superhawk996

I'm guessing that drinking lead to needing a mirror stem. Maybe it didn't, but that's the excuse I'd use. That's the excuse I used when I forgot to fold the mirror and scuffed it on the doorway into the house.

I don't know of any trucks or SUVs that have filler security, but many cars and all bikes do. I'd love to know if there's a logical reason for the disparity.

None of my current cars have a latching gas lid. The Porsche ('79 928) came with a locking cap from the factory, none of the others came with any security. I've had dozens of vehicles and most had nothing. Most of the Hondas and I think all of the Volvos I've had had latching lids. Cars are said to have anti syphon devices in the filler tube, I think most or all of those are actually anti-spray devices so if you open the cap with a pressurized tank you don't get a gas bath. Gas powered Excursions have it, my diesel doesn't. Diesels have vented tanks so they don't develop pressure like gassers can. If the device was really to protect against fuel theft my 44 gallons of diesel should be protected at least as well as 10 gallon gassers.

Lube can't prevent dirt & stuff from getting in there. It can make the dirt & stuff stick in there.

Me. Because I think that doing so would be stupid. I don't recall any lock manufacturer or locksmith advising to use WD40, and many have specifically stated to never do it. Then there's those who tout using the stuff on everything including chains so maybe there is something magical about the stuff.

I've experimented with tires and spark plugs back to back and different ones can make a big difference whether new or used. Before Splitfire spark plugs existed I made a set for my Mustang and it was pretty obvious they worked better than the normal plugs. That was a 351 Cleveland with 2V open chamber heads, engines with more efficient designs might not change as much.

I'd never given thought to the fact that bikes come with keyed gas caps and cars don't. The only logic I can think of is that cars have anti-syphon devices and bikes don't.

This review makes the Vanderhall look pretty unappealing https://www.cycleworld.com/2017-vanderhall-venice-puts-style-ahead-substance/ One thing that shocked me a bit was the guy saying that it had massive understeer at parking lot speed. My guess is they copy/pasted the steering from a car so the Ackermann is fucked up which is going to fuck with the handling at all speeds. On their website is a video with Jay Leno and the Vanderhall guy explains why they went with front wheel drive. The explanation stuck out as a retarded reason for using FWD. There was a different reason given in the cycleworld review. From the tiny bit I know, I recommend a scrutinizing test drive before buying.

The second one for the win.

Key in the ignition, doors unlocked, regardless where it's parked?

That implies that your tool strap is intact.

It looks like they just took the standard two seater and added a cowling to cover the right side. If it has the second seat under there it makes sense, otherwise it seems stupid to eliminate the option without gaining any benefit.

I've extracted a few keys with a pick. Two picks, one on each end of the key, often works better. As for removing the assembly, I don't think you'll need to remove the tank. If the piece of key is in the right position you should be able to turn it with a screwdriver or other tool to open it. It might be worth trying this before trying to extract the key in case you can't get it out. Trying to extract might move it out of position forcing tank removal. The piece of key might be able to move further in, not sure if it bottoms out on the key tip or the 'flat' near the key handle, so be careful with the screwdriver.

I don't remember any. The first water cooled bike I remember having was a VF1000R and it got Fleetguard low silicate HD truck coolant because it was free from work, along with the 15-40 oil.

Water pump seals can act strangely. Some will leak a little for a really long time without getting bad, some will seem perfect then dump the coolant overnight. The pump on our Liberty started leaking the day before we were leaving AZ, it didn't leak when hot so I chanced the 370 mile return. It didn't seem to leak on the way and hours after returning there was still nothing on the ground. Next morning there was a small stream down the driveway. The pump in my van had no obvious leak and dumped a huge amount over night.

Yup. The more water I put in the less it leaked, then it stopped. When I bought the stuff I was suspect of it, it's pre-mixed but seemed really thick & slippery like pure coolant. My theory is that it was so slick it was able to pass through the seal. Unless they fucked up on the mix I don't know why it did that, but thousands of miles later it was still leak free. When I first changed the coolant it was coating my right boot while riding. From recollection it never leaked with the engine off hot or cold, only while running and appeared to be worse at higher RPM.

That was my first thought, good catch. When I changed the coolant on my SuperHawk I wanted to be safe so I used Honda stuff from the dealer and the water pump started weeping. It kept weeping 'till I'd replaced at least a quart of it with distilled water top-offs.

Super Tech now offers 0-16 so you're missing out on some unfound efficiency with that molasses.

For the most part, yes. But sometimes there's actually a good reason to use their product, or at the least something that meets their specs. Some parts really do need 'special' fluids.

I would spend the $ and keep with the factory stuff. Most likely you can get the non-branded version of it at a parts store, they've had every coolant type I've looked for; Mercedes, Toyota, etc. There are so many different flavors these days, kinda like ATF.

I recently did some reading about coolants & bikes. Lots of people using Prestone, many with several years & miles on it, and not one issue I could find. My understanding is that the long life stuff is silica free and only the older stuff had it, but not positive. Most generic coolants say "safe for all cars & light trucks" and/or "mixes with any color coolant" on them and it's sorta true, but not really.

Yea, how can you guarantee that the front won't fall off if you don't loft it to verify?!?

Allowing him to take delivery without personally confirming that it's in proper condition would be an asshole move, you're a better man than that. And describe the ride experience as well as possible for us that will probably never have the chance. But I totally understand the reservation of taking 60ish thousand dollars for a joy ride.

The corroded wires will need to be removed to have a reliable connection. At the very least you'll need to clean the wires down to clean copper at the connection points.

Maybe just luck, or maybe there was some force put on the connector that tweaked it. There's a fair bit of heat there so if the connector was under some pressure from the hose routing it may have deformed it. The return runs hotter than the supply line.