Macie_UK

That was early this year wasn't it?
Bugger :-/

Good run out that Dave

That's bad news for you dude :-/

Hopefully her skills and experience will put her at the front of the others now looking for retail jobs.

No, sorry Chad.

@obalanga wrote:

Is it feasible to buy a 1 tb hard drive and have it mirrored

As in install a new drive to replace your existing one?  Yes, you can.

@obalanga wrote:

Will any viruses or malware be transferred as well?

Yes.  Only way around that is to fit new drive and do a fresh install.  I'm guessing this is Windows?
Or you could dump all your docs / pics etc to an external HDD, and do a clean install on your existing drive.  Some laptops (Dell, Acer for example) often don't come with an OS disc, but have it installed as an extra partition (usually D:) and if this is the case you can often do an easy reinstall from that.  Obviously this means that all the OS updates will need to be done, and you'll have the pain of removing all the pre installed bloatware....

@obalanga wrote:

can I also up the ram there by increasing performance?

If you have available slots or capacity. Check with:

Kingston

Crucial Checker

Unless your HDD is nearly full, it's more likely that the CPU, GPU, or RAM is a bigger bottleneck than the read/write speed of the hard drive.
And 500GB is huuuuuuge  :-)

Is that Lindisfarne on this month's pic?

Yep, cats and kids......

A supplier sent me one of those 'one-way-valve speed-brake-bleeder' things to have a look at this week, mainly because they are “...selling like hot cakes”.  I had cause to try it out on a couple of bikes today, so I thought that I'd put up an impartial review of it for you perusal.  Your mileage may vary, don't shoot the messenger etc etc.

What is it?
Sold as a 'speed bleeder', usually for around £16ish.

What's it supposed to do?
Make bleeding brakes easier, using a 1-way non-return valve to prevent expelled fluid being sucked back into the caliper – so you don't have to keep opening and closing the bleed nipple on every pump of the brake lever.

Would I recommend it?
No.    For details see below.

What does it look like?
This:





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Details?
I tried it out on two bikes today – an R6 that just needed a fluid change, and a Suzuki that had had the brake lines off and needed a proper, from-scratch bleed.  The fluid change on the Yamaha went OK – the non-return valve did some non-returning, and the polyurethane pipe did a good job of being a pipe.  

On to the Suzuki and those Tokicos – and the first issue;  If you haven't reverse-filled the calipers, the presence of a 1 way valve does almost nothing to help expel any air, even after fifteen minutes of brake lever grabbing.  A down-and-dirty bleed of the upper banjos did little to help, so it was left to the trusty MityVac to drag the fluid through.  

Back with the speed bleeder to finish off, and the second problem showed up.  Those familiar with these calipers will know that opening the bleed nipple 1/16th of a turn will let fluid out of the nipple, but open up much more than 1/8th of a turn, and fluid (and air) will leak past the threads.  The weight and curvature of the semi-rigid pipe on the Speed Bleeder kept closing the bleed nipple, so you have to hold that open (or faff about getting the pipe curve lined up perfectly central).

So, to my simple mind, if you have to be at the bleed nipple anyway, the one-way valve doesn't help much, so you may as well just open and close it yourself - bleeding bike brakes is hardly a two person job like on a car.  Secondly, it's no better at getting the air out of a brake line than just bleeding it out the normal way.

As such, these are not something that I will keep in stock or actively try and sell.  If someone is really considering one, my advice would be to save your cash and just buy half a metre of clear pipe and do your brake bleeding the old fashioned way, or stump up for a MityVac if you often need to pull lots of air out.

Don't know about the Fiesta, but the late Focus can be a bit of a git - they (like my Vito) don't self bleed and also don't have a primer pump built in either - and filling the new filter with fuel doesn't always get around it.
Not a big deal though, just pull off the fuel line and pull the diesel through with a Mityvac or a cheapo fluid extractor.

@dick65 wrote:

yes m8 my old cut off was covered in it

Haha mine too

Nicked from elsewhere, but quite good.  

Hours of fun

They do some less desirable models as well....

Here's a handy guide:

charging fault finding

Or get hold of a workshop manual if you need more specific info.

If it's an electronic speedo, then they have been known to play up with reg/rec issues, so sort the charging out first mate.  Or if it is a dedicated track bike, then just throw the clocks away :-)

Dave you're just too tight to put the central heating on

Gerbing heated socks and vest next then mate....

@bladerunner wrote:

on the subject of grinders in the garage, I change the fuse that protects the garage to a 3 amp when I dont need power  in there other than my optimate so if they do plug a grinder in as soon as its started the fuse will blow.

That's a decent shout Mine's got it's own consumer unit, but it would be no hardship to pull the MCBs out if there were going to be a couple of days when I'm not there.

Again, I'd expect any half decent scumbag to go equipped with at least a cordless grinder, but it's all about stopping the opportunist scrotes and hopefully making the proper bad guys think it's too much hassle and go somewhere else.

@Chadatious wrote:

@dirtydog wrote:

"Knocking stick"
"Birmingham screwdriver"
"fine adjustment tool"

 add your own  

persuasion bar

Attitude adjuster

Y anchor and English chain for 1 bike, old van engine block and chain for the other.  Dirt bikes chained together, and bikes being worked on on the ramps tend to be in various states of disassembly, so would need boxes to put the bits in.  Then the race van in front of the garage, and the caravan in front of that. Chains are mostly pointless as there are grinders/cutters etc inside there too, but it's just about slowing the scum down.

Oh, and a slight crazy dog:

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@Chadatious wrote:

anyone else had issues?

Yeah, there's an ugly thing in the August pic.....

Dave at Brook Suspension does a good job, and is a decent bloke (races with Mike in GP1).

Arrived today, thanks for organising it Chad

@Davehutch wrote:

Suzuki intruder

Would be a good contrast to the B-King dude

Did you see anything that tempted you mate?

The biggest waste of money for me is any cheap chain riveter - they all die after a couple of uses.

Hard to think of a best value one though - there are lots that have been worthwhile, but in particular terms:

Most used/£ cost:   A £1.99 test light.
Has saved the most money:   Autel OBD2 reader.
Has got me out of the   the most:   Electric impact gun

I too taxed a van on a 2 day temp policy earlier this week. Give it 24 hours until it hits the Motor Insurers Database, and DVLA pick it up to allow you to sort the tax online when you pick the motor up.

But, yeah, it's a nice little earner for someone....

@Chadatious wrote:

come on guys

Answer your DM then and tell me your Paypal addy...

I generally dislike naked bikes, but that looks kind of nice.