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As usual this group never ceases to amaze me! It was soooo great to see all of you again and a few that I met for the first time! There isn't a single Venturerider I don't like!! Having been around a while I prety much knew everybody but of course there were a couple of new faces, either newer members or in the case of Angel, people I haven't seen in person for the first time. The downside, with so many friends it's hard to spend quality time with everybody. Wish we had more time!! Even though I already knew, I was still astounded with the open hearts of the Pioneer crew! They treat us sooo wonderful it is amazing! While we are on the subject, I was ho9nored to see the Venturerider crew in action doing what they always do, help out en mass whenever anybody has a problem! Angel's bike was not the only bike that had a problem, there were a couple of other minor incidents that received the royal treatment as well! You guys amaze me!! Besides all the dedicated work that the entire rally crew did I also want to give a special kudos to Wizard765 in helping out with the last minute prep work on the shower. Wayne has many talents and was a joy to work with! As a team we work exceptionally well together! I also want to thank all the volunteers on Thursday afternoon who worked in the rain to get the shower torn down and the materials returned to my place! The lumber is also for a project happening at my place, a new storage closet and a half bath off the kitchen. All I know is I am exhausted today partially physically and partially emotionally. Can't wait for the next event...

Just wanted to thank all the committee members of the 2012 for putting on a great rally so far. Don & I are having a great time. We are thankful to be here with everyone. I know the hard work involved in planning something like this and just wanted to take a minute to say thanks BIG TOM & all your hard working crew!!! Niagara Falls was awesome yesterday. The rides have been great so far. Pioneer motorsports have gone above & beyond in their hospitality for us. Can't wait for another day of fun & adventure. :clap2::clap2:

well, age has finally caught up with me so i'm getting ready for retirement a second time. i only have four bikes left. my stratoliner, v-star 1300, majesty 400 scooter, and a 1958 cushman pacemaker scooter. the v-star is on the auction block and the strat and majesty are keepers. the cushman is going too. the cushman is totally restored and up dated with the latest technology and is probably one of the nicest looking ones in the country. as long as i can get my leg over the strat i will keep riding. it gets rougher every time i ride. i figure i can make it another year. anyone interested in a v-star or a cushman pm me.

Well another year past and here you are having another birthday whodathunktit Happy Birthday Father Time!!!!

Ya Hoo, I got my Venture back Monday with the new factory installed Hannigan kit. I thought it would be a piece of cake to drive it. WRONG!!! Across the highway from their store, Nishna Valley Cycle, in Atlantic Iowa, was a short street with a culdesac at the far end. Rob & Dennis had me practice driving the Trike on this street, before I left for home. The first thing I did after starting the engine was to crank the handlebars too far to the left. Man, I thought I'd lost it right there and then put my foot down immediately. They just laughed. They got me lined up, I went across the highway, up the street to the culdesac and then that new experience came into play to get around that circle. Wow! Talk about something wierd. Well, I made it back to their parking lot okay. But, then they had to help turn me around because they wanted me to do it again. This time it felt a little better. Anyway, I made the successful 50 mile trip back home, being nervous and excited at the same time, with the wife following me in the car. Learning to water ski with my new boat, years ago, was another one of the hardest things also that I had ever tried, even though all my friends had no problem. But this Trike ride was scarrier! We did stop at a Dairy Queen in a small town in route and relaxed with an ice cream. This is a wonderful Trike and they did a beautiful job and I'm very proud of it. I'm gettingl it mastered already! A very fine product. Owen.

Yesterday I fired the VR to go to my DOT physical. She settled into an idle at about 1200 rpm when the norm has been more like 800 or 900. Later that day, after say 100 miles of running errands (I may have taken the long way, all day) it now seems to smell very rich, real gassy. As in gasoline, not gassy like me after Mexican food. And it may have a slight stumble on one cylinder. It ran fine when I shut it off the previous time it ran. I ran it Sunday, went to work Monday till Wednesday night and got on her Thursday morning. It just sat in the shed from the time it ran fine till it now runs differently. And not in a good way. I had the carbs cleaned and tuned after I bought it. I run ethanol treatment religiously and have sea foamed it regularly. Any suggestions? Maybe the diaphragms or one of them, went bad?

Had an overnight visit from Walter. It was good to see him and his "new" sidecar! :thumbsup:Wish we'd had time for a ride!

Whats the cost? As in the plasticy thingy that senses what gear your in. I was wondering if that was starting to kick the bucket, as the bike after a long ride (60 miles actually) the neutral light will flicker like bonkers, then go out, and the cms gear # goes away. Gear # also goes away in 2nd gear at times before all this, and now 1st. I'm guessing its time to replace it, yea?

It is a sad day fors ol pickers like Freebird and a few others. The Queen of Country Music, Ms Kitty Wells, has passed on. Next to Willie, she was one of my favorite old time country singers.

Am a fairly new member here, and have greatly enjoyed my time. I had a 1987 venture royale that I bought a few months ago. Squidly wonderfully took time to help me put progressives in my forks, as well as adjust the breaks, clutch, and do a fluid change on both. It made the bike much more fun to ride. However, after riding it to and from work a few times, I had to admit to myself that the bike was not enjoyable to ride in Houston area traffic. I never could get comfortable riding it at rush hour speeds. I also realized that I just didn't have time to work on it like I wanted to, and that the bike was ending up being a garage queen. To make a long story short, I met a guy who wanted to trade his 2001 Honda Shadow ACE 750 for the venture. He was wanting a bigger bike for the road and has the time and space to work on it. So, I traded title for title. I am happy that I got a bike that will suite me well without going int debt. I pointed him to this site and hope he shows up. Also, I am not leaving this site. I will be hanging around. I am available to help any and all who need it (as much as I can), and would still love to ride with y'all any chance I can. I appreciate the family here and hope I can be as much of a help as everyone has been to me. My contact info will remain current should anyone need anything. JP

Spent the day on the range requalifying with the glock......good for another year....only 4 more years to go then ...30 years is a long long time....

Any of you folks who are into making things out of stainless want to try making a set of helmet lock extensions? On Ebay they want $65 by the time you pay shipping!!!!!! I wouldn't want to pay more than 1/2 that!

Hey guys! Just got back from a 7,200+ mile, 21 state road trip including 6 National Parks, 2 National Monuments, Route 66 and all the awesome scenery you could possible pack into 18 days. I rode with two friends, both of them on trikes (a HondaVTX and a Spyder) and of course I was on my trusty '06 Midnight Venture. This Venture is fairly new to me, I bought it in October of 2011 with just 4000 miles on it. I sold my last Venture, an '03 I also bought used, after putting about 40,000 miles on it in myself in 2 1/2 years. It had about 27,000 on it when I got it. Why would I sell a Venture with less than 70,000 miles on the clock? All I can say is I like the black one better. Anyway, thought you guys might want to hear about the trip. This may get a little long winded, so I'll try to make the less interesting areas as brief as possible. We left from just north of Orlando, Fl on June 20th and made it through stifling heat to Mobile, Al the first day. The next day we continued west down I-10 through Mississippi and Louisiana, across bayou country, and up I-49 to Texarkana, Arkansas. We then rode on secondary roads to Arkansas' legendary "Pig Trail", SR 23, sort of the "Tail of the Dragon" of this neck of the woods. After an awesome ride through the twisties of this famed motorcycle road we bought the obligatory patches, picked up I-40 and were off again for El Reno City, OK. The next few days we would be in Route 66 country, as I-40 parallels the old Rte 66, and you can see the old road often from the Interstate. It was about this time that the heat really heated up for this Florida Boy! I thought I knew what heat was, but for the next 5 days or so we suffered through daytime highs of at least 106, with many days up to 110! Also about the time we were leaving El Reno I had the first of my mechanical issues which haunted me for the next few days, starting with a screw I found in my brand new Avon Venom @@@??!!!""??!## Tire! And another separate issue that found me limping into the Yamaha dealer in Amarillo with only 2nd gear! I'll be happy to get into that later if anyone has questions, but suffice it to say that after a few stressful episodes, the "Midnight Rider" did just fine, and we stayed right on schedule. Although by the time we rolled into Albequerque, NM that night it was 11 pm! We left from El Reno that morning at 5 am. Thank God for patient friends! (and answered prayers!) Speaking of Amarillo, and western Oklahome, and New Mexico, and Arizona, the heat was ungodly and the WIND!!! Let me just say this was my third time across the great plains on a bike and it was windier than I have ever experienced. At times a gust would hit and literally push us all 2 feet sideways! So hot and windy that only truly hardcore (and 1/2 crazed bikers) would have put up with it! We got a leisurely start out of Albequerque the next morning and started the day with somewhat cooler temperatures, at least until about 10 am. This was classic Route 66 country, with just about every little town between central Oklahoma and Flagstaff advertising it's own restored section of the Mother Road. We also apparently barely survived an encounter with a pack of gigantic Indians in Gallup, NM just off Rte 66. Although we never saw them, when we came out of the truck stop it was obvious we had just missed great bodily harm and near lethal bike damage! [ATTACH]69408[/ATTACH] So after counting our lucky stars and saying our prayers it was back on I-40 west. By this time the cooler temperatures abandoned us and we rode for hours through shimmering heat that made me feel like Clint Eastwood in "High Plains Drifter". It was at this time that we came to our first National Park of the trip, Painted Desert/Petrified Forest. It was a very interesting place, but after a couple hours of brain smelting 110 degree heat, riding around on the loop road and taking a few pics, (I had one here but I went over my quota, I think) we were off to ride through more heat. Honestly by now it was so hot that at each stop we would literally douse ourselves with water until we were soaking wet, then hop on the bikes and ride for a few minutes, and actually cool off to just below the boiling point of lead, then within minutes we would be bone dry again, feeling hotter than the surface of the sun, the whole time sitting on 1300 cc of throbbing V-4 power all the while churning out more heat. Oh well, that's part of it as we all like to say! A few hours more heat to the west and we came to Flagstaff where we headed north on US 89 towards our destination for the night, Cameron, Az, gateway to Grand Canyon National Park and Glen Canyon. We stayed at Cameron Lodge, a really cool historic trading post on the Little Colorado River Gorge. The gorge is still there, the river dried up months ago. Kinda goes with the territory I guess. There's also a very nice reasonable restaurant at Cameron Lodge, which is good, because it looks like everything else in the area closed up long ago. Next morning we were up early and on the bikes at 5:30 am for a 2 hour run up to Page and Glen Canyon Dam, where we would be taking a 1/2 day raft trip on the Colorado River. Glen Canyon is actually the beginning of the Grand Canyon, but the shortest raft trip you can take in the Grand Canyon itself is 1 full week. That's because the canyon is so deep and remote that there is no access point to get in or out before that! Our trip down the Colorado River was very cool and refreshing as the river temperature is about 46 degress and of course, we were floating on it. The scenery was beautiful, and we saw bighorn sheep and several wild horses. Once the raft trip was over it was back on the bikes for the ride back to Cameron Lodge and a good night's sleep. Next morning we were up early again and off at 5:30 am for the ride to Grand Canyon National Park. We got to the park gates at about 6:30 and had the park virtually to ourselves as we rode along the East Rim Road, stopping at the overlooks, gawking at the incredible scenery, and of course taking some awesome pics. [ATTACH]69409[/ATTACH] If you go, get there early. Not only is the best light for photography then but by the time we got to the park Visitor Center at 9:30 it was like Disney World on July 4th and it was also starting to get too hazy for good photos. As much fun as the Grand Canyon was, we still had a lot of miles to make and another National Park to see that day, Zion National Park! So it was back down the East Rim Road to US 89 north, into Utah, past Lake Powell and across southern Utah. As usual in the west, the scenery was awesome and of course it was hot and we had vicious crosswinds. A few hours later we were turning onto Utah SR 9, the road through Zion National Park. Zion is the ultimate drive-through National Park, combining unbelievable scenery and awesome twisties, all going through an incredibly scenic, compact canyon. As beautiful as it was, I don't think we got off the bikes once. (Except to take this picture.) [ATTACH]69410[/ATTACH] We had the feeling we were seeing everything from the road. Of course this isn't true. There are awesome backcountry hikes. But if all you can do is ride through, you won't feel at all cheated. Shortly after we were through Zion Canyon the road led us to I-15 North, and an hour later, our destination for the night, Cedar City, Utah. After a couple of adult beverages it was off to bed. We went to sleep exhausted but exhilarated after a day of unbelievable scenery and riding. After a good night's rest it was back on I-15 North in cooler temperatures! I-15 was awesome. Smooth road, light traffic, 80 mph speed limit...Yes, I said 80 mph! We rolled up Utah in no time flat, before we knew it we were in Salt Lake City. We spent a couple interesting hours at Antelope Island State Park on Great Salt Lake. Then back on I-15 North flying through potato country up to our destination in Idaho Falls. The cooler temperatures continued. For once we didn't care if the hotel had a pool! We were really getting excited...Yellowstone was right around the corner. Next morning we had a hearty breakfast at a local cafe, our first in a long time. Then we were off down US 26, following the Snake River through tight canyons, beautiful forests, and with an occasional glimpse of snow covered mountains in the distance. Within a couple hours we were catching our first glimpse of the Tetons while making our way through touristy Jackson, Wyoming. Then before you knew it, there they were, in all their glory, the Grand Tetons. The Tetons are in my opinion, the most beautiful mountain range in the lower 48 and I've seen them all. (I'll let you know about Alaska when we ride up there in a couple of years). Until then, you can't beat the Tetons. After a few hours snapping pictures like this one [ATTACH]69413[/ATTACH] and riding through the most beautiful country this side of heaven, we were through the Tetons and into the big grandaddy of them all-Yellowstone National Park. To me Yellowstone is subtle. The scenery doesn't hit you over the head like most of the other parks. Although it is beautiful everywhere you look. And jaw-dropping gorgeous in plenty of places. But to me the beauty of Yellowstone is in the details. The thousands of thermal features. Beautiful waterfalls everywhere. More big game in one place than you can imagine. Bison, bears, elk (including bucks with the most enormous racks you have ever seen) coyotes. You name it. We actually followed a coyote trotting down the road for a 1/4 mile before shooting up the side of the mountain and grabbing a marmot right in front of us! Then they both tumbled down the hill and shot across the road. The marmot jumped off the other side. He knew there was nothing there any worse than that coyote's jaws! The coyote just sat there looking with his fur standing up, [ATTACH]69406[/ATTACH] until we had to keep on going because of the cars behind us. Bison in fields everywhere you go. Some of them sizing up Ventures. No kidding! [ATTACH]69407[/ATTACH] We spent 4 nights in a little cottage in Gardiner, Montana so we had 3 1/2 days in Yellowstone. we saw Old Faithful, Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, Mammoth Hot Springs, all of the "major attractions", did a little hiking, saw more game than you can shake a stick at, and still only scratched the surface. The next morning it was time to start turning our bikes towards home. We left Yellowstone and went north through Billings, Montana where we picked up I-90. We continued through Little Bighorn National Battlefield Monument-Custer's Last Stand. Spent a coupleof hours there and it wasn't nearly enough. Definitely hallowed ground, for all concerned. Plenty of good men died there, on both sides. We continued on down I-90 into Wyoming where we picked up I-25 South and followed it all the way to Cheyenne, Wyoming. About 250 miles from Cheyenne we ran into smoke from the Colorado wildfires. By 4 pm it looked like twilight, but sunset was for 4 1/2 hours. By the time we got to Cheyenne we'd done almost 700 miles. Next morning I changed my oil and filter in an Advance Discount Auto Parts parking lot. They took my old oil. I ran a little over that time. Not too many opportunities to change it where we had been. My friends got their oil changed at a dealer and by the time they were done it was almost 1 pm. So we hit the road. We had one more National Park to see. Rocky Mountain National Park in Northern Co has always been one of my favorite parks. Went over Trail Ridge Road, 12,183 feet, for the first time in 1978 as a kid on a bicycle. I have better sense now. My wife would probably contest that. My friends wanted to go over the pass, down to the bottm and then come back on the same day to make the trip home a little easier. Having been there twice before I knew better. I suggested we make reservations on the other side at Grand Lake. Once we got into the park they couldn't believe it. They couldn't get over how beautiful it all was. It took us almost 4 hours to get to the top of the pass. Taking pictures, me with John Denver playing the whole time. You can laugh all you want. I like John Denver. [ATTACH]69411[/ATTACH] We started back the next day. We knew we'd be into the heat again soon and almost dreaded it. At the top of Fall River Pass it was about 40 degrees. 3 hours later in eastern Colorado it had hit 108 degrees. I won't bore you with all the details of the trip back to Florida. 3 1/2 days later we were home. It was a great ride too, as they almost all are. It was stinking hot, only with humidity thrown in to make it interesting. At least my nose didn't bleed inside from the dry air. It was one of my best motorcycle trips ever. Most would call it the trip of a lifetime. I know better. I've got plenty more of 'em planned. I only have one regret about this trip. My wife has disc trouble in her neck and back. She had a bad flare up a few days before the trip and so I had to leave my favorite riding partner behind. The Venture sure felt empty without her. Ride Safe, 1/2 crazed

I live in Georgia (gainesville area) and my brother who I have not seen in almost two years lives in Michigan. I got a text from him on the 4th saying to make surer I was off on Thursday and Friday because he would see me later that night. WOW! What a great surprise. Come to find out, he and his wife were on the bike and made the 780 mile trip down in one day. After mapping out some trips, and after some much needed rest, we set out for one heck of a great ride. We rode the blue ridge parkway, all around the foothills in Helen, GA and Blairsville Etc and made it all the way up to the Virginia line. The scenery was wonderful and since I have lived here for almost 11 years now, this was the first time I had ever riden with my brother. What an awesome time. Took many, many pics which I wll upload soon and I hope to be ridiong mine up to michigan in fall. Although, I don't think I'll plan to do it in one day. I of course was riding my '86 venture and he was on his '04 venture. We turned some heads and got penty of compliments when we stopped. just thought I'd share our good time. Maybe some of you guys are close here in Georgia and week and plan a meet and eat. Take care, Jay

for the interview, prayers & good vibes needed. at or b4 10 central... :fingers-crossed-emo:fingers-crossed-emo:fingers-crossed-emo

Well, Dang!!! My 20 year old daughter was just offered a position with her current company to do a remodel at one of their stores there. Looks like the possiblity of a long term position. Now I haven't spent any time in Windy in 25 years but I have no really fond memories of the place, traffic or anything else. Sorry. Maybe it was just me and the business I was in. I spent most my time there in Cook Country Court representing transportation companies. So for anyone familiar with that area these days, what's the area like now. Open to any and all feedback. Anything that will make me feel at least a little bit supportive of her new position offer because right now I'm not feeling it. Being a single Dad to tough sometimes. Mike

I just noticed on the calender that Dacheedah (Kevin) Has invited us to the boat races on the river and we can go to his house and watch the festivities. I think it sounds like a great time. Shirley and I signed up. Here is the link http://www.venturerider.org/forum/calendar.php?do=getinfo&e=322&day=2012-9-1&c=1

When my husband and I were newlyweds, we rode 2 up on a KZ1000. Unfortunately, that bike was stolen 29 years ago. I had always promised him he could get a new bike when the time was right, and this is what we ended up with last week. It has a lot of miles on it but it was well taken care of.

Has anyone looked into replacing the oil pressure relief spring with one that would hold the oil pressure at a bit higher level than what is currently used or is this a bad idea all the way around for these bikes (RSV). I know when I was building Buick V6 engines a long time back I would increase the pressure by swapping out the relief spring for one slightly stronger which would run the idle pressure up a few pounds. This running at 8 - 10 psi is crazy only because by the time you see it's off the gauge it's way too late. I was thinking of somewhere around 20 - 25 psi would be nice and a top cruse pressure of around 40 psi hot.

Well this is the first time I had to cancle a rally, but can't make the NY rally. We had a rough go the last couple months and finance's won't allow us to make the trip. I wan't to thank Big Tom for being so understanding and if you are still on the fence about going, go, I gaurantee you'll have a great time with the New York and Canadian folks. Boy, this really messed up my vacation plans, we were going to see several friends along the way and some family in NY. Also was going to try out the new passport and help some freinds, break in there new house in Canada. Oh well you guys have fun and be safe.

Sharon, Oscar and me want to say thanks for coming it was a great time we got to meet and make some new freinds and got to see some old freinds and got some bikes worked on. And I hope that we get to see all of you again soon. Our 12 year old now wants a white Venture like iceberrg3rd and has some stories to tell of the bonfire at his place with some bikers and what a great time they all were. We want all of you to know that you are wellcome back here anytime. And hope that everyone made it home safe. Thanks again Orlin

First off... I have a 2009 RSV. I have really grown to love this bike (finally), although I still have a few minor complaints. But I am having an electrical issue that is DRIVING ME NUTS (kinda). The audio controller locked up after only having the bike for about 3 months. None of the buttons or switches worked at that time. I believe when it happened the FIRST time...I did something with the CB switch and it started working again, but that was about a year ago now. It happened one other time...very similar...turning the bike all the way (turning the KEY all the way off) and then back on...made the unit work. Now today, while on a 200 mile ride...the audio cutout, and when I looked at the audio controller, the HEADPHONES icon was on (top right corner of controller)...AND the controller was going dim, then blank, then back on again. So I thought maybe it could be a loose wire or power issue. I pulled off the road, turned the key/bike off...turned it back on and it worked fine again. Started riding again, and the AUDIO STAYED PERFECT...but the LCD on the controller started getting dim and disappearing and then coming back clear...the AUDIO STAYED PERFECT during the time the LCD kept dimming and disappearing. So now I am thinking it is a defective controller or something since the Audio did work even when the LCD was blank. Problem is that now it's working again and...most of you know how hard it is to FIX SOMETHING THAT AIN'T BROKE!!! Anyone else have this malady going on... Wally

We just got back from a trip and the cruise control is getting a little lazy. Works, but not quite as responsive as it used to be. Has anybody tried replacing the vacuum pump or maybe reworking it? Since it's on all the time the bike's running, it got a lot of time on it.

As both a procrastinator and one who's latest promotion has consumed a ton of my free time, I admit that I have had almost all of these parts sitting on the shelf for a full year. What a colossal mistake on my part. The last bit I was holding out on was a 14mm master cylinder. I found what I wanted on eBay last week -- had to strip and refinish, but that took less time than I expected. Skydoc_17 had provided the SS lines (I asked him to special order black so it would look more like stock and it does) and VMax splitter; all of which were still in the sealed USPS box that he mailed them to me in. I cleaned and painted my eBay sourced R1 calipers solid black to get rid of the blue anodized stars. Installation was straightforward and uneventful. Since I already had the bike torn down for the valve adjustment (another big thank you to skydoc_17) it was a couple days before I could get it on the street. My initial impression was, lets say much below satisfactory. I was actually pissed within the first 2 stops at how much time I had put into the project. To be fair, I had gone cheap and reused whatever pads (still had good meat, no idea what brand) were loaded in the calipers. Fortunately, my local shop had a pair of the EBC HH pads on the shelf. Second impression was light years ahead. I couldn't have asked for a better result. The albino water buffalo now bleeds off speed equivalent or better than any other big touring bike I have ever owned or ridden. If you are on the fence, let me shove you over to the other side. Even if you stick with the stock 5/8" master cylinder, its a step in the right direction. Iz

Well I cant seem to find Bubba and Todd aka 86er, trying to get together with him for a ride, but he is MIA, I know he was working on a house in his spare time, working for UPS part time, but more full time hours that part time............Hey Todd if you or Bubba see this call, miss seeing you and Bubba, I lie, its Bubba I really miss. [ATTACH]68728[/ATTACH]