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I don't know why I watched that whole thing but I feel like I've robbed myself because I'll never get that time back and might not ever get that piece of brainspace back either.
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Apr 6, 2016 03:53
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Slavvy posted:I don't know why I watched that whole thing but I feel like I've robbed myself because I'll never get that time back and might not ever get that piece of brainspace back either. If you diss Bad Manners i will loving cut you.
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Apr 6, 2016 07:43
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 The tourist road project in Norway is opening a new reason to go for a ride this summer. I've been here before when there was just a gravel parking spot, definitely going back as soon as this opens. 4.5 to 5 hours from me. Map link: https://goo.gl/maps/ninghriKXft http://www.nasjonaleturistveger.no/en e: the whole site: 
Ola fucked around with this message at 17:23 on Apr 6, 2016 |
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Apr 6, 2016 17:12
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  Struggling to decide if I should attempt to plan out a 1300 mile route through North Europe just to get to those roads, or keep my fingers crossed that this is the year they finally manage to relaunch the UK-Norway ferry.
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Apr 6, 2016 18:35
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Roads in Europe always look wet to me. Does it rain every day or something?
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Apr 6, 2016 18:40
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Renaissance Robot posted:
I don't think it'll ever get going again sadly. You can shorten the ride somewhat by going via Denmark, there's a ferry from Harwich to Esbjerg. Then you ride a few hours up to Hirtshals and either take the overnight ferry to Bergen or (cheaper option) one of the express ferries over to Kristiansand. A MIRACLE posted:Roads in Europe always look wet to me. Does it rain every day or something? Depends which parts of it. The lush green Norwegian west coast needs plenty of watering! The amounts of rain in spring and autumn can be pretty ridiculous, but summers aren't so bad. Packing some rain gear is still a good tip.
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Apr 6, 2016 19:11
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A MIRACLE posted:Roads in Europe always look wet to me. Does it rain every day or something? It does rain every day, yeah, but also most European roads are darker than American roads because of the different standard compositions for road surfaces, and someone stop me before I get too spergy.
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Apr 6, 2016 19:18
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Ola posted:You can shorten the ride somewhat by going via Denmark, there's a ferry from Harwich to Esbjerg. Only info I can find says this route shut down in September 2014 
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Apr 6, 2016 19:40
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Renaissance Robot posted:Only info I can find says this route shut down in September 2014 Well gently caress, I didn't know that. It was pretty expensive anyway. Ferries still run to Hook of Holland though, from there it's 1000 km to Hirtshals. Doable in one go, but no point. Relax and stop somewhere nice in Denmark, like Legoland. You can find quite cheap accommodation in Denmark and the food is great. If you bring bed sheets you can sleep quite cheaply in Norway as well, there are camping sites with cabins (no need for tent) all over the place, £30 to £60 a night.
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Apr 6, 2016 20:04
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goddamnedtwisto posted:It does rain every day, yeah, but also most European roads are darker than American roads because of the different standard compositions for road surfaces, and someone stop me before I get too spergy. Okay just wondering. I see posts about riding narrow country roads in Scotland and stuff, and yeah it does look beautiful but all I can think about is how slippery it looks and how slow I would be on those roads
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Apr 6, 2016 20:46
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Also, in places where it rains a lot, the roads get washed more often. It's worse in a dry place that suddenly get a bit of rain and the accumulated pollen, plant goo, coolant, oil, diesel, cow poo poo, etc turn into a perfect anti-friction coating. Still, going down the old St Gotthard Pass, on cobblestone, on a cold, damp morning makes my rabbit's nostril quiver. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAlpQ_W47w0
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Apr 6, 2016 21:31
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Part of my winter commute this year took me over a section of those huge rounded cobblestones that are sketchy even in the dry (in a village where it rains every single day), that were off-camber to boot  This kind of poo poo:  Cobblestone is the worst.
