Pressureangle

So much worse, so much earlier than the Japanese; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoebus_cartel

They *ARE* crash bars. lol I wonder what costs more, Ago exhaust or stock valve covers?

Just a 6 month update note; My petcock is perfectly operational, but still harder to turn than I would like. If I had my 30 year old thumbs back it wouldn't be an issue. But it doesn't leak, and I can close it.

I do love me some Junior Brown.

Saw a vid of a Tesla hitting a deer, though it was a glancing blow on the mirror because the deer jumped back at the last second, the car made no change in speed or direction.

All the good recipes for beer were discovered 500 years ago.

I worked at a friend's Texaco station in the mid-80s. He was scrupulous about quality in everything, starting with the bathrooms. His friend owned an independent station halfway through town ("Woody's Gas" lol). One time we couldn't get gas from any regular channel, so my friend went to Woody for enough low-grade to get by. Woody said, "@#$$#!, I would rather see you turn them away than let them catch you selling what I do". Heh. Yes, there's a difference. And they're very careful never to let you know all the secrets.

Ethanol content; no clear data. However, Ethanol takes x3 the liquid volume per horsepower than 'gasoline'. So if you have 10% ethanol content, that instantly removes 3% of your horsepower; that then is also dependent on your engine- if it's carbureted, it can't adjust for the ethanol's additional oxygen requirement, and the engine runs lean, reducing power. This is the chainsaw scenario. On an EFI engine with oxygen sensors, the fuel system can increase the amount of liquid mixed in to maintain power, but then increases volume consumption. Either way, it sucks. But it doesn't explain the huge difference in mileage in the same vehicle of either type, with the same usage, using what is expected to be similar 'mandated' pump fuels. We're being skinned, simple as.

I haven't been able to turn up any science on gasoline formulation that gives any clues, but I can assure you that you are not insane. I regularly see + or - 5mpg on my Sport, and on my recent 3k mile trip on this BMW GSA, + or - 3mpg. These are consistent across an entire tank of gas, and I've been very careful on both to ensure my usage was similar enough not to affect it. The BMW needed a good tune and one stick coil (2 plugs per cylinder) has a hot fail, so that may explain the lesser difference since efficiency is down overall. Meh.

We discussed material offline. My plates were .080" 304 Stainless. Let me add one more thing here; I can tell you that taking on this burden for the benefit of the community and without any meaningful profit is a favor not to be made light of. I stuck my neck out for many thousands of dollars up front and I may have kept enough profit to pay for my gas to the post office. If there's one among us who will willingly take a passed torch, I'm one to thank them and sit back down.

All the specs but the material are in the digital file, and actually hard to make mistakes with. Quality and finish are really the domain of the cutter.

The race is on! I'm still chasing quotes on my end. DGI has the file on the West Coast.

I built the motor in my '85 LeMans 1000; famous for not-city-friendly drivability stock, but pretty quick. I added a half-point of compression, stupid good ported heads and a Web 86b camshaft that took more shade-tree engineering to fit than anything I'd done by myself previously. It is absolutely glorious to ride. Perfect throttling from idle, smooth power from 2k rpm up (although you can over carburet it at low RPM if you try) and fast as F**k, boiii... At the end of the day, it's a little smoother, a little more docile, and just enough faster than my stock-with-pipes and MyECU 1100 Sport-i to say it's a certainty. Not enough difference to spend any time or money making the 'Sport any faster or more drivable- which by the way, is nearly impossible to improve both at the same time on a bike that was pretty fast and drivable to begin with. My reading says that Crane Cams designed the lobes in the 'Sport, and I've dealt with them for decades long enough to know that what's in there is the best balance between power and drivability, within the confines of durability.

Pete's in here infrequently but persistently. I have the pattern. PM me.

The consensus, I think, is that all 6 speeds need it. Nevertheless I put one in my 1100 Sport 5 speed, just because all the cool kids do it. No meaningful updates on production, except that it's still happening.

I was pretty severe with my kids and motorcycles, and they took me seriously. I bought them a Honda CB125 to tool around town on, individually and together so they knew how to carry and be a passenger properly. Told them if they went to jail on a motorcycle, don't expect to be bailed out. If they got hurt of their own accord, they'd never put a leg over a bike within my reach again. Taught my daughter a proper rear choke so she could get off the back if she needed to. Seems it's funneling down to parenting again.

I am no longer sympathetic to stupidity ironing itself out. My lament is that such stupidity affects me personally by increasing insurance premiums and bringing negative attention to motorcycles in general amongst the driving public and particularly law enforcement. I did my share of dumb s**t and got away with all of it, but at my dumbest I never did even once what these fools do on the daily. I don't know where it went wrong, the parents, the culture, the advertising; I think part of the problem is the death of amateur track racing. There is nowhere to turn anymore unless you want motocross.

I believe the R and the GS actually share the same chassis, just different shocks for ride height. I haven't had the GS over the ton, but it feels good there given the upright seating and wide bars. But, if I had to bet money on times through the Dragon, I'd give 5-1 odds on the Bimmer. Below 50, it's nimble, stable, and planted. Not so much 'nimble' the 'Sport. Who had the one in the Garage in the Lodge a couple years ago?

Just so. One has to have it in mind beforehand or chase it like the horse it is.

Nice! We went out about the same time in S. Florida, got about a half cover. I bought some pairs of welding goggles back for the last complete eclipse 5 or 6 years ago, drug them out again today. No pics, though. I forgot about the weird shadows, a total eclipse is some spooky weirdness. No wonder the oldsters used them to terrify the masses.

Seems most of the servo problems are caused/resolved by properly maintaining/flushing the system which is directed to happen every 2 years, a bit of a PITA. My plan should the servo fail is to trash the entire system and just pipe the masters to the calipers. Not like that's rocket science. Part of lessons learned early, is try to end your rides at the end of the gas tank. Don't park it full. Another demon while bulldogging is the brakes; without the servo active, the lever moves 2/3 of it's travel before braking and takes x10 more effort. It tends to roll away while you're trying to find your balance.

Seems to me that even an upgraded ball bearing isn't the whole answer, when angular race ball bearings are available in this size, and in high quality. I'm going to try it out, as I have a spare final drive. Seems too easy.

I'll add the argument that if there is no mechanical damage in your engine, your filter has little to do anyway; the narrow sump filter is upside-down, so it should drain most of the oil back into the sump to be drained at change. On my internal-filter bikes, I don't bother to change the filter every time.

I can bring an extra bike for you next year.

It's been apparently well-attended wrt upgrades/maintenance. There's a quick disconnect in the spares- I haven't looked to see if it's a take-out or a what-if. The rear drive did crap out the main bearing right on schedule, though. Replaced at about 40k miles, now 91k. "They fail because they're too tight. If it failed and you replace it with the same preload, it will certainly fail again". So I bought a replacement on eBay and I'll have a crack at rebuilding this one myself.