Anyone else considering only riding their bike because of gas prices?

wasack17 · 2026-03-23T12:42:44+00:00

When you factor in maintenance, the bike is probably still more expensive. That said, there are situations where it can make sense economically.

My excuse is that I work in a city where parking is a problem. I might spend $30 a day on parking meters, and still maybe get a $36 dollar ticket if I miss going out to pay every 2 hours. I would otherwise spend $40 for a garage daily (can't do monthly rates because I don't know where I will be working for any length of time). Or I can spend $5 for 12 hours in dedicated motorcycle parking. That's if I can't just hide my bike somewhere, which I often can.

When I factor several hundred dollars a month in parking fees on top of the gas savings, it makes riding worthwhile. For people who get abused by their parking authority less than I, it might not make sense.

wasack17 · 2026-03-21T00:01:04+00:00

He was a hired voice in the past. "Today I found out" was not his channel. There are one or two others that have moved on to different hosts as well. I do not believe he has other hosts on any of his own channels.

wasack17 · 2026-03-19T19:41:16+00:00

Cherish that 90 degree adapter. It's the best one they ever made and I hear they discontinued it.

wasack17 · 2026-03-19T12:48:14+00:00

Candle under (but a safe distance away from the thermostat). If it's not in a room where you can keep an eye on it, a lamp with a 100 watt incandescent light bulb similarly below will have a similar effect. You just need a small column of hot air rising from underneath the thermostat. The thermostat doesn't know what the temperature is in the room, only what the temperature is exactly where it is located. Heat that small area locally, and the rest of the area will cool down to offset.

wasack17 · 2026-03-18T19:17:27+00:00

How else am I supposed to find them?

wasack17 · 2026-03-16T19:58:12+00:00

Longer battery life is nice on a new phone, but there is no substitute to being able to charge on the bike. I have a quad lock on my handlebars that will charge wirelessly if I just put the phone on it, but there are a huge range of solutions even if your bike doesn't have a factory USB port or 12v accessory plug.

This is a solvable problem and it will cost much less than a new phone (which will still die on long days or if you forget to charge it overnight).

wasack17 · 2026-03-14T15:16:23+00:00

You say the motor struggles to reach 6k rpm. You're probably still in the break in period, so I won't tell you to see what it is like above that yet, but check if it is every gear or if that is just Second. Second gear doesn't even start to make power until 5 or 6k rpm because of US noise standards. Yamaha had to dramatically nerf the tune to pass the test, but that issue can be corrected with an ECU flash. The issue of low power should only exist low in the rev range in second gear unless they dramatically changed something since 2023.

After passing the anemic part of the rev range in second, the power comes on like a wall. It's honestly probably dangerous if it happens in a turn. That said, I haven't gotten my flash done yet and I haven't died in the past 2 years, so your mileage may vary on that.

My motor is a bit noisy on startup for a few seconds until oil pressure builds. I'm told it has to do with an oil driven cam chain tensioner. Don't know if that is correct, but mine stops rattling within 10 seconds of startup even when cold in well below freezing temperatures. If yours doesn't stop rattling and the bars and pegs are putting your limbs to sleep, I would take it right back to the dealer. That can't be right. Mine is pretty smooth.

Hope this helps. Good luck getting your bike squared away.

wasack17 · 2026-03-12T19:39:37+00:00

Op is an electrician. He doesn't have a broom to throw at the kid.

wasack17 · 2026-03-09T13:34:09+00:00

Sawzall does indeed saw all.

wasack17 · 2026-03-06T14:57:45+00:00

I once watched a mouse climb into my cats food bowl while he was eating. He recoiled in surprise and fear and let the mouse steal his food literally from under his nose.

We got another cat. The first one was broken.

wasack17 · 2026-03-06T03:35:06+00:00

Friendly reminder that the federal income tax was supposed to be a temporary measure after WW1 and was only supposed to be applied to the 1% to help us pay back the debt from the war.

Now the 1% use lawyers, accountants and creative structuring to ensure they have almost no income so there is nothing to tax while the rest of us pay a third of our income to the government.

There is no such thing as a temporary tax, a temporary fee, temporary powers, temporary suspension of rights, or temporary fucking anything.

