Random Thoughts Thread

[balthazar]

[ocnblu]

[ocnblu]

Badass truck, no doubt -

 

 

 

[ocnblu]

Former next door neighbors moved a couple miles away.  They had a late model Liberty for many years, and a Kia Soul.  The Soul got totaled in a crash about a year ago.  They traded the Liberty on a new Cherokee, and she got a Renegade.  Drove by yesterday and the Renegade's gone... replaced by an awesome green Soul X-line.

[balthazar]

[balthazar]

Do you know why Chrysler / FCA puts that lil graphic on your Jeep?  

[ocnblu]

To sell windshields, and they're not the only OEM that does it

Edited September 2, 2019 by ocnblu

[balthazar]

I forgot that each SLP car (Camaro SS / Firehawk) came with 'birth certificates', complete with 'birthmark' & 'footprints' : 

[A Horse With No Name]

This thing is an absolute work of art....highly impressed...

[ocnblu]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, FROGGER

[G. David Felt]

4 hours ago, ocnblu said:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, FROGGER

Frogger came out in Japan on June 5th 1981, US Oct 23rd 1981 and EU August 6th 1982. So where is the birthday for who?

[Drew Dowdell]

10 minutes ago, dfelt said:

Frogger came out in Japan on June 5th 1981, US Oct 23rd 1981 and EU August 6th 1982. So where is the birthday for who?

We have a user here named @frogger

[daves87rs]

Waiting....

Had a great few days here at Disney World, hit almost all the parks! Gambled coming down here because of Dorian, but cancelling meant we would not be doing it again.  Looks like it paid off as we get just some wine a rain and a no park day tomorrow. Good thing we came prepared (Uno!!) ? 

Just hoping we lose the one day, and get to enjoy the rest of the week......

[Cmicasa the Great]

Been away for a while.. summer stuff.. figured I'd get out an live while the weather was warm. Decided to get back into riding bikes.. had given it up back in '05 after my then wife (now ex) had issue with me riding with two small children, one of which had just arrived a year earlier. This time.. decided to do it legal and get an actual license.. no more sport bikes tho.. went with Harley, a Softail Cruiser in June.. and by August wanted a sportier Harley to sit next to her.. a NightRod Special (VRod). Meet Browyn (Softail) and Ronda (NRS). The Softail is an '03 Softail Standard FXST with Rhinehart exhaust. The NRS has Vance and Hines 2-in-1 exhaust and commander tune.

Two different looks of the Softail are because I just change my handlebars to Ape Hangers this Saturday. The 2016 NightRod I have been customizing myself as U can see The original look is the grey bike. 

NRS before I started customizing (Stock Form)

 

Softail before Ape Hanger Handlebars (below). Windshield is detachable

 

[G. David Felt]

@Cmicasa the Great Glad you had some summer riding fun and have popped back in, look forward to seeing your posts.

[G. David Felt]

NOT to be political, but focused on the trade and it's relation to the auto industry. So many of the electrical components come from the Asian rim. As one can see from the chart below, costs have gone up across the board due to the trade war, but no real positive change in that relation and with the increased cost of auto's, we have all stated that auto's are becoming less of an ownership thing for everyone. Companies have started to move manufacturing from China to other 3rd world places in the Asian rim such as Malaysia and one has to wonder if that will really change anything.

WHAT DO YOU think will happen with auto costs and as companies move to EVs in replacing ICE, does that mean we truly will see lower costs or are the higher prices here to stay?

WHAT DO YOU think of the relation of trade deficit to the auto companies ability to deliver QUALITY ICE/EV auto's at prices people will pay / can afford?

https://www.axios.com/trump-trade-deficit-world-china-6c0e421a-872d-4232-951c-511e0c785f68.html

 

[Drew Dowdell]

2 hours ago, Cmicasa the Great said:

Been away for a while.. summer stuff.. figured I'd get out an live while the weather was warm. Decided to get back into riding bikes.. had given it up back in '05 after my then wife (now ex) had issue with me riding with two small children, one of which had just arrived a year earlier. This time.. decided to do it legal and get an actual license.. no more sport bikes tho.. went with Harley, a Softail Cruiser in June.. and by August wanted a sportier Harley to sit next to her.. a NightRod Special (VRod). Meet Browyn (Softail) and Ronda (NRS). The Softail is an '03 Softail Standard FXST with Rhinehart exhaust. The NRS has Vance and Hines 2-in-1 exhaust and commander tune.

