atlm
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Everything posted by atlm
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Sorry, I should clarify. The Craftsman Professional lift, for me, is worth the extra cost as compared to the HF lift that I bought first. I value the ease of modulation, the light weight, and the low height. I also got a very good deal on it on Sunday by combining the current sale price with 2 discounts and a coupon. I can't comment on the Sears lift or any others, as I don't have first hand experience with them. From what I've read, quite a few folks here are happy with both the HF lift and the Sears lift, both which cost less less than half, and that's great. There are also some folks here using hockey pucks and 2x4s with their jacks to lift their bikes. Again, that's great for them. For me, the money spent on Carbon One's lift adapter is well worth it. You pays your money, you takes your choice.
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FYI: I ended up buying a Craftsman Professional lift. In my opinion, the easy-to-modulate pressure release alone makes it worth the extra cost. It's also low profile, so it'll go under lowered bikes and under the Carbon One lift adapter without issue, and it's lighter and easier to move around the garage. Also FYI, the Northern Tool lift by Torin has a twist-handle pressure release (mounted low), which seems to give good control (I stood on the lift and tested it in the store). It's going on sale on Black Friday for $50 ($70 with a $20 rebate) at Pep Boys. The only shortcoming I see is bending down to ground level to turn the release, rather than standing up to hold the bike, if necessary. Not as nice as the Craftsman, but a bunch cheaper if you need it to be.
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A few weeks ago, I bought a Harbor Freight lift for $60. I used it to raise my RSV to check the front fork bearings. After guessing at some jacking points (I used the center stand mounts and went just in front of the oil pan), the bike went up, but didn't feel very stable. The bike was also tilted, as the 2 jacking points weren't level on the bike. I was really careful and gentle moving the forks to check the bearings. There's no way I'd wrench on the bike with it raised like that. After checking the bearings, I went to slowly lower the bike, pushing the release pedal all the way down on the jack, per the instructions. The bike dropped like a rock, bounced, and somehow ended up on the tires and kickstand. I was holding the handlebar, but was not in control of 885 pounds of dropping bouncing bike. I almost had a heart attack. Fast forward a few weeks. After buying Carbon One's Stebel horn adapter, which is a rugged, perfectly sized and formed piece of art and deserves and entire "thank you Larry" thread of it's own, I decided to try the Carbon One lift adapter. I sent payment, and received an email that it was shipped about 4 hours later! When the adapter arrived, I got out my new Craftsman Professional jack, mounted the adapter, and raised the bike. The bike was level and firmly on the jack. I could rock it forward and backward (the jack flexes a bit), and it still felt completely stable. I turned the handle on the jack slightly to release pressure, and the bike came down nice and slow, and tipped gently onto its side stand. WOOHOO!! So, of course, I raised it up and put it down about 10 times, every time the same. Up, stable, down nice and gentle. And the bike feels rock solid with the legs in the adapter. As others have said in this forum many times, the Carbon One lift adapter is super awesome. Thank you Larry !!! You rock !
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I've got the Yamaha low wide windshield, and prefer it over the stock windshield. I can see over it when needed, it provides great wind protection, and (imo) it looks better. I was concerned about my wife getting a wind blast as a passenger with the shorter shield, but she says there is none. I think the fact that it's wider has a lot to do with the good wind protection.
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Off the topic of this thread, but that is actually the reason for the GPS. Previously, I wasn't comfortable taking roads I wasn't familiar with, because I didn't want to get completely lost. Now we can take any roads we please, and just tell the GPS to route us home (or to any of our favorite places in the area) when we're tired.
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Found this very informative video, about modifying the HF lift to get it to drop slowly. Seems to verify that the instructions are wrong, and that pushing the release pedal a tiny bit will drop the bike slowly: [nomedia=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j46NwUqjM7w]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j46NwUqjM7w[/COLO"]YouTube- Broadcast Yourself.[/nomedia]
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So, most HF motorcycle jacks drop fast, and the Sears jacks all drop slow or break and leak? Or is that just the less expensive steel ones? Are the aluminum ones from HF and Sears any better? They both seem to have the handle-twist pressure release, which is what's on my (older large) car jack and works great.
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Just a note on the Super Mini. I had one and liked the size and quality a lot. However, the map pocket was its weak point. The map pocket is larger at the top than the bottom, but the opening to insert the map is at the bottom. So, you have to fold your map smaller, to the size of the map pocket, and then scrunch the whole thing to get it through the small opening and into the pocket. Rather than destroying maps, I ended up scanning map areas into PDFs and printing them on separate sheets of paper to stuff into the map pocket to make it usable. I finally ended up just buying a GPS when I bought my RSV, and sold the Super Mini.
