My new CraigsList score

I picked up this 83 Venture Royale last night for 550$ off CraigsList, title included. The bike is in real nice condition with 50k miles. It was parked in a shelter 8 years ago because the air comprerssor for the suspension failed. I put a battery in it all the other accessories work. It even wanted to start with a little help fron some starting fluid. The pics are just as I found it, have not even cleaned it yet. What do you think? was it a good deal? My cat seems to like it.
Does anyone have one, and are there any "must do" maintenance particular to these bikes. Besides the normal carb/ fuel and brake stuff.

 

WOW! Looks like you scored BIG Time!!! Looks like a fatastic touring bike!! lucky dog u!

 

In my humble opinion the Venture Royales are one of the classiest looking tourers ever made. Great lines. You stole it for $550. Clean it up and get the suspension pump up to snuff and I think you are going to love it!

Loren

 

I gotta say, yours looks cleaner than mine !! Nice !

Pull your carb hats and you'll [prolly] see holes in all 4 diaphragms.
The Computer is under the battery (!!!!) What a great place !
Remove the connector and wire brush all the pins.
Dismantle and clean the sparkplug boots.

My bike had the air ride disconnected, and Schrader valves installed.
Enjoy !

 

I plan to pull the carbs this weekend to do a rebuild, I would at least like to get the engine running .
TIMEtoRIDE ... what is the computer under the battery for? Is there any repairs that can be done to the aricompressor or just replace it. I would like to get all these things working.
New to the Venture so any tips are welcome.

 

The schroeder valves would be a great interim solution while finding and buying a new suspension pump. It would be the quick way to get you up and running.

What pressure pressure ranges does the suspension require? If you go the schroeder valve route you might need to use a syringe pump(I doubt it) or a hand operated tire pump to keep from blowing seals.

Loren

 

That is a major score! Congrats! You have a bike that was rated by many as superior to the GL back in its day.

 

Thanks guys
I have no idea what pressure the suspension takes, things like that I'll learn as I go through the bike.

 

It's the TCI, but with more wires.
Contact MiCarl and VentureRiders.ORG for more info.

I received detailed info just for the asking.

 

Pete meant venturerider.org. You can sign up for a trial membership. If you like it costs $12/year to keep it going. Well worth twelve clams.

The pumps don't get used much. Odds are there is a leaking seal or stuck valve. Or just a corroded wire. Another possibility is that someone forgot how to use it - it only operates with the key in the ACC position.

Harder to work on than an XJ - everything is buried under all that plastic. Plus it's water cooled and has an insane number of gizmos on it.

The brakes are a linked system. The pedal works the rear and left front caliper. The hand lever works the right front caliper. The brake line for the foot brake has a high spot at the steering neck. If you get air in the line you'll pull your hair out trying to bleed it. Later models have a bleed screw there, but I don't believe it's on the 83.

The 1200 Ventures are as notorious as the XS triples for 2nd gear failure. Case needs to be split to do it if it goes. Mine doesn't have stock fork springs but supposedly they were weak on day one and after almost 30 years sag pretty badly. Progressive springs is a common upgrade. Otherwise no common issues.

You've got the audio system which includes an intercom. If you ride with a passenger you'll really like headsets (I also prefer them for the radio). The headsets are compatible with GoldWing so there is a broad selection to choose from.

By the way, you're officially a thief. That's easily a $3,000 motorcycle once the kinks are worked out.

 

I took it for a test ride Sunday, everything seems to work good. Its a different ride but very nice. I ran it through all the gears up to 55 mph, sweet I thought. I went home to get my wife and go for a ride. Things went good until I started getting on the throttle, 1st gear good, shifted into 2nd and damnit. The 2nd gear issue has got me again. That will be a winter repair. I'll ride it for now and be real easy on 2nd. I put it back into the garage and started taking the front apart for a fork oil change and inspection. I'm still happy with it.
I have been accused of being a theif by several at work also.

 

Nice fined! Any Ventures around here that look that good usualy go for $2000 to $3000, unless of course I don't have any money then some go for under a $1000.

 

My wife wanted me to get a intercom system, had to bite my tongue to keep from saying, (but I want to enjoy my ride).LOL

 

Well here it is after a few weeks of work. I went through all the things on this bike to give myself piece of mind knowing its condition.
A short list of what has been done:
First thing was the hardest, get rid of the ants that had nested in the bike. Them dang things hurt when they bite.
Clean and paint wheels, install new bearings
Clean and rebuild entire brake system. New master cylinder windows from Chacal.
Rebuild carbs and sync.
Clean and polish front forks, change oil and grease steering head bearings.
Clean , paint and lube rear suspension
Change engine oil and filter, change rear diff oil. Flush coolant
Get all electronics to work, lights , horn , gauges, air suspension, radio
Fix broken tabs on all bodywork.
General cleaning of all dash parts .
Me and my wife put lots of miles on it this weekend and love it

New tires will be here by the end of the week.
Is there anything I missed?

