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Upon further reflection, I think that’s fair. The overall point that the main thing that I struggle with the most when it comes to overconfidence is seeing how poo poo other riders are still stands. Actually riding boosts my confidence and puts me in my place all the time. Watching other dipshits duck waddle through intersections or fling themselves through traffic on a backfiring POS is probably the thing that’s most likely to get me in trouble.
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Oct 27, 2023 21:12
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| # ? May 18, 2024 00:36 |
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Most riders are garbage, but don't worry you're not them because you're actually thinking about how to be not-garbage, which is literally half the battle. Once you know you suck and improvement is a thing you need to do the rest pretty much takes care of itself.
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Oct 27, 2023 21:20
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Toe Rag posted:I personally think miles ridden, in and of itself, is meaningless. 800 miles on Tail of the Dragon, let alone on the track, is far more informative than 800 miles through suburban America. If you predominantly do quiet, winding roads or trackdays, you'll be very good at that, but not get at keeping youself safe in dense traffic where you need that honed sixth sense to not be killed. You need a certain degree of control over your vehicle to safely be able to operate it of course. I suffer from living on man made land where the roads are straight meaning i don't nearly get as much practice in the twisties as i'd like, so it's pretty drat easy to outpace me on a winding road. But the number of times i have gotten surprised in traffic by someone potentially putting me into a dangerous situation if i don't react to it in the proper way is pretty small. So in the end, for the type of riding i mostly do (i need to literally cross a third of my country to find nicer roads), dealing with suburban stupidity is exactly the right kind of training. I am planning on doing some actual cornering training on track because it's so sorely lacking. I know how to do it safely, i'm always faster than traffic, but i feel like i suck badly compared to a lot of other riders. LimaBiker fucked around with this message at 21:45 on Oct 27, 2023 |
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Oct 27, 2023 21:43
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Cactus Ghost posted:one thing we can all count our blessings about is that motorcycles never got those absolutely hosed malaise era emissions carbs with o2 sensors and poo poo I mean, maybe not the O2 sensors, but batshit electronic carbs on motorcycles? You bet your sweet bippy they're out there. The ZX-11 and Blackbird both had solenoids and vacuum tube arrays so they could pressurize the float bowls to get proper fuel flow at higher speeds. Before they went EFI, dirtbikes had a choke, and a hot start lever. 2 stroke road bikes, which were carbs even until the last couple years, ended up having the choke, and two solenoids to handle richening and leaning the mixture at certain rpms. They had euro 3 legal, carburated, 2 strokes! There was also the concept of a vacuum activated fuel passage, I think it was called a power jet, which is a thing with 2 stroke and 4 stroke bikes. That's a fuel passage that is activated by the pressure difference from the front to the rear of the carb, as opposed to vacuum. It provides enrichment at the high end. And then lots of bikes ended up with california evap systems that could alternatively flood, or starve the carbs.
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Oct 27, 2023 23:59
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Nerobro posted:solenoids and vacuum tube arrays freakin yikes blessings overcounted; statement retracted
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Oct 28, 2023 06:42
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LimaBiker posted:It very much depends. You can be very good at safely participating in traffic, but less good at riding fast through corners. Totally right, riding in traffic is absolutely a skill and a different one from riding twisty roads. I got a lot from the Racing School Europe course I did this summer and would recommend it. They do sessions at Assen. I was doing a lot of the stuff already (key being trail braking) but having it all together, and with instructor riding with you and videoing, was incredibly helpful. Just a load of fun too. Also I don't know about NL but the UK has a thing called RideSafe which is a day of teaching with police riders. Sounds bad I know, but apparently the attitude is kinda "go quickly, safely" and people seem to get a lot from it.
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Oct 28, 2023 09:00
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I do a few hours of highway riding every week and I generally take as close to zero risks as possible, meaning when i lane split i don't pass anyone unless i'm going slow enough so that I can brake if they suddenly do something crazy. That means I'm never lane splitting at higher than 25/30 mph because if the cars are parked that's about how fast you can go and still have time to brake if someone breaks out in front of you. But I still get passed by bikes doing 40 over the dotted whites. In fact I have only ever passed another biker who was splitting exactly once, otherwise I am always seeing bikes in the rearview. Could be that I can still get better at it to go faster safely, but also I think it means that many or most other bikers are taking unnecessary risks.
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Oct 28, 2023 22:21
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There's always someone blowing past me quickly, I generally assume one is a better rider doing their thing, 5 are weekend warriors whose luck hasn't had time to run out.
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Oct 29, 2023 06:47
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Cactus Ghost posted:freakin yikes And I think someone mentioned the Yamaha carb balancing system that... didn't work and made it hard to balance the carbs. To be real though, most motorcycle carb installs are pretty simple, and sweet to deal with. .. Except the disk valve suzuki dirtbikes. With the carbs inside a watertight compartment down on the crankcase, with a snorkel to the airbox/air filter so the thing could go through puddles.
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Oct 29, 2023 07:22
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Nerobro posted:And I think someone mentioned the Yamaha carb balancing system that... didn't work and made it hard to balance the carbs. Tbh I like this setup, I thought it was much more convenient than the carb being sandwiched in the middle of the bike My go-to carb horror is the Suzuki narrow angle v-twin. They built the engine for styling and symmetry (first mistake) so the rear head is just the front head mirrored ie front exhaust header comes out on the front right of the bike, rear comes out on the front of the rear head on the left. This means the carbs have to be well apart on opposite ends of the bike, which would still be fine if they did what old bikes often did and just ran a split throttle cable. They did not do that. Instead, the throttle cable only goes to the rear carb. Then there is a secondary cable that connects the rear carb to the front carb. Then there's a third cable for the idle. You balance the carbs by adjusting the tension of the intermediate cable. This means that synchronizing the carbs is effectively impossible!
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Oct 29, 2023 07:33
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For courses, I still cannot recommend strongly enough taking a dirt class with small bikes. Like cornerspin. http://www.cornerspin.com/main.html
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Oct 29, 2023 17:24
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Being able to get gas without getting off the bike is the best.
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Oct 31, 2023 02:59
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Vino posted:Being able to get gas without getting off the bike is the best. If all I need is gas it's sweet, yeah. I sometimes don't even put the kickstand down if I'm feeling adventurous. If I'm low on gas because I'm going far away odds are I want a stretch and a piss too at a minimum. I also like that filling the moto tank feels cheap and totally worth it compared to doing it with a car. I rarely get more than 11 liters in there while the book says the capacity is more like 15 because I'm a big coward I guess but buying motorcycle fuel always feels like really good value for the money, entertainment-wise.
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Oct 31, 2023 07:03
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Vino posted:Being able to get gas without getting off the bike is the best. Yeah, but don't do that. It feels cool. It's also neat to feel the tank filling. But if anything goes wrong, you're now holding a hose spewing flammable liquid, over something hot, that can generate sparks, that you can't immediately run away from. Yes, I will talk to you at a gas station if I see you doing it.
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Oct 31, 2023 15:53
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Are motorcycle refuelling accidents prevalent enough to even worry about? Asking honestly here, I've never heard of one, ever. Some googling indicates that it happened once in India in 2018 and once in Australia more recently (when fuelling on a private property so jerry can maybe I guess) and also once during a race refuel with a high flow setup at the Isle of Man 9 years ago, but maybe my google-fu is just weak today. (I also found a semi-local article about a guy who died at a gas station, so his friends and relatives started putting lit candles on the pump he was using when he croaked which the police and gas station manager told them to stop doing) I'm sure you're right in that it's best practice to put the bike on the stand and get off it before filling up though. It would suck to drop the bike when hauling rear end because of a fire nearby only to have a tankful of fuel spilling on the ground because the cap was open, for example, however unlikely this situation might be.
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Oct 31, 2023 16:25
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Invalido posted:Are motorcycle refuelling accidents prevalent enough to even worry about? Asking honestly here, I've never heard of one, ever. Some googling indicates that it happened once in India in 2018 and once in Australia more recently (when fuelling on a private property so jerry can maybe I guess) and also once during a race refuel with a high flow setup at the Isle of Man 9 years ago, but maybe my google-fu is just weak today. Catching fire? *shrugs* Most vehicle fires... just don't make the news. One guy, catching fire at a gas station isn't gonna make your paper. Those stickers that say "make sure your engine is off' and "don't use your cellphone" are based on fires being caused. It ~is~ a thing. It's a written in blood thing. I know we have a forum member here who's taken a crotchfull of gas, and your scrotum doesn't react kindly to low vapor pressure hydrocarbons. I've seen.. nearly every rider I know do a decent spill on their tank at least once. I have seen fires at gas stations. Hell, I've caused a large gas spill at a gas station. (no fire, but getting the fuel out of my clothes was a problem...)
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Oct 31, 2023 16:47
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On all my bikes I've had to pull back the gas pump's vapor recapture mechanism to make it work, then fight with finessing a random pump trigger made for on/off flow to get something resembling "slower" output so that I can see the fuel level inside and not cover the bike in gas splatter. Over the years I've had a few of those dances go wrong and effectively dumped gas down the tank. Had I done this to the scorching hot Bonneville instead of the vanvan or GS500, that poo poo would probably have ignited, and at that point with an open gas cap the only real play is running into the station yelling incoherently about the emergency stop switch. If your pumps don't have the sleeves, or your tank is such that you can effectively put it all the way in to fuel just like a car without losing half your effective range, I imagine the chance of a horror show goes down a bit. Personally I have to get off anyway to grab a paper towel to catch that last drip that invariably cuts loose over the tank.
