Soleair

I fell out of love with shaft driven cams after my Ducati stripped all the teeth off the top shaft.Replacing and resetting the clearances was an interesting job. Having wasted much time trying to enclose the drive chain to control the damned oil, I eventually transitioned to shaft-driven bikes- then discovered even shafts have problems.

 

I finally found one Harley feature that I approved of: belt drive.

After a few old Britbikes (BSA A5; Royal Enfield Bullet; Triumph 3TA) I bought a Honda 550K4. It was a ratbike, to be fair, but it went well. On my way to work there was a straight bit of road that I kept trying to reach the magic ton on, but never quite made it. Then one day, just after the straight, when I'd slowed down to 30 or so approaching a roundabout, there was a bang & the rear wheel locked. I got the clutch in quickly, so stayed on board. Turned out the timing chain had jumped off the sprocket & seized the engine. But if it had happened a minute earlier I would have been hurting. . .

So when I returned to biking in my 40's, I bought a Honda VFR 750FV with gear driven cams. Bullet proof V4 engine, superb sound; impeccable handling. Loved that bike.

Bruce

TRAVEL PLANS FOR 2018

I have been in many places, but I've never been in Kahoots.

 

Apparently, you can't go alone. You have to be in Kahoots with someone.

 

I've also never been in Cognito. I hear no one recognizes you there.

 

I have, however, been in Sane. They don't have an airport; you have to be driven there. I have made several trips there, thanks to my children, friends, family and work.

 

I would like to go to Conclusions, but you have to jump, and I'm not too much on physical activity anymore.

 

I have also been in Doubt. That is a sad place to go, and I try not to visit there too often. I've been in Flexible, but only when it was very important to stand firm.

 

Sometimes I'm in Capable, and I go there more often as I'm getting older.

 

One of my favourite places to be is in Suspense! It really gets the adrenalin flowing and pumps up the old heart!

 

At my age I need all the stimuli I can get!

 

I may have been in Continent, but I don't remember what country I was in. It's an age thing. They tell me it is very wet and damp there.

I was told my job was in Jeopardy. I said I didn't fancy working there, and they sacked me!!

Bruce

More likely the static boundary layer, & slower airstream adjacent to it.

Bruce

Marty_d, would you release your tax returns to the public arena? I guess that you have nothing to hide in yours, but do I have any real right to know more about your financials than that you paid your fair share of tax? If you have not paid your fair share, then it is the ATO's job to extract the unpaid amount. What am I to do with the knowledge that you may or may not have done your bit? I don't think that knowledge would afect my situation. So, if it is OK for your tax information to remain unpublished, then the same conclusion must apply to every person of every country - Trump included.

OME

But Marty is not POTUS, & thus does not have to satisfy the voting public of his honesty, integrity, or public spirited fair-mindedness.

Trump coined the puerile moniker "crooked Hilary" for the opposition candidate in the elections. But when asked to publish his tax returns - as every other presidential candidate has done - he stated he would do so 'after they've been audited'.

It is now clear he has no intention of publishing his returns. From this, we must conclude that he is not paying his fair share of taxes, indeed, may not be paying ANY taxes. He publicly boasts of his wealth, so it can't be modesty preventing him from declaring his tax.

This can only imply dishonesty at best, or crooked criminality at worst.

I wish they would just hurry up & either shoot him or impeach him, before he discovers the real codes to operate the big red button.

Wouldn't that cover most religious teachings? Shirley these godbotherers are shooting themselves in the foot?

Give it time, Bex. Give it time.

I've just watched the Clinton/Trump debate live. I won't trot out a list of subjective opinions on the content - no doubt this will be done to death by the pro pundits tonight & ad nauseam.

Two observations, though. The air time given to Trump appeared way higher than that given to Clinton. This was mainly because Lester Holt (the moderator) was very weak in not imposing discipline & standing up to Trump's bluster.

Secondly, although the volume of words issuing from Trump was long, loud, repetitive & rambling, the content could be reduced to a few sentences. And these would mostly be opinions based on the benefit of hindsight.

Surely the majority of Americans cannot be so gullible as to be deceived by such an overtly shallow, self serving blowhard. Can they?

Yes, observation would tend to suggest this is indeed the case.

I was about to post re Phil's first collection:

Now,. . .NO right thinking human being with a brain cell or three could rationally say that any of this coverage was biased in any way, shape or form. . . .could it. . . . .

Could be bias. Or it might just be accurate reporting.

I sympathise. But shirley the only Worcestershire sauce to grace your table should Lea & Perrins?

Well I enjoy hoarse meat. . . Always used to head for the Boucherie Chevaline as a first stop when in France. Can't understand why people find eating horse any different from consuming cow, sheep, pig, goat etc.

(Sorry, OME. Good pun :)

For sure many of those who voted 'leave ' will now rue their decision. "Vote in haste, regret at leisure" to paraphrase the adage. But in my view, the root cause of the present woeful situation in which the (once)Great Britain finds itself was the misguided decision to hold a referendum in the first place.