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So the instructions are wrong, and you just push the pedal down a little to make the bike drop more slowly? In the instructions, it said to make the bike drop slowly, to depress the release pedal all the way down. I thought that was really weird, and definitely counter intuitive, but that's what I did. I slammed the pedal all the way down, as instructed, and the bike came crashing down. I thought the instructions might have been wrong, but wasn't going to risk trashing the Venture to find out. I'm talking about the cheap HF lift, the one that has coupons on various bike magazines for between $50 and $60, regularly $80 I think. It's yellow. It seemed really beefy, and lifted the bike fine. It was just the descent issue. If you're telling me that the instructions are wrong, and the lift goes down slowly if you just push down slightly on the release pedal, I'll go back and buy it again. Is that the case?
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I purchased this lift a couple of months ago for my RSV. I read in the instructions that I needed to push the release pedal down all the way to get the bike to drop slowly, so I did, and the RSV dropped FAST, slamming into the ground and bouncing a bit. Somehow, luckily, it ended up on it's side stand and flipping on its side, but I almost had a heart attack. So, I returned the lift. Does the HF lift go down slow for you with an RSV or other heavy bike on it? I need a lift and was going to buy their lightweight aluminum lift, or the Sears professional lift (they look the same), since those have the traditional "twist the handle a little" pressure release method, but would hate to spend an extra $100+ if my first one was just a dud.
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Thanks everyone for all of your responses! At this point, I think I've written off lowering the rear end 1.5" with the Baron's kit. Two Sunday rides in a row I've ground floorboards in the twisties. They're sprung, like footpegs I've ground on previous bikes, so it's just noisy, not dangerous. I don't want that to change to grinding mufflers, which aren't sprung, and can have much more dangerous results. Also, the bike feels a little sluggish turning at low speeds, and I don't want to make that any worse. I think I'm going to try the Butler seat mod and lower the front a little (about 3/4"). If after that I want it lower, and am not having clearance issues, I'll try lowering the front to 1" (total) and lower the rear about 1/2" with home-made links, using this method: [ame=http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?t=492]http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?t=492[/ame] only with longer links instead of shorter, of course. Winter projects.
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2009 RSV Top Heavy Question
atlm replied to DonWood's topic in Royal Star and Royal Star Tour Deluxe Tech Talk
So that's why, when I test rode an '05, I was having to hold the handlebars from cramming themselves into full lock whenever I turned the bike around. I thought something was messed up with the bike, like maybe it had been in an accident or something else I wasn't told about. My '06 doesn't do that, and it's got Dunlops. It's all making more sense now. Thanks! Something that doesn't make sense to me yet, though, is "leveling links" versus lowering the front by sliding up the forks. Won't both do the same thing, as far as tilting the bike forward? Or are the links preferred because they give more cornering clearance, where lowering the front reduces it? -
When you let off the throttle, you're loading the front end more. When you give it gas, you're shifting the weight back again. So, it's not all RPM related. Just something else to think about.
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When lowered, it sounds like most folks don't drag hard parts when riding solo (some exceptions) and most folks drag hard parts when riding 2-up and loaded (some exceptions). I'm wondering if it's directly related to total load on the bike. Can everyone please tell me your total (estimated) weight on the bike when dragging hard parts frequently, and when not dragging hard parts much? total weight when/if dragging a lot (driver + passenger + stuff?): total weight when/if not dragging much:
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Thanks Jerry. So you're using a kickstand from one of the original Royal Stars, and it's short enough to work? Is that from a Gen 1 Venture, or the late 90's Royal Star cruisers?
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Thanks Mike G! There are usually a variety of dogbones for sale on eBay, so I'm hoping one of them is a good fit. Using your measurements, a 7/16" difference equates to 1.5" drop. If I can find dogbones with 7" hole spacing, or a touch over, that should drop the rear about 1/2". I'm guessing this is all actually metric. If the hole diameter is just under 1/2", that should be 12mm. Time to do some searching.
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Mike G, do you still have your Baron's dogbones? If so, can you tell me the center-to-center hole spacing and hole diameter? If you happen to have your stock links and could measure those, that would be nice, also. My thought is that if I can lower the rear about 1/2" with dogbones, and lower the front about 1": I shouldn't need to relocate the rear caliper. The 1/2" in the rear shouldn't make a significant difference in cornering clearance - not enough to have the mufflers touch down first. The 1/2" more drop in the front than the back should quicken low speed steering slightly, but not enough to have a noticeable effect on high speed stability.
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Jerry W, do you drag mufflers a lot, also, or have you done something that gives you better cornering clearance?
