CaseyJ955

My storage is here, the engine not quite exposed yet but should be by the end of the day, been going through stuff and filling up a dumpster for the last few days. I'm actually considering toppling this extra engine (bad 2nd gear) into the dumpster too.

I have a 1st gen Vmax engine sitting in my storage, I dont know if the plug is compatible, but if it is you may have it.

Of that I have zero doubt. I understand VPNs are frowned upon in China, maybe that is why they are coming at you with unmasked Chinese IPs.

I feel like a VPN that drops through a Chinese IP range would only benefit someone that is supposed to be in China, and is not. If its happening to us then it's happening to countless other domestic forums too, so it would stand to reason that a Chinese IP would come with a decent amount of roadblocks for North American consumers. My guess (unsupported by any data) is that Chinese IPs would be very unpopular among most VPN users outside China. What I also dont know is if VPN users can select the country or region they want their IP to reflect, or change it up by choice if need be. I want a VPN so badly, sooo very badly, but I cant afford the speed hit, I can barely stream a movie as it is.

If you had an extra carb rack with the replacement engine I'd sure as heck hang onto those.

Thats a pretty decent tap right there. It's sort of hard to tell over the mic/speakers but it sounds a little bit more pronounced than a loose valve to me. I would question rod knock as it pertains to worn bearings, esp with 40k and the sudden onset, but it does have a"rodlike" quality to my ears. IMHO a bent rod is not far fetched and that would explain the sound. I've noticed this sound on other engines when the rod bends enough to touch the bottom of the cyl as it rotates. A fuel hydrolock can absolutely do this on some engines (ask me how I know). I've never had to break into a Yamaha V4 so my knowledge is limited to general application/experience and not Yamaha V4 specific items that might also cause this sound. I think if it were me I would consider using a borescope and have a look into the cyls, you might see something there. I might also consider a compression check to try and identify the specific cyl, and do a visual inspection of the valve train/verify clearances. Unless it's a fairly cheap easy fix I'd stuff that under the workbench for parts or scrap it altogether. Of course I have a lot more time than most, I'd probably tear it down just to see what it was. I'm not sure if there is any way to use a borescope through the crank somewhere to view the crank/rods. I'll go ahead and put $1 wager on you being correct in your assessment, but I hope it's simple and you still have a good spare engine.

This forum is as close to social media as I get so I have no idea what sort of disproportionate leading information is on FB, twitter, SC, Google, Fox, CNN or other garbage sources. I can only imagine the nonsense flows like fine wine there on the best of days haha. One thing we know is news outlets are not missing this opportunity to monetize on all the hysterics. Clicks = $$$$. I would prefer that they keep calm, inform and educate folks, but the waters sure get murkier once a crisis becomes politicized. At this point it becomes an unreasonable expectation that one could gain perspective and become properly informed on this issue by watching just about any news outlet today. I'm actually a little surprised (apprehensive) that the CDC were able to conclusively trace ~300. It is important, IMHO, to draw a distinction between CDC traceable cases and actual likely transmissions. That CDC number must still be pushed through a BIG magnifier to cover all those that contracted it and didn't know, didn't care, didn't report. I would not want the job of trying to trace cases from this mess of tourists that come from all over. 300 could be easily exposed by one single contagious person huffing, puffing and pushing their way through the crowds for a day or two. It's just that most that get it wont be too effected, or for too long. It's just not that big of a deal to most without the risk factors, so most of us can indeed calm down now. I'm not trying to muddy your point, I very much agree with the spirit of your post, but the distinction between CDC traceable numbers and actual potential infections should not be disregarded.

I heard a theory, I cant recall which public person put this forward but I like it. "Poverty mindset", pretty much not giving a **** about anything or anyone around you, and having 0 motivation to change, seeing 0 reason to care. They don't care about garbage in their own yards, so I'm not holding my breath that the daily garbage deposits along our road are going to slow down any time soon. As you noted, it's getting worse. You guys have no idea, the rant I'm holding in could peel the paint off the walls, I shall spare you! Instead I'll tell you a story about me punking my wife and one of our adult kids. My kids were raised knowing that littering carries a minimum mandatory buttwhoopin', they were the kids that picked up after others and brought it to the can. Positive behaviors that as a parent I consistently reinforced. We were leaving home, (my kids well into their 20s now, and this was recent) the driveway/road cuts directly through the BH forest land, pristine and amazing. They/we all have a deep innate respect for nature. I got about half way, rolled the window down, tossed out my disposable coffee cup/lid/straw in grand dramatic fashion, making sure the lid/straw assembly popped off so I could throw it out separately, rolled the window up and kept going as if nothing happened, and never breaking stride. Dead silence. You could taste the tension in the car. I think they knew for a moment, but I straight-faced it up and kept right on going. I stopped at the pavement about a mile up. I saw mouths open and awe, speechless all. "What?" I said with a twist of impatience like I had no clue. I couldn't hold it together past that and of course immediately went back to collect my garbage, and then some. Maybe the only time I've cleaned up litter while laughing like an idiot. That had me chuckling for the rest of the day. They totally bought it, but couldn't believe it. I wish I could have had a visor cam or something to capture the moments between my infraction and me loosing my poker face a mile later. The shock and awe were palpable, and the relief when they realized what was goign on. Oh I'm glad they all have a good sense of humor!

I had to duckduckgo this one to make sure my it did not get distorted after running through the filter of my fowl rotten sense of humor. Some of these little sayings are quite profound. I really like this one.

I'm properly terrified of heights but that perk is difficult to ignore!, the ones directly beneath me would still be of great concern though! Hats off, I suspect thats not a job many could do. I was playing a video game (Far Cry series) and in some of these it is necessary to climb a tower and activate a beacon, mind you it's just a video game. Even while playing the game during a tower climb my palms get sweaty and I'm ready to yak and pass out. Very real physical response to something on a 55" monitor. Do you feel fear? exhilaration? What do you experience? That is awesome! I stand in envy of your apparently superhuman nerves.

Littering reveals a great deal about someones character. Tossing furniture says it with spectacular emphasis. These are maybe the same folks that drop their cig butts wherever they happen to be standing, then simply walk away, knowing that someone else must then come and clean up after them. How does that sit in someones mind, do they ever think about it again, or once it leaves their hand it no longer exists? How does one consider themselves an adult if others still need to come behind them and clean up their messes just to keep the place from getting too trashy. Is it a power move? What gives? I seem to be having a misanthropic flare this week. .

I saw something like this fly at Machias airfield, I had not even know these existed in scale, very very impressive!

I don't see any way to find out how many cases were really trafficked through Sturgis, safe to say a helluva lot. Not many here trust our administrative officials enough to allow them to track us through an app, in fact that is laughable at best that anyone counting on voluntary tracking got anywhere near the truth. It wont be much time before an official in SD comes up with a study saying that 12 people were infected in Sturgis, and 5 more on the way back, or some such absurd thing. Whatever local authorities insist upon here will automatically cause many to do the opposite (right or wrong) without thinking anything of it. Defiance first, common sense later, maybe. We need more defiance than we have, but it has to be tempered with not stepping on the rights/safety of others. I own being a bubbling seething cauldron of white-hot defiance, but like many I'm trying to balance safety with non-optional stuff like earning. Panic-inducing headlines about grave milestones and hordes of dead globally do not help those trying to understand the true scope of the issue and do the right thing. This media frenzy is just a bit more evidence that journalistic integrity left the building right behind Elvis. As in any crisis, cooler heads prevail, widespread panic or complete disregard is terrible for everyone.

I've been using Netflix and Hulu, and a pi-hole as a filtering device, same one filters the entire net and is designated as my DNS server. I'm not familiar with xfinity, but my guess is there are a handful of domains they use to track/adserve, and you may be able to block those on your modem or router. many current routers have some area in advanced settings where you can block individual sites. Then you dont have to buy anything or mess with DNS settings. A quick shot of my low end Centurylink zyxel pk5000z modem under advanced - website blocking. Yours probably will vary, but the basics should be there. I just added a few domains that are already blocked through the pi-hole, but if I need to pause pi-hole for any reason I'm still protected-ish from Microsoft. The solution for you may be just finding the domains to block for xfinity, since it's only one service you wish to block the modem by itself may be fine for the job. cut/paste from modem advanced setup page. Website BlockingWebsite blocking provides the ability to block websites from the LAN. 1. Select Device. [TABLE=width: 485] [TR] [TD=width: 150, align: left]Select Device:[/TD] [TD=align: left]Manually Enter IP Address All LAN Devicesandroid-d038254ee164f2ecdhcppc21dhcppc25am335x-optCaseyJ1700xGalaxy-S9raspberrypi[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD=width: 150, align: left]Enter IP Address:[/TD] [TD=align: left][/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] 2. Enter the website below. [TABLE=width: 485] [TR] [TD=width: 150, align: left]Website Address:[/TD] [TD=align: left][/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] 3. Click "Apply" to save your changes. Blocked Websites List [TABLE=width: 485] [TR] [TH=width: 39, align: left][/TH] [TH=width: 60, align: left]Device Name[/TH] [TH=width: 80, align: left]IP ADDRESS[/TH] [TH=width: 129, align: left]Website Blocked[/TH] [TH=width: 89, align: left]EDIT[/TH] [/TR] [TR] [TD=align: left]http://192.168.0.1/Images/icon_computer.png[/TD] [TD=align: left]unknown[/TD] [TD=align: left]All LAN Devices[/TD] [TD=align: left]ctldl.windowsupdate.com[/TD] [TD=align: left][/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD=align: left]http://192.168.0.1/Images/icon_computer.png[/TD] [TD=align: left]unknown[/TD] [TD=align: left]All LAN Devices[/TD] [TD=align: left]watson.telemetry.microsof...[/TD] [TD=align: left][/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD=align: left]http://192.168.0.1/Images/icon_computer.png[/TD] [TD=align: left]unknown[/TD] [TD=align: left]All LAN Devices[/TD] [TD=align: left]au-bg-shim.trafficmanager...[/TD] [TD=align: left][/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD=align: left]http://192.168.0.1/Images/icon_computer.png[/TD] [TD=align: left]unknown[/TD] [TD=align: left]All LAN Devices[/TD] [TD=align: left]sb.scorecardresearch.com[/TD] [TD=align: left][/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD=align: left]http://192.168.0.1/Images/icon_computer.png[/TD] [TD=align: left]unknown[/TD] [TD=align: left]All LAN Devices[/TD] [TD=align: left]partner.googleadservices.com[/TD] [TD=align: left][/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD=align: left]http://192.168.0.1/Images/icon_computer.png[/TD] [TD=align: left]unknown[/TD] [TD=align: left]All LAN Devices[/TD] [TD=align: left]app-measurement.com[/TD] [TD=align: left][/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD=align: left]http://192.168.0.1/Images/icon_computer.png[/TD] [TD=align: left]unknown[/TD] [TD=align: left]All LAN Devices[/TD] [TD=align: left]doubleclick.com[/TD] [TD=align: left][/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD=align: left]http://192.168.0.1/Images/icon_computer.png[/TD] [TD=align: left]unknown[/TD] [TD=align: left]All LAN Devices[/TD] [TD=align: left]www.googletagmanager.com[/TD] [TD=align: left][/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD=align: left]http://192.168.0.1/Images/icon_computer.png[/TD] [TD=align: left]unknown[/TD] [TD=align: left]All LAN Devices[/TD] [TD=align: left]microsoft.com[/TD] [TD=align: left][/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD=align: left]http://192.168.0.1/Images/icon_computer.png[/TD] [TD=align: left]unknown[/TD] [TD=align: left]All LAN Devices[/TD] [TD=align: left]windows.net[/TD] [TD=align: left][/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD=align: left]http://192.168.0.1/Images/icon_computer.png[/TD] [TD=align: left]unknown[/TD] [TD=align: left]All LAN Devices[/TD] [TD=align: left]windows.com[/TD] [TD=align: left][/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD=align: left]http://192.168.0.1/Images/icon_computer.png[/TD] [TD=align: left]unknown[/TD] [TD=align: left]All LAN Devices[/TD] [TD=align: left]microsoft.net[/TD] [TD=align: left][/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD=align: left]http://192.168.0.1/Images/icon_computer.png[/TD] [TD=align: left]unknown[/TD] [TD=align: left]All LAN Devices[/TD] [TD=align: left]windowsupdate.com[/TD] [TD=align: left][/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE]

Maybe a browser hijack or redirect, I've noticed no outages to this site recently. When you get the page wont load screen make sure it's THIS address and not a redirect to a junk site. Has it happened with other sites or just this one? I've tried everything for effective call blocking, and as you may guess I have found something that works quite well. I ditched my $38/mo landline and went with an Ooma VOIP phone. The box is maybe $25-30 one time, and the premium is $12-ish/month. It has a community blacklist which took me from 5-15 calls/day to that many in a week, then after tailoring the private blacklist part of it I get 1-2 calls/month! Also, (and this is big) you can add names to the blacklist, so no matter how many times buttholes like "800service" or "autowarranty" call, they get fired off into cyberspace before it can ring even once. How those calls are handled is adjustable too. I LOVE THE QUIET!! Even if I DID have cell coverage at home I would use Ooma just for their stellar call blocking abilities. The private/individual block list works with the community blacklist to hush things up nicely. The community blacklist is an opt in-out thing too. Ooma customer service is hit/miss, but it does work as it should. If anyone knows some way as good/better please do tell. I know there are ways to make a raspberry-pi into a call blocker, but I dont quite know how yet. I just ordered a couple more of them to play with and I'll be learning plenty in the coming weeks. I happy to pass on what I've learned/learning to anyone interested. Ideally I can drop Ooma premium and use an in home rasp-pi based device, and hope it works as well for phone as it has for internet. Oh, dont block India or Nigeria! I know you dont want to miss a call from the prince!

