Kawasaki Concours Forum
Mish mash => Open Forum => Topic started by: VirginiaJim on June 03, 2022, 05:38:44 PM
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What's up with everyone? Plans, dreams, etc..
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Riding maybe?
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I would think so but pulled the bike out of the garage to ride it and work called...da**it.
Will work on my grandson's Jeep Comanche brakes tomorrow.
Had some good Jack Daniels Rye whisky tonight though.
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Watching HBO's Staircase
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What's up with everyone? Plans, dreams, etc..
Just work, work, more work, and rest recovering from work. I got in the special glue to fix the pannier handle cover but just haven't been motivated to use it yet. The few times I had, it was so hot outside it sucked the life out of me. Nice ride last weekend, though... hopefully will ride tomorrow for a while.
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Supposed to be nicer in the way of temps for a few days at least. Get that glue on.
I've got small glove boxes on the Indian. I'm going to put locks on them today. At least with the Indian there is no shortage of accessories you can add.
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COG National starts 6/6 - Could be quiet because many are en-route or preparing to do so.
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Spent Thurs & Fri (Queens Jubilee 4 day weekend 😁) fitting my Maxton rebuilt, revalved, resprung, reconditioned ZX14 front forks and fixing busted plastic (those flimsy well nut pieces) on my C14. Also fitted a better condition front fender and some Titanium caliper bolts. Once I get the fat boy spring (160N/mm) on my Ohlins shock will be fitting that too.
Removed the Delkevic mufflers from my C10 replacing them with Motad N-Eta which I have always preferred. They currently smell odd because I painted them with black stove enamel but sound and look good.
Finally, as I went to close the garage door, the cable that connects to the counterbalancer spring snapped, so now I have to wait until Tuesday to get the garage door fixed so can't get out for a ride. 🙄
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I hate it when garage doors go bad.. Was it a torsion type or one of those long springs on the older doors?
On a high note I got one of the locks installed. Twenty minute job they say for two locks. Took me a couple of hours and a trip to the hardware store for one. I'll work on the other one tomorrow.
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Work, mostly. Installed Murphy’s bearing shifter kit yesterday. Went for a little ride with the ol’ lady and the boy by Saguaro Lake. About to head out to my buddy’s house to go work on the Chevy C20 conversion.
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Finally got my bike inspected for 2022. Need to wash and change oil soon.
Got a extremely tiny fireglass splinter stuck in my finger. Can't seem to get that out.
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Finally got my bike inspected [...]
I have never done that before :)
I suppose I could get in trouble some day. But hey, 11 years and no issue so far.
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You haven't had the bike inspected in 11 years! Wow. I don't think the cops in VA really care about MC inspections that much. I'm paranoid about it but that's me. LOL
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Inspection? What the heck is that?!?
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You haven't had the bike inspected in 11 years! Wow. "
I guess it is technically 10, since it came to me with the inspection when I bought it new. It was on the fork tube and I removed it after a few years (which was a pain).
I don't think the cops in VA really care about MC inspections that much. I'm paranoid about it but that's me. LOL
They rarely look. Of course, I have only been stopped once, and it wasn't noticed. If it were, it would be $81 total for the fine and "court costs", I believe no points since it is not a "moving violation". I find inspections a total pain in the ass, and a joke. I inspect the bike far better and more often.
The car, yeah, I get that inspected. The sticker is far more visible.
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Motorcycle inspection is always Quick and painless. I just go to my local gas station repair shop. And you’re right I inspect my motorcycle far more thoroughly than an inspector would.
Inspections are somewhat useless but I have seen some crappy cars from Maryland that drive around in Virginia and DC. Maryland does not require annual inspections and so They have the shittiest old, busted cars in the area. I bet a lot of **** in their cars are broken and not safe for the road.
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And you have no opinion on this...lol. I get both of mine inspected by the dealer. It's easy and it doesn't cost me anything......yet. I inspect the vehicles myself so I know what needs to be done.
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I hate it when garage doors go bad.. Was it a torsion type or one of those long springs on the older doors?
