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Here4DaGangBang posted:Gave the old hotness (VTR250) a wash, tried to bring the chain back from the dead (not sure I succeeded, it was pretty notchy), and rode it to the mechanic for a roadworthy slip so I can re-register it and get it ready for sale. And now think that the VTR is probably the most powerful and sporty in-production 250 on the market.  Still loving the poo poo out of mine commuting on it every day, even with four other bikes in the garage to choose from.Going from the Duke back to the Triple on the weekend is just boring now, because it gives absolutely no shits about what gear you're riding it in and you can't even top out first gear before there's a police helicopter and a TV crew tailing you. Also I can't get it to do power wheelies.
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Oct 30, 2013 14:26
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I wish I could afford a second bike. I'd buy an sv650 or something even smaller and shittier and commute every day on it. Commuting in a car sucks balls but doing it on a litersport isn't much better. I'm still taking the bike to work every other day but I know it's really bad for my wallet and the bike. I didn't think about this enough. What I'm saying is I want a vtr250.
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Oct 30, 2013 20:48
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Psssh, big bikes are still not comparable to a car for commuting. The V-Max is my daily commuter which is <10 miles of bumper to bumper traffic in an area where lane splitting is illegal. Ironically the mpg's go down for me in the Summer because the engine warms up fast enough for me to launch between lights without a care in the world. My worst tank of gas is still 26 mpg. All but the most boring econoboxes or hybrids are going to be hard pressed to get that in city traffic.
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Oct 30, 2013 22:59
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Halo_4am posted:Psssh, big bikes are still not comparable to a car for commuting. The V-Max is my daily commuter which is <10 miles of bumper to bumper traffic in an area where lane splitting is illegal. Ironically the mpg's go down for me in the Summer because the engine warms up fast enough for me to launch between lights without a care in the world. My worst tank of gas is still 26 mpg. Mileage isn't my problem, it's the fact that I'm doing 60km a day, most of it in a straight line, which just obliterates sporty tyres. On top of which it's a huge amount of not-fun mileage on my bike, giving me wear and tear and ageing for no return at all. I'd rather have something common and cheap that I can beat on while still reaping the benefits of good mileage and drastically reduced commute times, with my nice bike saved for outside rush-hour donging. I'd sell my car and buy a 250 if my car were worth anything, but I'd struggle to get $500 for it  edit: to clarify, the reason I can't afford owning two bikes is because the registration fee for my zx10 is about $650 a year; a sub-600cc is still around $550/year. My car, on the other hand, has the rego 'on hold' which I theoretically can't legally drive on, but no cop has ever ticketed me for it. This costs me nothing. Slavvy fucked around with this message at 00:00 on Oct 31, 2013 |
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Oct 30, 2013 23:52
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...until you meet the pissy cop who does ticket you for it, and you have to pay more than your car's worth in fines.
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Oct 31, 2013 00:11
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Sagebrush posted:...until you meet the pissy cop who does ticket you for it, and you have to pay more than your car's worth in fines. It's a $200 dollar fine. I would have to get three fines for it per year to make it more expensive than paying the $450 registration fee.
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Oct 31, 2013 00:26
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Reminds me of this person who calculated occurrence rates of passless citations ($30) for the school parking lot and weighed it against buying a parking pass for the quarter ($170). Found it was cheaper to drive dirty every day because he could theoretically only get caught with a realistic occurrence rate of 4 times per quarter, before factoring in car placement in the lot. Ended up forging a permit and never getting caught. 
