Lucky Phil

He is but really annoying to listen to. Phil

If you wait long enough it will circle back around. Phil

You're never going to believe this Mick in 100 years but I owned the identical car same colour Fairmont everything for about 8 years. No rear blinds though. I bought it after my car was wrecked and it was not my best buy. Plenty of rust. It ended up a genuine beater in the end and leaked so much water it had grass growing in the passengers side footwell carpet. My most vivid memory of that car was how seriously under powered it was. The early days of strangling legacy designed engines with emission stuff before the figured out making them clean and still having power. An overtaking manoeuvre on our country roads in that car was a fraught affair requiring perfect timing a wind up and foot to the floor. Phil

Yea, not important to me Mick, I like the challenge of getting a manual car off the line clean and smooth. One of the joys of motoring is a manual transmission and a clutch. That's why I didn't buy a Supra until they released a manual version and I'd never own an automatic motorcycle with the exception of a scooter. But then again a scooter to me is purely a functional thing designed for a specific purpose much like a fridge, washing machine or an electric car. A mobile version of a white good with the same emotional connection. Phil

You know I've worked on race bikes for women that race, I've pit crewed for woman racers, I've dated women riders, I've been on multi bike 3 day magazine road test with a female rider on the team and obviously observed many of them at track days. One thing they all share in common. No matter how good they ride on the road or track once you get to walking pace like the pits or a carpark they are all wobbly accidents waiting to happen and more times than I can count do happen. Phil

Mick, close to the bottom of my priority list for a car and motorcycle is outright acceleration. Any modern road car with more than 450hp and motorcycle with more than 100 hp is a totally pointless exercise. I have 200 hp motorcycle and it's less enjoyable to ride on the road than my 45 hp motorcycle and that's why it got retired off the road over 10 years ago with 800klms on the clock. I wouldn't own a Tesla even if someone gave me one. The Supra forum is full of people modifying their road cars to make 600-750hp! Why. It's not like they have the ability or the environment to use it. Phil

I had to laugh a few years back on another Guzzi forum some member waxing lyrical about electric bikes like old blokes who still want to look up to date, hip and "relevant". He'd taken one for a ride and was impressed by how when you stopped at an intersection you could sit there and hear the birds chirping, lol. When I get on my motorcycle what I want to hear when stopped at an intersection is a big V twin with free flowing mufflers idling underneath me. It's one of the joys of riding a big V twin, the noise it makes. The irony of owning one of the worlds most individual brands of transport and preaching about how you need to get rid of them is not lost on me. Phil

Nothing wrong at all with JB weld and it's equivalents just not in this application. Red Loctite is available at every auto store. Phil

Well these days compared to MMA cage fighting boxing is pretty benign. The thing I like about boxing is apart from being some of the fittest athletes there are there is nowhere to hide in the ring if you haven't trained hard and done the work. Unlike many sports where there is still scope to go in less than prepared and still come out a winner or at least OK in boxing that's never going to happen. Not 100% committed to the prep then you will get punished severely. I'm not even a particular boxing fan to be honest but I admire the skill and commitment they have. Plus they don't spend their retirement bleating and whining about how they were brain damaged in their careers unlike the football players of every code here looking for excuses for being ordinary in their post football life. Boxers accept if you're going to have a pro boxing career then you may end up punchy at the end of it. If you don't like that then find another sport, simple. Like a pro motorcycle racer complaining about limping or having missing fingers after his career is over. It never happens because they all accept the risks and consequences like real men. Phil

Yes I know my definition of "fun" isn't entirely in alignment with the dictionary definition same as a definition of a "sport" I read somewhere and liked. One who defined sport as a "physical activity with an element of physical danger or personal risk". Everything else is an "activity" or "pastime". So Motorcycle racing is a "sport", boxing is a "sport" and golf and tennis are not, they are "activities and or "pastimes". I like this definition Phil

I think the video was made on the prelim report. What's the most scary is that if you look at his other videos there is a lot of fatal crashed by pilots with commercial ratings and LOTS of flying hours in small commuter aircraft. Flying is a very serious business even weekend flying for me. I've never considered riding "fun". I've considered it many things, exciting, challenging, exhilarating but "fun" to me is an activity with no or minimal personal risk. When I hear and new rider rave about how "fun" riding is I cringe a bit inside. Phil

So the valve guide is loose in the head? Phil

Grade 8.8 steel or just above. Grade 5 Titanium Ti-6Al-4V Phil

So I got the Ti fasteners for the rear drive finished. New torque arm bolt made and nut fitted along with new Titanium spacers. The new spacers allowed me to make them the precise width required. Previously I had a .5mm shim in there as well as the std spacers were a fraction thin. Now for some Ti fill and drain plugs. I've learned the secret to drilling Ti is super slow speeds. I turn all the Ti stuff at 460rpm but that's too fast for drilling. Around 290rpm or even slower for larger drilled holes seems to help the drills survive and back it out every 3 or 4 seconds to let it cool for a few seconds and never let off the pressure. it's either cutting pressure or zero pressure. Anything less than a positive cutting force and the material work hardens instantly and cooks the drill. If anyone else has some tips I'd be keen to hear them. Phil

Loctite red. Epoxy in this instance is for knuckle draggers. Phil

Loose valve guides aren't going to cause bent valves. K-lining them is a way better option than replacement. Phil

This guys stuff is really good and his videos have backed my life long decision to never fly in anything other than large commercial jets with big companies. It's no guarantee of course but some of the things on this channel are rather disturbing and very sad. It also backs my other decision when a young man in the aviation industry to not take up private flying. I always thought I'd be able to attain an unrestricted pilots licence but I'd never thought I'd have the time and money to attain "expert" status and then do enough hours to maintain the skills. I've always considered piloting to be a very serious business. I think I chose right and went with motorcycles.

Yes but some ways end up looking bodgy and the mufflers cocked at funny angles from the rear and to much outward rotation at the front. I'd be interested to see some images side, front and rear of Titanium high mount mufflers and secondaries mounted to std length passenger pegs. Phil

Another great Aussie band. Great song and a lead singer with a brilliant "rock chick" voice. Check out the live versions as well.

Don't bother getting into a discussion it's pointless. Once someone is on a bandwagon and gets feeling all warm and fuzzy with the other climate warriors involved in this now 2 trillion dollar " climate emergency" industry there's no changing their ideas. You just need to wait it out or the next big panic comes along. Like "peak oil" the "ozone hole" the "70's oil panic" the "Y2K bug" Eventually another train pulls out of the "panic station" and they all jump on that. The next generation won't be worrying about the climate they'll be too busy scrapping old wind turbines, solar panels and Lithium batteries and getting a headache figuring how to do that without wrecking the planets ecology. Phil

If they are high mount then the std pax pegs wont work. Phil

I agree. His main excuse though is the KTM isn't exactly the winningest bike and has only been anywhere near one in the last season and a half. Up until the 2023 season they were pretty ordinary to bad. Binder on a Ducati might be another story. Phil

Why do teams continue with Vinales. In the last 5 seasons he's had all of 3 wins! The ultimate "soggy Cornflakes" man. Can't get a MotoGp bike off the line in a race to save his life. Why do teams fall for these guys trading on yesterdays performances. He's never even won a MotoGp title for goodness sake. Ten MotoGp wins total since 2015 with best championship result 3rd twice the last with Yamaha 5 years ago. There's a list of stars aligning a mile long for this guy to even podium and yet they keep hiring him. Amazing. Phil