Two different looks of the Softail are because I just change my handlebars to Ape Hangers this Saturday. The 2016 NightRod I have been customizing myself as U can see The original look is the grey bike. 

NRS before I started customizing (Stock Form)

 

Softail before Ape Hanger Handlebars (below). Windshield is detachable

 

Great Fleet!!  I guess I'm waiting till next spring now to get a bike. 

[riviera74]

26 minutes ago, dfelt said:

NOT to be political, but focused on the trade and it's relation to the auto industry. So many of the electrical components come from the Asian rim. As one can see from the chart below, costs have gone up across the board due to the trade war, but no real positive change in that relation and with the increased cost of auto's, we have all stated that auto's are becoming less of an ownership thing for everyone. Companies have started to move manufacturing from China to other 3rd world places in the Asian rim such as Malaysia and one has to wonder if that will really change anything.

WHAT DO YOU think will happen with auto costs and as companies move to EVs in replacing ICE, does that mean we truly will see lower costs or are the higher prices here to stay?

WHAT DO YOU think of the relation of trade deficit to the auto companies ability to deliver QUALITY ICE/EV auto's at prices people will pay / can afford?

https://www.axios.com/trump-trade-deficit-world-china-6c0e421a-872d-4232-951c-511e0c785f68.html

 

The real issue is whether automakers will actually pass on the savings from ICE to EV towards consumers via lower prices.  I suspect they will not do so unless forced by new entrants into the marketplace. . . . or an existing automaker wants to start a price war.

[Drew Dowdell]

We won't see cost savings on EVs until there is more standardization of components and parts sharing. 

[G. David Felt]

@Drew Dowdell @riviera74 I would agree in regards to the EV segment, still way too early, but what about the ICE side, do you think we will see any price reductions or if it is will it be forced due to possible recession across the globe as well as do you think we will see any real reduction in trade deficit from the above chart by the auto companies?

[Drew Dowdell]

1 minute ago, dfelt said:

@Drew Dowdell @riviera74 I would agree in regards to the EV segment, still way too early, but what about the ICE side, do you think we will see any price reductions or if it is will it be forced due to possible recession across the globe as well as do you think we will see any real reduction in trade deficit from the above chart by the auto companies?

Automakers are not going to start turning back to unprofitable cars (small, low priced sedans) just because people can't afford what they're producing during a recession. They'll let the used market handle those customers and just dial back on production. Ford and GM are already stashing cash away for a recession. One would assume the other companies are doing the same.  If there is one coming, there has been plenty of notice for it. 

[balthazar]

1 hour ago, Drew Dowdell said:

We won't see cost savings on EVs until there is more standardization of components and parts sharing. 

The question is if "we" revers to OEMS, or consumers. I'm betting that most of any cost savings will NOT be passed on to consumers, ESPECIALLY as the segment grows in volume. There's simply no marketing pressure to do so.
More and more decidedly non-luxury vehicle brands are pushing upwards, making the entry-level market increasing low volume / barren. It may well be that the automobile returns to it's dawn of primarily high priced vehicles.

[Drew Dowdell]

16 minutes ago, balthazar said:

The question is if "we" revers to OEMS, or consumers. I'm betting that most of any cost savings will NOT be passed on to consumers, ESPECIALLY as the segment grows in volume. There's simply no marketing pressure to do so.
More and more decidedly non-luxury vehicle brands are pushing upwards, making the entry-level market increasing low volume / barren. It may well be that the automobile returns to it's dawn of primarily high priced vehicles.

All quite true. At best we may see a leveling off of prices for a short while. 

[G. David Felt]

Yet, one can HOPE that auto companies will realize the need to have an entry level auto to keep youth interested in said auto's.

[G. David Felt]

Seems VW is in the news AGAIN for Fuel Economy Cheating. This time on regular gas powered auto's and has agreed to a $96.5 million settlement with the EPA. They are also forfeiting all emission credits. Seems people will be getting checks in the mail and EPA will get their cut from the forfeited emission credits.

https://www.autoblog.com/2019/09/01/vw-fuel-economy-error-reimbursement/

To Quote the story: The agency said the software was on roughly 1 million 2013-2017 Audi, Bentley, Porsche and Volkswagen vehicles and caused the transmission to shift gears during the EPA-prescribed emissions test in a manner that sometimes optimizes fuel economy and greenhouse gas emissions during the test, but not under normal driving conditions. The EPA said Volkswagen has determined the software lowered the fuel economy rating on roughly 98,000 vehicles by approximately one mile per gallon.

