I have heard that many people prefer to have that off throttle burbling, they like it.. I never realized that the Venture’s do it with the stock exhaust all day and all night, you just don’t hear it unless you’re behind the bike. when I was trying to find a place to mount my microphone so I could hear the engine a little more, I put a microphone back beside my tail light, I was amazed at how much this thing pops and crackles with the stock exhaust with no modifications done to the air injection system yet.. I told my riding buddy that I could hear the popping in the video I made, he said, he hears it all the time. That’s when I started to try to get rid of it.

dude me too! first bike, mines an 07’ with like 41k miles on it. I flushed the coolant, changed the oil, changed rear diff fluid, cleaned air filters, removed the rear trunk since the lock was broken. it’s been awesome and comfortable.

Does yours also have a sorta “chirp” noise in 5th gear?

@@OACSOME Sorry it took me so long to get to this reply, I just spotted it here in May 2024. That churp if you are referring to. I think you are talking about the unavoidable sound of the primary gears that these ventures have instead of a primary chain. There is a smaller gear on the end of the crankshaft that transmits the power to the input shaft of the transmission by way of gears, these gears are machined in such a way that they are called straight cut years. They are the most efficient angle to cut gears at as opposed to having the more silent helical cut gears. that sound can be heard in many motorcycle engines. I heard it in my Goldwing, I heard it in my Kawasaki Z 400 , I remember the very first motorcycle. I heard that had that whine.. my 1973 Kawasaki Z1.. even before that, in some of my Kawasaki, two stroke, triples, you could hear primary gears making that sound.. It’s completely normal

@@Jodyrides Haha no worries! Yeah i heard and have done some research and have found what you said checks out! i don’t mind it if it means their stronger !

The RS ventures could definitely stand to have better brakes. The goldwing i had had just before I got my Venture had much better brakes than my Venture does. Let me know what you do and how much do they improve. I have heard/read that EBCHH brake pads will improve the braking .. you just reminded me to buy a set of those pads for the front rotors.. changing the shock oil is pretty easy once you have the shock off. Just remove the Schrader valve out of the air hose and turn the shock upside down and let it drain overnight. I believe you refill it with 125CC of fork oil. I used 10 weight fork oil.. I went to a dollar store or a store called five or less, and I bought a large turkey baster syringe, it looks like a big hypodermic needle. That’s how I got the fresh oil back into the shock.. The oil that I drained out of the shock was pretty putrid in black

I have never seen a Royal startour deluxe up close. I haven’t even seen one for sale on craigslist.. I guess that’s a sign that people hang onto them

Manuel What are you gonna replace the royal star with? Or do you have other motorcycles?

@@Jodyrides I have a 2016 BMW R1200GSA. Best bike I have owned so far. Everything has been done to it as far as upgrades. It already came fully loaded from 1st owner when he purchased it. Ready to travel the world with it.

Yamaha got a lot of mileage out of the V4 engine. Introduced in 1983 as a 1200 in the Venture, then the Vmax, then an 86 they went to a 1300 Venture but they continued with the 1200 with the Vmax. And they produced bikes with this engine up until 2021, the larger displacement, Vmax, which I know nothing about… I only know they have no major flaws.. i’ve tried a few other brands of big bikes, a Goldwing, the BMW, K 1200 LT, but I keep going back to the Venture’s

The Venture‘s have been pretty good when you consider the entire package and its age.. they are not perfect, they are not up to the minute, modern, but that engine is like the Chevy 350, it’s been around for decades, and they have no weakness. I appreciate the roominess, and the ease of getting at the major components.. they have carburetors, but carburetors always get you home, and you can bump start a motorcycle with carburetors that has a flat battery, you ain’t push/ bump starting a motorcycle with fuel injection when the battery is flat.. I had my first Venture 16 years, then I thought that I would try a BMW. Ended up going back to another Venture, then I thought maybe I should try a goldwing for once.. I found the gold wing of bit cramped, and a nightmare to work on, everything is encased in plastic, so now I’m back on a venture since 2021.. these ventures are like a comfortable old pair of boots you wont get rid of.. it checks all the boxes for me.. How many miles are on yours?

@Jodyrides I just turn over 26 k. Barley broken in. I hope to do some REAL long distance soon, but I have a new job and don't have the time right now. I also have a friend that has the same bike in blue 💙 we're planning on a short trip before the weather changes to Geneva on the Lake along with some Harley friends. Maybe I'll see you out there. Keep Ridin'!

This is my third, Venture. I had a 1986 Venture royale for 16 years. Then I try to BMW, a Goldwing, and I went back to Venture’s. I had a midnight, Venture, then, the Goldwing, then I went back to the, Venture… I think they’re the most comfortable for me, and the roomiest by far

@@Jodyrides Better than the Goldwing? Which Goldwing?

