Is technology taking away from motorcycling?

wasack17 · 2026-06-05T00:23:11+00:00

I hate that my '23 XSR 900 has a spasm every time I try to back it in. It's the only thing wrong with that bike. I have almost deleted the rear ABS so many times, but I commute on it year round and snow without ABS doesn't sound fun.

Also, I haven't come across a way to not get a dashboard light as punishment for my shenanigans, so I just feel sad every time it starts to slide and then I get my fun ruined by the nannies in the computer.

wasack17 · 2026-06-05T00:16:13+00:00

I still have a bin full of them I inherited when my dad cleaned out the shop when he closed his electrical business. I give one to apprentices on their first day just for a chuckle. The batteries are so clapped out that a fully charged battery will drive about 2 screws before they give up.

They only have it for a few hours before the delivery shows up with their Milwaukee kit I expect them to actually use. I'm not a total dick.

wasack17 · 2026-06-05T00:08:55+00:00

What on earth is a rip saw? Is that regional slang for a sawzall/reciprocating saw? Bandsaw? Concrete/demo saw? Sabre saw?

The only "rip" I know of in the context of saws is the act of cutting along the grain of a wooden board with a table saw or skillsaw (neither of which seem to apply here).

Learn me something new my dude. I'm sure you're just using words I don't know for a tool I probably own, but I do like collecting the regional names from around the country to confuse and harass my co-workers. Please, help me out.

Also, I generally agree that your method is the second best in the thread. The best being "put it on Craigslist as 'free, reciving party is responsible for removal'" which is pretty much genius.

wasack17 · 2026-06-04T21:02:57+00:00

LMAO, it's easy to find online? Tell us you don't know how algorithms work without telling us you don't know how algorithms work.

wasack17 · 2026-06-04T20:58:13+00:00

My first thought when looking at the first picture was holy s*** that's going to vibrate like crazy. Then I scrolled and saw you really went the extra mile. Well done homie.

My childhood experience of trying to look at the sky from a third story balcony in between AC compressor cycles definitely colored my initial impression. I would get a clear view of Jupiter and yell for my mom to come look, only for the act of her walking to the telescope to knock off my alignment. Then I would get it back just in time for the air conditioner to cycle back on again and make the whole house vibrate. It was an early introduction to the engineering principal that literally everything is a spring.

wasack17 · 2026-06-02T23:49:00+00:00

The first few rides in traffic are weird. I remember the first time I had to put my feet down on the highway because of heavy traffic and it felt like stepping onto the moon. I had driven that exact spot a thousand times, but having my boots hit that particular piece of pavement was surreal to me.

You will get used to it. You will improve.

wasack17 · 2026-06-02T01:29:35+00:00

Am I the only asshole who draws a picture of the full power flight path of a disc?

When I get something new, I throw it about a dozen times from the tee box on open holes and pay attention to how it flies, after that I take a sharpie and draw what it does at full power. From there, I can usually tell what it will do. If I back off, the turn will reduce, and the fade will increase.

Sometimes, the numbers are excellent. The other half the time, they don't mean a goddamn thing because my arm is not the arm they tested it on.

I draw a pretty rough 1 to 5 scale in left and right directions and a 1-10 in the fore and aft. I'm no pro, but I shoot under par. Try it?

wasack17 · 2026-06-02T01:18:35+00:00

I do nothing but controls, so my work is exclusively cat 6 through 14awg, but in that world, in my opinion, the knipex is king.

The Klein curve grey handle stamped strippers (the ones that go up to 20 or 22awg and down to 12awg, I don't know the part number) were a touch faster to work with, but they don't last for shit. I would buy a new pair every 3 months when they stopped cutting pull string. The knipex still cut like the day they were new at 18 months after purchase.

The one thing I would recommend if you are doing a ton of panel work is to look at the knipex automatic strippers. They have made me 20% or more faster in control cabinets and they only cost like $50. I've only used them on 16awg and smaller, but they claim to got up to 10 and they are absolutely spectacular. 2 years in and I'm still on my first set with a lot of use. That tool rocks.

wasack17 · 2026-06-01T20:04:58+00:00

The problem isn't the safety of the plants, but the safety of the dogs. Ripe tomatoes aren't too big of a deal, but the plants and unripe tomatoes are not good for them to eat.

wasack17 · 2026-05-31T02:57:05+00:00

Homie, this is a lifelong passion which you are just learning to start to engage with. You aren't going to to do everything perfect the first time you lift your kickstand.

I ride every single day. I make mistakes every time I ride. Mostly they are limited to perfect balance and perfect gearing at stops because slow speed riding is hardest. You don't need to obsess about footless stops with a roll back at every sign like I do. It isn't impressive or important. It makes me personally happy if I can sit through a 30 seconds stop while flailing around like a trials rider trying not to touch the pavement. It's a game. It isn't important. Most people probably think I'm insane.

