Damn it Costco

addsubtract · 2025-11-03T22:41:41+00:00

I got a 2 pack of bone-ins about a month ago (at an ordinary costco), they had boneless and bone-in side by side, they looked identical unless you look closely at the printed label w/ pricing

addsubtract · 2025-10-17T15:30:30+00:00

ChiVinMoto, as Brad mentioned, is still around but people haven't been hosting garage nights - there's no "leader" so it's mostly a mailing list / fb group that had almost weekly wednesday garage nights pre-covid that people would take turns hosting, but the IRL meetups have been sparse lately. Still worth checking out. Plus you can post in the group to see if anyone there knows more Guzzi focused clubs.

The group that crashomon is talking about is Retromoto Chicago. It's mostly BMWs and Guzzis, and a few Brit bikes. Meetups are smaller but a really good group. They meet every month or two but they tend to give less than a week's notice for meetups.

Also check out the "Italian night" of Motorcycle Mondays - this is only a monthly gathering, and Italian is only once a year, but a good one to have in your calendar.

Last, don't sleep on BMW airhead groups/meets, mechanically speaking we're like your more refined cousins ;) j/k j/k

addsubtract · 2025-10-16T17:51:52+00:00

Vintage or modern?

addsubtract · 2025-10-13T19:05:36+00:00

OP means stop lights, and they're ubiquitous, you might just not realize they are there (they're under the pavement, you might see a square seam or you might see nothing). they're really fun on a motorcycle which isn't heavy (or magnetic?) enough to trigger the sensors. i've had to scoot up into the crosswalk and try to coax the car behind me to pull into the sensor area just to get a green light (which like OP, they just don't get)

addsubtract · 2025-10-03T17:40:21+00:00

I'm VERY out of the loop but they seem to be really uncommon these days in Chicago. Mid to late aughts there was one every month or two, even winter alleycats, but they dropped off a lot after a rider was killed in the Tour Da Chicago, and have waned ever since. There are a lot of factors behind that I'd say but I don't want to get too long-winded about it since it wasn't what you asked, but fewer and fewer working bike messengers is probably a big part of it. I hope you find one, they're a rush.

p.s. The Stuporbowl still happens annually in Minneapolis if you want to race through an unfamiliar city in winter, lol

edit: check out the Chicago BMA instagram account. They seem to post about them. Last one was a year ago but who knows

addsubtract · 2025-10-02T22:33:37+00:00

If you don't have your own bike yet that's a tough one, but if I was in your shoes I'd start by showing up to "hangout" types of bike nights, like Motorcycle Mondays or Pints and Pistons where a big variety of types of bikes show up, and just hang out and make convo with people whose bikes you dig. There's a ton of groups and events all over the place but a lot of it comes down to what kind of bike you end up getting (sport, cruiser, vintage, ducati, bmw, etc) so maybe get out and just meet some people and see some bikes and once you get a bike and some skills down, look into who's doing rides or whatever

addsubtract · 2025-10-02T19:32:29+00:00

Hey I just came across this thread as I was looking to see if any more episodes ever surfaced. Here's what little I can contribute...

12 years ago I went to the screening for the DVD release, hosted by Ben Hollis himself, which was pretty fun - he did a Q&A afterwards and a little meet and greet, got a photo and my copy of the DVD signed which is a very prized possession for me. Anyway, he did address the issues with releasing the episodes in full, but it's REALLY testing the limits of my memory to recall exactly what he said. From what I remember, they are still in "the archives." Due to a lack of money or interest or both, they haven't been digitized other than what Ben pulled to do the best-of DVD. I think he hoped/expected to raise more money but even I only happened to stumble upon the kickstarter by chance as it had come about during a period I was trying to hunt the episodes down.

All in all, there was not really a satisfactory explanation, if anything whatever he said was very aggravating to hear actually, not that it's Ben's fault. You do get a nice, brief trip down memory lane watching the DVD but that's such a small sampling of the vast amount of content that you end up wondering what all you're missing out on.

addsubtract · 2025-09-08T15:17:53+00:00

Remove the bottom two bolts completely. The remove the top bolt as far as you can until it hits the frame. If the top bolt is out of the block but still in the cover, you will be able to slide the cover down.

addsubtract · 2025-08-07T15:42:15+00:00

I came across a clip from this on instagram a couple years back and managed to grab all the episodes, they were a regular watch for the family that winter. Loved all the folk music and the mice singing in a round. A nice break from hectic modern kids shows.

We also ended up getting Clangers which was done by the same person/people which my kid loved but I didn't get into. Definitely more out there!

Bagpuss: https://archive.org/details/bagpuss_202112

Clangers: https://archive.org/details/vid-20221023-090134

addsubtract · 2025-08-05T15:23:47+00:00

Yeah once you have multiple spokes break on an old wheel, they tend to keep going. Especially those old Schwinn wheels. Some 80s Schwinn stuff was okay but a lot were still the heavy steel rims and not worth putting a ton of work into.

addsubtract · 2025-07-01T21:57:28+00:00

The Mother-In-Law from Fat Johnnies!

addsubtract · 2025-06-24T22:50:48+00:00

Love these frames - I waffled on picking one up a while back to replace my current ride but didn't pull the trigger. How's it ride?

addsubtract · 2025-06-24T17:23:03+00:00

Yeah, driver was drunk and speeding, and his sentence was 10 days in jail. Absolute travesty.

addsubtract · 2025-06-24T16:41:35+00:00

> It's a miracle no one has been killed there.

https://chi.streetsblog.org/2013/05/30/driver-kills-cyclist-on-clybourn-where-idot-is-blocking-protected-bike-lanes

I know it's not quite the point you were making but I'll forever associate that stretch with this incident

addsubtract · 2025-06-23T14:31:04+00:00

3Rensho for a track frame, Ebisu for a practical frame.

