Seaking

LOL thanks Goose, the previous owner 'dumped' this bike for a HD and he's cursing that bike as well... not sure what he did to it but for the price I paid for it, I can't complain too much.. I'm learning a whole lot about bike maintenance through this bike =)

Forgot to mention.. I've had mine on for 2 months now and rode the bike through the eastern USA on a 7500 mile road trip through all kinds of weather and road conditions and I must say.. wow.. what a great light to have on the bike.. If NOTHING else, it will get you noticed by oncoming traffic! Many a times we pulled into a service station off the freeway and the driver in front of us commented how annoyingly bright they were.. "good, at least you saw us.." And this was during the day time. I can only imagine how noticeable they are at night. You can tell how well they grab attention by how cars hesitate to pull out in front of you.. Bright, solid and reliable. I'm impressed.

I installed two of these lights (me first hehe) in RSV and didn't have any probs with the weather seal. Just take your time and get things lined up.. it's not too difficult. I wouldn't leave it off, I ride in the rain too often to risk it. Do you have the light bucket out of the bike when you're doing this?

There must actually be something wrong with my ignition system then as I installed a minitach as directed for a dual fire ignition and I got wild readings.. As you recalled we tried to install your system to my bike and it wouldn't work.. I wonder what that's all about.. Though the bike does run properly, I can't seem to get a decent tach to work on it l I have a run into Maine next month to get the neck bearings replaced (under warranty =) I'll have their tech check that out for me.. I think there might actually be an issue somewhere as every odd time I go to start the bike the starter turns but then clunks to stop but will always start on the next push of the button.. signs of a dying starter? Another warranty item coming up?

Hey guys, I'm looking for a tach for my Midnight and not sure what to get.. I got up all confused over the single / dual ignition thing etc.. What's out there that is bone dead simple to install etc? I had a small little digital tach thing that I couldn't make work as it required me to splice into too many odd wires to make it work (needed converter signal cables etc) Suggestions?

I have wires going down between mine as well.. and it's easy to do without having to pull them apart. Before installing the light or equipment, hold the length of wire vertically in front of the gap. With the wire soaped up (as a lubricant that washes away) you can slide it up and down into the gap quite easily. And then with a thin piece of plastic, push it all the way in deep. I made a bit of a stopper out of old rubber to wedge in there to keep the wires in place.. Its not a hard process or time consuming, it's a lot easier than it looks..

Camping, while out on a bike trip? Wow, sorry but I'm a gentleman of leisure, there is NO way I could see myself doing 500 miles a day on the bike and then lay on the cold ground.. Air conditioning, hot tub, pool and evening bar for a night tot is what I look forward to at the end of a hard day's riding.. Not trying to figure out which bush is the proper one to use lol.. We found top notch hotels for $60 a night on our recent trip.. shared by two it's cheap enough to be worthwhile..

Many thanks!

AHHh point taken! I just finished ordering the clutch parts.. I'll clean out the brake whilst working on the bike right now.. What grease are you using for lube on these parts? I feel mine needs a water barrier kind of thick gunk there.. I do ride in the rain a lot Plugs, filters, (air and fuel and oil), tighten up some loose parts from the road trip and soon to try to clean off them evil 'Florida Love Bugs' that committed suicide on the front of my bike.. geesus, these things don't come off easy.. but I found a Bug & Tar product that wipes them off, even after their carcasses had baked onto the bike for the past 2 weeks lol.. ewwww

Thanks guys, I'll have a look around and see what's available.. Cheers!

