BigLenny

I'm with ya on that one. I usually pay cash for my vehicles, unless they're offering me a 0% deal or something real close and it offsets my rate i'm getting. I'm sure I'm different than a lotta folks on this site because I only ride my bike for recreation. I don't ride it to work because I have a company funded vehicle. Every bit of the 40K miles I have on my bike has been a day trip, weekend trip, or long vacation trip for me and my wife mostly. Occasionally I'll do a trip without her on back. Because my bike isn't used as a primary tranportation vehicle or anything like that, I view it as a toy for me and my wife to enjoy. So, since it is a toy in our eyes, I have a hard time plunking down a boat load of money for something that is not getting used on a weekly basis, and certainly not used in the winter time very much. Spending $25k-$30K on a bike, while I can afford to do it, it kinda goes against my basic urge to keep fiscal balance in my life. Maybe I need to stop thinking like that and go ahead and throw caution to the wind and write the check for one of those high dollar Indians. LOL. I remember when I was looking to buy my bike, I was looking at a choice of the Yamaha RSTD or the Harley Road King. Both bikes were windshield bikes. Both were locking hard bag bikes. Both had cruise control. Both had removable passenger backrests. But, and this was a big but, the very lowest negotiated price I could buy them brand new was $10.840.00 for the RSTD, and a whopping $18,970.00 for the Road King. I'm sorry, but it just didn't make sense in my mind to pay $8000.00 more for the Harley, especially when the Yammy was coming with a water cooled V4 engine that had 5 years unlimited miles of warranty on it. So, I plunked the $10,800.00 down and never looked back because I just have this wierd thing inside me that can't really go crazy high priced for a toy. I test ride all these nice high dollar rides like I did this weekend, but I just get kinda edgy when I think about the crazy prices they get for them. But thats just me . I'm wierd like that.

Yep, Been there. http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?t=85826&highlight=DISC+BRAKE+LOCK

Puc, Yes, we had a blast. Believe it or not, I don't have pictures. I only took one photo and when I looked at it later it was a blurry mess. It was of the new Slingshot, which in the end looked like a 3 wheeled car. I would probably buy a slightly used Porsche before I would buy that thing. My wife did take a few photos, but they were of silly clothing that she wouldn't wear. LOL For some reason she was getting a kick outta that. The Indian was certainly a sweet ride. It listed for $30K-ish. That's a strong number for a bike that doesn't have the tech stuff on it that the Harley has for the same price. On second thought, maybe Indian does offer some of that stuff, but it wasn't on any of the 4 Roadmaster's that they had there. Agree with you on the price suggestion, and I think the Indian rep you talked to gave the wrong answer. They are definitely competing with Harley whether he thinks so or not. And there success or failure will depend on whether they can convert some of those HD owners over to their party. Polaris is a large enough company to throw rebates out to bring the price down. Maybe we'll see that.

Oh, I thought of two there things that came from test rides: 1, All 4 of the bikes we rode are way better balanced than our RSTD. 2. Even though I feel that the V4 that is in my RSTD is superior to the Victory's and Harley's, and isn't that far off the Indians motor, I now wish wish wish we had a 6th gear.

