GuzziMoto

The more people who stay home when it snows the better for those that actually need to go to work. As I have gotten older I have become more willing to stay home because it snows. But I still usually go to work unless it snows a lot. My work does not lend itself to working from home. But staying home if you can is the smart option. And it keeps the roads less crowded for those that go to work (or go out to have fun, which is always an option when it snows). I walked to school when I was in Elementary School, but from Jr High on I either rode a bus or drove, those schools were too far away to walk. The trend seems to be fewer schools that are larger. Those schools end up being beyond walking distance for most of the kids that go to them, so mostly kids take buses now it seems. Buses and snow don't mix well. And there is the risk of an accident in the snow, and then they will get blame for negligence having not canceled school when it snows.

I have seen enough air in the system, like with new parts, cause the master to be able to overcome it and get the system pumping fluid. Car guys will often bench fill a new master before installing it and trying to bleed the system. I prefer filling the slave with fluid and using it to force fluid backwards up through the system. That way you are filling the system in the same direction air wants to go (vs filling the system from the top down while the air in the system wants to go the other way). As to the trick of tying the brake or clutch lever down overnight, since it seems to remove trapped air and not simply hide the air by forcing it to temporarily dissolve into the fluid I would say that is not likely what is happening. What seems to happen is like docc said; the higher pressure does two things, it causes the smaller air bubbles to collect into fewer larger bubbles, and due to the higher pressure those bubbles tend to rise to the top of the system (into the master cylinder in this case). Then, when you undo the lever and remove the pressure they vent out the top to the reservoir.

it is crazy, the Gulf Coast is getting snow. That said, it was -3 here this morning when we left for work. While I know other parts of the country see worse then that it is not normal here. And we have already had several snows. So, as John McClane once said, "Welcome to the party, pal!"

Funny related bit of info. I have a Jeep Wrangler. It has a V6 engine with two sets of exhaust pipes, one per bank. They merge together back behind the engine and trans on the left side of the vehicle. Unless you did something to account for length, the length of the exhaust before where they merge would be shorter on the left side since the right side exhaust pipe has to go further to cross over to the left side of the vehicle. What the factory did to account for the difference in length was to bend the left side pipe into a loop. That loop makes the two pipes the same length from the head to the merge point. But that loop is prone to hitting rocks if you offroad. We in fact did that, putting a dent in the looped part of the pipe. The solution is to replace the loop with a fairly straight length of pipe that does away with the loop. But if the straight pipe was the same diameter you would be introducing an uneven-ness to the exhaust system, with the left side exhaust pipe being shorter then the right side exhaust before they merge. To overcome that the people who make the replacement pipe make the straight non-looped pipe using larger diameter pipe. Because the shorter section of pipe is larger in diameter the exhaust in it slows down so that it takes a similar length of time for the exhaust to travel through that section of pipe as it would have if the exhaust was going through the longer looped section of pipe it replaces. Thus, the two sides still reach the merge when they are supposed to and the two sides still have what acts like the same length exhaust system. Even though one side is actually shorter in length. You never know but given the distance this change in diameter is from the exhaust valve I doubt it really makes a difference in power. But it may make a difference in sound.

Something else you sometimes run into that looks like that is when an exhaust pipe has a dual wall. A dual wall pipe will be single wall at the point it meets another pipe, and then that sudden increase in outer diameter is where it becomes dual wall with a gap between the inner and outer walls. The Griso head pipes are a great example of this. The dual wall pipe allows a reduction in discoloration from exhaust heat. Not saying the pipe pictured is dual wall, but sometimes that is why an exhaust pipe looks like that. From a flow point of view it would be weird to have such a sudden increase in pipe diameter at that point in the exhaust system. That is oddly not something that would likely increase exhaust velocity. In fact, if it is a sudden increase in inside diameter of the pipe it would slow down exhaust velocity at that point. Which is generally something that would not help get exhaust out. But it can be very hard to estimate exhaust flow based strictly on looks. And given the simple nature of the V11 lump I am sure it is fine either way.