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Apr 6, 2016 23:01
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goddamnedtwisto posted:It does rain every day, yeah, but also most European roads are darker than American roads because of the different standard compositions for road surfaces, and someone stop me before I get too spergy. Wyoming roads are cool 
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Apr 6, 2016 23:03
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goddamnedtwisto posted:It does rain every day, yeah, but also most European roads are darker than American roads because of the different standard compositions for road surfaces, and someone stop me before I get too spergy. Wait I want to know more about European road construction plz post more. What is Shellgrip, actually?
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Apr 7, 2016 00:36
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Googled Shellgrip. Sounds like chip seal, confirm/deny?
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Apr 7, 2016 00:45
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Z3n posted:Wait I want to know more about European road construction plz post more. What is Shellgrip, actually? Its a high grip surface treatment, they put it in braking zones leading up to junctions/roundabouts. Some roundabouts here are treated all the way around and are great fun on the DRZ Its the light coloured surface on the left lane leading in to the roundabout https://goo.gl/maps/a8TWSqAWrb32
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Apr 7, 2016 01:01
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Z3n posted:Wait I want to know more about European road construction plz post more. What is Shellgrip, actually? Twisto once described it as god's own road surface and I'm inclined to agree, the extra grip is obvious even to a feel-deaf rider like me.
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Apr 7, 2016 02:21
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I love this time of year so much, jesus gently caress. Every single person I've interacted with this week has just been over the top nice and super receptive to everything I say. Have met some really cool people and shared stories. One older fellow who had >600k miles under his belt, got tired of his corporate job, his wife passed, so he retired and just spends his days riding. Topic of my crash came up and turns out he had literally the EXACT same thing happen (airlift to level 1 trauma center, ICU, etc etc), except he broke bones. Chatted for almost 2 hours; it's always so much fun to shoot the poo poo with vets because they have the best stories. Second older fellow owns 4 bikes and his kids are all off at college so he has their bikes too for a total of 7. Told me all about what they're studying and how they got into riding. Third older fellow has 2 kids - let his son start riding on the back at 15 and bought him his own bike at 16. Second kid is 14 and he plans to do the same thing so his entire family can ride together  'Nother guy came in today for fitment help because he needed it to be perfect as he's doing 6000km in Thailand this summer and he did a 2 week tour of South America last year. Young kid was taking the MSF and was dead set on a 3/4 helmet but wound up leaving with a full face FG-17. Love this community sometimes.
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Apr 8, 2016 04:26
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echomadman posted:Its a high grip surface treatment, they put it in braking zones leading up to junctions/roundabouts. Some roundabouts here are treated all the way around and are great fun on the DRZ That is so cool. The CB500$ P-twin actually isn't so bad. I like it better than the Versys one, at least, especially with an aftermarket pipe on it. It certainly doesn't have that "will this actually start today?" magic, though. The FZ-07 P-twin is the loving poo poo, though. I want Yamaha to put it in an FJ-09-style package so badly.
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Apr 8, 2016 21:35
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I'm thinking about getting into bikes because it looks to have a great price:fun ratio, plus I live in the southwest so it's almost year round riding weather here. I had a cb350 a couple years back that I was restoring just for fun, but sold it before I finished (and learned how to ride.) As of right now it seems my logical first step is to take the official beginners class and test at the local college and see if I like it. If I do stat shopping around, what's a decent displacement for a beginner, average height and thin? I would love to not kill myself, so I'll be researching proper gear, too.
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Apr 9, 2016 22:57
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Rolo posted:because it looks to have a great price:fun ratio lol. Ninja 250, Ninja 500, CBR500
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Apr 9, 2016 22:58
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SUPER DUKE ONE TWO NINE ZERO
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Apr 9, 2016 23:07
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BlackMK4 posted:lol. ...relatively speaking.
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Apr 9, 2016 23:07
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I wish you were still in Phoenix Rolo, I'm selling my cbr500r.
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Apr 9, 2016 23:09
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Schroeder91 posted:I wish you were still in Phoenix Rolo, I'm selling my cbr500r. Bummer! Luckily, I bet I can find something I like in Vegas. I cant believe how expensive old CB's are getting. I spent 200 on my running 73 cb350 like 4 years ago.