@@Bass.Player I never said it was better than a Goldwing Goldwing‘s are perfect. I just didn’t like mine and it was so hard to work on doing simple things on any other bike was not simple on a goldwing.. Goldwing i had was a GL 1800.. I made a video, giving my thoughts on the experience and working on both of them. I explained that the gold wings are perfect, but I went back to the venture .. better gas mileage by about 15 miles per gallon, you can work on the starter, the stator, the slave cylinder, the water pump, and the clutch on a venture without removing any plastic. On my GL 1800, you couldn’t even see those things . To change the air, cleaners on my Venture, would take less than 15 minutes, 2 tools.. A 10 mm socket, and a number 2 Phillips screwdriver.. to change the air filter on a Goldwing if you take it to the dealer, it’s about $625 just labor. It takes about five hours. I thought that was ridiculous, I did the job myself because I was a mechanic at three different motorcycle shops when I was in my 20s. I have always done everything on all my own machines except for crankshaft, rebuilding, and cylinder boring. I can pretty much handle everything else… to change that air cleaner really did take five hours. So $625 that the shops charge, is fair. let’s look at just changing the air filters if you have the dealer do it for you if you only change the air filter once every 10,000 miles, and you put 100,000 miles on your gold wing. That’s 10 air filter changes. Now we know that it’s $625 flat rate labor charge, and then you add the air filter cost, and then they always charge you for shop materials, disposal fee, and tax, but let’s just round it up to $700 parts and labor, we will forget about the tax and disposal.. for 100,000 miles traveled, 10 air filters changed at the dealer, that’s $7000, just to have 10 air filter changes.. my wife and I could go out to dinner once a week for 2 1/2 years for that much money. It all depends on your priorities. The thought of having something fell on a Goldwing while I was 1000 miles from home, made me start thinking. Either I will have to carry lots and lots of tools just in case, or carry the title so that I could sell it as is to the nearest dealer if something major happens like second gear., or the clutch, or the computer. I don’t like the Venture’s because you can practically change everything from the clutch, starter, water, pump, fuel pump, slave cylinder, stator, using the tool kit, in the parking lot of your motel.. on my first, Venture, my 1986, I always carried the slave cylinder seal with me. Because I could change that thing in about 30 minutes on the side of the road using my tool kit.. from here in Pittsburgh to Daytona is about 1000 miles down, and 1000 miles back. It’s 66 gallons of gas on a Goldwing. That’s 40 gallons of gas on my Venture. it’s not the money I’m worried about on a long trip, it’s how far you can go on a tank of gas between gas stations.. my Venture can go 240 miles on 5 gallons of gas, my goldwing buyer?? only do 165 miles on 5 gallons of gas. When you’re traveling through unknown territory, you don’t know where the next gas station is exactly, that’s a little important. Especially when you consider the fact that goldwing i bought have a reserve.. venture’s have one and a half gallons of reserve gas which is good for around 60 miles.. I like floorboards. Right in the owners, manual Honda warns you not to put floorboards on your Goldwing. If you have problems with your transmission and you have floorboards on your machine when it’s under warranty, honda will not honor the warranty. I don’t know the history of transmission problems using floorboards with gold wings, but I have heard there is a problem if you use floorboards.. like I said, I like snowboards.. both the Venture‘s and goldwing buyer?? will go 200,000 miles maybe 300,000 miles without major problems with basic maintenance and driving with any amount of sanity at all. Yes the Goldwing is ridiculously overpowered. If you don’t use 100% of your power your engine makes every day, you paid for something you don’t need and you wasted your money. that six-cylinder engine is thirsty. That’s what I’m talking about. Sure it says smooth as wet ice, but I don’t mind my motorcycles having a pulse. I’m not talking about a buzz or a vibration. But a pulse is OK. It’s a living breathing thing after all.. but when you get right down to it, gold wings are perfect, they’re smooth, they’re comfortable up until 2017. I do not know about the 2018 and newer ones. I do know to goldwing riders, they are in the Goldwing club, they go to their functions, they wear the gold wing vest and hat, and they have the patches on their Jackets and T-shirts. these two bodies traded in their 2012 gold wings on 2018 gold wings. They kept them for a couple months, and they traded those 2018 in on two left over 2017. They said that the older ones have more room, especially for the passenger, more luggage capacity, and they like the older ones better. I completely understand that. I have known a lot of people that bought a brand, new bike, and before they got home, they decided they didn’t like it anymore. I saw that happen with a friend of mine with his BMW K 100, I saw it happen to a guy that bought a brand new Honda ST 1100. They traded those new bikes in the next day. anyway, like I said, I never said The Venture is better than the gold wing.. I said to goldwings are perfect.. I just like the Roomier, simpler, better, gas, mileage, easier to work on Venture’s

