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Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,032
7,552
I forgot to mention: halfway down the Mountain Lion DH my “bike” started making a noise like a rock is stuck inside the front triangle. Can’t see anything wrong with it externally.
Mopeds gonna shit the bed...
Gearbox hamster croaked and that's the bones rattling.
I know you all were waiting with bated breath for the resolution of this issue! So wait no longer.

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The battery nestles in the downtube, held on from the bottom by this carbon plate. The plate is secured to the rest of the frame by 8 Torx screws. Note the internal bracket at the front of the plate with the two slots.

Part 1 of the problem was that one of the two machine screws that run through these slots had come undone and was rattling about between the battery and the plate.

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Here's a noisy photo of the battery flipped over on its back. The piece at the left/nose end of the battery is the Pivot Shuttle-specific adapter, with two tapped screw holes on each side, the holes that accept the machine screws via the slots in the previous shot.

Well, there is an additional problem: somehow this adapter plate has become loose. See gripping video evidence below:


Tightening up the 4 teeny tiny Torx screws (yes, there are 6 holes, 4 screws though) didn't solve this, so off to Golden Bike Shop shall this assembly go.

The good news is that I actually have an apparently never used save for a test mounting extra battery + bike-specific mounting plate system! I got that down from the shelf, verified that the mounting plate-battery interface is not loose (it isn't), and bolted the whole system back together. It works, and brand new electrons will therefore aid in my propulsion tomorrow morning--first of the new batch!

The play possible between these two issues provides an explanation for why the system had been mysteriously temporarily turning off on rowdy downhill segments the last few rides: likely moved just enough such that the connectors (at the tail end of the battery, towards the bottom bracket) would become undone, then gravity or the next hit would eventually shift it such that it made contact again.
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,032
7,552
If Trump wins another term in office I will seriously pursue moving to New Zealand. That’d involve liquidating house and cars here, figuring out licensure requirements, lining up a job, etc.

If this happened then saving in 529 accounts for the kids’ education might be moot, as they likely wouldn’t go to college and beyond here. (Or maybe they would.) Thus the most concrete thing I’m doing now is to suspend 529 contributions until at least after Nov 3.
 

CBJ

year old fart
Mar 19, 2002
12,862
4,159
Copenhagen, Denmark
If Trump wins another term in office I will seriously pursue moving to New Zealand. That’d involve liquidating house and cars here, figuring out licensure requirements, lining up a job, etc.

If this happened then saving in 529 accounts for the kids’ education might be moot, as they likely wouldn’t go to college and beyond here. (Or maybe they would.) Thus the most concrete thing I’m doing now is to suspend 529 contributions until at least after Nov 3.
I'm ahead of you :-)
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,032
7,552
19237ECB-842A-420E-AFBD-8A7B76105EEF.jpeg


New pedal day, after replacing all the screws with the long ones. I’ve been through two sets of Saint flat pedals since 2016—last set has been creaky for a bit, not to mention beat up.
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,032
7,552
An update on my broken battery-mount situation with my Pivot Shuttle:

Golden Bike Shop determined that the plastic Shimano battery casing had failed where the metal Pivot mounting plate attached to it. They contacted Shimano and Shimano agreed to send a new battery out as a warranty replacement!

On top of that, Shimano didn't want the old battery back, so I'll be able to snag that as well (albeit with its still-broken mounting interface) when the new one comes in. This battery may have some utility as the only thing broken is the Pivot interface--for other brands that mount in a different manner might not matter at all.

It won't be worth my while to sell it as shipping large Li-ion battery packs is a tremendous and very expensive pain, but to have a 504 Wh Li-ion pack... hmm.
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,032
7,552
If Trump wins another term in office I will seriously pursue moving to New Zealand. That’d involve liquidating house and cars here, figuring out licensure requirements, lining up a job, etc.
And if he is voted out then we stay here and I can continue to plot how to improve/complicate my life.

Here is a fun theoretical situation that might actually just work:

- minivan (+/- upgrade to 2021 if financially favorable with trade(s)) for wife
- Tesla and Land Cruiser both go away for a LR AWD but “only” dual motor Cybertruck, the $50k one, not the bat out of hell tri-motor $70k one

At its length I probably would end up parking it in the driveway the majority of the time, but with preconditioning the interior that’d actually be fine.

The point of this would be the 10k tow rating while still being green, quick, etc. (The Land Cruiser was rated to tow 7,500 when new... at sea level.) Thus with a Cybertruck I could comfortably tow something like the 7,600 dry weight Crossroads Volante VL32FB, which I’d pay to have stored at a local lot since I don’t have room for that thing, certainly.



King bed, and queen over queen bunks for my 3 kids! Spec it with factory extra insulation, add some solar and a li-ion battery bank for minimal generator use when off grid and that could be awesome.

/me will most likely not end up complicating his life in this particular way but that’s a fun daydream
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,032
7,552
C54870D7-D93E-467C-8FF4-36C87E1B2288.jpeg


So if I’m not busily figuring out how to emigrate to New Zealand post-Nov 3 this might happen. It wasn’t supposed to ship until 2021 but looks like Q4 as Y demand has been weak so far from reading the tea leaves.

As the kids get bigger (and thus in less bulky boosters) the tiny third row on the Y might be enough. And Tesla seems to be the only place that offers any semblance of resale value for their own wares.

Idea would be to trade both the Land Cruiser and the 3 in on a 3 row Y. Would likely go LR AWD non-Performance. Hitch package for sure so as to be a Land Cruiser bike-hauling replacement. No-cost white paint, stock wheels. Stock Autopilot but no FSD unless FSD adds in a ton more features until that point.

As much as I like the fantasies of towing big shit with a Cybertruck, the Y’s size would be much better for both my home’s and my workplace’s garage.
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,032
7,552
I just put in a request to withdraw enough from my irrationally-propped-up-by-Fed-money-injections Betterment taxable account to pay off the Land Cruiser. (For the second time––had paid it off before when I owned it the first time. :lol: )

2.99% interest x 5 year term x low principal amount means this isn't a huge amount of interest saved, but it's the principle + the rational move given the irrational market valuations (IMO) given widespread unemployment, etc. And the ability to drop comprehensive coverage on it shall be nice indeed.
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,032
7,552
Borrowing money to buy a used car?

Do you lease your monocle?
Gotta keep the slush fund account balance up. Month to month flexibility is important, and the interest charges were basically negligible. Plus DCU's rates on used cars are the same as on new cars as long as LTV is 110%? 120%? or less of NADA value or new retail.

Per Mint, which neither knows of the value or the corresponding debt for the new solar panels on the house.

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So my monocle is half-borrowed still at this point.
 

dump

Turbo Monkey
Oct 12, 2001
8,195
4,419
View attachment 146124

Mariko’s bike, now with a 40 mm rise Spank bar (quite the pain to cut down! Used up most of a cutting wheel on my Dremel-clone), cut-down Gripshift grips, and a SRAM X0 9 speed grip shifter. I hope she has enough hand strength for it!
Can't imagine a kid would have the strength for that. And... dremel? That's hacksaw business.
 

dump

Turbo Monkey
Oct 12, 2001
8,195
4,419
Can't imagine a kid would have the strength for that. And... dremel? That's hacksaw business.
I know nothing of your child and her strength! I imagined a smaller child based on the bike.
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,032
7,552
Can't imagine a kid would have the strength for that. And... dremel? That's hacksaw business.
I know nothing of your child and her strength! I imagined a smaller child based on the bike.
Mariko is about 48" and 46 lbs. She is but a wee thing still.

I tried first with the hacksaw but barely got through the anodizing. That bar's made out of some tough stuff.

Tomorrow I'm taking her out to an easy trail in Morrison where she will revel in being able to shift. Yuna will come along and ride with me on the Mac Ride.
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,032
7,552
Dakota Ridge?






I presume Bear Creek :D
Full Mt Carbon Loop, all 600 vert of it, was too much for Mariko to handle. Nevertheless, we persisted. (I rode for a bit with both girls on the Mac Ride, 20” bike over my left grip. Didn’t die but that was a bit sketchy.)

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Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,032
7,552
Now with 100% more eBay Motors ad goodness! in case there's any actual resale market for Model 3s in this economic climate.

IMG_3192.jpeg


A few dozen more views since I snapped this. Will it sell?!
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,032
7,552


The results of successive transformations of me from male -> female -> male via FaceApp. Because you all needed to have this haunt your dreams.
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,032
7,552
:fie:

Can you feed the after image back into it?
Yeah, each of these was saving it and starting anew with the transformation, stepwise, across the first row left-right then across the second row left-right.
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,032
7,552
Project Travel Trailer Experiment has been booked!

Sept 9-13. Rifle Gap State Park, which is about 3.5 hours west of here if at a normal pace.

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We'll be in campsite 16 in Lakeview, which is a full-hookup pull-through site with 50A service, water, and sewer. It should have a nice unobstructed view of the reservoir!





Parked in that spot will be Colorado Camper Rental's Apex 267RKS. That's a 5,415 lb, 30' 6" travel trailer with a layout that my wife thought would be best for managing kid-stuffs, getting the baby out of the way for naptime in particular.

I'll tow it out to Rifle with my 6,500 lb rated Land Cruiser using a sway-control hitch and a Prodigy P3 brake controller that I'll be installing once it arrives from Amazon––it would have been nicer to have something about 1,000 lbs lighter as for more overhead given the payload of us 5 + our gear, but it should be ok if just so. I anticipate lots of time spent in 2nd gear on the way up and down passes. Might end up filling tanks out there at the campground. Definitely will have to figure out how water and sewer hookups work, and how to dump or at least flush the tanks on the way out before returning the thing.

I'm psyched.



Edit: learned a bit more. Won't have to fill tanks at all, as full hookups at site including water. Learned how to dump and flush black water tank via YouTube.
 
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Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,032
7,552


No bids as of yet, so unless snipers the Tesla shall remain in my paws. That’s just as well.

On another topic, I was figuring out what gas stations would have adequate clearance for pulling through with the big trailer. This proved to be surprisingly difficult in the mountains. I guess semis don’t stop between Denver and Glenwood Springs!

Anyway, the Exxon in Silverthorne looks like it’ll work if I pull around the block. But what if I had a Cybertruck and had to “refill” along the way? There’s a Supercharger bank in Silverthorne…



Yeah, that’s not going to work at all with a trailer. Towing practically thus would require Tesla’s Megacharger network (for their Semi) to be up and running, IMO.
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,032
7,552
Didn’t sell, and that is fine.

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No, eBay, I do not think I will list it for $40.5k.

I may work one extra 5-10 pm shift per month so as to cover the approximate depreciation (after the tax on my earnings).
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,032
7,552
IMG_3217.jpeg


Screen Shot 2020-04-12 at 5.48.32 PM.jpg


Tesla's software updates are screwing with reported range. This 298 mi figure is from as the car sits in my garage at the moment, after a charge from 19 miles reported range up to 100% state of charge. (Going from near 0 to 100% is supposed to help the algorithm be more accurate. 310 miles on a full charge is what it should report ideally.)

Anyway, see the various drastic step changes coincident with software updates (not my data). The last one is apparently the same one that borked my car's range estimates, taking my usual 90% SOC charge's reported range from its usual 276-281 miles or so to more on the order of 255-265 miles at 90%.
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,032
7,552
Ikon Base pass acquired. I'll ski midweek if nothing else. Not sure what the season will look like for the rest of the family.

Wife says child care on mountain is a no go with COVID. Maybe the Devo program at WP will handle kids and the lodge better? Who knows…
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,032
7,552
Somewhat unique pickup spotted on I-70 today:

2019-gen Ram 3500, DRW, regular cab thus long box. Contractor white paint, workman spec black matte grille. Hemi logo on front fender, not Cummins. Multi-ball attachment in hitch--clearly used for towing.

Depending on 2 or 4wd and axle ratio that truck is rated between 14,310 and 18,210 lbs towing, and somewhere in the neighborhood of 7,050-7,280 lbs payload.



(An honest pickup!)
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,032
7,552
For my amusement, the corresponding figures for the Ford F-350 with the new 7.3 gas:

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Bumper pull at 16,800-21,000 depending on ratio and 4x2/4x4.

Not much difference for the gas model for 5th wheel or gooseneck, at 16,700-21,200, whereas the huge headline numbers differ for the diesel, which has very similar bumper pull ratings as the gas but can tow up to 37,000 lbs as a 5th wheel when optioned just so with the F-450's 4.30 gearing and 45,300 GCWR.
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,032
7,552
Refi documents sent to me to sign... and mysteriously my 0.27 point lender credit has turned into me paying 0.03 point.

Yeah, nah. Time to figure out this and not sign if this is what they're pulling. I've seen even better deals off and on (e.g. 2.500% 0 points).

Edit: broker says it's a mistake and will be fixed. Not signing these docs in the meantime.
 

6thElement

Schrodinger's Immigrant
Jul 29, 2008
15,827
13,063
Refi documents sent to me to sign... and mysteriously my 0.27 point lender credit has turned into me paying 0.03 point.

Yeah, nah. Time to figure out this and not sign if this is what they're pulling. I've seen even better deals off and on (e.g. 2.500% 0 points).

Edit: broker says it's a mistake and will be fixed. Not signing these docs in the meantime.
Yeah, 2.5% rate would be tempting for me, I see it on bankrate when I check.