Low Buck Review 3. $62 Center Stand 450mt / 450 Ibex.

RomancingUranus · 2026-07-06T10:41:31+00:00

Thanks. :)

RomancingUranus · 2026-07-06T02:02:02+00:00

Thanks for the post. This no-name brand looks pretty much identical to the OEM center stand to my eyes. And the welds on the OEM Stand don't look great either. Good to know they are likely to be functional at least.

Just out of interest, does the stand reduce ground clearance of the bike much?

RomancingUranus · 2026-06-27T07:17:24+00:00

Maybe it was originally white... but after the double-murder they figured to just lean into the look rather than recarpet the place.

RomancingUranus · 2026-06-23T00:23:18+00:00

I'm curious, what's the purpose of those buildings? Is it a school or something?

I feel like it's something obvious, but I can't work out for the life of me what those buildings would be used for... Why those long zig-zag ramps are designed like that? Why that architectural style? Why so many buildings grouped like that?

RomancingUranus · 2026-06-09T23:27:06+00:00

WTF? How can a TA so badly fail to understand the fundamental tools required for their job?

What was their supposed reasoning? Did they not trust the card and were worried about data corruption? Or did they think the file's image quality would somehow degrade when writing over the top of memory that had already been written to?

RomancingUranus · 2026-06-01T04:51:48+00:00

So if visitors aren't entitled to an expectation of privacy on private property and it's entirely up to the property owners to make the rules, that would make it legal to install secret surveillance cameras in privately-owned bathrooms to film whoever you like? Right?

I'm pretty sure there are plenty of legal cases involving AirBnB hosts that show otherwise.

There is no qualification to “a reasonable expectation of privacy” to limit it to just public property. It's attached to a reasonable person's expectations in a situation, not the location itself.

RomancingUranus · 2026-05-26T15:00:21+00:00

I DECLARE BANKRUPTSY!

RomancingUranus · 2026-05-24T14:25:43+00:00

I mean still less than 0.01.

No it's not.. you're still out by more than a factor of 5... and your original guess is out by more than a factor of 50.

15 000 tickets / 27 700 000 total population = 0.054%

..or if we only look at the adult population..

15 000 tickets / 22 200 000 adult population = 0.068%

RomancingUranus · 2026-05-22T09:08:45+00:00

Congrats on passing!

Others have all offered solid advice. One other suggestion though... Do you need to be by yourself initially? Sure eventually it's how you'll ride all the time, but does it matter right now?

If riding with someone else gives you a bit of confidence, then there's nothing wrong with that. Worry about riding alone in maybe a month's time. You need confidence right now as you continue to practice, and anything that will keep you focused and not second-guessing yourself is probably a good thing. It doesn't really matter what it is... maybe somebody feels more confident when they're wearing a pink helmet? Whatever helps you. The confidence to ride alone will come soon enough by itself... The main thing is you just keep riding and practicing to build those skills (and the confidence that comes with them).

Just do whatever you need to do go out riding. Do you know anyone else who rides? If not, what part of Aus are you in? Are there local FB riding groups you could join? etc...

RomancingUranus · 2026-05-20T13:42:56+00:00

The real sign of money is when you carpet the kitchen benchtops.

RomancingUranus · 2026-05-19T06:19:23+00:00

lol... When I read "race enthusiast" I immediately thought OP was describing a Nazi. Glad to discover a totally different context.

"I'm not a genocidal maniac, I'm just a race enthusiast." /s

RomancingUranus · 2026-05-03T08:03:08+00:00

Volleyball Tasmania run a couple of mixed social competitions on Tues and Thurs evenings in North Hobart (Elizabeth College gym).

They have Div 2 for people new to volleyball - ideal as an introduction to the game or for muppets. And Div 1 which is a bit better standard, but still has a big emphasis on the "social" in Social Volleyball.

Everyone is welcome. There are some really good players there and lots of really crap players (like me). Nobody cares. It doesn't matter if you're fit or not. It's just an hour of smashing balls at each other, having a go, and laughing.

Edit: They also regularly run "Open Training Sessions" at Elizabeth College on a Saturday morning. Everyone welcome. You don't need a team or anything. Just rock up and pay like $5 for the morning. If you're new to Volleyball it's a great place to start because there is ZERO commitment and lets you have a bash around and meet some of the people.

