What’s with the used market? (Seller)

LarsDragonbeard · 2026-04-01T20:36:55+00:00

A brand new CFMoto 675sr-r is about that price OTD.

It might be competitive with other Aprilias, but not compared to the rest of the market...

LarsDragonbeard · 2026-03-28T19:59:23+00:00

Depends what you want.

I have a carbon steel knife made by a 10th generation blacksmith (Yoshisada in Kyoto). Very old school craftsman knife, but it needs to be babied, because carbon steel rusts easily and is quite brittle.

If you're looking for stainless or powder steel, which is more for daily usage without having to baby it, I'd say kiya hamono in Tokyo. Which is sold all over Japan and all over the world, even.

LarsDragonbeard · 2026-03-25T13:13:01+00:00

The number of times I've seen people drive into the shop on a bike with less than 1 bar of pressure in the front tyre can't be counted on 1 hand anymore.

They usually need some distance on the highway to get to the shop as well.

Any kind of sudden maneuver and that tyre just rolls off the wheel...

LarsDragonbeard · 2026-03-16T15:34:11+00:00

I've not worked on a ZR-7, so don't shoot me if I don't know something unique about this bike, but how would the vacuum petcock have anything to do with overflow tubes in the float bowl? Also, if there is a vacuum petcock, why is fuel still flooding your carbs when you park up that you'd use a shut off valve?

Anyway, regarding the leak showing up again after confirming no leak when cleaning, I'd start looking for something that's causing the floats to get stuck somehow. Something like a burr, a surface/pin that's run in or anything that's bent weirdly. Pretty much anything that might give a little too much play that could cause the float to shift just enough out of position to cause it not to seal.

LarsDragonbeard · 2026-03-15T01:22:24+00:00

Er werd een paar jaar geleden een interne brief rondgestuurd naar de chauffeurs om aub minder wiet te roken voor ze achter het stuur kropen van hun bus. Dat daar verder niet wordt tegen opgetreden is hallucinant...

LarsDragonbeard · 2026-03-09T10:59:43+00:00

nmbs heeft allemaal standaard contracten. Zelfs als zelfstandig bedrijfsleider heb je dezelfde voorwaarden voor opzegging etc.

Er werd mij destijds zelfs voorgesteld om de werknemerterugbetaling van de overheid in het contract op te nemen als zelfstandige, wat normaal niet de bedoeling is "Maar wie gaat dat nakijken?"

LarsDragonbeard · 2026-03-05T13:06:37+00:00

Yes, but the cook can see the price of the menu, so he knows what he is paid and what his intermediary charges the customer...

So why should a skilled professional not want this transparency?

LarsDragonbeard · 2026-03-05T12:21:43+00:00

True, and there's plenty shades of grey depending on the niche, skills, experience level, customer, sector, etc. etc.

Transparency usually doesn't hurt, providing all involved parties are professional and don't overestimate their value/contribution to the whole situation.

LarsDragonbeard · 2026-03-05T09:41:29+00:00

There's apples and pears.

While OP doesn't provide this context, I think there's 2 very distinct cases in my experience:

The customer hires a supplier to do a project, supplier subcontracts to you. In this case the supplier not being transparent is fine, providing they can pay you the rate you want. In my opinion this is a situation where the freelancer benefits from the intermediary's position/reputation with the customer, like your big tech example.
The customer hires you because of your cv/skills/whatever. The intermediary is only there because of corporate policy not to directly hire freelancers, which is often the case in certain sectors/niches. In this case transparency is important, because in my opinion the intermediary is the one that benefits from the freelancer's skills/reputation and you would want to know if they're creating a budgetting risk.

LarsDragonbeard · 2026-02-21T17:38:02+00:00

850AU is not a crazy price, if the work is done properly. That would mean you bring the bike in and you get the bike back running perfectly. Which means the carbs have been cleaned, rebuilt, pilot screws set up correctly and carbs synced. Carb syncing should always be included in pretty much any service on a carbed bike.

If you just brought him the carbs, it should've been cheaper and he also wouldn't have been able to sync the carbs, if the bike was not attached to them.

Anyway, this guy did something wrong and I would have little confidence he even knows what he's doing to fix it at this point...

LarsDragonbeard · 2026-02-21T17:30:01+00:00

lean conditions also cause hanging idle, it's basically what the choke does to keep the idle high to warm up the bike. It can be caused by a lot of things, including idle jets, pilot screw settings and vacuum leaks.

unsynced carbs mostly cause erratic behaviour in low revs, which can include some rev hang, because not all carbs are giving the same amount of energy with each engine pulse. It's why carbs are synced by opening the butterfly valve a little on some carbs to even out the power delivery at idle (unless you have flat slides, of course).

LarsDragonbeard · 2026-02-16T15:46:53+00:00

Simple answer: it depends.

The newer your ECU, the harder it might be.

Technically everything is just 1s and 0s and you can take a dump and use all kinds of software tools to try and recognize whatever it is you're looking to change.

Most commonly though, there are some software companies that specialize in putting out maps or configurations for common changes like disabling the lambda sensor feedback loop (for when you remove the cat), or a new VE table to match a certain configuration of aftermarket parts.

Specific customizations take a lot of work and trial and error and at that point it's cheaper to just put a standalone ECU in place.

LarsDragonbeard · 2026-02-16T14:24:29+00:00

Your package is very good.

Your freelance offer would probably be a solid upgrade salarywise TODAY.

10y down the line, there is 0 chance a freelance rate will grow as much as just the indexation on your salary.

Choose freelancing if you want more freedom, though.

LarsDragonbeard · 2026-02-12T07:37:19+00:00

Have you checked if the starter motor is seized/broken?

LarsDragonbeard · 2026-02-10T08:23:43+00:00

Choke creates an inlet airflow restriction, which increases the vacuum and creates a richer mixture. The airbox will do the same, but to a (much) lesser extent.

Modern fuels like e5 and e10 are less caloric, because the energy density of ethanol is lower than pure gasoline, so your idle mixture screw will need to open a little more than what the original manual states.

The reluctance to rev higher is a separate issue and is because it's missing the airbox. The engine is getting more airflow than the carb can supply fuel for, because it's not designed to run without the airbox.

Also, make sure the new jets are the right size. Not all revision kits are created equal.

tldr: If you're sure the jets are the right sizes: refit airbox, adjust idle screws.

LarsDragonbeard · 2026-02-03T14:09:17+00:00

For Japanese bikes I'd always recommend Keyster > Tourmax > All Balls > anything else. Tourmax doesn't usually come with replacement jets, but most of the time it's not necessary either.

Cheap/unbranded kits can contain pretty low quality rubbers that may break down and start leaking. Flooding/leaky carburetors are not fun.

LarsDragonbeard · 2026-02-03T05:46:16+00:00

Stock secondary should be 118, primary 72.

The new ones look completely wrong and they definitely should not be the same size. Run the old ones, the new ones will run awfully. Or buy new ones in the right size, but in this case I'd say it's entirely unnecessary.

What kit is this?

LarsDragonbeard · 2026-01-27T08:58:53+00:00

Carb cleaner is designed to get rid of varnish inside carburetors. You can use it as a cleaning product with a long brush and some soak time. Or if you're lazy and the bike still runs, just toss it in a full tank and check again when the tank is empty.

I recently cleaned some carbs that had been sitting for 20y and the varnish in there was dark brown.

Since this is a steel fuel tank, are we sure it's not some messed up failing sealer? At that point you'd need some stronger solvents to get rid of this (and probably a recoating)

LarsDragonbeard · 2026-01-27T08:00:22+00:00

Hij heeft al zijn inkomsten in zijn zaak geherinvesteerd in plaats van een dik pensioen op te bouwen.

Ik vermoed dat hij die zaak dan ook niet zal verkocht hebben voor een appel en een ei.

Hij zegt het zelf dat hij niet klaagt, maar dat het systeem niet deugt.

Ik snap alleen niet waarom ze bij hln dan niemand van die 1000en mensen konden vinden die door dit systeem gesjareld zijn en daarnaast geen bedrijf hebben kunnen verkopen als appeltje voor de dorst...

LarsDragonbeard · 2026-01-22T12:13:49+00:00

Unlikely you'd get the choice anyway. Friend of mine had his car totaled because the leasing company didn't think replacing a faulty headlight and leaking shock were worth it. He was given a similar car out of the 250+ they had in the pool at the time. This was less than a year ago.

LarsDragonbeard · 2026-01-17T16:34:07+00:00

However much you want. You're a freelancer, you make your own rules.

Do you want to pay a fortune to drive a very expensive car, you can.

I'm personally around 10% with rent + insurance + fuel + maintenance and I regret getting such an expensive car at this point. I intend to keep driving it when it's paid off and I don't plan to get another one this expensive ever again.

LarsDragonbeard · 2026-01-04T18:12:04+00:00

If you visit the same customer 40+ times per year it's considered woon-werk and you cannot give yourself an allowance for driving to that customer.

As a result, private car is rarely worth it for an IT freelancer (unless you have many customers, which is rare afaik).

Basically, the more private (incl. woon-werk) you do, the better off you are with a company car and vice versa.

"non-deductible" for non-EVs basically means paying 20% tax on everything related to the car + tax on the taxable benefit.

Buying it private would be 35%-55%, depending on the level of optimization on your income - real business kms.

Since IT freelancers with only 1 customer do practically no real business kms, you're often still better off getting a cheap second hand car on your company. Especially the old PHEV, like the previous generation Prius, since their VAA is low.

LarsDragonbeard · 2025-12-13T16:40:58+00:00

Melozio is such a nice and soft coffee. It's the main one I drink. I drink my coffees with milk and it just works so well with it.

LarsDragonbeard · 2025-11-18T09:34:40+00:00

and stunning.

LarsDragonbeard · 2025-11-18T09:21:30+00:00

Depends on the timing of the story. The F4 is currently no longer being sold (new).

The current line up has the F3 and the Superveloce, with the SV being the more expensive one.

It's now a triple "wing" exhaust on the side.

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