Topic: Let it all hang out,tell us how you really feel and what pisses you off.

[spotty]

The advantage of attacking yourself with an angle grinder is the fcuker will be spinning so fast it cauterises the wound as it goes in

Ask my left index finger how it knows this.....

I honestly thought it was going to hurt like hell and piss blood everywhere, nope, cauterised the nerves and blood vessels instantly

Not that I would recommend it, bit deeper and the end of my finger would have been off

[Terry in Australia]

Yeah, I'm always taking bits off my fingers with either the sanding belt or wire wheel on my bench grinder, and I've had blades explode and go wherever blades go, but the closest I've ever come to actually damaging myself with an angle grinder was when I was cutting a 12mm thick BBQ plate with my 9 inch grinder. I didn't have a cutting blade for it, so I took the remains of a 14 inch dropsaw blade (probably around 10 inches in diameter) took the guard off my 9 inch angle grinder to make it fit, and cut the plate with it.

I guess I must have been extra safety conscious that day because I wore heavy welders gloves (but no safety glasses) and when I'd finished cutting it I noticed I had a nice clean cut in my left glove. When I took it off, I realised that I'd chopped the bezel and glass clean off my Citizen divers watch. Considering the body of the watch is only around 10mm thick, that was probably close enough. The jeweller who replaced the bezel couldn't believe how calm I was? Only me and my underpants knew how anxious I'd become..........

[spotty]

when i was at welding school i was using the big wire wheel on the grinder, probably a 12 inch one, and the thing i was wire wheeling caught and pulled my arm down onto the wheel, took a 2 inch wide strip of skin and flesh off the length of the inside of my right forearm

by this time i was getting on quite well with the school nurse so i knew where to go , she wasn't surprised to see me at all, more surprised that she hadn't seen me for a couple of weeks

[bear]

All of this foot discussion was of enormous benefit to me the other day. I found myself sitting over the edge of a house in the Philippines with a fcuk off angle grinder fitted with a 7in masonry disk. I was attired in habitual Filipino costume of sandals VW tee shirt and shorts. Looking at the direction of rotation of the disk and considering the risk of a deflection in case of encountering some rebar or such and educated by the experiences of my friends here, I adopted a more secure mode of dress.

Thank you lads for reminding me of our bodily delicacy.

Kev

How's our roving Irish poet and wordsmith going by the way?
Cheers,
Brian

[Terry in Australia]

So I diligently dropped my 2009 Mitsubishi Outlander off for a service at those great guys at KMart Tyre and Auto this morning. They just called to tell me that I need all 4 new brake rotors and pads today as the pads are all stuffed and the rotors are dangerously undersize! "That's interesting" I reply, "I had it last serviced 6 months ago, by the Mitsubishi dealer, and they told me that the car (including the brakes) were perfect?" I asked how much to do the brakes, and the reply was "$1100, plus the service costs" I told them to leave the brakes, I'll go get a second opinion. (mine)

Even if they are buggared, I can buy new rotors and pads for under $300, so when I get it home I'll measure them, and if necessary, I'll do it myself. If they're actually OK, I'll be contacting KMart Tyre and Auto's head office, and creating some mischief...........

Okay, so that was 6 or 7 months ago, and I've driven the mitsubishi another 15,000 Km (9500 miles) since, so today I decided to bite the bullet and get ABS Brake Services to take a look at my brakes. I left it with them at 12.00, and they called me at 3 to say it was all done. I walked back over and asked him what the damage was, and he said "$560".

For that much he's machined all 4 discs, replaced the pads with fancy composite pads, and replaced the brake fluid. I asked him how the brake rotors were, and he said they were fine, and have plenty of meat on them for next time. KMart Tyre and Auto (now known as "My Car") can suck my wrinkly old balls........

[scunny]

Hope your balls are nice, clean and soft now Terry.
Mowing the lawns today, managed to hit a tree root, my poor wee mower has now got a sickening vibration, it's a B&s motor so should have an aluminum sheer key. Hey, I'll look into it another day, doesn't appear to be the rotor.
Semi pissed off.

