Monday Morning - It has finally started to cool off and it'll be a few days until the ice on the roads have a chance to clear off but it was a beautiful morning. This was Sunday at about 8:45am taken while walking down the road. The sun was just coming up over the horizon. Sunrise an hour earlier was wonderful. I wish they would just stop this whole "daylight savings time" foolishness. Especially since we now seem to be out of sync with other countries. I don't see the benefit.
This morning (Monday), it was in the low teens during my commute in. With the heated liner on low and the gloves a bit higher, I was toasty warm. It is probably cold enough to change to lighter weight engine oil and that may be a task for next weekend. This is the oil change interval so it is a bit more of a hassle especially with the sidecar mounted. The oil filter would be right next to the front subframe mount. I also still need to replace the positive battery cable. I didn't do it earlier since the hardware store only had two copper terminals of the proper gauge.
Tuesday Morning - On Monday evening, I rode out to the local microbrewery for the monthly Airheads.org get together and we had a very light turnout. It was a nice ride out and back though I don't think that I will ever be comfortable riding in the dark. The stock headlight is rather anemic and anything over about 35 mph feels like I'm overdriving the low beam. The LED fog lights do a great job illuminating the side of the road but until moose start having retroreflective markings, I'll just keep the speed down at night. This morning brought snow along with the cooler temperatures. I started carrying around a small tarp to cover the seat and handlebars and when it starts to get cold, I'll use it to sort of cover the heads to keep a little bit of heat trapped.
A few weeks ago, Bobskoot blogged about his new impact wrench and I suggested looking for some torque limiting extensions to simplify tire mounting. These are what I was referring to. From left to right, 80 ft-lbs to 110 ft-lbs in 10 ft-lb increments. And the most common sockets for wheel lug nuts. Consistent enough for installing wheels so you don't need to use a torque wrench. For my truck, the spec is 135 ft-lbs so the last bit still needs to be done by hand.
Update Tuesday Afternoon - We are now getting dumped on and the powers that be suggested that folks head home earlier rather than later. The road was pretty slick with some vehicles (those same arrogant AWD drivers I mentioned before) were sliding through intersections and spinning out on the highway as they gunned their unstoppable machines. On the heavier snow, the sidecar rig tended to steer wide as the front wheel floated on top of the heavy snow. By mid afternoon, it was already about 4" deep so I opted to head for home. Maybe time to see if the snowblower still starts and runs…
Posted with Blogsy
I love night riding but iguana don't equate to moose. I dont see why curmudgeons on the last frontier can't join the oddballs in Arizona Hawaii and eastern Indiana and abolish daylight savings. then the rest of us sane people could have year round summer time? Good idea no?
ReplyDeleteA great idea! I have no idea why it still exists. Back in the 80's, the legislature decided to put the whole state on one timezone and they picked the one that the capitol is located in. The one furthest east. More dumb on top of this whole daylight time thing.
DeleteRichardM, our local weather guessers failed miserably in their prediction for snow this morning....send some of that stuff down this way will you?
ReplyDeleteWe are getting quite a bit of snow right now. I may need to pass on riding tomorrow unless it lightens up a bit. It seems like we have the opposite weather from the lower 48. When you have extremely cold weather it's usually nice up here.
DeleteRichard:
ReplyDeleteRe: those torque limiting extensions
You mean they "Slip" when they get to the desired torque ? When my impact wrench finally hits "resistance" there is a "CLICK" (or Thud"), and if you keep the trigger on it thumps again, probably harder and then it continues to "thud/clunk" presumably going to higher torque. What I did was stop at the first click/thud and then hand tighten from there. Firstly I "loosened" then re-torqued to what I usually do by "feel" and they felt perfect.
Still easy using my tool than doing it by hand. I'll keep an eye out for these to see how much they cost down here
I don't know why we change to DST either. I would rather push the time "ahead" then it would be daylight until 8pm, instead of 5pm. It's now dark when I get off work
bob
Riding the Wet Coast
No, they don't slip, they twist absorbing the impact instead of transferring it to the socket. The convenience is that you just run them up and let the impact wrench go. You can feel the twisting as a shaking so it's easy to know when the lug nuts are tight. These just make the whole process easier as you no longer need to manually tighten each lug nut.
DeleteThose torque extensions are new to me, but seem like a great idea.
ReplyDeleteWe're due for snow this evening though it won't stay, even if we do get the 3-4" predicted.
The torque limiting extensions work great if you use an impact wrench on your wheels. Unequal torque is probably the major cause of warped brake rotors.
DeleteI think our snow may be around for a while.
Daylight Savings is on the block for discussions, I hear. Might just do away with it now.
ReplyDeleteMighty frigid photo at top! Only real northerners say "chilly" at 14 degrees.
Cool! I hope they abolish it everywhere. It serves no real purpose anymore and has caused confusion for years.
DeleteDid I say "chilly"?
DeleteOoops. I think I meant "cool". When you said "cool off".
DeleteIn that case, it was "chilly" this morning at -9°F.
DeleteRichard ... glad to hear you are finally getting your snow, and that you headed home safely until folks adjust their driving to the road conditions (if they ever do.)
ReplyDeleteI am totally with you on the time change thing ... Canada is a country divided - parts change, parts don't. I understand the whole "science" aspect of the idea - earth's tilt and hours of 'useful' time but really, it isn't useful at all to have daylight before I go to work and while I am at work when I could so use the extra hour after work instead. ... and in the end, the days become so short I have no daylight while I am awake and outside of work so it doesn't really matter here in EST at all - to me, that is.
Many were quite worried about the lack of our insulating blanket of snow. As you know, without it, pipes could freeze and it delays Spring as the cold penetrated deeper into the ground.
DeleteIf the snow keeps up I may be riding the bus tomorrow...
Finally snow? You sound as though you have been waiting impatiently like a child on Christmas Eve.
ReplyDeleteSnow sure makes everything pretty though.
Yes, finally "snow". The seasons just can't progress, plus, riding in the snow is more fun than ice. From a more practical point, the snow is needed to insulate the ground which minimizes problems with buried pipes.
DeleteBut riding in this morning was fun!