LilBeaver

Glad you got it fixed! Thanks for letting us know

The previous owner had these on my bike when I got it and I still have them on. I can't say they are all that useful, but, I haven't spent the 50 cents to buy regular valve caps either. $20 for a pack of 4?!?! Yikes. I swear I saw a set at walmart for about $5. I don't really know if they work appropriately or not because I tend to check my tires at least once every couple of days and they are never that low... I do know that the little deals pop up because every time that I take the caps off to check the tire pressure the thing 'flags' me as I unscrew it and the valve stem closes thusly reducing the pressure felt inside the cap. One thing I do NOT like about these is that while these are installed the valve stem is compressed so that if something happens to this cap the tire would deflate. Summary: In my opinion, don't waste your money - especially $20 worth.

Well. I'm home, finally. Actually I got home a little while ago and have had time to shower and make and eat some dinner. I suppose, since so many of you seem to be enjoying this, I'll continue to post about the recent events. I got back into town Wednesday afternoon. Got a new tire and had it installed, along with doing a bunch of other PM type items on the bike, I had the bike ready to go and out for a very short test ride (20-30 miles) on Friday to make sure it was going to be reasonably safe for me and a particular passenger the following day. I guess I'll just sort of walk through the happenings. Friday (yesterday) I heard a knock on the door to my lab and chatted with my friend. She was up for a ride the next day (today, Saturday) so we set a time - 0645 and to be back early-ish afternoon, to avoid much of the heat. I finished up worky-type items at the lab and went home, finished up the stuff on the bike and then took the aforementioned test ride. Worked some more, yippee. (exciting, I know). Got to bed real late, but no big deal, as I slept pretty well. Up at 5:30, final check over bike and collected a few items for the ride (camera, water bottles, jackets, liners, extra set of rain-gear, tools, etc). After a quick breakfast I was out the door by 0630 and at hers by 0645. She was out waiting. Handed off the extra crash jacket and helmet, reviewed the dos and don't while riding and then had a quick chat about where to go. This is the part that surprised me. She suggested we ride out to New Mexico via a new route, full well knowing how far it was seeing as this was not the first time. So, we saddled up and took off. As the sun was cresting the eastern horizon into the clear blue sky, we rode on, enjoying the emptiness of the open road around us and the sky above us. The temperature was a rather pleasant 70 degrees (F) or so to begin with. 120 miles later, crossed the NM/TX border and stopped for fuel and further discussion of where to go... I suggested a few routes one being we round our way back to Lubbock (which was followed by a snarl and statement of "I didn't get up at 0600 to turn around NOW!") So off we went. Stopped around 10 or 11 (central time) for Brunch, fuel and another 'turn around or continue on' type discussion which ended in us continuing on North/Northwest (different route than before). Drove through some of the hills some, picked up a NASTY head wind on I-25 and then started to head back. (Drove through Santa Rosa, NM, Las Vegas NEW MEXICO, and a few other small towns). Hit a pretty awesome thunderstorm (surprise surprise) on the way back - and I mean that it was actually pretty neat. The hail hurt but the lighting was SWEET. That rain was actually quite a relief as it had gotten quite humid. Although about 30 miles from home, rain stopped and we hit a wall of heat. I dropped her off around 1945 or so and yet again she said thanks a lot and wanted to know when we could go again. All in all we did a LOT of riding and I am confident now that the bike is all set for my next couple weeks of riding (my new E3 rode real nice and Rick Butler has saved my tailbone BIG TIME). Other notes. She has signed herself up for a MSF basic rider course the last weekend in July (I think). I am really tired (the wind and t-storms which included wind really beat me up pretty good) and my face hurts a lot (I got a pretty sweet sunburn) but had a great day. Unfortunately I did not get nearly as much done today as I wanted to, but, whatever. It was worth it. And of COURSE as RoadKill ALMOST correctly predicted :thumbsup2: She was happy at the end of the ride and admitted that she was a little tired (although she attributed that to getting up an hour before her normal time - I think the ride had something to do with it too) but was really excited, wanted to go again and wanted to know when I would be available to take her again (as I have already said). :happy65: So, this is a little bit of a scrambled version, but, there you go folks. Another great day and hopefully more to come! Oh, and of course a few pictures. (Some random dude offered to take a picture of the two of us, but he was a little too excited to grab for the camera so I decided to forgo that opportunity as I did not really want to donate my camera to some random guy - it may have been fine, but, whatever). Sorry there are not any more pictures; quite frankly, we just did not stop that often 'til next time... :Venture: or I suppose: Platonically, of course.

By the way she must not have been too fond of that 'spare bike' of yours if you only went for 250 miles :witch_brew:

Ooooo Purdy. Thanks for sharing!

Isn't that what chains are for?

Alright folks - at least those of you that were tuned in. Two weeks is up (and as it turns out it was a little more than two weeks) and we are headed out somewhere tomorrow morning. Picking her up at 645am and then off to . Then plan is to be back by early-ish afternoon to try to avoid some of the heat, but we'll see what happens. This ride is to serve two purposes. One, she asked to go again when I got back and two the decent test ride to make sure my new tire is up to snuff, check out the newly modified (by Rick Butler) seat, as well as some of the other jazz I have done in preparation for my upcoming trip. So, there you go. If all goes well I will update sometime tomorrow evening when I am back around. If all doesn't go well, then, I'll update when I get a chance to. Forgot about that. ... Oh wait, I meant I will make sure that I have a charged camera with me and maybe I'll remember to give it to her and ask her to take some pics while we ride. Well, yes it has. I guess I should have been more specific with 2.5 weeks...

