Re: Exam grades and stuff (OT?)

real-address-in-sig@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Rowland McDonnell) wrote in
news:1i7uwux.14343gw492y0pN%real-address-in-sig@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx:

Mandy <mandy2uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

real-address-in-sig@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Rowland McDonnell) wrote:

Mandy <mandy2uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

real-address-in-sig@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Rowland McDonnell) wrote:

Mandy <mandy2uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

real-address-in-sig@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Rowland McDonnell) wrotet:

Mandy <mandy2uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

real-address-in-sig@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Rowland McDonnell)
wrote:
[snip]

Gasket goo is special gloop in a tube that you smear over a
joint to make it seal better - - the stuff comes out of the
tube a bit like jam, and dries to a thin, sticky layer that
never quite sets; it's not like bath sealant at all, although
some people use that sort of thing (and cause problems). `Goo'
is the only word you can use to describe the stuff. Anyway, you
need to clean it off the metal surfaces to be joined when you
take a gasketed joint apart so you've got nice clean metal to
put a fresh layer of goo on - and while you're at it, there will
be bits of gasket glued in place too, and that's got to be
scraped off *without damaging the flat aluminium surface it's
on*.

*ducks as this goes over the top of my head too* Sorry!

<chuckle> You'd understand in less than a second if I *showed*
you; but the words are going to be hard to understand unless you've
got a clear mental picture of what's going on and while I could
provide that in writing, do you really care?

If I didn't care I wouldn't reply! :o)

I have little understanding of human interactions, but I've noticed
that many people do reply when uninterested.


I've got 3 main moods - "normal" (like I am now), "depressed" (like I was
before I went in to hospital) and "angry" (which hardly ever happens) -
everything else happens rarely so I don't count them. If I'm depressed
or angry then I come out with a load of twaddle that I just need to get
off my chest at the time and I just so happen to be here when that
happens.

[snip]

I found out after I'd rebuilt the thing that Honda had designed
that engine very carefully so that it was easy to build and could
be built with a lot of automation - which explains why there was
nothing fiddly to do at all.

(until I got it back in the bike, that is - but that's more to do
with the workshop manual telling you to fit *that* bit of the
exhaust to the engine before you fit it into the frame, but telling
you right at the end of the `refitting the engine' instructions,
after you've fitted the engine. The manual said that it's
impossible to fit that particular bit when the engine's in the
frame. Well, I'd fitted the bloody engine and I wasn't going to
damned well take it out unless I had to, so I used some ingenuity
and a bizarre collection of oddly arranged tools and damned well
did it anyway. Yes of course it cost me some blood - no way was I
going to avoid skinned knuckles doing *that*)

It sounds like they should have re-written the instructions!!

Well, yes, but they write the instructions once and then that's that
for ever. The manual was by Clymer. Some people really like Clymer
workshop manuals: I gather that the modern ones are not so bad.


Ah right! :o)

[snip]

But I'm not good enough at riding yet.

You sound better than a lot of bikers!

Well, yes, of course I am. I wouldn't dare ride at all if I weren't
an awful lot better than most.


Goodo! You sound like a really safe biker!

[snip]

The ST1300 is a huge strange beast so it's called something
different even though it's a Honda too. The `ST' might stand for
`shaft tourer' - 'cos it's a touring bike with a shaft drive (and a
V-4 engine mounted at 90° to the way mine's mounted, but that makes
no sense without a diagram).

<http://www.motorsports-network.com/HONDA/cbr11xx/xxtest.HTM>
<http://www.superblackbird.com/default.cfm>

<http://www.motorcycledaily.com/26june02honda2003st1300.html>

Blimey! All 3 look like powerful machines!

<grin> Look again - there's only two different bikes. And they are
quite powerful - although the ST1300 isn't hugely powerful or hugely
fast. Not slow, mind - but the top speed's only around 130mph, IIRC.
The Blackbird will get up to nearly 180mph on the flat. And that is
very very very very fast indeed.


It sounds it!!

Thing is, both bikes are designed by Honda as touring machines!


Ah right :o)

The Blackbird (which is what they're normally called) is - well,
very sleek, the size of a normal bike, but it's designed as a
high speed touring bike and will get close to 180mph if you ask
it to.

Blimey!!

The Suzuki Hayabusa used to be capable of `probably over 200mph'
until they fitted it with a 300km/hr speed limiter (186 mph) - any
new Hayabusa has a speed limiter.

!!! What I don't get is why cars and bikes are able to go that fast
when the speed limit is more than (or is it less than?) half that
speed!

The speed limit is no more than 70mph - in the UK, at the moment.
Once upon a time, motorways in the UK had no speed limit. Autobahns
in Germany still have no overall speed limit.


!!! Blimey!

One might argue that the law in the UK is at fault for not permitting
vehicle owners to use their machinery as it was designed.


But what about all the accidents that already happens on roads? Maybe
only increase/wipe out the speed limit for dual carrigeways and
motorways?

Also: if you want to be able to drive up and down hills with a load,
and you've only got a top speed of 70mph due to a lack of power,
you'll find that you go very very slowly up the hills. This is not
particularly sensible.


Ah right! :o)

I read of someone who claimed to have sat in a Volvo truck cab that
got up to 125mph in the absence of a trailer. It had a use for all
that power: hauling a 38 tonne load up steep hills.


!!! blimey!

