Rob Swallows

Thanks to all for the suggestions. The job foreman says I can store my rail trailer at his home for the duration and and the problem is alleviated. I don't have an original owners, or users manual for this bike as the original owner misplaced it. I will look to get one acquired for something so simple as programming the radio was a real "chore" on this system. Thanks again,

I have an upcoming job about 1200 miles distant and will be there a good portion of the summer. Planning to drive my SUV and wondering if I can tow my 2005 RSV with the back wheel on the pavement while the front wheel is restrained in a "Slick Willie" hitch assembly? Really like to have the bike with me and not take a trailer. Thanks,

Please see attachment and thanks. Rob Venture Rider.doc

Hey Goose, thank you very kindly for responding. I have researched many of your past posts and really admire your desire to help folks with legitimate problems to facilitate corrections. In honesty I'd thought you had left the site given the prevalent "soap opera" theatrics mentality to remain popular from some of the older participants I've seen. Your postings of several years ago and tips and tricks helped greatly with rebuilding my carburetors just last month. Discovering you are still an active participant I get to thank you personally and openly. "Thank You" for your past and present assistance. This cruise control problem I know is not normal and is out of design criteria for when the bike was engineered. My analysis of up to a six second engagement cycle is accurate and proven through many iterations, as are the other symptoms. I can design around it if need be, but would rather not reinvent the wheel so to speak. It can and will work better but I'm not accustomed to working on these type things so solicit active feedback from folks whom may have suffered the same quandary. Maybe we can all learn this way. Instead you can witness the rhetoric posted to the original question by those whom don't know anything, nor want to learn being of a "closed minded" mentality with only personal website popularity being their guidance. I would prefer these types didn't respond to my questions as I won't to theirs. I rode three of these bikes when they were brand new; 2004, 2006, and a 2007 as I was very good friends with the Yamaha dealership at the time. These bikes performed flawlessly and were just final assembled from their shipping containers. I know how they are supposed to perform and when I bring up a problem or concern, it is of a legitimate nature with my bike. If acceptable I would like to converse with you personally or through PM's. I've seen far too much preferred rhetoric and responses of late to questions posted on this website and is serves no purpose other than irritation when trying to solve problems. Again, I really appreciate and thank you openly for being one to openly share and offer knowledgeable guidance to keep these aging machines going. A huge side benefit of saving folks $$$ goes far too unappreciated also. So many of your caliber have departed the site which is a terrible loss of talent. Some I still speak with and I'm not alone in my thoughts. After what I've seen from some of the older participants of this website; my participation is going to be cut back as there is little here of interest. Thanks again, Rob

I'd wager you'd thought about it a time or two.....

Good idea and thanks for the post. Fellow at work does about the same with his pregnant wife whom cannot, (or won't) mount up on his Victory motorcycle any longer. They have the same intercom as you. He's one of those tech "geeks" and is all over that kind of stuff. How do you like your Sena set? I'm thinking along the lines myself.

Folded up nice, neat, and compact both mine and wife's new rain gear for storage into the saddlebags. She has the left bag, I have the right and the trunk is to be shared.

Yessir I am. CD players to this day unless ruggedized to military specification which are cost prohibitive in the consumer electronics market, will still skip with road jarring. The MP3, and above format is the way to go at present day, but even that is facing obsolescence at this time. Won't be too much longer and all music, (for instance) will be stored on the "cloud" and one will access it much like a tuner on a radio. No more moving parts to consumer music players in this instance. I expect future automotive cruise control will be GPS controlled also for road speed and collision avoidance in motives of the future.

Thank you and I have done that numerous times as was thinking the engagement switch had defective or intermittent contact closure. I've not taken anything apart and this may be a viable option but it does engage albeit slowly and inconsistent at times. I always hold the throttle in positon until I feel it start to roll within my hand before releasing. This was a learned trait over several iteration of attempting to engage the cruise control. If there isn't a problem w/the system it sure is frustrating 1970's cruise technology is better than what's installed on the bikes if this sloppy operation is normal.