@@Jodyrides Well this is what I was looking for was your opinion. I have owned two Gl1800 Goldwings and I changed the air cleaner myself and after I changed it I scoped the snorkel from then on to see if it needed changing, I live in a humid area and a air cleaner last a long time. Yes for me the Goldwing was cramped, I had the seat modified so I could sit back further. Gl1800's had crappy front ends even with a fork brace they were sloppy. (finally addressed in the 2018 model). I ride a Road Star now but have owned two V-max's in the past and I think they have the same engine as your venture with different tuning? I'm a retired Master ASE tech(Honda, Porsche/Audi cars) so I do all of my own work. BTW: I had a St1100 that was a cooker it would set your legs on fire with so much engine heat. I have owned over 75 bikes but not a Venture and wanted to know about them... Thanks

When you check out that Venture Saturday. Would you let me know if you think the venture engine is smoother than the royal star Tour deluxe. Here’s why I went and looked at a royal star for sale used about 10 or 15 years ago. I could not believe how the engine felt.. it was a lot rougher, not as smooth as a Venture. I mentioned it to the guy selling it. He said that the royal star tour deluxe or whatever model it was engine does not have a counter balancer.. it was very noticeable. So after you look at that Venture and take it for a test ride, could you let me know if the engine in the venture is a lot smoother than the non-Venture engines used and other bikes. I suspect that that machine I looked at had some kind of a problem, maybe it was running on just two cylinders, or maybe It had a broken cam chain on one bank of cylinders, something just didn’t seem right, and I never ever rode any of the non-Venture royal stars. But I did ride a Vmax, but it was an 80s model

@@Jodyrides Will do, but I can assure you that motor in the RSTD you looked at had issues. Mine is smooth and they both use the exact same motor. Mine is smooth when running none of what you described has been the case with mine. When I go check this bike out, I will definitely get back to you. How do you like the stereo in yours? Is it loud enough to listen to while riding? I have heard some people say the stereo system sucks and is not loud enough. With the money I will save buying the bike if I do I'll have plenty to upgrade it. In fact, I'll take it to a pro shop that does bike audio and see what solutions they have if I need to. Other than that, like my 07 RSTD I will convert all lights to LED. They are so much safer at night to see and be seen with.

I know what you mean about the lever. It’s not the easiest to pull or the shortest to reach.. I wonder if there are are aftermarket levers with those adjustment cams available. Maybe Yamaha levers. from other models of Yamaha‘s may plug right in.. or possibly, drill and tap the lever, to adjust how far it will retract when you let go.. i’m gonna do some experimenting myself on this issue… The clutch on my Kawasaki Z 400, I am not kidding, I can pull the clutch lever in with my baby finger. Of course I’m not fighting strong clutch springs on the Z 400..

they still are great, reliable, simple to work on.. softer ride than my GL 1800 goldwing.. The Goldwing handles better, and has better more powerful brakes.. goldwing buyer?? is more than adequately powered by that six cylinder engine.. The Goldwing is smoother than anything on the planet on two wheels and an engine.. Yamaha has been using this engine in different motorcycles from 1983 to 2021 in the Vmax.. you can change the starter, the stator, the slave cylinder, the water pump, and the clutch without removing any of the plastic on these engines.. The royal star venture is come standard with floorboards, the narrow engine makes that possible. If you put floorboards on your goldwing, and you have a transmission problem under warranty when you have floorboards on that machine, Honda will void the warranty. It says right in every owners manual not to put floorboards on Goldwings.. both machines will go 200,000 miles or more with basic maintenance.. I had a first generation Venture for 16 years, I wanted to try a BMW K 1200 LT .. I never owned a BMW. I know the old air cooled twins set the standard for long distance, comfort and reliability. So I bought a K 1200 LT.. never got comfortable on that machine over two years of trying.. I went back to a venture, second generation royal star midnight Venture.. it was not as quick or as good handling as the first generation ventures. The first generation ventures were in the 12 second quarter mile range right out of the crate. The royal stars are more mellow.. someone saw that bike and offered to buy it for me for way way more than I paid for it. So I let it go. Someone offers me more than I paid for something, and I don’t sell it, it’s the same as me paying that much for it. so then I tried a GL 1800 Goldwing.. I found one from the original owner with 13 K miles on it. Even had the original tires on it and it was 16 years old. A real gem. I did about six weeks of maintenance on it, everything from replacing the suspension springs, fork, seals, all fluids, spark, plugs, air filter, especially which I found mice were living in at one time.. New tires, and I removed a lot of the trinkets and original owner had installed.. that’s when I found out how difficult it is to work on a Goldwing.. I was a mechanic at three different shops and I was in my 20s. And I’ve always had several motorcycles at any given time, I’ve always done all my own work and maintenance… but that Goldwing was certainly a puzzle. The dealers are getting over $600 to just to change the air filter. I thought that was crazy until I did the job myself. That is a fair price. But if you keep your Goldwing for 100,000 miles, and you have the dealer change your air cleaner every 10,000 miles, you’re gonna be paying the dealer over $6000 just in the labor, and just to change the air cleaner. changing the two air cleaners on a royal star venture might be a 20 minute job. The housings are in front of your knees behind the fairing lowers.. as nice as the Goldwing was riding, handling, and smooth, smooth, smooth. The thought of having a problem with it never left my mind. So I sold it. The only reason I sold it was, I was concerned about having a Mechanical issue, and removing cubic yards of plastic to get at anything… so I sold the Goldwing and I went for another Venture. my 3rd venture-My current one here in 2024. are these royal star venture’s as fast as gold wings? Hell no, are they as reliable as Goldwings .. Definitely

