icebrrg3rd

It's like that minivan commercial a while back, a lady & her daughter stop to help a filthy, dirty guy on the side of the road with a broken-down motorcycle. They fold the seats into the floor, load up the bike, and he climbs in. Then the lady says "Daddy just had to buy a motorcycle" and the girl giggles. -Andrew

I would have loved to go, but I was working on my bike. Need a new rear tire before I wander any distance too. -Andrew

I'm still planning on coming Fri evening. Jeff, I'll follow you and you can clear the deer off the roads for me, last time I had one jump right in front of me. -Andrew

Well, I'm here in Milwaukee, I don't have a tool but done it before. Flyinfool is in Cudahy, he has a sync tool. Not sure about schedules, he has a M&E (that's a Meet & Eat) planned for next Sat right next to the airport, maybe ride there and get him to tune it up after the meal... -Andrew

I worked in a lumberyard for several years, would be pulling slivers out daily. Maybe one or two might have left a little behind, but once they pussed up, the remenant would usually come out when the puss was cleaned out. Never had it get that bad. Hope your hand gets better quickly. -Andrew

I think the main issue might be that the V-Max doesn't have the mono-shock the Venture has, so those pipes might be routed where our shock is. -Andrew

Glad it's happening, I was finally going to make it last year but the best laid plans... I thought it was going to be the first weekend of June this year, but end of May might work out better. I marked it as a "Maybe" but hoping to change it soon to "Yes". Can't wait to hear "The Rest of the Story" by Puc Harvey... -Andrew

Mike, yup, it was insured, except it's old so not worth much. Jeff, yes, that's what I'm hoping for, that it's mostly intact and abandoned. My other van is an Astro, not as easy to take, plus I swapped the auto for a stick, most joyriding young thieves aren't able to drive stick. However, I was planning on a kill switch for mine soon, I'll move that timetable up to tonight and if/when we get hers back, it's getting one too. -Andrew

See Jeff, sending all that snow last winter over to helpless ol' puc has caused your heart to shrink 2 sizes, and you'd think that act of generosity would have caused your heart to grow 3 sizes instead. Hope they find that heart, and good luck, I hear MEK is great for piecing you back together, just like a 1st gen fairing. And don't forget to take a daily regimine of Seaform to clear everything out. -Andrew

Well, sometime last night someone stole my Caravan from in front of my house. Bummer. My wife went out to take the kids to school this morning and couldn't find her van. Spent the morning dealing with the police and the insurance co, hope that it gets found soon. Very hard to do all our running around in one van when we're used to two. Those of you who were at the VR IR 2013, Venture to Galena, might remember it as it followed along the ride with my wife & 3 kids. SO if anyone in the Milwaukee area (or maybe Chicago by now) sees a 2000 Dodge Grand Caravan, dark blue with grey lower cladding & bumpers, 15-spoke chrome rims, and a 1-foot wide green shamrock painted on the hood, please contact me or the police, my phone # is located in my member info. Thank you. -Andrew

I too have a 650 Maxim, and yes, I feel like a circus bear on a bicycle when I ride it. The only thing is that I've had that Maxim for over 20 years, and it's been sooooo reliable that I can't get rid of it. My 14 y.o. son wants it, so that's probably what it will be kept for. It is a lot more nimble than the Venture at low speed tho. -Andrew

Do you still have the glass fuses? If so, that's a place those darn gremlins LOVE to hide & play around. Change over to a blade fuse box, PRONTO. IIRC, Skydoc sells a kit, or even get one from an auto parts store. I had electrical issues that came and went, I replaced the fusebox, and so far (knock on wood) those gremlins fell off and haven't found their way back. -Andrew

I like these, stealing them... -Andrew

on what Jeff (flyinfool) said, quality bolts. Also, once you've cranked it on and nothings moving, a few solid raps with a hammer on the end of the puller worked for me. ****DO NOT POUND ON THE FLYWHEEL!!!**** Oh, and have something for it to land on, I had several layers of cardboard & a towel. Mine went about 2 feet before it hit the ground. -Andrew