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That's my concern. Like TwoWheelsOnly, most of our riding is in the North GA mountains, on twisty roads. I'm nervous about hard parts touching down, rather than spring-loaded parts, while 2-up and leaned over at speed, and I really don't want to tear up the bottoms of the mufflers. So has no one with a lowered bike modified their kickstand? I read on a few posts that some sort of shortening was necessary. Is that not the case? Has anyone found rear links that are just a bit longer, that only drop the rear about 1/2"?
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Any pictures or explanations about the kickstand shortening?
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There are 2 fuses for the audio system. My audio system and controller were not working at all when I bought my bike, but my "audio" fuse was fine. That's how I found out about the second fuse. The second fuse is behind the left hand (side) panel. It is labeled "backup". Mine was blown. I'll bet yours is, too. The second "backup" fuse is also shown in the audio system schematics.
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I'm considering lowering my RSV, front and rear, and have a few of questions for those that have done it. I would like to ask those that haven't done it not to express their opinions. No offense, but I'm only looking for first hand experience from those who have (or have ridden) an RSV that has been lowered. Parts dragging: On a stock bike, in the twisties, the driver's floorboards are the first parts to drag. This is safe, as they're sprung. They also have non-rusting metal pieces at the contact points. On a lowered bike, does that change to the mufflers dragging first, before the floorboards? This is when leaned over, not upright going over speed bumps and wotnot. Shortening the kickstand: How is that done? Is the kickstand actually shortened, or is the front stop ground down, to make the kickstand go forward more? Does anyone have pictures of that mod? Lowering links and brake caliper relocation: I'd prefer to lower both the front and the rear by the same, one inch. The Baron's kit has links that lower the rear 1.5". Has anyone found links, on eBay or otherwise, that lower the rear an inch rather than 1.5"? And if I only lower the rear by an inch, do I still need to relocate the rear brake caliper? Lowering just the front: I've read that it helps low speed handling. Does it make the RSV twitchy at higher speeds? Highway traffic in ATL occassionally finds itself at 95+ (indicated). Stock, the RSV is rock stabile at speeds higher than that. Does that change?
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Does anyone have a set of stock pillow-top seats they'd like to sell, or know of a set for sale anywhere for a reasonable price? After parking my RSV on a somewhat steep incline (to the left) this weekend, and not having enough inseam to get leverage to push it back off the side stand, I'd like to get myself lower in the bike. My first thought was to lower the bike, but I've already scraped floorboards in the twisties, so I'm hesitant to go that route. I'd like to get a set to send to Rick Butler to see if he can get me (and my wife) lower in the bike while still being well-padded. We really like the comfort of the stock seats, though, and want to keep a set in case the modifications don't work out for some reason, and I end up lowering the bike instead.
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Please reconsider my starter problem
atlm replied to Dragonslayer's topic in Venture and Venture Royale Tech Talk ('83 - '93)
after posting this, I saw you've already identified the problem, so I'm deleting this post -
I'll second the recommendation for the Venture pillow-top seat. When my wife and I met, all I had for the street was sportbikes, which were not comfortable at all for her as a passenger. So, I sold those and we bought a V-Strom, hoping to tour on it. That stock seat caused butt-burn for both of us in about 45 minutes. So we put on a Sargent seat, which was great for me, but only allowed about 120 mile days for her before becoming very uncomfortable, with a few breaks needed. We then tried sheepskin, beads, memory foam, and a Butt Buffer, individually and in combinations. The best was the Butt Buffer, followed by the sheepskin (by themselves), which allowed her to go about 150 miles before she was done for the day. Since most of our riding friends liked to do 250 - 400 mile days, we ended up having to trailer the highway part and meet them in the mountains. That became tedious kind of quickly. After a few years, we threw in the towel and we went bike shopping, again. We tried all of the touring bikes we could think of, including Goldwings, Harley Ultras, Classics, and Road Kings, Ventures, an RSTD, and a slew of others. She said the Venture (with the pillow-top seat) was the most comfortable, by far. We liked the RSTD, but not its seats. When we asked the salesperson at the dealership if there was a way to bolt the Venture's pillow-top seat to it, and he said they were different and there was no way. I guess salespeople don't read every motorcycle forum on the internet. One of the Ventures we test rode had an aftermarket seat. I think it was by Diamond, but I'm not sure. It had a snakeskin-like pattern to it. It was quite firm. I liked it, but she was so miserable on it that we turned around after 2 miles and didn't finish the ride. On our Venture, with the stock pillow-top seat, she's so comfortable that she's fallen asleep a few times. From other posts here, it seems that is quite common. After 200 miles, we're ready for another 200. For us, it's the most comfortable motorcycle seat either of us has ever experienced. Of course, every person's rear end is different, and there are a few folks who don't like the Venture's pillow top seat. However, it seems the Rick Butler mod fixes it for most of those folks, making the the percentage of people who like it very high. I'd highly recommend trying one.