Trace

Science has blasted a huge hole in the HHO theory of "something for almost nothing". But let's look at something that is FAR more important that science: MONEY! With all the bazillions of dollars (yen, marks) being invested by auto makers, independent research institutions (and colleges) AND the oil companies in hybrids and battery technology, direct fuel injection, variable displacement, diesel-two-stroke-opposed-piston engines and ALL the other endeavors over the past 40 years to increase mileage and reduce emissions.....does anyone really think that all these very smart and motivated researchers have overlooked something as simple and effective as HHO is proclaimed to be? Hardly. I recently had an email conversation with Neil Cavuto (Fox News Channel) when he had Pat Boone on his show, pushing a silly "compressed air" car. [You gotta watch this dingbat Boone talk about saving the world with this air car]-- http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=1&ved=0CBUQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fvideo.foxnews.com%2Fv%2F4028558%2Fpat-boone-pushing-air-cars%2F%3Fplaylist_id%3D87249&rct=j&q=pat+boone+air+car&ei=W3HrS5aIIIK78gbfpdSxBA&usg=AFQjCNH53Sw_o-IqLfcND8W1ip__XoYeeA Cavuto is no engineer and thus didn't know to toss some basic technical questions to Boone to debunk the air car. I wrote to him and discussed two simple things to keep in mind when he has to evaluate crank concepts in future interviews: Energy density and MONEY. Energy density is why we've been using gasoline (and diesel) for 100 years....and MONEY is why we've been using gasoline (and diesel) for 100 years. Hey Pat...how do you MAKE the compressed air, huh? Perhaps in an enormously inefficient air compressor run by electricity produced from coal? What a dingbat! Anyway, science is good......the 2nd Law of Thermo is immutable. But MONEY is an easier theory to follow. It's quite simple--money talks. Period. :biggrin: I applaud JES for all his hard and clever work, and I hope he somehow proves science wrong. :offtopic:

Yeah, that stuff works good. I simply made one using the Rubbermaid product that you can buy anywhere, formed it to the seat nicely, and taped it in place on the bottom of the seat (my Corbin) using Gorilla tape. I had it on at TMAC last year and it's still going strong. Some of you might recall that GF Cheryl was firmly planted at full lean and full throttle. It's only needed on the actual "Butt Area".....no need to have it going all the way to the rear of the seat.

I get a kick out of this thread because the pipes he used to build his exhorrrst system came off of my bike. I had bought another set to JetHot, and after installing them, Tokkie asked about my originals. So I took those pipes, cut them just above collector to make for easier packaging for a trip from Florida to South Africa and because Tokkie obviously didn't need anything except the headpipes. Also in that box I had procured for him some TemperPedic foam (seat), the Factory Pro shift kit, RC51 head bearings, a seat cowl (so he could paint it to match his custom bodywork color), some Gorilla Glue (he loved that stuff!) and a few other items that aren't readily available for a 5th Gen in South Africa. It was great fun to see his ideas become a very cool bike, and I was quite bummed when he had his crash and the bike was no more.

When Jetpilot did his write-up about 1000 years ago, there was no star wheel in the shift kit package--just the roller bearing-ized detent arm and stronger spring (which did help the shifting). I did the "whole package" installation in 2004, and I took this pic of all the parts. As you can see, the star wheel is considerably "new and improved". OEM parts are on the left

Look...you're never going to get the entire driving public to give you some magical, mythical following distance where you feel comfortable with your vacuum tail light. I don't seem to have this problem with slowing down and drivers tailling me, cuz I go fast until it's time to slow down or stop. But if you want to put this wacky thing on your bike, go ahead and do it. You'll be the only bike in the universe with a vacu-brakelight, and you'll be happy. If you were taught downshift like MotoGP to slow for traffic stoppages, well, maybe your instructor was wrong. But yeah, we all downshift as we slow, to have the ooomph to go when the time comes. We do the same thing in cars all the time. Everyone downshifts...including modern cars with auto transmissions. But it's not to slow down, for the most part. It's to be ready to GO. Or you could increase rear tire wear with this method of slowing down, if you want. It's your tires. Do it. The legality comment was about multi-colored lights, which I think was poking fun at your entire "slowing down light" concept. Brake lights are legal, regardless of how you apply them. After all, some dimwits ride the brake in their Escalades all the time, and they never get tickets...so it must be legal, right? As for the rest of us, it appears that we don't think it's a useful invention. But what IS a useful invention is Hyper-lites or any of the other bright, flasher systems that are available for minimal cost. Those DO get driver's attention with a touch of your brakes, which is what you're supposed to be using anyway. If those devices don't get someone's attention, then you're doomed anyway. Life is like that. Maybe you shouldn't be doing these long, gradual slow-downs that get drivers on your ass, wondering why you don't keep up with the flow of traffic. Just go quickly and then brake when you need to. And drivers are going to get on your ass, regardless of what you do, Hyper-lites or not. They don't care that you're on a bike. That's the way it is. Or install your vacu-light. I think the subject has been beaten to death at this point. You've argued against every point that anyone has made against this silly idea, so just go ahead and do it. Set the vacuum at 5 inches so the light will come on when you get off the throttle in 6th gear at 50 mph. :huh: Be safe out there......or get a car.

