Yamaha Venture Royale

From Yamaha Wiki

1983 MK1 Yamaha Venture Royale Owned and photographed by Gary Swartz - This is the very first Venture ever produced and is still on the road.

The Yamaha Venture Royale is a premier Touring motorcycle manufactured in two forms by Yamaha from 1983-1993. ^[1]

Vehicle info

History

1984 MK1 Yamaha Venture Royale Owned and photographed by Mike McManus

Considered by many to be ahead of its time in innovations and leading edge technology. The powerful and smooth V4 engine and excellent handling resulted in what may have been the predecessor of sport touring bikes available today. There are still many of these bikes on the road around the world racking up hundreds of thousands of miles.

The 1198 cc V-Four engine from the MK1 Venture was modified for performance and was used as the engine in the Yamaha V-Max. Many of these changes were incorporated into the MK2 version of the Venture.

Yamaha resurrected the Venture Motorcycle in 1996 as the Royal Star, then later brought out a full touring version in 1999 as the Royal Star Venture.

Mechanical

1987 MK2 Yamaha Venture Royale Owned and photographed by Earl Harrell

Two primary versions were produced. The Mk1 from 1983 through 1985 had a 1198cc (referred to as 1200cc) engine ^[2] and removable trunk and bags. The Mk2 was produced from 1986 through 1993 and had a 1298cc (referred to as 1300cc) engine with the trunk and side bags rigidly mounted. Both models had a full frame mounted fairing with an AM/FM cassette stereo, an air suspension control system with onboard compressor, and electronic cruise control. It also featured a CB radio as an option.

The drive package on the Venture Royale includes a liquid cooled V-4 engine. It has four valves per cylinder, overhead camshafts, and shim over bucket valves. The five speed transmission is part of the engine case and both the engine and transmission share oil. The drive shaft and final drive assembly are built into the left side of the double sided swing arm. Swing arm motion is damped by an air preloaded monoshock mounted in the center of the frame. The clutch is of the wet plate design and is hydraulically activated by the left hand lever.^[3]

Clubs

1990 MK2 Yamaha Venture Royale Owned and photographed by Brian Mannon

Venture clubs abound with big meetings every year in the US and Europe with most countries having national clubs. The web brought about many online clubs. VentureRider.org http://www.venturerider.org is the largest and most active of these clubs with members worldwide and regular meetings (VentureIns) and more informal get-togethers throughout North America and Europe. It also has a great technical resource for all model years as well as a classifieds area for those looking to buy and/or sell. VentureRider.org is a FREE site.

Other online clubs abound and also have a strong following at Venturers, http://www.venturers.org again with regular meetings (Rallies) and informal get-togethers. Venturers does charge a membership fee.

Another web site dedicated to the 1996-2001 model years of cruiser style Royal Stars is http://forums.delphiforums.com/royalstar/start. And for the 1999 - 2008 Royal Star Venture and Royal Star Tour Deluxe an excellent source for help and information is the Royal Star Venture and Tour Deluxe Fourm which can be found at http://forums.delphiforums.com/vrider/start. The Delphi Forums which support both of these locations is advertising based with no membership fees required.

Other National Venture clubs:

United Kingdom http://www.yamahaventureclub.co.uk France http://www.ventureclubdefrance.com Norway http://www.ventureclubnorway.com Holland http://www.yamahaventureclubnederland.com Denmark http://www.ventureclub.dk Sweden http://www.algonet.se/~venturen/ Germany http://www.venture-royale-club.de

Meets

The 2007 VentureRider International Rally was held July 9th - 13th in Fort Collins Colorado.

The 2008 VentureRider International Rally was held July 7th - 10th in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. http://www.venturerider.org/irally/

The 2008 International Venture Meet was held in Spain, July 4th-6th http://venture-spain.com/foro/index.php?topic=251.0 and there were Venture riders from all the European clubs as well as members of the Venturers attending from North America.

The 2009 VentureRider International Rally will be held August 3rd - 6th at The Hub in Marble Falls, Arkansas.

The VentureRider Roundup will be held in Cody WY Sept 14 -17 2009- To tour the Cody and Yellowstone area

The Pork in the Pines pig roast. A VentureRider.org rally held annually over Labor Day weekend near La Porte, MN http://www.porkinthepines.com

References

1. ↑ http://www.yamaha-motor.com/sport/epic_mcy/1983_venture_small.aspx
2. ↑ Yamaha XVZ12L-N series Service Manual LIT-11616-04-06
3. ↑ Yamaha XVZ12D series Service Manual LIT-11616-XV-13