Tonight I decided to pull off my clutch lever to clean out the junk in there.. I'd been having some odd noises from the lever and it felt kind of odd from time to time.. So apart it went tonight.. and wow, what a frikken mess in there! Take off the nut, turn out the pivot bolt, and pull the lever off making sure to catch the brass holder.. everything was dark gunk mess in there.. no wonder it was feeling weird. A good cleaning and I discover the dust boot is torn to heck, exposing the push rod (plunger) to the elements.. Hmm wondering how munged up it might be inside of all there? I got everything re-assembled and lubed it up with Moly for now as I can't figure out what's best to lube it all up with properly. The one thing I do notice now is though the lever travels sooo much easier, it's also a lot more sloppy than before. I thought I might have dropped a sleeve from the pivot pin but no.. its simply just sloppy fitting now that all the junk it removed. I did notice that the brass holder is deformed and worn, and that the dust boot is torn. I'll go down to the shop and order each a new one.. however, how hard is it to install that boot? Considering the mess that I found, and the amount of slop in the lever play now, might it be worth my while to have the whole thing cleaned out and rebuilt with new seals? The book says to replace the piston seals every 2 years? I ride the bike a lot and in all kinds of weather.. the fluid tends to appear old prematurely, I wonder now if this is where some contamination might be coming in.. ? Thoughts, ideas or comments appreciated..

I would quickly toss a less used D404 for a new E3 tire.. I run my rear tire at "40" PSI (max indicated on sidewall) and the front at 39/40. I get a lot of wear from my tires this way.. People thought they were shyte tires because I just put my 3rd pair on in just over 2 years.. but then again, I also rode over 43,000 miles in that time on those tires =)

silly question I am sure but what are "kills"... CatsKills, TreeKills, Bobskills, etc, seen 1,001 variation on the KILLS name.. what is it?

The Crappy Tire one that they sell now are somewhat dangerous to use on a RSV as the rails are 1 inch too short to safely hold a bike. Even with the Carbon one lift adapter, the rails won't reach out to the outside of the adapter and you'll end up with the dangerous situation where the bike can easily twist off the jack. I have one of their original jacks that works great and took one of the new ones from my friend and wow, what a difference.. I use the newer one for the VStar. If you purchase one of the new jack from Crappy, make sure they will allow you to return it when you realize it won't fit and/or is dangerous.. Other than there, check Princess Auto. They sell jacks but haven't tried one of theirs yet.

I saw a lot of Harleys on my recent long road trip through the USA and it finally occurred to me as to why Harley Davidson motorcycles costs so much.. They actually come with a truck or a trailer option.. no wonder people spend so much money on a Harley... That's correct, right? Because I'm sure I saw more Harleys on the back of a pickup trucks or on a trailer one weekend than actually riding on the highway.. I could be wrong.. but it would explain the price tag.. yeah.

Did you investigate the cause of the cupping so that you don't prematurely kill your new E3 tire? Low pressures, loose neck bearings etc?

I'd never been a fan of dissimilar tires on a bike.. honestly don't know if that makes a diff in handling or safety but with two E3's you'll really notice the difference..

Do you have both front and rear E3 tires or rear D404 and front E3? I had swapped out the previous owner's D404 shyte tires with E3's and get great life and handling from them.. impressive tires..

I hear ya.. we left here over two weeks ago it was 40'f and wet.. then 2 days later it was sooo hot down in South Carolina on our way to Key West and Dallas.. and we're back and it's again in the 40's and wet again.. and rain fog wet. Year round riding huh? I need to find a cost effective way to get my bike past the snow belt to get some of that year round riding lol

I wasn't sure if you were bragging or complaining there for a moment... lol

Sweet, thanks for the info.. it will sure be different for us as we tend to do a lot of slab riding.. but the back roads we did do on our recent trip were indeed quite enjoyable.. Cheers M8 We're looking at having the bikes flown from the east coast of Canada all the way down to California so we can ride back.. Harleys get trailered to and from.. Ventures go first class. =)

hi folks.. On my recent 7400 mile trip we crossed into Oklahoma and onto a short portion of Route66.. neat.. then we looked at each other and decided that perhaps doing the Route66 run would be a good trip.. If I understand it correctly, the "route" starts in Santa Monica California and ends in Illinois? Has anyone done this trail before? If so, how many miles is it and how long does it approximately take to do it? We're not the type of riders who like to stop at all the tacky shops and tourist traps but like to ride and will pull over for what is worthwhile.. We're also not 'campers'.. being gentlemen of leisure, retired after 30 yrs of military commitment, we're happy to 'hotel' our way through road trips, thanks =) Nothing like a hot tub after 500 miles a day of slab riding.. If you've done the run and have any advice or suggestions, please drop me a line (email is fine).. we're starting to plan our next spring road trip early lol..

