zagger

The new goldwing does have more legroom since the engine appears to have been moved forward a few inches. I sat on one at the Chicago show and it seemed pretty comfortable. At least for the 15 seconds or so that I had to experience it. Of course, if the engine doesn't stick out to the sides, you have all the legroom you could want. zag

Another issue is that the bike must not be modified in any way: ​"A motor vehicle at least 20 years old from the current calendar year that is being preserved because of its historical interest and has no alterations to the body may be eligible for Collector license plates." So, I'm out! zag

Seems to me that 4 wheels = automobile. "Automobile: a road vehicle, typically with four wheels, powered by an internal combustion engine or electric motor and able to carry a small number of people." zag

Hey Cowpuc, Thanks for all of the advice. The new filter did not have the replacement orings so I'll need to keep using the ones I have. As I vaguely remember, that was true on the last couple of oil changes. From my experience, long front ends lead to very slow handling. The first extended forks on my beast were just lengthened straight forks and the handling was really slow and annoying. Then I built the leading link front suspension which has around 3" of trail and then the handling became super good. Pretty weird. Front wheel moved forward another 6" or so, but the handling became very quick. zag

Thanks Cowpuc! Didn't do anything to the oil filter situation when I cut into my venture. The new one certainly looks like I remember the old one, but I will measure the old one after I drain the oil. Almost getting into bike season even though it still drops into the 20's every night. Thanks again, zag

Drove over to the Yamaha dealer and bought a new Yamaha oil filter for my '83 venture. When I got home, I noticed some tiny printing on the side of the box which says that it is for Vmax '90-'93 and XVZ13 '90-'91. Nothing about the older 1200 ventures. It looks about the same as the ones I have been using - but I cannot be sure unless I drain the oil, yank out the current filter and measure it. Anyone happen to know if these filters are identical? If not, do you know of a source for the correct filters? Thanks, zag

[TABLE=width: 100%] [TR] [TD=colspan: 3, align: right]7220.1 [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD=class: postbody overflow_content, align: left]I had to run some errands this morning and on the way home a Jeep SUV type car merged onto the highway right beside me. Apparently it had just been in an accident and the front bumper was angled upward above the level of the hood and one of the front wheels was missing its rubber tire and was just running along on the metal wheel. Pretty crazy. It did eventually pull off at a gas station, rather than continuing on the highway - I guess the driver must have noticed that something was wrong! Ya gotta wonder sometimes! zag[/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE]

It might be nice to have a gas gauge but it certainly isn't critical and I wouldn't struggle very much to get it working. I just use the trip odometer along with a general idea of the total miles that it can do on a full tank. Not a big deal. Over 50 years of riding, I've never had a bike with a gas gauge and so I've just grown accustomed to watching the miles. BTW, when electrical stuff flakes out for a short time, you probably have issues with corroded connectors someplace in the wiring leading to that device. Personally, I prefer to not have connectors at all or only have individual bullet type connectors on each wire that are completely sealed using heat shrink with meltable sealant inside. You cannot get this stuff at a hardware store, but it is easily ordered ( https://www.mcmaster.com/#heat-shrink-tubing/=1c1vmlj ). If the bullet type connectors have a plastic sleeve on each end, it can be easily cut off so that the connector diameter fits into the heat shrink tubing. zag

Tech Support This is nothing to do with my bike, but I thought it illustrates the problems with tech support. I bought an outdoor thermometer to replace one that was always wrong by 20 degrees or so. After getting the new one out of the box and mounted outside, I noticed that the blue alcohol stuff inside was separated into sections with fairly large gaps between each chunk. Pretty hard to guess the temperature with all of the blank gaps. I finally thought to call the company that made it to see if there is some top secret procedure to make it work again. Sure - no problem - they emailed me instructions on how to fix the thermometer. "Thank you for contacting Filament brands regarding your thermometer. There are a few ways to rejoin the liquid in your unit. First would be to grab the thermometer with the bottom portion facing down and shake the unit so that the motion is almost like pitching a baseball. The ending motion should be your arm extended with the thermometer "pointing" in front of you and the bottom of the thermometer at the very front. When doing this, be vigorous but keep a firm grip on the unit. That should force the liquid into the bulb. Should that not work, leave the thermometer in the freezer standing upright between 5 - 10 minutes. If above procedures do not work, please contact us once again so we may further assist you" I tried their methods and emailed back:"I tried both methods and the air gaps in the thermometer remained unchanged. I finally tried rapping the bottom end of the thermometer on my knee about 10,000 times (just a guess) and I'm finally left with two narrow gaps which I can live with. The previous gaps were so large that the thermometer was completely useless. Now it is good enough. Thanks." And they were nice enough to get back to me: "You are very welcome! We constantly strive to provide the utmost in service for our customers. Please feel free to email us again if we can be of further assistance, we are always happy to hear from you." Well - thanks again for all the great tech support! zag

Yes it is. Cell phones and texting really reduce the time many drivers spend looking where they are going. "I never saw him" is the excuse but the reality is that they don't notice anything smaller than an automobile as they glance up from their phone. I purposely ride for pleasure on small rural roads just to avoid this problem. I never commuted to work in busy traffic with a motorcycle because it is just to darned dangerous. Get real - do drivers think it is ok to read a book or newspaper while driving in traffic? Probably not, but reading and sending text messages must be ok, they do it all the time! zag

Hey Randy, A good riding friend of mine has asked me to travel out to Bonneville Speed Week with him and help set a new speed record. He has a 1972 Triumph Bonneville T120 650cc that has been carefully reworked specifically to set the record. Speed trials have been cancelled due to rain for the past couple of years but he hasn't given up yet and hopefully the weather will cooperate this year. Unfortunately the dates conflict with the Asheville trip and so, unless the weather causes another cancellation, I won't be able to ride to Asheville and meet up with you guys. Wish that I could do both. zag