Torsion type. It's the cable that links the door to the torsion spring that snapped.
I can open the door, but it's damned hard to lift and then I have to hold it open whilst someone props it up.
The repair man is here tomorrow, so hopefully he can fix it and I can finally ride again for the first time since October.
As for Inspections, here we have compulsory annual inspections (MOT Test) and they are pretty thorough.
Any safety related stuff is checked and on later vehicles (except motorcycles) the emissions are also tested.
It's a hassle, but I kinda like it as it forces people to fix or scrap their vehicle every year, so we see far less rolling death-traps here than I have seen in the US.
Like most of you I check all my vehicles far more often than that, but we are a minority.
Many vehicle owners will only get their vehicle serviced when it forces them to (modern Mercs actually put the engine into limp mode if you exceed the service interval by 1000 miles) and they NEVER ever check if their turn-signals, brake lights, headlights, ABS systems, brakes, or tyres are in a functioning, roadworthy, SAFE condition.
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Been riding a lot, 15,000 miles so far this year. Rode my BMW R1200RT to California with some friends in April, 4800 in 13 days. The wife and I attended an MSTA rally in Harrison, AR in May me on the C14 she in her jeep. We are packing now for the MSTA annual STAR in Cape Girardeau, MO then up to La Crosse, WI.
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I don't have a garage but my sister does. She has this old system from the early 90's.
Just a couple of weeks ago a cable broke. She has 2 springs on 2 sides of the door, and 2 cables one attached to each spring. One of those cables broke. Is that what you are speaking of? She can still use the door.
Torsion type. It's the cable that links the door to the torsion spring that snapped.
I can open the door, but it's damned hard to lift and then I have to hold it open whilst someone props it up.
The repair man is here tomorrow, so hopefully he can fix it and I can finally ride again for the first time since October.
As for Inspections, here we have compulsory annual inspections (MOT Test) and they are pretty thorough.
Any safety related stuff is checked and on later vehicles (except motorcycles) the emissions are also tested.
It's a hassle, but I kinda like it as it forces people to fix or scrap their vehicle every year, so we see far less rolling death-traps here than I have seen in the US.
Like most of you I check all my vehicles far more often than that, but we are a minority.
Many vehicle owners will only get their vehicle serviced when it forces them to (modern Mercs actually put the engine into limp mode if you exceed the service interval by 1000 miles) and they NEVER ever check if their turn-signals, brake lights, headlights, ABS systems, brakes, or tyres are in a functioning, roadworthy, SAFE condition.
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I don't think so. There are two spring systems that I know of. Torsion, where the spring rides above the door and its length is the width of the doorway. I have two doors with that system. And the other that has a spring on each side. Those springs can break and launch themselves into the garage and anything parked there. DIYer can work with those. I leave the Torsion springs to the pros.
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The specialist is here right now to fix it.
There is one spring that is horizontal above the door when it is closed.
A cable either side links to the Torsion bar. Both of those cables have snapped.
The repair requires 2 new cables, 2 new cones, and a re-tensioning of the Torsion bar.
About $360 in total fitted and working with a 1 year warranty. :)
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There's a dyno guy down the street from my house. Thinking about taking my bike down there to get numbers. Said he'd do a HP# pull for $75.
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Still pretty quiet.
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Yeah...
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What? Sorry, I can't hear you for all the noise on here ;D ::)
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Pick a topic and talk about it. I am sure there are may topics in the news that may be of interest.
After all this is a virtual camp fire as you say.
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Topic of the day… weird factoid.
Most American car horns honk in the key of F,
which is also the same key as a telephone dial tone.
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Interesting!
Topic of the day… weird factoid.
Most American car horns honk in the key of F,
which is also the same key as a telephone dial tone.
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Here in the UK we are currently at US$9.50 per US Gallon for our cheapest gas (95RON = 91PON).
I get that not buying Russian oil has pushed the price up, but somehow I have a feeling that the other oil producers (and I do include the UK & USA in that) are deliberately not increasing their output because why should they when they are making more profit from selling less oil.
I have heard so many different excuses for the high prices that I now suspect that sheer unmitigated greed is the primary cause.
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Boomer, that seems spot on to me.
Then there's the "climate change" factor. Are "they" trying to price us out of fuel powered vehicles?
How will we charge all those electric cars? Coal burning power plants?
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Just paid $6.10 a gallon for 91 octane this morning. Feckin' nuts. With gas and violence on the rise, I honestly worry a little about what the next few years look like.
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Sold 2 bikes in the past month, 14 was just sort of ridiculous, one being the naked 2000 C10 i had. (pretty redundant to the CB1100 i also have) the neighbor now rides it every day. Going to probably move 2 more, but have a deal pending on a 'Marlboro' TZR250 3MA. ;D Otherwise been enjoying the spring and the summer which included a week long trip to deals gap for th e2 stroke meet, towing 2 bikes behind my 66 Galaxie.
As far as garage doors, I have a dual torsion spring setup on mine, one broke last fall due to age. the trick to setting them is to do it with the door UP. I replaced both springs and now, halfway up it is neutral in weight, will just hang there when unlatched from the garage door opener. with door up, just wind each spring 2 full turns on mine and it was golden. .02
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How do you ride so many bikes? I can barely ride one. You are a lucky man.
Sold 2 bikes in the past month, 14 was just sort of ridiculous, one being the naked 2000 C10 i had. (pretty redundant to the CB1100 i also have) the neighbor now rides it every day. Going to probably move 2 more, but have a deal pending on a 'Marlboro' TZR250 3MA. ;D Otherwise been enjoying the spring and the summer which included a week long trip to deals gap for th e2 stroke meet, towing 2 bikes behind my 66 Galaxie.
As far as garage doors, I have a dual torsion spring setup on mine, one broke last fall due to age. the trick to setting them is to do it with the door UP. I replaced both springs and now, halfway up it is neutral in weight, will just hang there when unlatched from the garage door opener. with door up, just wind each spring 2 full turns on mine and it was golden. .02
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Anyone around here also build rockets?
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How do you ride so many bikes? I can barely ride one. You are a lucky man.
I am. :) i rotate them around and ride them all. And, my wife is also supportive, even has her own, 1st bike (a new supercub).
Here's the garage, last week. there's 3 stored at work, and 2 at a friends garage. the one to the far right was sold the day after this pic was taken.
the supercub is far end, cant see it behind the 72 R5. (i don't count hers in the 12).
also note the garage springs. the left one has always when wound (closed) gone 'wavy' :o its really weird and have no explanation for it. . But works fine.
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Years and years ago built the most basic one.
Also about the same time flew u-control (think on a string) airplanes with that tiny Cox .049 engine on it.
There is some very interesting videos of amazing RC aircraft on YouTube.
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I still have some control line planes. Last one I bought was the P-40 Warhawk. Everybody in the neighborhood had a COX 049 plane.
I still have ESTES model rocket kits built and unbuilt.
I still build plastic scales model planes/cars/armor 1/48 planes 1/25 cars 1/35 armor, more in the winter than summer
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I do some static modeling, but far more rocketry. I've recently gotten into lighting my static models now, too.
Current largest rocket is 11.5 feet tall and 55 pounds loaded for flight without motors.
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Oh jeez, I'm still stuck in 1970, nowhere near that serious. think "Big Bertha" ;D
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Just ordered this....
https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/lego-nasa-apollo-saturn-v-92176
Love the Saturn V. I'll keep you posted on my progress. It arrives tomorrow.
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Pick a topic and talk about it. I am sure there are may topics in the news that may be of interest.
After all this is a virtual camp fire as you say.
Let me say this about that....
As I've stated in the Open Board, as far as news goes, stuff like this stresses me out...politics, religion, Covid and just about anything controversial that people get upset about. Don't want to hear it, don't want to see it. This thread has been flowing quite nicely and I like it. Carry on..
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A lovely wife, a garage full of bikes. Damn, I gotta start living.
No wife, no garage. I used to live in an appt the size of your garage for $2600/mo.
What am I doing wrong? I gotta get out of DC. My gf is from Mid W. and she tells me that everyday!
I am. :) i rotate them around and ride them all. And, my wife is also supportive, even has her own, 1st bike (a new supercub).
Here's the garage, last week. there's 3 stored at work, and 2 at a friends garage. the one to the far right was sold the day after this pic was taken.
the supercub is far end, cant see it behind the 72 R5. (i don't count hers in the 12).
also note the garage springs. the left one has always when wound (closed) gone 'wavy' :o its really weird and have no explanation for it. . But works fine.
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Have you tried the robotics kits? I have been wanting to buy one but they are quite expensive.
Just ordered this....
https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/lego-nasa-apollo-saturn-v-92176
Love the Saturn V. I'll keep you posted on my progress. It arrives tomorrow.
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A lovely wife, a garage full of bikes. Damn, I gotta start living.
No wife, no garage. I used to live in an appt the size of your garage for $2600/mo.
What am I doing wrong? I gotta get out of DC. My gf is from Mid W. and she tells me that everyday!
Personally I hate NoVA. Too much traffic and crazy drivers. Fredericksburg is getting an influx from there and it's ruining the area. Where I live as well. I'm hoping there will be a real estate crash again and keep those Fr's up north. Go west young man.
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Here in the UK we are currently at US$9.50 per US Gallon for our cheapest gas (95RON = 91PON).
Wow
I get that not buying Russian oil has pushed the price up, but somehow I have a feeling that the other oil producers (and I do include the UK & USA in that) are deliberately not increasing their output because why should they when they are making more profit from selling less oil.
Here, they are being CONSTRAINED from producing more domestic oil, which was intentional. Plus lots of inflation, which is pushing all prices up (which is what happens when they create trillions and trillions of dollars out of thin air to spend).
I just paid $5.15/gal for high octane at Costco. Quite a shocker. I think it was something like $3 not all that long ago. Thankfully, I don't use a lot of gasoline; I live near work and bicycle every day. And no, it isn't much exercise because it is only about 5 minutes :)
I am always amazed at how fuel-efficient the C14 is, given its size and weight. I seem to get around 45 MPG on average. Not so lucky in the G37S, at around 22MPG. I put a lot more miles on the motorcycle than on the car.
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I get 38mpg on mine, but I'm also huge and drive at quite a speed. My crossover thing gets like 17. The ol' lady's midsize SUV gets about 17 too. She is really happy she got a bike. She ended up on a 2011 Suzi GSX1250FA and LOVES it. We put some SW-Motech bags on it for our longer trips.
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My Prius gets 55+ and saw 62 on it the other day and I can use E15 fuel in it. I've parked my truck for the duration and we're using the Prius for 95% of the driving. Still riding the bike. In hot weather I can push 50mpg out of it
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My '21 honda trail gets over 100 mpg. not why i got it, but its a fun commuter. Not bad in the mts either.
(https://www.2strokeworld.net/wp-content/uploads/21-trail125/215235067_4666544180040605_4971631031435132078_n.jpg)
I ride this thing a LOT. I got it back in Feb of 21. yes, thats a folding milkcrate on the back. ;D Top speed is about 56 , can maintain 50. perfect for in town & hauling stuff. TBH, i don't care about fuel mileage too much, as I drive my big block galaxie quite a bit as well. (about 13.5 towing, 16 just driving w ac on). But for those that do, the trail is a good one to consider. .02
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I would look like a circus bear on a Honda Trail.
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I've seen 6'5 guys riding them. Personally, i don't care what other dudes think.
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I've seen 6'5 guys riding them. Personally, i don't care what other dudes think.
Not so much what other dudes think, but that I'm like a whole "normal" sized person more than the weight capacity of one.
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Too funny...
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I am looking to buy a moped this year. I loved riding those in HS.
How hard is a Metropolitan or a Vino to work on?
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I like vino only at night..
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Why?
I like vino only at night..
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I too like it at night. Especially with cheese.
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Ooooooo. OK
:P
I don't drink much.
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You should start, especially if you are going to work on mopeds.
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You should start, especially if you are going to work...
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Doing my part to get us back on the Moon...and so it begins. I do meet the age requirements.
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That's badass.
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I know. Did you notice the number of pieces? 1969. Coincidence, I think not.
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Lego is going to spend up to a Billion dollars in Chesterfield County VA to build a new manufacturing plant. It would be their 7th one in the world.
https://richmondbizsense.com/2022/06/15/breaking-news-lego-to-build-1m-plant-in-chesterfield/
Coincidence, I think not.
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The recent warm weather has me reading a bit more than usual. "The Spandau Complication" by Bob Orkand, "Open Season" by CC Box, "The King's War" by Mark Logue and "31 Kings" by Richard Harris.
all have a WWII connection except Open Season which is the first in the "Joe Pickett" series of books and a great debut it is, written in 2001 he went on to write many more Pickett books. It concerns a Wyoming state game warden dealing with murder, politics and family life while working his dream job.
The Spandau Complication is about a U.S. Army officer stationed in Berlin in 1966 and his dealings with superiors, Soviets, fellow army personnel, women, and Cold War intrigue.
The Kings War is the sequel to the book and film The King's Speech which takes you into the world of royalty and how he dealt with the war with his sometimes crippling speech impairment.
31 Kings is a continuation of a series of novels involving Rchard Hannay, WWII intelligence and a rescue mission in the days right before the German Army occupies Paris.
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Doing my part to get us back on the Moon...and so it begins. I do meet the age requirements.
Yepper. And it gives you 14+ years to finish it. 😉😉
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I'm just trying to figure where I can spread it all out. There's 12 bags of all kinds of Legos. I now know how the Saturn V engineers felt.....well, not really but it's a daunting piece of kit with a huge user manual.
What's really ironic here is that I'm putting together a rocket designed by Wernher Von Braun. He's the guy that designed the V-2 rocket which was used to attack England (and my mother) during WWII.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYzlLhinEeQ
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I love Legos. Have been around them most of my life. I still have two tubs of them. So much better than erector sets, Lincoln logs, or tinker toys. Was my all-time favorite toy.
My Mom was constantly yelling about them being all over the place. And, really, they do hurt when you step on them barefoot...
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Doing my part to get us back on the Moon...and so it begins. I do meet the age requirements.
That's not the age requirement, that's required IQ level. Are you sure you meet that? :rotflmao: :stirpot:
I still have a few Lego models here and there, but my favourite construction toy was Meccano.
Because of my Meccano obsession, I was given 2 tea chests of Meccano bits for Christmas by one of my cousins when I was 9 years old.
He had collected all the Meccano no longer used by his friends. Most awesome Xmas present ever! ;D
My "piece de resistance" was a fully functional roller coaster that completely circled my room (30+ feet of track) with 2 ascents.
I could lose hours just watching the cars go round and round, and then I would explode into action to fix a problem, or tweak it, or modify it.
Meccano, and my Dad of course, was what got me into Engineering & Science.
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It’s amazing how vivid the memories can be when something like this triggers them.
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IQ is 13, however I'm not going to let that stop me. I have a Meccano set as well. You know my hobbies are changing or lets say evolving. Once I retire (year or so maybe) I want to restore my vintage radios and Garcia Mitchell fishing reels. It's really weird but I'm getting interested in Math and Physics. I did ok in those subjects in High School but never were fascinated with them then. I started watching a Youtube on Algebra the last month or so and have got into it again.
Riddle me this....what is the square root of 4 (no cheating and looking it up first)?
Neighbor was over for our Thursday wine tasting....more like drinking. Her husband died a few years back. He was a rocket scientist for the Navy. She mentioned when we were going to have a fire in the pit next. Why? Her late husband had his old 80's math and physics books and she wanted to get rid of them. I was horrified at the thought of burning any book. Reminds me of the Nazis. I said give them to me and I'll start going through them. Worst case I'll sell them on ebay or Amazon for a few bucks.
I've attached a pic of all the parts of that kit.. OMG! So many parts and so little time.
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Kinda nice that Lego sorts them into bags for you. I've bought a few of the military Lego compatible Mega Bloks over the years. They made a BIG space shuttle I did, too.
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And their directions are great!
I've started reading the Chronicals of Narnia books by C. S. Lewis. Just got the first one in the series 'The Magician's Nephew' and it has pictures in colour!
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Burn books? :yikes: :nuts: :loco:
Enjoy them 8)
If you like square roots, try the square root of -1. :rotflmao:
When I went to University, they evaluated our mathematical ability with a sheet of questions and we were asked to answer the most difficult question we could. I answered the one on Laplace Transforms and was excused from the entire 1st year engineering mathematics course. ;D
Vintage radios sounds fun. Valve radios are cool.
I've just re-read the entire E.E. "Doc" Smith collection as well as the 4 non-Doc Lensman books and the D'Alemberts.
About to start on all the Asimovs, then the Heinleins, Clarkes, and the Harrisons.
I'm revisiting my youth following the loss of my Dad last August.
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Burn books? :yikes: :nuts: :loco:
Enjoy them 8)
If you like square roots, try the square root of -1. :rotflmao:
When I went to University, they evaluated our mathematical ability with a sheet of questions and we were asked to answer the most difficult question we could. I answered the one on Laplace Transforms and was excused from the entire 1st year engineering mathematics course. ;D
Vintage radios sounds fun. Valve radios are cool.
I've just re-read the entire E.E. "Doc" Smith collection as well as the 4 non-Doc Lensman books and the D'Alemberts.
About to start on all the Asimovs, then the Heinleins, Clarkes, and the Harrisons.
I'm revisiting my youth following the loss of my Dad last August.
The square root of 4 is 2 and -2
I think I have the Lensman series still stashed in my SF collection. Now I have to dig them out and read them again. I love pure science fiction which is what Doc Smith wrote for the most part. Typically it's 40's, 50's and 60's from the main stream authors that you mentioned. I started collecting them when my dad took ill as I scarfed them up from the VA hospitals and used book sellers back in the late 60's and 70's.
You're lucky you had your dad all this time, Boomer. I lost mine in 1969. I was 12.
For those of you not knowing what a valve radio is.....vacuum tubes. Those are the ones I have such as the Zenith Transoceanics...
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How’s the SV coming?
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I'm going to start it later today so no progress yet. You can actually get a frame from Lego to hold it upright..
https://smile.amazon.com/Display-Science-Building-Creative-Project/dp/B08KZQ1PY5/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?crid=2IDPZJ822MPK7&keywords=lego%2Bsaturn%2Bv%2Blaunch%2Btower&qid=1655644971&sprefix=lego%2BSatur%2Caps%2C91&sr=8-2-spons&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUFLOFFZU0NYQUZTUyZlbmNyeXB0ZWRJZD1BMDQ3NDg2NkRJNzZPT0wzUVRZUiZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwMzY0NjAyMTlCMUQ4NkdRSlBPWSZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2F0ZiZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU&th=1
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Anybody read any Harry Turtledove's alternate history novels? "Guns of the South" was the first one I read a long time ago, it involved aliens giving AK-47's to the CSA. Aliens were a common theme for him for awhile and I stepped away as those stories don't interest me but lately he's been writing a series of alternate histories of WWII.
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probably selling the 99 soon, been enjoying the 2 strokes way too much this year. who says a 50 year old bike cant be reliable? ;)
hwy runs today, up to charlotte, lots of running around up there, then back. about 5 hours worth of riding. zero issues.
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probably selling the 99 soon, been enjoying the 2 strokes way too much this year. who says a 50 year old bike cant be reliable? ;)
Yeah, it is amazing how much power a tiny 2 stroke can make, especially with the weight advantage thrown in. You just have to deal with the fumes, so-so mileage, measuring out oil each fill, and typically being kind of vibrationy and loud.