Me and the honey got back late last night from spending a couple days at Bikes Blues and BBQ. Man, it was a packed house this year! The weather was perfect and it looked and felt like it was a record turn out. Thousands of bikes everywhere we went. We stayed 50 miles away and the hotels were crawling with bikes. Saw some crazy cool sites, as well as a ton of folks that shouldn't have been wearing what they were wearing. LOL. Beautiful/interesting rides everywhere. Immediately when we got to the rally I ran into a guy with a really clean 2009 red/black Venture with 29000 miles that he said was for sale. He said he'd take $6500.00. why in the universe I didn't write him a check right then and there I do not know. They say there is 400K bikers at this event. Usually I would adjust that figure to 100K, but this year it felt like there were a ton of folks there. It was crazy! We did see a double handful of Ventures during our time there, and a few RSTD's. Probably some folks on this site as well. Test Rides: The corporate trucks were there giving folks the opportunity to test ride their bikes. So, my wife and I did partake. We rode the Victory Vision, Victory Cross Country Tour, Harley Ultra Glide Limited water cooled, and the Indian Chieftain Roadmaster, the new 2015 model that is a full dresser. I had test ridden the Victorys and Harley before, but haven't ridden them two up with my wife. That changed things quite a bit. We rode the two Victory's first and while we were both more impressed with the overall ride and smoothness of the Vision, we like the CCT more because of all the storage room it offers. Teresas comfort on back was similar on both. I noticed a marked difference between the fixed fairing on the Vision compared to the CCT. It's kinda funny hearing some of her observations that just instinctively pop out of her mouth. She said the Victory's and Harley's motors sounded like chitty chitty bang bang compared to the V4 of our RSTD. LOL. We rode the the Harley next and right off the bat, the thing that most impressed us was how high tech the new redesigned bike is. The touchscreen infotainment center is awesome! The stereo is better than the others, and she reported the back seat was cushier than the Victorys. Everything was looking up for the Harley until we fired it up and it started the crazy shaking that its famous for at idle. She immediately asked me what was wrong with it, and made the statement that there is no way on earth she would want to own it. I was less dramatic than her, but, this time the vibrating at idle, even when I pulled the clutch while we were coming to a stop sign or light seemed to get on my nerves. The Victory's were so much smoother than the Harley that that is what we seemed to talk about the whole time we test rode it. I liked the power. It seemed more than the Victory's but not much if at all. I love the way Harley goes to market with all they have to offer, but both she and I kept shaking our head with amazement as we walked away from riding it. We both kinda wondered why anybody would want a bike that shakes like that. LOL. But, obviously a boat load of folks believe that shaking and rattling means something. Just not for us. Also, I am 6'6" and the bike felt so small from my seat to the dash that I felt like I was riding something too little for me. Victory will need to step up their game on the technology side of things to keep up with Harley's new stuff they put on their touring bikes. Finally, after a long wait, we got to ride the Indian Roadmaster. WOW!! We both loved this bike! I kinda wonder if it would feel like a Victory with Indian badging. I was wrong. This bike was the smoothest and most powerful of the 4 we rode. No crazy shaking, just the right size, and really unique looking. The motor has a ton of torque! Even in 6th gear the thing was strong when I twisted the throttle. Hands down if we were going to buy a bike yesterday, it would've been the Roadmaster. I know, I know, the old discussion of dealer network and such that always comes up, but I'm talking strictly about the performance of the bikes. The only thing that made us go hmmm about the Indian is, for the kind of money they want for it, it should have the big touchscreen dash on it that the Harley has. In closing, I wanna say this; I again had a very hard time liking the overall feel of the V Twins compared to my V4. I came away from the test rides without out a shadow of doubt in my mind that the power plant in my RSTD is superior to the two Victory's and the Harley's motors. The indian was on another level with the power and smoothness of it's engine. The personality of the V4's by being more revy than the thumpity thump of the V Twins is just better to me. I don't know, it's just me I guess. Anyway, thats my 2 cents.

Y2K, I'll definitely be looking for you guys. We ride an 07 red and black RSTD. You van't miss me. I'm 6'6" and my wife is only 5"3". We look like mutt and Jeff together. lol. Hope too see you there. Will this be your first time to BBB?

I got into the chat room late last night, but there was still plenty of action going on. That Flyinfool is down right crazy. Just ask Cowpuc.

Beau, My admiration for you and your bride is sky high! Thanks for being the type people you are. Big Lenny

Ace, I really hate it for you that you're unhappy with the RSTD. I can see by your statements that you have given it the ol college try by doing all of the mods you have done. But, you're right, it's heavy. And it ain't ever gonna be unheavy. Lol. So, i gotta say this; life is way too short be riding a bike that you aren't completely happy with. Sell that sucker and get yourself something that makes your wiggler wiggle everytime you ride it.

Hey Folks, Is anybody on here going to Bikes Blues and BBQ this coming up weekend in Fayetteville, Arkansas? I'm thinking about heading up and staying Van Buren Friday night, then ride the hour up to the rally Saturday morning and stay for a short spell. I have to be back home Saturday evening. Just wondering.

2006 RSTD, I have a 2007 RSTD and absolutely love it. Bought it new and as you can see on my map my wife and I have been from North Carolina to Utah and a lotta places in between with multiple 1 week and 2 week trips and it just keeps purring along. Yes, it's heavy. But I'm okay with that. If you haven't noticed yet, the stock seats suck for long distance riding. The first year I had it I spent the dough and bought Ultimate brand seats for me and the boss, and it changed our world. Can ride forever now. One of the main things I like about it is virtually nobody knows what it is when I'm out riding it. I like unique things and it fits bill. Hang in there. It will grow on you even more the longer you keep it.