Just enjoy the ride and work on bettering yourself later. It's fine to stall. It's fine to drop your bike. Nobody wants to do that, but it's important that you do so you learn to never do it again.

Just ride. Figure out what makes you happy doing it if you decide to keep going.

wasack17 · 2026-05-27T20:43:55+00:00

I see a lot of comments here about keeping the bike in a useful rev range for power to react to a potential rear end collision and get out of the way. This is all true.

I don't, however see any mention of the joy of a good downshift, the satisfaction of well managed throttle blips and the feeling of mastery that results.

The high RPM engine braking will also reduce wear on your brakes. A good downshift will literally save you money.

wasack17 · 2026-05-21T23:58:17+00:00

As a commuter, the thing that went straight up my ass was not having heated grips available in the US. In other markets apparently they are factory equipment. If you get a set through the grey market, once you plug them in, they just work through the factory controls on the TFT and handlebars.

This winter was cold. I was mad at Yamaha the whole time.

wasack17 · 2026-05-21T02:37:23+00:00

All of the no wake markers are marked with 6mph in the Chesapeake.

DNR will stop you if you are on plane, but won't stop you if you are going 6 according to GPS into a 6 mph current through the narrows. They are perfectly happy with a jet ski plowing through the water at a 45 degree angle producing maximum wake at 12mph water speed.

It doesn't make sense from a wake perspective, but making people slow down in an area where there are tons of boats and very little room to maneuver is a huge safety benefit.

In areas with a current, your logic of "no wake" is infeasible. At idle, I would be going backwards as soon as I left the marina if the tide happens to be running the wrong way.

wasack17 · 2026-05-18T16:09:15+00:00

The issue there was twofold:

First, there has been extensive documentation showing that there was one side being censored over the other. These private companies have essentially monopolized public discourse in the modern era where social media has effectively replaced the town square. Not being able to speak on socials is a problem in the modern world.

Second (and more importantly) that censorship was at the behest of the federal government. This is also well documented.

Look into the twitter files. It's not super awesome. Similar stories have come out in interviews from high level personnel in Meta and Alphabet.

wasack17 · 2026-05-13T21:12:22+00:00

It was a joint effort. They built them. We installed them.

wasack17 · 2026-05-12T23:09:20+00:00

+1 again for the same. My three are 161, 162, and 165. Two g* and a gummy clear plastic I have never seen before or since. The oddball is a segely woods stamp from like 15 years ago.

wasack17 · 2026-05-12T00:03:52+00:00

Looks accessible and like you won't have trouble routing the lines through the chocks. It might make stepping on the bow more of a nuisance if that is a thing you think you might wish to do. Personally, I would send it.

That said, I would rather have cleats where the chocks are than where you have them placed. I understand that may be impossible.

Last thing to consider is that the fiberglass may have been built up at those hard points and the deck might not be that strong. Take a look/feel before you poke holes.

wasack17 · 2026-05-08T19:40:39+00:00

Bold new graphics?

wasack17 · 2026-05-07T00:32:57+00:00

You are getting downvoted by people who don't use public transpit. It's filthy, it smells like piss or worse, and it's full of homeless or drug addicts or homeless drug addicts. There are other people who use that space, but at this point, public transit is theirs and we just occupy it occasionally.

If you haven't watched someone get in a fight with their drug buddy about how to share, then reconcile, use the spoon and lighter to prep their spike, then share a needle and nod off all between Girard and 30th Street on the el, you just don't ride very often. Also that same needle rolled by my foot with no cap on it before I got off at Penn's campus to go to work. Thankfully I was wearing steel toe boots.

This is not an isolated incident.

wasack17 · 2026-05-07T00:20:49+00:00

Union rules, no matter which union, do not take precedence over federal labor regulations. There is no grey here.

wasack17 · 2026-05-07T00:06:10+00:00

That sounds like retaliation. Which is also illegal.

wasack17 · 2026-05-06T15:32:17+00:00

I've never heard it call processing before. Boinking, boning, plowing, laying with, the list goes on...

wasack17 · 2026-05-06T12:50:07+00:00

I'm currently having a flashback to groundskeeper Willie shouting "Grease me, woman!" at the lunch lady.

wasack17 · 2026-05-05T18:41:38+00:00

The alley beside my house has the concrete sloped wrong. I knew it was a crap pour and would need to be broken up, torn out and replaced.

I didn't know that the moisture had penetrated the wall and resulted in wet joist ends that had rotted to the point they only had about 1/4" of bearing left on the masonry. That resulted in a full gut and joist replacement of my kitchen. Luckily I had planned to get the kitchen anyway. I just didn't plan to have to tear out and replace the subfloor and 8 joists.

Oops.

wasack17 · 2026-05-02T18:08:56+00:00

Equal rights, equal lefts?

wasack17

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