New ride!

[arcticXS]

Yeah, seems there's a growing number of areas of life where you do business with a corporation and they more or less seem to think from then on they have you by the short & curlies and expect you to keep on spending & spending.

Car manufacturers are really bad. In Norway you have to change to winter tyres in the fall/ autumn, and back to summer tyres in the spring. Some newer cars require some kind of resetting or pairing of wheel pressure sensors with the car electronics every time wheels are changed. So you may have to visit the dealership twice per year, at least half an hour shop rate each time. Shop rates are at least $150 per hour. That is very close to blackmail in my book....

My local VW dealer sent me an email, a sales pitch for their wheel/tyre "Hotel". That is performing two wheel changes per year, cleaning and storing the 4 wheels not in use. I did not even check the cost, as I knew it would be a ripoff for sure. But I emailed back, asking what they are smoking....

 

[bosco659]

Car manufacturers are really bad. In Norway you have to change to winter tyres in the fall/ autumn, and back to summer tyres in the spring. Some newer cars require some kind of resetting or pairing of wheel pressure sensors with the car electronics every time wheels are changed. So you may have to visit the dealership twice per year, at least half an hour shop rate each time. Shop rates are at least $150 per hour. That is very close to blackmail in my book....

My local VW dealer sent me an email, a sales pitch for their wheel/tyre "Hotel". That is performing two wheel changes per year, cleaning and storing the 4 wheels not in use. I did not even check the cost, as I knew it would be a ripoff for sure. But I emailed back, asking what they are smoking....

That’s exactly what’s happening here. To get a discount on insurance, you need to have snow tires on from November 1st through to April first. These dates vary by insurance company. The TPMS (tire pressure monitoring system) needs to be reset each time my tires are changed. I drive a Toyota 4Runner. When the snows go on, reset. When the factory wheels go back on, reset again. I get the fact the aftermarket TPMS sensors may be foreign to the truck’s ecu, but I would have thought when the factory wheels and sensors went back on all would be good, but no. Fortunately my friend has a shop and does the reset for a very reasonable fee. He does the tire storage thing too.

 

[bosco659]

New engine protector / skid plate. Installed to keep junk from front tire off of the engine. Has to come off to get to the oil filter though.

 

[bosco659]

Poorly positioned “rabbit ear” mirrors were replaced with bar end mirrors. With the factory mirror, I could only see my elbows and shoulders. These bar end mirrors are nice. They’re the “lane splitter” model than fold in if bumped or for storage. Rebuildable too.

 

[bosco659]

Finally I bought this stand to store the bike on. Waiting for an adaptor plate so I can put it into service. I’ll attach a video to show how it works - pretty cool.

 

[bosco659]

Not my bike but stand use demonstrated. Don’t think I’d hop on the bike while it’s hanging on the stand.

 

[bosco659]

Well at long last I got the adaptor plate to fit this stand to the Ducati. There’s fitment issues but I’ll fix them up over time. Here’s some photos of the bike hanging on its stand. All was going well until one of the adjuster bolts sheared. Bike didn’t fall down, the front wheel just lowered making contact with the driveway. It was my fault for not torquing the main mount bolt down.

It’s not rolling around as freely as I thought it would. May be weight distribution. Will look into it after I get other issues resolved.

The rod though the rear axle is for a temporary paddock stand.

 

[Mailman]

That’s a nice stand, I like it!

 

[TX650A Van Islander]

Love those bar end mirrors! I had the same ones on my "06 Honda 919. That stand is a great tool.

 

[bosco659]

Installed a fly screen on the bike tonight. Don’t think it will deflect much air but I thought it looked cool.

 

[Mailman]

Installed a fly screen on the bike tonight. Don’t think it will deflect much air but I thought it looked cool.


View attachment 236701

That screen looks great on there! You’ll be surprised how much that little screen can do. When you’re running at highway speeds it’ll take a lot of pressure off of your torso and leave your helmet in a clean flow of air. I ran a similar one on my ‘77 and liked it.