ReconRat

I once put STP in my bike. Yeah.. the opposite of slip, it wouldn't ever let go. Had to flush a few oil changes through, and pull the clutch plates and clean them up. Live and learn the hard way.

On 3/13/2017 at 3:42 PM, Qman said:

Interesting that BMW Advantec is not on this list.  Nor does it list Liqui-Moly 4t Racing 5W-40 which i just ordered.  My Teutonic Tank requires JASO MA2 5W-40 ONLY.  Not a lot of options!  

Yeah. Have noticed Beemers like 5w40 JASO stuff. No, not a lot of choices on that. Lots of good to excellent oils aren't on that JASO list. Only the ones that paid to have the tests done.

4 hours ago, Al Z. Heimer said:

https://540ratblog.wordpress.com/2013/06/20/motor-oil-wear-test-ranking/amp/

Good luck. 

Interesting, not seen that one before. Thanks. Wish it had more motorcycle oils tested. But very interesting discussion on the use of zinc in oils.

I'm back... with an official up-to-date list of which oils are JASO. March 2017 release.

http://www.jalos.or.jp/onfile/pdf/4T_EV_LIST.pdf

Don't forget that certifications are expensive, and not all oils do that. Some might simply says "meets the requirements". Which may or may not be true. And they won't be on this list.

Also: JASO MA1 is for 4 stroke engine, wet sump, wet clutch, combined transmission.

JASO MA2 is same, except better for catalytic convertors.

JASO MA is oil that meets part of MA1 and/or MA2, so gets just "MA" (or is dawn of time old).

And yes, Shell Rottela T6 is "crunchy/notchy" in the transmission quickly. It's not for me.

The short story... stick to the manufacturer's recommendation and their brand of oil. Second best, Repsol. Anything else, you're on your own; like me using Mobil 1 4T or Castrol stuff.

I used to run an insane high compression kit on an air-cooled engine. Had to carry lots of plugs, hot-normal-cold. Won't do that again...

In case anyone cares... combustion heat goes down, when the octane rating is higher than needed (suppressed burn). Might notice that on a cold day with an air-cooled engine, but otherwise, it burns it anyway, just not quite as efficiently.

Also noticed the fuel down here in Florida isn't the high ethanol stuff. It's still a low percent ethanol. And I know what a tank of water/crap fuel is like, I've hit that 2 or 3 times along freeways between Ohio and Florida. Seems like that's where it will happen, on an interstate freeway. Even got a tank of crap on the bike from a Shell station last year in Georgia. Could feel the bike choking on it, till I got more fuel.

Additives are added per the customer destination when the tanker truck leaves the fuel depot. Otherwise, yeah, all fuel is same source, either high or low octane. Well, diesel...

Always wondered about where to find high detergent gasoline. Keep the engine clean inside, I suppose. The only one I really knew about was Shell. Here's the list of the top of the line fuel sources. Guess I was doing ok with most of the places I fuel up at.

http://www.toptiergas.com/licensedbrands/

Reminds me of an interview with a veteran immigration officer, that asked each one that he deported if they voted. About 10% freely admitted they voted in American elections. Crunch some numbers and that would be over a million votes, and probably twice that considering some wouldn't admit to doing that.

Mexico, Canada and Great Britain require voter ID, to prevent fraud. (What the heck do they know?) As do most other countries in the world. Apparently most countries think the USA is rather stupid for not having control over voting procedures.

And I still want to know what the deal was with the sudden find of 30,000 votes for Hillary in Philadelphia, after the election,  that suddenly showed up right before Detroit was caught submitting fraudulent votes. Got real quiet suddenly, on both counts.

I say go up a size. Your clenched fists on grips will appreciate larger. It's well worth trying them on first (Iron Pony), to see what's up. I should wear a medium, but large fits better for me. Long fingers, get jammed up in medium. Have even seen XXL on sale that were barely a medium. You never know...

Looked it up. That area of NYC typically has reservations for parking in advance. But, did find this list of places to park motorcycles. http://www.panix.com/~bergman/data/data.bike_park_nyc.html

I'd be tempted to park at/near a train/subway platform outside of town, and take the rail into the downtown area. Not sure that would be anymore secure though.

M1A1 was also preferred by SOG in the desert. Otherwise, some wiseguy with an old .303 bolt rifle would sit back out of range, and ruin your day. Will get one some day. I would not get a short barrel, long is good.

Definitely zip ties. And flatten out a used roll of duct tape to fit in there.