Try using earplugs. I cannot fire anything without some hearing protection. The cheap little things that you jam into your ears work pretty good. zag

Did you get the brass catcher with the idea of reloading - or you just didn't feel like picking up all the brass? All the best to you, zag

They need photo's, not just a little sign saying "new photos coming soon". zag

The Blue Ridge Parkway is very beautiful and well worth a visit. As I remember, the speed limit is quite low (45mph) which does detract somewhat from enjoying the roads on a bike. Of course, if it happens to be cold, then the slower speeds might help the situation. zag

http://www.worldfuturetv.com/live/world/video-hailstorm-kills-sheep-damage-cars-in-australia/ Imagine running into that on a bike. zag

Well, keep in mind that the recommended torque varies a lot depending on whether the bolt is lubricated or dry (less torque for a lubricated bolt). My general rule is to torque until the threads strip out and then back up 1/2 turn! zag

Ok, I'm just impatient. Have you tried to get the thing out yet? zag

Or you could just get a new one without a hardened steel thing stuck in the aluminum threaded hole. zag

A new frame? Hurts my head just thinking about what that would involve! I'm guessing that my raked-out 83 venture wouldn't fit into their fixit program. zag

Keep in mind that just below the reservoir is the cylinder with various little sliding seals that produce pressure when you pull the lever. Aluminum conducts heat very readily and as you attempt to heat one area, you are quite likely to overheat the little seals that aren't designed to take any heat. In my opinion, the effort to save your old junky reservoir probably isn't worth it. Of course, it could be an interesting life experiment which you wouldn't have if you simply got one that worked! You will look back on all of this as a minor blip in your total rehab effort. Mine was as junked up as yours and I cannot remember much of anything about fixing it! zag Oh yeah, I forgot your question. The answer by checking on google: Brake fluid does burn. DOT3, DOT4, and DOT5 all burn, and all about the same. It's not an explosive fast burn like gasoline, but a slower burn like vegetable oil, or a bit faster than candle wax.

Not bad luck - it's just old stuff. You will eventually be happy that you didn't ditch it. I looked on ebay and found this one: https://www.ebay.com/itm/1983-83-Yamaha-Venture-XVZ1200-XVZ-1200-Left-clutch-master-cylinder-lever-perch/263443751565?hash=item3d5678a28d:g:JlcAAOSwmudaBdfj Getting broken bits and taps out of a hole can be a real misery. I don't think that I have ever been successful. Broken drill bits and taps are pretty brittle and it seems like they continue shattering as you try to hang on and twist them out. If the fluid level window is cracked into a million pieces (like your current one), I would suggest removing it and plugging the hole. I vaguely remember that a nickel fits pretty good. I used some kind of epoxy to hold it in place - something resistant to brake fluid. I just looked to see the coin denomination on my bike but I had squished epoxy over it. Sorry, I don't remember the epoxy I used, it has been a long time. Probably not the typical hardware store stuff that isn't resistant to anything. Looking through my shop inventory, I'd guess that I used an epoxy called PC-7. https://www.amazon.com/PC-Products-167779-Two-Part-Multipurpose/dp/B008H4QSAW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1519674954&sr=8-1&keywords=epoxy+pc7 Otherwise, this might be a good time to become friends with McMaster Carr - they have everything. You might be due for a miracle but if not, you might want to consider starting over with a reservoir that doesn't have anything stuck in it! Don't give up just because of stupid little stuff like this. zag

The Mama Tried motorycycle show happens in Milwaukee at this time of year. http://mamatriedshow.com/ I went with a couple of friends but had to wait in a line 3 blocks long outside in the freezing cold with high winds. And after entering the building, you were forced to submit to guys with wand type metal detectors. My friend had his pocket knife confiscated by these pricks. I saw what was happening and slipped my little pocket knife into my shoe and it wasn't detected. This morning I checked their website and they do not mention any rules regarding knives, guns, or whatever. And there weren't any warning signs by the doors. I will never go to this again. Afterwards I was asking myself why I didn't just tell them to get screwed and walk out the door. I guess that after driving for an hour, paying to park, and waiting in the cold in a long line, made me more compliant than I should have been. What a bunch of sheep we have become! I really hate the "weapon free" mentality that seems to be accepted these days in public buildings. Of course, my little knife is hardly a weapon - maybe I could poke somebody with the scissors? If someone wants to shoot up a place, it seems logical to me that they would pick a location where everyone has been disarmed and cannot resist - just like that kid in the news that recently shot up a public school. The anti-gun folks are so naive that it just makes me want to scream. The show was ok but very crowded - $10 to park, $18 to get in, $8 beers. Not worth it. Talked to one guy with a long chopper and he had to have guys haul his bike up the steps to the third floor where the show was taking place. The elevator wasn't big enough. All vendors selling crap on the first two floors - didn't look much but noticed one guy selling skate boards, wtf. My friends said that I should enter my chopper Venture in the show next year - I'd rather jam my swiss army knife scissors in my eye! Any ideas on how to dump crap on their dumb show? zag

If you are riding just for the enjoyment (not commuting to work), then I'd suggest that you find little used roads with no traffic. Cage drivers fiddling around with their cell phones are a menace and I prefer to stay well away from them. I would imagine that BC has lots of rural roads with little traffic. You just need to find a route from your house out to the nice roads which avoids as much traffic as possible. Just my 2 cents after 48 years of riding. zag

Garmin Zumo with tunes loaded in and earbuds. zag