Freebird

I went in '98 and had a fantastic time. It was VERY crowded and I really have no desire to go again but anybody who loves bikes should do it at least once.

I received this email from Marshal Gammon. Some of you probably know him from the Venturers site. Sounds like fun for anybody who may be interested. As you may remember, Deb and I have had Blue Dolphin Travel open for about 18 years. She has put together a 5 day Caribbean Cruise NEXT NOVEMBER 2013, to Belize and Cozumel. We have booking held until August 24, 2012 and need initial deposit to get in on the saving by 24 November 2012 ... Sorry for short lead time but this deal just popped up in our cruise calendar. I have opened it up for all Venture Riders, clubs put aside, and one of our local groups here in Fl that I ride with .. If you think any of the Venture Rider guys/gals would be interested in attending, put it out on your forum and we will see what shakes out .. Take care, God Bless ... G. Marshall Gammon Marketing Director Blue Dolphin Travel Yulee, FL 32097 http://bludolphintravel.com NOTE: THIS IS NOT A RIDE-IN, RALLY, OR MOTORCYCLE CRUISE. IT'S JUST A CRUISE OFFERED BY DEBBIE AND I TO OUR YAMAHA VENTURE RIDING FRIENDS. COME ONE, COME ALL ... IF YOU DON'T RIDE A VENTURE, YOU CAN STILL COME ... PARTY TIME.. Deposit needs to be made by August 24, 2012 to get in on locked in prices. Here are the Details: Host's Name: Debbie Gammon phone number: 904 849 7880 Email: debbiegammon@comcast.net Blue Dolphin Travel phone number: 877-265-3996 toll free Event Name: Venture Riders High Sea Voyage 2013 Starting Date (MM/DD/YY): 11/09/13 Ending Date (MM/DD/YY): 11/14/13 Ship Name: Liberty of the Sea (RCCL) Contact: Blue Dolphin Travel for details 86115 Meadowwood Drive Yulee FL/ 904 849 7880 Ship Itinerary: Day 1: Ships departs 4:30PM from FT Lauderdale FL Day 2: Sea Day Day 3: Belize City, Belize 9:00AM - 6:00PM Day 4: Cozumel, Mexico 8:00AM - 6:30PM Day 5: Sea Day Day 6 Arrive FT Lauderdale, FL 7:00AM LETS MAKE THIS A GREAT EVENT, BOOK NOW 877-265-3996! Dinner 6PM confirmed. Travel Agent Details on Cruise: Inside cabins starting at $476.82 Inside with balcony $500.82 Ocean view starting at $550.82 Ocean view balcony starting at $686.82 3rd/4th person in cabin starting at $330.82 Gratuities per person $58.25, must be paid with final payment. Have so many cabins in each category, once those go than price goes up a little, first come first serve so get your deposit in. Rates are per person based on two in a cabin and include cruise, port and tax, gratuities additional. RCCL can add a fuel surcharge of $10 per person per day if fuel exceeds $65 a barrel even after final is paid. Insurance strongly recommended, call Blue Dolphin Travel for details and prices. Liberty of the Seas was launched in 2007, holds 3634 passengers, underwent a multimillion dollar refurbishment in 2011. It has a wealth of amenities to please all, please check out at http://www.royalcaribbean.com Deposit of $25 per person, $50 per cabin is due by August 24, 2012. Triple/Quad cabins require full $200 deposit with names/birth dates by August 24, 2012. 2nd deposit of $75 per person, $150 per cabin is due by Jan 23, 2013. Final payment is due by August 19, 2013. You can make full deposit of $100 per person and not worry about January 2013 deposit. Can make payments so don't have final payment due all at once. You can cancel up to 61 days prior to departure date and get a refund. Passport strongly recommended, can travel with an original, certified, state issued birth certificate and state issued ID, ie., drivers license. The below is a link to available shore excursions and land entertainment and their cost: http://www.royalcaribbean.com/findacrui ... cyCode=USD BOOK NOW CALL TOLL-FREE 877-265-3996 OR EMAIL debbiegammon@comcast.net To book I need legal names as they appear on ID used to travel with and birth dates. Can pay by check or if paying with credit card I will need name as it appears on card, billing address of card with phone number.

AmnChode is a supporting member here. I have sent him an email asking if he knows what is going on. If we are unable to get it resolved, I will delete that thread. Don

LOL...I agree. I don't think it was real but I STILL think it was funny.

This is not correct, at least not on my '99. First of all, the IC is not dependent on keying the CB mic switch NOR is it VOX. It is ALWAYS on. Also, the IC will work even if the external speakers or selected. My wife and I have ridden many miles with the outside speakers selected and still used the IC. The IC will still use the headsets even if the music is coming through the external speakers. The MIc-Mutes is an aftermarket accessory. It works by momentarily pressing the rider CB talk switch OR the passenger CB talk switch. You just toggle the mics on and off my pressing either rider or passenger switch for about a second or so.

