Squidley

Happy Birthday John!!!

Hopefully it isn't worst case, all the best to you and your recovery my friend.

Looking forward to seeing y'all again

Can I come over?

It was my pleasure Dana, I'm thankful that we were able to share time together and make the bike what it is

That he is Barry...

I have been on a Top Secret (well maybe not so much) mission for the past couple of months. Some of the Houston members have met Dana Braquet (formerly csmbrak, now Sgt. Maj.) who lives over by Winnie TX. Dana has a '99 RSV and had some work to do to the bike, due to some damage on the bike from a drop. He decided to "Theme" his bike for every person who has had to travel into harms way with our military. Dana is a retired Army Command Sergeant Major, retiring after 20+ years of service to our country. For those of you that don't totally understand the rank system in the Army, a Command Sergeant Major IS the top dog of the enlisted ranking. They are the assistants to the Generals and the liaisons between the officer and enlisted. Now Dana is not the type of guy to brag of himself, he joined the Marines in 1970 and was in the Corps until 1976. He then left the military for a few years, only to reenlist into the Army where he spent the remainder of his career and subsequent retirement from. He spent time in Afghanistan as a CSM and is one of the best people I know. I was very honored that he asked me to help him with this project. I have been over to his place probably 5 times now, to help with the complete disassembly and subsequent reassembly of his '99. This has been a labor of love for both of us as Dana has looked to me for some guidance in the assembly of the bike. It has been a great time, through all the long days and hard work, putting the bike together. We have laughed and joked, I heard great stories, and told a few myself. Dana honored me by insisting that I took the bike on it's inaugural ride. I resisted at 1st as this is a very beautiful machine with a very deep meaning, but he was insistent that I took the 1st ride, and I did for him....but I was VERY nervous It felt good to be on it though, and my rightwristitis kicked in a few times as I knew the bike wanted to sing after 5 months of being apart I don't have a lot of the nekkid pics of the bike, but it was bare! All the tins and ABS body panels were off and that was an adventure doing the surgery. So here are some pics for y'all to enjoy, and the story in Dana's words. If you get a chance to spend some time with Dana, do so, he is great company with a great personality. He's the kind of guy that I would follow into Hell, because I know he would bring me back out....he's THAT kind of guy. BTW I want to give props to the guys that painted the bike. The paint job was performed by Gonzo's custom paint and body out of Groves Texas http://gonzoscollision.com/ The artwork was done by John Janis of Port Arthur Texas The Storm Of War The Storm is different for each soldier that comes out in the combat zone. When a soldier goes on a mission they must clear their head of all other issues. Put them in a compartment of their brain, and close the door. They need to focus on the mission. Their life and the lives of their team members depend on them staying focused on the details of the mission. If they survive the mission , then they debrief, and are released until the next mission. They return to their eight by eight space in the tent that they call home. Then the door opens in the brain and lets the Storm out. The Storm is all the other things a soldier thinks and worries about when they are not on a mission. Things like, their Salvation. They need to be right with their God, because the next mission might be their last. Their Soldiers, have we trained enough to see the dangers of the mission and survive. Spouse and Marriage, is their bond strong enough to last through this deployment? Kids, how much they miss and love them, and want to get back to them. Family, it's how much they miss their family members and long to see them. Life, are they ready to go back into the world and function as a parent, a Spouse and bread winner. Death, their own death or the death of one of their Soldiers, will they be able to handle it and continue with the Mission? There are eight subliminal thoughts in the Storm of this bike. If you look close you can see them. This paint job is dedicated to the Storm of every Soldier in combat. Once they return home to Family, friends and the responsibilities of life, the Storm is still there, but it has changed. When they are alone or asleep the door opens and the Storm is what they went through, what they did, and what they can't forget and the question of why did they live, and others did not. Some of us handle the Storm better than others. Some have a real tough time with putting those things in the right perspective or compartment of the brain. Then to learn how to deal with, and forgive oneself and move forward, becoming that productive person they remember. There are also two eye's on the bike as a reminder that the eye of the mind never sleeps.....GOD SPEED

I knew you didn't buy one.....nice try at stirring the pot though

I wish I had some words of wisdom for you Mike. I am going through some electrical gremlins myself with my '86. Brand new stator from Ricks motorsports, 75 VAC at 4k rpm out of the leads to the R/R and when I have it hooked to the bike it's not charging. Been working with Dano to troubleshoot it, but nothing yet. Good luck with it my friend, I feel your pain

Probably your best shot at drilling it out is if you have a friend that is a machinist and could mount it on an end mill machine, like a Bridgeport. You could keep it perfectly square and drill down like that. It's marginal at best as you have to use a small enough drill bit so not to damage the threads. It can be done, but LOTS of patience is involved and the absolute right equipment.

