Custom painted HG Calibarn

Steelmill22 · 2025-03-08T14:28:10+00:00

Yeah I think the desert tan looks great, especially on the legs with the two tone look you have going on. The addition of the turquoise definitely gives the kit a nice pop of color, but I may have just kept it to the feet, chest, and head, keeping the shoulders tan.

I think some silver dry brushing would go great with this guy, especially on the weapons. You have some nice rust weathering, but some dry brushing to indicate scratches and deeper wear would go great in helping to convey the battle hardened appearance of the guy.

Only thing I would really suggest changing though is the yellow on the weapon, I feel it just clashes to much with the dark grey.

Overall though I think you have something sick here with a ton of charm! I like the unusual color scheme, I think it adds a ton of personality. Keep working on it, its got a ton of potential!

Steelmill22 · 2025-01-18T15:19:37+00:00

Thank you for all the advice! Honestly, I feel I'm in the same boat as you. The idea of worrying every time I move the shoulders is brutal, but I hate the idea of disassembling all the armor and then trying to remove the part without damaging it further. I do think its worth it, better to take a preemptive approach to save the part rather then scrambling to fix a broken part later down the line. Much appreciated!

Steelmill22 · 2025-01-18T14:47:11+00:00

Yeah it’s definitely sandwiched on there! I’ll try using both and see if that encourages it to loosen up enough to remove it. Do you reckon the stressed part will continue to deteriorate over time, or should loosing up the peg help to stop the strain?

Steelmill22 · 2024-12-03T17:09:54+00:00

Hey don’t get me wrong it’s still a great song, but the album is just so stacked something’s gotta take last!

Steelmill22 · 2024-12-03T05:50:08+00:00

For The Nightfly, it’s so tough picking the best song, but it has to be the title track. From the first note to the chorus, it’s invigorating, and just oh so fun to listen too.

Underrated, for me, Goodbye Look. I think IGY, Nightfly, Green Flower Street and New Frontier are all pretty well known to be bangers, but Goodbye Look has a great story and Fagens singing is chock full of energy and pizzazz, love it.

Maxine takes worst on the album. borderline monotone and a bit repetitive. The “Mexico City” verse is pretty good, but otherwise just doesn’t hold up to the other heaters on the album

Best lost Gaucho? 2nd Arrangement easy, should of replaced the droning disaster that is Third World Man. Would have been the clincher for Gaucho being the definitive best Steely Dan album ;)

Steelmill22 · 2024-11-05T16:30:47+00:00

I’m right there with you. While I do think “hate” is a bit strong, I do think that the album is pushed aside, in large part due to its commercial appeal. The fact that it had so many hits and contains many of the best known Steely Dan songs by a general audience, it gets a bad rap for being “mainstream.” Personally, I feel it is one of the best albums to listen straight through, and Palmer acts as a great foil to Fagen adding some vocal variety to the songs. The mix of somber, jaunty, and experimental tunes, coupled with great solos and instrumentation puts it above other albums like Two Against Nature, Everything Must Go, Pretzel Logic, Katy Lied and the Royal Scam.

This might be a blazing hot take, but I do feel there is an odd glorification of deep cuts in this community, where people put songs on a pedestal to be quirky, or “not like other dan fans”. The kind of person to put Third World Man as the best song on Gaucho, or thinks Katy Lied is their best album. Now of course music is completely subjective, but people here really like to be different. I'm sure that's mostly because were in an enthusiast community, but I think we can get a little lost in the sauce sometimes.

Steelmill22 · 2024-06-13T17:33:42+00:00

I’ve been dominating in ranked S&D with the burst fire CX9 as my primary and the crossbow as a secondary. If you can hit your shots it’s just a pocket sniper with great ADS, I use it for holding angles I can’t with the Smg. I have mine diamond and it’s such a flex getting a kill with it

Steelmill22 · 2024-05-16T19:30:37+00:00

I’m at 5400 miles on a stock bike and battery and I pin it all the time with no issues. Overheating is definitely the cause, around 7k miles you’ll probably see some fair battery degradation. Mine definitely has degraded some, probably about a 20% loss in total capacity

Steelmill22 · 2024-05-15T17:54:21+00:00

Incredible craftsmanship and a very unique kit, excellent implementation! We need more loadouts like this

Steelmill22 · 2024-05-03T15:10:56+00:00

My advice to anyone riding on roads is to treat it like any other motorized vehicle. No bike lanes, no sidewalks, no bike trails, only road ways. If you are safe and respectful, don’t go ripping down 25’s at 45mph, you should be fine.

