GaryZ

I ordered a new battery from Wally's; YTX20HL-BS for $63.25 and free freight to my door.

The manual says DOT 3 is the correct brake and clutch fluid . . . Just sayin' A quick search suggests that DOT 4 can be used in place of DOT 3, but, not the other way around. DOT 4 is slightly better with a higher boiling point. My Ninja's came from the factory with DOT 4

NO, No, No . . . CLAM

I was riding in the hills above San Rafael when my date squirmed and we sort-of left the road. We hit a wire fence, kind of a controlled crash. The fence broke off the front brake lever of my new Honda CL350. The next day we rode into San Francisco to find the only Honda shop open on Sunday. Take my advise; do not ride in a town of steep hills, traffic and a squirmy rider without a front brake. Just sayin'

I delivered auto parts in San Francisco in my youth. My wife has never been west of the Rockies and I want to show her San Francisco, the Golden Gate Bridge, San Rafael (where I graduated High School), Mt Tamalpais, Stinson Beach, and Napa Valley. Just a few spots of interest for me . . .

Oh boy, good catch

This looks cool. I wonder if I could walk beside it and run it up the ramp in first gear . . .

That is an excellent suggestion . . . Thanks!

My problem is; We bought a Toy Hauler to take the VR to those far away places that we cannot ride long enough to get there. Once we are safely parked near San Francisco, we can tour around and see the sites. I think the Toy Hauler will do the job and give us our personal space when visiting friends. The problem I have run into is loading and unloading the bike. I prefer to load with the engine running, in first gear, and walking beside. I have successfully used this method for many years. This VR weighs close to 800lbs and is difficult for me to handle nowadays. It is even giving me trouble unloading without the engine running. It isn't as much of a problem if I have a helper. I don't always have a helper. Has anyone seen or made a set of out-rider wheels to help load/unload? My thought would be to clamp them to the crash bars and walk the bike in or out. But, they may "high-center" the bike at the top of the ramp. Maybe if they were a bit forward and closer to the front wheel they wouldn't high-center. Pictures of other ideas are welcome.

It is very cool that your son is getting the motorcycle bug. One out of four of my kids decided he wanted to ride when he was around 27 years old. I told him that there only a small percentage of people that try riding will stay riding. After three years he quit. I hope you have better luck. There is a joy that comes with riding alone, and a joy that comes from riding in groups. Then there is the joy of riding with your kid.

This is the bumper and hitch that I removed from my ‘85 MKI. The picture with it on the bike was how it looked when I bought it. The picture with the blue background is what it looked like after cleaning it up. I just saw that you are way up north. I will give you the bumper and hitch and you can pay shipping!

We discovered you can finance an RV for 10 or 12 years (!). So, we found a toy hauler that was a year old and a couple thousand dollars under book value. Our credit union gave us a 10 year loan for the full amount. Payments are $200 a month and we are paying more each month to pay it off. Full coverage insurance is $117 for six months. Yeah, it's a payment each month on our retirement income, but, our cars and trucks are paid off.

Very nice motor home! We bought a camper thinking it could be adapted into a toy hauler. Comments from here and others made me understand the frame at the back would not support my 800lb VR. We sold the camper and bought a 2016 Coleman 26' toy hauler. The maiden voyage was to Warsaw, MO (lots of rolling hills) and the Navigator averaged 7 mpg burning the required 91 octane. Frankly, that sucks. I am hoping my 2000 Chevy C2500 will do better when the crate motor is installed. The toy hauler is nice and it fits our present needs with a queen size bed in the front and a queen size roll down in back. We had more than enough room for the VR, a generator and grand kids' bikes.

Nice Ride! I have my Venture for carrying the little lady (seriously, she's 5.0' tall). And I have a couple of sport bikes for me.

If it fits you and you love it . . . See above

Thanks for the ideas Puc. I loved my Honda 350 too. It was my second one and it was a basket case. I pulled the jugs and found it was bored .50 over. I did a valve lap and replaced all eight valve springs with spec'd springs. It was a CB model with the taller gears and it would pull away from a CL450. My reason for thinking it is one of the the main jets is because the throttle position seems to be the culprit. The engine will easily run up to red line in any gear as long as the throttle is not wide open (mid-range circuit). I can clearly feel the transition with the throttle. This leads me to believe that the problem occurs when the main jets are uncovered by the throttle blades. The mid-range circuit is the diaphragm needles/jets and slides, where is the main jet?

My 1968 Honda 350 would run pretty normal up to around 4000 rpm before choking out; Found small holes in the diaphragms. My 1993 ZX11D Ninja would run wide open (WOT) until shifting to 3rd gear. It then shut down completely until the fuel pump re-filled the floats. The pressure balance tube from the ram-air was blocked and the floats were held closed by the pressure difference. My '92 Venture seems to be intermittently dropping a cylinder at WOT in all gears. I have not figured out the Venture problem yet, but, it could be a clogged high-speed jet.

I am confused by this statement. If it is true, why didn't cars have 4 - 6 - 8 single carbs before EFI?

Me and my co-pilot want to travel and take the VR with us. I know people that carry their sport bikes in the bed of a pick-up. Has anyone here carried a VR in a pick-up? I sure would like to hear about how it worked and any problems that I should avoid. Thanks in advance, GaryZ

We bought a "Casper" king mattress on line after hearing a radio commercial. It delivered to the house in a cardboard box about the size of a box of dishes. I thought, this is a mattress??? The instructions are to carefully cut the plastic seal and unfold it on top of your box springs or platform. Within minutes we had a king size bed! We love the thing. It has been two years and it feels like new. The edges are sharp and no fixed depressions.

Very nice . . . for $2,600 Did I mention fixed income?

Hooray for us old car guys!!!

Nice. $15,000 of nice . . .

I spent an hour on the phone with my insurance agent this morning. I really don't want to tell you that you are wrong, but, you are wrong. I suppose you would be right if the rig was only a few years old, with full coverage insurance, and valued at $30,000. However, my personal experience with insurance companies has proved they are not honest. My agent asked Progressive for a quote and they claim my 1992 camper has a NADA value of $1,170. This is a lie, I checked. So, I am taking my agent's suggestion and my truck's liability insurance will cover the camper when it is towed.

There are a couple of things that we want: A bathroom and shower, an enclosed garage (to seal smells out of the camper), and the abilty to sleep in it without pulling the bike out when traveling. If you read my thread about my dream toy hauler, you will see how close this camper fits that vision; 24' long, sleeping/eating in the front, kitchen/bath over the wheels, bedroom/garage in back. When camping with the grand kids, the garage will be a bedroom when the bike is not in it. I am aware of the need to add frame strength forward of the garage area. I think the added structure will only need to extend through the leaf springs supporting the axles.