Oops.

Have you decided/gotten on a set yet? If not I have a set of the Yamaha ones in the classifieds - great condition. http://www.venturerider.org/classifieds/showproduct.php?product=2912&title=saddle-bag-liners-for-99-10-rsv282nd-gen-29-2c-05-10-rstd&cat=7

Just in case anyone is looking for some, I just put a set of Star Bag Liners for 99-2010 RSV (and I presume 05-09 RSTD) in the classifieds. I have only used them a few times and there are no rips, tears, marks, etc - zippers work flawlessly. I am selling these because I have recently picked up a set of Beer30 liners (thanks Gene!) and no longer need these. $50 - to your door via USPS in the Lower 48. I will consider shipping to Alaska, Hawaii or Canada however I will need to look into the additional cost to do so. I will also deliver to anyone in the Vancouver area (or any one coming to the Kruisin the Kootenays), however, you'll need to let me know you want them by this coming Wednesday 30/June/2010. I'll certainly consider other offers so if you have any questions or think my asking price is too steep, just let me know. Yamaha Part Number: STR-4XY73-90-00 http://www.starmotorcycles.com/star/accessories/acscitemdetail/5/4/83/406/all/1/174/0/detail.aspx

The service manual is TYPICALLY helpful for most things, however the procedure for synchronizing the carburetors in the manual is incorrect. The following link describes the correct way to do it. http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?t=258

+1 to the sports drink/drink mixes IN ADDITION to water. I usually have a Camelbak M.U.L.E with me, so it holds 100 oz of water. I fill it about 1/2 with water then stick it in the freezer overnight before I go, then fill it up the rest of the way with water. Throw a few low sugar sports drinks in either the bag of the camelbak or in the trunk and drink those when I stop. If the bladders of the camelbaks weren't so difficult to clean, I would just put a few of the packets in the bladder and fill-er-up with water and shake it up... But, it is what it is. Souds like you had a good trip! Wish I could have joined you on the way, but, I suppose I have got to work sometime...

Glad you got it back together!

and of course

I know this is a long shot, but I figured it would be worth a try. I am in the process of getting my rear tire replaced and like the bonehead I am, I managed to forget to order some ride-on for the replacement. Kicker is, I'll be departing for a 6k mile [work] trip *snickers* bright and early Monday morning so I won't get it in time if I order it now. So. My question is if YOU are within 300 miles of Lubbock (or would be willing to meet with me within some distance of that therein) and have 8oz of ride-on you'd be willing to sell me (or give and I'll have a replacement sent to your place) let me know. I would really appreciate it!

Sounds like some one is in denial... Don't worry, we're here for you buddy.

Bump - And for those of you that have seen it and sent it on but are still on the list, PLEASE either PM me or post here so I can keep the list up to date. I haven't heard from anyone in a while either in this thread or via a message to know where these videos are actually at. If you still have it and have had it for a while, lets keep it moving so others can see it too please. Done.

Not quite!! :duck: Riiiiiiiight. Hope it was a good one A little bit difficult when your shock is laying on the ground, eh?

Yikes. Dealer in Lubbock or Amarillo?

Quite a bit. The book says that the front holds 18.7 fl. Oz., and while it does not (or I didn't find it at least) indicate how much the rear holds, I would estimate (based on what I found on my garage floor) somewhere between 10 and 20 fl. oz. some folks seem to have indicated that their shock let loose of the oil all at once, but mine seemed to leak out continuously for several days.

http://www.camelbak.com/sports-recreation/hydration-packs/2010-mule.aspx This is what I use - got it for about 50 bucks (including shipping) from some place... I'll have to check to see where I got it from. But I fill the bladder up about 1/2 way and lay it flat in the freezer the night before I go for a ride. Next day, fill it up the rest of the way with water and I've got cold water on demand for most of the day. Been using these for several years and love it.

I'm guessing that you'll have some that will say to not touch your bike until you get a new one on, and some say that you could ride it forever. However, I rode mine for about 2 months (after it started leaking) before replacing the shock. Handling was affected some and the ride quality also declined, but, it is my main source of transportation so I rode it anyways. There was a member that posted I think within maybe the last week that he had triked his bike and only had about 275 miles on his rear shock - you might could work out a deal with him so you aren't paying hte 450+ for an OEM one, or the 700 for the works. My suggestion would be to, first of all, make sure you clean the oil up the best you can (to make sure that you don't get any on that rear tire), put some air in the shock (if you don't have any in there) then take it out for a test ride - take it easy on the leans and see how it feels. If you are comfortable driving it, then enjoy - if not, then park it. I felt the most unstable during really hard cornering, the rear end would be rather unpredictable if I was leaned way over, but other than that, I still managed to ride okay. Oh yea, and replacing the shock itself is a piece of cake and there is plenty of information on this site to help you out with it, so, don't pay some shop lots of money to do it for you!

PM Sent regarding order for RSV.

Haha - yea right. Check away!! While they are in there it would be nice if they could contribute and do some work for me Now that is interesting. I guess not all that surprising, but interesting. I may inquire a little more when things settle down for the IT guy. - mostly for my curiosity. :crackup: You must have an awfully large back yard!!! Or very understanding neighbors

Hey, while you are in there, why don't you fit some data for me!!