six3seven

#hisNhers now we can tell our @getpebble apart thanks to...

#hisNhers now we can tell our @getpebble apart thanks to @getGadgetWraps

Posted via my Tumblr account. See the original post, or follow me.

Got some @getGadgetWraps love for my @getpebble today…

Posted via my Tumblr account. See the original post, or follow me.

It’s on the calendar now… No backing out. #roadTrip

It’s on the calendar now… No backing out. #roadTrip

I have been planning this trip for a while... about 600km is going to take a full day and it's almost entirely twisty back roads, very little highway, very little residential.

Should be awesome and tiring all at once.

I owned an MC21 NSR250… back when I was 65kg. That bike...

I owned an MC21 NSR250… back when I was 65kg. That bike really taught me how to ride.

Fixed. Cut out the old pin, welded a bolt, fitted a bush. Add...

After this failure on my wife's BF Falcon gear selector, I decided it better to fix the design than just replace the parts with expensive factory replacements.

Fixed. Cut out the old pin, welded a bolt, fitted a sleeve. Add washers for effect.

Here's what I did:

I removed the selector arm, ground the back of the riveted pin with a flap disc, and punched the pin out. That left a hole.

I used a small diameter bolt and a 6.5mm OD sleeve to protect the plastic bush from the thread of the bolt.

I welded the head of the bolt to the arm on the back side so it won't ever move. I used a nut on the as a spacer on the inside. Against the nut on the inside is the large mud flap washer, and the inside hole of that washer has a large enough diameter to fit over the sleeve such that it can rotate freely and minimise the rub wear on the plastic part.

The flogged out bush didn't quite fit over the 6.5mm sleeve, so I cleaned out the inside of the bush with a 6.5mm drill. It's very soft material so I did this by simply holding the drill bit in my hand, turning it with my fingers.

Outside the bush are two washers, the first has an inside diameter just big enough to fit over the sleeve and it's purpose is the same as the large mud flap washer... it can move freely and prevents rub wear. The second washer fits snug on the thread of the bolt. The nut is torqued up to the washer which in turn holds the sleeve tight. In this way, the plastic bush moves on the stationary sleeve. Nut has locktite applied for security.

Almost imperceptible in the picture is that the plastic cable-end does not line up directly at 90 degrees to the bolt, so the sleeve and bolt assembly is about 3mm longer than the hole in the bush to allow some angular tolerance and minimised rub wear.

This entire repair took me under 40 minutes to complete and cost me just some odds and sods from my gash drawer. Also, my wife now has an appreciation why I keep all this so-called junk.

Ford BF Falcon Shift Link Cable Failure

My wife went to drive her Ford BF Falcon but the gearbox wasn't working.

The gear selector or 'T-bar' was moving very freely, but the dash indicator was stuck on neutral.

Jacking the car up and a quick look revealed this:

Doesn’t look right?!?!

The black plastic thing with the hole in it is the end of the shift linkage cable, it would narmally be pressed onto the pin at the top of the shift arm. The black plastic unit attached to the gearbox is the shift switch. Moving the 'T-bar' inside the car moves the cable, the cable moves the shift arm, the shift arm is mounted through the shift switch and the switch is what tells the gearbox/engine ECU what position the gearbox is in.

The white plastic bush is flogged out, and while putting it back onto the pin meant the gearbox works as expected, it's obviously not going to stay in place.

Obviously, to fix the problem correctly, the entire shift linkage cable needs replacement. This involves some disassembly of the interior console, the cable goes through the firewall and loops back to the gearbox. Once fitted, the cable requires adjustment, and of course the usualy story of re-assembly.

Also, someone mentioned the cable is a $150 genuine part from the dealer.

Upon considering the design, I decided there is probably a more reliable solution...

Here's what I did...

Cheap Chinese 'Portable' Static Wheel Balancer (eBay)

I bought this cheap chinese static wheel balancer... here's a quick review.

Herm Narciso Makes a Fiberglass Cafe Racer Seat

Pocket Hand Chainsaw

While I'm not sure how long one of these Pocket Chainsaws will stay sharp, for under $40 it'll get you out of a pinch...

Music Tags

Here are todays tags...

Had to strip the paint off the bathroom ceiling last night, caught the last ever Super Request on
Triple J.

5am start at work this morning with @Rage_ABC on the TV. Saturday morning Rage is mostly teeny-bopper crap before 9am, but there are usually a couple of ok clips.

Music Tags

I'm hopeless... that is to say my memory sucks big time. No matter how much I love something, I often forget about plans. That's been happening a lot with music, stuff I want to buy, artists I want to learn more about. Enter Shazam... I've been tagging music simply as a way to quickly create a record of music I like.

I figured it might be time to start sharing those tags...

Lossa Engineering's short film "Solus"

Escapism

Gear...

Vitesse Hunt boots:

These boots look like a nice alternative to the black boy-racer come power ranger boots I normally wear. Lace up style should end up with a better fit, and all my non-riding boots are brown anyway.

I have a pretty wide foot, and the Vitesse site says:

Inspired by traditional work boots, The Hunt employs laces to offer a snug and variable fit. Its upper is entirely made out of premium American saddle leather, for durability and comfort. It will take wax to a shine and patina beautifully through years of loyal use.

Its fit is regular in width, but offers the highest forefoot of all 3 models, so that your toes have a bit of extra room.

Available in full size 39–47. Price starts at 175 Euros.

So I wonder just how much room there will be. Typically, I end up buying a size too large to accomodate my flipper-feet.

Gear...

This week I'm loving the Fuel Bespoke Motorcycles t-shirt line.

Daydreaming...

Motorcycle Ergonomics - Pictorially

Cycle-ergo is a really nice, interactive ergonomics simulator... I'm not sure who made the webpage, or why they made it, but it's a really nice tool.

You can input more than one machine, and use the mouse scroll wheel to fade between bikes to see the real differences.

I set up three bikes, a stock 2010 R1, my 2010 R1 with 7cm up and 1cm back bars, and the old 2006 FZ1 to get a real idea of where my new bike puts me... and it really is a good compromise between the two.