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Showing results for tags 'springs'.
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Longest rides I've taken in the past have been 3-4 day trips with my dad and brother, sleeping at rest stops on the side of the road when ever we got tired. Since I've got the RSV now, I want to take a "real" trip...I'm thinking about hitting eastern 1/2 of Route 66. Wife and I (2up) will head out from Colorado Springs and ride to Chicago. Then hit Route 66 and take it back down. I'll spend some time in OK with the family, then head back to Colorado Springs splitting off in NM. That will cover the east half...I'll hit the western half maybe later in the year or next year. Here's the map I plan to take: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&safe=on&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=217067729114273134767.000498d3e23585862bb97&t=h&z=6> This will be my first long trip and my first time pulling a trailer (cargo, not camper)... Couple of questions: 1. Any good motorcycle mapping programs? Google maps is okay but hard to get it to put me on scenic routes or specific highways (without a lot of work)... 2. Good rain gear that won't break the bank? 3. Suggestions on what not to take or what I MUST remember to take? 4. Any other suggestions for my first long run? Thanks! BTW: I would love to meet up with anyone that lives along our route that wants to visit or tag along for part of the ride! I know I'm new around here but it would be nice to meet some of you guys!
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Finally was time to change out my front tire. I had waited as long as I could for someone to do a write up on changing the fork oil. No luck! So after consulting Rick Butler and learning a lot, through him, about springs and what my particular bike, 05' RSTD, might need I dove in. Changed the fork oil using Mobil 1 synthetic ATF fluid http://www.thumpertalk.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-507141.html. I came across this after not being able to find synthetic 10w at the mc shop. Besides I'm partial to Mobil 1! Re packed the steering head bearings. Was gonna install a zerk (greese) fitting http://www.gadgetjq.com/harpo_steeringlube.htm but after seeing the big void plus the hole inside the tube decided that was truly a waste of good Honda Poly and abandoned that task. Installed new springs from Sonic Springs http://www.sonicsprings.com/catalog/product_reviews.php?cPath=27_117&products_id=347&osCsid=0a06f0a4aa631489ed84cc17fad8f92d. Learned thru Rick and also Rich Desmond, from Sonic Springs, how to pre - load a spring and how obtain the the correct amount of fork oil. Installed new front tire. http://www.jakewilson.com/productDetail.do?navTitle=Motorcycle+Tires&webCatId=57&navType=type&webTypeId=443&prodFamilyId=22916&listingId=&sizeAttr=5289 Mounting of that tire, along with the dyna beads, was the only thing I did not do myself! My thoughts: Love the new heavy duty springs. My bike no longer nose dives when brakes are applied! The steering stem nut takes a 27mm socket. 2 trips to the store to figure that one out. Could not find the size in the manual, on line, or in any thread I researched. Oh so thankful that I don't have a fairing!!! Should remove gas tank next time. Moving the handle bar around got hairy sometimes. Took 2 days. Have to let the old oil drain overnight! Glad I had Rick to hold my hand otherwise this wanna be mc mechanic would have screwed up. Sonic Springs really stepped up to the plate and responded quickly to my questions and concerns Once again a very special thank you Rick Butler!!!! -
I'm trying to plan my upcoming winter downtime fork rebuild and though I've searched the forum, I'm not finding the info I'm looking for. The plan is to replace the seals/bushings, and go with new springs and maybe the Racetech Emulators. I see where some guys have gone with Progressive springs and others with Sonic springs. Has anyone used the Racetech springs? I know that the stock spring rate is 0.9, and that some people are using 1.20 springs from Sonic. Racetech seems to recommend their 1.0 springs. I haven't looked to see what rate the Progressive springs are yet. I like the soft ride of the stock spring but would like to stiffen the front end up just a hair for better high speed cornering, so I'm hesitant to go to the 1.20 from Sonic. I like to run 0 psi of air in the front. There looks to be a split on opinion of the Racetech Emulators. Some are saying they are great and some think that they aren't necessary. At $170 for the kit, are they really worth the money? Next, fork bushings. OEM stuff can be had for less then $20 for all of the bushings from Partshark.com. Racetech has their super slippery ultra fancy bushings that they say are must have for hi performance forks, but they want 4 times as much as the Stock bushings. Is anyone using these bushings? Last is fork oil. I feel that the factory 5 weight is too thin. I've had good results in the past with synthetic 10 weight. What is everybody running, with Emulators and without? Thanks gang