[spotty]

any day mowing the lawn has to be a pissed off day

[754]

 big roots might bend crank..

[jgger]

Or just the blade, if you are lucky.

[spotty]

big roots might bend crank..

i've known girls like that   ( its an australian thing)

[Terry in Australia]

big roots might bend crank..

i've known girls like that   ( its an australian thing)

Yep, you can't throw your crank away just because it's got a bend in it! Many years ago I built a hotrod "Super Swift" mower, boring the 4 HP B&S engine out to 6 HP on my boring bar and fitting a bigger piston. I had to make a bronze bush for the wrist pin to make it all fit, so there was always a concern about over revving it, but I took it easy, it would cut thru 12 inch long grass at an easy idle, it had so much torque.

An army work colleague wanted to borrow it so he could mow his lawn before he moved out of his rented house, so I told him not to rev the sh1t out of it, but the d1ckhead rang me at work to say the mower had stopped working? Sure enough, the crank spun freely, as they do when it's no longer connected to a piston. Some people's kids...........

[Terry in Australia]

OK, so hospital tomorrow for more surgery. I get a text message from the hospital this morning saying "Welcome to St Vincents Private, blah blah blah" but in reality it was just softening the blow of telling me I had to pay an "Out of pocket" fee of $500, on top of whatever the hospital will charge my private health insurance company. I also have to pay the anethesist $290. (I don't have to pay the surgeon anything, I paid her $7000 last year so this is probably "warranty" work) Fcuking hell, being sick is an expensive past time!

[spotty]

You'll be right, just think how much you're saving on ginger Joe's now you've got the hang of brewing your own

Good luck and enjoy all those doctorally approved pharmaceuticals

[Terry in Australia]

You'll be right, just think how much you're saving on ginger Joe's now you've got the hang of brewing your own

Good luck and enjoy all those doctorally approved pharmaceuticals

Thanks Spotty, and it's true that I have only drunk maybe 3 actual Ginger Joes in the last month, and the rest have been Ginger Toes. Now of course when you're home brewing for the first time you have to buy all the equipment, so I reckon I've spent around $300 on equipment, and the raw materials, but considering I've made 50 litres, that's the equivalent of 100 bottles of Ginger Joe, or $800!(discounted to $600 when they're on special at Woolies)

That is a bargain! The good thing is, the next 50 litres will probably cost me around $100 for materials (Ginger is $30 per kilo at Woolies, or $15 per kilo at Sth Melb Market, go figure..........) but that will drop the price to $1.00 per bottle, which is very satisfying, indeed.

Yes, I'm hoping for lots of drugs mate, if I don't get some oxy I'll be pissed off!  

[spotty]

How did the orchidechtomy go then ?

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks mate, I'm sore as a man can be, and I must be delirious, because I just bought a 1974 Iron Head Sporty. Yes that's right, I was delirious, that's a plausible excuse isn't it? I hope so, or the wife's gonna be a bit pissed off with me, again.......

Oh and yes, a lovely cocktail of Oxy and Tramadol is working very well, even if it is contributing to my delirium......

[dave500]

an old iron head?thatll be 50 bucks wasted?

[bear]

an old iron head?thatll be 50 bucks wasted?

Still a lot of money to fork out for a boat anchor when you don't own a boat

[Terry in Australia]

Oh you blokes love to kick a dog when he's down, but if you actually knew what you were talking about, you'd be as excited as I am! My last Sporty was an iron head and it was a fantastic bike, and I've kicked my self for selling it (back trading it on a HG Monaro plus some cash my way) ever since. This one is complete, but hasn't been run in years, so might end up another project, but that's OK, it'll go on the end of the project pile, if that's the case.

That is of course, if my wife doesn't kill me first..........

[dave500]

you drop it in the ocean,then wait for a boat to sink and attach it,package complete?

[Terry in Australia]

Ha ha, I guess it comes down to what makes you happy Dave, and buying that old sporty certainly lifted my spirits after the gut surgery yesterday, and I'm looking forward to having a few days off now that the nicer weather is here so I can crack on with the 750 project, which thankfully is almost finished.