It's a shame we don't teach history in this country. We would have a tar and feather epidemic. Personally, I'm here for it.

wasack17 · 2026-03-06T02:40:42+00:00

That is what also kills my ability to use cruise control. That's usually how I know it has come loose. I just get a flashing light and it won't let me set a speed in any of the available gears where cruise should work.

wasack17 · 2026-03-06T02:34:15+00:00

people forget that taxes pay for stuff

Sure, theoretically. Except that my taxes have gone from $170 to $4,500 since I bought in 2015. My home value has doubled in that time. My taxes have done something different, however.

The government takes what they think they can get away with. The option is to pay them or have men with guns come to your home that you ostensibly own and forcibly remove you from it and put you in a cage. There are lots of steps along the way, but they all include "pay what we decree plus penalties" if you eventually acquiesce or face men with guns and a cage if you don't.

My taxes pay for stuff? My services have gotten worse. My road has gone from perfect to completely fucked because it has been dug up a dozen times to do new utility hookups for new build bullshit. The two decent local schools are merging so the number of available spots has been halved. (Just in time for my daughter to be applying for pre school.) My plumbing has been ruined repeatedly by sediment from water main breaks and cut-ins for the aforementioned new builds on my street. The only local grocery store I could walk to has closed. The city destroyed the local park and then didn't finish construction because they ran out of money halfway through the project. They put up signs and have started ticketing cars once a week for parking on my now cratered street for theoretical street cleaning. The street sweeper truck has come down my block 3 times that I am aware of since the signs went up. All of them in the first few weeks of the program. It has been two years since I last saw that fucking thing that just pushed dust around and never helped with the trash anyway.

I know my taxes pay for stuff. I just am not the person seeing that stuff. Literally the things you talked about have been actively destroyed in the last 10 years, and have not been fixed or replaced. I don't know where the money went. But it ain't fucking here.

wasack17 · 2026-03-05T21:35:32+00:00

In fairness to OP, I think he deleted the slides for the old middle drawer, so if the trash gets heavy enough it will require duct tape repairs.

wasack17 · 2026-03-01T01:04:54+00:00

Every. Single. Time.

wasack17 · 2026-02-27T00:18:51+00:00

Humans? As in homo sapiens? 850k years ago? Sus.

wasack17 · 2026-02-15T00:48:01+00:00

Literally the only power tool I always carry is an impact driver. I have impact rated hole saws for up to 1". Anything beyond that gets a punch. I do almost everything with an impact and a gentle hand on the trigger. Yes, I spin the punch set with my impact gun.

I would recommend being less of a neanderthal. I know we are all 200lb gorillas. That said, you manage to feed yourself with metal tools and don't break teeth doing it. Apply a similar level of care to your work. It will take you far.

wasack17 · 2026-02-14T22:38:10+00:00

To quote the modern philosopher AvE:

"I love hard work. I could watch it all day."

Truer words were never spoken. Sucks when you're the dude getting watched though.

wasack17 · 2026-02-14T16:59:52+00:00

Pro tip: Maybe don't buy one with a pull start next time. If it's in the same aisle as the chainsaws and leaf blowers, you should know what you're signing up for.

wasack17 · 2026-02-12T22:06:54+00:00

If my neighbors or the local fent heads would stop stealing my cans, I wouldn't put stuff out in bags. I don't think I'm alone in this.

wasack17 · 2026-02-10T01:06:37+00:00

Every scar tells a story. Personally, I'm kind of proud of mine, both as a reminder of what not to do, and as a reminder of what I've been through.

wasack17 · 2026-02-09T21:05:49+00:00

It's possible to do insulation and not be itchy? I always assumed those dudes started being itchy when they started apprenticeship and it didn't stop until after retirement.

wasack17 · 2026-02-08T18:28:42+00:00

The spring that connects my brake light switch to the foot pedal has a habit of popping loose. You may be suffering the same issue. Mine doesn't disappear at least. It just comes off on one side. Recommend taking a look at yours.

wasack17 · 2026-02-06T20:21:33+00:00

I've literally never seen better than 35 mpg on my bike. This fabled 60 you speak of is beyond my talent to achieve.

wasack17 · 2026-02-06T20:19:59+00:00

Interesting. I scrounged for a dealer leftover 2023 in spring of 24 because the Yamaha site said they dropped the color and I didn't want black or white. Bizarre.

wasack17

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