RedRider
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Everything posted by RedRider
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Charlie, Just be careful if you extend you legs and put the back of your heel on top. You will no longer have the flat surface all the way across to support your foot and it will fall off. RR
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OK, I had to look it up. Good thing I'm from the NORTH side of Fond du Lac. RR
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Jack, My Dad will be 71 this year. I cherish these rides because I don't know how many of them we will have left. He is in great health and takes care of himself. However, you never know. He still wants to do Alaska. We will see if next year will work for that (hopefully the economy will be in a little better shape so I can afford it - both time and money). RR
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In 44 hours I will be hitting the road to visit Texas for the first time on the bike. I have ridden through it a couple times, hence, coloring the state on my travel map. However, never have I actually ridden around the state to see what it has to offer. Wheels up is scheduled at the end of the work day Friday (OK, hoping to hit the road by 2:00 - but don't tell the boss - especially you Scooter Bob 'cause you know who the boss is). I will be heading from Fond du Lac in the most expeditious manor with expectations of arriving in Keller, TX (in the DFW metroplex) by 6 or 7 am Saturday morning. If you see a red Venture parked in a rest area in the wee morning hours, don't wake the guy on the picnic table with the helmet on. Upon arriving to my brother's house in Keller, I will greet my Bro, his wife and kids, my Dad, and his friend Tom. Dad and Tom are taking 2 days to ride down from Ft. Wayne, IN arriving Friday night. After the greeting, sleeping for 3 or 4 hours will be high on the agenda. Dad, Tom, Scott (the Bro), and I will take off Saturday at about noon heading to San Antonio with a quick stop for a picture in front of W's ranch in Crawford. Should get to SA about 6:00 pm. I will try to call BuddyRich to join us for a beverage down on the Riverwalk Saturday night. Any one else in the neighborhood is also welcome. We are staying at the Crockett Hotel across the street from the Alamo. A tour of the Alamo on Sunday morning and we are off for the hill country. Reservations are made for 2 nights in Leaky. We are all looking forward to riding the twisted sisters and other roads of the hill country. Have heard lots about it. Tuesday morning, Scott will be heading back to Keller (not enough vacation) and Dad, Tom, and I will be heading to Big Bend National Park. We will be riding around there for 2 days until Thursday morning. Staying in a cabin just outside the park in an old ghost town (at least that's how it is billed). Thursday morning, Dad and Tom are heading back north. They generally only ride 500 miles or so a day, so they want to take some extra time to get home. However, that leaves me with 4 days to get to Wisconsin and only being 1 really long day away. HeeHeeHee. Where to go??? Thursday I don't really have any plans. Suggestions?? Friday, I figured heading over to Squidley and Sweetnothing's (if they will have me a bit early) and give them a hand setting up for the open house. I'm not very useful at anything other than making sure the beer is cold; however, I can be coached. Come Saturday, I look forward to greating the wonderful VR folks from down south that arrive to share Brad and Lonna's joy of a new start in Texas. Will need to hit the road about noon to get home at a decent hour on Sunday. I will try to keep this trip thread updated and to add some pics as internet access and time will allow. Give us a wave if you see us passing by. A red Venture, red BMW R1200GS, black Honda Shadow Aero 1100, and some other kind of BMW (don't know exactly what Tom rides). Should be a great week. 5000 miles, 9 days, traveling with family, meeting new friends. What could be better. RR
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If your going any distance in the cold, and you don't want to spring for electrics, hit the Walmart for a couple of items (may be out of season now though). First, get a pair of mechanics gloves. Thin and skin tight. Then get a set of hunting mittens. The kind with the flip top over the fingers. Then purchase several packs of the chemical hand warmers. Place one in the mitten top on the outside of the the fingers and another on the inside of the fingers. Drove 700+ miles in weather that never went above 40F and was fine, until the chemical hand warmers ran out of juice about an hour from home. It was 25F when I got home and I was frozen. RR
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You really can put it almost anywhere including in the trunk. I usually have it in the tank bib pocket or tank bag. RR
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Just think - You could have traded me straight up for my Red 2000 and then painted it green. It would look the same and I would have a relatively new bike. That's an amazing paint job. Very nice. RR
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Now, THAT's customer service. Glad you got it taken care of. The shim they put in the starter is to prevent/eliminate the 'box-of-rocks' sound from the starter. Virago's are notorious for it. RR
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Love those wheels. Yes, they appear to be aftermarket. You may want to look for wide white walls for Tonto when you need to change out. Very nice. RR
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Virago's are known for questionable starters. Sounds like it is locked up. IIRC, it is fairly easy to remove the starter. I didn't have any trouble getting it off my 750 Virago. As for the DMV, they check the VIN number on the frame, not the engine. You can put a new engine in a titled frame and they don't care. RR
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I really like that idea about the lengths of 2x4 strapped together. I think that will work. May have to try that next time I change my rear 'cause I'm not sure an 8" C clamp will get over the tire. Getting the tire on and off the rim was fairly easy using 3 tire spoons. I have them for my KLR in case I get a flat. It has tubes and you have to get inside the tire to fix 'em. RR
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The rev limiter protects you in more than one way. It protects you when you are being overly aggresive, and if you accidentally miss a shift. If you are in a hard acceleration and try to shift from 1st to 2nd and hit neutral instead, the engine can hit the rev limiter in a hurry. No rev limiter, you are walking from that point to get home. RR
