Photo of the tourer(hopefully)

[motoman]

Well.....hope this works. This is the Bentley after a couple years getting it back to what it was when I bought it new. Cept for the Corbin seat, Yammy accessory slide in backrest which fits the recess in trunk it is as I bought it new. Pro will likely question the rectangle mirrors and the gold top carbs, but this was all the way it came when new. The rear trunk (stripping on it was done at a Wing rally approx. three days after installing trunk back then as was the stereo.) Stereo now has a Pioneer CD deck sounding through Polk all-weather audio. If the pic. works, let me know what you all think. Also the bike now has 68,000 original miles and matching year/model motor has approx. 42,000 on it. Just finished doing tranny fix and have recently done carb sync. Jetting I found ran best stock with the foam Uni-filter and floats at 29mm. Mileage with 2-up@ 70-75 running at 35mpg, rider only at same speed is at 38-42mpg depending on all the variables. Tires are Metz ME33 front/ Dunlop404 rear. The TKat brace has made a perfect handling bike of this era from 5mph all the way up to its redline.......can't be anymore than 85mph, right?

[skids]

Nice! I bought one of those Venturers once for 400 bucks. Mine was in sad shape The gas tank is the 6.2 gallon Mongo tank! Brant, we are going to have to do some riding this summer, man!

[motoman]

Thanks Sid!.........always up for a ride, and you pretty much know the story on this bike, getting it back fifteen years later after having it the first ten of those. Iit spent most of those years apparently in Phoenix and needed lots of help once it got to Grand Junction. Have a NOS complete exhaust on left side that was previously deteriating, so have just stored The Jardine slip-ons with the cross-over that are new in the box for a later time if I live that long,lol All I know is this bike still rips and will out pull my ST1100 to half way through third gear before the ST can get by it. Just for grins, gonna run some passes here at the strip on a 'test and tune' day and see if it will pull some mid to high twelves at this 5,000ft elev. From back in the day strip experience with cars think it should come close to that anyway. Three passes is bout all I would hammer it as it seems to be too nice to abuse now. I also have the original seat kept inside the house that is like new, so it will likely not see much use.......Corbin is more comfortable for long hauls.

[81xsproject]

Uh...It's your bike, but I think you might want to lower those float levels a we bit, like 3-5mm The bike looks great though. It real fits its name.

[motoman]

Thanks for the input 81xs. Have spent quite some time experimenting with the float level setting and jetting from stock(which is 110's across), and resyncing each time of course with my merc sticks. I found that at 10,000ft elev. it loved 105 mains, but was too lean at the average elev's, normally ridden, if there is such a thing. Also, with the 105's it was slow from 6,500rpm to 8,000rpm, which is how you test for main jetting and WOT. Ran everything from the 105's to 117.5's. With 117.5 accelleration was incredible and rpm's were quick up to 8,500rpm, but plugs were dusted black but not quite fouling, also mileage fell off approx. 10mpg. with these. Dropped to 115's and same cond. somewhat still existed. Went other direction to 107.5's from 105's and still found conditions associated with too lean still existed. The ten years I had bike, always knew it was a little rich with the stock 110's as it would blow a little black smoke initially under hard acceleration. I also always did my own moto-cross bikes too. If you don't, epect to 'chuck' bottom end rod bearing from lack of lubrication from the gas/oil mixture if too lean. I also experimented with several different settings and found at 27-29mm and ballpark 5,000 ft. elev. has given best all around results, performance and economy. Brown dusting on rear wrap around chrome tells me combustion is really close to ideal also. Some 10,000 miles with this setting, but will watch for any changes, Thanks.

[motoman]

Also back then when I had it new, I lived at 6,500ft elev. in Durango, Colo. where i bought and rode it. Never changed anything, just changed oil and put gas in it. So the puff of black smoke explains itself at that elevation and with factory air filter. Never had any problems and never occured to me back then improvements could have enhanced it some. Always figured CV carbs would compensate enough with loss of some vacuum at higher elevations. Since needles have no clip change settings, could 'nit-pic' them with small washers and go through all other settings again. For all general puposes, the way it now performs, and as quiet as the top-end is gonna leave well enough alone. Only other future change I may do is an XS750 diff. to drop that 5,000rpm@75mph back some 400rpm's. That 4,500-4,600rpm range is where it is still really smooth and not laboring much.

