vzuden

I ride to the office - about 30 minutes (one way) of primarily 65MPH interstate highway almost every day. I wear a Tourmaster jacket with a liner that is about 10 years old, full face helmet, and gauntlet type gloves. Just jeans, casual shoes, and a long sleeve shirt otherwise. The lowest temperature when I leave home (before daylight) is 28 degrees with daytime highs in the 40's. If there is heavy frost or ice I don't ride. If am going for a longer ride in these temps I will wear leather chaps, leather boots, add a sweatshirt, glove liners, and a neck cover thing. I usually can ride, in central Illinois, until Thanksgiving or the first week of December. Always a full face/modular helmet regardless the time of year but when the temps start dropping below 50 I add the pin lock screen to the visor. Best thing ever for no fogging.

i am running with two left mufflers. There is a slight depression on the one on the right side but one has to really look hard to see it once it is installed. It’s a clearance resessed area. I think they sound good. I had a set from a 2010? Road King given to me. The right one had the cat so I bought another left one on eBay for less than $20.

Premium is only higher octane for reducing detonation in higher compression engines. It is not a “better” fuel. It costs more because the oil companies can get it because they have a captive customer base.

My 2006 had a pretty strong gear whine. I waited until it was almost out of the five year warranty and then brought it to the dealer for the newer basket. I don’t recall the letter designation on either one. I don’t think it helped much and didn’t really care since it doesn’t hurt anything. My 2012 has a little gear whine but I don’t listen for it,

Rode to my local dealer to see if they will replace my leaking rear shock under warranty. I am 45 days beyond the end of the original 5 year term of the warranty. They said they will have to call their factory rep.

Use a little dab of silicone caulk. It will dry to a rubbery consistency and keep the bolt from loosening but still allow future deliberate removal. Biggest benefit is it saves your plastic (ABS)

Still riding - average 15,000 mi a year on the Venture. My pickup is averaging 35,000 annual so I spend a fair amount of time on the road. Business travel is additional - California last week and Northern Ohio the week before. With all of that I still check in almost every day.

Pull your fuel tank off and then the covers to plastic air inlet boxes. You most likely will find oil. If so, clean it all out and check your crankcase oil level. I keep mine at midway or slightly below that on the sight glass. Any greater and it pulls oil up into the air intake. This is with the bike level - propped up with some blocks of wood of varying thickness duct taped together under the side stand just for this purpose.

I've cleaned a few rusty tanks with surface rust (not bad flaky stuff) with white vinegar which is basically an acid. Remove the tank and the petcock, cap off the petcock hole, fill er up with vinegar, it's cheap, and let it sit for a few hours. Slosh it around, dump it, rinse with water thoroughly, and then blow it out well with air from a compressor. Make sure the compressor has a drier/water separator on it so you aren't introducing more water. As soon as you have the water blown out, I dump in some 2 cycle mix I have for my weed eater. You don't need much - maybe a quart - just enough to slosh around and coat all surfaces inside before it starts to surface rust as it can do in minutes. Dump out the mix, reinstall and fill it up with new gas.

Do you have the braces on the engine guards (they go from the guard to the footrest mount)? Larry (CarbonOne) used to make them. If you have hiway pegs on the guards the braces are highly recommended or you will continue to break the lowers.

Is your fuel turned off? Could you be getting fuel into your crankcase due to stuck float valve?

I don’t worry about measuring it. I buy it by the gallon and will add about 3 quarts, start it up and run for a few seconds, then slowly add more to about 1/3 up from the bottom of sight glass. I will recheck it after sitting overnight after the next ride to be sure it is still the same. I keep it below 1/2 on the sight glass. i never fill it on the jack or stand. On the wheels with a block of wood under the side stand adjusted to the proper thickness to hold bike almost level. I want it to lean very slightly to the left to make sure there is weight on the side stand to keep it from wanting to tip over to the right.

