Prairiehammer

Rick, I wasn't trying to be anal or nit picky about the nomenclature, it was just that the thread title asks about driving light lens and most readers would think you were speaking about the auxiliary lights we often call driving lights and thus might not open the thread to learn what you were really seeking was the turn signal lens. I was just trying to help.

That's good to know, BrianF, because the 1985 parts catalogue I have shows the vertical choke lever as on the 1984. Perhaps they changed during the 1985 production? Some with vertical and some with horizontal?

Not to make too light of an obviously scary episode, but watch out for TRAINS! They don't tend to pull out in front of you, but I was sitting at a railroad crossing waiting for the train to pass and it derailed and took out the crossing signal right in front of me!

I think it was the 1984 and 1985 that the choke lever is mounted vertically between grip and switch housing.

I believe the trunk light is fused from the HAZARD fuse. 15amp. Double check that the fuse holder clips are making good contact with the fuse itself. VERY common problem with our first generation fuse blocks is bad fuse clips. Sooner or later you will have to replace the OEM fuse block. Most convert to the ATC type fuse blocks. Skydoc_17 has a kit for that.

Brian, I'll take one.

Rick, Calling the front turn signal a "driving light" is confusing. I understand that is what it was called in the reference you cite, but in the Yamaha Venture parts catalogs the component you are seeking is called the right "front flasher light assembly" or for the rest of us, the right front turn signal. The front flasher light assembly, PN 26H-83320-70, lists for $183.63, discounted (?) to $143.07 at boats.net. http://www.boats.net/parts/search/Yamaha/Motorcycle/1984/VENTURE%20-%20XVZ1200L/TURNSIGNAL/parts.html Apparently it is still available from Yamaha. The lens is not sold separately. Your best bet is to seek one on eBay. Here is a pair, for $40: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Yamaha-Venture-1200-XVZ-XVZ12-Used-Original-Fairing-Turn-Signal-Pair-1983-M3-/110933545555?hash=item19d4279253&item=110933545555&pt=Motorcycles_Parts_Accessories&vxp=mtr

Well, I don't know how they define skinny butt, but I think I have skinny butt. (6'-4", 200 pounds of pure muscles).

Steve, I feel your pain! I am 6'-4" with a 36" inseam. When I bought my '90 on eBay and drove 275 miles to pick it up, I was planning to continue on to Lake Superior and ride my new acquisition around that lake. As soon as I swung a leg over and sat, I knew I wasn't going on that trip. I headed back for home. That 275 miles seemed the longest 275 miles I had ever ridden on ANY bike. It turned out the previous owner was very short and had removed foam from the seat bottom and edges and had added foam to the "cantle" part of the stock seat. The bike came with a Markland backrest and although I adjusted it as far to the rear as it allowed, I had to stop after fifty miles or so and remove the backrest; there was simply not enough room for me. I also removed the fairing pouches at the first gas stop, but had to put them back on after ten miles. The male snap bases were eating my knees! After much trial and error, I finally reached a compromise by removing all the foam the PO had added to the cantle and removing much of the stock foam forming the cantle and by adding high density foam to the seat under my butt and even more foam to the area in front of my crotch to help with the sliding forward. There is a limit to how much padding can be added to the cushion before there is not enough vinyl seat cover to cover the foam and still be able to wrap the cover over the pan and staple it. Later, I installed a Bead Rider beaded seat cover. This helped a fair amount as far as monkey butt and it raised my butt another ½". I also elongated the seat mounting tab holes to allow the entire seat to be positioned about ½" rearward. This combination allowed for a 500 mile day on our trip around Lake Superior, but...it is no Iron Butt candidate. Currently I am using a Saddlemen Road Sofa with a built in backrest. When I received it from Dano, I excitedly installed it and hopped on and argghh! My knees were back into the bags and at an acute angle! Even though the Road Sofa had been modified by Rick Butler with his Butt Butler, I was squirming within fifty miles. The Road Sofa sits me noticedly taller in the saddle, but it is HARD and much more constraining than my modified stock seat. I added the Bead Riders to the Road Sofa and again they helped the butt burn and raised my butt a bit, but I can't back up enough to get any legroom. My next step is to remove foam from the cantle of the Road Sofa. The bucket of the Road Sofa also seems too narrow, pushing in on my hips. Foam will be removed from there as well. The backrest on the Road Sofa offers enough adjustment to fit me comfortably and is the only reason I am keeping the seat, for now. I measured from the nose of the seat pan to the cantle on the Road Sofa and compared it to the modified stock seat. I am able to sit a good 1½" more rearward on the modded stock seat than the Road Sofa. One consequence of raising my butt as opposed to your desire to lower the pegs: buffeting around the helmet became annoying as I was sitting partially outside the envelope of calmer air provided by the windshield. I have mostly solved that problem with a Laminar Lip attached to the stock windshield. Debbie commented that her portion of the Road Sofa is a bit taller than the stock seat. She also said it is quite firm and that her...umm...lady parts fall asleep after an hour or so. Jodie's mileage may vary. How did Jodie like the Road Sofa on her last LD ride? How did you adjust the pegs on your '86? My '90 does not have any adjustment in the pegs, unlike my '83. I measured the '90 peg position and compared it to the '83 pegs in their most forward position and found the dimensions identical.

