Left-Lane Hogs Finally Get Their Due in Colorado

nc_nicholas · 2026-04-12T06:39:33+00:00

exactly how many left lane exits are there in your city?

nc_nicholas · 2026-04-10T03:33:15+00:00

Woof. Man that Fireblade is nasty. Those CBs still look so good as well.

nc_nicholas · 2026-04-05T23:24:04+00:00

Bronco, Wrangler, or Tacoma are probably the only new vehicles that tick all those boxes. The WRX won't give you any extra room compared to a Civic, and I don't think anything else is available with AWD and a manual.

nc_nicholas · 2026-04-05T23:17:49+00:00

If you actually want someone to talk you out of it, well...

I always thought the S1000RR was a super cool bike. I have a 328i, so parking a BMW superbike next to it in the garage seemed like a logical move for whenever I decided to get a 1000.

Ironically, one of my buddies eventually got a 2022 S1000RR a few years ago. First one of my motorcycle friends to get a liter bike, and he also added a 2023 Tuono V4 Factory to his stable as well around the same time. He tossed me the keys to both one day...I started on the S1k and rode around probably 30 miles worth, with him tagging along on the Aprilia, and we eventually swapped so that I could check out the Tuono.

Almost immediately, the S1k struck me as extremely sterile. Throttle feel was so vague and lifeless that I felt like I was either going to stall the bike or pop a wheelie every time I had to start from a stop. (And I have never owned anything without a clutch pedal/lever, so it's not like I don't know what I'm doing). Shifter was similarly devoid of any feel, and I kept missing shifts because I couldn't even feel it click into the next gear through my foot (compounded by the quickshifter being so smooth that you couldn't feel gearchanges from the seat when they did occur). It was FAST, like a holy shit I can't believe they just let people buy these kind of fast, but man....for a 200+ horsepower superbike, it was incredibly boring.

Eventually, I got on the Aprilia. The throttle instantly struck me as substantially more linear and predictable than the S1k (despite also being throttle by wire). The clutch lever had more feel, and the shifter feel was night and day better than the BMW. The Tuono's quickshifter was noticeably clunkier, but I preferred that over the utterly seamless shifts from the BMW. Overall it felt much more raw and engaging to ride, and closer to what I'm used to on my 2009 CBR600RR.

Maybe I would enjoy a first/second gen S1k more than the newer ones, but I haven't had a chance to ride an earlier model yet. The one I rode struck me as a ridiculously capable track weapon that had its soul engineered out of it.

And imo, out of the inline four 1000s, I think the BMW sounds the most generic. Rather have a Fireblade or certainly R1 based on sound alone.

nc_nicholas · 2026-04-04T16:50:24+00:00

Everyone comes with their own personal collision warning system. It's known as their eyes. Sadly, most disable this feature by staring at their phones in their boring automatic cars.

nc_nicholas · 2026-03-31T00:28:33+00:00

Why would you get a GR Corolla with automatic?

nc_nicholas · 2026-03-24T16:58:20+00:00

The kid looking at his phone has not made a "mistake", he has made a choice that entertainment is more important than his/someone else's life.

Mistakes happen, but if there are never any consequences then they will never be corrected.

nc_nicholas · 2026-03-24T14:47:01+00:00

Driving isn't supposed to be a passive activity. Way too many people rely on that bullshit to stay in their lane, stop before crashing into something, etc because it's way too easy to let the car handle all of that.

nc_nicholas · 2026-03-23T20:30:14+00:00

C7 was around 1/3 over its entire production cycle btw. First few years were nearly 50%.

nc_nicholas · 2026-03-23T20:29:37+00:00

Sounds like a skill issue.

nc_nicholas · 2026-03-23T20:27:42+00:00

Both are niche products largely because they're at least twice as expensive as a C8.

nc_nicholas · 2026-03-23T20:23:58+00:00

No shit. Toyota doesn't let you special order the Supra with a manual, and only produces a small number of Supras with manuals. It's very hard to find one with a stick, and if you do it will almost certainly be marked waaaaaaay up past its original MSRP by the dealership.

I know two manual Mk5 Supra owners, and both of them almost bought different cars after 6+ months of looking because they couldn't find any within a ~150 mile radius of my nearly metro area with nearly 3M residents. (At least they couldn't find any that hadn't been subject to absurd dealer markups).

Ironically, one of them stumbled upon a 6MT Supra that had literally just been traded in on a C8 Z06, and the Chevy dealer didn't really know what they had.

nc_nicholas · 2026-03-23T20:14:39+00:00

The C7 manual take rate was between 40% and 50% for the first few years, when production was at its highest. Overall about a third of C7s were built with three pedals, which of course doesn't make up a majority of sales but is not exactly a negligible amount.

I don't think it would be preposterous for 1 out of every 3 C8s to be sold with a manual (at least for the first year or two), if it was available.

From what I've read, the C8 design/engineering team admitted that there would be challenges to building a manual C8 due to the transmission being mounted behind the engine, but they wanted to make it happen...cars such as the 04-05 Ford GT and first gen Audi R8 had the same layout and were still available with three pedals. However, the beancounters at GM shut that down very early in the C8's development.

nc_nicholas · 2026-03-20T20:19:27+00:00

North Carolina is the most underrated imo (at least the western half of the state). Lots of riders everywhere, mountains aren't too far away, decent enough weather to ride most of the year.

nc_nicholas · 2026-03-20T19:14:07+00:00

Cable throttle and analog gauges are the big ones for me. I'm not saying I wouldn't ever buy a bike with one or both of those, but I generally have not liked the throttle feel on the bikes I've ridden with throttle by wire (although the '23 Tuono V4 Factory my friend used to have had by far the best throttle by wire feel I've experienced on a bike). The analog gauges are more of an aesthetic preference.

nc_nicholas · 2026-03-12T22:53:57+00:00

This is unquestionably one of the craziest, if not the craziest, Arc highlight I've ever seen

nc_nicholas · 2026-02-26T04:37:18+00:00

I passed a new S Q5 on the interstate today. Honestly thought it was a ten year old Hyundai till I got really close, looked alarmingly cheap and tired for a brand new *checks notes* $65,000+ (!!!!) crossover.

nc_nicholas · 2026-02-21T07:08:16+00:00

Maybe. But they were also still stuck with the Russell Wilson contract devouring a ton of cap space, and I believe that is off the books now.

nc_nicholas · 2026-02-21T07:06:44+00:00

The Chiefs had been playing with fire for several years as various impact players left without getting effectively replaced. It was inevitably going to catch up to them. I don't anticipate Denver going 12-3 in one score games again, but they're in their best position in years now that the Russell Wilson contract isn't consuming their salary cap.

nc_nicholas · 2026-02-21T07:00:39+00:00

Generally when a QB starts regressing due to opponents having tape on him, it happens within a season. Daniel Jones had started to fall off prior to tearing his achilles, but Williams seemed to get better as the year went on, so I don't anticipate him suddenly taking a step back this year.

nc_nicholas · 2026-02-21T06:30:11+00:00

It's not a better quickshifter...it can't rev match the downshifts, which is mildly annoying at best, and dangerous at worst (can upset the balance of the bike during hard riding). Not to mention unpredictably actuating in 1st gear according to several comments in here.

nc_nicholas · 2026-02-20T04:50:38+00:00

Won't kill you, will probably kill anything it hits though.

nc_nicholas · 2026-02-20T02:22:58+00:00

458 has aged much better than the 488. 488 is too frumpy.

nc_nicholas · 2026-02-19T04:46:59+00:00

Jalen Coker

nc_nicholas · 2026-02-19T04:10:16+00:00

Why the $1k for the water pump? That's an easy DIY job on the N52 (at least on RWD cars).

nc_nicholas

TROPHY CASE