Random Thoughts - Part III The Search for Spark (No Politics)

[Kiske]

So... following covid I took up riding. Now that I have a few thousand under my belt, I have a problem...



The feeling I get riding is making me fall out of live with my sports cars. It scratches that itch so well, I'm looking in the garage at everything else collecting dust. When it is nice out and I want to blow off some steam between the apexs I keep grabbing the bike.



Is this how it ends? The dream of having a different childhood dream car for every day of the week? Tens of thousands of dollars in parts and months wrenching- now free? Whats the point of striving for that 911gt3rs when a $6k MT-07 gives me a bigger smile than it ever could, street or track.



This has been bothering me a lot lately given cars being so much of my identity.

[soundman98]

sounds like just a phase to me. get sideswiped, or cut off in traffic for the 5th time, and you'll start wishing for something bigger/louder/meaner/more obnoxious

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by Kiske

So... following covid I took up riding. Now that I have a few thousand under my belt, I have a problem...

This has been bothering me a lot lately given cars being so much of my identity.

[Captain Snooze]

[x808drifter]

I raise

[bcj]

Originally Posted by Kiske

The feeling I get riding is making me fall out of live with my sports cars. It scratches that itch so well, I'm looking in the garage at everything else collecting dust. When it is nice out and I want to blow off some steam between the apexs I keep grabbing the bike.

The insidious bit is that for the price of a car, you can have 2 or three different bikes, and typically, you can insure them all for a lot less than a car too.

It's not a gimmie. I'm rebuilding the rear brake on my SV650 because it struck on after not being able to ride for the last couple years.
Was finally able to walk about a bit and wanted to go for a ride on a sunny afternoon. Bike says "NOPE!".

I got a weedy sport coupe to go places in the rain and snow. It does that up here.

If you clean out the garage, you'll have room for more bikes

[Capt Spaulding]

I was die hard motorcyclist for over 40 years. For me the bike was something I really needed. It was such a drug that, if I didn't get a "fix" regularly, I'd have withdrawal symptoms.

In 2014 I was badly injured by a careless idiot in a Tahoe. The TBI I came away with left me a bit wobbly. Those balance issues have never really gone away. That made getting back on the bikes a little iffy from a safety standpoint, but the biggest casualty was the NEED to ride. I just don't feel that insatiable urge anymore. I've ridden a couple of times since, but, the high just isn't there.

The BRZ fills a similar role now. I don't need the bike and probably don't NEED the car. But, driving the car for a couple of hours out in the country is good therapy for me. It's not the adrenaline rush that dragging the pegs on the bike was, but it's close.

For me, at any rate, it was something I just knew. I knew when I NEEDED the bike and I knew when I didn't. Whatever you decide, just be careful. Enjoy the rush, but just remember there are some things out there that, no matter how good you are, you can't ride your way out of. Like Zevon said "Life'll kill ya."

[spike021]

Subaru of America suuucks .

I have terrible bumper sag since the autobody shop apparently never used the new 57722CA030 brackets when that truck messed up my bumper a few years back.

So today I drove over to see if they could fix it for me since last time they gave me a "warranty" of sorts in case I was ever unhappy with their work. The guy remembered me once I mentioned that I was a pain in the ass last time trying to get him to use the new brackets from the TSB. Supposedly at the time he did, but I'm almost positive he didn't.

Anyway, he said I can schedule it with them and they'll "take care of it" which is nice of them. But I decided to order that bracket for each side myself so I can physically hand it over and be like "please just use this" this time.

The old forum post about the TSB says the price per piece is around $5. I called my local dealer, they wanted $50 to order two of them for me .

So I checked the Subaru online parts sites and still ended up paying $28 for both + shipping, and the ETA is 2 weeks out.

It probably doesn't even cost $5 to make those parts .

But I want to make sure it's done right this time, hopefully.

[Stephen W.]

Originally Posted by Kiske

So... following covid I took up riding. Now that I have a few thousand under my belt, I have a problem...

The feeling I get riding is making me fall out of live with my sports cars. It scratches that itch so well, I'm looking in the garage at everything else collecting dust. When it is nice out and I want to blow off some steam between the apexs I keep grabbing the bike.

Is this how it ends? The dream of having a different childhood dream car for every day of the week? Tens of thousands of dollars in parts and months wrenching- now free? Whats the point of striving for that 911gt3rs when a $6k MT-07 gives me a bigger smile than it ever could, street or track.

This has been bothering me a lot lately given cars being so much of my identity.

Don't let it get you down, embrace the challenge!
I subscribe to the "enjoy it all" philosophy. I have always had a "fast" or "sporty" car as well as use of a second car. A couple years after we got married the wife allowed me to buy my 1st motorcycle. A couple of years later she bought me my 2nd one and it just kept going.
Now that we're getting older I'm thinking we should sell the bikes. We don't ride anywhere near as much as we used to and I doubt we'll ever go south again. Things go in cycles. I enjoy one thing for a time and then move onto the next thing. If I'm lucky, like with cars and bikes, I get to enjoy multiple hobbies at the same time time.

BUT! What we own, drive, wear etc. does not define who we are. They tell people what we like and what kind of people we maybe.

The attached photo shows us loaded up for a trip to Murphy, NC. Fun car and fun bikes.
(However I do agree, you can fit more motorcycles into a single car garage.)

[NoHaveMSG]

Got the car moved over to its new home. Unfortunately you guys can probably tell by the pile the part I need to live in is in rough shape.

[Kiske]

Originally Posted by humfrz

Have both... well technically 4 dedicated sports cars and 2 bikes. It's just something I've been thinking on lately.



Pretty similar to when I realized I got more enjoyment out of momentum cars or driving slower cars fast and not in a straight line. It just killed any interest in high hp cars that wouldn't do more than rolling highway pulls.



I think the conclusion I arrived at is the sport bike experience dulled the edge on my car experience. Now it is a matter of figuring out if resharpening them back up is next.



Reading through some other forums, this seems to be really common with the liter bike crowd. To the point where their cars just became more of a comfort focus for when the weather is bad, or they need to haul other people/things.

[Kiske]

[QUOTE=NoHaveMSG;3512084]Got the car moved over to its new home. Unfortunately you guys can probably tell by the pile the part I need to live in is in rough shape.

[/QUOTE


Living above the garage or in the little section in the corner? Looks like you've got a few more parking spaces that aren't at your work place too!

[Captain Snooze]

Originally Posted by Kiske

Pretty similar to when I realized I got more enjoyment out of momentum cars or driving slower cars fast and not in a straight line. It just killed any interest in high hp cars that wouldn't do more than rolling highway pulls.

.

Originally Posted by Captain Snooze

In 2001 I went to the UK to drive a Ferrari 360 Modena around Thruxton. 8 laps, 140mph, awesome sound.
But it turned out I enjoyed flogging the 90hp Peugeot rental around twisty mountain roads in Western Europe more than driving a Ferrari around a racetrack.

[ScoobsMcGee]

For those of you who work in IT: if the company you work for uses Okta, please review access logs and consider password resets. From personal review, there is enough credibility in the screenshots for this to be legitimate. Keep in mind that Lapsus$ appears to be more or less skids who got access to Okta through a contractor and used that to grab SC from companies like NVidia, Ubisoft, Samsung, and most recently Microsoft. So likely most companies aren't even on their radar. Still better to be safe.

https://www.reuters.com/article/okta...-idUSL2N2VP07B