Old man's bike, indeed! Humph! I bought my first Venture when I was 33! I suppose to a 19 year old, even 33 is old.

I don't know who is in charge of what for this event as yet, so Rick? Mike? check out the MTA site under their Motorcycle Roads section, for their publications where they discuss the planning and culmination of their annual "Gathering" of 2010 in Galena, IL. I believe a few of our members are members of the MTA and may have some insights to the Galena area as far as a motorcycle rally is concerned. http://www.mtariders.com/v3/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=51&Itemid=70

But it is NORTHeastern corner Iowa, Dano.

I assume you meant NorthWESTERN Illinois? And that is right along with my recommendation of Southwestern Wisconsin. I vote for Galena or Prairie Du Chien!

Southwestern Wisconsin has some very nice roads, too. And Flyingfool and Orlin and Straka and Bryan and maybe Bubber and ? could contribute to the International. :big-grin-emoticon:

Brian, Read this and then have your daughter and wife read it, too: An open letter to every person I meet who finds out I ride a motorcycle Let me stop you right there, mmmm-kay? I can tell by that little intake of breath what’s coming next. Thank you in advance, but I already know that motorcycles are “dangerous.” After nearly forty years of riding on the streets, I am aware; telling me now will not be a revelation. It is not an insight into my lifestyle that has remained hidden from me until this, the moment of epiphany when you shine the light of outsider wisdom on my foolhardy choices. There are ways I can minimize the risk — by riding defensively, riding sober, knowing my own and my machine’s capabilities, etc. — but I also know there are some risks that are simply beyond my control. But you know what? There a lots of risks that are within my control. We’ve become so pathologically risk-averse that for most people it is inconceivable to assume any additional risk no matter how much joy you might get back in return. You want to know what’s truly dangerous? Not taking any risks. Hanging out with like-minded middle-of-the-roaders. Absorbing the same brain-ossifying **** from media factories every day. Jogging. Putting helmets, flotation devices, and auto-deploy epi-pens on your kids every time they leave the house. Passivity. Not paying attention to where your car, or your life, or you country is going. If you don’t get that, that’s OK. I’m not trying to convert anybody, but here are a few tips to save us both a little aggravation: You don’t need to tell me the horror story about your uncle’s buddy who wiped out his chopper while drag racing at some hooligan rally. That just makes me wish I were talking to your uncle’s buddy instead of you. He sounds pretty cool. Do not — do NOT — tell me about the time you almost Sausage Creatured a biker because you “couldn’t see him” or he “came out of nowhere.” I have never known a bike to come out of nowhere, but I have seen plenty of cars pull a Crazy Ivan and turn into a lane occupied by a biker or make an impromptu unsignalled left turn in front of an oncoming me. If you’re expecting me to share your outrage at the temerity of bikers to be in the lane you want, you’re more deluded than a goldfish with a passport. I can’t make you see bikes. I can’t make you hang up your phone. They won’t let me mount a .50-caliber machine gun to my bike. So really, there’s not much I can do to change the outcome of your anecdote, so save it for your coreligionists who also have stick-figure families and giant softball stickers with the name “Tailyr” or “Flynn” or “Shyly” on their rear windows. I do wear a helmet, as a matter of fact, along with other protective gear. But, the fact that you “certainly hope” I wear a helmet is so condescending it makes me want to ride a tricycle completely naked doing doughnuts in your front yard screaming