once you have the shock absorber off the machine. To drain the oil, simply remove the valve core with a Schrader valve core tool that you can buy at any auto parts store. They usually cost a couple bucks. It unscrews the valve on car and motorcycle tire valves to let air out.. you simply remove that valve core from the air hose that you add air to your shock through on the bike. Turn the shock absorber upside down, and let it drain for a few hours into a measuring cup so that you know exactly how much oil you got out of the shock. The oil that came out of my shock was absolutely as black as Ink.. I let my shock drain overnight. The next day, I used a turkey bastet syringe that you can buy probably at Walmart, I think I got mine at a Store called five or less. It looks just like a syringe they give you a shot with in the hospital except it’s much larger. You are going to need something like that to get the oil back into the shock thru the air hose. Take your time putting the oil back in using that cooking syringe, because you have to allow the air that is in the shock to come out the air hose while you’re trying to put oil in using that syringe. Take your time. It took me about 20 minutes to get all of the oil back in the shock.. then I replaced the Schrader valve into the air hose and I was done.. The oil I used was 10 weight motorcycle fork oil. The amount of oil I used was 125 cc.. I keep my rear suspension air pressure at 20 psi. Because I ride alone. If I had a passenger I would probably take it up to about 40 psi. My owners manual says that it’s OK to run rear shock air pressure at anything between zero psi and 57 psi.. fork air pressure Range is zero psi, up to 7 psi .. I keep my fork air pressure at seven.. there is one maintenance chore that I disagree with Yamaha about.. Yamaha says there is no need to ever change fork oil.. here is why I disagree with that.. if you have ever painted anything with an air compressor spray gun, you know that you must have an air dryer system to remove moisture from the air used to atomized the paint or it will ruin your paint job. The moisture gets into the air compressor because the compressor is sucking in air and humidity and it condenses inside the air tank. When you go to get air out of your compressor through the hose, you’re getting Air mixed with water unless you have a dryer. When you put air in your air forks and in your shock on your venture or any motorcycle, you’re putting air with moisture in it into your forks and shock. That’s why I think it is necessary to change the oil in the forks, and in the shock.. there is another reason you want to change fork oil besides it becoming contaminated. Fork oil and shock oil gets cooked .. I have put my hand on shock absorbers on race bikes after they came in from racing. It was an accident but I was loading it into my truck, and it burned my hand, that’s how hot the shock absorber was. Overtime that cooks that oil.. that’s why my oil was black as ink when I drained it out.. it was blacker than any motor oil I drained out of any car I’ve ever owned.. that’s why I’ll change my fork and shock oil

that’s a tough one, choosing between two similar motorcycles with good reputation ,That is one thing you have to make up your mind about - yourself…..you want to buy the one you like, not the one someone else likes, or you will regret it ..

The backrest in this video on my royal star Venture, was on the machine when I bought the venture used in 2021. A backrest works well with some machines. The Venture is one of them. There are two compromises you make when you have a back rest. it makes it just a little bit harder to get on and off the machine.. on hot days the backrest prevents that part of your back from getting air circulation to evaporate perspiration.. I am guessing that that backrest I have in this video is a Yamaha accessory from Yamaha.. The only machine I ever had the back rest just did not work for me, was my GL 1800 Goldwing.. when I would go over bumps on the goldwing, that, machine would Buck, and that back roast would hit me in the back. It actually made my back hurt, I tried adjusting it , but I just could not find the sweet spot for that backrest on my Goldwing. I ended up taking it off and selling it on eBay. I don’t know what it was about that Goldwing it may be it is basically a more cramped machine than the venture for the rider.. I definitely recommend getting the Yamaha back rest for the royal star venture. You’ll probably find one on eBay. You just have to be patient, there will end up being one on ebay..