HI and thanks. I did perform the alignments and check which were really just checks as nothing needed adjustment when I rebuilt the carburetors. I have the same problem Gary mentions with the set point and the actual road speed being different with the initial setting of the cruise. I may start "experimenting" with adjustments to calibrate an offset into this thing to make it work right, or may make something better. This is the first bike I've owned with OEM supplied cruise control and am wanting it to work right. This bike having the wheel speed sensor incorporated into the drive hub would be fairly easy to pick off a signal from to drive an external unit to actuate the throttle. Thanks, Rob

I'll have to dig up photos of an adaption I did for my 76 KZ-1000 years ago which worked very well. It was a "King Cruise" unit for a diesel truck which actuated a cable to operate the throttle. I drilled and tapped the drive chain sprocket cover, and drilled a hole in the output chain sprocket incorporating a hall effect pickup feeding the unit. Worked like a champ and monitored sprocket speed regardless of gear you were in, so needed to be careful as engine rpm's went very high if engaged in lower gears with a low road speed. It would regulate well within 2% of set speed. The engine having a whole lot of power, never stumbled to keep up to road speed no matter how heavy the bike was. This unit did not use engine vacuum and was a push pull comparator circuit, (basically a modified Triac). Ahh, back in the days when I used to enjoy fiddling.....

The cruise control works very well once engaged, but it can take up to six seconds before taking effect. I know this isn't normal and it's not consistently this long. The hose on the vacuum pump looks good with the clamps present, and once engaged, it works very well. It passes all self tests fine and readily accelerates up an incline regulating road speed as should. I usually push the "set" button about a second before releasing and sometimes the engagement is immediate, other times if the throttle is let go road speed will drop about 10mph before the cruise picks up. I've found holding the set button down for about 6-7 seconds is intermittent as far as engagement time also. It has never failed to engage, just varying times for engagement? Don't really know where to start but is there an air filter for this vacuum pump installed someplace, or does it share another air filter someplace? Thanks, Rob

I agree with the masking or covering up of the problem. That being said the system really is passive in nature requiring no engine power to drive, only vacuum and a fresh air source. No real reason to defeat the system if easy to maintain. There is an air filter incorporated and if this is not maintained the system WILL give problems. I suspect it's easy to just look at it as "emissions crap" but w/no active feedback to supply the ECM, it really is transparent to the bike's operation. Nothing really wrong with defeating the system at all except you may have more "sooting" to the exhaust pipes than with the system operational as fresh air injection causes the exhaust gasses to become hotter just as an oxygen stream placed into an acetylene gas flame makes for a flame that vaporizes steel easily.

I know and have read in several places about the AIS causing the decelerating backfire through the exhaust pipes. What is the failing item? Is it the reed valve, the air cutoff valve, rubber tubing connecting and controlling the air cut off valve, or other interconnections? Mine backfires too but I'd like to ascertain what is most likely suspect before either repairing, or disabling the system. I see the limited test procedure available in the service manual posted on the site here. All my rubber parts appear sound and all clamps are in place. Can any of these parts be cleaned with carb cleaner as example due to carbon fouling, or dirt? I certainly am glad to have that buzz addressed as it was really annoying but now to move to the next annoyance with the bike. Thanks, Rob

I've removed the saddlebags and went for a ride with no joy as a result; the rattle was still persistent. Did do a bit of cleaning while it was apart but nothing worth mentioning except tightened all fasteners very snug: Reinstalled the saddlebags hoping a simple repositioning of parts would do the trick but again, no joy. I went to remove the trunk and discovered I'm a victim of my own "**** for brains" mentality sometimes as evidenced by these photos. The first being the empty trunk: Now as soon as I lifted the edge of the trunk foam, this is what I discover laying on the right side: I'd purchased that section of hydraulic brake line several years ago for a Land Rover I was working on not remembering I'd stuck it in the trunk, and having to purchase another section to finish the job. Such a ignorant mistake on my part thought I'd share. This rattle has really driven me nuts all summer since starting to ride again but never had an inkling to check under the mats for anything until attempting to physically remove the tour package units. I guess we live and learn. Thanks to all for the assist. With all the findings, repairs, modifications, etc. I'm doing and have done to this bike it is really starting to grow on me. Even had an older gent and wife riding an Electra-Glide Classic tell me it was a good looking bike at a stoplight last evening. Older gent lacking all the riding garb and tatoos; his comment was sincere I felt. Rob

I have about 250 miles or so on the oil change using the Honda GN-4 oil with a Yamaha filter and the clutch is working and releasing better than it has since I've owned the bike. It's always had "YamaLube" oil since new according to former owner. I'd purchased the bike with a fresh oil change and the clutch has never worked as well as it does now. I highly recommend others try this oil in their bikes as I really believe you'll be impressed with the operation.

