installed. Right now, I am down with some severe flu.

HA...I know for a FACT that you once had it in one of your bikes.

LOL....I think I have that one down. These tires always turn out to be a pain. I ran the original Michelin Commanders and liked them except that they howled in the sweepers. They made it in the 150 front though. I would have liked to try the Commander II but not the 130 front with the leveling links. I then started using Avon Venoms. Liked them except that I had the sidewall cracking problem on two sets. Won't use them again. So I had heard good things about the Elite 3 but then they have that weird size for the rear. Why does it have to always be so confusing. HEY...I'm getting OLD you know. But oil, no doubt about it. Crisco. I remember that one.

Thanks. I'm looking forward to getting them changed. My old rear tire chunked out on my last ride last season. Old member here Ironmike had a BF Goodrich car tire all mounted up that he took off his RSV when he traded it off. I put it on, took one short ride and parked it for the winter. I might have given it a chance except that it probably sits at least an inch lower than it used to. Completely negated the leveling links that I have installed. My front tire was getting near the end but I thought the rear was good. Still had a lot of tread on it. BUT...at LEAST I will be getting rid of the white walls.

The part number ended up being MV85HB-15. I assume that the same thing. I hope so.

Well, I went with the Elite 3. Never used them before but willing to give them a try. Would have gone with the Michelin Commanders but I already have and like the leveling links and have not heard good things about mixing the leveling links with the smaller front tire. They should be here on Thursday but I won't be home by then anyway and don't know when I will get around to installing them. May take them to the shop and have them mounted and balanced. I've just lost my desire to do it myself. We'll see.

I will have to look at the specs. Does that mean it's going to be a shorter tire? I hope not.

Correction. Looks like they DO have the 150 front in the Elite 3 but are you guys that run the Elite 3 using the MV85B15 on the rear? That's the closest thing that I see.

It's time to order some new tires for the '05. Late last night I took a quick look but quickly got frustrated and decided I would deal with it later. It seems that every site I went to either had the front or the rear but not both. I had hoped that Dunlop would come out with the Elite 4's in our sizes but apparently that hasn't happened. I plan to stay with the 150 up front so that really limits our options. I have to look again but I THINK that Michelin makes the Commander II in our stock sizes. I hope so. I will take another look but I didn't see the Elite 3 in the 150 front.