Chatbox Thread

[XR7-4.6]

Man, that looks like a harley, but the reliability of a honda; I like that. /the last honda I worked on was a 60's "pit bike" for a buddy. We put new rings and bearings in it. Everything was pristine inside, but the materials in the important crap was total shit. We rebuilt it by replacing the original babbit bearings, and he's put thousands of miles on that little bike.
Have you looked into the college yet? If you take their class, you skip the written test here. I helped a couple of coworkers attempt to kill themselves. some people are unsuited for riding. The semi always wins, no matter how pissed you are, lol.EDIT: I left out 'entitled'. If you feelyou are entitled to a piece of road someone else is using, you will have a problem very soon. If you ride between semi's on the interstate, don't let them know you're there at all. They will take your ass out, no lol.

Yeah but the only college that offered it was Harper and stopped last year after an accident, there are a few similar courses elsewhere but nowhere near the Chicago area. Right now it looks like the only option is through a Harley dealer program which isn’t cheap, but at least it’s local. There are a bunch of hoops to jump through too (still need to go to the DMV for a state learners permit for the class) and they don’t even supply required gear the much cheaper college programs did (but of course you can buy it from the dealers).

I dunno, if I get the bike first I may just practice in the empty high school overflow lot down the street a few nights and go to the DMV and take the tests. I’ve been studying and know I could pass the written.

 

[Grog6]

The service manual for that 60's bike had a section on casting new bearings in place, using babbit (lead/tin, and copper) melted together. By today's standards, way too soft.

 

[MadMikeyL]

some people are unsuited for riding.

That’s me! I just know within 6 months of getting any bike, I’d be that asshole splitting lanes at 150+, so it’s best for all involved if I just stick to 4 wheels.

 

[XR7-4.6]

Mercifully this bike’s only a 4-speed so high speed shenanigans is much less of a concern to my main concern of slowly falling off of it It might be a gateway drug though…

 

[Grog6]

If you've started craving a Hyabusa, you need rehab for sure. A 650 twin cruiser bike should keep you out of most of that, while still being big enough to be fun to ride.

 

[XR7-4.6]

If you've started craving a Hyabusa, you need rehab for sure. A 650 twin cruiser bike should keep you out of most of that, while still being big enough to be fun to ride.

That’s the good news I just simply like the cruiser look and V twin sound in a way I like 2 door cars and V8s, so for the same reason you won’t see me in a Tesla or a STI or something a sport bike is equally unlikely…

That said I’ve not not looked longingly at a few 1100 Honda Shadows

 

[Grog6]

An 1100 is a lot heavier bike. A 650 should be beefy enough not to look like a toy under you. I had a buddy in the 70's, that had a twin 2-stroke yamaha. It sounded like a sewing machine on hellraise mode, lol. You do not want that look, it feels as bad as it looks.he was about 6'4" tall, and gangly looking anyway, lol.https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=hS3T2-9vZkE That's the bike he had.

 

[Grog6]

I almost forgot: "May the 4th be with you!"

 

[dDUBb]

I almost forgot: "May the 4th be with you!"

 

[Derphound01]

Edge is back in the shop and I've got a RX350 for the next week. It rides smooth and is quiet, but my lord, this is what the Japanese call "premium"?

It barely does 350 miles on a 19 gallon tank. And don't get me started on how awful the infotainment joystick is. It's worse than BMW's original iDrive system.

 

[Irv]

The Lexus infotainment controller in either joystick or touchpad form has always been bad. Everyone complains about it.

Lexus hasn't been "premium" in my book since the early-2000s. I rail on newer Lexuses all the time. Their build quality isn't up to the same level as their golden era cars, and Toyota as a whole has always been lagging far behind the competition when it comes to infotainment.

 

[Derphound01]

Changing the radio station is a particular irk. You can spin the joystick dial, but then you have to press it to select the station. You can also click it down for the same exact redundant function and then still have to press it to select the station. Absolutely asinine.

The steering wheel buttons also annoy me. The layout is awful and the functions are not defined. To change up to a higher number radio station, you have to press the down button. And there's no digital speedometer.

My 2004 GX470 wasn't the best, but it was miles better than this 2016 RX350. I wish Toyota would hire just one German guy to be in charge of ergonomics and interior design. He doesn't have to build it, just design it so that it makes sense.

 

[theterminator93]

Nothing bothers me more than modern cars that install these massive touchscreens that are tacked onto the dash like a monitor on a desk, that also replace all the traditional buttons. I shouldn't have to flip through half a dozen menus to turn on the A/C or set the temperature!

 

[Irv]

I shouldn't have to flip through half a dozen menus to turn on the A/C or set the temperature!

You mean open the glovebox?

Thanks Fuck you, Elon.

 

[XR7-4.6]

There were a whole batch of Fords circa 2010 that went touch screen crazy that the public universally hated and demanded a switch back to sensible tactile buttons and knobs. For a brief moment it seemed like touchscreens in cars was going to be one of those short lived fads like mini disc players.

