Venture

I may have to go look at this 1983 Venture tomorrow.

In the picture it looks like the exhaust pipe has blued way back by the saddle bag. Anybody got any thoughts on what might cause that?

 

That might very well be the work of an inexperienced welder who did not take the precaution to provide cooling to a chrome finished area where a weld was made.

The heat from a welding arc can turn a chrome plated surface -- black -- in just a few seconds.

How do you prevent this happening to a chromed piece you need welded?

Wrap the object in terry-cloth towel or recycled baby blanket. Saturate the cooling cloth with water until water starts dripping from the cooling wrap.

Keep a supply of cool water applied to the wrap ... so the wrap becomes a heat exchanger and remains cooled by the constant supply of water applied to wrapped-up area.

 

I have an '84 Venture Royale I'm parting out. PM me if you need any parts.

 

Went and had a look and a test drive.

Appearance excellent. Is standard Venture, not Royale. Both mufflers are blued at the same spot. No welding. Owner has no clue why.

Transmission is smooth as silk. Rode 2nd gear hard, no problems there.

Horn doesn't work. LH turn signal hard to start - seems to be switch. Idles at 2500 - 3K RPM when warmed up. He had the speedometer changed last summer (original had quit). He's put 34 miles on it. I guess I probably put more miles on today than he did in the last year .

Handling was a dream, especially on the freeway. Seat way more comfortable than the Maxim and I liked the lower RPMs on the freeway. WAY quieter than the Maxim.

In the end though, it was almost like being in a cage. Nice for long highway trips but a bit dull on the surface streets. If Mrs. would ride with me I'd probably make an offer.........

 

The Original Speedometer probably showed more mileage than the orbiting SpaceLab.

It's NOT idling at 2,500 rpm ... that's the low end of the Power Curve!

Blued, Non-welded, silencers probably "budget-minded" aftermarket.

25000 Miles on 25-Year-Old Long-distance cruiser is probably needing another digit added at either the front or back ... I'd guess -- front!

The audience is yelling: "One!"

 

He had what he claimed was the old speedo showing about 23K miles. Said it gave up the ghost at the start of what was about a 2K trip - hence his 25K estimate. Nothing about the bike to suggest it was high mileage.

Mufflers looked exactly like the ones on other ventures.

Idled at about 1K until it got warmed up. Probably needs carbs done, maybe intake leaks or sync needed.

Probably make someone a decent ride.

 

ask these guys:
http://www.venturerider.org/