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Barb and I got home from our trip and we're both still grinning. The weather was great, the bike ran perfect, and we had a lot of laughs with our friends. The 4 of us travelled from southern IL to Branson on state and U.S. highways---no interstates at all. Had a great couple of days in Branson. It was too bad that I hadn't read Wild Hair's message while I was in his neighborhood----we were only about 40 miles away and could have visited. Then we went down to Hot Springs. We took Rte. 7 from Harrison to Hot Springs and it is a great road on a bike. We continued our "no interstate" theme and rode to Tunica Miss. and let Mr Harrah put us up for a great price. On the way back to Illinois we stopped in Memphis and had lunch on Beale St. We intend on going back next year for their Wednesday bike night on Beale St. It sounds like there are a lot of bikes there for that. All told, we put just shy of 2,000 miles on the bike. Only one small thing to take care of. Our friends 1800cc Wing decided that it wanted to roll forward and off the kickstand. Our Venture was sharing a parking spot and kept the Wing from hitting the ground. To do this, the Venture had to sacrifice it's radiator cover (it cracked). If somebody has one that they want to part with, please send me a private message. Frank
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I had a pm a couple of days ago of a new member that lived close bye but I work rotating 12hr shifts so it was hard to get back to him so today I had off and was installing new front springs thanks to Skydoc and he came over to shoot the breeze. The new springs work great and I fab'd up a bracket for the aftermarket rectifier that bolts to the frame and exhaust but keeps it away from the drive and heat from the exhaust, this way I was able to keep the OEM rectifier in place with all the plugs just in case my new one craped out all I would have to do is take the side cover off and switch plugs and off I go.When I get back from my vaca I will have it powder coated along with other stuff on the bike, Oh back to the new member he is a great guy and needs tips on how to go riding without the wife...lol
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:biker:ROAD TRIP...Heddin to Euricka Springs. Be there Sept. 8th till Sunday the 12th. Starting from the Coast of MS. Anyone is welcomed to ride along or maybe meet us in E.S. for some riding and tellin lies. Any members in the E.S. maybe int. in a meet and eat, would be great.
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Whose is going to the Hot Springs Rally?
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Well back home safe from the springs seen 8 Road deer on the way home, You know the ones right on the side of the road and it is a coin flip if they are going in the brush or out on the road ( no road kill me or the deer ). Thank for dinner Buddy I now owe you one. It was good to see everyone and hope to get off for the cave trip in the show me state.
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Ok is there anyone going to the eureka spring this weekend. was I nuts or was not the weeked for that?
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I just managed to get my forks apart and have some questions. I was under the impression that progressive springs were different from OEM because they had tighter winds on one end. All parts seemed OEM and there was no PVC spacer or whatever. The ones I took out also had tighter winds on one end. So now I'm confused. I measured the springs and they were both @ 18" long. Manual says they should be 23.6"! If these are OEM, can this compression be for real? Had some minor pits but smoothed them out with #400 then #2000 watersand and polished them with Flitz. They look like new. Tried to send photo but I guess I don't know how to do that. I inserted attachment but it apparently went to never, never land.