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Kyle, Welcome to the asylum. Ask away on your questions. We are always happy to share our wealth of knowledge and abuse. To post pics, 1) Pictures must be resized to fit (fairly small - you can see the limitations while doing the next item) 2) While creating a new post, there is a button down the page that says 'Manage Attachments'. Click on that and import your pics by dragging and dropping or browsing to the file. You can see the limitations here too. Usually 640x640. 3) If you don't know how to resize your pics, I suggest emailing them to yourself. Most email programs will allow you a choice of sending the original size or reduced size. Save the reduced size picture from the received email. The reduced size will usually work in a post. There are several other ways to resize and get your pics in a post, this is just one. Again, welcome. Let us know how we can help out. RR
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I forgot to mention. I got lazy with the balancing and put in Dyna Beads. Have them on the rear of the Venture and the rear of the KLR. They seams to work nicely. This will be the first long trip with the beads. We shall see. RR
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Well, I got the tire changed. Went and picked up an 8" C clamp for $9 at Fleet Farm and used that to break the bead. Put a 1x2x6" piece of oak I had laying around on the bottom of the tire overlapping the rim. I tried to also use a piece of this oak on the side I was trying to break, but when tightening the clamp, it wouldn't stay flat. So the screw foot kept walking off the board. In the end, I just put the screw foot at the edge of the rim and tightened the clamp. It worked great. Ran the tire around 180 degrees, flipped it over, and unbeaded the other side. Didn't have any trouble getting the tire loose from the rim with the tire spoons, however, had huge trouble getting the rim out from the tire. It's not quite the same as working with a dual sport or dirt bike tire. The rim comes right out on those. Anyhooo.., got the new(er) tire spooned on without any trouble and went to pop the beads. Unfortunately, my little compressor didn't have the umph to get that done, so off to Fleet Farm again. Beads popped, brake discs reinstalled and torques, tire replaced, and bike off the lift. Ready to go. RR
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Thanks all for the info. Since the nearest HF is over an hour away, I will make do with a C Clamp for now. Will let you know how it goes. RR
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That is really high. I would suggest looking at the Dunlop Elite3 or Avon Venom tires. The Metzlers have a history of delaminating on this bike. Not good. I would expect the Dunlop and/or Avons to be under $300 for the set - delivered. Check Denniskirk.com, swmototires.com, motorcyclesuperstore.com. One of them usually have free shipping when you buy a set. RR
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Will a large C clamp work for a bead breaker for the front tire? I don't have a truck bumper to jack against like was suggested in another thread. RR
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Yes, I always knew pounding the helmet foam was limiting the effectiveness of the helmet. However, I couldn't wear it otherwise. It was so tight it would give me a headache. That is the major reason why I went with the oblong shaped Profile. Fits perfectly. The linked article is a big read. However, it is also a very enlightening read. Thank you for posting. I had not seen that before. RR
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Ron, I noticed you are in Cinci. The Iron Pony in Columbus has more helmets than any other retailer I have ever been in. Prices are OK too. Visiting there would give you an opportunity to try on several sizes of different helmet brands. They don't all fit the same (different fitments and shapes). RR
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I'll throw in some extreme circumstances in an attempt to justify my own expensive decision. My cousin races (more likely 'raced') motorcycles until an accident last July. He had a Shoei until 2007 and then switched to an Aria. The Arie is/was the safest commercially available helmet available per all the racing guys. Because he races/d, he actually went down a lot. Usually a slide across the tarmac into the barriers, get up, wheel the bike to the paddock, replace the items that scraped off, and go back out. This was why he only bought the best protective gear. Well, last July, he hit his head on a wall at 100+ mph with his Aria on. He certainly didn't get up and go again. Helicopter rides, intensive care, brain rehab, 5 months of hospitals and doctors. However, he is back home and back at work. Sold me on the Aria without saying a word. There is really no logical reason he should still be alive. Anyhooo, while looking at the different Aria helmets, I noticed the Profile style is made more oblong/egg shaped. I have always had to modify my helmets by pounding on the styrofoam that sits against my forehead. Otherwise it was too tight front to back. The Profile style fits great without modifications. It is much lighter than my HJC modular (which I also like - but had to pound the foam), and the ventilation is incredible. I can actually feel my hair - what is left of it - moving in the helmet. It is also much quieter than the HJC modular or the 3/4 helmets I used to wear. Can actually ride without earplugs for more than 5 minutes. All in all, it is a great helmet. Now, the downside - it is expensive. I purchased mine directly from J&M with the headsets already installed. During my research, I found J&M is the largest retailer of Aria helmets in the US (not really relevant, but interesting). If you check the J&M site, they have a closeout section with helmets that are 1 to 2 years old. Aria warranties their helmets for 7 years from date of manufacture or 5 years from the date of purchase. Therefore, a 2 yo helmet has the same full warranty as one made yesterday. The pricing on the closeout helmets is pretty good (relatively speaking). Santa bought one for me last Christmas for about $425, including the J&M Elite headset/microphone installed. Very nice. OK, this is already too long. Don't compromise on getting a helmet. Any is safer than none, 3/4 is safer than a beanie, modular is safer than 3/4, full face is safer than modular. Make sure it fits comfortably. You, hopefully, will be spending a lot of time in it. And since they last 5 to 7 years, a $500 helmet is only $100 per year. Minor money. Hey, my wife bought this argument when I was convincing her Santa NEEDED to bring one for Christmas. RR
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Yup, throttle side. RR
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Found one for you. Your welcome. RR
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It is fuse number 5 behind the right side lower cowling. It is shown on page 7-35 of the owner's manual (that's where I found it). Good luck chasing those gremlins. RR
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If I recall correctly, with the PCW inner clutch plate mod, there are 8 friction plates, and 7 steels. The pricing for this set from Skydoc_17 is pretty good. $140+ from Bike Bandit. You also know you will get exactly what is needed from Skydoc_17. RR