Seems FORD has filed 9 Removable Door Patents ahead of the 2021 Bronco release. Some very interesting doors in the pictures at the story here: https://www.thedrive.com/news/29607/heres-every-removable-door-patent-ford-has-filed-ahead-of-the-2021-ford-bronco

Seems Australia does not like Infiniti as in 2020 next year, they are withdrawing from the auto market among poor sales. https://www.thedrive.com/news/29661/infiniti-to-withdraw-from-australia-in-late-2020-due-to-poor-sales-report

Infiniti had their best auto sales year in 2016 when they sold 807 auto's and since the brand opened in Australia 2013.

 

[ccap41]

^ Good lord, VW...

[G. David Felt]

3 minutes ago, ccap41 said:

^ Good lord, VW...

Right, This is just mind boggling that they went this far with deceptive MPG software.

[balthazar]

Wonder how this will effect their reputation / trust level going forward, even if it's regarding EVs. Multiple corporate-level marketing cheats don't go far in the 2nd-largest-capital-expenditure of a consumer's life.

[riviera74]

49 minutes ago, balthazar said:

Wonder how this will effect their reputation / trust level going forward, even if it's regarding EVs. Multiple corporate-level marketing cheats don't go far in the 2nd-largest-capital-expenditure of a consumer's life.

Certainly true.  Then again, VW is a perfect case of truly rotten management, poor leadership and shoddy thinking led to these multiple scandals.  New leadership is required to clean up these messes.

[balthazar]

In this era, perhaps that's enough for a #shutdownthecorporation...

[Cmicasa the Great]

4 hours ago, balthazar said:

Wonder how this will effect their reputation / trust level going forward, even if it's regarding EVs. Multiple corporate-level marketing cheats don't go far in the 2nd-largest-capital-expenditure of a consumer's life.

BUt the thing is.. AMERICAN MEDIA.. won't cover it except for a blurb. GM or Ford.. or even Chry.. they would be running the stories back to back daily for 5 years. 

I mean really. I just thought about what I typed and almost threw up in my mouth at the bulls#!t. Especially if it were GM they would be obsessed over it.. demanding Trump ram Mary Barra's residence door down to get at her

[daves87rs]

11 hours ago, dfelt said:

NOT to be political, but focused on the trade and it's relation to the auto industry. So many of the electrical components come from the Asian rim. As one can see from the chart below, costs have gone up across the board due to the trade war, but no real positive change in that relation and with the increased cost of auto's, we have all stated that auto's are becoming less of an ownership thing for everyone. Companies have started to move manufacturing from China to other 3rd world places in the Asian rim such as Malaysia and one has to wonder if that will really change anything.

WHAT DO YOU think will happen with auto costs and as companies move to EVs in replacing ICE, does that mean we truly will see lower costs or are the higher prices here to stay?

WHAT DO YOU think of the relation of trade deficit to the auto companies ability to deliver QUALITY ICE/EV auto's at prices people will pay / can afford?

https://www.axios.com/trump-trade-deficit-world-china-6c0e421a-872d-4232-951c-511e0c785f68.html

 

Depends on where we are talking about.

EV growth will continue on with slow, but steady growth. The biggest thing holding EV back is the infrastructure. You can’t just throw one up like a gas station- nor how the general public will abuse them like the current ICE.......

The smarter thing would be to ease regulations (safety) to bring the cost down some. I mean-if your car has to beep every time to correct you, I’m thinking they shouldn’t be driving in the first place! Younger folks are having a hard time between the debt and the lower intro salaries to justify buying a decent CUV or even a new car......

The economy is going to hurt even more with many companies slashing models to stem the flow of losses (like you see Ford do with the car line)

And these are just the starting points.....

[G. David Felt]

@daves87rs I am really interested in why you think putting up a commercial grade charger is harder than a destructive environmental gas station. All the EPA regs and double wall tank plus underground leak sensors, soil sensors, etc. compared to running the 220 or 440 3 phase to a pad and putting up the trickle or quick charge chargers.