I actually applied blue "painters tape" over this moulding and the lower windshield to eliminate as possibilities. It doesn't rattle when tapped by hand but I had most of the bike wrapped in tape covering most all openings and crevices to disrupt normal air flow. It kinda/sorta sounds like a spark plug wire arcing over but I've not seen any compromise to them and the frequency of the "buzz" does not change through the rpm operational range. That scenario in itself is kinda ruled out as the frequency does not sound like a single cylinder and there is no engine miss I've detected. Pm me your phone number and we'll get together and you can ride it to see what I'm speaking of. Thanks, Rob

Yes, I have been chasing this "buzzing" for quite some time and it's not an easy one to isolate. I'm starting to look at more obscureances of noise generation which are out of the normal citing there are no "dead giveaways".

Adjusted the rear suspension air pressure to 50psi from 20psi prior to the ride to work this morning and a bit of difference for certain. The noise is still there but definitely different. I only ride 8.8 miles on smooth road and no traffic to work so not a really good comparison to anything yet. Is there a chance there could be bushings or pins worn in the rear shock absorber or mountings causing this? It does not lose air pressure over time I've noticed, but there has to be movement or articulation to the assembly as negotiation of the roadway takes place? 50psi is a bit harsh to ride quality when by oneself and 20 psi is much easier on the lower back pounding. Thanks, Rob

My apologies but I do not understand your posting. I did however clean and grease the drive splines and changed the differential oil. All old lubricants were flushed clean prior to new being installed. The noise was present prior to the bike being serviced and is not something new. Thanks, Rob

Noise is still there without the saddlebags installed. This is getting strange as there is no audible change compared to before. I got all the fasteners in the rear very tight but don't want to distort the hex recess in the stainless fasteners so can't go any tighter. The bushings in the saddlebag mounts are in good condition and still supple. I'm going to tape the rear exhaust caps on the mufflers at their joint to see if it's possibly an exhaust leak although it really doesn't sound like it?

No joy to be had as of yet. I have a stock Yamaha windshield and removed the chrome crossbar cover under the fairing for the ride home. As mentioned earlier I tightened all the fasteners which retain the chrome saddlebag mounts and can't find anything else really loose. I'll pull the saddlebags shortly and ride without them as it opens up a lot more to evaluate.

Found something to try. I had both saddlebags off the bike during service of the rear wheel which was completely disassembled for service splines, oil, brakes, caliper, etc. but really never looked at the chrome mounts the saddlebag guards mount to. The bolt shown here: was very loose and the others which hold the mount to the bike weren't all that tight. I've now thoroughly tightened all these fasteners on both sides and will give it a try. Probably tonight it will go back up onto the stand for a "tighter" inpection of the parts normally hidden. Really liking the synthetic oil in the differential and synthetic grease on the splines. Also the Honda GN-4 oil has made the bike shift and clutch operate as it should with just a few miles ridden. Seems to be a good workable combination. Thanks again to the responders. I'll post an update later today. Rob

I don't have it installed. I'd replaced it with a cable allowing further trunk lid opening angle but removed it as a chance; no change. thanks, Rob

I have a strange noise I've not been able to pinpoint. Seems like it's a resonate vibration pronounced at 35mph-75mph on smooth road in third gear or higher. If you get off the throttle, the noise instantly stops. Almost sounds like electrical "buzz" through the intercom but they're not plugged in and I can hear it when riding w/out a helmet. Can't hear it when holding an elevated idle speed at a stop so have to be moving. I've set the cruise and physically pushed down on saddle bag lids, trunk lid, passenger floor pans, exhaust pipe, etc. and haven't been able to isolate it yet. Definitely sound on the right rear of the bike for certain. I'm wondering if maybe one of the vacuum solenoids under the engine could be suspect? The noise was there prior to a major chassis service being performed. Doesn't sound mechanical as in a shuttle valve operating incorrectly at all and really is not loud. However when wearing a helmet, the sound path is elevated to my ears so the noise is traveling. It's also there hot, or cold. Does not sound like a loose baffle, or exhaust leak at all but more like a "buzz" that does not change frequency. It is steady, doesn't elevate in intensity, and is constant above 35mph and can be heard at 75mph easily. Any suggestions as to where to start? Thanks, Rob