I do not think I am alone in keeping an eye on the Eluder/Venture as an alternative to the pre-17 Wing/F6B and 18+ Wing/Wing Tour.

Well, in typical Yamaha fashion, they do not appear to be that easy or cheap to maintain. Here is quote from a post on a Venture forum:


About the valve adjustment. Quite frankly, had I known before purchase that at every 16,000 miles I was going to have to do some intensive checkover maintenance, specifically the valve check, the swingarm lube, and the steering bearings repack and more, I would not have gotten it. I have two RoadStars that I do most work on which seems to be a lot less than this new '18.

I believe this guy also was commenting on how difficult it is to remove the rear wheel from his Venture; as well as $1000+ to do a full service at 16k.

So, two thoughts:

1. This is disappointing, as I was hoping Yami had learned from previous lessons (my two VStar 1100s were a PITA to work on) and this is a strike against the big Yammi in my book.

2. This got me thinking as to how much I have spent on my F6B in the first (almost) 30,000 miles:

4 Mobil 1/Honda filter oil changes: $200
3 rear tires $400
1 front tire $120
Final drive lube $6

TOTAL $726.00
Did not include labor, as all work done by myself and was easy!

So on the Venture it would be:
4 Mobil 1/filter changes: $200
3 rear tires $400-$800 (if dealer had done work @ $100 in labor each, due to difficulty
1 front tire $120/$220 (same)
16k maintenance including new plugs and valve adjustment (16k in manual) ~$1000
Belt replacement ??? $400 (parts and labor)

TOTAL up to $2600.00
Does not include pending second valve adjustment at 32k, though, to be fair, most won't have it done this frequently
*would be $1000.00 without labor costs, but sounds like it would require a hefty amount of time and/or swearing

I am not one to wrench for hours and hours, so the likelihood of me just taking it to the dam dealer or shop is high.