CBBaron

1 hour ago, Tpoppa said:

IMO, we are 10 years away from all-electric vehicles being a viable option for a meaningful number of drivers.

Battery technology is getting there, but they need to store more power and become much smaller & lighter.  Recharge times are the real deal breaker.  Infrastructure is going to need to evolve differently.  Charging "gas stations" are never going to work for a large number of drivers.

Charging stations in the parking lots of grocery stores, etc would work  a bit better...but, scrap the whole charging station idea and move to hot swappable batteries.   Batteries sizes should be standardized across vehicles, and the vehicles need to be designed for easy battery access.  10 years away...at least.

OTOH, we are living in the golden age of burritos.

 

I think you are pessimistic. As the second vehicle used primarily for commute and errands they have been viable for several years already, if you have a home where you can install a charger. Just purchased a used BMW i3 this summer that fits that use and I am loving it. 

As a primary vehicle cars like the Model 3 are viable now though the infrastructure is barely there outside of EU and Cal. With 300 mile range thats 4 hrs on the highway. Many people seldom take trips that long, for those that do its less convenient on the trips but doable. For the rest of the time EVs are more convenient, as you dont stop to fuel, there's less maintenance and it costs less per mile. Plus quieter and often quicker. 

Cost parity is still a few years aways away but that i looking like less than 10 as Tesla's truck is very comparable to F150 despite it being ugly as sin. And its changing rapidly. In the last 18 months our office has went from 0 to 4 EVs in the parking lot (about 60 employees). That is in very EV unfriendly Ohio. States like PA, and CO are seeing much more. 

Missed the window also as I'm seldom on the computer on the weekend. But I have definitely been following your post here and on ADVrider and wish you the best on your travel. Great of time to set this up. I know you will make good use of the resources. Keep up the blog, we are all enjoying your travels immensely.

I prefer Roku. Amazon, Google and Apple all seem to allow other content currently but that has not always been the case. As Roku is independent they seem to do the best to support any service. 

Any of the basic streaming devices are cheap and sufficient for what you need. Looks for black friday deals and get something cheap. 

46 minutes ago, Tonik said:

It is a container of flammable liquid that fell off a truck. Thus the foam.

The Jeep owner only wishes it was foam.

The cage around a plastic container on a pallet is a pretty common way to haul bulk liquids. It has basically replaced the steel barrel in may cases.

same

repeat. stupid interface.

20 minutes ago, redbarron77 said:

Pretty sure I saw these a few years ago.

I was always anti-comm until I did a couple ADV trips with some friends. On my bike at highway speeds the comm is not very useful but on trails and back roads it was very useful to provide trails warnings, make quick decisions on route/fuel/breaks and provide general safety when a member has a drop. 

Most of my rides are solo and I don't even do music but I definitely will use comms for group rides, especially off road.

Dan definitely is an interesting character and I'm sure he could be interesting for a full day of riding

I can't imagine a Grom on a big track. I don't really want to take the DRZ on a big track as I would spend much of the time screaming in top gear.

Grom on a Kart track would be tons of fun. The DRZ was a handful on the PittRace kart track, I really need to find some more experienced riders to run with to help improve my skills. OMRL always seems to run Pitt when I am out of town.

1 hour ago, Pauly said:

If you used the right tap, you should be golden. 

99% sure I did. 

FedEx says my package arrived at home. Should find out tonight.

On 9/17/2019 at 1:19 PM, Pauly said:

Just a thought.. you may want to take a thread chaser to the swingarm, just to be safe. If you do not have a thread chaser, then you can use a tap, but turn it by hand and only with some thin oil. Then blow out the threaded aluminum with compressed air. 

Well I already ran a tap through it after I got the bolt out. Hopefully that didn't screw up the threads.  

Got the bolt out of the swingarm last night. 

Picked up a bolt extractor from Lowes on the way home. That and soaking in PB Blaster overnight seemed to do the trick. I found the weep hole in the swing arm and was able to hit the back side of the threads with PB Blaster.

Waiting on replacement parts then will install with anti-seize

So I'm hearing I need heat. 

Yea, I mangled the head pretty bad with a box end wrench aleady. Probably can get a socket with extension on the nut. I think I need to tack weld the nut first as it still moves on the bolt. 

10 hours ago, mello dude said:

Making a guess,, dunno what it looks like....  but loosen axle and maybe pull off rear wheel,  pull off and shit can the siezed adjustor, install a new one? 

(how hard could it be?)

https://www.partzilla.com/catalog/suzuki/motorcycle/2016/dr-z400sml6/rear-wheel

 

If only it were that simple. 

The bolt seen in the picture below will not turn in the swing arm. 

The only replacement would be the entire swingarm. Partzilla says thats about $1000. I hoping for a less drastic solution.