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Jeff, I am interested in your bench if it is still available

I prefer the Counteract brand. I believe they are more of a glass than a somewhat softer makeup of the Dyna brand. This makes them last longer and easier to install. They are slightly smaller in diameter. I mount my tire on the rim and then use the plastic bottle and clear hose that comes with them to install through the valve stem. It’s best to air up your tire from an air compressor with a water separator so you don’t add water to the inside of your tire which cause them to clump together or so I’ve heard. when it comes time to change the tire, I use a hole saw to cut a 1-2 inch hole in the center of the tread. Then rotate the tire so the hole is down, over a large drain pan, and tap the tire with a rubber mallet. If you or you have someone else demount the tire without removing them first, they will go everywhere. If you contain them, they are easily reusable.

If you go the Harley take off route be cautious of any from model year 2010 and few years prior. Around that time frame Harley had the catalytic converter inside the right muffler. Their exhaust design flows primarily through the right pipe hence the cat in that side. We want our engines to exhaust equally left and right so you want to avoid those with the cat. I acquired a free pair from a guy cleaning out his garage. He had them in his aftermarket pipe boxes and as I lifted them out I could feel the weight difference between the two. A visual check with a flashlight confirmed it. I tried to drill, beat, and anything else I could think off to try to remove it and ended up ruining the muffler. $25 later I bought another LEFT muffler on eBay. Two lefts on my bike and nobody knows the difference.

I got my Wolo horn from O'Reilley's Auto parts several years ago and it was a couple bucks cheaper than Harbor Freight

At midpoint on the sight glass I will get oil in the air inlet so I keep mine just below midway

I have the taller version and almost always have it in the taller position. I like the reduced wind buffeting with most of my riding at highway speed. If I remember correctly, the taller version Baggershield is similar in height to the Yamaha factory shield. Pretty much the only time I have it lowered is in the rain. The rain droplets clear from my helmet visor with the windshield down. The plastic wingnuts are hardly noticeable after you get used to them

@zagger - if you are looking for a place to stay, try the Hickory Hill. I just cancelled my reservation because I will not be able to make it this weekend

A little clarification and correction to what Dueyk said: As enter Savanna from the north, Clay Street will be the 2nd or 3rd left. It turns into North 5th St and then into the Scenic Ridge Rd that Bill mentions in the earlier post. Later, Scenic Ridge becomes Derinda Rd. As Deuyk recommended, go through Elizabeth and turn right on S Elizabeth Scales Mound Rd. (i think there is a Dollar Store on the corner) Scales Mound is in Illinois and Stagecoach Trail is just south of town. Thanks for tip on Dirty Gerts, Dueyk, I have not tried that one.

@AGrengs, will we be seeing you at Orlin's Maintenance Day in Viroqua WI next weekend?

A couple of suggestions beyond what Bill has said. In Galena, there is a road from the highway that goes through town (routes84/20) that heads south towards Chestnut Mountain ski lodge (it's called Blackjack Road). This is a nice ride through the countryside. You can stop at the ski resort as it is open during the summer. There is a restaurant and what they call an "alpine slide" where you sit on a small platform and follow a track down the ski hill and ride the chairlift back up. Our VentureRiders International rally was held here a few years ago. This was the base and we had day trips every day through week to Anamosa, IA and Field of Dreams movie site, LeClaire, IA (American Pickers museum), and others. If you continue past the ski resort you will run into rts 84 again and if you head south as Bill described you will get to Savanna, IL. As mentioned already, a must see is Mississippi Palisades State Park just north of Savanna. It is worth it to drive through and be sure to take the side branches from the main road to the scenic overlooks. They are all or at least mostly all, a short walk from a parking lot. Continuing to Savanna there is Poopy's bike bar but in the downtown area there is a place called "Frank Fritz' Finds" (or something similar). This is Frank from the American Pickers TV show. I have driven past this 100's of times and never stopped but plan to one of these days. Across the street is a pizza/taco place called Manny's and I recommend it. I've been stopping there for nearly 40 years. An option to head north from this area would be to cross the Mississippi at Savanna to Subula, IA and then head north following the river up to Dubuque.

Do they pivot at the rear to allow access?

Hope you are Ok