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Oct 31, 2013 00:40
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Xovaan posted:Reminds me of this person who calculated occurrence rates of passless citations ($30) for the school parking lot and weighed it against buying a parking pass for the quarter ($170). Found it was cheaper to drive dirty every day because he could theoretically only get caught with a realistic occurrence rate of 4 times per quarter, before factoring in car placement in the lot. Ended up forging a permit and never getting caught. I went to a certain school in Arizona that gave out little stickers to people with motorcycles - adding a motorcycle to a car pass didn't cost anything and there was no serial number on the motorcycle passes to link them to an owner. You had to register your vehicles with parking services via plate though. Never got ticketed for having a fake sticker. Yep. Slavvy posted:Mileage isn't my problem, it's the fact that I'm doing 60km a day, most of it in a straight line, which just obliterates sporty tyres. On top of which it's a huge amount of not-fun mileage on my bike, giving me wear and tear and ageing for no return at all. I'd rather have something common and cheap that I can beat on while still reaping the benefits of good mileage and drastically reduced commute times, with my nice bike saved for outside rush-hour donging.
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Oct 31, 2013 00:43
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BlackMK4 posted:Buy some Pilot Road 3s, realize that they are every bit as capable as a hypersport tire until you start pushing them on the track, laugh at people running Q2s to commute. I've heard this theory before but I'm really reluctant to shell out the $600 and find out it isn't true. Not to mention, as I said earlier, there are other reasons for not wanting to commute on the zx10.
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Oct 31, 2013 00:58
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Slavvy posted:I've heard this theory before but I'm really reluctant to shell out the $600 and find out it isn't true. Not to mention, as I said earlier, there are other reasons for not wanting to commute on the zx10. Get a scooter if another bike is too much.
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Oct 31, 2013 01:30
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Coredump posted:Get a scooter if another bike is too much. I'm honestly thinking about it, but because traffic is hit-and-miss I don't relish the thought of trying to do 120km/h on a scooter when there's a good day. I'm going to start scouring my local craigslist equivalent for a lovely 250.
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Oct 31, 2013 01:54
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ohshit     Queen_Combat fucked around with this message at 02:41 on Oct 31, 2013 |
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Oct 31, 2013 02:36
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Slavvy posted:I've heard this theory before but I'm really reluctant to shell out the $600 and find out it isn't true. Not to mention, as I said earlier, there are other reasons for not wanting to commute on the zx10. It's seriously true - they'll operate better in any normal riding condition excepting really, really aggressive street riding on hot days.
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Oct 31, 2013 03:32
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Z3n posted:It's seriously true - they'll operate better in any normal riding condition excepting really, really aggressive street riding on hot days. Mine has a tendency to slide the rear under heavy braking but that's as much hamfootedness as anything else.
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Oct 31, 2013 06:09
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Z3n posted:It's seriously true - they'll operate better in any normal riding condition excepting really, really aggressive street riding on hot days. The only thing I think that gets people really riled up about PRs is that the front is a much rounder profile than most "sporty" tyres which translates to slower turning/changes in direction (or at least needing a tad more countersteering effort). That takes all of thirty seconds to adjust to but you'll still get people, put off by that first corner surprise, insisting that they're basically car tyres. (But seconding the love for them - I've never had a tyre that feels so planted in the wet, it's almost supernatural sometimes)
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Oct 31, 2013 13:55
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Slavvy posted:Mileage isn't my problem, it's the fact that I'm doing 60km a day, most of it in a straight line, which just obliterates sporty tyres. On top of which it's a huge amount of not-fun mileage on my bike, giving me wear and tear and ageing for no return at all. I'd rather have something common and cheap that I can beat on while still reaping the benefits of good mileage and drastically reduced commute times, with my nice bike saved for outside rush-hour donging. I've commuted on my SV650 for the better part of 3 years everyday. I get around 42mpg on a mostly highway, 20mi boring route with three stop signs. Three months ago I got very sick and for safety (dizzy spells, sudden tiredness) started driving to work. Now that I'm finally getting to the point where I feel safe getting back on the bike I'm tempted to stick with the car for commuting. I get better mpg (50mpg VW TDI), maintenance/tires is cheaper per mile, I can't lane split legally anyway and I don't have to worry as much about some rear end in a top hat not seeing me and putting me in the hospital. Don't get me wrong though, I love my bikes and love riding it's just after having a few months to reflect a bit and think I may be changing how I use my bikes. It also struck me when I first got sick that I hadn't actually taken the SV out for a ride other than commuting in months because I'd been so busy.