Dirt track sprint car racing is my personal favorite type of automobile racing to watch. I have been attending sprint car races my whole life. I live just a few miles from one of the best dirt short tracks in the southern part of the united states and week in and week out they have a great group of sprint car regulars competing there, and pros will stop by there and compete also. Every October they have the Short Track Nationals which brings in most of the top 360 winged sprint drivers in the nation and a large segment of WoO drivers. If you are versed in sprint car racing and the unique nuances of that particular car, you can look at the video of the Kevin Ward tragedy and clearly see some obvious things that are in direct conflict with what the general public has reported. There were and still are a plethora of media folks who are running their mouths about this incident and they themselves have never been to a dirt track race, much less a sprint car race. Most of the people reporting do not even know what a sprint car is. Yet they continue to pass judgement on what happened and what kind of person Tony Stewart is. When you slow the video down and look at it frame by frame you can see that Kevin Wards car and Tony Stewarts car never made contact. What actually happened is a very common thing in the dirt track world and that is Kevin was trying to stick his nose in a very close spot between Tony's car and the wall and he got bit by the cushion which is the dirt berm that is built up around the outside of the turn and his car then was thrown to the right into the wall. The cushion is a friend or foe of dirt track racers. If your good enough you can run up against it and use it for traction or extra bite to launch the car forward and come out of the turn with a ton of speed. But, if you get into it too far, or jump the cushion, it can and a lot of times will grab the car and yank it to the right and if there is a wall beside it you're gonna hit it. Plenty of times I've seen drivers jump the cushion and it upset the car so bad that it resulted in the car flipping. But, it has been reported time and time again that Tonys car made contact with Kevins car. People with untrained eyes looking at it making statements that they shouldn't. I'm no Tony Stewart fan. I couldn't care less whether he ever races another race again. Yes, he is aggressive and has a fiery personality at times, but so do a ton of other racers. Kevin Ward himself obviously had some fire in his personality to get out of his sprinter and go stomping down the track challenging Stewart. I do not personally know Tony Stewart, but I find it very hard to believe that he would purposely turn his car in a direction to strike another driver who was walking toward him and aggressively taunting him. Now, whether he just stayed his course and basically thought in his mind that the kid better get outta the way or he's gonna get hit? Only Tony can answer that. But, purposefully turning the car to hit him, from listening to the people that know him and stand for his character, it's hard to believe he would do that. Oh, and by the way, they were not "racing back to the yellow" as mentioned by some. As soon as the yellow light comes on and the yellow flag comes out, they shut them down to an idle. You can see they are idling on the video. Having said that, a sprint car at idle is clipping along fairly fast. As has already been stated, it's just a sad tragic racing incident that could've been avoided by Kevin staying in his car and settling it in the pits. No answer to this is going to bring peace to Kevin Wards family. And Tony Stewart will now live for the rest of his life with a big black mark by his name. It's a bad deal. But it would help if the media folk who know nothing about sprint car racing and dirt track racing would keep their mouths shut. But that aint gonna happen.

Hey Folks, I stopped by the Apple store yesterday to take a gander at the much anticipated Apple iPhone 6 and 6+. The place was packed and they told me earlier in the morning there were a bunch of folks camped out in tents to be in the first group to get their hands on them. I don't mean to be a killjoy, but, once I was able to get it in my hands and look at it, I became bored very quick. It is basically the same thing as my iPhone 5S with a bigger screen. I know, I know, it has a little do dad here and there inside the operating system that is different, but the basic way of operating and the way the screen looks is no different than what we iPhone users already have. I got the immediate feeling that all Apple did was bring their phone up to the level of the Samsung's that have been larger and have had some of the new Apple features for quite some time now. I am an Apple user. Myself and my wife have iPhones. I am typing you this message on my Apple iMac in my home office. We have 2 iPads. So, I believe in Apple products. But I find it hilarious how every year they are able to get the general public all riled up in a tizzy about their new products that really aren't anything earth shattering when they come out. Crazy good marketing Apple does. I am fully aware that a boat load of you are technology resistors and you're doing just fine with your basic flip phones that do what a phone should do; call people. But, for us minions who get sucked up into the techno gadgets that the world has to offer, I want to report, I am officially not greatly impressed with the new iPhones. My 2 cents.

Mad Dog, My wife and I love our SMH10's. We've had them 3-4 years and they're still awesome. We are really looking hard at the new Sena 20S units though. Anyway, if I were you i would call Sena and ask your questions. That's what I've done in the past and gotten great results. Tech Support: (408) 300-9797, (866) 300-1235

This morning I worked for an hour or so in my office at my house before I decided to hit the road and go see some customers. As I walked through the living room to leave, I grabbed the remote to turn the tv off because my wife had left it on before she left to go to work. It was on mute, but I noticed it was on the History Channel and they were showing a documentary on voice recordings of people who were trapped in the WTC towers after the planes hit. They had several family members experiences with when they received phone calls from their loved ones while they were in peril. I couldn't leave it. I sat down and eventually watched the whole program and so many of the same heart breaking feelings came back to me. Our country certainly has stood strong, but all of the loved ones of the people who died are still dealing with the great losses they experienced. It's amazing that it has been 13 years. That time has flown by. But, when you watch a program like I did this morning, it's like it happened last year. Makes me wonder if it will always feel like that til our generation passes? Just 2 weeks before 9/11 we had gotten back from a wonderful two week vacation that my wife and I had taken with our 3 teenaged kids to Washington DC and New York City. On our first day in New York we went to the Empire State Building, then on our second day, we went to the World Trade Center and then rode the Staten Island Ferry and such. We as a family feel so blessed that we had taken that trip and experienced the beauty and incredible heights of the WTC towers. It was the best vacation we have ever taken as a family. However, when we received news that the first plane had hit the north tower, and we all watched in horror as the second plane hit live on TV right in front of our eyes, we could not fathom the idea that either one of those buildings would ever come down. They were so freakin huge! Not only in height, but girth. The idea that they could be brought down was so far fetched, it was like a crazy dream. Nobody in our whole family besides me, my wife, and our 3 kids had ever physically seen the WTC towers. We tried with every amount of words we had to describe to our family and friends just how huge these buildings were, and how unbeleivable it is for them to actually collapse. It's still as amazing to me today as it was back then. I want to always remember to take the time to respect the lives of all of those innocent people who died by remembering them on 9/11. I guess I did that by taking the time to stop and watch the program like I did this morning and seeing the sadness in the eyes of the loved ones who still today are heart broken, and I felt it with them again. 3020 people lost their lives that day. Lets not ever forget.

Tisunac, You are describing exactly what happened to me and my wife two weeks ago. Except for, after it running rough it died in the middle of nowhere and we had to have my son bring us my truck and trailer to get the bike home. I started a thread just like you have asking if it could be the battery or the stator or the r/r. The bike was dead as a doornail and showed no life. I waited a day after we got it back home and went out and checked it. It was still dead. I took the seat off to look at the battery connections and noticed some corrosion on the positive post. I unscrewed the battery cable and scrubbed the cable end and battery terminal with a wire brush and hooked the cable back up. I turned the key on and the dash came to life. I hit the start button and the bike fired right up and has been running perfect ever since. I even did a 3 day 1000 mile ride this past weekend to Birmingham to go to the Barber museum and she ran perfect. So, you might take your cables off and scrub them and your posts to see if that'll fix it. Just a suggestion.

Wait wait wait! Lemme see here; Labor Day? Not here yet. Halloween? Not here yet. Thanksgiving Day? Not here yet. First day of Fall? Not here yet. First Day of Winter? Not here yet. So, you bring Santa Claus out in the middle of August and blow all of the drivers minds? I don't know, but I'm thinkin you deserve whatcha got. LOL! Whatcha gonna do for the month of September? Have an Easter egg hunt in the middle of the freeway median? LOL!

Leo, I highly suggest if you're going to see Arches NP, you should go right down the road and see Canyonlands National Park. You will be more impressed with Canyonlands than Arches. Simply beautiful!

DJ, Buy it! We love our SMH10's. Have had them for 4 years now and they're still doing great. However, I and seriously thinking about upgrading to the new 20's. We used the Scala product for a couple years before we bought the Sena's. The Sena's are better.

Oh, By the way. Don't ask me why I didn't take the seat off while I was stranded at the country store and check the battery connections. LOL. I think it was because it had acted so erratic that I automatically figured it was going to be something like the stator or R/R. Crap, I don't know! I'm still beating myself up over that one. LOL.

Hey Folks, I started this discussion on another thread, but I wanted to start clear and tell the complete story so you guys can give me some advise. Last Saturday my wife and I went on a ride with 12 other bikes. About an hour into the ride we all stopped at a convenience store to take a break. When we got back on to continue the ride, the bike had no power. The dash would not light up and it showed no signs of electricity. We decided to push start the bike and it fired right up and ran great. My gut feeling at that time was to head home, however, with some coaxing from some that were on the ride, we continued on with the group. Well, after getting about 15 miles down the road in the middle of nowhere, the bike started missing and the dash started shutting off and flashing. The bike started intermittently running okay for a spell and then spitting and sputtering. We luckily came to a lonely intersection that had an old country store and we stopped there. With the bike barely running, I got out my volt meter and plugged it into the port that I had installed just a couple months ago and it was reading 6.7 to 10 volts. It was trying to stay running but in the end it died and then showed no dash lights and no power when I pushed the start button. With the bike not running, the volts read 12.6. So, I sent the group on their way and called my son who brought me my truck and trailer and I got the bike home. I really thought at that time that I had experienced the failure of the stator, or maybe even the R/R. Late Saturday night I went out to the garage to take a quick gander at it. I turned the key on and it still showed no dash lights and had no power. The battery voltage still read 12.6. So, I took the seat off and thought I would just check the battery connections to make sure they were good and tight. They were tight, but I noticed some corrosion on the positive battery terminal. I disconnected the cable and scrubbed it and the terminal really clean with a wire brush. I hooked it back up and turned the key and viola! The dash came to life, the fuel pump ran and when I pushed the start button the bike fire up and ran perfect. At idle the voltage was 14.2. Now, this gave me a cautious confidence that all of what I went through was as simple a fix as the battery needing the corrosion cleaned off of it. However, I had a thought in the back of my mind that maybe now that the stator had cooled off it was working correctly, but if I rode it for a while the stator would start heating up and breaking down. I wasn't completely sure that I had found such a simple fix because the bike had been so violently terrible when the event happened with all of the spitting and sputtering and rough idle and such. I just felt like it had to be a bigger issue than just needing to clean a battery cable and terminal. Anyway, I've been traveling on business this week so last night was the first chance I was able to get it out for a test ride. I rode the bike for over an hour at speeds ranging from 70-75 on the interstate, down to 30-50 on highways. The bike ran perfect and never repeated the issue. and it was hot outside. Pushing 100 degrees. I had the voltage meter plugged in during the whole ride and here are the readings: At idle with passing lamps off - 14.2v. At throttle with passing lamps off - 14.3v. At idle with passing lamps on - 12.9v-13.3v. At throttle with passing lamps on - 14.1v. After I got home and killed the bike the voltage read 12.9v. So, my questions for the group are: Does this sound like a fix as simple as cleaning the battery cables? Do the above voltage readings appear to be in the normal range? Please throw all advise at me that you can think of. This is an urgent need because I'm leaving out a week from tomorrow to go on a 3 day Labor Day Weekend ride to Birmingham to visit the Barber museum and I want to make sure the bike is sound. Thanks so much, Big Lenny

Bee, The V-Strom 650 is an awesome bike. I have a cousin that has put over 100K miles on his V-Strom 650 and it has been bullet proof. That bike a few years ago was the European bike of the year. My othere cousin has the V-Strom 1000 and its awesome too. Really cheap on the usd market also.

Hey Folks, Yep, I'm facing the ol battery, stator, r/r problem. The bike (2007 RSTD) stranded me and my wife today in the middle of nowhere while we were on what we thought was going to be a relaxing ride on a beautiful Arkansas day. It was doing all of the typical symptoms that have been described here as being battery, stator, R/R related. I have the battery on a charger for the night, but, I will begin the rest of the investigation in the morning. I have a basic couple of questions: Where is the stator? Where is the R/R? I am not an electrical wizard. My first gut feeling is to check all of the connections and replace the battery, stator, and R/R and get on with riding. Please advise.

Ditto. I never have given it too much analytical thought. I just do it the above way.

So very sad! He was truly one of a kind.