BigLenny

Ditto what Eck said! 160 is a very fun ride. I'd say ride it to Branson and then ride 65 to 60 back. You should know that by going to Branson, you are on the edge of one of the greatest riding areas in the middle part of the country. Eureka Springs is a must see, but you should ride farther south from Eureka. There are so many awesome rides through that part of Arkansas, its ridiculous. There will be forty hundred bikes roaming around northwest Arkansas this coming weekend, including me and my bride. If you want some other ideas, let me know.

Keithert, I do not have an opinion on the Russell, but I can certainly vouch for the Ultimate. I have had the Ultimate rider and passenger seats, as well as the Ultimate back rests for both on my 2007 RSTD for over 5 years. It has been unbelievable. Installing the Ultimate totally changed our world as far how long we could stay in the saddle before needing a break. As you stated, the stock seat was not good. As a matter fact, it was painful after just a short spell on the bike. I ran into a guy with a Honda Valkarie that had an Ultimate seat on his bike, and he told me it was the best purchase of anything he had bought for his bike. I'm glad I listened to him because at the time, nobody here on the forum had really used Ultimate. It was mostly about Mustang, Russell, Corbin, Butler mod back then. I will now sometimes not even get off of the bike after I've ran a tank of gas out. I'll just pull up to the pump, fill up and ride on. Never could of done that with the stock seat. Couldn't have even made it a whole tank of gas without being in pain. So, I recommend Ultimate.

Holy Freakin Goodness! Boy, did you throw us all for a loop? LOL. This whole thread has been about buying a new Venture or should you keep it, and BAM, look here boys, I bought a Harley! LOL.

Is being too expensive really a legitimate discussion when it pertains to changing oil and filter? I mean, if you're saving a buck or two per quart to go with a non Yamaha branded product, and you're only changing your oil every so often depending on how much you ride. Heck you're talking about saving what, 6$-8$-$10 every couple months? Hmmmm. I say buy the Yamaha stuff and worry about gas prices, or something you buy on a regular basis.

Peter Frampton was pretty good. I wasn't really a fan of the real Heavy Metal screaming bands, but that list that Prairehammer did was some of the stuff that I liked. Thats whats cool about Rock and Roll. There are different levels of it. And, I'm grown man enough to say when Disco came along I liked it too. I even liked and still like listening to some good Funk Music. Boz Scaggs is another I liked. Heart was good. Pat Benetar was in the late 70's. Eric Clapton. Billy Squier. Aerosmith was great. Ambrosia. Bad Company. Eddie Money. Foghat - Slowride. Styx was great. Rod Stewart had some good mild stuff.

Van load of low intelligence folk.

Wow! What a wierd accident. I feel so sad for the family of the rider and his daughter. And the riders wife who was behind them and witnessed it. I'm sure she will live with that pain forever. It is also very sad for the young lady who caused the accident. It was obvious there was no criminal intent, but it looks like she could get life in prison, or at the very least, 14 years. So tragic.

Well well well, look what the ole Harley guys have done in the past year. First they break their own mold and bring a water cooled touring bike to the market, and it has been wildly successful. Now they're raising the ante and inroducing an electric bike? I applaud them. Don't you think Honda, Kawi, and Yammy let out a simultaneous UH OH? An electric sport bike looking machine would appear to be right in the middle of these 3's wheel houses, but Harley beat them to the punch. That's funny.

Thanks for the responses folks. Y'all are making it perfectly clear about how I should mark my map. Errrrrr......I think. So far I've learned: 1. It has to be on a motorcycle. 2. Riding on a motorcycle while it sits on a trailer doesn't count. 3. Has to be more than just a jump in, turn around, and leave. 4. Can be on a rented bike since I for that period of time sudo-own it. 5. As Bubber says, "whatever floats my boat" counts. 6. And the most important rule is: if I drain my lizard while I'm in that state, it counts. Anybody else have any rules?