Hi folks.. Back home after a looooong road trip through the USA.. Departed Halifax Nova Scotia (that's in Canada, north-east of Maine...) and road the I95 down all the way to Key West Florida, them back up past Orlando and through Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana before stopping for a visit at Goose to learn how to do the venerable Carbs and Valves tasks on the bike. Having read all the articles on how this is supposed to be done, I would never have attempted it on my own bike.. but having someone show you how its done is a different matter.. wow, so much to learn and so much to absorb in such a short period of time. We got the carbs cleaned out, floats reset, a few this and thats to it.. Then to adjusting the valve clearances.. wow.. What took us a day to do would have taken me a month of humming and hawwing over the winter months wondering if I had done it right or understood what the heck the articles were referring to.. But Goose is good at what he does and we sailed right through the work and got it all done.. Though I've torn down multi-million dollar aircraft in my days, doing the same to your own bike is a totally different story lol.. Such a long distance to go to learn how to do this work you say? Yep.. but visiting Goose was the cause-result-purpose for my spring road trip.. Was it all worth it? HELL YES.. wow.. Though some of the valves were close and some were quite 'out', the difference in the engine feel is amazing. The engine doesn't buzz anymore, it purrs.. less vibes and less noise coming from the engine. Impressive. The carb work did wonders as well. The exhaust sounds a lot smoother.. huffing instead of in-articulated puffing (if that makes any sense..) Throttle response was better as well.. However, out on the highway I found I had to relearn where the power curve was as everything seems to have shifted up more.. I used to be able to auger up hills in 5th but now have to drop it into 4th gear but it's actually better as I found that my throttle isn't as wide open in 4th than it would have been in 5th to dump more fuel into the system to get me up that big hill. Quite different and quite good. I LIKE IT!! Goose made mention that all this work could possible net me perhaps a 3 mpg improvement overall.. if it does, great... if it doesn't, no worries as the bike feels soooo smooth compared to before.. almost like new. My ride buddy and I traveled many miles together these past two years and we know that I always burn more fuel than he does.. and we know by how much of a margin.. usually on a full fuel tank at fill up I'll take on about .5 to .7 of a gallon more than he does.. but on our return trip, it was so much better, typically .3 to .5 more of a gallon than he does.. Funny enough though, I thought this was kind of odd then it occurred to me that I always lead and he's always behind me.. So riding home late last night in 40'F weather, he took the lead and yes, how about that.. he's burning more than me lol.. Silly of me not to have thought of it earlier.. now we know why such a discrepancy in fuel burning.. lol The short of the long is that after 61,000 miles on my bike, the work done with Goose on my bike was very much worth it, and much appreciated! Our last morning in Maine, about a week after having the work done, I discovered my left rear cylinder was not firing at idle. I had a cold jug though the bike idled OK.. The day before, in the wet conditions, Every time I came off the throttle the bike would huff puff and then bike fire like a pistol shot, and I knew it was from the left side. I checked my vacuum plugs as I had changed them recently but all was good, and no exhaust leaks were found.. At highway speeds all felt good.. the bike made good power and fuel burn rate was normal.. but there I was that morning with a cold jug.. the exhaust port was stone cold. CRAP! Luckily there was a Yamaha shop nearby and when I explained to him about the work I had done, the riding conditions the day before etc etc.. he simply drained the carb for that jug and presto.. all is good.. He suggested that perhaps I picked up some dirty fuel along the way that might have plugged up the pilot jet, not giving the engine any fuel at idle but giving it when the needle comes up.. The first time he drained it there wasn't much fuel coming out.. then ran the bike, and drained it a second time and a lot of fuel came out.. The bike has run impressively again after that... wow. Long road trip.. from 40'F to 99'F and back within 2 weeks is hard on the body for us pale northern types.. lol.. time to rest now.. looking forward to my next road trip soon.. =) Once again, thanks to Goose for his patience and skills. Good instructor! Cheers