Right now there are 22,800 commerical charging stations in the US.

https://afdc.energy.gov/fuels/electricity_locations.html#/find/nearest?fuel=ELEC&country=US&ev_levels=2&ev_levels=dc_fast&ev_levels=1

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, we have the following statistics:

270 million ICE autos, 150,000 Gas stations, 1.2 million pumps which equals 225 ICE autos to a single pump.

1 million EVs at the end of 2018 registered, 22,800 Charge stations, 63,840 Charging connections which equals 15 EVs per charge connection.

This does not even include 110 or 220, level 1 & 2 home or business connections that are out there.

I would say the EV charging infrastructure is building fast.

I would say check out your area for current details.

[G. David Felt]

Seems Cadillac is behind the 8 ball in regards to the new V series due to emission issues that they say are now resolved but explains why the V and Blackwing 2019's which are all sold out have not shipped to a single dealer yet.

http://cadillacsociety.com/2019/08/31/cadillac-ct6-v-deliveries-delayed-over-emissions/

[A Horse With No Name]

8 hours ago, Cmicasa the Great said:

BUt the thing is.. AMERICAN MEDIA.. won't cover it except for a blurb. GM or Ford.. or even Chry.. they would be running the stories back to back daily for 5 years. 

I mean really. I just thought about what I typed and almost threw up in my mouth at the bulls#!t. Especially if it were GM they would be obsessed over it.. demanding Trump ram Mary Barra's residence door down to get at her

Ohhh...I have given up on the mainstream American media. I never watch Fox, MSNBC, CNN, NBC, CBS or the like. 

[Cmicasa the Great]

21 hours ago, Drew Dowdell said:

Great Fleet!!  I guess I'm waiting till next spring now to get a bike. 

Didn't know U rode. Naaah. If I were U I'd get one now or in the coming months. Prices will be down. 2019 Harleys, if that's what U are going for are on sale. Went on Labor Day just to peruse and man they have hella deals. One day.. when I'm ready to do that cross-country ride.. I'll go back to pick-up a Road Glide or Road King

[Cmicasa the Great]

7 hours ago, dfelt said:

Seems Cadillac is behind the 8 ball in regards to the new V series due to emission issues that they say are now resolved but explains why the V and Blackwing 2019's which are all sold out have not shipped to a single dealer yet.

http://cadillacsociety.com/2019/08/31/cadillac-ct6-v-deliveries-delayed-over-emissions/

Yeah.. saw that a few days ago. Oh well.. Its reason one why I have zero issue with waiting til the 2020s go into production.. maybe even a lightly used one to kill me taking a hit on depreciation. Luxury cars are the worst when it comes to that. Friend of mine literally went into trade his S63AMG in with less than 20K on the odo.. I think it was a '17.. they offered him $60K if I remember correct. 

[riviera74]

At least Cadillac resolved the emissions issue on the CT6-V.  I do hope that at least another 5000 are made and released to the public.

[G. David Felt]

3 hours ago, A Horse With No Name said:

Ohhh...I have given up on the mainstream American media. I never watch Fox, MSNBC, CNN, NBC, CBS or the like. 

5 years ago I cut the cord and went with streaming to enjoy the shows I wanted to watch, reduce the commercials and BS Media Manipulation. Course Social Media is even worse than Mainstream American Media.

Rather read BCC or some other news source over our current mess.

[Drew Dowdell]

2 hours ago, Cmicasa the Great said:

Didn't know U rode. Naaah. If I were U I'd get one now or in the coming months. Prices will be down. 2019 Harleys, if that's what U are going for are on sale. Went on Labor Day just to peruse and man they have hella deals. One day.. when I'm ready to do that cross-country ride.. I'll go back to pick-up a Road Glide or Road King

I'm waiting for a rental property to sell.  I won't be buying new, I'll buy a low mileage pre-owned this:

[Cmicasa the Great]

3 hours ago, Drew Dowdell said:

I'm waiting for a rental property to sell.  I won't be buying new, I'll buy a low mileage pre-owned this:

BMW ninet Scrambler? How tall are U? 

[Drew Dowdell]

10 minutes ago, Cmicasa the Great said:

BMW ninet Scrambler? How tall are U? 

Yes. 5'10"... why?

[Cmicasa the Great]

9 minutes ago, Drew Dowdell said:

Yes. 5'10"... why?