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Apr 9, 2016 23:15
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BlackMK4 posted:lol. infinite fun : any price is a pretty good ratio  Also, Phoenix to Vegas is a totally reasonable drive
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Apr 9, 2016 23:25
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Sagebrush posted:infinite fun : any price is a pretty good ratio Very true. It's gonna be awhile before I'm ready to purchase, but I'll hit my AZ bro up if I don't see it sell before then!
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Apr 9, 2016 23:43
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Z3n posted:Wait I want to know more about European road construction plz post more. What is Shellgrip, actually? ANORAK ENGAGE First, a disclaimer - this is just stuff cobbled together down the pub (and on websites that are the digital equivalent of that bloke down the pub with the holes in his jumper who talks about this sort of thing). It could be absolutely and totally wrong, so don't go applying for any civil engineering jobs based on this post. Anyway, what's shellgrip? Shellgrip is proof of a loving God. Well actually it's just a layer of flexible epoxy and coarse sand (there are a few more ingredients but that's basically it) over a normal road surface that basically turns the road into sandpaper, so *when new* gives you the most ridiculous amount of mechanical grip you'll ever experience. It's normally laid exactly at the points where you need maximum grip, which are also of course generally the best places to be on a motorbike. Fun fact - the original idea came from the SR-71 programme. Because the Blackbird pissed fuel out of every orifice when cold, and also dumped fuel out deliberately to depressurise the hydraulic system at shutdown (the fuel was used as hydraulic fluid), and because the fuel was particularly tricky to clean up, being more or less bunker oil, the concrete aprons and hangar floors quickly became as slick as ice. Several OXCART prototypes were put out of commission because they just smashed straight into the back wall of their hangar at Area 51 when being parked after test flights. Ben Rich came up with the epoxy and sand combination to save both their planes and the ankles and spines of engineers and pilots. Anyway notice I say when new. Shellgrip is hellaciously expensive (something like doubling the entire cost of the road) and much shorter lived than standard tarmac - this becomes even more pronounced because by definition it's only used at points where roads are at maximum loads (junctions and approaches). When it starts to break down at best you're left with a bunch of loose sand and gravel right where you need lots of grip, although at least that's quickly swept away. The much more dangerous failure mode is when it "scales" - instead of just pulverising, it breaks away in large chunks. They're pretty light so they're not directly dangerous in the way a chunk of loose concrete would be, but you won't quickly forget the first time one of them breaks away under your wheel under braking and basically turns your front wheel into a ski. The other big problem with Shellgrip is by it's nature it requires a much more rigid substrate than normal UK-spec tarmac. Here we get to the big difference between US and UK/EU roads. Rolling it back a bit here, almost all road surfaces are bituminous. Bitumen (tar) is the heaviest fraction of crude oil, and is about as solid as a liquid can get (if any tedious gently caress tells you glass is a liquid feel free to punch them). However when heated up it flows pretty well, and then cools back to something that's really pretty solid. It's not a bad road-making material in it's own right but it has two regrettable drawbacks. One, it is a liquid. After a while it will just run off downhill. This takes a very, very long time - but in the meantime it will have settled into a mirror-smooth surface. Not great for grip. Second and more importantly - even today we're not pulling anything like enough oil out of the ground to satisfy our demand for bitumen. It's used everywhere, from glass-making to chemical feedstock to beauty products. Luckily the solution to both of these is exactly like the solution to the similar problems for things like Portland cement - you can add aggregate to it. The bitumen binds the aggregate together and you get the best of the mechanical properties of both the bitumen and the aggregate, something that's waterproof and easily worked on-site, but as mechanically strong as your aggregate. The big difference between American and European roads is the aggregate, and the amount of it. When America started building roads, it really didn't have a lot of access to bitumen (ironically both Pennsylvania and Texan oil is "light", it doesn't have a lot of heavy fractions. Makes it worth more than the stuff that comes from the Middle East, but not as useful for building roads). So they used a lot more aggregate, and mostly used sand and gravel like they would when making concrete (the American technical term for tarmac is asphalt concrete). This has