VentureBob

This is all great info, thanks everyone! As far as the front spings, I have a reciept from the previous owner that in 2008 or less then 3k mile ago the fork springs where serviced. Now I can see that they did sleeves and seals and oil but I don't know if they added new springs. seems kind odd to do all that other work and leave bad springs. I don't ever feel the front end bottom out, nor do I feel like the front end hops in corners. I do have the fork brace comming from Condor, but I don't think I will get that in time for tomorrows ride. Sounds like the Dunlop tires are the main issue as it was said earlier that they tend to follow the grooves and cracks of the road which would explain what I am feeling. That I will just have to live with until the need for new tires comes. I am going to be adjusting front pressure down to 10-12 and lowereing dampener down to 2. I am not sure how to find tire mfg recomended pressure as I believe it's just a range on side of tire, but I will look again to be sure. I have heard that just a few pounds +/- will make a world of difference and that is why I check tire pressure before every ride. I saw the windshield with the vents in the front and thought it might help. I will look at that in the future as well. Hopfully the adjustments to front pressure and dampener will help tomorrows ride a bit as we are leaving the North Seattle WA area and heading up to a beach that is near the Canadian boarder.

I need some advice from all you folks who have had some seat time with 1985 Venture Royale. (Not sure if year really matters). Let me fill you in on some details. I have about 400 miles in the seat of this machine. I have not ridden in the last 16 years. I am 6’2” tall and weigh in at 300lbs (I know not a small guy). Using the repair manual as the only reference, I am running fairly new Dunlop Elite series tires 32 PSI in front tire and 40 PSI in rear. Class system set to auto and running on medium setting which is around 16 PSI in front forks and 41 PSI in rear. I have the rear shock dial setting, set to 3 (don’t remember the name of this setting buts it’s the dial on the left of bike just behind foot peg). Now with all the facts here is what I am experiencing. -At speeds of 50+ going down highway or freeway I get the sensation that the front is floating, almost feels as if the front wheel has a mind of its own (kind of like on a bicycle with loose handle bars but not that extreme). At first I thought I was just feeling the wind on the front fairing, and then I thought it was side wind hitting the large chrome covers on the front brake rotors. I have completely checked the front wheel and steering head and all is tight and smooth. This is a very uneasy feeling for me and it is keeping from fully enjoying this fine machine. I friend of mine tells me I am just feeling the ruts in the road and not to worry about it, but he rides a Triumph sport bike that weighs in at more the half the weight of my bike and me. -Second issue is at about 45+ MPH the wind buffering behind the windshield starts to bounce my head around and gets worse at speed. A friend told me to try to stand up a little to see if I can get above buffer or slink down a bit to see if I can find buffer zone but I am not having much luck with either of those while riding. I realize this may have to do with my lack of experience not only in riding this machine but in riding in general, so any suggestions or re-assurances would be very helpful in my riding enjoyment. We are getting ready to take a 200+ mile ride tomorrow on a lot of highway and freeway and I am not looking forward to it.

Hey Brian, would mind posting some pics of the bags?

I may have the extensions you are talking about. I know when I bought my '85 VR last year it had full dress back end including trailer hitch. I pulled off that stuff off and have it in a pile somewhere. I remember thinking how odd it was to see clamp on exhaust extensions. I will dig around to see if I can find them and post a picture.

Just made my order. Hey I think I want a set of Mac's

Was there ever any type of soft bag designed to fit inside the hard side bags? Does anyone use something like this? If so what do you use?

Hello Folks, I am assuming from the picture I have attached that the previous owner must have done the grease zerk mod for the drive shaft. However I have know idea what type of grease to use. Also can someone tell me if the shim that the red arrow is pointing to in picture is stock for my 85 VR or is this some kind of MOD as well. Thank you [ATTACH]48702[/ATTACH]

Thanks for the info, I will try to run the jumper wire to back of CMS and see what happens. Thanks for all the info

I had built the wire with inline resister and had it plugged into the excisting plug and then attached to the accessory fuse but still no luck. I took apart the connection on the red and white wire in the picture as they were correded and I thought that was causing it to not have a good connection but even with bare wire to wire I still have the issue.

Having some issues with this MOD and could use some help. I know this all seems pretty simple but as far as I can tell I am doing everything that I am supposed to be in the MOD but I still have the battery icon and red flashing light. Could I have a bad cold solder on the board that would be causing the MOD to not work like it supposed to?