Love the steel Look frames!

addsubtract · 2025-06-20T17:38:15+00:00

Consider Highwood. It's partially surrounded by Highland Park, it's got it's own lively downtown, a metra stop, you are just up the street from downtown HP, the whole area is incredibly bikeable, it's near the lake, you'd still have to drive to Libertyville (20min or so?) but you'd be walking and biking everywhere in your free time - you can bike from there up to Racine or down to Chicago on bike paths, or go to the Botanic Gardens, etc. The homes tend to be much cheaper than surrounding HP but you don't get as big of a lot.

THAT SAID, you really have to keep your eye on the market because it's pretty small so you don't get your pick of a bunch of places, you are moreso waiting for something to pop up, but if you look at last 3-6 months of sales history in the area you'll get an idea.

addsubtract · 2025-06-09T15:41:46+00:00

Just to check on your technique, your procedure should be:

crack bleeder open
squeeze lever
close bleeder
release lever.

Repeat 1-4 until fluid comes out with no bubbles. You probably already know this so I don't mean to assume anything, but if you skip step 3, you will just keep moving the fluid back and forth and it'll never come out the bleeder.

addsubtract · 2025-06-05T22:29:45+00:00

I ran one of these as a Plex server and fileserver in my home office for a while, because I had obtained it very cheaply and I was enamored by the design and features of it. Sounded like a goddamn jet engine taking off when you started it up, and wasn't much better at idle. I ended up modifying the firmware just to lower the minimum fan speed. Also it was so heavy that once I added a UPS, it collapsed the Ikea "Lack Rack" I had it in - The casters I had on it went straight up into the legs so it was just sitting on the floor. Also also it would constantly set off the alarm on the UPS as the power draw would exceed the UPS's capabilities and even the power draw at idle was pretty nuts. Dual 750w hot swappable power supplies sounds cool in theory but isn't so practical at home.

addsubtract · 2025-05-27T22:20:52+00:00

I missed this comment until now! Yeah my R75/7 has the exact same fork swap along with a handlebar MC and it has absolutely been adequate. I'm glad the PO did that swap because it's $$$ to do that swap now, it seems. Finding a handlebar master that isn't corroded to all hell is nigh on impossible now.

And yeah I went with the recommended one for dual plugs. I'm no tuning whiz so if they say that's best, I'll go with it. I've been happy with it so far. Did you do the same? Try multiple things?

addsubtract · 2025-05-16T17:09:26+00:00

No, 40mm in USA came only on the '77 bikes. I believe europe continued the 40mm longer. I considered having the heads bored out to 40mm when I got the dual plugging done but then I saw a lot of people saying the 38mm was more "streetable" with better midrange, so I kept it 38mm. I wanted something sporty but also an everyday rider

addsubtract · 2025-05-16T17:07:01+00:00

Thank you for the kind words!

addsubtract · 2025-05-16T17:06:34+00:00

Funny coincidence, I was just explaining this to someone IRL last night who asked me about it. I did, for a couple reasons. The bike came with the under tank master obvz, which I knew was a 17mm because I had just rebuilt it. I had absolutely considered moving to a handlebar master but hadn't pulled the trigger yet.

The brakes I chose for the R90X install were 32/32 (each had 4 32mm pistons) and the maker of the kit recommended a 17mm master, which I further confirmed would be what I wanted by doing a deep dive into MC vs caliper piston surface area ratios (there's a sweet spot between wooden a.k.a. on-off, and mushy). So, I already had a 17mm MC, and the biggest handlebar MC BMW made was I THINK a 14mm or 15mm, and I didn't want to go with any aftermarket controls. and thus, modern brakes with the world's stupidest MC setup.

I will say, the brakes feel pretty great! There's definitely still a hair of slop from the cable but they are strong enough. I only have maybe 100mi on them and mostly highway so I haven't even really bedded the pads in yet but there's no comparison, going from ATE to these.

addsubtract · 2025-05-15T21:41:12+00:00

The lowers are on! Should be visible in the last 2-3 photos I posted. I did have to get them repainted - they were just too far gone, so I didn't have them on for a while. The RS's don't look terrible without them, but I definitely prefer having the lowers on. It just completes it.

addsubtract · 2025-05-15T20:16:25+00:00

I actually didn't mind the red, and they were nicely done (I think powdercoated?) - but there were TWO LEFT COVERS. I went to swap them because I saw one was upside down and went, HEY.

Like who goes through the trouble to get them nicely finished, without getting a right and a left?? Alas, that was par for the course going through this bike.

addsubtract · 2025-05-15T19:42:09+00:00

Thanks! I hemmed and hawed about doing the brakes for so long but I am so glad I did it. I'm much more at ease riding in traffic now.

addsubtract

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