I would order this: http://www.venturerider.org/classifieds/showproduct.php?product=4200&title=auxillary-tail-light-harness-for-royal-star-venture&cat=35 Then you just unplug the connector beside the battery, plug this in, make your connection there without having to hack into any of the bikes wiring.

That is not correct Bob. They were the R/T versions.

I had considered one. Eileen loves them. She and I both think that they look really cool. I did take one out for about 3 hours at the International and it was all that I needed to change my mind. After about 1 1/2 hours, we stopped for lunch, if we had no stopped I think I would have just pulled over and shot myself. I had body parts hurting that I didn't even know existed. In my opinion, they are just NOT designed for tall riders. My legs were bent in positions that I didn't even know I was still capable of. There was no way to stretch out. There are aftermarket highway pegs available but they only give you about 4 more inches. My knees hurt, my shoulders hurt, my hip hurt, heck, my entire body hurt. After lunch, I let Eileen do the driving and I rode on the back. It was better there. She loved it but her inseam is about a mile shorter than mine. And NO....she is not getting one. I was told by a local dealer in Cleveland last year that Can-Am is aware of the problem for taller riders and are looking at design changes to make it better but that may have just been a dealer talking. I've heard nothing more about that.

Well, I can only repeat what I've been told. I also have a couple of friends who are dealers and they tell me that Yamaha tells them absolutely NOTHING. They find out what new bikes are coming out at the annual dealers meeting IF there is an annual meeting. I'm told that there is not even going to be an annual meeting this year and they will likely just be notified by a letter. They say that Yamaha is very secretive about such things and don't want any leaks and therefore, even the dealers are kept completely in the dark. One of these is a good sized dealership. Very nice place. He has NO information about a new Venture or the future of the Venture.

Well we have actually done that before. I don't think that we actually emailed it to Yamaha but we've had the threads. A couple of problems. 1. We don't agree. You have two different opinions here. Those that love the style of the first gen want to see Yamaha go back to an updated version of something like that. Body over foot position, modern aerodynamic styling, etc. Those of us who love the cruiser styling of the second gen would like to see it simply updated with perhaps a version of the VMAX engine, ABS, better sound system, quieter drive train. We are talking about two entirely different bikes between the first gen lovers and the second gen lovers. 2. Yamaha doesn't respond to us. They claim that they don't even look at this forum though we know for a fact that isn't true. So, even without emailing it to them, they DO see our opinions here but we simply will never get a response from them. I will back off that just a little bit. Yamaha Canada has been very good to us in the past. They seem to recognize that we are the most ardent supporters of the Yamaha touring bikes and actually attended and brought door prizes to our international rally when we held it in Canada. Yamaha USA tries to pretend that we don't exist. They know we do though.

First of all, I absolutely do NOT think that there will be a new generation Venture for 2013. All the talk about it got me to wondering about something though. In the unlikely event that there IS a new Venture at some point and Yamaha is actually smart enough to build it around the new VMAX engine, what can we expect in regards to the engine/gear/clutch basket noise. Did Yamaha improve that with the new engine? OK...I addressed this to Squeeze because I know that he has the new generation VMAX but there may be some others that own or have ridden one also. So...I guess you can answer too.

Have you actually pulled the lenses and checked for water/corrosion? I've seen at least three RSVs that had water in the rear turn signals...these happened to all be the left rear though and the sockets had corroded.

Done.

The link I posted was to Sierra. They are a great company to deal with.

Have fun Eddie and be safe. My one and only trip to Sturgis was in '98. Had a great time.

Bob Dakin told me this week that he had bought a couple of half helmets and IMC headsets. He said that they work great and he is actually impressed with the speakers. He bought the type that goes around the back of the head but they also have some that fit into the neck curtain pockets. He said he paid in the $70.00 range for them. http://www.sierra-mc.com/products.asp?cat=248

Actually, we are both wrong. It is 1" with the lowering kit and then I guess whatever you can get cutting the seat down. Here is the link to the Baron's kit. http://www.baronscustom.com/catalog/display/565/index.html

I'm not 100% sure but I think the Baron's lowering kit will lower it about 1 1/2". That is the only actual lowering kit that I know of. Other than that, you might be able to go with a custom seat or modify the stock seat and take perhaps another 1" off. All said, I would think that about 2 1/2" or so would be about it.

I just uploaded that photo from my IPhone using Tapatalk.

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I've never seen it either.

In my opinion, EBC is the way to go. I run the EBC HH pads and won't try to save a few bucks on pads that I know nothing much about.

I've got a Garmin POI file that lists all the dealers. I just don't have time to count them.

Yes, I remember his also. A nice gentleman and he seemed to enjoy being there. We will keep them in our prayers also.

Thanks. Maybe in the future but the decison has been made to have the 2013 Rally in the NW IL area...somewhere around Galena. I would like to do it in the hill country one of these days but deciding what time of the year is the only problem. I think that October would be best but then some of our northern riders are getting into questionable weather already. Oh well....that will be a topic for another time.