I sold my ’86 Kawasaki Voyager with about 60K and ordered my first Yamaha Venture, the “Midnight” edition, in the fall of 2002. That edition had just been released and I loaded it up with lots of Yamaha accessories. Loved the bike and put about 20,000 miles on it until a fateful day in 2005. Riding with friends in New Mexico, we had just started down from the pass on US-64 headed to Tres Piedras. Doing about 70 in the middle of a left-hand curve the bike developed a high-speed wobble, better known as a “tank-slapper”. After I woke up, a helicopter soon transported me to Santa Fe for a five-day hospital stay. My nephew who was right behind me, only suffered a broken toe when he laid his Harley down to keep from running over me. Three broken ribs, punctured lung, broken scapula, broken thumb, and a variety of road-rash. Of course, the bike was totaled. I was very fortunate to be alive, “Thank you Lord”. The most likely cause of the wobble was improperly adjusted steering-head bearings. Lying in the hospital, I told my wife I was done with road bikes. A month later I was surfing the web looking for another Venture.
My insurance paid off pretty well and I found the same 2002 bike with the same mileage in Oklahoma for a fair price. Still in pain, I rode the bus there and rode the bike back. The first thing I did was tear the front-end off, replaced the steering-head bearings and very carefully went through the adjustment procedures. I then re-accessorized it much like my first one.
About a year later, I decided make the trunk removable for trips when the wife wasn’t along. Major project but have been real happy with the versatility. Installed a Corbin seat made for the Tour Deluxe Yamaha and moved the CB to the saddle bag. Installed a pair of Screamin’ Eagle mufflers donated by my brother-in-law giving a rich bass-note.
In the winter of ’18, I decided to see if I could locate a newer model with low miles since I had 96,000 on mine. I found a metallic grey 2008 in McKinney with 6500 miles for a reasonable price and trailered it home. Then the fun began.
The bike had been sitting for a long time. Tires were rotten and it wouldn’t run smooth accept on acceleration. After pulling all four carbs and cleaning the low-speed jets, it ran great. Once more, I went through the Steering head adjustment. The bike was totally stock so I began transferring all my accessories including the seat and trunk modification. In the process of removing all of the body panels , I discovered that mud-dobbers had built nest in every conceivable location. My old Venture was now stock and I was able to sell it for about half of what I payed for the ’08. Below, you’ll see pictures of all three bikes along with some of my mods.
