One of my favourite places is Princess Auto. I love looking through their flyers/catalogues and while reading one I came across an ad for a motorcycle dolly. The unit was a wheeled track to ride up on and then dismount the bike, then turn the bike around and ride off again. This would of been ideal for me in the summer time when I am riding a lot. I could of kept the bike in the driveway, under its rain cover and then I wouldn't of had to do the old "back and forth" dance each time I come home, tucking it away under the back porch. As usual, being a Princess Auto product it was only $99, not the $200 - $300 I had seen in J&P catalogue or at the bike shows, but unfortunately, since I have had the bike lowered it did not work for me. I couldn't pop the unit back up on it wheels once the bike was aboard, because the dam exhaust was in the way of the lever, AND since it is lowered the kickstand tends to stick out a little further than normal (I am always having to make sure I am parking on level land or even better, sloping away on the left side, so the bike sits right and I don't have to worry about returning to find it on its side...YIKES) so the kickstand wouldn't even fit in the dish that was built to hold the bike. It was dirty from trying to get the bike in and out, so I put it up for sale on Kijiji and sold it for $80. Small loss for a good lesson learned .... remember the dam bike is lowered and it WILL influence how it sits or stands.

Steve giving one of the garden sculptures at Winter Wheat a little lovin'!

In 2008 we didn't go on any long trips, but we did try a nice day run with a friend from work, Dave Ferrier and his wife Marg. They brought along their friends Bill and Kat and we all rode out from Dave's place in Caledonia to Sparta. With Donna and me on our Venture, Bill and Kat on their Royal Star Deluxe ( a beautiful red and black number), Dave on his Road Star and Marg on her VStar 1100 we looked like a freaking Yamaha commercial rolling down the road.

Sparta was quite interesting, we stopped at the tearoom for a great lunch and then crossed the street to a "dust collector" store with some fantastic prices and very unique items. We have bought a couple of hippos that fit over the drain pipes. Then a few miles down the road there is a very different store called Winter Wheat. Garden sculptures, ornaments and all sorts of different stuff and they have the whole property set up displaying their wares. Once there was even a lady playing a harp in the garden gazebo with music floating through the pine forest.

Here is Donna at Furnace Falls on out Rd 507 run.

In the fall of 2007, Donna and I went on a trip up to Orillia. Donna has good luck at the casinos, and it gave us a good excuse to try some different and new roads. There used to be a site with all the latest rallies and poker runs listed on them. I went on and it listed a poker run around the Orillia area, with special mention of Rd 507. This runs from Gooderham to Buckhorn and I can honestly say it was UNREAL, you twist through wonderful country of rock outcrops, pine trees, rivers and ponds with barely a straight line for the whole run. Tons of other bikes and it wasn't until I had returned home that I found out this is a very popular well known road. It was bike utopia!


Of course, we had to have a couple of Weber's burgers while up there. That is almost a landmark in the area. On weekends the line ups are quite long, it is so popular that the owner built a pedestrian bridge across the 4 lanes of Hwy. 11, that couldn't of been cheap! In the back they have a picnic area with old Pullman cars for seating and picnic tables etc. I noticed that lately some grocery stores have started to sell frozen Weber burgers. They have a special steaming method in the preparation of the meat... I will admit that they do taste quite good, but they ain't no Licks!

Here is Donna on our first overnight trip to Collingwood. This was taken on the shore of Georgian Bay in the summer of 2007. We stayed at the Mountain Springs Lodge on a free pass from complaining about our accommodations during our annual winter ski trip. This complain and get a free pass routine has almost become an annual event now, since also having done it twice at Blue Mountain. But at over $150 a night you expect a certain level of accommodations and when it is not delivered, you would have to be make your point. It pays off, believe me!

We had a nice ride all the way up, with stops in Guelph for the Quiznos picnic on the Speed River, and then a really weird experience around Shelbourne at a picnic area we were having a snack and slowly came to the realization that the area was a gay pick up spot .... yeeech! Thank God Donna was with me, studly looking dude like me could of been scary :)

Collingwood has a great set of trails for biking and hiking around the waterfront that are hard to beat, very scenic. And for the real daredevils they now have mountain biking down Blue Mountain, too fast for this old man!

Since the purchase of my Venture I have added a few things myself, not a real lot of money (especially compared to the previous owner) but I think it has made the bike complete. I finished off the "eyebrows" over the rear turn signals and front light bar. I also purchased a set of rails that run around the outside of the saddlebags. When these were mounted on the bike, using the OEM supplied holes, and this is an OEM supplied part from Yamaha, the rails did not sit right. I went on to my trusty information website http://www.venturerider.com/ and found that everybody had the same problem. Some people just bent the rails, one guy stood on his...YIKES! but eventually I found the correct way to fix the problem, drill new holes an inch lower on the bike. What a feeling sitting in front of the baby with the saddlebags off, power drill in hand, location dot punched and here I go.... it was actually a breeze. Fit and look great.