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Oct 31, 2023 16:52
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I like fueling up my car from the back seat with the window down. Don't have to get out! I live in Oregon and do personally know people in their 40's who've never pumped their own gas.
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Oct 31, 2023 17:15
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I can barely get my wallet out of my pants pocket without standing up, so it’s never come up for me. Even if I was tempted to, gas station card readers have gotten so much worse over the last few years that it would never occur to me not to get off first. It’s rare I can get it to go through on the first attempt and always for different reasons. Can’t process as credit at this pump. Can’t process as debit at that pump. Did I just try to authorize $20 or $2000? Decimal points are for chumps! Bike wobbling between my legs as I try to read why the card reader failed this time, cap open, gas sloshing out.
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Oct 31, 2023 17:22
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Remy Marathe posted:On all my bikes I've had to pull back the gas pump's vapor recapture mechanism to make it work, then fight with finessing a random pump trigger made for on/off flow to get something resembling "slower" output so that I can see the fuel level inside and not cover the bike in gas splatter. Over the years I've had a few of those dances go wrong and effectively dumped gas down the tank. Had I done this to the scorching hot Bonneville instead of the vanvan or GS500, that poo poo would probably have ignited, and at that point with an open gas cap the only real play is running into the station yelling incoherently about the emergency stop switch.
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Oct 31, 2023 17:40
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Here contactless readers on pumps are becoming nearly universal and most times within easy reach so I usually just pay with my phone, no need to ever get the wallet and cards out or even enter the PIN at the pump because fingerprint or something instead, and the phone is normally in the jacket breast pocket within easy reach. (Phone or wallet in my pants pockets don't feel great and my mesh pants have no pocket zippers so I keep those empty.) Anyways, the temptation to fuel up while sitting on the bike is sometimes strong for me. In fact, there are reasons to believe that the newfangled digital ID phone app is acceptable to the cops as proof of identity (though they have yet refused to say so clearly), in which case there's probably no compelling reason in practice to bring the wallet with driver's licence in it along at all when riding anymore.
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Oct 31, 2023 17:46
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My phone case has a little card holder with my id and a credit card in it in case the tap reader doesn't work, so I don't even have a wallet anymore. Anyway yea OK I'll get off the bike thanks for ruining the fun nerds. (Just kidding love you thanks for the safety tip.)
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Oct 31, 2023 17:53
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Nerobro posted:I know we have a forum member here who's taken a crotchfull of gas, and your scrotum doesn't react kindly to low vapor pressure hydrocarbons. I've seen.. nearly every rider I know do a decent spill on their tank at least once. *raises hand* 0/10 do not recommend
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Oct 31, 2023 20:14
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Filling up from the saddle is like peeing standing up (I kid) I fill up sitting on the bike because I can't get the tank properly full when it's at an angle on the stand, which actually made a difference on the tiny 2-gal tank on my last bike Nerobro posted:But if anything goes wrong, you're now holding a hose spewing flammable liquid, over something hot, that can generate sparks, that you can't immediately run away from. This is sensible. I'll change my ways.
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Nov 1, 2023 00:51
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T Zero posted:Filling up from the saddle is like peeing standing up (I kid) You wake up covered in cold piss with a broken leg? 3/10 don't recommend, it gets in the way of riding. I'll throw the side stand down but I'm probably not getting off the bike. If I don't do that then yeah there is risk of overfilling the dual fuel tanks but it just drains out into the belly pan that distributes the fuel all over the fuel island for me to ride over or whatever. I've had cars catch fire enough that bike fires or flamin hot crotch doesn't really intimidate me enough to get off to fight the fuel tanks and the foreskin pumps at odd angles. Especially since the oddly designed tanks will puke fuel back out if the nozzle isn't aimed *just right* with just the precise amount of flow.
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Nov 1, 2023 02:25
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I’m currently wondering about your life choices that you’ve had multiple cars catch fire on you and I’ve had none. No judgment. Just … wonder. Today I realized that the little yellow light that appears in the side mirror of some cars is not a turn signal indicating that they are about to come into my lane as I’m passing them, but an external lateral proximity sensor. I wonder whether it alerts the driver.
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Nov 1, 2023 05:52
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Vino posted:I’m currently wondering about your life choices that you’ve had multiple cars catch fire on you and I’ve had none. No judgment. Just … wonder. Usually they just light up when they detect something but most of them sound a tone if the turn signal in that direction engages and there's something in the detection volume. A few will beep if the steering wheel deflects more than a few degrees towards something it detects even with no signal activation.
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Nov 1, 2023 05:58
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Midjack posted:Usually they just light up when they detect something but most of them sound a tone if the turn signal in that direction engages and there's something in the detection volume. A few will beep if the steering wheel deflects more than a few degrees towards something it detects even with no signal activation.
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Nov 1, 2023 17:52
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Every driving aid since the invention of the automatic transmission has made people worse drivers
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Nov 1, 2023 18:17
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It’s always an excuse to make them bigger and more dangerous. Sure, I can’t see pedestrians in front of my truck, but there’s a front facing camera! At least this one reminds you that other people exist, I guess? I’m pretty pessimistic about cars ever being safer.
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Nov 1, 2023 18:30
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They're safer for the occupants in the event of a crash than they've ever been Drastically less safe for everyone else and in every other way including preventing a crash in the first place
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Nov 1, 2023 18:49
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They're only safer for the people inside. It boggles my mind how high the hoods are on modern 1-ton trucks. I can only imagine the difference in injury and/or death getting hit by this versus a "normal" passenger car, eg a Camry.  You should need a commercial drivers license IMO.
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Nov 1, 2023 18:50
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It did make me chuckle thinking about how modern cars wanting to reach a 5 star safety rating have to have a bonnet-popping system to reduce pedestrian injuries by spacing out the bonnet from the motor when I saw my first one of those roll past and realized the bonnet was literally higher than my head and I'm six feet tall
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Nov 1, 2023 18:53
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Toe Rag posted:They're only safer for the people inside. It boggles my mind how high the hoods are on modern 1-ton trucks. I can only imagine the difference in injury and/or death getting hit by this versus a "normal" passenger car, eg a Camry. I rode around in a rented uhaul pickup this weekend. Standard cab, short bed, Chevrolet half ton. Should not be a big truck. It was still a pain in the rear end to park anywhere, partially because it's giant and mostly because you can't see over the 6ft tall brick hood. And then I'd look at adjacent parking spaces with much larger trucks, lifted 18 inches. Lol. What does anyone use these for???
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Nov 1, 2023 19:10
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TotalLossBrain posted:And then I'd look at adjacent parking spaces with much larger trucks, lifted 18 inches. Lol. What does anyone use these for??? want to look cool, not actually cool enough to ride a motorcycle
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Nov 1, 2023 20:11
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I mean... You can't really haul stuff in the bed because it's too tall. Can't really tow with it until you get a giant drop hitch so your trailer is level. Getting up into the cabin also seems like a tremendous pain in the rear end. What the gently caress
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Nov 1, 2023 20:19
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i mean, there's a reason nearly every pickup available now is a sedan with an automatic. putting poo poo in the bed isn't the goal
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Nov 1, 2023 20:31
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TotalLossBrain posted:
Hauling a key-fob sized dick back and forth to the grocery store and their office job. at 6'/1.8m tall I need a step ladder to get things out of the bed of a modern truck. They are not utility vehicles of any kind. If the tailgate needs an integrated ladder so the operator can get into the bed, it's too loving big. a modern chev 1500 is dimensionally as tall as my three decade old one ton sitting on nearly 40" tires, but with somehow more bed height and worse sight lines everywhere. The 2500 is worse. Which. Modern pickups have worse forward sightlines than most every modern commercial truck outside of a peterbilt 389 and its predecessors built on the same design language. Partly to blame is occupant safety. The other is the towing wars that is the J2807 sae towing tests. Whoever has the most towingest numbers is the winningest. Nevermind that the truck has the same payload as a maverick or a tacoma which makes the whole towing capacity a dumb wankfest. We saw something similar with 600s/1k supersports... Vino posted:I’m currently wondering about your life choices that you’ve had multiple cars catch fire on you and I’ve had none. No judgment. Just … wonder. I've had over 60 cars. More than a dozen were british and halfish were european, most of them not very good. I've worked on a lot more that were several orders of magnitude more janky than the poo poo I'd run.
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Nov 2, 2023 03:46
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My FIL burned down his 1962ish C10 while working on it. I've set a jetski on fire that I was working on at the time, but it got extinguished quickly. It can happen. (I also learned in the following days just how hosed everything in contact with the dry extinguisher powder was and that it includes the carb throats.)
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Nov 2, 2023 04:59
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Considering how I used to exclusively drive police auction cars I spent $600 or less on, it's kind of amazing none of them caught fire. I did blow 2 head gaskets in 2 days on 2 different cars within about a mile of each other, though.
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Nov 2, 2023 05:08
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