@@Jodyrides thanks mate for the reply. I now suspect you have the Utopia backrest padded version. Ride safe. Cheers

Apparently the popping is normal. I do remember Yamaha trying to eliminate popping on the virago engines when those motorcycles showed up in 1981. I was a salesman at a Yamaha shop part time when they showed up on the showroom floors. We could not keep them in stock.. The 750, then later than 1000, and the 1100 all had small devices on them to mask the popping sound.. I was experimenting when I first started making videos with microphone locations. One of the locations for the microphone I tried was attached to the rear of the bike near the turn signals.. I was totally unaware of how much popping my Venture does off throttle until I listened to that video with the microphone mounted in the rear. Going down a long hill, Off throttle downshifting, bringing the RPMs up as the engine holds me back on compression, The popping almost sounded like a machine gun. Crackling, several pops per second.. and I have a totally stock exhaust.. someone on KZfaq has a video that claims they show how to eliminate the offer throttle popping sound on the Yamaha royal star ventures. It involves putting some hoses or blocking some of the hoses on that pump, which I assume is to reduce the popping sound on the right side of the motorcycle inside the frame from the brake pedal.. The popping sound is just combustion taking place inside the exhaust. Once the partially burnt exhaust meets the incoming negative air pulse from the rear of the exhaust system, that negative air pulse coming in creates an environment that promotes continued combustion. I can’t imagine that these royal star venture engines have much cam overlap like a high-performance engine would have. I know they don’t have variable cam timing .. in the 1970s, when auto makers were instructed by the government to put emissions controls on cars, to reduce emissions. One of the things they did to car engines, was reduce or eliminate cam overlap.. That’s why cars like Corvettes and Trans Ams went from having over 350 hp, to barely 200 hp.. cam overlap means, the exhaust valve opens to allow the incoming charge. Air is what is known as elastic. To keep that incoming charge flowing smoothly, the cam will start to open the exhaust valve before the intake valve closes. That is overlap. both valves are open partially for a split second..When that happens, part of the unburnt incoming fresh charge of gas goes out the exhaust valve. That unburnt gas will burn in the exhaust system. They sometimes would have air pumps that would pump air into the exhaust manifold to help burn these unburnt hydrocarbons. sometimes they didn’t put air pumps on cars. But I do not know if the Venture engines have much if any cam overlap that would allow unburnt gas to go out the exhaust before the cam would close both valves on the intake stroke.. cam overlap is a desirable state of tune for high-performance engines. That’s why if you get behind a 1960s 396 Chevelle or GTO, you will smell unburnt gas. They had a lot of cam overlap for making more power.. One of the side effects is, popping sounds when coasting downhill at high RPMs with the compression holding the car back or the motorcycle. If you hold your hand down near your exhaust system exit on any vehicle, you can feel pulses.. those are the positive pulses meaning that is air being pushed out of the exhaust. There are also negative pulses equalizing the pressure in the exhaust system. Just as many negative pulses as there are positive pulses. These negative pulses are bringing oxygen into the exhaust system causing the popping. That oxygen is helping the unburnt gas to burn in the exhaust. That’s just the way it is.. I was unaware of my venture making that popping noise until I listened to the video I made with the microphone mounted at the rear of my bike. I always ride with a full face helmet and earplugs. At 60 miles an hour even with a full face helmet on, you are subjecting your ears to more than 90 dB of wind roar.. I have worn earplugs for decades. I can hear things better when I eliminate that wind roar with the earplugs. I use swimmers ear plugs that I buy at Walmart. They come in a little plastic case in the sporting goods department, dozen at a time. They are like silicone caulk that never cures, never hardens. Like soft taffy like soft taffy.I love them. They are the most comfortable and the quietest by far.. I can still hear cars pulling up beside me on the interstate, I can hear what’s going on with the engine better, I can hear horns, I can talk to people, I just don’t hear the wind roar as much. And I also was not hearing the popping.. The venture I had before the one I have now had open pipes when I bought it. I definitely could hear the popping on that when I rode it a few times. I didn’t ride it very many times with those open pipes. I don’t want to be “that guy”.. I didn’t ride that machine until I was able to buy stock mufflers on eBay..I actually tried brand new pre 2017 stock Harley Davidson Road King takeoff mufflers. I bought them from someone on eBay that took them off his harley on the first day he bought it brand new. He actually shipped me the mufflers in the box of his aftermarket Reinhart mufflers that he bought. You can pick up those new takeoff Harley mufflers on eBay sometimes for 40bucks for a pair/free shipping. They are actually much better quality than the OEM Yamaha venture mufflers. I tried them until I was able to locate stock Yamaha mufflers. They went on pretty easy. I had to make a small bracket but otherwise they went right on and they were the correct length. But they were too loud for me.. I did hear popping with those harley mufflers even though I wear earplugs. but I do not hear popping with the stock mufflers wearing earplugs.. so don’t worry about the popping. It is the result of the state of tune.. One thing I almost forgot. Is the popping sound you are hearing coming from the exhaust? Or could it be coming from the carburetors? If you are hearing popping coming from the carburetors, you have a tight intake valve. There is not enough valve clearance between the cam and the cam follower. If you were hearing popping from the carburetors, that tight intake valve is not closing all the way and when the incoming gas charge is compressed when the spark plug fires it, you are hearing that combustion pop back through the carburetor past the intake valve that is not closing completely..but i doubt that.. if when you start your bike it is able to hold a nice steady idle, and you can open the throttle gently without hearing any bucking,popping or backfiring through the carburetors, you don’t have a tight valve.. Yamaha recommends checking the valve adjustment at 26,000 miles. I checked mine when I bought my machine at 30,000 miles, and I’m happy to say none of the valves were out of adjustment.. if you do have to change one of the 16 valve shims, you will have to re-synchronize your carburetors. You’ll have to correct the valve clearance that is out of adjustment with shim changes, and at the end, the last thing you do is synchronize the carbs, which is not that difficult if you know the sequence in your carburetor linkage to make the adjustments. You approach your 4 carburetors as two sets of carburetors. Using vacuum gauges, you adjust the two carburetors for the front cylinders together first, then match the vacuum on the rear cylinder carbs.. The last adjustment you make when synchronizing 4 carburetors is, the screw that matches the two front carburetors to the two rear carburetors. You make that adjustment last. Synchronizing the carburetors takes less than five minutes once you get the hang of it.. when I buy a new to me machine. I always assume everything is been neglected or is out of adjustment, and that every fluid needs changed.. many people selling their motorcycles will include the words, well-maintained. People think changing the oil and washing the motorcycle checks the box of well-maintained.. I took my time and I spent roughly 6 weeks doing everything from removing the swingarm and lubricating the swingarm bearings, lubing the driveshaft splines at the U joint, changing the final drive oil, cleaning the carbs and the complete intake duct system, changing the clutch and brake fluid, the coolant fluid, lubing the throttle cables and the twist grip where it rides on the handlebars, lubing all of the foot pegs & the floorboard pivots, the heel toe shifter pivot, greasing the side stand pivot, I even changed the oil in the shock for the second time here in 2023,..cleaned/greased all of the shock linkage bearings.. it’s a lot of work.. if you don’t do the work yourself, it can be expensive. but that which ought to be done and isn’t… is more expensive..

