M61A1MECH

I rode the 1300 V-Sta Deluxe touring model today as well as the 1900 Stratoliner Deluxe. I still prefer the Venture over either one, but actually prefer the 1300 V-Star ove the 1900 Stratoliner. Not as much power as the as the 1900 Strat, but just semed to fit me better, both are a litle buzzy, but what can you expect from 2 V-Twin. Also rode the Victory Cross Country Tourer, nicer than I expected, still like the Yamaha products better. Keeping the Venture for the time being

Technically not a freezeplug, but the hole with the rubber plug and threaded insert is a cooling system plug, yes. They tend to weep with age and will weep more in cooler weather than warmer weather. One trick I am sure you have seen posted is to shim it up with a dime or medium thickness washer, that presses the tapered pug further into the hole and makes it seal better. Eventually you will need to replace them. Oh , do not run the motor with the fins off, you will likely blow the plugs out and a considerable amount of coolant. The upper hole that is empty and has a slight rust stain below it, is a drain hole for the well the spark plug sits in, nothing to worry about there.

Now that is funny, I don't care who you are. All he needed was to be holding and beer, and ask some to hold hold it while they watched.

As I was doing my pre event scouting trip around Daytona today, I happened to pull up behind a brand new full dress Harley. The guy motions me to come up beside him, expecting he needs directions, or at worst he has some smart a** thing to say about the Venture. He leans over and says " I got one of those at home in the garage, wish I was on it instead of this thing, I bought this a month ago and it is the worst decision I ever made!" I just laughed, did not have the heart to rub it in, but love it.

Just to be crystal clear here, there is no reserve tank, there is no line that can be pinched that would cause the reserve fuel to be unavailable. On the fuel petcock there are two pickup points, the in reserve position fuel enters in at a point that is lower in the tank than when it is in the on position. Both on and reserve pickup points have filter screens. It is possible for the reserve screen or passage to be blocked with debris or varnish, it is also possible and has been reported to have happened recently for the pick up screen on the on position to come loose and fall off in the tank. If this happens the on pick up point is below the reserve pickup point, so there is not fuel available to flow into the reserve pick up point. How much fuel the tank holds is different from what the stated volume of the tank is, there is a sizable air space in the tank to allow for expansion of the fuel when needed. So having said that, I agree that 4.3 gallons is less than I would expect it would take to fill the tank if it were below the reserve pick up point. That is about how much I normally put in if I have switched to reserve before stopping for fuel. Make sure you understand what they do to correct the issue, so you can have some confidence that you are not getting smoke blown up you anal orifice. If they say they had to replace a part, ask to see the old part. Good luck and keep us posted, inquiring minds want know.

Yeah I hear ya, in FL, it is not if you will get wet, it is when and how wet will you get.

You will need to notch the 2x4 block on the left front position to miss the kickstand switch, if you do not, you will likely be buying a new side stand switch, shortly.

Well in sunny Cali you may not need those gaskets, but in wet FL, those signals will fill up with rain water first time you get caught in one our frog drowning down pours. You may want to drill some small drain holes in the bottom of the lenses or the housings, just in case it rains some where down the road. just sayin.

If you are getting head shake and you are looking to cure it, probably need to tighten up the bearing in the steering head.

Just to be clear, the oil should be just below the half way mark in the window, WHEN THE BIKE IS STRAIGHT UP AND DOWN, not on the side stand. If you are checking oil on the side stand and you can see oil in the window, it is over full. If you had rings bad enough to blow oil thru the valves back into the carbs, you would be blowing blue smoke out the exhaust so bad everyone would think you were part of mosquito control crew.

Try McMaster Carr here is alink that may help http://www.mcmaster.com/#drill-rods/=ox5u41, this for a "High-Speed M2 Tool Steel, Hardened Undersized Rod, 3.50mm Diameter, 2-7/8" Length" , catalog # 2900A267, $2.82 I did a quick check on the ID of the hinge on my 07, but a little hard to get a real accurate measurement with out pulling the pin out and measuring the pin it self. You may want to pull the other one and measure it to get a more exact measurement. Surely wil be some standard metric size.

:sign yeah that:I like Woody's idea, could be stores, restaurants, Dairy Queen , gas or gift card for X$.