some advantages, especially for America. It's much, much cheaper, capable of taking much higher mechanical loads, and requires less maintenance. However when it fails, it fails quickly and terminally, and the lack of flexibility makes it very vulnerable to freeze/thaw cycles. British tarmac (bitumen is called tar in Britain, and the process was invented by a guy called Macadam) reflects that when the British started seriously building roads in the inter-war years we had a lot of oil from Persia - just full of heavy fractions we had no use for - as well as a shitload of bitumen-like trash from our gasworks. Almost every home was warmed by, and indeed many were still lit by, Town Gas - the mix of carbon monoxide, sulphur, and other nasties driven off by the process of making coke from coal. If you made it with lignite coal you were left with thousands of tons of extravagantly toxic black sludge which of course just got left lying around the place. This is close enough to bitumen that for road-making purposes it makes no odds. Macadam therefore didn't have to be as frugal with his aggregate as his American cousins, and instead of using "virgin" aggregate - stuff dug up for the purpose - he just used the nearest available stuff, which was also random crap laying around. Fly ash (ash left from the coal burners used in the gasworks, and coal-fires power stations), clinker from cement works, it all got thrown in, with a much more generous helping of bitumen. This means that it's much more flexible, with a much sharper and harder aggregate, meaning it offers more mechanical grip. It also means it drains much more quickly than aggregate-heavy road materials because the bitumen, being oil-based, repels water. That flexibility gives it much more resilience against freeze/thaw cycles and other rapid temperature changes. However it also means it degrades much faster than American-style surfaces - the aggregate breaks up so as it gets older it gets softer, and at areas of heavy load this leads to it rippling and flowing. You can see this at a lot of exits from motorways and other major roads, where there can be ruts up to 10cms deep in the wheeltracks of HGVs in the run up to the lights/roundabout, where heavy vehicles deform the road braking from >50 to zero. So this brings us back to Shellgrip - because the epoxy is much, much less flexible than normal tarmac, if you were to apply it on normal tarmac it would be destroyed in weeks because the of the substrate moving below it. If they want to put Shellgrip down they have to put down American-style substrate, which also means there has to be a join between two surfaces that expand and contract at different rates, so this makes the whole thing fall apart even quicker. It's actually being phased out in a lot of places in favour of other techniques which works almost as well but are much more durable. I don't think I've seen a new Shellgrip surface in 5 or 6 years now, and while the new stuff is almost as good it just doesn't give the whole "My tyres are made of velcro" feel the real stuff does. We do actually use American-style surfaces in a lot of places, especially motorways (in particular the ones into ports, which have the most heavy vehicles on them), and American uses tarmac-style surfaces on a lot of urban streets particularly in areas that see below-freezing temps. Neither one's better, and really a lot of reasons why Americans use concrete-style surfaces on quiet side roads and Britain uses Tarmac on motorways is just because "That's what you make roads out of". ANORAK MODE OFF (who am I kidding, it only ever goes into hot standby at best)
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Apr 10, 2016 00:16
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Interesting and thanks for posting that. It is very similar to "chipseal" in the U.S. which is a layer of asphalt with a coarse aggregate spread over the top. This is usually applied to tarmac that has started to crack and fail. It has the same advantage that after the aggregate gets pressed into the asphalt (by traffic) it is extremely grippy. The main disadvantage, and hold on to your butts because it's a big one, is that when the work is fresh you are essentially riding on gravel. The aggregate gets pushed around and it's depth begins to vary. It's pretty goddamn terrifying if you are on street tires. Other disadvantages are the aggregate (and asphalt, if fresh) gets everywhere and the grippy surface lessens tire life. I have also noticed they are now using chip seal to fill cracks and potholes, as well as some type of material that comes out of a big hose that looks like oatmeal. A good concrete road is pretty great, but apparently the art of making good concrete has been lost to the sands of time because we can't seem to make roads that last more than a few years. I could take some pictures of concrete roads less than 10 years old that would make you  . Of course this is also because our governor is a right-wing twatwaffle who gives tax breaks to billionaires instead of taxing the bejeezus out of them to repair the infrastructure that helped make them billionaires in the first place.