that backrest was on my machine when I bought it from the second owner in 2021 with 30,000 miles on it.. I think that back rest may be a yamaha accessory you get from yamaha from the accessory catalog.. this back rest is perfect for me. not all back rests are perfect.. on my last big touring bike, Honda, GL 1800 Goldwing. I bought a Honda accessory backrest for that used off of craigslist for around $70… The guy said he only had it on his bike for a very short time, and it looked it I installed that back rust on my Goldwing, and I could not find a good sweet spot for it. When I would hit bumps, that made that backrest hit me in the back, that happened pretty much constantly, every minute of every day. I ended up taking that Honda back rest off and selling it on eBay after i could not find a good position.. The Honda back rest was a strange design, the way it attached to the motorcycle. You could see the brackets attached to the bike with a large chrome bracket on each side with only three positions to choose from… and I did had the chrome tubing coming up from the side plate, brackets visible. Whereas with the Yamaha, the bracket comes straight up from between the drivers and passengers seats.. much more tidy… this Yamaha drivers backrest, I believe bolts to the frame straight down between where the passenger seat and the driver seat meet. You can adjust how far back or how far forward the backrest is to your back, The back rest pivots to adjust to the angle. It meets your back automatically by pivoting on two screws. having a back rest like this does make it a little difficult to get on and off the bike. You have to put your leg on top of the seat, and hop on your left leg towards the bike to get your right leg down over the seat.. One other little thing about back rests in general in hot weather, when you’re leaning back on that rest, you will notice that your shirt gets sweaty in that one spot because it doesn’t have any air going over it, especially if you’re wearing a leather jacket. I just lean forward to take my back away from the back rest for 10 seconds or so, but it really isn’t an issue, but you will notice it in hot weather only because you’ve never experienced that before if you never had a back rest before.. I would not be without a back rest after being spoiled by having one on all three of my Venture’s, and my BMW, K 1200 LT had a very good backrest, but not my Goldwing, which is strange, because the Honda people, especially the Goldwing designers, they’ve done an excellent job, designing the gold wings over the decades.. do I recommend this backrest for this motorcycle. Absolutely 100% yes. You could probably find one without too much trouble for sale on eBay if they are not available from Yamaha anymore. I would be very surprised if aftermarket backrest for this motorcycle are not available… I just checked on ebay , there are more than a dozen Yamaha royal star venture drivers backrest for sale on their new and used.. that’s as of this moment, April, 2024