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Oct 31, 2013 13:57
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I can't imagine living in a hellhole where splitting is illegal. My car ride home takes 90 minutes on a good day. My bike ride home takes 25 minutes.
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Oct 31, 2013 19:57
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California (New Zealand?) supremacy. 
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Oct 31, 2013 21:48
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Slavvy posted:I can't imagine living in a hellhole where splitting is illegal. My car ride home takes 90 minutes on a good day. My bike ride home takes 25 minutes. Ha, yeah. Bus/car takes about 45 minutes to get over the bridge, my bike takes 15.
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Oct 31, 2013 21:57
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Odette posted:Ha, yeah. Bus/car takes about 45 minutes to get over the bridge, my bike takes 15. gently caress the center lanes on a bike though. They're so narrow and people have no perception of the volume their car takes up so they drive over a meter from the barriers. Xovaan posted:California (New Zealand?) supremacy.  now if only our speed limits weren't so laughably low.
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Oct 31, 2013 22:59
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Reminds me, actually. I had this guy come into my store all the time back when I worked at Starbucks. Thick glasses and completely unintelligible, always made a beeline to my station to talk to me. Nearly every day, for weeks-- about his stocking job at Home Depot and really that's about it, mostly because I just couldn't understand him. Was really into talking to me specifically, too. I honest to god thought this guy was mentally retarded and my iron will kept me nodding and ultra polite for nearly a month. Well, it turns out that he was actually my friend's friend and knew me by proxy. Also he was gay and from New Zealand. Everything just kind of made sense at that point. v  v
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Oct 31, 2013 23:15
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NitroSpazzz posted:I've commuted on my SV650 for the better part of 3 years everyday. I get around 42mpg on a mostly highway, 20mi boring route with three stop signs. Three months ago I got very sick and for safety (dizzy spells, sudden tiredness) started driving to work. Now that I'm finally getting to the point where I feel safe getting back on the bike I'm tempted to stick with the car for commuting. I get better mpg (50mpg VW TDI), maintenance/tires is cheaper per mile, I can't lane split legally anyway and I don't have to worry as much about some rear end in a top hat not seeing me and putting me in the hospital. I've gone thru phases where I ride for different reasons, it happens. For a while I wouldn't ride unless it was a long backroad ride because puttering thru town seemed like 'what's the point?' Now I'll ride anywhere provided the weather isn't god awful, because I enjoy it more than being in the car.
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Oct 31, 2013 23:33
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Slavvy posted:gently caress the center lanes on a bike though. They're so narrow and people have no perception of the volume their car takes up so they drive over a meter from the barriers. I never go in the centre, even if it's windy. I just like having the option to split, and the centre lanes are far too narrow. Sure is going to suck when they remove the Nippon clipons though. 
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Nov 1, 2013 01:04
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Living out west supremacy  the upper harbour highway is basically completely unmonitored and appears to be designed with everyone driving McLaren f1's in mind.
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Nov 1, 2013 01:08
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Z3n posted:It's seriously true - they'll operate better in any normal riding condition excepting really, really aggressive street riding on hot days. Yeah, I had PR2's on my SV650 and they were incredible. Just wish I could get them on my 500.
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Nov 1, 2013 19:41
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DEUCE SLUICE posted:Yeah, I had PR2's on my SV650 and they were incredible. Just wish I could get them on my 500. I'm using the PR3s on my SV650 right now as a full-time commuter in Seattle. Holy poo poo do I love them.
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Nov 1, 2013 21:33
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I've never had PR2s but I am very happy with the 3s.