[snip]

Back when my VF5000 was still on the road and it had the entirely
legal aftermarket silencers I bought it with, I once had a whole
crowd of schoolboys at the bus stop give me a rousing cheer as I
rode past. I was late. I'd come round the slow corner slowly, and
then opened up for the wide corner and steep climb. It's not just
the speed that it's all about, it's the noise too - I gave those
lads a spectacle, the sort of thrill you should only see at a race
track, except that's just too boring for words, that is.

It must have been quite a sight!

I think it was the sound that got me the cheer, although they'd've
looked on keenly even without the noise.


I thought silencers were supposed to reduce noise though?!?

[snip]

And then I'd like a Laverda Jota because they're big and orange
and utterly awesome with three cylinders (I like triples) and I
think I'd like the handling - which isn't much liked by most
moderns, but...

... but you want one anyway?

No question about it. And never mind the suggestions in the glossy
mags, you're a lot more likely to pull the chicks with a bike like
that than most modern ones, if you're in to that sort of thing.

Ah right! :o)

When I was young, I knew a chap who got himself a very cute schoolgirl
in part due to his very flashy motorcycle... Chap was 17; she was 14
(but old enough, if you get my meaning). His dad was unhappy. So was
the headmistress of the private school he used to pick her up from -
wheelying his way out of the playground one day with lassie on the
back, straight past the headmistresses office window, although he did
confide to me that was an accidental wheelie, that was.


He controlled it though and no-one got hurt... right?

Are you? I mean, do you often find yourself going out trying to
use your motorised transport to improve your chances with the
girls?

Nope, I'm happy with Steve and I'd prolly come off a bike before I
even left the road we live in!

Slow stuff's harder. Up to a point, the quicker you go, the more
stable the bike.


Oh right!

Why do you think so many motorcyclists come a cropper?

Because they aren't used to the power of their bike?

Not to the extent that they don't have the ability to control
the vehicle. Some very dangerous riders I've seen have had much
better vehicle control skills than me in some respects - I'd
never dare try to hold a wheelie for (maybe) 200 yards at 90mph
and accelerating, but I watched one nutcase do that on the, erm,
M602 (IIRC) coming out of Manchester one day.

!!! Blimey!

I had slightly stronger words to say - to the inside of my own
helmet, which was also speeding up the same motorway, so no-one
could hear me.

I don't blame you! If I'd seen that I would have pulled over to calm
myself down!

<cackle> I've been known to do that - but only if something scary's
happened, and that ain't scary. Curiously, I've found that I calm
down quickest if I don't pull over - just slow down to `truck driving
speed' (well, `sane truck driver not from the West Country or similar
foreign parts', I should say) and pootle along carefully until ths
shakes have stopped.


Sounds sensible to me! :o)

What do I find scary? Oh, 125mph front wheel lock-ups (yep, I have),
that sort of thing.


!!! blimey!!

But I've seen madder riding - at least that clown was riding down a
straight, empty road. I've seen mad wheelies being done to
overtake on a windy, up-and-down single-carriageway A road in
Yorkshire full of busy bank holiday traffic. And he didn't do it
just the once.

<raises eyebrows> !!!

I wouldn't mind, but when Darwin deals with that sort of thing, others
often get hurt too.


*nodding* It sounds like those sorts of riders are looking to die on
their bike!

And I've seen madder than that - with both wheels on the ground.
I've sat on the back when madder things have been going on. I have
on rare occasions screwed up so badly that I've been madder myself.
But at least it was always accidental and I've never repeated a
mistake of that sort.

It sounds like the roads around you are full of a bunch of nutters!

My tales of riding come from all parts of England and quite a lot of
Wales.


Ah right!

It's just different in different places. If you want serious
nutcases, take a look in London.


Yup! I expect there are all sorts of nutters riding bikes in London!

Rowland.




--
Stay Safe, Mandy
Money talks, chocolate sings
http://tinyurl.com/2s8nu6 and http://tinyurl.com/2khdnm
http://tinyurl.com/35hucu and http://tinyurl.com/3xxggu
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Exam grades and stuff (OT?)
    ... You use a gasket designed for the job - if paper or cardboard is what's ... so you need synthetic rubber for that sort of thing. ... engine, so they're made out of metal at least on the inside edges. ... gasket (my first bike, that was for). ...
    (uk.people.support.depression)
  • Re: Exam grades and stuff (OT?)
    ... some people use that sort of thing. ... high speed touring bike and will get close to 180mph if you ask ... The speed limit is no more than 70mph - in the UK, ... Something needs to be done about them: but hardly any accidents are ...
    (uk.people.support.depression)
  • Re: Exam grades and stuff (OT?)
    ... some people use that sort of thing. ... designed as a high speed touring bike and will get close to ... The speed limit is no more than 70mph - in the UK, ... Something needs to be done about them: but hardly any accidents are ...
    (uk.people.support.depression)
  • Re: Exam grades and stuff (OT?)
    ... sort of thing. ... engine very carefully so that it was easy to build and could be built ... very sleek, the size of a normal bike, but it's designed as a high ...
    (uk.people.support.depression)
  • Re: Exam grades and stuff (OT?)
    ... That sort of gasket is what you ... fuel/air inside your engine, so they're made out of metal at least on ... for a head gasket (my first bike, ...
    (uk.people.support.depression)
Loading