Yes, I know hindsight is the clearest form of vision. But the whole system of parliamentary democracy is founded on the election of representatives to speak for their constituents. In turn, this concept is predicated upon those representatives having the time, the wit, and the ability to understand fully the implications of any proposed policy, to discuss, debate, and in due course agree (yes, with a majority) to a course of action. That is why they are there. That is what they are paid for.

So why, then, when every MAJOR party, and every living British prime minister, agreed that the exUK should stay in the EEC was a referendum called at all?

Ok, given that it was, it could be argued that both sides set out their reasons for their views, and that these were freely promulgated throughout all the media. So then the good citizens of Britain take on board all the various arguments, predictions, facts & forecasts and retire to consider quietly and calmly. Then make a reasoned judgement on which course seems to offer the greatest good.

Yeah, right. The voting public in (I guess) all parliamentary democracies are sick and tired of the broken promises, distorted statistics, spin and downright lies that is the stock in trade of many politicians. The rosy picture painted of the Nirvana that will surely follow once they are elected is never realised.

So nobody should be surprised that the electorate apparently ignored or disbelieved the predictions of a Leave vote, now that they have proved to be broadly accurate. The masses did what masses do - they responded to the best advertising campaign. Spin doctors and ad agencies know exactly which buttons to press to get the result they are paid to produce, and that result need have nothing to do with the greater good.

And so while the idle wealthy of London sipped their champagne secure in their ivory castles, the great unwashed of the North reacted to the emotive images of streams of even more unwashed would-be immigrants queuing to invade. They made a stand to 'reclaim' Britain's sovereignty against Johnny Foreigner. The evil despots of Brussels could be repelled by their courageous vote to go it alone and stand proud. Only now is the realisation dawning that it wasn't really like that at all - but alas! too late. And no, you can't have another vote now you've thought about it properly (something else that was spelled out clearly in advance).

Oh, and if my view on the general nature of politicians and their promises appears to argue against the idea of leaving them to decide such issues without a referendum, Churchill said it best: " democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried."

Be careful what you wish for.

Bruce

Because that was then. This is now.

I can't help thinking a wrong decision has been made here, and there will be regrets in the cold hard light of dawn down the track.

Time will tell - but by then it will be too late.

Now if Trump gets the win I'm going to stop taking my medication . . .

Well I watched the rugby, and enjoyed the matches. England's defence was superb in the last game.

Which leads to this classic. . .

I feel your pain, Spooks.

Why not consider matching bureaucratic jobsworths' myopia with private enterprise? Try these:

The BEST Fake Diplomas, Transcripts & Degrees Online!

Next Day Diplomas - Fake Diplomas - Fake Transcripts - College, High School, Equivalency

http://fakediplomanow.com/

etc.......

Did she work as a Rigger?

Or go to a dance with a friend called Tenon?

Reminds me of an excellent piece of toilet wall graffiti I read in an English university campus.

Idly gazing around whilst otherwise engaged, I read the words neatly written above the toilet roll - 'Play shithouse tennis - see other wall'.

I dutifully turned to look at the other wall, but couldn't see anything written there. I turned back to read the notice again, & again saw nothing on the opposite wall.

Then realisation dawned. . .

Yes, it's awful.

A man gets injured by a bus or train 2.4 times per week in major Australian towns.

And he's getting really pissed off about it.

The ideal for me would be Fry hosting 'Have I got News for You'. Only seen a couple of those in Oz, but the shows were a firm favourite of mine in UK.

Bruce

I've never been, & prolly never will now I've moved back to Oz.

But as a life-long biker, I am full of awe at the level of skill the riders show at the TT. And the speeds they hit are just mindblowing - up there with racetrack numbers, but these guys do it on public roads. Watching on TV is just scary.

It's so sad that fatalities are all but inevitable - the loss of such brave, usually young, men is heartbreaking. But they are a breed apart, and if asked to specify their preferred mode of demise would probably say a high speed bike crash was way better than a lingering death from a major disease.

And thank God there is still at least one place left where adventurers are allowed to take responsibility for how they choose to enjoy themselves. Almost everywhere else the nanny state purports to know better, and denies its citizens the fundamental right to seek excitement whilst endangering nobody else, albeit at high personal risk. Admittedly there is always some risk to someone somewhere, but how far do you go?

If we as a body of recreational pilots allow it, the nanny pollies will legislate us out of the skies on spurious safety grounds. Which will have the reverse effect, because people like me will just fly unregistered, unlicensed if necessary, and outside of reasonable airworthiness controls.

We ignore the writing on the wall at our peril.

Bruce

Ha! Call that expensive? -try living in Mudgee.

Bruce

Given how full of the brown stuff pollies are, led by Phony 'no funding cut for ABC' Abbot, this poo bus is the perfect way to at last get something useful out of them.

SolidWorks for me - it's such fun, animating 3D models.

Bruce