bongobobny

I actually had one of mine have a direct short and it immediately blew a fuse!! No problems whatsoever with warranty exchange...

Ummmmm, maybe somewhere along the line somebody took your thermostat out??

I'm gonna go against the grain and vote for the WV Rally one...

OK stupid question, how much air pressure are you running in the front shocks?? Try around 4 to 6 psi, and make sure that both sides are at an equal pressure. As far as warped rotors, heck, any rotor can get warped. How new are the pads?? Are the pistons on the calipers free?? When is the last time the brakes (and the clutch for that matter) were flushed?? Another crazy question, are the front tires cupped?? How old is the tire?? The last possibility, maybe it's time to replace the front wheel bearings...

Actually, I think the "shotgun" method was invented by the VMax crowd and will indeed work with a 1st gen...

OK, I am not sure what you mean by the front brake thing but you can try to retorque the steering head bearings as they are known to get out of adjustment and be loose. The usual symptom for that is wobble at different speeds though. As far as the throttle bogging, well don't drive a Venture like a Harley V-Twin, our 4 bangers like higher RPM's!! Don't even THINK about being in 5th gear below 60 MPH!! 1st gear should be up to around 20, 2nd gear to around 35, third gear around 45, and 4th to around 55 MINIMUM! They will go a lot faster in each gear, to give you an example, 3rd gear will take you up above 90 MPH before the rev limiter kicks in! These engines will bog down at lower engine speeds, they actually like to be in the 3500 to 5500 RPM range normally. They top out at even higher RPM range. I will say, though, that proper carb synchronization and fresh plugs can and will affect performance as well. Also, make sure you are indeed running on all 4 cylinders as these bikes run surprisingly well and smooth on only 3 cylinders. You should be getting around 40 MPG when running right. There must be a bazillion mods performed on these bikes through the years and they are all up to your personal preference and riding style!! One of the first things that come to mind is to change out the anemic stock horn with an air horn, either a Steibel or Wolo Bad Boy. You need to add a relay to power the horn but you can use the existing horn wires to trigger the horn. Member Carbon_One sells a bracket and wiring kit. Another thing which helps out with the Venture's lack of low-speed handling manners is to go to a smaller front tire, a 130 series. There are a lot of other things you can do to help out but that is the simplest one. Swapping out the rear differential with a VMax differential gives you a lot more bottom end and throttle response, and makes 5th gear a little more effective at 50 - 55 MPH but at the sacrifice of top speed and a little less MPG's. If you do 2 up riding, the trunk can be moved back about an inch as there are two complete sets of mounting holes in the trunk, which helps out your passenger with a little more room. Just keep reading the forums for more and more ideas, or attend Freebird's Maintenance Day in Oberlin Ohio next month and just look at all the bikes, or any other meet and eat through the year...

I had an issue a few years back where it was only running on two cylinders, and it turned out to be a plugged up carb vent hose, probably from an insect. I have forgotten, though, if it kills either the front or rear carbs, or one side, but it is an easy check. Locate the two vent hoses, black rubber hoses around 1/4' diameter, and simply disconnect them and try to blow through them. The vents for the fuel bowls are combined two into one and then to atmosphere. What happens is if the vent becomes clogged then as the fuel bowl empties air gets into the bowls. When fuel tries to fill the bowls the air can not escape and it builds up air pressure and prevents the bowls from filling with gas. No gas in the bowl, no fuel to the cylinder, so no explosion and no heat... If your issue is no spark then the plugs from the two dead cylinders should be soaked with gas when you pull them, especially immediately after shutting off the bike before the gas has a chance to evaporate!

Yah! That other valve, I forgot what it is actually called, only effects the front. It is just a simple orifice and rarely causes problems, but I suppose it could get clogged too...

All very wise information!! It is especially important for us to ALWAYS be a defensive driver, especially on two wheels!! I personally expect EVERY driver to do something stupid, and more and more I find I am right about that assumption...

No, the proportional valve is connected to the rear master cylinder and is just a spring loaded valve that delays the fluid going to the front brake by a few milliseconds to prevent the front brake from locking up before the rear brake in case of slamming on the rear pedal. There is also an inline orifice valve to the front brakes near the steering neck that limits the volume of hydraulic fluid to the front brake only...