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I know this is a short notice, Sorry. Being the only Mechanic for the city, has put me on a very short rope so this is the reason for the delay......Sorry Aug. 27-28 2010 was hoping for more days but does not look like it will happen.... Any way We will be running up to Eureka Springs Fri. morning get there around 1-2PM. settle in then go out get some good food come back and chat drink some good beer & soda pop relax and have fun, If it is possible Saturday? Peg would like to see the Glass Church in Eureka Springs and ride around the Country side for the day then back to the Inn for a relaxing evening before heading home Sunday morning. Will be staying at Edelweiss Inn Very nice & very clean place, If you want to come over just call and tell Cindy or Brian your with Venturerider.org they know who we are!! .. very nice couple:happy34: http://www.edelweissinn.com/ Buddy
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Well, we made our trip to Ar, beautiful riding until the rain started, had to cut it 2 days short, after telling a farmer at a resturant that it rains everytime we ride the bikes to Ar he said ya'll be sure and come back because we need the rain, and after riding by some of the fields I believe him. This was the first time to pull a trailer with the Venture, after getting use to it all went well. The Pig trail was great, got into some clouds and visibility was about 1/8 of a mile. We visited Mountain View, Eureka Springs, and Hot Springs, then home to Florence Ms.
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We bought our '90 Venture about 8 weeks ago and have already ridden nearly 2000 miles on it. After reading many of the discussions here and getting more "in tune' with our bike, I decided to add the heavy fork brace and the Progressive fork springs to help cure the somewhat "flexy" feel in the front. Last Friday, I ordered both from the classified section here from the members posting them. I received the fork brace yesterday! all the way from California to here in Ohio. I just couldn't wait, so I installed it and went for a ride. What a difference! I began wondering if I needed the springs, but they are going to be installed before it is all over along with some new fork gaiters which are split in multiple places. Since the bike has only 12,000 miles on it and it spent a number of years on the center stand, the springs aren't that critical this week. One issue that I am puzzled by is the sound that is generated when I get the bike leaned over much more than about 70 degrees. There seems to be a bit of a "roar" from what I believe are the tires. It has Dunlop 404 tires on it at about 75% thst were mounted at the same time. Is this characteristic of these tires, or is there something else like a bearing bad? I don't have any experience with Dunlop street tires, all my other bikes have Avons on them. We are both extreemly pleased with this bike and want to have it in the stable for years to come so anything that might need to be addressed needs to be done soon. I appreciate the thoughts and wisdom of the group. -
We will be heading out to Ozarks the 1st of July, staying at Mountain View for 3-4 days and then on to Eureka Springs for 3-4 days, then down towards Hot Springs, I will be on the Venture and the wife will be on her VTX 1300, hopefully the weather will be nice, if you see a 05 silver Venture pulling a trailer with a ALF doll on the trunk it will be us.
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I need some help on the front forks. I am trying to relace the seal and put progressive springs in them with air suspension. I have both forks off the bike, I took the springs out. Pulled the dust cover off and then the clip under. Finally I pulled the gold colord washer out. What I need to know is how do I get the tubes out of the lower forks with out damaging them. :confused24: I read the post on here about doing this and the only post I can find is Freebirds and his are still on the bike. Everything else is just replacing springs on the bike. I took the forks off because I want to make sure that they are strait.
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Quick question: My buddy is putting the clutch back together, he wanted to know " if the clutch springs are torqued to a certain setting or just good and snug"?? thanks
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I just replaced the fork seals, bushings and added progressive springs to my 88 Venture. I used the instructions from the Forum (Freebird) and got the parts from Buckeye Performance (Great person to deal with and excelent parts) everything went fine except when it came to seating the top bushing. If you have the same problem try this. Take a 3 inch piece to (1 1/2) PVC and cut one end so that it is at a 90 to the side. Then half the piece so that you can put it arround the fork tube with just the bushing below it. Then just use it like a slide hammer. This worked very well for me but remember not to try this on the seal! I wish I could say that there was a big improvement with the progressive springs but I can not realy tell because I never rode a venture before doing this upgrade. The one very big improvement is that the bike does not look like it will fall over when the side stand is down now and I can easily put it on the center stand now. Before I put the springs in I could lock the front brake and bottom out the springs I can not do that now. Harbor Freight has a set of sockets that has all the allens that you need for doing the seals and it does have the 17mm in the kit the cost is about $15 -