Their updated estimated number of attendees this year was in the neighborhood of 460 - 500k-ish. Fundamentally I agree with you completely. It is quite inconsiderate and dangerous. Unfortunately I find that it is incumbent upon us to take all measures to protect ourselves. We have to assume that everyone has it, as quite a few do and not all of them will do the right thing. A significant number those have it probably no idea they are infected, maybe they care, maybe not. It's all on us, please folks don't count on your fellow man to do the right thing.

This is why we (cumulatively) pay you the big bucks! Your efforts manifest in a really clean smooth forum, about the cleanest I've seen. I knew you were wading through a lot of this each day, but why so many from China, and do we have even one legit member from China? Is it advertising, or something more nefarious? The vast majority of gross offending domains I block/appear on filter lists are American tech and Chinese everything (sadly in that order), but still plenty of others. I wonder if there is even one Venture licensed in China. If I knew how to blanket block China as a whole from my network I would do so post haste! I try and think of things in a risk vs. reward/cost vs benefit manner, and it sounds like your doing a lot more work than your being rewarded for by not blocking. I vote for making your life a little easier and adding certainty that none of those spammers will slip through the cracks and reach the forums. Block away, no objections here. Oh, thank you for all the effort, it is working!

This study IMHO is flawed, their data collection is a bit south of scientific methodology. One thing I will say is that we ARE in a pandemic, and Sturgis attendees should have had no pretense of safety or social distancing. I can absolutely believe it was possible, even likely, that many thousands of folks contracted the virus here, or on the way here/back. Nothing else would make a lot of sense given the exponential nature of viral spread. Anyone hitting a crowded event like this should expect to be exposed to the Gift-O-Wuhan. No other expectation is realistic. I'm in favor of adults making their own decisions based on assessing their own/family risk factors. Come and party, fine with me. Those at risk should never come to a rally, but if your young and healthy enough to survive a common flu and dont live with gramma/grampa, come on and party! Go to work/school! Go get laid! life will have to go on for those with low risk factors. I care for an elder so I wear a mask in stores and stay out of crowds/avoid town. Easy for me, believe it! Before tourist season we had 5-10 cases/day, now it's well into the hundreds/day. We knew tourist season would do that, it's the only possible result of everyone coming here. This state survives on tourist/rally dollars, and no person in charge here is going to put human lives ahead of money. Am I just being a dick, yea, probably, but still read this, does this sound like putting human lives ahead of money? https://www.kotatv.com/2020/09/09/amid-virus-surge-noem-pushes-tourism-with-cares-act-funds/

That looked like frost and snow to me, guessing it's cotton? It was so cold here I thought I was looking at a winter picture haha.

He who smelt it is he who dealt it.

What a cool hobby, also one you get to share with family, even better. What a skill, that one looks great!

Amazing, love all that space around you. Great pic, looks a tad nippy out there today. It was 101 here 3 days ago, today 3" of snow on the ground.

Wow, a swing and a hit. Very glad she's alright.

CLEAR; CLEAR. ZAP! this thread has a pulse, maybe. I've recently seen more on the Plustar plugs, it came up on another forum and it seems there is still not a lot of good reading. A lot of what I have seen is somewhat mixed. I'm personally sticking to the NGKs until something is PROVEN better, but this is interesting. Is anyone using these? Is there any notable difference? Quantifiable evidence? Anecdotal evidence? Anyone know of any other credible source of good information on these. If not then I'll put this thread back face down in the ditch were I found it. Thanks.

Quality LED lamps start out fairly expensive. The cheapies will do what cheap stuff does after awhile. I 2nd a high quality halogen bulb. Another thing about placing an LED, HID or Xenon element into a capsule designed for a halogen bulb is you generally wont get usable focused light, but the kind of light that splashes everywhere and blinds oncoming traffic. Generally speaking, LED or Xenon lamps fare best in capsules specifically designed for them. Driving lights are common out here, I'm rural also and it gets mighty dark in the hills, also lots of deer. Light is good. https://www.piaa.com/yamaha-motorcycle-lights-and-brackets.aspx They have lamps specifically designed to be fork mounted. Spendy but good stuff. https://hardkorrlighting.com/en-us/product-category/automotive/led-driving-lights/ I don't know about these, I've seen them in the wild and read a good review or two. I was looking at them for my FZ09. I sent them a note to make sure nothing I was looking at was made in China. I await their response. I think they made in AU but one cant be too careful. Also since fork mounted lights are un-sprung weight, smaller lighter versions will be preferable to something with some heft to it. it's fairly easy to drop $150 plus on a decent set of lights, but the first time you spot and miss a deer they become free. EDIT, I have to retract my recommendation to consider Korr, everything they sell is made in China, and I had to ask them to get that info. I would have preferred they had made that information available under product specs. But they did answer my question quickly to their credit.