Around here, both where I live and where I work, many DC charging stations are put in by either the local electric utility or a vendor like Tesla , Chargepoint, or EVgo. The electric utility is motivated to put in the required infrastructure to provide the electricity for the charging station because they make money on providing that electricity. Add to that the subsidies and advantages of installing chargers and the gas stations, shopping centers, and restaurants are typically going to make more money by spending some money. That is what businesses do. Tesla is the gold standard in that field, a business spends very little to get the Tesla chargers installed, but they also make less money from the chargers. Mind you, they still make money from having the chargers there, they get some money directly from the chargers but make more money by the increase in traffic to their business. That said, Tesla is run by a neurotic spoiled man-child, who does make strange business decisions at times, decisions that seem at odds with good business practice. But he is one of the richest men in the world (of course he started out being pretty rich, so mostly he makes money with money), so maybe he knows what he is doing. But Tesla is not the only player there. Other vendors, as well as the electric utilities themselves, will work with businesses to install chargers. It will certainly be easier to build out the required infrastructure to support BEVs then it will to build up the required infrastructure to support hydrogen fuel cells. The base electric grid is already in place. The charging of BEVs simply requires the end point infrastructure added. Hydrogen will require the entire infrastructure, from production, to distribution, to endpoint, to be built from scratch. And that doesn't include the shortcomings of hydrogen, many of which have yet to be overcome.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cg52543v6rmo Norway on track to be first to go all-electric For sure, improving the charging infrastructure is key, as is improving recharge speeds. Gas stations can just as easily add chargers as it can add hydrogen. But that misses the advantages of EVs. They can recharge at the grocery store while you are shopping, at the restaurant while you are eating, or at your house while you are sleeping. Surely some gas station style infrastructure is required for people who are traveling longer distances. But for most people charging while they are doing what the do is an easy option. So we have chargers at the local shopping centers, and around places to eat. If hydrogen is going to pan out, it will. But so far, they have yet to figure out how to make it commercially viable and something most consumers want. There is no hydrogen infrastructure in place, where as electric infrastructure is already there. They only need to add the chargers to deliver that electricity into the cars. The required infrastructure for hydrogen would have to be built from scratch. And if you think about it, hydrogen is simply adding a middleman and additional complications to the process. Take electricity, use it to make hydrogen, pressurize it to dangerous levels, then ship that and disperse it out to fill cars. Easier to just put the electricity into the car directly.

I would agree. Most of what they are selling off they are selling at normal prices. Also, Hertz, and other car rental companies, sell off ICE cars all the time but no one says they are bailing on the ICE market. That said, I am not sure a car rental company is wise to invest too heavily in any BEVs. Having some, sure. But I would not think at this point in time there is a massive market for renting EVs. On the other hand, the big advantage of EVs is they are way cheaper to keep running. Which seems at odds with the headlines about this where they allude to the high cost of keeping the Teslas running as being a factor in all this. That makes no sense to me. I think maybe they are talking about a high cost to repair. And that would mainly be because they went with Tesla and not a normal car company who understands that repairs are part of the game. Tesla does seem to struggle with repairs. But the cost of maintaining a Tesla should be pretty low.