Here is the stuff Gray Ghost is talking about. http://www.henkelna.com/industrial/loctite-freeze-release-7008.htm Interesting.

You can send me a PM thru this site. You can contact me at stevemarilyn@hotmail.com you can send a message from my add here on Venturerider http://www.venturerider.org/classifieds/showproduct.php?product=4200&title=auxillary-tail-light-harness-for-royal-star-venture&cat=35 if all of that fails call me at 386-290-6163 Chris, Just sent you a PM thru Ventuerider

I do not know the sizes of the jets off hand, but they are not all the same, unless the PO did some mods to the exhaust system or other performance mods it is doubtful they changed them, but if they had them all out at the same time and were not careful, they could have put the wrong ones in the wrong place. It may be prudent to have a shop put an exhaust gas analyzer onthe bike to know exactly what is going on. If you need the jet sizes by location I am sure I can dig that up this evening after work.

The best way to wire a Venture for a trailer is to use a powered isolator. If the trailer does not have separate lights for the brakes and the turn signals , like bike does you will need a 4 wire to 3 wire converter. These are the same as used or cars, they are made by folks like HOPPY and CURT.

If you just want to do a carb synch, I can do that for you. lf you are talking about needing to R&R them for an overhaul, then you may want someone with experience doing that. Daytona Fun Machines is a good reputable dealer, they have been working on my two Royals since 1998 never any issues. The service manager is very good, he owns a V-Max so he knows the power plant backwards and forwards.

Chris Check out my add http://www.venturerider.org/classifieds/showproduct.php?product=4200&title=auxillary-tail-light-harness-for-royal-star-venture&cat=35 before you go to wiring the bike for the trailer, makes it a lot easier.

We do have a member in Inverness. FL.

Try this link to the 2nd gen tech section. http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?t=1705

Here is a link to a tech article on one way to use it. http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?t=38187 Here is link to where you can buy the contacts and wire seals that will fit that connector. http://www.cycleterminal.com/mt-series-090.html Also here is cut and paste from the web site so you know exactly which one to get.

Go here http://www.venturerider.org/classifieds/showproduct.php?product=4201&title=auxillary-tail-light-harness-for-tour-deluxe&cat=35 it should help a little bit. In stock ready to ship.

Man!! Did this post take a weird turn or what, I just thought the video was interesting never expected it to create a controvesy, but the discussions are interesting also.

ablumny On the light bar that Condor has , you cannot get to the lights or the solder joints with out breaking the sonic weld that seals the plastic pats on the asembly, as I noted in an earlier post to do that is likelyto destroy the light bar or at least be very time consuming and resealing the plastic parts with any certiany that it will be leak proof is like to be difficult at best. You are completly correct about solder joints failing from time to time due to vibrations, and reflowing the solder is often a very valid fix, I am just not sure it is the way to go in this case. Much depends on what you value your time at, for me spending a couple of hours trying to repair a $20.00 item that is readily available on line is a losing proposition, especially if I consider my time worth what they pay me at work, and my personal / family time is worth way more that what I am paid to earn a living.

Condor You said The light bar we are talking about does not have dual intensity LEDS, they all burn at the the same intensity , the visual impact is caused by changing the quanity of lights that are illuminated (when you brake the 8 LEDs that are off come on) . So if you connect all 11 to be on for running lights and then you hit the brakes there will be no change in the level of illumination of the bulbs. To effect that with out special dual output LEDs you would need to add a resistor to the running light circuit, that will drop the effective voltage that gets to the LEDs and then the brake light circuiy would be wired to a line with out the resistor(s) and they will illuminate at full brightness. My fear is, that in order to effect enough of a difference in the level of illumination between the two states, (run vs brake) it will make the running light level so low that it will be of no real gain to you visibility. I doubt that running lights on bikes (other than the head light) contribute very little to the daytime visibility the running lights are more for night time operarions, those 3 LEDs do show pretty well at night, and the 8 show well day or night when used for brakes. and with the three on for running and then the 8 on when braking, the whole bar of 11 is on that is pretty obvious to most drivers behind you. If you really want to get their attention install a brake light modulator that flashes the brake lights for a short period when first applied, that really makes people stand on their brakes behind you, it is like a visual dope slap.