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Nov 2, 2013 00:13
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So, I rode my newly-repainted motorcycle to drill today, and it was good. Unfortunately, on the way home, one of the battery connections came loose, and I blew my voltage meter and every bulb on the bike. I hate that the regulator/rectifier uses the battery as a reference voltage instead of some internal zener diode setup or something, so whenever the battery becomes disconnected I end up with 50V or so coursing through every wire frying everything it touches. Thankfully the CDI ignition unit can (somehow?) handle it and I still rode it the rest of the way home. This has happened before - the CDI is 
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Nov 2, 2013 02:31
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Bummer...have you considered a fuse?
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Nov 2, 2013 02:48
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There are fuses everywhere, but a fuse protects based on current instead of voltage (at the voltages I'm dealing with, 12-50V), so the bulbs always end up blowing before the fuse does. Of course, I texted my father (electrician, both residential and for 35 years as an A/V repairman) and he texted back immediately : dad posted:Zener diode would have to be part of a series regulator or a crowbar protection circuit (using a series SCR) to protect the light bulbs . Looked it up and he's right, again. If I used it in series with a properly-sized fuse, it should blow the fuse before it damages the stator or R/R, or I can make an active crowbar using a relay (easier than a MOFSET for the current I'm dealing with, about 5-10A at 12V with the headlight on). Either is easy. Or, I can get a 12-50V to 12V series DC-DC regulator off of ebay for $20 or so and hope it works. Queen_Combat fucked around with this message at 03:06 on Nov 2, 2013 |
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Nov 2, 2013 02:52
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POR-15'd my tank. The varnish removal stuff in step one is some serious poo poo - after sloshing it around for 20 minutes it came out an opaque orange-brown.  Now I just have to wait four days for it to cure.
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Nov 3, 2013 02:38
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DEUCE SLUICE posted:The varnish removal stuff in step one is some serious poo poo - after sloshing it around for 20 minutes it came out an opaque orange-brown. It's basically just xylene, IIRC. Definitely a powerful solvent that you don't want to be inhaling if you can help it, but it won't kill you. (Immediately).
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Nov 3, 2013 03:51
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Time for some new front brake pads, didn't realise just how bad they had gotten! Old  New 
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Nov 3, 2013 14:22
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Rode for the first time after a week of torrential rain. It's still raining, I just decided to deal with it.
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Nov 3, 2013 18:13
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Replaced the bolts holding the numberplate on after one backed out on the way to work. Old bolts had phillips heads and I never have a screwdriver on me.
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Nov 7, 2013 08:29
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I ordered a new petcock. $120 later. Hopeful that this fixes my disappearing fuel issues.  Forgot to order rear brakes though. 
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Nov 7, 2013 18:56
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Man you've thrown a lot of good money after a rather crap bike.
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Nov 8, 2013 00:12
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Xovaan posted:I ordered a new petcock. $120 later. Hopeful that this fixes my disappearing fuel issues. New as in new Suzuki? Or new as in new aftermarket? n8r posted:Man you've thrown a lot of good money after a rather crap bike. Shouldn't you be off ruining some kid's Christmas or something? Content:  Still waiting for the suspension guy to finish my forks. drat showa and their special tools bullshit, but it was free so I'm not complaining. I'm just hoping he screws all the settings back to how I had them, I had it set up so well but forgot to write anything down, because I am a dumbass. Fairings have since been put back on after polishing. Results are average; better than before but not brilliant. edit: the ammo box isn't holding the bike up, it just happens to be there
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Nov 8, 2013 00:24
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POR-15 finished curing on my 500R's tank, put the whole thing back together, filled it up, and it started! Still won't come off choke though, so my half-rear end attempt at cleaning the carbs doesn't seem like it worked and I'll have to do it "right" this time. Oh well. At least it got warm enough to change the oil. 
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Nov 8, 2013 00:54
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Slavvy posted:New as in new Suzuki? Or new as in new aftermarket? Nice bike  OEM petcock. I only paid $1200 for the bike so really now it's still a stupid cheap bike after insurance, maintenance, tires, etc.
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Nov 8, 2013 01:28
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