@@Jodyrides yeah I called my dealer and they said they can't get it unless I get a new mustang seat, but my seat is extremely comfortable so I guess I'll just go without one unless I can get a used one found like that one on yours

you are a very good guitar player. My other weakness is Guitars. Motorcycles and Guitars. No, I have not tried the newest version of the Goldwing, and to tell you the truth, after owning a Goldwing, and finding out how time consuming, they are to work on, I do all my own work on ... but there are limits. And I’m not gonna pay someone $130 an hour to do simple jobs like change and air cleaner or change the oil or install new tires. Tires were not tough to change on my Goldwing call. In fact I thought that was pretty slick. The way they had that panel in the back between saddlebags that comes off with four screws to get access to roll the wheel out.. but when I bought my Goldwing in 2016, it was a 2002 model with only 13 K miles on it, it had no service done to it ever, just a couple oil changes over those 13,000 miles. I upgraded the fork springs and the shock spring to match, installed new Dunlop elite four tires. change the clutch and brake fluid, the clutch fluid looks like a melted milkshake. I am surprised that slave cylinder did not fail. The fork oil looked the same, black as Inc… But changing the air cleaner opened my eyes to what it’s like when you remove the plastic on a Goldwing. There’s a whole lot under that cover that looks like the gas tank. And under the seat, and under those plastic side covers. How much stuff is under there?? I bought a four circuit fused subpanel to give me four circuits for powering my electric vest, my wife’s electric vest, my camera/phone/Garmin, and accessories like my electric air pump. In case I get a flat, this little subpanel was about the size of a pack of cigarettes. I could not find anywhere under that bodywork, while I had it all off to change the air cleaner, and to remove the rear shock to replace the stock spring, I could not find anywhere to put that little fused for circuit terminal box. That is how sardine packed everything is under that plastic on the Goldwing, in fact, some of the wire harness was obviously being smashed down by being under the plastic on the left side... after seeing how Honda engineer geniuses, I mean, they figured out how to use up every millimeter of space, they figured out how to put 2 pounds of shit into a 1 pound bag, that was what started opening my eyes about the possibility of doing repairs to that machine. You can’t get out anything without spending at least half an hour to three hours just removing everything to get at the problem spot. I was looking for a shortcut to get to the shock absorber, I thought I could get to the top bolt on the shock instead of having to remove the gas tank and a lot more around the gas tank, like the battery, the fuse box, the voltage regulator, the battery tray, I got it on and on, and on just to get at the top bolt on the shock. Once I open the lid on the right saddlebag and looked in there and started trying to find how I could get that saddlebag off, I started doing the work, but once I realized there was a major wire, harness, running through that saddle bag, I gave up after about an hour on ever getting that right saddle bag off.. as perfect as my Goldwing was when I was done with it, the thought of having a problem with it, my common sense overruled my happiness curve with home find a machine it was jerrod. I’ve always been one of those, what if, people. I can’t help it. so for the complexity issue of the Goldwing I had, that would make me never ever consider buying one again, just that one little thing. So I don’t even wanna ride the new one. I used to tell customers when I sold bikes part-time for 17 years. They would come in on some old 750 Honda or 650 Yamaha twin, to buy parts, and they would look at the new bikes, and I would approach them about their bikes, what are you riding now, how’s it been, how long have you had it, are you thinking about making a step up. And the ones that would tell me, I’m happy with my bike it’s all I need, I would always tell those people, then do yourself a favor, and never ride anything modern, because things will never be the same between you and your old motorcycle from that moment on. so I’m gonna take my own advice on that subject and I’m not even gonna try the new Goldwing. Because I’m sure it will make everything else seem like it’s not good enough. I have had five Stratocaster‘s over the years, all USA made, except a 1988 Japanese model I had. Like the Goldwing I had, I never bonded with any of those Stratocaster‘s, I have a bunch of guitars now, I don’t have any Stratocaster’s, i’m always looking for the next one, the one you you pick it up and you’re a better guitar player immediately. I have a couple guitars that do that magic right now. But I haven’t found the Stratocaster yet… maybe the YINGWEE model with a scalloped neck. I haven’t tried that one yet… I know the perfect one is out there for me, I just haven’t found it yet I sold my 1959 fender jazz master that I got when I was 14 years old back in the 60s for $175 including the case from a pawnshop. The finish was chipping off just like Stevie Ray’s guitar. That was not acceptable in 1969 when I was in high school garage band. So I spray painted it white… that was my guitar when I played in the smoky bars through the 70s and 80s along with my gibson 330 TDC that I got for $50 from a classmate, actually I traded my Schwinn bicycle that was $50 for his gibson 330 which I still have. but I wasn’t playing that fender jazz master too much after the 1980s, as matter fact, it’s set in the case for like 25 years without me ever looking at it. So I stuck it on eBay when I saw the prices these things were selling for… mine was a little beat up. When I got it, I think a pro musician owned it, because all the finish was completely worn off the back of the neck, and the headstock had cigarette burns across the fender logo, but it was all there, not even one screw was replaced, it’s just that I painted it. I put that in the ad I placed on eBay, my old guitar which I had for over 50 years is now in Moscow Russia. The guy there had to have a 1959, the first year for the tortoiseshell pick guard because the ventures did all of their studio recording with Jazzmasters. He said the new ones don’t have the sound he was looking for… I won’t tell you how much I got for it because I feel like I should turn myself in for robbery. But I will tell you that I went out and bought my wife a brand new car with part of the money. He sent me a text on eBay asking what would I take for it right now, I thought it was some kid, I threw a stupid number at him, and he said 30 seconds later, SOLD. so a few years after I sold, my old friend, that I learned how to play guitar on, I felt like I sold my dog, I missed it. I didn’t care about the money anymore. So I went out and bought a squire, jazz master a couple years ago. same color, I painted mine white, it is better in every way than my 59 was, and I had my 59 set up by two guru guitar set up men to see if I could make it play better. It came back, feeling exactly the same both times, and sounding the same with those big white P 90s. My new Squier, jazz master, it doesn’t have the old town, it is. Chris Brown, the neck radius. The next field is better, it’s a better guitar as far as I’m concerned. I do not understand why people will pay tens of thousands of dollars for one of those old dinosaurs when the stuff that’s on today is so much better, like the cars and motorcycles, those were the good old days, these are the good old days right now. I would not dare put a video on of my guitar playing, for the same reason I would not go into a guitar store on a Saturday and pick up a guitar, plug it in and embarrass myself. Some 12-year-old will plug in and play like Joe Satriani next to me, just to rub it in.