What VideoAZ said! You can see the reed switch that generates the pulses on the white housing of the instrument cluster enclosure that generates these pulses. As I mentioned before, I am not sure if it is the speedometer OR the odometer that has the magnet that actuates that switch and if, as you mentioned, your odometer is not working then indeed the cruise will not work either! As mentioned, the brake and clutch switches disengage the cruise, and a simple continuity check will tell you if they are at fault. Unfortunately, you need an oscilloscope and the front tire moving to detect the timing pulses, or at least a drill motor turning the speedometer cable to generate the pulses. As VidAZ mentioned, you also need to check the vacuum line and the mechanical linkage. It is also important to know that no cruise control on either a motorcycle or car, will work under 25 MPH...

I need you to be a little more specific, are you telling me that, with the fuses removed and the battery disconnected, you are seeing zero ohms to ground on both the Brown wire as well as the Red/White wire?? If this is the case, then, in theory, you should see zero ohms across the Brown wire to the Red/White wire as well! We need to start unplugging various connectors to isolate the issue. If you are confirming to me that you are seeing zero ohms to ground on both wires WITH the fuses removed and the battery disconnected, then I will give you a list of everything to unplug... You need to disconnect the battery when measuring with an ohmmeter, especially to ground, as any voltages that may be present will cause the meter to give you an erroneous reading...

OK, I will try to help you out analyzing the issue. Here's the first step. Remove the signal, ignition AND the headlight fuses. All 3 have the same feed to the "input" side of the fuse. Then, with an ohmmeter, I want you to measure the resistance to ground on all 3 fuses, both sides. The battery needs to be disconnected for this test. Get back to me with the results, try to tell me which color wire is on each of the fuses. All 3 are fed with a Brown wire. The signal fuse has a brown wire on the other end, the ignition fuse has a Red/White wire, and the headlight has a red/Yellow wire...

Possible clogged proportioning valve...

What is it?!!? Probably the best rally of the year!! Read all about it! http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?125386-Western-NY-Northeast-Regional-Rally-2017!!-August-17-August-20

Yup, hauling around that extra 300 lbs as a trike doesn't help the clutch out much John! That, added with towing a trailer, shortens the life! I replaced everything and put in the PCW spring and so far so good, but if I ever have to do it again I think I will go with the Barnett setup... I also recommend replacing that half clutch with the full sized Heavy Duty clutch Yamaha offers!

Not too shabby Bassett!! Bring it up to the WNY Rally in August!!

10%? I thought it was only 5%...

PS check with Marcarl, he may even have a spare relay laying around unless he ditched all of his 1st gen stuff. Pretty much all of the relays with the exception of the fuel pump relay should be interchangeable if memory serves me correctly...(which at my age sometimes don't work anymore!)

Yah! The usual "Fix" is to unplug the connector and put jumpers on the socket and electrical tape, so obviously your issue is elsewhere. When ohm'ing out the switch contacts, you need to see zero ohms or very close to it! Even 4 or 5 ohms will fool the circuitry into thinking the switch is still open! You state the relay itself is absent so I did a little investigating and yes indeed, with the relay missing, ground to the B/W line to kill the ignition in cases of the side stand down in gear without the clutch being depressed, etc can never be seen! Unless there is something else going on with the circuitry putting the relay back in should return things to normal! http://www.venturerider.org/wiring/83%20Yamaha%20Venture%20Royale%20TDK%20Wiring%20Diagram%20Rev%20C.pdf

I'll almost betcha if you look at your side stand switch somebody spliced all 3 wires together! The original problem could have been the switch went bad and the bike wouldn't run in gear when letting the clutch out, a very common problem, and the P.O. fixed it their own way...

​HAPPY ANNIVERSARY you two!!!

All right Leo!!! You got your fairing split and back together again!! I knew you could do it!!! I've been considering a LED headlight for a couple of years now, but never got around to it. So now maybe yours is enough encouragement for me to get around to it!

Don, how in the world did you ever fit into a Spitfire??? I had somewhat of a hard time fitting, and you're taller!! Of course, they did have a little more room than an MG Midget which I could not fit into at all! Went out with a girl who had one, we didn't stay together long, maybe because of the car... I did fit into a bug eye Sprite with no real problems!

I'll never own a tri hull ever again!!!