I hate to say this John, but you may have a problem. I have had to replace carb bodies in the past as I couldn't get the screws out for nothing. I just had to do that on an '83 I'm working on right now. There is no easy way to get them out other than trying to drill them and install an easy out to try and remove them. Attempting to drill them with a small enough drill bit, while not damaging the threads is VERY challenging. I have tried on a couple occasions and failed every time, and I wrench for a living. If you find that you absolutely can't get it out, I may have a spare carb body as I have a couple of broken apart sets here. BTW, we are having a Houston Maintenance Day in Waller at Kregerdoodles on the 13 of April. If you can swing over, I know it's a haul, I think you might enjoy it.

It's great to see you posting Art! I know all too well about taking out a bike. Do yourself a favor and take as much time to heal up properly. If you can, try to make it to Kregs for the Houston MD, we'd love to see you and your wife, and there is nothing better to heal the soul than being around a bunch of BSing bikers lol All the best my friend

Happy Belated Birthday Jeff!!!

I have had to choke EVER Venture I owned, 1st or 2nd gen, matter of fact every Yamaha I have owned. Some more than others, but all needed choke regardless....

Thanks Fellas, I just wanted to be sure I hadn't put it together wrong and that's why I tested the VAC. It was at idle that I got the 25 Volts, I am going to reinstall the old/new R/R as I believe it was working fine, the stator burned up thus creating the charging issue. I'm a little stumped that the new Ricks R/R didn't work right, it's pretty stupid proof, or so this idiot (me) thought. There are only 5 wires on it, 3 yellow that hook to the stator wires, a heavy red which goes to the dual red of the bikes wiring harness and a black which hook to the bikes black in the harness. I'll try the old R/R and if it charges properly I'll send this Ricks back to them for a different one.

I have been searching through some of the old threads about stators and charging. I just installed a new stator in my '86 that was purchased from Ricks Motorsports. This was a new higher output they call a Hot Shot. I installed it quite uneventfully and got all the wiring hooked up with new connectors. Bike fired right up and sounded great, but wasn't charging. Shut her down and then unplugged the 3 direct AC wires from the stator and tested my AC volts across the 3 wires, which were 25 volts AC. I thought that seemed kind of high, so I looked on the site to see what others had to say. I didn't get a definitive feel, so the question I have is 25 VAC too much for this stator to be pushing out. I'm kind of leaning towards the R/R being the culprit, even though it is brand new and a match to the stator. I just wanted to get a feel from y'all about the 25 VAC I'm getting from the stator.

I hate hearing of this to any of us, but Art is a very active member of our Houston group. He is a great person to be around, and an accomplished rider. Thanks for bringing this to our attention Owen, please keep us updated as you can, and Art....were pulling for you brother!

Build a Trebuchet and wing 'em like they do punkin chinkin...now that would be fun!!

Interesting, if you dont want to mix anything, just use the Kroil. I used that when I worked for Detroit Edison and can tell you it is awesome stuff!

FWIW... If anyone is seriously thinking about doing valve adjustments at Don's, get there atleast 1 day early if not 2. Doing the valves on any Venture, 1st or 2nd gen is a time consuming job and not for the novice. Make sure you have an adjustment kit with a good variety of shims in it. I have done roughly 7 valve adjustments and it takes several hours to tear it down, check them, change shims if needed and put it back together....

Check your fuses...

John, I'm at the same point you are, I'm not getting any younger. I have to say that I would strongly consider that position. Time off work is important and the added $ is always good to have. I personally would go for it, your old enough to judge folks and interact well enough. Once you prove to them you know your stuff, you'll fit right in....

Folks, I want to comment on this bike Ken has generously donated. I personally would not be afraid to ride this bike anywhere, I have ridden the bike and it performs well for a bike that is 29 years old. It has some of the usual issues of a bike that age, the plastic is not perfect, but shows decently. I rode it again today as Ken wants to be as upfront about this bike as he can. The work he has performed has been top notch, I have helped him along on a few things, but his workmaship is very good, he doesn't do things in a hurry or take short cuts. The charging system works great, running at 3500 rpm it charged at 14 to 14.2 volts. The cruise control works, the clutch locks up nicely, it pulls very strong without dropping a gear. I seriously would not be afraid to take it to any corner of this country. Matter of fact if the winner is worried about it being driven to where they are, I'll offer this up. Pay my wages for the time I would have to take off from work and airfare back to Houston Texas and I'll RIDE it to where you are...hows that for how confident I am about this bike.

I purchased J&M components several years ago when we got into group riding. I went with the higher end microphones as we have 1/2 helmets and I matched the boom of the mics to accomodate that. We dont use earphones, so I didn't purchase them. I wanted a good clear voice coming over the CB when I used it leading or riding in groups. I had many people ask me what kind I had because it came through very clear and they had no trouble distingushing what I had said. I have heard cheaper ones over the CB and you can't understand a word of whats said. I will stick with J&M until they give me a reason not to....

Make sure you drain the coolant 1st or you will have a hell of a time tring to put them back in with anti freeze going all over the place