TheREAL scoop on the new Venture is FINALLY starting to shine thru 2 me,, FINALLY!!!

Most folks that know me know I am a pretty thick skulled lop eared varmint.. As a matter of fact, so thick skulled that even my methods of CTFW are about as ancient as they come = I still trust my own backyard mechanic abilities and work on my own bikes, swap my own tires and even actually prefer to sleep out under the stars instead of Moteling it. I am a block headed purist with a deep belief in function over form = I really truly do prefer my steeds to be as basic as possible (I am known to remove "bling" if it is likely to get in the way of ease of maintenance while out scouting the back roads of American on a beat up old scoot - talk about being a bone head..

Anyway,, I was just reading another Magazine article titled [h=2]""The 5 Best Touring Motorcycles: Bikes For Doing Distance""[/h]While reading this article I ran across the 2nd machine on their list (right behind the Beemer GTL1600) = the Polaris Indian Road Master.. Tip and I had parked Tweeks, our lowly 1983 MK1, 1st Gen Venture that is covered with stickers that Tweeks has earned by hauling us and our camping gear on her back to all the places represented by those stickers, long enough to actually demo one of these 2nd place modern touring bikes.. I remember vividly telling Tip after the demo ride that I thought the Roadmaster was somewhat hotter (I truly had no way of knowing at that time, like I do now, that its ability to burn its riders was actually a desired characteristic so I spoke of it as a negative thing) in its ability to burn us then the Harley Davidson Ultra that belonged to friend who allowed us to ride his 2012 Ultra any time we wanted. I also remember mentioning to her, right after recently riding the new Star Venture (the article doesn't mention the new Star Venture - the article was written in March of '17 and the new Venture had not been released yet - perhaps the new Venny would have taken the place of the Beemer and sat in the #1 spot on the list as the Venture is also an enormous V-Twin with the much desired and necessary heat associated with the new touring bikes) that I had placed the new Venture right in between the Indians extreme heat and that of the lesser hot to the legs Harley. As I considered all this and continued reading, something jumped out at me like a spook in a cemetery when I read the first line of why/how the Indian was chosen for this honor - I read:

"" the rumble, heat, and heft of an enormous V-twin is a necessary part of the road-trip experience.""

Reading this is when it all began to FINALLY makes sense!! In other words = I FINALLY figured it out = how could I have missed something so simple!! Let me explain - but before I do,, do yourself a favor and reread that line above and see if something jumps out at you too:

"" the rumble, heat, and heft of an enormous V-twin is a necessary part of the road-trip experience.""

Not happening??? Read on and see if this helps:

A number of years ago when I was in High School and just a young Puc, us future touring bike rider teens used to play a game where we would wrap a friends dollar bill around our wrist, take a lit cigarette and then attempt to burn a hole thru the bill without raising it off our wrist = burn a hole thru the bill and into your arm = keep the dollar bill and earn a burn.. Sounds painful and, as memory serves me,, it actually was VERY painful BUT - the pride that came with having a great big ugly nasty infected cigarette burn hole in ones arm during those priceless days was unbelievable - this pride was so powerful that,, if you had a "burn" (which most of us did) you were instantly accepted into the formidable and hugely desired group that I hung out with at that time,, no burn = not a real member of the team = a wanna be at best..

Fast forward to the current day and age of Tip and I spending some of our time out CTFW on an old motorcycle... Having long since forgotten about those days of yesteryear where real men (and ladies) wore scars to prove their worth,, neither Tip nor I totally understood the actual importance of what we discovered in the last couple years of demoing the newest, most technically advanced touring motorcycles in the history of the world, like the new Venture - that being the issue of "heat" and how it applies to modern day touring scoots and those that ride them..

See,, the little 74 inch water cooled motored Yamaha Venture motorbikes that I/we have logged over a measly little million miles on have all been covered in plastic in an effort to keep the scar giving heat off my precious kids and endlessly gorgeous wifes legs and feet... To make matters worse,,, my wife - TIP (stands for Treasure In Person - she has earned that biker name and grins every time someone uses it cause she KNOWS I meant it when I gave it to her) - has actually shown just how much of a sissy she really is when compared to all those other masses and masses of real deal touring bike passengers out there riding 900 mile/16 hour days in the passenger seat while scaring their legs and feet and enjoying every minute of doing so! Blunt honesty? Tip has actually even complained a couple of times of heat from our water cooled - plastic covered - tiny motored V-4 Yamaha sneaking out from under Tweeks plastic side covers during heavy crosswinds in obscure places (obscure to us,, I am sure that real touring riders and their passengers who seek out "the burn" and scars from the heat they paid so greatly for, ride these places during the heat of the summer by the droves just to get the need for those scars fulfilled) like Wyoming, Arizona, Nevada, Montana and Utah.. And then, to make matters worse,, instead of explaining to her that real touring riders actually do seek out the scars and memories associated with that heat rolling off their enormous historically modern air cooled V-Twins (sorry Tip,, I truly had forgotten how necessary that heat and those scars are), I actually added an extra set of foot pegs on the crash bars that protect the saddle bags on Tweeks sides so Tip could move her feet up and out of the hot air flow to keep them from getting burned giving us the ability to continue riding in high cross winds in 110 degree tempts and even crawl out of other situations like being stuck in traffic for 4 hours in California. Quite frankly my sweet love - it appears we cheated and I cheated you out of the opportunity to have earned those scars = I hope you will forgive me..

I have been enlightened = I truly have.. And I am thankful for this enlightenment.. My bone headedness is still giving me problems though.. My children, of which I have 4 and which all four have also crossed this country from one end to the other in the passenger seat of one of these under powered, lack of scar giving heat old water cooled, plastic covered, shaft driven cheater bikes have also been cheated of their rightful scar tissue from earning the burn.. I now cant help but wonder if I should reclaim the biker names I have given them until they are willing to lay their legs against the rear ward jug or exposed exhaust pipe on one of these history making modern air cooled V-Twins and take their rightful place by doing that which has been deemed necessary?? Or,, at a minimum,, be willing to wrap a dollar bill around their wrists and see if they can find someone who smokes so they can earn the burn that way.........

It's not easy being a Puc I tell ya....

Um, er, PUC. You didn't by chance pick some cactus buds out in the desert for use on yer dinner salad did you? Just checking...

or maybe some other kinds of buds while passing through Colorado?

Puc, I think you nailed it. It ain't the rumble. It's the BURN!

Having more than a couple scars on my arms from just such machismo, bovine excrement boyhood tests as well as the scarred chaps from my V-Twin riding days, I can attest to Cowpuc's genius insight on this matter.

Dand Puc is that why a lot of HD riders wear shorts? They don't want to ruin a good pair of jeans getting there scar. :Laugh:

Good thing I'm not a real touring biker. I already have too many scars and too much hearing loss to add to it by riding.

guess I'll stick with the 83 standard and the 2012 spyder rt limited.

O yea I added air scoops to the spyder limited to resolve excessive heat issue around the seat.

I really am not worthy of touring with the big boys.

I got so many scars on my legs. How do I tell which are burn scars?? A few from "Hold my beer and watch this!!" A few "Oh Crap" Some "Hey You Cain't do That!!" And the "What Happened ? How's My Scoot??? "Don't tell the Warden!!!"

I have no hair on the thigh of my right leg... yeah the one with the bum knee.... I left it sliding thru an intersection back in my yoot.... Does road rash count???

Um, er, PUC. You didn't by chance pick some cactus buds out in the desert for use on yer dinner salad did you? Just checking...

or maybe some other kinds of buds while passing through Colorado?

dedicated to my good friend slowrollwv who nailed it all PERFECTLY with this little tune = my personal version starts at 8:20 (BE SURE AND LISTEN CLOSELY THERE!! = THANK YOU ROLLER,, ALWAYS NICE TO HAVE A BUDDY WHO TRULY GETS IT:

A Good One!!

Puc me think you been swinging on that windmill again. With fall just around the corner heat from those Vtwins will be a welcome return. Anyway, just got back in from making my chicken strip a little thinner and straighten out some curves.

Puc just listened to all three versions and # 3 hit the nail on the head. Thanks:clap2:

Cowpuc you have hashed the new Venture to bits. But I think you have finally hit it on the mark. If I had the new Venture I could have kept my left hand warm by holding it close to the motor instead of putting it into my coat pocket this morning. Darn old plastic covered relic.

We are a dieing breed as far as Momma Yamaha is concerned. Its all about the look not the ride. My guess is there will come a time when hauling your Yamaha to Sturgis will be as normal as hauling your Harley.

Anyone who has ridden a touring bike many miles, knows that at any time you can crest a hill and come to a STOP. Only to see nothing but taillights as far as the eyes can see. When coming home from our ride to Montana there was a accident in the other lane of the thruway that held up those lanes for at least 5 miles. We were in 2 traffic jams on that trip oursleves. One for about an hour and the other for roughly 40 minutes. So we sat and crawled for miles. In the HEAT. No burns here. But who am I, evidently not the bike owner that buys into this BS, "" the rumble, heat, and heft of an enormous V-twin is a necessary part of the road-trip experience."" My dad told me once "Son you can polish a turd up to a shine but in the end its still a turd".

I really like my Victory Cross Country Tour. But one of the sore points is the heat off this oven. For those not familiar it has lowers like the RSV with some storage in them. But they do have vents, but funny thing is you would think wide open would give air flow to cool better. Not the case, you open them full on and it actually heats up around your legs worse. So many of the guys in summer remove them, its only 3 clamps on each side. I have had mine off for maybe 2 months now, MAN what a difference. Much more pleasurable. I'm not even sure I'm going to put them on this winter. I don't think the HEAT has anything to do with enjoying your touring. LOL As far as shorts on any motorcycle if your gonna be stupid, you better be tough.

Good one cowpuc.

This post is right on.

Mike

Good one cowpuc.

This post is right on.

 

Mike

Thanks Mike but I really cant take any credit for it.. In all fairness and honesty, that quote of "" the rumble, heat, and heft of an enormous V-twin is a necessary part of the road-trip experience."" was actually something I copy/pasted from an actual article about the top 5 long distance touring scoots that was put to print back in March.. Giving credit where credit is due, that article can be found here in its entirety: https://rideapart.com/articles/the-5-best-touring-motorcycles-bike-for-doing-distance

Seeing "heat" from an air cooled V-Twin listed as a huge plus by the modern day touring riders (of which Mom Yam clearly was in touch with on the design for our new Venture) for the modern day long 2 up long distance scoot still seems somewhat disconcerting to my touring wanna be way of thinking but,, heyyy,, at least I now feel enlightened!!

Thanks for the on the post brother!! Appreciated!!

Cowpuc you have hashed the new Venture to bits. But I think you have finally hit it on the mark. If I had the new Venture I could have kept my left hand warm by holding it close to the motor instead of putting it into my coat pocket this morning. Darn old plastic covered relic.

We are a dieing breed as far as Momma Yamaha is concerned. Its all about the look not the ride. My guess is there will come a time when hauling your Yamaha to Sturgis will be as normal as hauling your Harley.

Anyone who has ridden a touring bike many miles, knows that at any time you can crest a hill and come to a STOP. Only to see nothing but taillights as far as the eyes can see. When coming home from our ride to Montana there was a accident in the other lane of the thruway that held up those lanes for at least 5 miles. We were in 2 traffic jams on that trip oursleves. One for about an hour and the other for roughly 40 minutes. So we sat and crawled for miles. In the HEAT. No burns here. But who am I, evidently not the bike owner that buys into this BS, "" the rumble, heat, and heft of an enormous V-twin is a necessary part of the road-trip experience."" My dad told me once "Son you can polish a turd up to a shine but in the end its still a turd".

Actually with the new venture all you would have to do is turn the grip heateras on top keep your hands warm!