I was hoping to keep it but the prospective buyer is keener than ever to buy it, so his dough will cover my latest purchase, with enough left over to buy something expensive for the wife......

[bear]

Oh you blokes love to kick a dog when he's down, but if you actually knew what you were talking about, you'd be as excited as I am! My last Sporty was an iron head and it was a fantastic bike, and I've kicked my self for selling it (back trading it on a HG Monaro plus some cash my way) ever since.

I thought you would be kicking your self for getting rid of the Monaro not the Shovel.
Beware the rose colored glasses my friend.

[Terry in Australia]

Oh you blokes love to kick a dog when he's down, but if you actually knew what you were talking about, you'd be as excited as I am! My last Sporty was an iron head and it was a fantastic bike, and I've kicked my self for selling it (back trading it on a HG Monaro plus some cash my way) ever since.

I thought you would be kicking your self for getting rid of the Monaro not the Shovel.
Beware the rose colored glasses my friend.

Well I guess I understand why your glasses have lost their rosey glow Brian, but after what you 've been through, thats perfectly acceptable.

The Monaro was a disappointment, the previous owner spent a heap of dough on an ex Bathurst race car's 327 that revved higher than any V8 I've ever driven, with a Muncie Rock Crusher gearbox and a 12 bolt diff. It had been a show car with a lovely chocky brown velour interior, and a metal flake brown paint job.

When it snapped a rear axle (holden diffs are #$%*) I towed it home on a hire trailer behind my wifes Datsun Bluebird station wagon, and realised then that the Datto was a much better car. The only reason I would want that POS now would be to sell it to a cashed up retiree with rose coloured glasses...... I'm not anti Holden, I loved my little GTR Torana, but that Monaro was garbage.

My Iron Head Sporty was a magic bike Brian, I rode it to Bathurst in 1987 after selling my z900, and realised that while the Kwaka had a great engine, the Sporty had better brakes and actually handled better, which was a surprise after all the negative waffle I heard from guys who'd never personally owned one, but "had a mate/brother/cousin who did, blah blah blah, bullsh1t bullsh1t bullsh1t..."

And the good thing about having 16 bikes now, is I don't need any of them for my day to day riding, I'll just ride whichever one's closest. And that doesn't piss me off at all, now if only I could afford to retire....

[scottly]

Hey Terry, I've got an Iron head Sporty story:
About 30 years ago I was on a field engineering type project with a bunch of guys that I'd known for years, but only job related. One day during some slack time, the topic turned to motorcycles. Looking back, I think Tom was baiting me when he asked if I thought my mighty Honda would beat a Harley in a drag race. I snorted my reply "I've never seen a Harley that could come close to keeping up!" Tom says "you think your Honda can do a 10 second quarter mile? Ron's Harley can." Ron, this whole time, has been silent with an amused look on his face. I asked him what he did to a sporty to make it go that quick, that there was no way it was near stock, and he replied that it was stroked a bit, among other things. I asked "How much do you stroke a Harley?", and he drawled "Bout an inch".

[Terry in Australia]

Yeah mate, there's not much you can't do with a big old V Twin, one of Australia's quickest classic race bikes is an iron head Sporty that's been breathed on by the late great John Trease, in the right hands it has consistently won races over several years.

The thing I like about old twins (Harleys, Motoguzzi's and BMW's, the less said about old Ducati's the better, once again, from a former owner) is low to midrange torque, something absent in most across the frame 4's. It's one of those things where sure, a jap multi will always win the BHP wars, but acceleration is the preserve of the big twin. I used to take great pleasure in knocking off Hayabusa's and Gixxers on my old R100RS, and by the time they rocketed past me they were breaking the law to do it, so by then they'd lost the argument and would ride thru red lights to stay away from me, lest they befall the same fate.

Anyway, I'll be 60 next year, so none of that's particularly important to me, I just bought it because I like cool old bikes, my SP1 (Build #161)will be 20 next year..........

Terry's Iron Head Sporty. by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Terry's RC51 AV by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr