luckymucklebackit Posted February 14, 2018 Share Posted February 14, 2018 Conversation between NASA and the first woman to land on the moon beep: "Houston, we have a problem" beep: "Please specify problem Moon Base" Beep: "Never Mind" Beep: "What is the problem>" Beep: "Nothing!" Beep: "Please tell us" Beep: "I'm FINE!!" 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Tim Dubya Posted February 14, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 14, 2018 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andytrains Posted February 15, 2018 Share Posted February 15, 2018 You're lucky she didn't have Mrs Beetons cookbook from 1861 in it at the time. Mike. We have one, it's worth too much to be hitting me around the ear with it. Ha, Ha! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGunslinger Posted February 15, 2018 Share Posted February 15, 2018 About 25 years ago I had an ancient Honda C90 Step-Thru "motorcycle" as interim transport, having blown up my proper bike during a period of abject poverty. Its electrical system, just adequate when new, had deteriorated to the point where, if you switched the indicators on, the bike would proceed in a series of violent lurches in time with their flashing as they robbed every Joule of energy from everything else. This was made even more exciting by the advanced state of wear of every bush and spindle in the suspension rendering the whole machine a collection of loosely connected parts advancing as a sort of cloud of mechanical doom. All I needed was a red nose and a pair of big shoes and I could have named my price with any circus in the country . My previous motorcycle was a lump of shite (kept alive out of necessity in what I can assume were similar circumstances of poverty), but even it only ran that badly when part of the rectifier blew up. The battery kept it running just long enough to strand me in the middle of nowhere, at which point it became a crippling load. I had to disconnect the battery and headlight and limp home in the dark on 6V power. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PatB Posted February 15, 2018 Share Posted February 15, 2018 My previous motorcycle was a lump of shite (kept alive out of necessity in what I can assume were similar circumstances of poverty), but even it only ran that badly when part of the rectifier blew up. The battery kept it running just long enough to strand me in the middle of nowhere, at which point it became a crippling load. I had to disconnect the battery and headlight and limp home in the dark on 6V power. I sympathise. I was/am a long time fan of Suzuki's air-cooled GS/GSX range. Superb engineering, but their approach to electrical systems means that years after selling my last one I still haven't got the smell of boiling battery acid out of my nostrils . Their chronic charging problems, however, did mean that a pauper such as myself who knew what cheapo generic components could be substituted could often buy bargain non-runners from richer people who didn't . 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGunslinger Posted February 15, 2018 Share Posted February 15, 2018 ... long time fan of Suzuki's air-cooled GS/GSX range. Superb engineering... I... what? The GS500 has to be one of the least serviceable bikes in existence, which makes its propensity for strange gremlins all kinds of fun. The raw design is... acceptable, but it smacks of an engineer who is distinctly detached from reality. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PatB Posted February 15, 2018 Share Posted February 15, 2018 (edited) I... what? The GS500 has to be one of the least serviceable bikes in existence, which makes its propensity for strange gremlins all kinds of fun. The raw design is... acceptable, but it smacks of an engineer who is distinctly detached from reality. I'm not familiar with the 500, although I've always assumed them to be closely related to the old GS400/425/450 from the '70s which always seemed OK. My hunting ground was principally the 550 fours, with occasional excursions into the big league 750/850/1000 range. They all worked pretty well for me with simple design and nicer materials than the contemporary offerings from the rest of the Big 4. About the only things I found irritating (aside from the electrical systems) were the stupid and ineffective anti-dive on my GSX550, and it's equally stupid and pointless 16" front wheel. I'd probably not have liked its odd twin choke carbs either, had anything ever gone wrong with them but it didn't so I'll give them a pass. However, Suzuki weren't alone in putting ridiculous gadgetry on their bikes and describing it with meaningless acronyms, and at least the core machine was pretty good. Edit: If you mean specifically electrical faults, I wouldn't know, although the 500 is a bit more recent than any of the bikes I'm familiar with. On the ones I worked on I wasn't averse to ripping out everything between the alternator and the lights/switches/instruments/ignition and replacing with a simplified system using less marginal components, so I tended not to spend much time searching for elusive niggles. Edited February 15, 2018 by PatB Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGunslinger Posted February 15, 2018 Share Posted February 15, 2018 (edited) The GS500 is a pig. The frame is heavy which makes the entire bike unwieldy, it also gets in the way of servicing the cylinder head (it's recommended to just pull the entire engine out if you plan to do anything to the top end). Overall performance is lacking, in part due to the overbuilt frame, and the riding posture is upright and yet somehow less comfortable and harder on the back than a sports bike! As mentioned the cylinder head is notoriously hard to work on, which is awesome because the valves consider their clearances as a loose guideline. Add into this a finicky, easy-to-tear cylinder head gasket that will get destroyed every time you pull the head cover and you get a pretty clear picture of the engineer who designed this engine. You also have the same electrical gremlins you wrangled with on the GSXs, and other weird quirks like a crankcase breather that runs all the way up through the head (so you can mistake it for a rocker cover breather but it isn't) with a "filter" that somehow clogs easily, traps oil while the engine is running, and then vomits it out the breather hose overnight as it cools, instead of draining back into the engine!I constantly see people recommending it as a learner-friendly bike despite the fact it is a nightmare for first-time bike owners to diagnose and fix faults without getting robbed blind by Suzuki mechanics. As far as I'm concerned it fails at pretty much every aspect of being a motorcycle. It's not very economical, it's boring to ride, it's uncomfortable, it's hard to work on, and somehow it's even uglier than the competitors' bikes, too.EDIT: And for full disclosure, my previous bike was a Chinese-made "chopper" running a knockoff CB250 donk. It was terrible, the engine vibrated components to death on a regular basis, all the bolts and fittings were made from terrible cold-cast steel, the rake made cornering... difficult, and yet I consider it a better motorcycle than the GS500, because it at least looked kind of cool (I even once won a "Best Rat Bike" trophy with my bodge-job repairs) and it was very comfortable to ride. Current motorbike is a Honda VLX600 which is old enough to drink, yet it never skips a beat and is a dream to ride and service. Edited February 15, 2018 by TheGunslinger Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Two_sugars Posted February 15, 2018 Share Posted February 15, 2018 So you wouldn't recommend a GS500 then? John Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Sidecar Racer Posted February 15, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 15, 2018 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
manna Posted February 16, 2018 Share Posted February 16, 2018 G'Day Folks Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold 2mmMark Posted February 16, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 16, 2018 Sometimes there are news items that badly need an adequate separation! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
royaloak Posted February 16, 2018 Share Posted February 16, 2018 Sometimes there are news items that badly need an adequate separation! That is funny but in a really really bad way, especially with the next item being what it is! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorthBrit Posted February 16, 2018 Share Posted February 16, 2018 (edited) Get 'em interested when they are young. Edited February 16, 2018 by NorthBrit 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
manna Posted February 16, 2018 Share Posted February 16, 2018 G'Day Folks 12 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LNWR18901910 Posted February 17, 2018 Share Posted February 17, 2018 Does anybody remember the film Spaceballs? Just a little something I whipped up... LODE STAAAARRRRR!!!!!!!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted February 17, 2018 Share Posted February 17, 2018 Literature is confusing: 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium melmerby Posted February 17, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 17, 2018 (edited) "Dear Sir, the instructions for your kit were not entirely clear..." No need for a kit, here's one ready to run: http://oldtomstoys.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/baxter04.jpg Keith As an aside that claims to be the first cab forward, first railroad locomotive with a marine boiler & first designed for oil firing Edited February 17, 2018 by melmerby 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium kevinlms Posted February 17, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 17, 2018 (edited) We all see this every single day. One day we won't bother talking at all! Edited February 17, 2018 by kevinlms 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium kevinlms Posted February 17, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 17, 2018 Literature is confusing: image.jpeg Was the customer Ronnie Barker? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted February 17, 2018 Share Posted February 17, 2018 Was the customer Ronnie Barker? It's another variation on misheard lyrics. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Neil Posted February 17, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 17, 2018 9 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted February 17, 2018 Share Posted February 17, 2018 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
shortliner Posted February 17, 2018 Share Posted February 17, 2018 We all see this every single day. One day we won't bother talking at all! 4th Ape.jpg Without a shadow of a doubt the best cartoon (and SO true) that I have seen this year - and this afternoon two schoolgirls walked past my house texting each other on their mobiles, one on each side of the road! You really couldn't make it up! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
shortliner Posted February 17, 2018 Share Posted February 17, 2018 IMG_20180217_152950.jpg Maybe it was done legally!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now