Freebird

Main thing I miss on the 18 and the Harley is fuel injection. Even though I’ve never had any major issues with the carbs on the RSV. I just have to remember to turn on the petcock. Yesterday after we left on our ride, a few miles down the road I felt the bike losing power. I quickly remembered that I had turned it off when I parked it. Reach down and turned it on before it died so didn't even have to stop but I'm no longer used to having a petcock.

Well, I've finished about everything I wanted to do to the trike. Installed a Bluetooth receiver inside the fairing that plugs into the aux. wire going into the radio. Works great. Connects easily and allows me to play my music and here directions from my phone through the audio system Installed a LED headlamp bulb and it's super bright. Very pleased with it. Installed LED passing lights Installed drink holders. They work very well. Installed a phone mount with wireless charging so my phone stays charged while riding. Installed the Baron's 2" handlebar risers and though they were a pain to install, I am very pleased with them. They work as well as the Flanders and Road Star bars that I had put on previous bikes. That's actually all I needed. There are some things that I would add if I run across then at fair prices but that is not easy to do. Would like to have the front fender rail and the chrome air cleaner covers but they are very difficult to come by. I'll keep my eyes open for some but am not going to pay 2 and 3 times over MSRP which is what I've found so far. I can easily do without them. It is comfortable for me now and that is the main thing. I MAY have a line on some new old stock aftermarket accessories. Hopefully will know in a day or two. If so, that is great. If not, I will leave it as is. A special thanks to @1BigDog for his patience in answering my many questions about the trike and his recommendations. People like him are what this site is all about.

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Oh. And it’s not just Yamaha. I’m hearing that Honda is also dropping some models. Word is that they are dropping their manual transmission Goldwing models. The predominant thought is that they are doing so because they can more easily meet future emission standards wit their automatic models.

Was just looking at Yamaha's website. I am totally amazed that they no longer have any touring bikes or even cruisers. Have they completely given up on the big bike market? Most of you know that I had bought a brand new 2018 Star Venture Transcontinental. To be completely honest, I actually loved it. The only reason I sold it is because I just wasn't riding. It set here for over a year and I finally just put enough miles on it to do the first oil change. I know that most here weren't crazy about the fact that Yamaha went with an air cooled V Twin but it was truly a great bike in my opinion. It had about everything a person could want on a bike. Yes, there were a handful of folks that had some small issues and even fewer had some major engine issues but few new models are introduced with no issues. That being said, and I wanted to make sure that I wasn't bashing the Star Venture because it's certainly not my intention. But, do you think that if Yamaha had listened to us. The long time proponents of the Yamaha Venture, and come out with a new Venture with a modified version of the 1700cc Max engine that it would have done better? I don't know but I feel that it would have. Imagine that new Star Venture with the Max engine. Water cooled, abundant HP, ability to REV like most here enjoy, it could have been an amazing bike. Unless Yamaha has something up their sleeve, we will never know. My real question is. Do you think that Yamaha is completely leaving the large bike market or do you think that they are at the drawing board, deciding what mistakes were made, and will be coming out with another line in a few years? It will probably be to late for most of us old codgers but I have to wonder what they are thinking. Last thought on this, at least for now. I feel that Yamaha and most of the other Japanese bike makers have tried too hard to emulate Harley and to some extent, even Indian. I feel that the V Twin is essentially an American Icon and the majority of riders who want a V Twin are going to go with Harley or Indian. Let's face it. V Twins are certainly an old technology. Some of us actually like the low RPM torque, great sound, even a bit of vibration but you simply can't provide a great argument that they are as technically refined as the 4 and 6 cylinder bikes that are on the market. With electric vehicles, even motorcycles, that are being brought to the market, I seriously wonder if any manufacturers will be dumping large amounts of capital into big touring bikes. That's sad and to me, virtually signals the end to the cross country riding that many of us have enjoyed. I wonder how much money Yamaha lost on the development of the Star Venture and Eluder. There is no way that they recouped their investment.

Today, Eileen and I took our first two up ride on the trike. We started to not go because it was raining pretty good but we put on the rain suits and took off. Only about a 4 hour round trip down into Amish country. A lot of twisties and it rained all the way down and about half way home. I learned a few things. I learned that it is going to take some getting used to in the twisties. I was cautious today because I couldn't see very well in the rain and I don't know the limits of the trike. We did ok though. Also, I'm getting some head shake at low speeds, I mean 10 to 20 MPH or so if I hit some rough payment. I'll check my head bearings to be sure that they are tight but I've been talking to Jeff, @1BigDog , and he tells me that some head shake is somewhat inherent to these trikes. He gave me some air pressure settings to try so I'll do that along with checking the head bearings. Not a big deal now that I'm aware of it. Just have to make sure you have a firm grip on the bars if you get onto rough rides and are going slow. Easy to prevent if you know about it. Otherwise, it was a nice ride. Especially after the rain finally cleared up a bit.

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I’ll let you know how they work out. All I have to compare them to is the stock ones though. Still won’t know how they compare to yours.

Now my passing lamps look terrible in comparison. I ordered some today. Got them on Amazon. They are supposed to be here tomorrow.

Just a bulb. This was was recommended by Jeff. A little expensive compared to the ones on Amazon but works great.

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I actually had you confused with another member. Not 100% sure that we've met but it doesn't matter, I still feel your pain and wish you the best.

All done. Got the risers installed, fairing put back together. All buttoned up and ready to go. I was thinking while the sweat was dripping off, I can remember when I actually enjoyed this mess. Of course it’s raining now that I’m ready to ride.

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Wish I had put the bars on before putting the fairing and etc back together. Oh well.

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Got the inner fairing loose now. Will install the risers and then see what the fairing does. May have to shim it a bit.

Hate hearing this my friend. It was always such a pleasure spending time with you both.

Has anybody here put the Baron's risers on the Hannigan trike with EZ Steer? I got some stuff done yesterday. Bluetooth module installed, charging phone mount installed, new LED Headlamp installed. Last thing was to install the Baron's risers. I got them almost in place but there isn't enough clearance between the risers and the inner fairing. I can't get them to fit flush together, hitting the fairing leaves a gap between the risers and the old risers at the top because the inner fairing pushing them out. I'm about ready to give up on them.

The few things that I ordered are here now. Today I will take the fairing apart to install the bluetooth receiver, phone mount with wireless charger, LED headlamp bulb, and install the Baron's risers. That's about all I can do for now. I've found that all the aftermarket chrome is almost impossible to get and those that have it are asking double what it cost new. I don't need anything that badly. Half heartedly looked for chrome air cleaner covers and a couple of other things but absolutely will no pay the price that one person was asking. Also would like to have the front fender rail and the stainless front air deflectors but no luck. Oh well, I'm fine the way it is. I've never been a fan of the pillow tip seats. I have a used Corbin coming. It will likely be ok, if not, I may send this pillow top to Rick Butler over the winter to see what he can do with modifying it.