Thursday 21 November 2013
Friday 30 August 2013
A Right Grind
After 90,000 miles the grinding noise from the back of the car merited investigation:
The trick with this job is to use a piston pusher to push the piston back into the calliper - it needs to rotate too:-
The benefrit of asbestos free brake pads is that the discs appear to suffer somewhat. |
£75 later a new set of discs and pads are fitted. |
Monday 26 August 2013
Banish the Blind Spot
Why are motorcycle mirrors so inadequate compared to the average car door mirror where blind spots are virtually eliminated? The ideal mirror would have a wide angle and a deep view too to capture more of the road behind. A failing with many mirrors is that they give a view through a letter box effect.
Here at NW Lab I have tried various improvements:
Riderscan:
The Riderscan is a hemispherical segment of mirror that provides a near 180 degree coverage. Unfortunately as mounted on the GS screen it provides an excellent view of mostly me and as it sits in the middle does not provide a logical scan sequence.
SAENG stick ons:
These resemble those stick-on blind spot eliminators but have a mounting system that allows them to be stuck independently on a fairing or windscreen.
Quite good when positioned correctly as they completely cover the blind spot. They do tend to wobble around a lot. Quite useful on dense motorways and for overtakes as they cover the shoulder check view without losing forward vision.
Finally I have tried to reposition the standard mirrors forward on crank arms (available from Wunderlich, Hornig etc.).
Here at NW Lab I have tried various improvements:
First, the Riderscan. |
The Riderscan is a hemispherical segment of mirror that provides a near 180 degree coverage. Unfortunately as mounted on the GS screen it provides an excellent view of mostly me and as it sits in the middle does not provide a logical scan sequence.
SAENG stick ons:
The SAENG rabbit's ears Quick Scans. |
Quite good when positioned correctly as they completely cover the blind spot. They do tend to wobble around a lot. Quite useful on dense motorways and for overtakes as they cover the shoulder check view without losing forward vision.
Finally I have tried to reposition the standard mirrors forward on crank arms (available from Wunderlich, Hornig etc.).
Crank Arms (extenders) - This has been the best - the mirrors are positioned forward and slightly outwards and give a wider effective view. |
Saturday 24 August 2013
Designers Should Get Out More
Why is the BMW specified, SHAD produced, Vario Top case 4cm to shallow to accomodate a typical full face helmet?
I have also shaved off the heads of the mounting bolts that protrude into the internal space.
This is an XL Shoei XR1100 |
I have now sold this helmet - a Shark Speed R fits but only just if a little compression is applied. |
Saturday 29 June 2013
A value for money Action Camera? SJ 1000
Recommended by Techmoan--> HERE
Trouble is, when mounted in the waterproof case there is no way to switch the camera on and off.
I removed a plunger switch from an old go pro case and drilled a 2.5mm hole in the SJ 1000 case. It seems to work fine but is probably not waterproof to 30m.
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