 

When you have the wheel off to do the tire:

Remove the final drive from the swing arm. Grease both ends of the drive shaft with Molybdenum Disulphide grease. Also, the output splines on the final drive get moly grease.

That drive shaft is unobtanium and if run dry will wear at the final drive coupler.

You can get a small tube of moly 60 at the honda dealer.

 

Already did that MiCarl. The entire rear was off the bike and I cleaned and lubed all the suspension bushings. Repacked the swingarm bearings and greased the drive shaft and changed the oil. It was in bad need of attantion, I could see years on neglect.

 

Good man.

BTW, that Zerk fitting on the final drive is useless. Yamaha eventually just did away with it.

 

The venture made its first trip this weekend. A 250 mile ride through the back roads in NC. Everything was great,,not a problem. It even got 41mpg with my wife on the back. My daughter was riding Moms XJ1100 .The ride was a benifit ride for the American Cancer Socity. Here are a couple of pics of this weekends fun.

 

so uh, is that your daughter and her 1100?

 

Easy there Schooter!

Mlew, how many bikes on the ride? In one of your pictures it looks like two lines of bikes stretching to the horizon.

Looks like a really fun day. Pretty amazing feeling when you can climb off after a few hundred miles and your keester is feeling no pain isn't it? Wait till you put in your first 500, 750, 1000 mile days on the Venture and can still walk!

Loren

 

Yes Schooter , thats my daughter on the XJ1100. She kind of took it from her mother, it was hers. My wife rode on the back of the Venture and took pics all day.There were 145 bikes on that ride and the line stretched as far as I could see. I could not see the front or rear of the line. It was great fun I can't wait to do it again. I'm proud of my little girl.

 

I can dig your new ride!

I'm on Venturerider.org too as Beau-Kat.

I can answer many questions you may have about the bike.

I'm gonna try to attach a photo of my 1988 Royale.

I got lucky and found it last year with 15k miles and the same color scheme as my Millenium.

It also handles a lot better than my Millenium.

You're gonna love it.

 

Nice ride MidnightMax, I'm on Venturerider.org also with the same screen name . So far I love the Venture, me and my wife have been taking it most everywhere. I recently found a 84 parte bike for cheap, it had lost of chrome accessories on it. They are finding their way onto mine. The front and rear bumpers look good.
Here is a question for you... I need a new coolant fan switch and don't want to part with 75$ for the OEM part, do yo know of a different replacement? I have found some potential parts at the autoparts store but they don't know the details like temperature ratings. I like their price its around 30$.

 

Here's a used one on ebay.
I'll keep looking.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1987-Yam ... 4cf197dbd2

 

I forgot, yours is a 1200.

I found this on ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Yamaha-V ... 1e5c0db367

Pinwall parts has tons of Venture stuff. I've purchased from the before and had good service.

 

I saw those, I really don't want to buy a used untested part.

 

Yeah, I can understand that.

Some used things are o.k., but if you're not comfortable with them better stay away.

I'll keep looking for ya.

Pretty much everyday, I search ebay for "new items listed" and for "NOS" under all of my bike models, just in case I see something I like.

Just won an original very lightly used muffler for my SR500 a couple of days ago. Talk about an unobtainium item! It has one small dent that should not be too noticeable when the muffler is installed. My bike has an original muffler, but it was drilled out. I hate loud bikes, so I sought out the original type muffler.

Man, I really love your seat color.!

 

I have a set of original mufflers Max, do you have a fan switch? Maybe a trade is in order. There is a NOS one on EBAY now, they want 52$ for it. I aquired a parts bike a week ago to get the chrome bumpers and foot boards, there are some parts I don't need.

 

Its been 9 years since I got this Venture. Put 15K miles on it and still running strong. Cosmetically it was getting very tired. A repaint, new seat cover and tires and it looks better than ever. Had to repair lots of broken plastic tabs on the fairings.
Its ready for another 9 or 10 years of riding. I have since built a matching trailer for it.

 

I have been watching this thread intermittently and not looking at the signature line to realize who was writing about their new Venture. Silly me! Good score there. Congrats. Me? I have been working on and rehabbing an XJ750 Seca with the touring package I bought from my wife's uncle last summer.
John