Yes I was using the vinyl on my face shields and to protect my gas tank on my Kawasaki Z 400 from buckle rash. They sell it on eBay, I think I paid under $10 for 2 Square feet of the vinyl that looks like carbon fiber. I put it on my sport bike gas tanks, heat it up with a hairdryer first after cleaning the tank with alcohol, and the hairdryer helps it conform to the curve.. I also use that carbon fiber like vinyl across my helmet drop down sunvisor. I only have about the width of your baby finger of clear shield to look through from my drop-down visor, because I’m sure you know what it’s like to drive straight into the sun. I just had to walk out to my Venture right now to see if it had a CB, and yes it does have a CB radio. I forgot about that. I have two headsets also, but I have never used it on any of my three ventures or on my Goldwing. I’m not even sure if the Goldwing had a CB because , I never turn the radio on on my motorcycles, and I generally ride alone, sometimes with maybe two or three other guys. I don’t like riding in large groups. I did it once with over 100 motorcycles going to a Punxsutawney Phil festival that’s held every September in Punxsutawney PA. 25 bucks and you get steak, baked potatoes, kielbasa, hotdogs, and hamburgers cooked on the grill, whole turkeys deep fried in peanut oil, and all the corn on the cob you can eat, and all the beer you can guzzle. I won’t even sniff a beer while I’m riding a motorcycle.. but that ride that day reminded me that I don’t like to ride in large groups. They tend to wanna ride side-by-side, I don’t do that. I dropped all the way to the very tail end of the group, a lot of the guys I worked with were going up to this festival so I said yeah I’ll go I didn’t realize 100 bikes were going.. mostly hog riders. While I was at the end of that group, my eyes were burning from the overly rich exhaust from all the motorcycles that were improperly modified with bolt on parts from different companies. That and my eyes were burning from all the cigar smoke.. so there’s nobody in a group that I care to talk to while I’m riding a motorcycle. I’m pretty good at hand signals. I have two videos I put on last month here on KZfaq about a large charity ride motorcycle group that had a 30 motorcycle pile up about 30 miles from my home .. that’s another reason I don’t like to ride in large groups. Too many skill levels too close together. But anyway, I didn’t eliminate the Seabees, on any of my machines. They’re built into the sound system, and I wouldn’t take it out to sell it, because that would hurt the resale value

@@Jodyrides i gotcha. I just didnt see the end that sets in the holder on the tank. If i ride a group(this weekend i will when i do the poker run in Eureka Springs) i ride in the back. Im following you now cause you are the only person that i have come across with recently posted videos on the venture. And also i do pull a trailer a bit but even without the trailer i dont get that kind of millage out of my bike. Would like to know all you have done to it and ill definitely keep up with ya on it. Ive had to replace my clutch so i went with the Barnett clutch kit. Thinking that i should get the heavier springs cause i ride 2 up a lot and i pull the trailer. Would love to pick your brain on this bike any chance i get