cubastreet

On 01/08/2023 at 19:21, GregT said:

I remember carrying a tyre inflator which went in the plug hole. Nice if you rode a multi - but if it was a single you had to kick-pump it.

When the water cooled regs came in for speedway TQ's I was quite keen to build a K75. Couldn't find a competitor who'd join in. Very nice compact triple with a low CoG and shaft drive. Ideal.

Shaft drive is ideal? 

I would have thought it would make gearing for different courses a royal ballache.

Citroën Ami looks suitably strange.

Mid 80s K75 so almost cheap rego and it'll live forever. I'd like one myself. 

Modern cars are built way safer with stability control, collision avoidance, airbags etc. No amount of wof checks are going to change that though.

Interesting how focused the media are on EV fires. Yeah they're harder to put out, but they catch fire way less than petrol cars. There are almost two hundred thousand vehicle fires on USA highways each year.

When an EV catches fire though, it's international news. When a ship carrying EVs catches fire, everyone wants to point the finger at the EVs without any real evidence. 

I just watched convoy for the first time since about 1983.

Truckin' good.

Going way off topic but the current WOF system is ridiculous.

A 20 year old car gets a 12 month WOF. These are probably the cheapest, most neglected dailies around. 

A 40 year old classic only gets a 6 month WOF. These cars likely get more love than 20 year old cars and do lower mileage. In the UK they don't need an MOT (WOF) at all. I haven't heard it's been a problem since this went into effect so assume there hasn't been a huge spike in cars falling apart on the motorways etc.

From what I read, the early (2011-2013?) Leafs had a shit heater that drained your battery massively, as well as the worst battery. After that it was better but only some have a heat pump. Is there an easy way to tell if a JDM leaf has a heat pump?

No politics in ev spam etc, but one of the parties that are most likely to be in control has said they'll scrap it. 

You're right @Willdat? the RUCs are inevitable and will make a big difference. It's already pretty borderline if you're paying 80c/kWh to fast charge. Once I set up my new solar system I can charge off the sun for the most part though.

I'm wondering if the next few months might be a good time to buy an old leaf.

There's a reasonable chance the freebate system will be scrapped before long. As soon as that's announced, I think we'll see the same reaction as when it came in. Lots of people wanting an electric car with discount will push up the prices of fresh imports and the prices of older imports will follow suit.

Yeah I've seen some amazing things done to vespas in SE Asia. Rolled up tin cans as bearings and multiple wrecked frames welded together with bog like marzipan icing on a Christmas cake to make them look mint.

They're pretty skilled at polishing turds.

Cool I thought you'd try and get the same bikes to share spare parts but having different ones might be more fun.

That will be awesome @Mop Head what bikes will you be riding?

I wonder what they're like to ride. 24hp and 200kg sounds awful but people keep buying them.

Is the interfacing not sewn into the cover? I don't know much about upholstery but I guess spotlight would be a good place to try.

2 hours ago, Jusepy82 said:

I have a new seat cover for the 200 but have not found any suitable foam and materials to refurbish it myself yet.. any suggestions would be mint thanks

Para cut foam to order

I have a leaf in the drive for a few days thanks to @Ned

First impressions are that as an appliance, it's very good. It's not fun to drive, but it's the easiest car I've ever driven. That flat torque curve and no gears makes it totally effortless.

Were you on a gn125 when you asked?

Cos pausing it when it gets to the letters and changing the filament is cheating.

No but I would.

The thing I look out for with wet clutch bikes is that the oil doesn't have friction modifiers, which can cause clutch slip.

When I was 3 or 4 years old I saw sidecar racing on TV and told mum when I grow up I'm gonna get one and drive her around in it.

Still keen, but time is running out.

It's also going to depend on how much you use your car/s each day. A slow charger is 2kW, which will give something like 10km range per hour. If you use your car up to 100km/day, this will probably be OK.

Is that a well known upgrade?

Turned out the inside pad was worn to the backing plate on that wheel so it looked OK through the rim and no squealing because the wire is on the outside pad.

I don't know why, the caliper wasn't stuck, the rotor was ok. Maybe just a bad pad. Sorted now.

20 hours ago, locost_bryan said:

A slightly underwhelming writeup, as they only tested the Peugeot e-Partner, and only give a passing mention to the much cheaper LDV options.  A used Nissan EV-200 has to be the best option for most tradies who only drive to one or two local jobs each day (and can charge it off the client's temporary power supply  ).

https://www.stuff.co.nz/motoring/132326336/would-you-give-up-your-diesel-ute-for-an-electric-van

They didn't sell well with such a tiny battery so they were discontinued and they're an expensive ticking time-bomb now because the leaf battery won't fit so you can't throw a new one in.