Height matters in riding. Believe me. When I was originally looking for a bike (I'm 6'3) I was gonna get a Sportster 1200.. Sat on it.. all hunched over even with 10 inch bars.. went for a test.. came back with an aching back. At 5'10,.. U still might want to look at a larger bike so as U don;t have to go thru as much adjusting and changing stuff to accommodate your height.. just sayin. If U already know this.. my bad.. That BMW may have U needing to up the handle bars and change the seat.. no to mention get forward controls. TRUTHFULLY.. U can find a lotta nice deals on older bikes with low miles that are larger.. from Harley.. Triumph.. Indian.. hell even Yamaha. I admittedly was considering getting a Yamaha Raider S

[G. David Felt]

If I ever get the urge to get back onto a bike, I would go this route for ICE:

 

For EV I would go with the Live Wire from Harley.

[Drew Dowdell]

18 minutes ago, Cmicasa the Great said:

Height matters in riding. Believe me. When I was originally looking for a bike (I'm 6'3) I was gonna get a Sportster 1200.. Sat on it.. all hunched over even with 10 inch bars.. went for a test.. came back with an aching back. At 5'10,.. U still might want to look at a larger bike so as U don;t have to go thru as much adjusting and changing stuff to accommodate your height.. just sayin. If U already know this.. my bad.. That BMW may have U needing to up the handle bars and change the seat.. no to mention get forward controls. TRUTHFULLY.. U can find a lotta nice deals on older bikes with low miles that are larger.. from Harley.. Triumph.. Indian.. hell even Yamaha. I admittedly was considering getting a Yamaha Raider S

I've tried this one out already. BMW lent me one for a day (it's nice to know people).  I picked this one because it is a 1,200, but it is under 500 lbs, so it can go on a Mototote to let me drag it down to Florida without having to get a trailer. It's basically the most powerful bike under 500 lbs that I can find... plus, I love the way it looks.  I'm not a big fan of V-twins. I took an Indian out for a day and I just don't like the lumpiness of it. 

One of the smoothest I found was the Honda CB1100 EX, but it's over the 500lbs limit. 

edit: I also have gorilla arms, so I can do a really long reach 

[daves87rs]

21 hours ago, dfelt said:

@daves87rs I am really interested in why you think putting up a commercial grade charger is harder than a destructive environmental gas station. All the EPA regs and double wall tank plus underground leak sensors, soil sensors, etc. compared to running the 220 or 440 3 phase to a pad and putting up the trickle or quick charge chargers.

Right now there are 22,800 commerical charging stations in the US.

https://afdc.energy.gov/fuels/electricity_locations.html#/find/nearest?fuel=ELEC&country=US&ev_levels=2&ev_levels=dc_fast&ev_levels=1

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, we have the following statistics:

270 million ICE autos, 150,000 Gas stations, 1.2 million pumps which equals 225 ICE autos to a single pump.

1 million EVs at the end of 2018 registered, 22,800 Charge stations, 63,840 Charging connections which equals 15 EVs per charge connection.

This does not even include 110 or 220, level 1 & 2 home or business connections that are out there.

I would say the EV charging infrastructure is building fast.

I would say check out your area for current details.

Simple answer my friend - not hard-just not fast enough. Keep in mind they have been putting in gas stations in for over 100 years...and are still putting them in! 

Going to take awhile to get that many electric stations for the general public to have many choices.....

While there are other options ( home, work, local public place) they really need to be everywhere to be the dominant choice.

Hence my thought on the ramp up of EV.......

[balthazar]

Man, does HomeAdvisor give some shitty, erroneous information.
"light fixture work : $150 - $750"
"wiring a house : $550 - $750."

Look at that for a half second.

[balthazar]

[Drew Dowdell]

12 hours ago, daves87rs said:

Simple answer my friend - not hard-just not fast enough. Keep in mind they have been putting in gas stations in for over 100 years...and are still putting them in! 

Going to take awhile to get that many electric stations for the general public to have many choices.....

While there are other options ( home, work, local public place) they really need to be everywhere to be the dominant choice.

Hence my thought on the ramp up of EV.......

Those are just the public charging points. Most people charge up at home (except the Tesla Supercharger leaches). 

[ccap41]

32 minutes ago, Drew Dowdell said:

(except the Tesla Supercharger leaches).

You make it sound like they didn't already pay for the service up front... 

While annoying, I get it. They paid for that. Why pay two times for charging?