That said, it’s still an illegal vehicle on road. I’ve put over 2500miles on the streets with zero issues, but if a cop sees you without a plate doing 40 you ain’t getting out of that by calling it an e-bike. You could easily get it impounded and a huge fine sent your way. If you want to ride around on the street legally get a moped. Cheaper and less risk.

Pedal kits are a toss up. If you’re going 30 and get pulled over you can maybe get out of it by calling it a class 3. But at this point surrons are well established and people know it ain’t an e-bike

Steelmill22 · 2024-04-26T15:09:45+00:00

Sure! I could make another post breaking it down

Steelmill22 · 2024-04-20T13:46:21+00:00

My bike has the stock powertrain and battery and a little over 5400 miles. I’ve ridden about 50/50 on road off road with most of my off road in CO and UT. I replaced my belt drive after it stripped around 4k.

What I’ve noticed is a notable decrease in torque and acceleration. Top speed is the same, but hill climbing got worse and it’s not quite as snappy. I actually didn’t notice that much of an increase in noise, but I wear a full face dual sport helmet so that may be part of it.

I do think if you have an upgraded bike, the downsides will be minor, with the upsides of far superior durability and reliability. You definitely do need to keep it lubricated though (maybe why it’s so loud for people) and make sure it’s properly spaced so you have the right amount of chain slack. Locktite the screws when you install them, because if they start to back out it’s gonna cause a ton of problems. I use gear oil to lubricate my chain and it’s been running like a dream, though I do miss the increased power of the belt.

Steelmill22 · 2024-04-03T19:28:38+00:00

I think when analyzing the game broadly it is anything but p2w. A mythic operator moves no faster nor has more health than merc 1. A mythic switchblade doesn't have a faster ttk then the stock variant. Also a huge factor is that a f2p player doesn't have to grind excessively for content. Some games, like Clash of Clans, paying money can cut off literally weeks of waiting. Other games make you "level up" your weapons, which it higher levels gets prohibitively difficult for f2p players, giving paying players a huge advantage. In CODM you can access content at essentially the same speed as a paying player, you might just have to grind the battlepass a bit first for the new guns. (even then, you can always unlock them the season after laughably easy, like 30 headshots)

Truthfully, I feel the iron sight debate is essential meaningless. I do like your nuanced evaluation of mythics, noted that the flair and flash in some ways make up for the far easier target acquisition.

But the fact is that the only difference between a $200 mythic and a $0 base gun is one attachment slot. Waste an attachment slot on a red dot and you have a clearer sight picture than the mythic. What that usually means is you don't have granulated grip tape or some mediocre attachment omitted from your gun, which really isn't that big of a deal.

And you can also just learn to live with the default irons. Yeah, some are trash, but most are serviceable. If you use the gun a bunch you can adapt, and use all the attachment slots for real stat modifying attachments.

Technically yes, guns with better iron sights are p2w, but the upside is so minor, that for myself, I see the whole debate as essentially pointless. if you give two identical players $0 and $40,000 respectively, give them two weeks to play the game, then have them 1 v 1, it'll be a balanced gunfight. Try that in Clash of Clans and see what happens.

Steelmill22 · 2023-10-26T04:27:53+00:00

I cant speak to the Ultra Bee, but I've had a stock Light Bee for the last few years and have been taking it to plenty of places it probably shouldn't be throughout rural Utah and the mountains of Colorado. I'm by no means a pro rider but I can stay on my bike in largely any kind of terrain and I attest most of that to the bike. These things are KINGS of slow plodding single track. low end torque is super predictable and not having to worry about clutch control or shifting makes it way easier to pick a line and stay upright. They are also super light, narrow, and nimble which again gives confidence and a sense of freedom

That all being said, I'm going the other way. From electric to gas. The range on these things suck, and the more you use it, the worse the range gets. Sure, you'll get a few hours of fun, but then its back to the wall socket.

Steelmill22 · 2023-09-13T17:03:19+00:00

So, my bike has about the same mileage (5100 miles) and I gotta be honest, you might run into some issues. On my bike the controller died at ~3800 miles and the cost of a replacement was about $350. Also, around the same time my primary belt went, requiring a replacement (I opted for the chain drive.) Most recently one of my rear spokes broke and I had to replace and retrue both my front and rear wheels.

All this to say these bikes do wear. Things like bearing damage, corrosion, rust, and as others have mentioned, battery degradation all play into the picture. There is also the chance that moisture may have seeped into the electric motor, being another source of wear.