I was just wondering. As it pertains to our riders map that many of us have in our signature when we post, does it have to be on a bike that we personally own. The reason I ask is; say I take a business trip to California and I take my wife with me. If while we're there, we decided to rent a Harley and ride for a day or so just to see the area, would I then be qualified to mark California as a state that we have ridden in. Or if we went to Hawaii and did the same, would that qualify? Just wondering. I wanna make sure I "stay inside the rules". LOL.

Whadya know? Puc has now added song writer to his vast resume. What will he surprise us with next???

Puc, The main difference between your grandson in California and mine in Arkansas is; yours says "you guys" while mine says "y'all". Everything else is pretty much the same. Lol.

Puc, Whenever we do our ride to the Black Hills, I'm definitely going to lean on you to help me plan an itinerary. LOL.

Yellowstone NP was every bit as beautiful and interesting as we had always heard it would be, but there were several places that totally shocked us with unexpected beauty. Such as: 1. The drive across the state of South Dakota. I had always heard the drive from Sioux Falls to The Badlands was flat and boring. Not! What a beautiful venture of rolling green fields. We all thought it was super interesting. We even stopped at Mitchell and toured Americas only Corn Palace. LOL. 2. The drive from Helena, Mt. down to West Yellowstone, Mt. All I can say is, WOW! Awesome farms with the Rockies as their backdrop. Mountain streams and rivers everywhere. 3. The Grand Tetons drive around to and through Jackson, Wy. Amazing treat after experiencing Yellowstone. 4. Hwy 191 from Rock Springs, Wy. south to Green River, Utah. Stunning drive through the bottoms of canyons and over the top of mountains. The Flamimg Gorge area was spectacular! 5. Canyonlands NP. OMG! This place is pretty close to being as grand as Grand Canyon. Very unique beauty! 6. Hwy 128 from Moab to I-70. It's like driving through the bottom of the Grand Canyon with the Colorado River beside you the whole way, and giant steep cliffs on each side of you. 7. Hwy 50 across Colorado. Farms, Rockies, Blue Mesa Lake, Monarch Pass, the town of Salida with the Arkansas River running through it. Those are just a sampling of some places that surpised us.

Actually, we got off of the exit for Devils Tower, but decided to not take the 40 mile round trip to see it because it was the one day that we had a timeline to be somewhere. We had family in Helena, Mt that we had set a dinner time with. We will definitely see it when we go back on the bike. That drive across the corner of Wyoming and through Montana to Helena is beautiful! We stayed at Custers Last Stand longer than I thought we would. Pretty interesting stuff. I never thought the headstones would've been spread across as large of an area as they were.

Puc, Hate to say it, but we didn't find that place. However, we did drive Wildlife Loop Rd. and saw a large number of Bison, Pronghorn Deer, Prairie Dogs, and a coyote. When we were in West Yellowstone we went to the Bear and Wolf Discovery Center. Saw quite a few wolves there. Really cool place. My wife and I will definitely take a bike ride back to the Black Hills. Loved that area.

Just got back last night from our 2 week, 4400 mile, 13 state vacation. It was a labor of love trip to take my 70 yr old mother who is in failing health on a long traveling vacation. Myself, my wife and my mom travelled in our Nissan Quest Van, but I gotta tell ya, on numerous occasions my wife and I wished we were on our bike. We started out here in Little Rock and travelled up through Branson and Springfield, Mo. through Kansas City to Omaha. Then went up to Sioux Falls and went west through The Badlands and the Black Hills. Spent a couple nights in Deadwood. Saw Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, drove Needles Highway and Iron Mountain Rd, drove through Sturgis. Headed northwest through Wyoming into Montana. Saw Custers Last Stand, and stayed in Helena for 3 nights and visited relatives. Went down to Yellowstone for two days and made our way through Grand Tetons NP and through Jackson, Wy. and on to Rock Springs Wyoming for a one night stay. Then drove Hwy 191 from Rock Springs down through Utah to Canyonlands NP. Then drove Hwy 128 from Moab back up to I-70 and to Grand Junction, Co. Then drove Hwy 50 from Grand Junction across the state of Colorado via Gunnison, Monarch Pass, Salida, then Hwy 69 to I-25 down to Raton, NM. Then drove from Raton to through Clayton, NM on to Dumas Tx. Drove from Dumas, Tx to back home in Little Rock, Arkansas arriving last night. We saw some of the most beautiful places on planet earth and made some unforgettable memories for my special mother! But, man, it sure woulda been great if we coulda done it on our bike.