[prometheus578]

"Very nice lookin'"

Pro will likely question the rectangle mirrors and the gold top carbs

I'm not a big fan of mirrors... especially in the morning.
Your mirrors look a hell of a lot better than those black, pebbly-textured ones I've got.
Speaking of big fans...
It appears you have one across the street.

[Crazcnuk]

Gorgeous! Now I know what mine supposed to look like!

Only thing I don't like is the white patches on the tank. I know it's original, I just always thought it looked goofy. I may do mine in black.

I like the trunk, I have the same backrest/carrier combo, but I have the universal Vetter tour pack trunk, so no divot for the backrest. The rest of my Venture package looks the same, except maybe the fairing. Is that the Vetter fairing or the Pacifico?

I have the Yamaha Vetter fairing and my Lowers sit differently.

Also, did you make the little rain cover on your CD? I have the flip up plastic cover on mine, but one of the hinges went south whil ridind down the highway one day. I have been trying to find a new cover assy, or fix the one I have, but so far no luck.

[motoman]

Thanks Crazcnuk........That is the Vetter one that was made for this year/model Yamaha. I still have the original, which is the same. It just had a fracture at its base where it mounts to the fairing bracket. Still have the original taller/narrow backrest (times 2), but got tired of it interferring with opening trunk lid all the way and came across this one which is also NOS. The carrier rack is also NOS as the original apparently had been broke up near front bar support and brazed by PO before getting bike back. Still have it as chrome is otherwise perfect along with another one that is structurely perfect, but chrome didn't polish out good and couple places are down to the nickel. Originally had the plastic flip-up lid on the stereo when I installed it new. It lasted bout a week, hit a pothole and it went bye-bye. One wouldn't work with the stereo that's on it now anyways. The cover I came across on flea-Bay and is felt on the back-side. Facing front, name on it says Sound Idea.....never seen such a thing prior that was made commercially anyways.......Also FYI for 81xs..your thinking is reversed, those float settings are aprox. 5mm lower than stock. Still not quite done, as I have to polish the other set of side trunks that are visually nicer and put them on. Never thought prior to this I would end up with alot of extra goodies as a result of this process.......hmmmm.

[mason79]

i think it's the best version for the hard baggers

[81xsproject]

Your elevation makes things make a LOT more sense. I have been up around 7-8 and definitely noticed a richness. However, considering I live at sea level, it wasn't that bad.

[Crazcnuk]

UI was wondering about the 29mm setting.

People were telling me that my 80G is suppsed to be 25.7mm, but my manual says 23mm, which is where I have them set.

I live at around 1000m (3280ft) above sea level, not sure if this makes a difference.

[motoman]

I stand corrected all........my floats are set at 25mm. Been awhile sice I did all that (this past summer). Sorry bout the confusion Crazcnuk,, that setting should work just fine!

[madmax-im]

Motoman...Wow totally envious...beautiful...should make the next years calendar...I've always wanted the matching touring pkg on my 82XJ....

[motoman]

Interesting thing I noticed was after putting the NOS left side exhaust on, which is new from head to end, that performance and mileage came up plus it sounds like it did when I bought bike new. At same cruising speeds on same Interstate is how I did the comparison test. With the 4" taller windshield than stock I had lost about 2 of those miles per gallon, but gained it back after replacing that left side system. I seem to remember back in the day when speed limit was 55, riding two up and running 60mph for the most part, the best it did was 48mpg. Seems anything avove 60-65mph fuel consumption starts dropping off, looks to be about 2-4mpg for every 5mph above 60. Don't much pay attention to that and ride it 75-80 on any interstate anyways. With the 6.5 gallon tank and good riding conditions it's good for around 200miles before reserve, plus my backside is ready for a break anyways. That seems to be true no matter what the seat is, even if it's for 5min. They all feel like a board after 200 miles. Would say my Honda ST1100 is an exception to that with all the farkles as I can run a tank through(approx.300miles) before stopping if needed be.