They really are quite good. The red LED strobe effect really gets attention, and there are two or three settings you can choose, from no strobe, strobe-to-solid (in a few seconds) or all strobe. Day or night, they're ultra-crazy-visible. Yeah, if you have anything but yellow on the front and red at the rear, or anything else blinking where it's not supposed to be, cops can get a little annoyed cuz you're on their turf regarding flashing lights! And don't even THINK about adding blue lights anywhere (although "blue dot" tail lights on cruisers don't seem to be an issue). The Hyper Lites are very legal, BTW. And mine have been working perfectly for 4 years, no issues.

This just doesn't seem like a good idea to me. Cars don't have it, bikes don't have it, and its usefulness is questionable. And, maybe there are times when you don't want it to actuate, but you'll have no choice. I sure wouldn't want to follow you in the twisties with that thing going on and off all the time! If you're worried about traffic seeing you when slowing, why not do it right? Try these....they're impossible to miss. I'll bet Stevie Wonder would see 'em if he was driving behind you! http://www.hyperlites.com/ They're very high quality and friggin' BRIGHT!

Jeeezz, Doug....that's all awful to hear. Mend quickly, mend well.

DUPE!!! See post #31 <_< http://www.vfrdiscussion.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=31326&st=0&p=376863entry376863

The max power numbers (100%) don't surprise me much, as the 9-10 HP has become standard VFR "header lore". However, your midrange improvements are quite significant! Those 40-60% numbers are huge! :beer: I'm sure we're all interested in hearing your :squid: ride report. :goofy:

Thanks, Ken for that nice tidy-up. I'll be installing a set on a pal's silver bike very soon. Oh, and a word of advice: Don't EVEN bother to try and answer the 100 posts asking about the coolant bottle. I'll do it for you here-- "Hey folks, the bottle is not mission critical. It's not under pressure and the water level is well away from the area you have to cut away (butcher :o ). So get creative, get a plastic milk jug or some tupperware or something from the hardware store that's about the right shape to close your cut (and after all, it's YOUR cut, so just consider what you'll be using to close the cut before you make the cut!) and goop it together with some clear silicone gasket goop. OR....use two flat pieces of plastic that you goop into place, and goop the joint where they meet. No matter how bad of an ugly hack job you do, it will probably be fine. If you really botch it up, add a piece of hose to the existing overflow line and run it out the back of the bike somewhere while you're waiting on a new one to come in from Service Honda/Ayers/etc. :lol: "

Aaarrrrrrggggghhhhhhhh........my EYES, my EYYYYYEEEEESSSS!!! Having said that, I must add that you did a really nice job with your phony, fake, stick-on vinyl carbon-fibre-look stuff. But why didn't you try it with fake wood grain??! :unsure: Again, nice job!

Nicely done! :thumbsup:

Just an FYI on fork tube height [top of cap to top of yoke], since this hasn't been discussed here lately: Raising the tubes in the yokes (from the OEM setting) gives better turn-in and snappier handling. Lowering the the tubes does just the opposite, making the bike want to go straighter. It's kinda like the caster angle settings on a car. Casters want to go straight, like a shopping cart's front wheels. (except when one of 'em wiggles...what's up with that? I HATE that and always go get another cart so I can be railin' the aisles at Food World....) But the limit to raising the tubes is the point of instability and headshake, since you don't ever get sumpin' fer nuttin'. I set my tubes to 49mm. I went to 52 as an experiment, but got a wee bit of shake :goofy: under full power once, so I returned to 49. Depending on what manual you read and/or what Gen you have, OEM height is either 39 or 44, and there's always much controversy about that number!! But 49 worky niiiiice.

He was having a little trouble getting the shiny aluminum "oil caps" off of the VFR dampers and was concerned that there was something holding them on (press fit, hidden setscrew, magic), unlike the F3 caps that practically fell off of the dampers. He didn't want to force something unknowingly and tear it up. :joystick: I told him that they'll come off with just a little gentle tapping....nothing in particular holding them on, except magic. THEN he'll get to the compression valve circlip, but he's already taken the F3 stuff apart so he's familiar with that process. And yeah, I've taken about a million circlips off of all sorts of stuff for 30 years...but sure enough, I launched that damn compression circlip into the darkest reaches of my work area. Well...actually, I don't HAVE any dark reaches in my work area, but it managed to vanish and cause me 20 minutes of searching anyway!! :wub: :pissed:

PM sent.

HS, I think it's a little unfair to label anyone in the "Helibars" thread who questioned your dealings on the classified ad as a "detractor". I hardly consider myself one of your detractors [so I must be a supporter...ewww!], and I don't think I've ever criticized VFRD or your policies in running it. After all, I don't know Diddly about running a website, and wouldn't want to be an international babysitter for people who happen to own a Honda VFR (but it's your choice to do so). However, in this recent controversy, I didn't want to sit on the sidelines and not voice my opinion that something didn't seem kosher. And in your blog, you agreed that it wasn't kosher. Nuff said. So...instead of me feeling that you think I'm a detractor, I'll instead take the position that you weren't talkin' to me personally. Because I am indeed a strong supporter (ewwwww!) of VFRD. Wanna sell those Helibars? :goofy: