MikeWa

Looks cosmetic. Have it replaced when you get back. Mike

I have been having problems with the audio system intermittently locking up. Volume would freeze or error would come up etc. The dealer had it for four weeks looking for the problem. Changed the mpu, controller cb etc all to no avail. Today while I was installing handlebar riser spacers I split the fairing and removed the headlamp assembly. There it was. The harness for the audio was pinched under the headlamp adjusting bolt. I didn't split the harness open to see how badly the wires are crushed. I just unpinched the harness. If I still have problems I will ask the dealer to replace it. Hope these pictures help if anyone else is having similar issues. Mike

Ok I installed a TomTom Rider 2 on my 2nd gen a couple of weeks ago. Here is a report on my impressions so far. Again my personal opinions. First The Good; It is easy to install. The Ram Mount and cradle work pretty well. The unit snaps in and out of the cradle easily and feels solid. The wiring is very simple. I just soldered the ends to the back of the accessory plug behind the fairing. The unit turns on automatically with the key but I have to power it off. Satellite locks are very quick. Usually under 40 seconds. Rerouting is also very quick. This is usually good but sometimes it can be a problem which I will bring up later. The thing is impervious to rain. Even the cover for the usb jack has a solid rubber seal around it. The light gray color does not absorb as much heat from the sun as black does. It may be minor but since heat is a killer of electronics I like this small detail. It even has a little built in visor, nice touch. The touch screen works well even with gloves. The Bad; The screen washes out easily. It doesn't have to be in really bright sunlight either. While it offers several screen color options none work well in sunlight. It is hard to follow a map you can't see. The automatic zoom is also a real problem. There is no manual zoom or pan functions while moving. That is not to bad when navigating a predetermined route but when you just want to use the map you can't even see two blocks away. When you are allowed to zoom out it is only temporary and the map returns to it's automatic setting after a few seconds. This makes it almost impossible to find alternate routes with the gps map, very frustrating. The use of the menu is also limited to four buttons when moving. It is called a Safety Driving Menu. You can't make outgoing calls with the Blue Tooth while moving either. So you are forced to stop to scan the map or make changes etc. This creates some new problems. When you pull off the road say into a parking lot (not that a motorcycle would ever be driven off the road or heaven forbid into a parking lot) the gps will assign your position and direction to a nearby street and quickly recalculate your route from that artificial point. Frequently, as in every time you pull off the road, sending you off in the wrong direction. Who ever thought of this feature should be hung. I understand it is to make sure the gps shows you on a road when you are navigating but it creates more problems than it solves. And sometimes you are not actually on a road. There is no internal speaker and no speaker connection. So it is their Blue Tooth helmet speakers or nothing. As far as I know it will not work with any other helmet speakers or Blue Tooth set up. Like most others today their user guide sucks. I don't take my computer along on the bike so the CD is useless on the road. I would take a good user manual along. Like so many others the claim is to be environmentally friendly and save paper. But they included a useless user guide with little information in half a dozen different languages. Then tell me to print my own from the CD. A pet peeve of mine. When navigating the maps miss the second largest freeway interchange in the state keeping you on the wrong side of the freeway until you are two blocks past the exit. Then it wants to turn you around and do the same thing going the other way. Would Like to Haves; A screen that doesn't wash out so easily. An automatic zoom override that stays where I put it. The ability to pan a map. A better edit function for the favorites including a line for notes and the ability to change the address. Larger street names. I don't have a lot of time to squint at the map while I am riding. A speaker connection so I could plug it into the bikes auxiliary jack. A map scale indicator. Get rid of the automatic street assignment. Summary; For a motorcycle gps it sure isn't very rider friendly. It is better than no gps, but not by much. I will not buy another TomTom, Rider or Car navigator. Mike

Sounds like a bad battery. Mike

If possible record the flashes with your cel phone. Mike

Prayers and best wishes. Mike

I got to wondering why so many techs were having trouble diagnosing radio/audio related problems on RSV's. So I was looking through the service manual wiring diagrams thinking things should be pretty straight forward. What I discovered is a lot of missing information. Neither of the headset connections or the rear remote are shown on the diagram. None of the interconnect wiring for the CB or anything else is shown. Only some of the wires and connectors from the MCU are shown. No antenna connections are shown. None of the repair messages the radio presents were shown in the troubleshooter. No wonder this is such a 'guess how' fix area on these bikes. If anyone has a complete wiring diagram for the audio system on the RS Venture how about posting it. Mike

Check for cracks around the trunk mounting bolts. There is a tsb for this and I believe 2001's are included. Mike

Sure would hate to see a volunteer take work away from our illegal aliens. Mike

Well if yous guys have never learned to change the oil in your cd changers don' blame me if they skip. And don' over fill them either. Mike

I bought a Clarion Model 625 six CD changer and a c-bus cable off e-bay for a very reasonable price. I mounted the changer vertically in the trunk. The c-bus cable plugs into an open pigtail behind the fairing. The whole thing works from my radio controller. It is a fairly easy install. Snug the changer up tight against the front of the trunk and helmets will still fit. Also a little extra rubber on the mounting screws will help alleviate skipping. Mike

