Freebird

I didn't even know that they still made them before running across one a couple of weeks ago. Cool little bikes. 2 wheel drive for those logging roads and you can even get a sidecar attachment for hauling gear. http://www.rokon.com/

Well, if it makes you feel better or is not running right, it certainly doesn't hurt to change them but I doubt they need it.

I agree with Marcarl but would also question if you even need to change the plugs. You said that they were changed last year. How many miles since then? I should also point out, just in case there is any confusion, he made a typo...don't go out looking for a tin walled socket, he meant to type THIN walled socket. As least I hope he did.

If you check the "Venture History" link at the top of the page, it shows the specs for the different models and years.

I just uploaded one test to one of my other sites because it is a large file and if enough people look at it, it could suck too much bandwidth from this one. It is in .pdf format. The test is from 1983 for the 1983 Venture. I would recommend that you look for one '86 and newer to avoid the well documented 2nd gear issue. http://www.dnelson.com/venture/83test.pdf

HP is not the same. Bother were rated at the crank so the HP you quoted for the Royal Star was also rated at the crank. According to the specs I've seen, the early Royal Star had 28mm carbs and a MUCH smaller air intake.

I provided some info on this in the other thread. There are several differences. Carb size is not the same. The early Royal Stars had too small of an air intake, etc. See the other thread for more details.

Gary, We are not talking about the first gen Venture. We are talking about the first gen Royal Star. As to why they made so much less HP, it was because Yamaha was trying to design a bike that looked like a cruiser. In my opinion, they succeeded in that and it's a great looking bike. In doing so though, they went with a small air intake/filter and then due to the reduced air flow also used smaller carbs. Baron's offered what they called a "Big Air Kit" that solved the restricted air issue and then with the proper re-jetting, got the HP up a good bit. To really get the HP up though, some people have built special manifolds and installed larger carbs after increasing the air intake size. Also, they did not have the same size carbs. The early Royal Stars had 28mm and the later ones have 32mm. That is why some people change them after increasing the air flow.

I don't understand the statement that the '97 Royal Star is faster than the '05. If that is true, either the '97 has had a good many mods done or something is terribly wrong with the '05. There are no tests that tell a different story and having ridden both, the '97 is nowhere close. Heck...we are talking probably 30+ HP difference between the two in stock configuration.

Yes, I think that Miles did it recently and Gary N. also. Maybe one or both will see this thread.

Donation sent. Wish it could be much more but hopefully it will help.

Sorry to hear of your problems. You will not get out of here that easy though. I just renewed your membership for another year. If you need more after that, just let me know. I would also like to send you a donation to help. Wish it could be more but perhaps more will help also. Do you have a PayPal account? If so, let us know what email address to use to send you a donation. Take care and you will be in our prayers.

I think that is a matter of opinion. I think that the Voyager is a nice bike but no way would I say that it is a LOT nicer than a Venture. I can't even say that it is ANY nicer than a Venture. I road one at the International last year and I enjoyed it. There were things about it that felt flimsy though and I am not 100% sold on the design of the fairing. It ran OK but is a fairly typical V Twin. Those that love the V4 are not going to be impressed.

I run Mobil 1 for motorcycles and I can assure you that Yamaha will absolutely NOT void your warranty for using it. That is a fact from talking to Yamaha and to Mobil. I don't expect that Honda or Harley would either. As long as an oil meets the specifications, they can not, by law, void your warranty for using it.

That's up to you and the other folks that live in Florida. The Maintenance Days happen when a member in an area steps up to have one.

I've had Rick's brake mod kit installed for several years. It works GREAT.

Very nice. Now they know what we all know.

http://www.rmsportmax.com/

It's not uncommon at all. You can screw an old sparkplug into that hole and use it to pull the plug out. The new one just presses in and the fins keep pressure on them. A lot of people have taped a dime onto the fin just over where the plug is and it puts enough extra pressure on it to stop the leak.

I also got that one claiming to be from the BBB but a quick search proved it was a scam. I also received too others last week. One claimed that a group was applying to take over the domain name venturerider.org They claimed that I was not registered on a couple of Asian domain registries and that it was going to cause confusion for my "company". They assured me that they could take care of it for the right amount of money. The second was a reverse of the ones claiming that I had won millions of dollars. This new one claimed that a Mr. Somebody had filed papers claiming that he was my next of kin and that I had died in a car crash. He had submitted the proper paperwork and the banks were preparing to transfer 10 million dollars out of my account to him. LOL....good luck with that.

One would think that I would feel better now. NOT!

HEY.....I'm RIGHT HERE!

I'll post when I order again. Just haven't done so because there hasn't been much interest in it.

I'm not reading this thread, in case you were wondering.

My bike is "Bike". My truck is "Truck". My boat is "Boat". Don't know if the wife named her car or not. She calls it her baby.