Freebird

That's just what it is. About what it's always been. All I carry is liability.

Just renewed the insurance on my '05 Midnight. $76.00 for another year. Guess I can't complain.

This bike had white walls when I bought it. I knew that once I needed tires, they would not be replaced with white walls. Not only do I really not care for them but the tires available in white wall are simply not the best tires that you can purchase.

No white walls. Just not my thing.

It still belongs to IronMike. He sold his RSV so I know wants to sell this wheel/tire. Send me an offer if you are really interested and I'll pass it on.

Thanks. That is what I intend to try first.

I've always used Seafoam. Had 100% confidence in it. Still think it's as good as anything else but obviously not 100%.

Managed to get my new tires on today. It started snowing again about the time that I finished so I decided to at least see if the bike would start because I haven't started it all winter. Well, it started just fine but then I saw the gas running out. Apparently, I have at least one stuck float. I've often seen others here post about stuck floats but in all my years of owning Ventures, first gen and second gen, this is the first time I've ever had it happen to me. I just turned off the petcock and let it run until the gas stopped running out. It was getting too cold in the garage to mess with it today. When the weather warms up a bit, I'll try the tapping on the fuel bowls with something and try to get it unstuck. Not going to worry about it too much right now. I had already planned to pull the carbs and check the float levels this spring anyway. The other thing, after getting the tires on and the brake calipers re-installed, I squeezed the front brake lever and there is no pressure. So I'll have to look at that also. Neither of these are big issues but I'm getting to where I really hate working on stuff.

Finally getting the new Dunlop E3s put on. Dropped my wheels off to have them mounted because even though I have a manual changer and a balancer, I just wasn't in the mood to mess with them. The one wheel in the picture was the one that IronMike gave me to try out in the fall. I put it on, took a trip around the block and parked it for the winter. The car tire is just not for me. To be honest, it handled fine and I would have probably tried it for a while except that I have the leveling links on my bike because I wanted it raised an inch in the back. This car tire dropped it right back down to where it was without the links.

I too have bought from Revzilla a couple of times. Had to return one helmet and it was painless. They do NOT offer free shipping on returns but you can buy a pre-paid return shipping label through them that limits the return shipping to $7.00 and something.

Somebody asked if the foam mattresses are hot. Ours is not at all. When we bought it, we opted for the optional "bamboo" cover. That is supposed to prevent it from being hot. Have never used one without the cover so don't know how it would be otherwise.

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.