80's Yamaha venture royale. Want your opinion!

[RoboDD]

I am looking at a couple of Venture Royales. I don't know anything about them and would apprciate any info and opinions(good and bad).
Thanx

[Memnoch451]

Aside from the obvious things.. lower miles, general condition of the bike and all that. 80's Yamaha's had a weird little thing going on with clutch basket developing cracks and blowing up during hard take offs. Minor electrical issues seem to happen on bikes that are not taken care off.

Other than that.. I still have a late 80's Yamadog that I still ride to this day!

[RoboDD]

Thanx, I hope to get some more info. Was curious if there were any model specific problems. I don't see many on the road.

[Memnoch451]

Thanx, I hope to get some more info. Was curious if there were any model specific problems. I don't see many on the road.

As for Venture royals.. I do see plenty of them here in CA out riding... I love the older big bikes...they had style!

[Pegasus1300]

I have ridden The Yamaha Venture/Venture Royal since 1986 and have never heard of or experienced a clutch basket come apart.The 83-85 series had an issue with 2nd gear because of a spacer washer that was too soft and after awhile would allow it to jump out of 2nd gear under load.You can sometimes run into a low miler that will still have that problem unresolved.Ask. 83's had a frame issue like the early GL1800 and need to be welded.This was a recall item but we are long past that now,but look.1986 and on had no real issues and also have larger trunks.There is a good market for any plastic you take off as the bikes have a good following but plastic is becoming hard to comeby.Go to The Venturers - Yamaha Venture Royale and Royal Star motorcycle club. or www.venturerider.org.These are the 2 best places for early venture information.I don't know who makes trike kits for these bikes,when they were in production there were several but I don't know about today.Motors are stone ax reliable and powerful and amemities were state of the art in the 80's.They are also very comfortable.

[steamer]

OK what happened to my earlier reply??? I replyed to this post that you should log on to ventureriders.org to get all the info you are looking for on the Venture royale. It was there then it was gone???

[RoboDD]

I appreciate the info.
Thanx
Roy

[tis]

I had a couple of '86 Venture Royales, as long as you changed the oil & flter faithfully, you never had any problems. I did mine every 3000 miles, I l;oved riding them as they had all kinds of power, I know they had a tendency to develop hairline cracks behind the mirror in the trunk. I just drilled a small hole to stop the crack from traveling. I would reccomend forward controls, as riding with your feet positioned under you just don,t cut it. Mntce. & cost of parts is alot cheaper and you can get some great deals on those Bikes now.

[John Luciano]

Another. Bike worth a look is the Suzuki Cavalcade. I almost bought one .
suzuki cavalcade - Google Search