So it looks like the chain adjuster in my DRZ400SM is seized. I'm not having any luck getting it loose. 

I'm probably going to need the bolt cut off, drilled out and retapped. Anybody know a shop that could do this?

The electric bicycle market is already pretty crowded with cheap Chinese brands and high end units from major bicycle manufacturers and  startups trying to "redefine transportation". The Harley models look like something from on of the later companies. 

I'm thinking they are just trying to enter growing transportation segments even if they are later or offer nothing new. I have a feeling we are seeing the beginning of the end for an independent HD brand.

1 hour ago, SpecialEd said:

Welcome! I hope you're not one of those hundreds of jackasses riding your unlicensed trail bikes on the streets of downtown Cleveland 

Well the 500EXC is a street legal bike from the factory, so not likely. Most of the hooligans are on stolen MX bikes.

Unfortunately not much for legal trail riding in NEO, however Allegheny National forest, north west PA, Wayne National Forest, SEO,  and Perry state forest, SEO have significant trails. If you get down around the Danville area or further south east there are also some good gravel road riding. Some of the roads are more jeep path than road. 

Reading the article it sounds like the price is a combination of price gouging for profit but also of private individuals covering the costs that government plans dont cover. Medicaid and Medicare account for most of the trips but pay less than 1/2 the cost of the trip. The companies make up the short fall by over charging the other customers. Of course like any private enterprise they are in the business of making money so the pricing ensures they make a nice profit, despite the underpayment by government agencies. 

So while I agree government intervention to cap prices for a service that is not usually optional would be a good thing, that needs to also include the government paying reasonable rates for those services also.

On 8/1/2019 at 7:38 AM, SpecialEd said:

We're listening . . . 

Growing up on a farm I quickly realized working a manual labor job was easier than working for my dad . And that was basically a side job for my dad. 

Like Tim said many agricultural and industrial jobs are way harder and dirtier than pushing a few carts through the snow.

2 hours ago, durk said:

Also most dairy farmers either raise the bulls born on the farm to be slaughtered for meat or take them to auction to be sold for beef animals. They are still good eating. There just tends to be more waste with a dairy breed (ex: Holstein as pictured in CFA ad). We primarily raise beef animals on our farm and in my wife’s research she found a lot of beef being sold is coming from dairy breeds. We can pick a dairy bull much cheaper than a beef bull for sure, so I can believe her research. 

Ofcourse all the cattle in the ads are productive age cows, so doesn't really apply.

I imagine when you say beef you are referring the hamburger. Dairy breeds don't gain the weight or have the marbling required for a good steak. Old dairy cows are very lean and I would imagine quite tough. I would expect those are only good for animal feed or highly processed foods.  

With most farms using artificial insemination dairy bulls have very little purpose. I imagine they are quite cheap. Most veal comes from dairy breeds because the beef breeds have a higher value as quality meat.

get a sampler pack and see which ones work for you.

https://www.earplugstore.com/unfoamtrialp.html

35 minutes ago, Shoop said:

OK, but the new ones are NOT SHINY!

 

You know the original choice of spring was because they "looked" better. 

I guess they found customers actually preferred something that worked.

On 6/2/2019 at 6:22 PM, Pauly said:

Maybe I am too stupid to figure it out, but my brain thinks that would require one hell of a complex braking system. 

18 hours ago, jporter12 said:

A well developed ABS system can take care of most anything you could think of.  

Linking the 2 brakes like is done on every 2 wheel motorcycle would be sufficient to balance the braking forces between the 2 wheels. 

An advanced ABS/stability control system could independently brake the wheels to provide additional stability under emergency braking. That does require additional sensors but no more that is getting pretty common in motorcycles with lean angle sensitive ABS and advanced traction control.

3 hours ago, motocat12 said:

1.5 laps at chestnut ridge. Not my favorite wall ride. it lifts a bit at the first tree then finishes straight and steep with debris in line and the trail going to the inside. I skidded it down and that's my track at the bottom edge. ordering a smaller chainring for the 1x11. I plan to ride a bunch of trails this summer if anyone is interested, scioto, morgantown wv, maybe western PA.  What's the best Cleveland trail worth a 2 hr drive? I haven't ridden past vultures knob from columbus.

East Rim is really good and definitely the most popular. It is primarily fast a flowy with a few techy rock features. There are 2 shortish loops and each loop has an optional more advanced option. One is a techy rock fest the other is a mini downhill run with good jumps. The downhill is new and hasn't been fully opened yet due to the soft trails.

I would suggest also riding Hampton Hills if in the area as its not far from East Rim.

Same type of building but not that location.

Was just by the Clyde location.

http://www.roadarch.com/food/twistee.html