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You're lucky you had your dad all this time, Boomer. I lost mine in 1969. I was 12.
My sympathies Jim. :(
Dad and I had our good times and bad times, and at one point barely spoke to each other for several years, but I do miss him.
I just remembered that I haven't re-read The Vortex Blaster, so gonna re-read that before I start on the Asimovs.
I used to have a 1930s Pye SW radio and a 1950s Roberts SW. Both are long gone now.
I moved on to solid state when the valves/tubes started to get difficult to source.
Now there are specialists who are making new valves for some popular radios.
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I'm reading an early novel of Robert Silverberg 'Chalice of Death' on Kindle. Interesting reading on him in the Preface of the book and his early years.
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Yeah, it is amazing how much power a tiny 2 stroke can make, especially with the weight advantage thrown in. You just have to deal with the fumes, so-so mileage, measuring out oil each fill, and typically being kind of vibrationy and loud.
I get the perception especially from way back when... that bike makes 50 rwhp, weighs 360 lbs. there no oil measuring at fill ups, its oil injected and works great, I have no idea why people insist on pulling the oil injection off, its pretty dumb overall. I get it in certain applications, but 90% of them are just mythical failures. most 'pump failures' are from people forgetting to fill the tank. 1 oil tank is approx 3 tanks of fuel.
Fuel mileage is in the upper 30's to mid 40's. doesn't really vibrate much since its a twin either. Most of the bad rap these get is from **** poor or mediocre tuning TBH. Most of mine have a modern cdi with wasted spark so thats a LOT of the tuning issues removed. @75 mph its doing about 5500 rpm.
I personally know two people that have done iron butt rides, one repeatedly, on 2 strokes (within the last decade). ;D
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I'm not sure if I have ever read any Silverberg. None of his novel titles ring any bells, but one did remind me of Bob Shaw's Night Walk, which I just added to my Kindle, so thanks for that. ;D
As for the 2-strokes, I've ridden many over the years from 25cc to 750cc and the one abiding memory I have of them (apart from "ring-ding-ding-ding" and the smell) is the vibration. However, they were from an era when even the big 4 cylinder 4-strokes were "buzzy" and you had to go to 6 cylinders (CBX1000, Z1300, Benelli Sei) if you wanted smoothness.
The other problem I had with most of them was their size. At 6'4" they all felt like mopeds, even the H2's and the Kettles.
Yes, the singles were the buzziest, but that was the same on the XL600 as on the CR250 (both 48bhp). Parallel twins are better and triples even more so, but only with 120° cranks like the Jota. The RD500 and the RG500 were about as smooth as any modern bike, but then the RD had a balance shaft and the RG didn't need one due to the square design.
The powerband on 2-strokes is addictive though. ;D ::)
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H2's vibrate more than any multiple cyl 2 strokes ive been on. and i've owned a few (recently). I'm 5'8 so sizing isnt an issue. Have a TZR250 SP int he works now. thats one ive wanted for a LONG time. ;D
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I've completed bag 1 of the Saturn V... Pay no attention to the tilt, it's the camera angle, not the rocket.
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Bag #2 complete
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Going to a Scottish festival locally here, firing up the Triumph, a group of us on Brit bikes ride in and cause mayhem for the Constables. ;D
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Bag 3 completed....disregard the rubber manufacturing band.. I'm sure that the real Saturn V people used them as well but took them off before launch.
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You know it's hard to get good help these days...found out the Saturn V assembler got something confused in the assembly. Will have to rework some parts and the rubber band may have to come out of the tool box again....drat.
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Check the maker of the band, it it's Thiokol, you may have a problem. ;D
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LOL...
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Check the maker of the band, it it's Thiokol, you may have a problem. ;D
Not in the middle of summer.
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True...lol
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Where's the finished pic?
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It's still sitting at the same stage (pun intended). Work has gone crazy and I haven't been able to get back to it.