The most common motorcycle first aid situations are debris in eyes, burns (including sunburn), cuts and abrasions.

Google up motorcycle first aid, and several websites will give kit recommendations.

Might add on one of those bee/bug sting stick thingies. It does happen.

I've gotten off and punched the pedestrian crossing button to force the light to change. Quick enough...

Bought myself a mesh jacket for Summer. I anticipate it will be rather hot around here. Silver, grey and white to reflect the heat.

3 hours ago, magley64 said:

It's a "states rights" issue. It exists so smaller (less densely populated) states would have a proportionally larger say in elections.  otherwise, Los Angeles county would have roughly the same voting power as the state of ohio. 

 

Not saying it's right or wrng,  just that it is working as intended. 

Yup. And admittedly I once was in favor of popular vote over electoral college. But... realizing the population density of the West coast and the NorthEast... no thanks. Based on the concept that those areas are really removed from the mainstream of America. Alternately, urban areas would dominate, obviously. With it comes the potential, that select voters determine all. Near as bad as not having a vote at all. But yeah, it could go the other way too. You never know, and I get to say "we be careful what we wish for".

On 11/10/2016 at 11:54 AM, Tpoppa said:

Admittedly, I haven't paid much attention to the protests.  Can anyone tell me the point of them?  The election wasn't close, so I'm guessing hey aren't about demanding some kind of recount.

Is it just a matter of...we're pissed off because Hillary didn't win?

 

opinion: it's small groups of like-minded people who have mental or emotional problems

alternate opinion: it's organized groups, paid or volunteer, brought in mass on buses, organized by MoveOn.org, and ergo: George Soros... he who likes to overthrow governments, or at least try

14 hours ago, whaler said:

Close, but wrong.  We are a Representative Republic.  There are many differences to all three.

Not wrong. All are attempts to understand and label what we have going. Democratic Republic was the original definition, per the revisionist history books. Also includes Federal Republic, Constitutional Republic, Federal Presidential Republic (CIA FactBook), and the latest take-all-grand-winner.... "constitutionally limited representative democratic republic".

Missing the point here, all are Republics, which is similar to, but not quite a Democracy.

Watched Hillary's departure speech. Repeatedly referred to the USA as a constitutional democracy. When it's actually a democratic republic. wondered why, so looked it up. It's an alternate way of describing the USA. But... it's technically not the same thing. Some differences in how the constitution is regarded. Easier to change a constitution in a constitutional democracy. Remember it for the future, this will come back to us again sometime. My opinion, is it's an attack on the Bill of Rights. Maybe it's the better way, in 100 to 200 years, but I don't know that now. I see it as a more strict society, with less freedoms, particularly for the minority opinions of citizens. The majority would rule on all issues.

I tried the Rottella T6. Didn't like it much. Worked, but shifts felt "gritty". I now use it for winter storage since it's cheap. Impression was that some of the better mineral oils would work better, like Castrol for bikes. Would not use old school mineral with catalytic converter, can't remember why I think that. Starting to go with ester based Mobil 1 for everything....

Front and rear brake pads, and new Dunlop RoadSmarts on the '02. Checked and topped off fluids, etc. Rode it 950 miles to Florida. That's its new home. New Michelin Pilot Road 4 on the '07, and riding it down this week.

It will change a lot for a while. Forget Virginia, having North Carolina, Colorado and Nevada should do it. Providing Florida and Ohio are still there. All these swing states are flickering back and forth per polls. Will probably be what I originally said, in the end it will split close to 50-50, and be taken by electoral college. But for right now, it's Trump up and Hillary down. But nothing is forever. Who will goof up next...

edit: another way of looking at it....only 17 states are locked down one way or the other. Which in electoral votes, is Clinton-86 and Trump-63. That's a long way away from the 270 needed.

This mornings collection of polls on realclearpolitics, shows Trump leading 1.66 pts in the 4-way. Still has to do something about key states and electoral totals, or it won't matter. Also shows Trump has taken Ohio and Florida and Nevada, for now.  Making headway in North Carolina, and he really needs Pennsylvania, but that's hard to imagine.

edit: Taking Virginia would probably push it over the minimum for the electoral college total. I think that's where the make or break, win or lose will be.

All new tires on my bikes. I have a RoadSmart 180/55-17 with lots of tread left. And a Battlax BT56f 120/70-17 with maybe 1/16 left before hits wear bar. Don't want either. Both look nice. Don't want them. Free.