dingy Posted March 25, 2012 Share #1 Posted March 25, 2012 Picked up a blue 83 Venture today. Going to be known as Papa Smurf. Looks better in pictures than it does close up, but he is 29 years old. Serial # shows it is the 45th one built in this series. Its not a Royale, but the serial number is a different prefix than my standard 83 Venture. But it does have a Royale instrument cluster on it. Lots of aftermarket chrome on this one. Has a 2nd gear problem, but I think I have a short block 1300 motor lined up to fix that. Don't know what I am going to do to this wonderful machine, can't see letting it languish in this state though. One of the first things to go is going to be the drivers floor boards. I can't see liking that heel toe shifter. Probably won't due much with it for a while. Speedy (soon to be renamed Tweety Bird) is getting prepared for a new paint job, going to be bright yellow soon. Gary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calperin Posted March 25, 2012 Share #2 Posted March 25, 2012 Congratulations, It looks great. Let me know how it goes with the paint. I have an 84 to paint too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wrenchrob Posted March 25, 2012 Share #3 Posted March 25, 2012 Hey Dingy i saw your previous posts about buying on in Canada. Is this bike from this side and ifso how was your trip bringing it through customs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yammer Dan Posted March 25, 2012 Share #4 Posted March 25, 2012 Congrats!! My "New" one went bye bye. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcarl Posted March 25, 2012 Share #5 Posted March 25, 2012 Looks like a good find for you Gary,, hope it works out well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dingy Posted March 25, 2012 Author Share #6 Posted March 25, 2012 Hey Dingy i saw your previous posts about buying on in Canada. Is this bike from this side and ifso how was your trip bringing it through customs? The one I am trying to get from Canada is for my cousin. He has a 105th Anv. Dyna Glide, and it is no fun on long rides. I have talked to owner of the 84 in Canada today, and if getting it into US is doable within reason, that bike is coming to Ohio. Gary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dingy Posted March 25, 2012 Author Share #7 Posted March 25, 2012 Congratulations, It looks great. Let me know how it goes with the paint. I have an 84 to paint too. It's rather tedious sanding all the curves and recess in the body panels. The pinstripe decals were a challenge to get off. Used a heat gun initially to soften & scrape then off. Next I used a 3M general purpose adhesive cleaner (contains xylene, which seemed to be the key ingredient). I tried several other things and this seemed to work the best without damaging the ABS, I had a spare fender to experiment with. I softened adhesive with this cleaner, then took a very thin putty knife and scraped adhesive residue off. Razor blades didn't work as they tended to dig into parts. The removal of the decal then left a recess in surrounding paint which had to be sanded down with 220 grit, then 320 grit to smooth out. I have been using fiberglass resin & cloth to repair body panels & strengthen in some weak areas. I have used an electric palm sander to do the areas it will reach, but I have to be careful as it will overheat ABS if I work in one area to long. Gary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarlS Posted March 25, 2012 Share #8 Posted March 25, 2012 Nice looking bike, lots of nice safety chrome. That dash doesn't look like my 83VR Royale's dash. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icebrrg3rd Posted March 25, 2012 Share #9 Posted March 25, 2012 If you're looking to ditch the floorboards and heel/toe, I would swap you a set of pegs and toe shifter. If need be I'd throw in some greenbacks too. -Andrew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FuzzyRSTD Posted March 25, 2012 Share #10 Posted March 25, 2012 Dingy, i really like your trailer to. i bet you built that. nice bike mt friend. fuzzy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snaggletooth Posted March 25, 2012 Share #11 Posted March 25, 2012 Dang Gary, I had to do a double take on that one. It looked a lot like a bike I had looked at a while back. But..... I didn't pick it up. Drooling when I saw it, ran away when I looked it over. It was dressed up nice but all trashed underneath. Glad it wasn't the same bike. Yikes! Have fun with the Smurf. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rstacy Posted March 25, 2012 Share #12 Posted March 25, 2012 Does anyone know where I can get polished covers like this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snaggletooth Posted March 25, 2012 Share #13 Posted March 25, 2012 eBay is about the only place you're going to run into those these days. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snaggletooth Posted March 25, 2012 Share #14 Posted March 25, 2012 Hey Ray, Here's another idea. Check skydoc_17's post #24 in this thread. http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?threadid=67950&page=2 Very cool with the back lighting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icebrrg3rd Posted March 25, 2012 Share #15 Posted March 25, 2012 rstacy, I'm changing the look of my bike, and I have those chrome covers on mine. If I get rid of them I'll see if you still want them. -Andrew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rstacy Posted March 25, 2012 Share #16 Posted March 25, 2012 rstacy, I'm changing the look of my bike, and I have those chrome covers on mine. If I get rid of them I'll see if you still want them. -Andrew Thanks Andrew. Let me know. Ray Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Condor Posted March 25, 2012 Share #17 Posted March 25, 2012 Gary, I tried blowing up the pic of the left grip as much as I could and still be recognizable. It 'kinda' looks like the choke set is in front of the grip instead of a slider on the bottom of the L.H. controls. If it is the rotate type you have an '84 with an '83 Vin. The reason I started looking is they only had red and gold bikes in '83. Very nice bike BTW..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dingy Posted March 25, 2012 Author Share #18 Posted March 25, 2012 Here is picture of choke. Other pictures of some of the interesting chrome. 1st is chrome inserts inside face of handlebar risers - good shape 2nd is chrome reservoir covers - some pitting 3rd is Royale style cluster - not chrome 4th is chrome gas lid surround - good shape 5th is 2 piece side vent covers - good shape 6th is chrome headlight ring - good shape 7th is chrome rear peg mounts - some pitting 8th is unusual side radiator covers - good shape 9th is chrome radiator grill - some tarnish 10th is chrome guard in front of forks - good shape Gary http://i1007.photobucket.com/albums/af193/gdingy101/IMG_1325.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Condor Posted March 25, 2012 Share #19 Posted March 25, 2012 It's an '84..... The only year they had that type of choke set. I also own one. Actually it's an '84/'83' with an '86 1300cc motor. It's very confused.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Venturous Randy Posted March 25, 2012 Share #20 Posted March 25, 2012 Somebody sure has put a lot of foo foo on that bike, some stuff I have never seen before. There seems to be some things that don't add up on this bike. You say it was the 45th of this series? What is the build date? Could it be a very early 84 with an 83 title? Why would Yamaha go backwards instead of forward on the date with an 84 color? The dash is 84 up. Have you compared the vin# on the frame side rail with the number on the engine and the frame at the neck? Interesting bike and enquiring minds want to know. RandyA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Condor Posted March 25, 2012 Share #21 Posted March 25, 2012 Somebody sure has put a lot of foo foo on that bike, some stuff I have never seen before. There seems to be some things that don't add up on this bike. You say it was the 45th of this series? What is the build date? Could it be a very early 84 with an 83 title? Why would Yamaha go backwards instead of forward on the date with an 84 color? The dash is 84 up. Have you compared the vin# on the frame side rail with the number on the engine and the frame at the neck? Interesting bike and enquiring minds want to know. RandyA The first batch of the '84 model year hit the shores of the US in '83, ergo the '83 vin#. Why?? Who knows?? Just a little more Yamaha history lore..... I have # 89 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dingy Posted March 25, 2012 Author Share #22 Posted March 25, 2012 For comparison, here are the two lower rail SN plates. 1st is the Blue 83/84 (it was # 46, not 45) 2nd is the 83 Venture/Max. Titles both show 83 year. Gary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Venturous Randy Posted March 25, 2012 Share #23 Posted March 25, 2012 Gary, that does look to me that it is an 84 bike with the born date and the serial number 47 and I assume Yamaha still starts each year with the first bike built being 000101. Hmmm... learn something new every day, but I still wonder why Yamaha would sell it as an 83 and not an 84. RandyA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now