darthandy

Our best wishes and hopes go out to our buddy. Andy

Not sure that I could fit all that in a workable format. The Vstrom doesn't have a lot of "play room" for toys. Andy

Check my answer to this post in the Watering Hole. Andy

Just turned 105,000 km. And of course I had just put on my new Hagon shock - and they aren't giving me anything extra for that. Oh Well ... Andy

The Hagon people say it costs $150 to rebuild the shock. According to someone here on the forum (Sorry - can't remember who.) they just pull the spring off your old shock and put it on an already rebuilt shock body. Faster turn around hat way. Then they rebuild your old shock and use it for someone else's rebuild. Sounds like a good deal tome and it was one of the reasons I put a Hagon on my RSV. As well, the handling, especially on bumpy turns, was much improved. By the way, the preload and damping on a Hagon are both adjustable. Andy

Sorry, but I have already set up a deal with a local dealer to trade my Venture for the V-Strom. The deal closes tomorrow at 1:30. I doubt that you could make it in from Iceland that quickly. These DL1000's are extremely rare around here. I guess they sold a lot more of the DL650's of which a number are available in the area, but I wanted the extra power because .... well, because I like extra power. I may be getting old but I'm not immobilized yet!

Well, I go to pick up my new (to me) 2006 DL1000 V-Strom tomorrow. While there are things about the Venture that I will miss, I really needed something lighter and smaller and the V-Strom should do the job. One problem that I will face will be the lack of a CB radio. I normally lead rides through the peninsula on Wednesdays and as the group has grown, it has been nice to have a "tail gunner" to let me know when there is a problem of some sort. I've looked into an aftermarket setup but so far, only J&M seems to have something. But ... that something is $439 plus $60 for the mounting bracket plus another roughly $100 for an antenna and mount. That's a bit rich for me and I was wondering if anyone here was aware of another less costly CB radio option (t has to be CB since most of the other riders have Goldwings and there are some Harleys - all with CB"s). I noticed some headsets for Motorola 2 pin radios, but Motorola doesn't seem to be making CB's anymore. So - do I have other options? Andy

The heavy duty Hagon should suit your needs. That and the Works seem to be the main options other than Yamaha's original equipment shock and that one is expensive ($579 here in the Great White North) and, on my bike, only lasted about 50,000 KM (about 31,000 mi.) - pretty sad. I'm very happy with my Hagon as it does a better job than the Yamaha shock ever did and costs less than both Yamaha's and the Works. The Works shock is good but I don't see it being worth the extra money over the Hagon (Around $800). And the Hagon is rebuildable when it does finally wear out. Andy

E3's front and rear. Work great in the rain, turning and braking. Don't know why others have problems in the wet - these were way better than the 404's the bike had when I bought it. Andy

Yes, I think so. I took out a 1000 the other day and it was a very interesting bike. Nice seating position, good acceleration and handles well. I like my Venture, but my wife can no longer ride (Inner ear disease) and the Venture's weight and top heaviness gets to me more these days - I'm not exactly a kid anymore and was never particularly strong. It was nice for those long two up trips but now it's going to be mostly shorter one up's with the occasional longer voyage. The Vstrom has bags and a trunk and decent wind protection. I enjoyed my ride on it and feel it's the way to go for me. I'll just need to drop it about an inch as I'm on my toes with it, but fortunately, that's an easy job on this bike. The bolts for the fork trees are all easily accessible without removing the fairing and the rear shock links are also easy to get to and in fact look almost identical to those on the Venture. I even found a couple of suppliers who have links whose length can be adjusted with a wrench without removing them from the bike. Not sure if that would work out on something as heavy as the Venture but should work well on a Vstrom. Here's a link to the company's web site: http://soupysperformance.com/ Andy

Well, I'm really not interested as I am getting rid of my Venture but if someone wants to give it a try, they can go ahead. I suspect I know what the owner will say. Andy

Dropped by Baldwin's Cycle in Dunnville today to check out a used Suzuki Vstrom 1000 and noticed that they had a Rivco centre stand for the Venture hanging on the "Accessories" wall. Parts guy said it was the last one they had. Price was $399.99 just in case someone in the area is interested. Andy

