Prairiehammer

What symptoms are causing you to think the START button/switch is bad? There were several right hand switch gears available on eBay (used, of course). Enter "XVZ start" in the eBay search box. But, the START switch is fairly robust and simple and not prone to wearing out. It IS prone to dirty contacts, though. Gary Dinges produced an excellent tutelage on cleaning the various switches on the handlebars. Perhaps as a Trial Member, you are not allowed access to all the Technical Library has to offer. If you are allowed, check out the First Generation Technical Library. There you find how to disassemble and clean the START switch. And @bongobobny, the START button has never been red. Black or gray.

Sorry. It worked yesterday, but not today. I dunno. Anyway, try this: [h=1]=8&childforums=1&type[]=1"]Search:[/h] Type: Posts; Keyword(s): delinking; Forum = First Generation Venture Tech Talk and child forums; Excluded Forums not On Ebay Listings

"Delinking" http://www.venturerider.org/forum/search.php?searchid=1426234

I took some pics of the fairing edge trim when I was refurbishing the '91. The one had come loose (original double sided tape).

That punch mark does NOT indicate a second gear repair. See my last post in that thread: http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?100987-Anyone-know-where-what-the-quot-Repaired-Stamp-quot-is-suppose-to-be-for-83-85-2nd-gear-issue

Lots of folks are confused about that punch mark above the middle gear. Yamaha told the dealers and mechanics to make that punch mark when they had performed the stator cooling kit installation. There was no directive to make that mark when the second gear repair was made. The stator cooling kit was a warranty and "recall" deal. There was no "recall" for the second gear problem, thus no Yamaha mandated warranty repair. M84-025 Stator Cooling Kit Installation.pdf

All the 1983-1987 First Generation Venture Handlebars (26H-26112-00-00) are the same, irrespective of year, sub-model or right or left. I believe that the 1988-1993 Venture handlebars will also fit, but those years carry a different part number (26H-W2613-00-00).

The 1988 XVZ13U (Standard) did not have CLASS. The OP may have a 1988 Standard.

The 1983-1985 mufflers were one piece. The pictured "cap" is the result of a PO cutting the muffler into two pieces at the "weld". (it is not removable, ordinarily).

All this recent talk about motor mounts, causes me to report on my very recent experience: I have been seriously disappointed with the handling of my 1991. It wandered on straight stretches of highway and fell into curves causing constant correction. It seemed any pavement irregularities caused the bike to hunt. I adjusted tire air pressure, CLASS air pressure, shock preload, steering head torque, greased the rear suspension links (though, it was apparent that had not been done for quite awhile. Half of the Zerks would not take any grease.), ad nauseum. Purely by accident, as I was adding oil during an oil change, I noticed that the right rear motor mount bolt was hanging way out! Closer inspection showed that the engine and frame had been moving in relation to each other for quite some time. I had to lever the engine up a bit to restart the bolt into the threaded frame boss. And then torqued the bolt to spec. While I was at it, I checked the torque on the lower removable frame rail. All the bolts were loose or below torque specification! (These are the Allen head bolts joining the main frame to the lower removable frame rail). Yamaha had a tech bulletin issued back in the day, advising that the frame bolts be checked for proper torque. I suspect that none of the previous owners of my bike had ever done that. I took the '91 on a trip the next day. Two up laden and pulling a trailer and the handling was amazingly better. And a persistent but unexplained "clunk" I had experienced previously was gone. Bottom line: check the torque on your motor mount bolts AND THE FRAME BOLTS!

You want to turn a Venture into a bobber, you say? Save yourself some time and just buy this one. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Custom-Built-Motorcycles-Other-/191685992938?forcerrptr=true&hash=item2ca16021ea&item=191685992938

Yamaha calls it a "stay" as in lower fairing stay, IOW it is just a place to keep the lower fairing in a semi permanent location. If you notice, the aft end of that stay is attached to the frame with a fairly small bolt AND that bolt goes through an elongated hole in the stay. There is no way that arrangement can offer much to the frame rigidity. It is just a stay for the lowers.

First and Second Gen VENTURE rims are completely different. But you knew that.

You needn't have bought it for your 1986. The stator cooling kit mod was only required on 1983 and 1984 Ventures. All subsequent Ventures had the "kit" installed at the factory. The wire slinger is not visible until the rotor bolt is removed. The slinger is inserted into the bolt from the inside end of the bolt. M84-025 Stator Cooling Kit Installation.pdf

Use some stout (14-20#) nylon monofilament fishing line with a sawing action to cut through the double faced foam tape used to adhere the emblem to the reflector. "Goo-Gone", WD40 or similar to remove the residue from the separated parts.

Adding washers to the rubber grommets was a Yamaha Tech Bulletin suggestion. M83-015 Additionnal Predelivery service .pdf

Yep. Done it a couple times. Just make sure to torque those two bolts to factory spec. Also make sure that your new kit includes the proper spacers and the required longer bolts that should have been included.

Yep!

Twern't me. I don't work on Second Gens. Afraid some of the eslowa virus might infect my First Gens.

I attempted to find and utilize a bunch of different hoses to replace the hardened breather hose without luck. The very tight space combined with the need for a "S" curve in the hose precluded using anything I could find. Finally bit the bullet and bought a new one off eBay. Boats.net still offers that hose, PN:47G-11166-00-00 for $14.71 plus shipping. There are also a few on eBay, starting at $14.59 with free shipping.

Thank you Stephane for the data. Your white bike is in fact a 1987 Royale. The August 1986 build date is consistent with the build date for the 1987 model. Your white bike is a repaint. The 1987 Venture Royale would have been either Alluvial Gold/Silky Gold or Elegant Brown/Imperial Brown from the factory. Another clue that it is a repaint: you stated "the back side of the panels are also white." The factory did not paint the back side of the body panels. The reverse side of all the body panels would be black, the natural color of the ABS plastic used to mold the panels.

Anyone who says that is un-knowledgeable about the Venture of any Generation. Do not take any advice about the Venture from them. Again, they don't know what they are talking about. There was NO Venture of any configuration or generation from 1994-1998. Yamaha states the minimum rotor thickness is 6.5mm for the stock rotor.

The Bum's picture is showing the stator up side down. The pictured burned section is up when installed on bike. It is very typical that an upper leg gets crispy. Rarely does the lower leg burn up, because it runs cooler, since it received more cooling engine oil.