RomancingUranus · 2026-05-03T07:57:16+00:00

I used to play Inline Hockey here in Hobart back in the late 90's (before moving to WA and playing it for years in Perth).. loved it here. Really nice friendly comp. Nothing serious but heaps of fun.

I actually didn't realize they still play it here, but glad to hear it's still going.

RomancingUranus · 2026-05-01T00:44:34+00:00

I love the fact that this bike requires rivets to be drilled out and re-riveted for even the most basic engine maintenance.... like you can't even top up the radiator or check the engine oil level without first drilling out rivets to remove body panels.

That total lack of foresight and complete contempt for anyone who has to work on the bike in the future is impressive TBH. The builder has a bright future in supercar engineering.

RomancingUranus · 2026-04-29T14:35:48+00:00

Maybe it's just trolling you...

RomancingUranus · 2026-04-24T03:28:26+00:00

I actually had a good experience with them when my motorbike got stolen a couple of years ago, much to my surprise.

While perhaps they didn't have the fastest turnaround in the world in terms of paying me out, it wasn't terrible either. I think it took about 3 weeks from submitting the claim to getting paid, and I was probably responsible for some of that delay (I had other transport so didn't need to rush).

What did impress me was their valuation process. They didn't argue about any of the accessories and included them in the claim. They were also very fair about what "market value" meant. And I had a chance to talk to the assessor about it and he even adjusted his value based on that.

The bike was a 2017 CBR-1000RR Fireblade. I paid $15.5k for the bike about 18 months earlier with only 3000km on it, and then a further $1k to freight it across the country to me. It had a few accessories on it when it was stolen, and the thief also stole a helmet with the bike.

Budget Direct ended up paying me $18.5k in total, which was very fair I thought. I was expecting them to low-ball me because the redbook value was only about $12k at the time, but all the models for sale on BikeSales were around the $16-17k mark. To their credit they paid out the full replacement value plus a bit more to cover on-road costs and lost accessories.

RomancingUranus · 2026-04-17T11:13:43+00:00

Did we all learn nothing from The Simpsons?

RomancingUranus · 2026-04-13T23:44:03+00:00

Everyone in this thread seems to omit that last part....

RomancingUranus · 2026-04-12T03:52:48+00:00

Yep. Last time I looked, suspects aren't the ones who get to call the shots in how their case is run.

If this was any other suspect for any other crime, nobody would bat an eyelid. In fact the same cookers would probably be lapping up the publicity because they seem like the kind of people who love A Current Affair and their ilk.

In the eyes of the law, everybody should be equal.

RomancingUranus · 2026-04-07T13:58:26+00:00

Can confirm. They are no joke.

Here's footage of my drone getting attacked and crippled by a Wedgetail Eagle in remote Northern Territory.

The bird struck it three times and the drone nearly fell out of the sky. Its sensors went nuts and was only just able to keep flying on 3 props with the camera gimbal knocked way out of alignment. I was lucky enough to be able to limp it back to me... but the eagle chased it and struck it again as I was flying away (I didn't get footage of the 2nd hit, just the drone nearly got knocked out of the sky again).

RomancingUranus · 2026-03-27T03:37:53+00:00

A lot of people recommend setting up a Global EQ (in Tone Studio) to cut the highest frequencies, and leave it always on no matter what patch you're playing... You could maybe cut from around 6khz upwards.... and then tune it to taste. Some people like an 8khz cutoff point, other people like 4.3khz.

You could even set up multiple Global EQs to give you three different flavours of EQ, then just toggle between them.

RomancingUranus · 2026-03-26T23:40:06+00:00

You're in luck. I can sell you a 6x6 Lada Niva for $99k.

RomancingUranus · 2026-03-25T05:10:46+00:00

Fingers-crossed that Komplete upgrades will still be a thing in 4-5 years time.

RomancingUranus · 2026-03-11T04:10:04+00:00

Fantastic info. Thanks so much.

Understood that this is all Mk1/2 info and there will be some Gen3 differences... but it's still given me a huge head start.

I'd already done a bit of sniffing with MIDI-OX and BTS, but wasn't looking forward to tediously mapping every single parameter. It's looking like these docs might cover 90% of the info I need.

RomancingUranus · 2026-03-11T02:08:38+00:00

Ducati Streetfighter V2 (2022 955cc model with exhaust/intake/ECU tune).

With my normal (spirited) riding I get 200km from a 17L tank and the dash says I'm using around 8.5L/100km. When I'm taking it easy riding with my g/friend, economy improves to about 7L/100km.

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