I finally had time to install the rear caliper bracket that Eusa1 provided me but I'm missing a couple of washers. One is for the bolt that holds the bracket to the swingarm and the other goes between the swingarm and the bracket on the axle. My local dealer says that I can use appropriate size washers and that I don't need the actual Yamaha parts. This would be good as there is a two week back order on the washer for the axle. So does anyone know the size of these washers (I.D , O.D.) or should I just go measure? I need to get this done quickly as the wife's car is in the driveway till I'm done in the garage. I guess you could say it's urgent. I wouldn't say that, but I know better than to say it out loud! Thanks, Andy

I live "down the street and around the corner" from the Falls. I can help direct you towards some of the nicer stuff if we're around (Retired so our "vacation" plans tend to be last minute affairs). Most places don't charge a premium for using a credit card. I'd avoid using a debit card in tourist areas - there have been too many cases of crooks setting up machines to capture info then draining out an account. You have a better chance of protecting yourself by using a credit card. Also, unless you travel a lot, you may want to inform your credit card company as to where and when you will be going so that they know to expect purchases outside your usual area. Congrats on 30 years - my wife and I just celebrated our 40th. Andy

Glad the operation went well. You are in our thoughts and we wish for a speedy recovery. Andy

At the end of the day, a lot depends on the mood of the customs agent and what kind of person they are. I've had some who asked about the bike, my club where I got parts and basically were quite friendly (While making sure they got all the info they needed in a non-confrontational way) and sent me on my way. This has been true of both sides. Other times I've caught some who obviously were having a bad day, had a "God" complex or (Watch out for a 2nd person in the booth) were training someone, when very "T" gets crossed and every "I" gets dotted. The fact is, the guy / girl in the booth has the power and they know it. Just as with any profession, you can get the unprofessional, s*&t disturbing rectum or you can get the professional "I'm just doing my job" person. Fortunately, the majority seem to be the latter so it has usually gone smoothly. Remember - they can't bend too many rules or a wacko from one side may get to the other as well as the fact that the agent can lose his / her job. I'm sure we can all relate to having to follow the rules. And of course, it's possible that the agent you pulled up to had some jackass on a loud pipe cruiser playing a wannabe badass biker giving him a hard time so he might not be too fond of bikers just then. That's when it pays to smile, pull off your helmet answer questions in a friendly manner and let him / her know we're not all jerks like the other one was. I don't mean to pick on cruiser riders (Our Ventures tend to be considered cruisers) but, in my experience, it's the "wannabes" riding them that seem to cause the most trouble. Just my 2 cents worth! Andy

I took a foam Yamaha branded beer insulated bottle holders and cut it down to the right height. Perfect fit - never falls off, easy to remove and replace and there is even a drain hole that acts as a vent once you turn it upside down on the gas cap. And it didn't even cost me anything - I won it as a door prize! Andy

A good trike kit around here for most bikes is in the $10,000 to $15,000 range plus installation. And if you already have a paid for bike that can be modified, the cost doesn't seem as bad as laying out $25,000 for a 15 year old Goldwing (Recent price that I found) or such. Now this is the kind of trike that could interest me when the time comes. And it looks like it adds less weight to the bike (Although that's just how it looks - I could be wrong) and certainly the handling has to be better than any regular trike. Andy

Used compressed air to blow them out. Something I've done many times before. Andy

This may be obvious, but just to be sure everyone knows - you should not use beads if you already have ride-on in your tires. The beads will clump together in the ride on and throw the tire way out of balance. Beads should only be used in either a new tire or one that has never held anything other than air. Andy

I have the Hagon and noticed a big difference in the handling of the bike especially in bumpy turns. Andy

Well, I ran the engine till the pipes were hot and all four of them caused a wet rag to sizzle. Still after firing through the exhaust and won't accept throttle unless it's done very slowly and won't idle unless the choke is on. Beginning to think that the water had nothing to do with the problem and it is something else that just happened to start around the same time. Either way, it's beyond whatever I can handle so it's off to the dealer tomorrow and here's hoping it isn't too expensive. Andy

I think I'll keep that as a last resort. Since it started and ran fine to get it into the garage, I don't feel that the chances of that happening are too high. Just to be clear, I was gently rinsing soapy water off parts of the bike and only shot a fairly small amount under the tank at very low pressure. The problem really seems to be electrical in nature although, knowing Mr. Murphy and his annoying law, I can't rule out anything. Andy

Thanks, I'll try that later this evening. I'm pretty sure it's the right rear cylinder but this should be a good test for it. If that doesn't show anything, it's going to a nearby dealer who is way better than the local one. Andy

No, I got stock filters. Andy