One morning riding in to work, the windshield fogged up so bad I knew it was time to either get a new lower one or cut the old one down. The price dictated that decision, $300 for a small windshield or off to P&A plastics in Hamilton for $50. Makes the bike look kind of like a "Road Glide" and fits me short ass just perfect. Please see the pic above after the cut down.

And during the summer of 2008 I bought new rubber for the bike. REALLY nice Avon Venoms, that made a huge difference in the ride, made the bike feel lighter and way easier to handle. Like I said to the wife, it now feels like I'm riding on round tires, whereas before they felt flat bottomed with curved edges. The guys at Venturerider had recommended these and they were SO right, I would replace them again in a minute, if required.

I am still looking for a GPS unit for the bike on Ebay, but I am having a hard time getting one at a decent price. I am not paying $150 for years old technology when I can go out and buy a new one for the same price. Stay tuned.

Well, this is the new ride, 2005 Yamaha Venture!


Before I forget about Barrie Harley, let me give a little sidebar about these characters. After they have your money and the deal is done, so are your chances of any help. My bike came wired and mounted for a GPS, and it would be a lot easier to replace the unit (Ebay) if I knew the company or model #, so I called up and asked if this information could be obtained for me from the previous owner. I didn't think it was a big deal, but after 2 weeks of no answer I call back up and get told the salesman is on holiday, so I ask to speak to the Sales Manager and relay my story and also the fact that my 30 day warranty is almost up, so I can imagine the great help I'm going to get when "out of warranty" time rolls around. Dam manager threatened to hang up on me, wait till I win my millions, nothing is spent at Barrie HD.


My arrival home wasnt without a bit of an adventure, anyone who has a Venture can profess to their "top heaviness" so as I pulled up to the top of my driveway I have a covered porch where I store the bike out of the elements. I have to do a little "back & forth" in order to wheel it in place, so as the wife is standing back I proceed to wheel it back and forth and then tilt the handlebars too much and weight takes over....OMG she is going over!! Thank god for highway pegs and floor boards.... they held the sucker up until the wife dashed in to help bring it back upright. Heart attack or what! But she was under the roof and out came the Mr. Clean Car Wash System (highly recommended), Gold Classic Leather Cleaner, Mothers Car Wax and finally Blue Diamond chrome polish. Took a few hours for the initial cleaning but what a difference, the bike looked brand new.

It has been a few years since my last posting and things have certainly changed in the riding area of my life.

Back in June 2007, I decided that the VStar was too small for our touring adventures so I put it in the Bike Trader. It took two weeks before someone finally came out to Dunnville to see the bike and the first one was a lady in her twenties who loved it, came back in 10 minutes with $1000 cash to hold it for her until the next day. I thought it was sold, but she called back that evening complaining of furnace/AC problems, so I met her and gave her back her money. I couldn't resist being a "dad" and after giving her the money I said not to do that, I could of kept her deposit. Why give SO much? I think she understood I was just trying to help her out for the next time so goes bike shopping.
Eventually a guy from Woodstock called and said he was coming out to look at the bike, so when he arrived I could see the spark in his eye, took the chance and threw him the keys (after looking at his license), and when he came back I knew I had a buyer. We did the little "barter dance" and I ended up selling it for $5400, not bad 10% or $600 for 2 years of riding. We made the arrangements to meet in Simcoe the next day and after meeting, doing the sale and walking down the road to the local Arby's in order to met my wife for the ride home, the guy rode on by on the bike. Now he was a tall guy, about 6' + so when I watched him going by I have to admit that he looked a little funny on that size of a bike.
Back to the on-line Bike Trader again, this time I had narrowed my search down to a Yamaha Venture. The wife had seen the "lazyboy" seat and loved the look of that, and it had all the storage you could ever want. I was especially partial to the 2005 version with the "liquid silver" colouring. There was a guy out in Windsor, asking $16,300 for 2005 silver with a few upgrades, but when I called and asked if he was okay with he going for a small test ride he said he would have to see me first. I was leery to drive 5 hours to have him not like my looks, so I said forget it. That Saturday we went up to Barrie for a day trip to look at one in the Barrie Harley Davidson dealership. They were asking $16000 but dropped a grand right of the top so I made arrangements to buy the bike. It was loaded with extras, we eventually did a tally of the all the extras and they came to over $4000 and only 3000km on the dial. It was in the basement, (supposedly HD will not allow other companies product on the floor, so said the salesman) and dusty and dirty. They did the prep on the bike and we had made arrangements to go get it on Saturday July 14 2007, but Friday the 13th had me sitting in the back listening to the iron rolling through town on their way to Port Dover. It was driving me nuts, so I called up to Barrie and asked if the bike would me ready today and then called the bus companies and planned the route. All I saw was iron rolling down the highways all the way up north. Everything was going along great until the last bus from Newmarket to Barrie started to do the "every corner has a stop" routine so I was dashing off the bus at the Barrie station and flying to the nearest cab who got me to the dealership just in time before closing. I did a few circles of the court in front of the dealership and then on Hwy 400 I went riding the Silver bus!