What you are describing is normal. It would be very difficult to shield from a source that close. Power saws,drills and other electrical devices frequently cause interference which can be on random frequencies. It is also called electro-magnetic radiation. Thus no cel phones or other electrical devices in hospitals or on airplanes during landing and take-off. Even though things like cel-phones transmit at far lower power than a power saw they can and do cause interference. Mike

The Custom Dynamics board works just fine with the stock lens. It is very bright for daylight or night riding. I did have to modify the board slightly. I slightly opened the holes where it mounts so the board would set a little deaper into the light allowing the lens to seal better. Mike

Reshape the ramp into an arch. Kind of like a venturi. Then as the front wheel enters the trailer the rear will be coming off the peak at the arch. The arch can be easily made from wood and bolted to the ramp. Mike ........ ---- ...... ------- . --------------

Great company to do business with. I had a problem with a headset adaptor and John Lazzeroni had a replacement in my hands in about two days. Couldn't be happier. Mike

On a sailing ship the wind comes from behind. Piss off the back in a stiff breeze and..well you get the picture. So the area of the bow where the forestay connects the masthead to the bowspirit was used. Kept the wind at your back. Mike

There is a resistance in the circuit. it is located either between the two positive connections or between the two ground,neg, connections. To find it use your DVOM voltmeter. For this test positive and negative on the meter no longer matter so ignore the test lead wire color polarity. To test the positive side of the circuit place one of your voltmeter leads at each of the positive points where your two gauges are connected. That is the black lead to one positive connection and the red lead to the other positive connection. With the key in the on position the reading should be less than .3 volts. Any reading above 0 is the result of resistance will course your gauges to show a different voltage by the amount of the reading. To test the negative side of the circuit place one of your voltmeter leads at each of the negative points where your two gauges are connected. That is the black lead to one negative connection and the red lead to the other negative connection. With the key in the on position the reading should be less than .3 volts. Any reading above 0 is the result of resistance will cause your gauges to show a different voltage by the amount of the reading. This is called a voltage drop test. You might also want to connect your two gauges to the same place and see if they are calibrated the same. Mike

I agree with the previous posters. You might also check the connections. The way Yamaha has you connect the wires into the plug is really chinsey. I made two changes to their wiring. First I removed the three pins from the exhisting light connector on the bike and soldered an extra short wire to each. I connected my spoiler lights to those short wires. For me that was much better than just having the wire ends stuck into the plug as suggested by Yamaha. Next I added a connector in the wires behind the back seat. That way when I need to remove the trunk I can just unplug the connector. Finally running the wires through the rubber harness loom they provided is a real pain. So I purchased a plastic note binder from the local office supply, removed the plastic strip that is used to hold the papers in it and glued that to the inside lid on the trunk. Made a perfect loom to run wires through and they are available in a variety of colors. The plastic strip did not want to conform to the shape of the trunk lid at first so I just heated it up (out of the trunk) with a hair drier and gave it a little arch. After that it worked fine. Now I am thinking of adding an interior trunk light. If I do I can run the wires for that through my already in place homemade loom. Mike

The one under the seat does not look like a cigarette lighter plug. It is a two round terminal accessory plug. You can purchase the other half to plug into it from your dealer. Mike

Briggs and Stratton moved to Mexico. Read that free trade with very low labor cost, no environmental concerns, no child labor laws, no B&O tax, no employee benefits what so ever and finally no tariffs to import the stuff back into the US. Why wouldn't they move? It called "free trade". Thank you Bill Clinton. Here in the NW Harley might sell a few more bikes if the dealers would deal a little bit. But the won't move at all and that is too bad. Because it does cost them sales in a down economy. They will lay off scores of employees but they won't give up a single percentage point of mark-up. So if Harley sales are down perhaps they should look at their own organization.

It's good to hear you guys made it through this ordeal. Very scary and could have ended up much worse. To bad for the dear too. Dear will frequently jump out in front of you, especially at night. That is because the escape route which gives them the best visibility often involves crossing the road. Even more so at night if the road is lit up by headlights. They just don't recognize headlights coming at them as a problem so they become mesmerized and then blinded. Whistles sometimes work sometimes not. Perhaps someone can invent a whistle that sounds like a coyote or bear or something. Mike

My on/off switch is located next to the accessory plug (cig lighter) in the fairing. Also sometimes the wires are routed so they can be pinched when the steering is turned all the way to one side. Watch for this. It can cause fuses to blow every once in a while. Especially when you park the bike. Mike

Have a very safe and enjoyable trip. Mike

It is top heavy. It takes a while to get used to it. Coming to a stop takes some practice as does low speed maneuvering. Mike

I copied this link from another post. I have always been dead set against red light cameras but now I am not so sure. Mike http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1418565565?bctid=70368898001