Beastie Boys lyrics at midnight. Trust me, you do not want that. My buttocks are extremely pale and unsightly, especially in moonlight. Please, do not complain about bikes parking in car parking spaces. Where are we supposed to park? If they let us park up on the curb like in Europe, we would totally do that, and precious few parking lots have motorcycle parking areas. Most cops already have a hard-on for bikes, so parking anywhere but in a designated spot is asking to be impounded. Yes, I know, some bikes have very loud exhaust. Maybe it’s obnoxious, but at least you knew they were there, didn’t you? They say loud pipes save lives. I don’t know if that’s true, because there hasn’t been a serious comprehensive study of motorcycle safety since 1981, the poetically named Hurt Report. And yes, I know, at one point you probably saw some kid riding his 600cc sport bike at 100mph doing a wheelie down the freeway. He’s a squid, and he’ll either grow up or just take care of himself. Some bikers do crazy things. Anti-social things. Unsanctioned things. I don’t represent him and he doesn’t represent me — that’s the great part of being a biker. I could be a Lowbrow Weirdo or Antoine Predock or Lyle Lovett or just whatever I want to be. If you’re really so all-fire concerned about my safety, don’t preach at me. Just do me this one favor: pay attention when you’re driving. Keep your greasy fingers off your touch-screen, put down your phone, use your turn signals and lay off the booze before you get on the road with me. You take care of your part and I’ll take care of mine. But hang-gliding, man, that **** is crazy. Carter Edman is an architect, writer, and rider in Cleveland, Ohio. He teaches “Motorcycles and American Culture” and other courses at Case Western Reserve University.

My first new bike (I still have it) was a 1974 CB750K4. I had never ridden anything so big and powerful. The dealer's parking lot was big, on a hillside and gravel! I thought I would dump it before I could even get onto the street. I was so nervous and glad to get to pavement without incident, that I promptly went the wrong way on a one-way street.

You didn't ask about the following, but I think your bike had them. Markland Trailer Hitch: $61-$152.50 Trunk Rack: $20-$70 Chrome Accent Panels (covering rear master cylinder and left side above middle gear= $20-$65

Brian, I happen to record all First Gen Venture accessories transactions from eBay. On January 16, 2012 a very good example of the Chrome Fairing Intake Grills, PN.ABA-26HDCD-28-00 sold for $29.00 plus $11 for shipping for a pair. If you need any other accessory historical pricing, post an inquiry here.

Jack, I am saddened to hear of Nadine's passing. My condolences to you and your family. Forty-five years! Lots of reminiscing in your future. Prayers are sent for you and Nadine. May she rest in peace.

V-Boost! Is it functional? Nothing to do with your pilot screw issues, just noticed that your Venture has V-Max V-Boost. Did you put it on?

@Mike Krug: The OP was an inquiry about the MKII First Gen. The trunks on the '86+ are substantially bigger than the '83.

Does sound like a good time, but that's the same weekend as the Pork in the Pines. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't manage both.

Whoa, that's scary, Jeff. Couldn't catch the guy? Once I was passing a pickup that was hauling washed 1/2" stone in the bed with tailgate down...spreading that rock down the highway. Broke my windshield, headlight, BOTH driving lights and punctured the radiator. I pulled a "U" turn and followed him (at a discrete distance) to the next stop sign. I chewed his ass and found out who his boss was and followed up on it immediately. The Boss cursed his "stupid" employee and handed me $250 cash and asked if I wouldn't report it to the cops. A rock like that could have killed somebody, though! Egads!

See above comments.