On my 1st gen: For comfort, #1 is a 3-way tie. Handlebars w/ risers, floorboards, and driver's backrest. I am soooo comfortable now. Once I upgrade the stock seat it'll be a 4-way tie. For engine mods, I'd say #1 is a tie between the Dano starter clutch and the 4-brush starter. For safety/visibility, #1 is waiting in the wings for winter maint, I have a projector headlight that I want to install, and will probably do HID. #2 is to upgrade all my (non-fuctioning) accessory lights to LED, along with the regular lights. For all-around looks, the #1 accessory is the VentureRider flag hanging off the trunk. -Andrew

Aren't you sitting a tad bit back too far in the saddle? Slide forwards, take control! Don't worry about it being a HD, I've heard other nice people drive them too. -Andrew

You're a bit south of me, I am up here in Milwaukee. I've done the Dano starter clutch swap, it's not all that hard to do, most of the hard work is getting the chunk of stuck-on mass that is the flywheel off, as it's most likely been on for decades. Everything else is unbolting & bolting, quite simple actually thanks to Dano doing all the tricky work of getting everything aligned properly and ready to bolt on. As for the carbs, I've had mine apart and cleaned, but haven't really dis-assembled them too far. Most of the time it's the idle jets that need cleaning, and a proper sync once re-assembled. My weekends are packed thru late Oct (son has football games) but if you ever want to meet up maybe we can work something out. Altho there are quite a few helpful folks that live in your area that might be able to assist you too. -Andrew

Well, the good news is that the brake fluid DIDN'T get on your plastics! Put Progressives in your forks and lose the anti-dives... -Andrew

Ok, I've searched, but all I could find were threads about cracked windshield mounts (on the fairing, not the windshield itself) for the 2nd gen. I need help with the actual clear plastic windshield on the 1st gens. The mounting holes are cracked and I am wondering what glue/adhesive/epoxy would work best for repair, and maybe applying a fiberglass strip to reinforce the area. Are the windshields (OEM) acrylic or what type of plastic? This is from my parts bike, I am cutting it down to find a better height as my current one is too tall, I can't see over it and the morning & evening sun just causes a bad glare. But most of the holes are cracked and I don't want it flying off at speed. Oh, this windshield is in bad condition, which is why I don't have a problem cutting it down and experimenting on it. Thanks, Andrew

And here I thought you couldn't flood a fuel-injected engine... -Andrew

Saw all those graphic pics when I was in the Army. I wasn't married then but those images got burned into my memory. I did wear the ring for a few years, but I always took it off while working and put in my pocket. One day it wasn't in my pocket. Oops. Wife used it as an excuse to get new matching wedding bands. Finally just left it on the desk at home & the wife put it in her jewelry box. Oh, nowadays I sit in an office behind a computer with the only bodily threat is a papercut, so I could wear the ring but I'm so uses to not anymore. Plus she doesn't comment so I'm scot-free on the band. -Andrew (can still count to 10 w/o using my toes)

Ok, so I went and looked at my spare headlight cover because of this thread. Maybe this has been said/posted somewhere and I never noticed, but the Mk1 headlight cover is tempered glass. I thought it was plastic. Learned something new because of this site. Well, I be smarter now. -Andrew

Ya took the wrong fork and now you're forked...Oh spoon! -Andrew p.s. I think my turn to pay the piper is coming soon. Must resist, must fight, must...Ooooo, ice cream!

I think the savings comes in the way of not having to replace parts as much. Like not having water in the system to corrode metal parts, or that it's a low-pressure system and the hoses and gaskets won't be under pressure and stretch/blow/leak. They also say that you just drain and re-use it when doing maint on the vehicle, so you're not buying new stuff. That's my take on it. -Andrew

What is your idle speed/RPM? I know mine will drop to about 12v if I idle too long (no acc. on), but shoots back up to around 14v once I'm cruising, starts to climb if I hold it just above idle too. Mine idles around 950 RPMs. Mine does that too, which one did you get from him, the V88 one? Also, is it just a momentary cutout while riding & it goes right back on OR does it completely cutout and leave you dead on the road? Also, I was having some electrical gremlins, I replaced the old tube fuses with blade ones and haven't seen them lately (knock on wood). -Andrew