Cycling Law

Just my humble opinion, but let me vent about the law and bicycles.

The rules are seldom made with the best interest of bicyclists (or pedestrians) in mind. Roads, intersections, and signals are seldom made with the best interest of bicyclists in mind. All that is fine - bicyclists are decidedly the minority users of the roads, intersections, and signals. But when I come to any interaction with the above and have to decide what is best for everyone, or what is legal...I go with what is best. If I have to choose between what is safe, or what is legal, I choose safe. This is typically called "civil disobedience" and is embraced in this country as a real solution to social issues, most especially for minority users. The fundamentals of this are 1) do no harm to others, and 2) take the punishment if you have to. It's called the moral high ground :)

Bicycles are not cars - it is retarded to think the same set of laws is reasonable for both. If I'm passing anything at 40+ mph, 3 feet is a good safe distance. However, do you need 3 feet to safely get around something on your bike? I doubt it. Most cars "roll" through stop signs, but their relative reduction in speed from 25+ mph down to 2-3 mph appears to be a stop, even feels like a stop to most drivers. But does a bike need to reduce it's speed 10x (let alone actually stop) to see that an intersection is clear? Very seldom. Those are just a couple examples of the greater point: Pedestrians are not cars. Bicyclists are not cars. We share some space, and the better we get along the safer for all. But the current legal method of throwing us all into the same can of laws and saying "you're equal" is total BS at every level, and when laws are BS, push back and try to improve things.

And I really believe things ARE improving - bike lanes as part of new construction, 3-foot passing zones etc. are now part of our legal vocab. But just because the local copper nicked you this time doesn't mean you did anything "wrong." Part of civil disobedience is making
police and lawmakers aware that there are poorly written, or even bad, laws on a topic. Then we as an organized group work with the system to make things better.

If you get busted, don't get mad but instead explain your position to the officer involved. You probably still get the ticket, but maybe over time the logic of your and others actions will take hold in their mind. By being respectful of the law at the same time as explaining where the law could use some buffing-up you will at least have his attention. Ask the officer to chalk it up as reasonable and calculated "disobedient" behavior, not impatience or recklessness or disregard for authority, and you might make a difference for the next person. That is how it works, and is the foundation of the "acting locally" slogan so many of us embrace.

Anyway, keep up the good political work and - and remember to stay safe.

Suzuki S40 Boulevard Repair

So, recently my fiancé's 2005 S40 Boulevard (pretty much the same engine and setup as the LS650 Savage) has been running really poorly. The engine didn't start or run unless you open the throttle at least 10% or so (choke position didn't seem to matter at all). Once it's running, you had to keep the throttle open or it just quit. On the road at highway speeds, it ran fine, but if you let off the throttle it jerked on/off intermittently until you opened the throttle again.

First thing I did was see if the carb was getting fuel by pulling the fuel line and checking flow in RUN, PRIME, and RESERVE modes. I created a vacuum in RUN and RESERVE mode by sucking on the vacuum hose - everything seemed in order.

Next I pulled the spark plug, which was very black - indicating rich running. I put in a new one, ran up and down the highway about 1/2 hour and pulled it and it was also very black. I took the air filter in/out and that had no effect; the filter looked real clean anyway.

So I removed the carb, all rubber and jets removed, soaked 24hrs then blew clean with compressed air and reassembled: No effect, same terrible running. No ports/jets appears blocked, no rubber parts appeared damaged. Floats did not have fluid in them. In fact, the carb looked pretty much perfect BEFORE i cleaned it, only a very limited amount of stains from old gas etc.

So I was stumped and posted around the internet hunting for solutions. Someone suggested adjusting the valves, which I did. They were only barely out of spec, and the engine still ran horribly afterwards.

It was when I was putting the bike back together after the valve adjustment that I stumbled into the real problem - the petcock. Yep, the first thing I checked...turns out there is a metal part that goes through the diaphragm which had snapped in half, as in the photo. Gas was leaking through, and richening the mixture as it was sucked down the vacuum line. Not sure why I didn't notice this at first....

Suzuki won't sell just the replacement diaphragm/valve combo - only the entire petcock (for $70). So I repaired the item with some wire and gas-tank epoxy.

First I drilled out the middle of the two broken parts, as shown. I fitted the piece of wire as a reinforcement to the epoxy, then assembled the whole thing in a vise and let it dry.

I've been riding now for two days - no more running problems. So it's just a matter of how tough the repair turns out to be...

Electric Water Heater Diagnosis and Repair

Yep. Time to work on the non-working hot water heater.



I wrote this flow chart for the diagnosis and repair of a typical electric hot water heater. So far it's worked a couple times for me - maybe someone else will find it useful. Feel free to send me suggestions for improvement. No promises that what I did here is safe for YOU to try so be careful :)

What are we doing?

Dumb to write this in a blog, pointing to another blog...but it was said here better than I could:
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/11/07/nsfw-after-fort-hood-another-example-of-how-citizen-journalists-cant-handle-the-truth/

Technology makes things easier for us, and instead of enjoying it and being good to ourselves...we find ways to become busier and more self-centered.

In my world I am suddenly finding myself working toward a new start, but a lot of work before then. Maybe some more news on that in another few months...as that is about the rate of postings here.

Big news

So this month I crossed a couple big newsworthy life events.

First of all, I have moved another decade forward in oldness. Things that still seem fresh in my mind really happened a long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far from here.

Second of all, it is good that good things are still happening as I move forward. This weekend, after cooking up a lobster tail dinner, I managed to overcome a great deal of nervousness and ask Alison to marry me.

She accepted, as the photo indicates. No immediate specifics have been decided yet - one thing at a time :)