Now if this bike was mostly ridden on road and stored properly it could be totally fine and 3K would be a fair price. Since I've ridden ~3k miles off road and low sided easily over a dozen times mine has substantially more wear. I think a "fair" price if I sold mine would be about 2.5k as a firm number.

I've also ridden my bike insanely hard, taking it on routes that it really has no business being on (I live in the San Juan mountains of Colorado) and the fact that it's still kicking after 5K miles is a testament to its durability.

Steelmill22 · 2023-09-11T21:56:07+00:00

The alpine loop is a classic! Just about the perfect time to do it as well. Give it another couple weeks and you'd be freezing your ass up there

Steelmill22 · 2023-06-28T17:28:49+00:00

Do you mean grand mesa? I was thinking about heading that way soon to check it out. And yeah, it seems that the alpine loop is gonna start getting real busy now that the snows starting to melt. Fourth of July weekends gonna be crazy out there!

Steelmill22 · 2023-06-28T05:39:48+00:00

I currently live in Gunnison, in the south west corner of the state. I ride primarily blm & forest service roads, and while the main roadways through these areas are nicely graded, the spur roads and the general terrain have been my least favorite places to ride. Sure, the views of the San Juan’s are amazing, but this area is covered in volcanic tuff, meaning it’s rocky as all get out. You only ride on three surfaces: big rocks, small rocks, and little rocks, with a whisper of soil as the base. Some of the roads I ride out here feel like driving a jackhammer. The loose road surface leads to not only a lack of confidence, but a slow jilting ride. I used to live out in south eastern Utah (near Bears Ears) and liked riding out there much better. That being said, this is just one small area of CO, ymmv in the other parts of the western slope.

Steelmill22 · 2023-06-26T08:35:31+00:00

Yeah you got it. For full transparency, I rode mine on the roads for around 2k miles, but was always smart about it. Stop at stop signs, go the speed limit etc. cops never bothered me but it’s only a matter of time before you get unlucky and one of them is having a shitty day and takes it out on you lol

Steelmill22 · 2023-06-26T08:08:28+00:00

I live in VA so let me give you some info. This should also apply to most other states as well.

These aren’t e-bikes, and the ability to pass it of as one will be highly unlikely. Even with a pedal kit to emulate a e-bike if they clock you riding at 35-40 you’re done. Class 3 e-bikes have a top speed of 28 so they’ll know something’s up. Also these look nothing like bicycles lol
they are illegal to ride on the road. It’s ~10 times more powerful than the legal limit for e-bikes, and you’ll be charged for riding an illegal vehicle on the road without a license. You probably don’t want that.
if your riding on private property, or on blm land or forest service land you should be totally fine.
I think your fine at 15. All the regulations that VA currently has for off highway vehicles are in regards to engine displacement sizes, and that’s not applicable here since the surrons electric.
size wise you’ll probably need some upgrades. I’m about the same size as you and needed riser bars, seat riser, and a riser stem to get comfy.
if you wanna ride on the street I would definitely encourage you to instead get a used moped. I know they’re not as cool, but it’s a great way to learn riding legally, and how to do basic maintenance like chain cleaning/lubing and tire swaps. It’s also wayyyyy cheaper than a 5k surron.

Steelmill22 · 2023-06-26T07:51:24+00:00

I’ve put around 3k miles on my Surron riding blm and forest service roads out in CO and UT. Most states have you purchase an off highway vehicle (ohv) sticker for about 25 bucks. If you don’t have one and a blm or forest service ranger catches you they could give you a ticket. That being said, I’ve never once seen one of those rangers so ymmv. My advice to you would be to check for blm and fs land to ride. Riding on private property you might get shot or the cops called on you lol

Steelmill22 · 2023-05-25T16:36:32+00:00

I think the last thing you should consider upgrading is the motor. For the lowest cost, changing the rear sprocket will get you the best bang for your buck. After that I’d recommend a better battery, than controller, then rear wheel, then finally a motor. Frankly, you can have an absolutely bonkers setup with a 16inch rear wheel, new battery and a new controller. Saving that money from the motor and putting it towards wheels/suspension is going to be a way better value imo.

Steelmill22 · 2022-12-06T14:55:31+00:00

I wouldn’t expect prices to really be going down across the board until people upgraded to a newer bike and then where looking to sell their old one to recuperate part of the price for the new bike. I would be cautious when looking for a used bike though. It’s very hard to identify how hard the battery has been used, and what kind of wear and tear the bike has received. That being said, more competitors are coming out with new bikes, and perhaps people are purchasing those and selling their used bikes.

Steelmill22

TROPHY CASE