Skylark

You guys mentioned R40k to rebuild a older 250 2t road bike motor, why so expensive? Are oe parts even available for those bikes? That being said I spoke to a Yamaha dealer R15k just to do a Dt175 engine, which was rebuild crank + piston so not even a total overhaul.

Fine to own one out of warranty but you must budget for the potential costs, worst thing would be buying an Audi and assuming it has German engineering so must be bulletproof. Not at all, a 2hnd Audi just out of warranty can be a ticking time bomb, not all Audi dealers are the same and I've heard of numerous just out warranty Audi's detonating the owners wallet. The dealer probably replaced that exhaust because they legally could and then obviously claim the expense back from Audi, ie easy revenue, most dealers are independent agencies so warranty work is one way they make money. Audi ownership out of warranty is not for the faint hearted or skint. Granted I'm sure most may give many flawless miles but when it goes wrong it costs a mint.

I got a very clean lower mileage Gen 1 CRV, 2.0L. Incredible how well made they are, some crazy voodoo in Hondas, like the seat fabric that never tears and hardly wears, engines at 300k that can be near as smooth as the day they were bought. The Gen 1 use the B series engines, which were very widely used across Ballades and Civics etc, aftermarket spares are cheap and plentiful and they are also easy to work on. Actually a hubber mentioned how great the Gen 1 CRV's are so I went and did some research and then hunted for a nice one for months, they still sell for pretty high prices considering they are coming on 20yrs old.

I got my first Honda recently, damn if only I had known how well built and engineered they are, blown away. And you can pick up the more recent 2hnd sedans for relatively cheap, their older late 90's vehicles sell for quite a mint though but worth it. Honda's are build like Toyota's but with even better engineering. The Crv's are an awesome vehicle if you are looking for an Suv, some models even have semi 4WD, useful when you need it.

I'm assuming that results in premature/accelerated wear on the piston and rings relative to more modern bikes with air filters?

Does that nice looking chrome air intake hide a decent air filter inside it? Historically bikes of that era sucked air straight as it came, incl dust and whatever was kicked up by the rear wheel?

What do you guys think about these micro coffee roasting machines that are popping up in coffee shops every where, some aren't much bigger than a desktop computer tower. If the operator knows his stuff and has good beans can they produce good coffee? I'm sure the old cooking adages apply, consistency of temperature, even temps throughout the roaster etc, things that often aren't always feasible or possible in small diy type cooking machines running small batches but I'm not sure if that has as much affect in coffee roasting or not.

Those gearboxes can be a real pita, I found one of the 1st generation Dt250 a good few years ago, it ran well but wouldn't shift into 5th gear, split the crankcase so many times trying to work out why, would shift fine when stationary and then not at speed, eventually gave up and sold the bike as is.

Be very careful when cleaning or "polishing" because you can potentially polish the matt into semi gloss very easily with aggressive cleaning. I'd only use a degreaser to clean it, like prepsol or kleenex green, with a microfiber cloth, if you are not shy to spend money then probably Muc-off would be the best, marginally . Seeing it's white don't leave stains on it for extended periods, if you get oil/grease/red mud etc clean it off asap, that's if you are ocd and want the bike to maintain its pristine pearly white finish.

The warranty has expired and it probably was a paint crack at the time it was inspected or else it wouldn't have taken 4 odd years to actually crack. It's probably one of those times when you have to just suck it up and move on. Nevermind that the frame warranty is typically not transferable and only applies to the original owner, ie you are going to be ducking and diving to get anywhere.

I can imagine your tears of frustration with your own wreck but I said use an impact drivers/drill to loosen not tighten, they are perfectly safe if not the preferable tool in that instance. I have yet to strip threads loosening a bolt/nut with an impact driver/drill but I have rounded many a nut/bolt/screw head of impossibly tight fasteners before the advent of cordless impact drivers/drills and significantly less since. In any case in the right hands cordless impact drivers/drills are also fine for tightening as long as you do the final tighten by hand/torque wrench, if you are paranoid and feel that you can't rely on your hands just set the clutch to a torque well below the desired final torque, use 2N.m for instance. Any tool can destroy in the wrong hands, common sense - use it!!

Perhaps also try a slightly thicker oil. Best thing to open those engine side cover screws is a cordless impact driver or 2hnd best a cordless drill, either allows alot of down pressure to be applied keeping the driver bit engaged in the screw head whilst the tool does the loosening. Also there's that trick if the engine has an aluminium casing, which most do, hit the screw heads with a screwdriver and big hammer which somehow breaks the lock, very easy to loosen them after that. I remember my Xt200 side cover screws getting insanely tight despite only torquing them to spec, then an old bike master dude shows me the hammer blow technique, thought it must be bs when I initially heard about it but it works like magic in most instances.

Good points there, which reminded me that you'll pretty much be guaranteed to get all and any spares for these engines on eBay for peanuts, I'd definitely have a look there at the very least.

And only R500k, fark me.

Erm, isn't that a dropper post lever not a shifter??

I think most people on this thread DIY rather than capsule but that sum does put the cost into perspective!! R1000 for 1kg of stale grounds :eek: My little eBay cheapie ceramic burr grinder properly opened my eyes to the value of freshly ground, ain't nothing that can compare, the grinder needed a little fiddling to get the burr to grind correctly centered but now working like a champ.

Thanks for the explanation guys, with the doserless do you just grind until you are happy the portafilter is as fill as you want it or can you tell the machine to grind say 8g/1 shot/2 shot?

I've heard that term but what exactly is doser vs doserless?

Some GPS tracks must be available for such an often ridden route?

Brake hydraulics is a sealed system, how would dirt be getting in there to the extent that your oil becomes noticeably dirty and without a significant degradation in braking performance? Oil in automotive brake systems seem to go brown from corrosion in calliper pistons etc but MTB bikes don't have that issue?

That's one of the challenges with building up a non runner, you never know what surprises await when you get it complete and ready to run.

How much is shipping? I can't see that without registering

Link to the item on Takealot?

I have bought the Guatemalan beans a few times and they were great relative to other store bought beans, price also good. Do keep an eye on the manufacturered/sell by date, they can sometimes sit on the shelves for a long time before you get there, not always but I have seen them pretty old before so I just took the freshest beans variety they had.

Hahaha classic come back!! The meditation one.