My story is purely anecdotal but I tried the Rotella T6 full synthetic and won't go back to it.. partly because of what I think it did to my clutch and because it's hard to find around here.. (like everything else).. I burnt / fried my heavy duty clutch last month on an Advanced Rider Course where you have to ride the clutch a lot in these tight slow speed maneuvers, even with leveling links etc it's hard on the clutch.. but man, what I feel it did to my clutch, ugh.. When I pulled my clutch apart, it had that Rotella smell on it, but burnt.. Many will say otherwise, and it's just my opinion but I switched back to Yamalube dino oil and going to keep away from the synthetic stuff for a while on this bike. I do a lot of slow maneuvers on this bike so riding the clutch isn't something I'm not used to doing but the Rotella seemed to not have liked playing nice with the clutch after I switched to it.. Most likely, with everyday normal and typical riding you may never notice a difference.. but that one incident was enough to turn me away from it.. just as well, can't seem to find it locally anymore anyway.. oh well. Someone pointed out to me that oil is meant to make parts slippery between themselves and that synthetics do so even more.. but with a wet clutch system, 'too' slippery could be detrimental.. I dunno.. As I said, my observations are basically anecdotal as to what happened to me that one time.. As far as oil change time goes, clean the drain plug area with a rag as well as around the filter area.. no use in accidentally contaminating your new oil change with debris coming in contact with your new filter or the drain plug. I always use a new crush washer under the drain plug (looks like the spark plug washer).. costs a few pennies, why not. I always do the oil change after a hard ride when the engine is hot, pull the drain, filter and open the filler cap a bit to allow proper draining. Bringing the bike to the upright position will drain more oil.. The whole idea is to get as much of the old stuff out before putting in the new stuff huh? Should not have to put a wrench on your oil filter, otherwise it may stick when you go to take it off. I always put a coating of oil on the filter seal before putting it on. Another 'eccentric' thing I do is that I store all my oils 'upside down' on the shelves, and prior to using I give it a good shake to mix things up. Odd as it may sound, it's an old practice to ensure a proper mixing of the additives in the oil. Though the additives (all that good stuff that makes it a good engine oil) are usually all mixed in a proper suspension in the oil, some tend to settle to the bottom of any container. If you store it upside down then some of it migrates to the top so that when you shake it upright, more of the stuff will make it to the engine.. Some call it eccentric, some call it needless, some call it 'why not'.. Old air force practice.. go figure.

I just got home after a 7,400 mile road trip through the USA.. Stopped at a few spots and had my neck bearings looked at and adjusted by a friend in Dallas (huge improvement, thanks Goose!) and had two dealers in Maine look at them also while up there searching for a new front tire.. Both dealership mechanics had the same opinion about how this quick and easy fix should be done as they know it's something people do to tide them over until they can afford the big fix.. both said the fork pinch bolts at the top should also be loosened at the same time as the top tree nut before turning the two lock nuts.. Whether this is true or make sense I do not honestly know.. However, one shop, my fun shop who seem to be happy to help me with my warranty work (I'm Canadian with a US bike) offered me a deal I couldn't refuse.. If you're going to go through all that work to 're-pack' the bearings, why not just replace them? Yes, it's extra coins for new bearings but they should last much longer, especially if the neck has been as loose as my used bike has been.. and tightened more than once.. For me this is basically a 'better safe than sorry' approach.. Though bad bearings can be done under warranty work, the unfortunate part is that you won't be able to tell if it's going to be 'warranty' until you pull the bearings to look at them.. So they quoted me a super good price for the job just in case it can't be done as warranty.. For me this works as it will give me the peace of mind of finally knowing that my neck bearings are finally safe and proper and I have the high probability that this will be warranty in the end anyway.. Gotta love it.. This shop has been super tops for me.. If only the two shops in MY city were half as competent or helpful, wow.. Last two times I took my bike in for any work, I ended up with missing parts and hardware by the time I got home and discovered un-torqued nuts and bolts.. not to mention non-functions systems on the bike.. shoddy work.. sigh. So another road trip into the USA for me.. =)