Generally I find talking about EVs on the internet to be a waste of time. There is so much mis-information about them out there, and people seem to get very emotional about them. But the tech is interesting. Toyota (and Honda) put their weight behind hydrogen fuel cells, but for cars that does not seem to be a winning formula, at least any time soon. Hydrogen has much more potential in non-consumer applications like shipping, trucking, or trains, maybe even airplanes. But for consumer operated cars it is not that practical. Unless you can use liquid hydrogen, the energy density of it comes up way short. Toyota is now trying hard to get solid state batteries to work, trying to catch up in a market they were left behind in. They have even announced a solid state battery car, but the reality of it is way off in the future. They announced a car that they have not yet been able to make. They seem desperate to be included in the conversation as a player, but they have little going for them in full EV. Funny, because the BEV tech would dovetail nicely with the hybrid tech. If they built up battery tech it would help them in both BEV and hybrids. A push right now is to move towards a more true hybrid tech, an electric vehicle that also burns gasoline to recharge the batteries. But in that group if you can store more electricity in a lighter / smaller battery you can offer a significant advantage. An EV that can burn gasoline on longer trips, but runs entirely off battery for local trips and can recharge the batteries by plugging in at night while you sleep would be very appealing to many people. But without the battery tech your electric range is limited, and the usefulness is reduced. Also, one of the big theoretical advantages of solid state batteries is fast recharge time. But since no one has really brought it to market it is hard to know if the theoretical advantages are real. I am happy with the two EVs I drive. They get me around with way less hassle then the ICE vehicles they replaced. I still have a ICE vehicle, but it is more of a weekend toy we drive for fun. For day to day driving the BEVs do the job with less drama. I can see they would not be for everyone. But we typically only drive 200 miles a day, and that is well within the range of a single charge. And if we need to drive 300 or 400 miles in a day it is easy to recharge once or twice on the trip. Beyond that mileage we rarely do in a day. So, for us, a BEV works better than an ICE vehicle.

I get what you are saying, but where I ride an Apple AirTag would be useless. It needs to be around people and their cell phones to work as I understand it. And if you are somewhere that has no cell signal, it likely isn't going to work. For emergencies when out riding you can get a sat pager or other satellite based beacons or phones. FOr the original use, theft protection, an air tag should help. There are also Lo-Jack devices that you can get that are made for that.

There is a great quote from a guy on social media. To sum it up, he said; When they said Elon was a genius making cars, well, I don't know cars so I took their word for it. Then they said Elon is a genius making rockets, well, I also don't know rockets so I took their word for it. Then they said Elon is a genius with software, well I do know software and I can say with no doubt everything he said about software is complete BS and he is an idiot. I think many give him credit for what his companies do. But often his companies do things wrong, sometimes because he insists they do it a certain way. Like his Tesla's and their Full Self Driving using only cameras. That will always be inferior to a multi-sensor based FSD. And it likely explains the dangers of Tesla's in FSD mode and why there are so many deaths. Also, when you say the best selling car I assume you are discounting the vehicles that sold more then the Tesla Model Y because they are SUVs and pickups. 4th is respectable, but if you look at Tesla sales as a whole compared to other brands I don't think they are even in the top 10.

I get EVs, but I would not own a Tesla if you gave it to me. We own one EV and have another as a company car. Neither has been an issue maintenance wise, although the company truck only has a few thousand miles on it so far. The other we have had for some 5 years and have only had to throw tires and blinker fluid at it. Neither is as inspiring as an internal combustion vehicle like a Guzzi or a twin turbo 3rd gen RX7. But both our EVs are fast enough to keep you entertained when you feel like it. There is something to be said for the immediate torque of an electric motor.

Pretty bad that your inspection place doesn't know. I tend to assume that if something is needed, like an emissions test, they will let you know. Here in Maryland we have a Historic option to register older vehicles, which does not require an inspection of any sort, and both your motorcycles are old enough to qualify for that. I have no idea if Texas has a similar option.

At 33 seconds in he shows a speedo that lights up at 55 mph. But you are correct, lighting up was not required.

Here is a video about it. It is six and a half minutes long. The video shows examples, some of which light up at 55. I do not think they all had to light up, but as I lived through that time period I do recall at least one car I owned had a light at 55. Other cars I have owned simply had a fuel efficiency light to tell you when you were being more fuel efficient, often related to engine rpm. The video also points out that for a while the US had 85 mph speedos, where 55 was highlighted but 85 was the highest number they could show. The rule about highlighting 55 was over in the early 80's, but many manufacturers continued to do so for many more years even though it was no longer a requirement.