vzuden

We use the UClear brand of Bluetooth communicators. We use modular helmets so no boom mic is great. Still have use of the CB when needed. Use both could be an option to your poll

If a change is needed, and only if it is needed - gear it towards more Yamaha models.

I drive the GM trucks to 200,000 miles + (current 2005 model has 210,000) and never had to replace a ball joint. Not saying they are a better/worse truck, just find it unusual to hear of all this bad balljoint reporting

I've used a similar recipe - used MEK (methyl ethyl ketone - I think) instead of acetone. Not sure what the difference is. But wouldn't the glue they sell for ABS plumbing work just as well?

i have used the same oil in both bikes - Yamalube from the local dealer. I had about 40,000 miles on the RTSD when I traded it in on the 2012 last year. This one has around 15,000 miles now

It's the sound of a high quality machine!!! Just keep telling yourself that and the noise won't seem as bad????????? My 2007 had it pretty bad and just before it went out of warranty I had the dealer install the I basket. I don't think it helped much. My current bike, 2012 model, has no whine or very little. So I am wondering if maybe Yamaha changed something for the last two model years.

I have a Shoei Neotec (modular) and it's the quietest helmet I've ever had

Larry, the Royal Star Tour Deluxe is basically a Venture without a trunk (or a fairing). A picture of a RSTD would show how it will look without the trunk, mounting bracket, and CB radio.

There's at least one, maybe two, in Las Vegas https://aafes.lvhd.com/products/products.aspx?productID=7345&gclid=CLHVgqqZnckCFQiraQodpuAJtA

My son works for a phone repair place. They replace dozens of screens a day and it's not all that expensive.

Make sure it is not leaking above that spot on the radiator. The fins can catch and retain every little droplet

I'm pretty sure the 2nd gens' factory fuel pumps are designed with check valves to prevent fuel draining through them when not in use.

yep. brand new bike last year and still has original front tire. My last bike eventually went to stock size E3 and all fit fine

Dion, Is this writeup you were thinking of? http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?32359-Ignition-Switch-Wiring-Failure

Not hard to do at all. I made own: http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?492-Leveling-Links-Raising-the-Rear-of-the-RSV

sounds like you have answered your own question. Ride at your pace and enjoy the ride!

I too, had a moment with a car on a tralier. I purchased a Fiat Spider as a basket case profect. It was not running and had no interior or operating brakes. I trailered it home and my wife was willing to help me unload it. Well since I help, my plan was to push it off the trailer with her steering. Since it was a slight upgrade once it got off the trailer there is no need for brakes, right?. With no interior which meant no seat, I put box in it for her to sit on. I told her if it did happen to roll too far to just pull up on the park brake lever. My truck/trailer is backed into my driveway with the truck mostly off the street and maybe two car lengths between the back of the trailer and the garage. The garage door is open. Two car with one half to be the home for the Fiat with the other half for cycles. It was almost all I could do to push the car off the trailer and as soon as the rear wheels hit the ramps, off she went. Unfortunately I had the truck and trailer at a slight angle in the driveway so the car is headed to the side of the garage where, in a nice neat row are my RSTD, Honda CB750, and her Kymco scooter. My assistant is doing all she can to steer but to no avail. I yell for her to pull the park brake but I had not confirmed it worked - there wasn't a need for it right? Wrong. By the time I climbed away from the trailer and ran to grab the car bumper it had rolled into the garage and the car bumper had nudged the saddle bag guard on the RSTD. I saw the bike shake a little but that was all. If it had tipped over it would have had the domino affect and taken down the other two. Upon inspection I found the RSTD had slid ahead a few inches on its side stand. No damage! The whole event was similar to watching my little granddaughter at the bowling alley. Give the ball a shove and watch it slowly roll to the pins. Only in this case the ball was the car and pins were cycles. And... I had to chase the ball down the alley!

I used to think those little plastic deer whistles were just a scam and thought they were ridiclous. I was on the midst of averaging one deer collision a year over a 10-15 year span. On a whim and as more of a joke I bought a pair in the checkout lane of some store I happened to be in. A few months later after having the truck in the body shop for a deer damaged new front end I threw them on thinking they couldn't hurt anything. Its been 10-11 years since the last deer collision and I still drive just as much and on the same roads. I am not saying they work, just sharing the possibility they MIGHT work after all. I even have a pair stuck under the rider footrests of my venture.

My my son 's first bike was a '78 Honda CB750 for which he paid $1.00. It turned out to be a great father- son project. He learned about every aspect of the bike from new rings, valve job to electrical and brakes. He rode it for several years and ended up selling it for more than I had invested in it (labor is free). But working together on it together over a winter was priceless.

I have two Harbor Freight chocks - no problems with Ventures

Mhenderlong, I understand where you are coming from. I am nearly the same age as you but my parents have been gone for several years (father when I was 15). In some respects I am envious of you in that you have gotten to spent so many years with your parents. Our bikes are just "things" that cannot take the place of those close to us.

Not my cup of tea but one of the guys in my office rides one. He has mentioned selling if you haven't got one picked out yet. He wants to upgrade to the bigger engine. He likes and the only two negatives he has mentioned is that a rider is exposed to more wind than a tourer and he's not real fall so he had trouble flat footing it at stops. I believe he installed a lowering kit of some kind

Shoei Neotec modular - love it

Before pushing the pistons in you should clean the outside exposed part of the piston

+1 I am near Peoria. Would be more than willing to meet up