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Apr 10, 2016 01:29
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If that's what chipseal/shell grip is, then what's the name for tossing down gravel and oil and hoping that traffic packs it in?
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Apr 10, 2016 03:47
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goddamnedtwisto posted:ANORAK ENGAGE This is exactly what I needed on a nice saturday afternoon, thank you.
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Apr 10, 2016 03:49
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Deeters posted:If that's what chipseal/shell grip is, then what's the name for tossing down gravel and oil and hoping that traffic packs it in? 'Resurfacing'
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Apr 10, 2016 04:36
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Deeters posted:If that's what chipseal/shell grip is, then what's the name for tossing down gravel and oil and hoping that traffic packs it in? That is what "chipseal" is, gravel spread over sealant and letting traffic set it.
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Apr 10, 2016 07:09
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The path through my local park was shellgripped way back, and it was great because it's made of hills and was super fun to bomb around on your bicycle. I guess a combination of budget cuts and moral panic about fast bicycles in pedestrian areas put paid to that, because every resurfacing since they've used chipseal*, and now the park is hilariously unsafe to cycle through (because those high grade hills didn't go anywhere, so if you try to ride down them and brake at almost any speed, you'll skid and most likely crash) * I think we actually call this "tar & chip" here, which is a bit more descriptive.
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Apr 10, 2016 08:53
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Deeters posted:If that's what chipseal/shell grip is, then what's the name for tossing down gravel and oil and hoping that traffic packs it in? In Britain the technical name is surface dressing and colloquially as chipping. Sweep and maybe wash the road, spread a layer of tar/bitumen on the road the road, a layer of relatively course aggregate (about 5mm in diameter) then heavy roll to try and bind it together. Problem is it also relies on traffic to pack it down well and they always use too much aggregate but they do put down temporary 20mph speed limits so its all totes safe to have a few cm's of gravel on top of the road surface  I could show you pictures of the road near me that it has failed for about a mile so large patches are where the original road surface has come through and it always has piles of gravel on the side of the road.
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Apr 10, 2016 12:18
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So I've done my market research and have been sworn to secrecy, something I will of course completely and totally honour hahaha of course not. It's for the new Striple, which will be a 765, on a par price- and performance-wise with the Japanese, considerably prettier (although still with those fuckawful headlights), yadda yadda. What's more interesting is there'll be a new level above the R, the RS, with a shitload of extra trick bits - TFT display, 5 RBW modes (one of which bumps up the hp to 125ish), Brembo radial MC, LED lights, on top of the Ohlins suspension and other goodies the R will get. It'll be £2k more than the base model but still below £10k, which is an absolute shitload of bike for the money. The guy seemed quite crestfallen that nobody thought all that made the bike more of a "premium" product than the Monster or the Brutale though.
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Apr 10, 2016 20:29
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In bikes "premium" generally seems to mean "breaks all the goddamn time and is expensive to fix", so really a bike being great but not premium is a good thing.
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Apr 10, 2016 22:06
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goddamnedtwisto posted:So I've done my market research and have been sworn to secrecy, something I will of course completely and totally honour hahaha of course not. Aww he thought people wanted quality instead of brand recognition, how quaint. And I want whatever that's going to be but I'm afraid I don't have the money budgeted. Do you know if Triumph takes organ donations?
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Apr 10, 2016 22:33
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The moderator guy and all but one of the other bikers (perhaps unsurprisingly the one who'd previously owned an RSV Mille) were really, really confused when I started talking about not caring about spec sheets, trick bits, and brand recognition when it came to bikes and caring most about what it feels like to ride. There was one guy (who would not shut the gently caress up about his experiences and tastes despite having been riding for literally two months) who just got totally hung up on me saying that even though I thought the Brutale was a superior bike on every measurable stat, I still bought the Monster. His brain just couldn't find room for the concept, and kept trying to turn it into something he could process. They had comparative spec sheets and he was like "Oh right, it makes more peak torque... is that what you mean?". Mind you he had an MT-07 so...
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Apr 10, 2016 22:54
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How did you come to be part of a focus group? That's pretty cool.
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Apr 11, 2016 00:58
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