Mover, I hate that 84 folks have looked at your thread and not responded yet. Must not be anybody close to you that can help. However, I'm responding to tell you that the clutch kit install is super easy. I did it on my 07 RSTD last year and it was a piece of cake. Skydoc will walk you through it if you contact him. Just trying to help.

Marcarl, I too am a huge Ultimate fan! I replaced the stock seats on my RSTD 5 years ago with Ultimates and they are still performing awesome for my wife and I. We can ride for miles and hours on end, and not get numb butt like we used to. Most of the time when we stop to get gas, I never get off the bike. When I was researching seats back in 09, there was really nobody here on the forum that had heard of Ultimate, so I actually went to their showroom in Daytona, Fla. and physically looked at the seats. I ran into a guy on a Valkari that had one on his bike and he insisted I should get an Ultimate, so after seeing them in Daytona, I took the chance on them, and the experience has been awesome. I may be wrong, but I think they're a Canadian based company.

I take that back. The town of Gunnison is not between Hwy 149 and Montrose on Hwy 50. Gunnison would be to your east when get to Hwy 50 from 149. Don't worry about it though, theres really nothing that is a must to see in Gunnison. One serious note though: When you're riding 149 from South Fork up to Hwy 50, make sure you stop and get gas at Lake City on Hwy 149. If you don't, when you get to Hwy 50, you'll hafta take a detour east to Gunnison to get gas before you head back west to Montrose. there are no gas stations on Hwy 50 between 149 and Montrose. But, if you get gas at Lake City, you won't have to worry about that.

You're gonna love that area. From South Fork, ride Hwy 149 north until you get to Hwy 50. 149 is a beautiful ride with varying altitude changes. Don't miss it. When you get to Hwy 50, go west until you get to Montrose, Co. Between 149 and Montrose you will ride past the huge Blue Mesa Reservoir. It takes several miles to ride the reservoir. You'll also go through the quaint town of Gunnison, Co. Nice place to stop and take a break. On Hwy 50 just before you get to Montrose, make sure you go to Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. It's on the right hand side of Hwy 50, and you hafta ride a road about 5 miles or so to get to the park, but YOU WILL NOT REGRET the detour. Montrose is where you'll turn south and ride Hwy 550 (Million Dollar Highway), one of the great motorcycle roads in all of Colorado, and an absolute must ride. On this ride you will go through the old western towns of Ouray, and Silverton, and finish in the great western town of Durango. Great towns to stop and grab a T-shirt or a souvenir. You will experience all of the experiences that make motorcycling great on this highway. You'll go over three 10,000+ high passes on this highway, and between Ouray and Silverton, you'll experience some serious sheer drop offs beside the road that'll make your butt do a little puckering. When you get to Durango, go east on Hwy 160. This highway will take you back to South Fork. Between Durango and South Fork, you'll go through a neat little town called Pagosa Springs, Co. This town is famous for its natural hot springs, and you'll see folks bathing in the hot springs as you go through downtown. Between Pagosa Springs and South Fork, you'll ride over 11,000ft Wolf Creek Pass and the Continental Divide. 160 is beautiful through there. All of the towns I mentioned have great places to grab a bite to eat.

That is hilarious!

Mike, I AM married, 31 years and counting. LOL. And, she aint fat. 5'3" 125lbs. I was just wondering if a fat wife would work. LOL.

Keithert, I have a 2007 RSTD (Red/Black). It has the whine, I don't give a rip. As some have said, with your helmet on the whine is unnoticeable. Also, as some have said, all bikes have their little quirks about them that make them unique. I say buy the dang thing and ride the hair off of it! You'll never regret it. It is truly an awesome bike!

Brake Pad, That looks like somewhere in my wonderful state of Arkansas?