But the Tesla cult has to defend every nut and bolt of their cars so touchscreens now are of course brilliant game changers like everything else! Who cares if they're unintuitive and distracting, autopilot will possibly kinda work...someday!

 

[theterminator93]

I know a lake nearby that they can auto-drive themselves into...

 

[Derphound01]

There were a whole batch of Fords circa 2010 that went touch screen crazy that the public universally hated and demanded a switch back to sensible tactile buttons and knobs. For a brief moment it seemed like touchscreens in cars was going to be one of those short lived fads like mini disc players.

My Fusion has the capacitive touch panel under the navigation screen. It hasn't given me a problem and it is indented enough that I know where everything is by feel. My Edge and my Dad's old 2016 Fusion both had buttons under the navigation screen.

Also don't hate on MiniDisc. Those were my jam back in the day. I still have a box full of them somewhere.

 

[Irv]

To be fair, I know that Tesla has voice commands and apparently a software update now allows you to program long-pressing a button on the steering wheel to open the glovebox, but every manufacturer can implement voice commands. There is no reason to turn previously tactile, mechanical controls placed where they are relevant into remote, non-tactile, electrical controls other than the sake of being a technology dweeb.

Operating a motor vehicle is a set of physical interactions established in unwritten convention for the sake of uniformity, and ultimately, safety. Until we achieve SAE level 5 automation, don't fuck with a driver's mental model and distract them from their primary task of operating a 2+ ton machine.

As for touchscreens, I don't like how they're glare and fingerprint magnets, especially as they get bigger. The software used to not be responsive enough either, and sometimes the UI and/or aesthetics were just awful. When I got a 7" Pioneer multimedia navigation touchscreen head unit for the Lexus, I picked it because its UI looked the least dated compared to Alpine and Kenwood.

Meanwhile, automakers were on another planet when it came to touchscreen UI. MyFord Touch is trash. I hate it in my parents' 2015 Escape. Thankfully, it came with a set of complementary physical buttons because you weren't doing anything useful and/or quickly with the touch UI.

 

[Wile E. Coyote]

So I was able to find, and piece back together, most of my shattered taillight.


Not sure if that's a good thing or bad thing yet.

 

[XR7-4.6]

Badge checks out!

 

[Wile E. Coyote]

Badge checks out!

Always has lol

 

[Zep5.0]

I hope early bird tail lights are easier to find than Cougars. Of course you can always put red film over it

 

[Grog6]

I was able to drive down to Krogers today, and get propane and steaks! life is good, lol. Driving was much easier, and the autonomous parts are kicking in, it's a lot like it used to be after we played a new level in duke nukem, after you slept on it, you were way better. I need to go out tomorrow and change out the wheels on the red cougar. And pump gas. I should have less than a day to go. Anyone want some cheap gas? Local pickup only, lol. (joking I wouldn't use this to clean parts.)
Lazarus is about to pop, it was clearly knocking on 4 cylinders after I pulled in. ( 525k miles, at this point, with a dead odo.

 

[Wile E. Coyote]

I hope early bird tail lights are easier to find than Cougars. Of course you can always put red film over it

I'm gonna look into making vacuum sealed acrylic lenses. Or those tinted covers.

 

[gunn]

I know some of you folks like gaming on vintage PCs (not just emulation) so this article made me laugh

A Windows XP machine's life expectancy in 2024 seems to be about 10 minutes before even just an idle net connection renders it a trojan-riddled zombie PC

That's all without clicking a single hot link.

www.pcgamer.com

Similar article from 2004 says it took 20min to get infested so scanning has improved? Pretty fascinating

Study: Unpatched PCs compromised in 20 minutes

The average "survival time" is not even long enough to download patches that would protect a computer from Net threats.

www.cnet.com

 

[theterminator93]

I find it a curiosity that my XP gaming PC hasn't been nuked in such a doom-and-gloom fashion like those articles portray.

 

[gunn]

I find it a curiosity that my XP gaming PC hasn't been nuked in such a doom-and-gloom fashion like those articles portray.

You keep it online? Or is it like my evil AK that lives in the safe and hasn't ever assaulted anything but paper and some beer cans.

 

[Kenz]

I have an old T60 Thinkpad in mint shape that still has the original copy of XP. I only use it for some old cdrom games I still ahve and playing an occasional DVD. The other day for shits I flipped on the wifi switch to see if would even go online. Most sites are complete crippled or won't load. Guess that wasn't such a good idea...

My retro build old gaming PC still has 98SE, it doesn't even have an eithernet card in it.

 

[dDUBb]

You keep it online? Or is it like my evil AK that lives in the safe and hasn't ever assaulted anything but paper and some beer cans.

 

[theterminator93]

Not 24/7, but there was a time (up until late last year) that whenever it was on (a couple hours or days at a time), it was online too. More recently I keep the WLAN to the outside world LAN disabled and it's only connected via the unrouted LAN to the other retro gaming PCs (XP/98).