bongobobny

WOW!!! My heart goes out to you brother, and I am praying for you as well!! Unfortunately I'm clear on the other side of the US so I can't be of much help with your needs. I can give you technical info though, the Tach gets it's "drive" from the TCI ignition signal for the number 2 cylinder, and you are saying you have no spark for number 2. Check the connector for corrosion on the TCI, or also unfortunately you may have an issue with the TCI itself. Once again heartfelt prayers for you, and hope you can find a place to live and a place to store your bike...

Ebay...

OK sWimmy!! Question, does the bike tend to sway one direction when accelerating and sway back the other direction when decelerating?? Your issue then may be related to the rear tire, swing arm bearings, axle bearings, etc, etc, etc...

Yah!! 9 year old battery is practically unheard of even in a car!!! Yes, a weak battery under load, i.e. running with the headlight on, etc certainly can get loaded down enough to make it be below the threshold that the electrical needs to properly function...

Yup!! What Don said! '99 to '13 ALL the same except for color or the amount of stock chrome depending on what "model" it is i.e Midnight, "S", etc. The only issue you may encounter with different bars is having to install longer throttle cables, and clutch and brake hydraulic lines. Unless you are going very extreme, there should be enough free play in the wiring harness. I've heard about a couple of modifications on facebook concerning this exact subject...

Yah! That!! Or, maybe consider new wires as well unless they are fairly new (less than 10 years old) and new plugs. Did you see any green stuff in the coil secondary cap?? Yes, there is a possibility the TCI has a diode for that cylinder about ready to go south. How deep are your pockets?? There are no new TCI's to be had, but you can get an aftermarket Ignitech module. Replacing all 8 diodes in the TCI is a lot cheaper...

Yup!! Also check exhaust gaskets for leaks, that will also cause backfire on decel...

See what happens when you don't flush your clutch system every two/three years?!!?

I've had my speedometer look like that before...

1st gen is '83 to 93. Advantage, faster, handle better 2nd gen is '99 to '13. Advantage, whole lot more comfortable

Yup!! Long time ago we learned to NEVER own a black vehicle!! Wash, polish, pull up lawn chair and watch it get dirty...

Sounds good to me Chuck!!

I'm an advocate of unbolting the receiver, if stolen, just look down the road, chances are they got just so far on foot...

Yah Don, as I get older the passion has subsided a bit, but then when I get on and ride the passion comes back at times, especially if everything is working right and the weather is perfect, etc. Sometimes it's more fun riding with others, sometimes it's better alone. I think that age is the single most important factor, as we get older we get more fussy, our bodies go on strike, and we become cranky old men and women! Interests change too! When's the last time you wanted to get together with the guys and play sports, then spend the evening in a bar ogling the pretty young maidens?? Riding is still very enjoyable to me, but not like it used to be...

Yah Peggy, do you have a picture of the "other" tee shirt?? That secret tee shirt caper was quite the thing!

No, but our pastor at church and us are going for a dinner ride this afternoon...

Cool!! Glad the fruits of your labor are positive!! OK the stiffness of front forks can be worked on. I forgot if you put new progressives in but if you did then both reducing the size of the spacer, or using a little less fork oil and/or thinner weight helps. New springs will soften up just a tad with age as well. Try only a couple of lbs per square inch (psi) of air pressure in the front forks as opposed to say 7 or 8. Yes, LED's in the tail lights will indeed trigger the lights warning as the monitor looks for a specific current draw to close the reed switch. LED's do not draw enough current so the reed switch never closes, the computer thinks that one of the lights is burnt out, so it triggers the warning. You can either put a load compensating resistor across the LED's, defeating the power savings of the LED's, or jumper the reed switch on the CMU. The temp gauge issue may just be the wire on the temperature sensor has come undone, a VERY common problem usually done by us owners accidently knocking the wire off! The sensor is on the mounting module for the thermostat which is towards the top of the engine on the right side front. Just follow the upper radiator hose to the engine and you will find it. The wire, which is on a barrel connector should be close by... Here's wishes for many many miles with smiles!!!

The hydraulic clutch will NOT make your clutch slip, if defective it makes it hard or impossible to DISENGAGE the clutch...

Yup!! Prayers from our home too!!

Thanks for reminding me Robin, I'll get on that right away! Do you want electronic versions from the members or would you prefer them printed out??

Go to a trike and you never have to worry about a kickstand ever again...

Hmmm, clever trick Heather!! I used a friend's welded nut tool myself, along with his complete fork rebuilding tools that included a long handled tool for loosening the bottoms, a neat slider type tool for pounding in the seals, etc. It's been about 5 or 6 years since I did my last rebuild so there's a lot of stuff I forgot...

Check for proper torque on your neck bearings. There are actually several sources for low speed wobble, tire condition, neck bearing condition, front fork wear, etc. I would start with the neck bearings, there is a special wrench tool to set the proper torque but you can try loosening the jam nuts and then tighten the bearing nut until it just bottoms and then snug it down just a little then retighten your jam nuts, etc. What kind of air pressure are you running in the front shocks?? You may want to try a couple of different pressures and see if the symptoms change. With the bike in the air, spin the front tire and look for any wobble at all in both the tire, and the brake rotors. I'm sure others will chime in, as what you describe is a somewhat common issue with many possible reasons why. There even is a heavy duty fork brace available, a Super Brace brand that stiffens up the front assembly a tad and does also help with front end shimmy..

Yah! 250 is a bit of a stretch! I could get just a tad over 200 miles out of a tank. As Jeff stated the norm for these bikes is 40 mpg, a little more if you are a very conservative lightweight single driver, a little less if you have an aggressive right wrist, tow a trailer two up, etc. Actually your total fuel capacity is slightly over 5 gallons, closer to 5 1/2 than 5 depending on just how full you fill it. There is some kind of carb modification you can do, forgot what it was, something to do with the jets or something, that got you a couple three more mpg but even with that no way would you get 250 miles out of a tank unless the entire trip was downhill with a tail wind...

Actually I don't think it's that bad of a starter bike and I betcha he has fun on it for a while before he outgrows it! Before I got my first Venture, ther '84, I was riding a CX650 which was a lot better than the Yamaha XS450 I had for years, but it was the kind of bike that after an hour or so of riding you just had to get off for a while! What I didn't like was the engine heads setting right in front of my kneecaps...