I just received word that the vendor will accept the old, defective clutch diaphragm springs back for a credit and will replace every spring with a new one! If you have purchased a Clutch Diaphragm Spring Kit from me and received it, PLEASE send the Spring ONLY, back to me! My address is: Earl Harrell 115 Colony Court Duncansville, Pa. 16635 I will be shipping the defective springs back to the vendor and will receive a new, proper thickness spring for every one I turn in. I will be shipping these springs on Friday April 30, 2010 so if you get your clutch spring to me by that time, you will be in the first group to receive your new, proper thickness replacement spring. Not to worry, if you miss the first shipping, I will be sending a second batch for replacement and there would be a slight delay in receiving your replacement clutch spring. PLEASE remove the clutch diaphragm spring from the plastic package and ONLY send the spring in a mailer envelope. ( a 6X6" bubble wrap mailer will be fine) Thank you one and all for bearing with me thru this, I will repost the Ads for the First Gen, and Second Gen. Clutch Spring Upgrade Kits as soon as the proper springs start to arrive. For those of you that have ordered the kit and not received it, Your kit will be shipped with the first batch of the correct springs! Thanks again for your patience, Earl
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Hey All, I have been in contact with EBC and they have admitted that they have shipped me Sub-Standard Diaphragm Clutch Springs that I used in my Clutch Spring Upgrade Kits. It seems we ordered so many springs in such a short time that the were forced to activate a second supplier, and that supplier used the wrong thickness of material for the Diaphragm Clutch Spring. EBC is going to replace EVERY defective Spring. Here are the two options I can offer you at this point: Option one is to Double up you old Clutch Diaphragm Spring and the new one that came with the kit and this will solve the clutch slippage problem once and for all. If this makes the "pull" on the clutch lever too heavy for you to handle, I understand that completely! I would suggest you use option two. Option two would be for you to mail the Clutch Diaphragm Spring ONLY, (remove it from the plastic package and put it in a mailer envelope) back to me, here is my address: Earl Harrell 115 Colony Court Duncansville, Pa. 16635 Here is the "rub" with option two, EVERY Diaphragm Spring that EBC has in stock right now is Sub-Standard, Which means that they will need to make another production run of NEW springs with the proper thickness of material. This is not going to happen overnight! So if your bike is down, you may want to double up on the spring for now, and when the new, correct springs start to arrive, I will post again, and you can swap out the doubled spring for the new, proper thickness spring. Any one that has paid and not received a kit will receive their kit with the new, proper thickness Clutch Diaphragm Spring as soon as the new springs arrive. I am very sorry for this problem, I don't make these springs myself and while I verified the part number for all of the springs I shipped, I didn't measure EVERY spring I sold. I can assure you, I will be measuring EVERY ONE from now on! When the Quality level of the Diaphragm Springs has returned, I will repost the Ads in the Classifieds for the MKII VR and Second Gen. RSV and RSTD kits again. The MKI kit uses a set of 6 compression springs instead of a single Diaphragm spring and there is nothing wrong with the MKI kit. Thanks for your patience, and Again, I apologize for this hassle. Earl
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Would there be any interest in getting together in Eureka Springs late Summer or Early Fall. Stay at the Eidelweiss, do some riding, drink some beverages and tell lies? I'm thinking of heading down that way around then and just wondering if anyone else up for riding and lying
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Went for a 10 mile ride today. Was nice to get out and do a little, not much but some riding. Found out I need some fork oil. Or get some progressive springs when i can afford it. Hope everyone else got out for a few miles.
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What are the advantages of Barnett clutch springs over stock springs? Are the Barnett springs stiffer? Gary
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where should I look to buy replacement clutch and springs? Looking for a good price but also a clutch that will last and not slip!!!!
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weather looks good,for the next few days,dogs are not pottie trained,bike is loaded,up thru,OK pug to son-in law,on to lamar CO sun,denver mon,maybe on to glen wood springs co tue any M @ Es along the way not on a tight sch lowell
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I just got word that an old friend of mine is retiring from the Air Force in mid-October. I'm thinking about riding the bike (from San Antonio) to Colorado Springs. I'm concerned about the weather that time of the year. I realize it is not in the mountains, but I wonder what the temperatures typically run at that time of year. Appreciate any input.
