The Thread of Randomness. . .

[Karl Grau]

Car shopping ain't what it used to be.

[BDKawey]

Car shopping ain't what it used to be.

neither is catching pokemon

[Adam W in MN]

I agree with Facebook's war on this, but this means they'll have to ban yahoo and most of the sorry-ass web news sites out there now. Because clickbait titles seem to be here to stay and rampant (I hate'em).

http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2016/08/04/ ... feeds.html

[86GT635]

Every couple of years I get on this kick; "I want a Yamaha RD350/400". I'll search until I find a deal, go after it and then ultimately "something" steps in the way. Either lack of title, dodgy seller, worse than listed condition or some other reason. I've felt like I get "this" close every time but it never works out. I still occasionally reminisce about them. I'm not sure why I want one, but I can definitely understand the allure and I feel compelled.

I got intertwined once again and this time it happened. The story is far to long to type but let's just say it wasn't without issue and I committed myself to "One more time" of trying to find a RD- I did succeed. I found a 73' RD 250. To make a long story into the next sentence I had to find another engine. Along came the freshly rebuilt .25 over 400cc and chambers and electronic ignition.

Here's the first pics of my Yamaha RD 250 to 400 experience.

[oldskool]

Dear god, that's a thing of beauty. Nice odd job!

[86GT635]

Dear god, that's a thing of beauty. Nice odd job!

These pics were taken Sunday through yesterday. I've traveled over 1500 miles since this past weekend. It was a do or die philosophy.

I appreciate the superb voice of acknowledgement. I"m doing it this time- Taking a 250 frame and boosting it with a 400 2 stroke from the same family that's been rebuilt by "a multiple time world champion cafe racer".

I'm not into speed, but I am into cool and heritage. The RD bikes are hated by traditionalist because they flat out are impressive. A quick port/polish tune and cooling and they'll beat bikes with 20x the price tag. That's my logic and way of life- Best bang for the buck. I believe that's why all of our e28 members are here too. I hate seeing the price of our cars go up. I list parts for sale here sometimes and if a member that's been here messages me I'll cut them a deal just for that. We gotta stick together.

[Mike W.]

Now that is a classic bike. Nice acquisition, I approve. (with a little bit of envy)

[Mike W.]

Boy does shaving cream work good when you're high. Altitude that is, what did you think I meant? On vacation for the past week and a half the lowest I've been is 4,000 feet. But mostly up around 7-8k. You've got to be careful, it really comes out of the can.

That is all.

[a]

Swiss Alps. Mike ? I went to Don and Wally's and got a fresh inspection sticker for the work van. Ive put 95.75 K on it in 2 yrs. I used to drive work vans like I stole them. Then came GPS and vehicle monitoring. And repeated nasty grams from my boss. So I slowed down to posted speed limits . Wotta PITA!!. The Transit has a 2.5 and a 4? speed auto. Once it reaches 65, it does OK in traffic . Traffic won't support a constant foot crossed driv.e. So I play with the Cruise Control going up and down . I try to stay off the brakes in order to keep the CC from disengaging. The front body tray is loose and sounds like a Jake brake when the tranny double down shifts All in all the, Transit is a OK driver. I'm a dyed-in-the wool front engine/ RWD guy. FWD is OK but not a real driver. I'm 1/2 through listening to The Heart of Darkness First time I read(listened to) Conrad. Great writer, terrific imagery. But way too gloomy for me. I'll finish it but , that's it for Contad.

[oldskool]

Sweet baby Jeebus it has happened again. The first time was after a long day of drinking tequila and running around on the beach. Came home, threw on some cargo shorts Commando, then went to take a whizz and caught the tip of my Schmoo unzipping. It bled. I screamed. It wore a Band-Aid like a wounded Geman Soldier for a week. This time was not so bad, and upon close review, I saw the scar from the last time. Pics forthcoming in Eye Candy.

[Motronic]

[86GT635]

Hahaha, and on the down stroke.. smh. I'm more surprised you made it to the beach with a bandaid not falling off (with all your self induced pre-mature leakage and all). I've got some stainless zip-times but they only work if you tighten them on a collapsible substrate. They're pretty sharp too.

[davintosh]

Here's one I may have to try.



At €2.49 a sixpack it wouldn't be much of a loss to toss five bottles if it turned out to be crap. Still, I'm afraid to take that step.

[a]

I wouldn't try that if it was free. To quote Augie Santos who taught me engine room staging. "You gotta be shitting me !" Beer + cola? Just reading it made me queasy. Thats sounds worse than bourbon and coke. or Irish coffee. Urk !
I know its a different attitude towards alcohol and all in Germany , but cola and bier looks like a Child's Introduction to Alcohol just waiting to happen. That is a gateway to alcohol there. note the lack of emoticon.
Zero German , Hef.. is half ?

[oldskool]

I guess the kids around the neighborhood pay more attention to their surroundings more than
I thought. Seems some are "Manpires" who only come out after the sun sets. I laughed heartily, and adore their use of wrestling with the English language.

[Brian in TN]

ER visit via ambulance is EXPENSIVE.

[Mike W.]

ER visit via ambulance is EXPENSIVE.

It all depends. Insurance co pay, not much, at least with mine. Insurance company rate, not cheap. Full price, we got a live one, lets gouge 'em, outrageous. I mean someone has to subsidize the insurance company rates.

You and yours are ok I presume?

[Brian in TN]

ER visit via ambulance is EXPENSIVE.

It all depends. Insurance co pay, not much, at least with mine. Insurance company rate, not cheap. Full price, we got a live one, lets gouge 'em, outrageous. I mean someone has to subsidize the insurance company rates.

You and yours are ok I presume?

Yeah, it was me. All good now. Had a bad medicine interaction. Fuckin $5000 deductible which means I get the whole bill. There goes the Christmas fund.

[waynet1]

ER visit via ambulance is EXPENSIVE.

It all depends. Insurance co pay, not much, at least with mine. Insurance company rate, not cheap. Full price, we got a live one, lets gouge 'em, outrageous. I mean someone has to subsidize the insurance company rates.

You and yours are ok I presume?

Yeah, it was me. All good now. Had a bad medicine interaction. Fuckin $5000 deductible which means I get the whole bill. There goes the Christmas fund.

[Mike W.]

ER visit via ambulance is EXPENSIVE.

It all depends. Insurance co pay, not much, at least with mine. Insurance company rate, not cheap. Full price, we got a live one, lets gouge 'em, outrageous. I mean someone has to subsidize the insurance company rates.

You and yours are ok I presume?

Yeah, it was me. All good now. Had a bad medicine interaction. Fuckin $5000 deductible which means I get the whole bill. There goes the Christmas fund.

$5K, wow. Try to negotiate it down. Offer to pay insurance rates. All they can do is say no but it's worth a try. We had an incident in the family a few years ago and the gross bill for ambulance, a bunch of tests and overnight at the hospital was $25K. We had a cheap copay and insurance paid ~$6K. You might not have any luck, but you might.

[1st 5er]

ER visit via ambulance is EXPENSIVE.

It all depends. Insurance co pay, not much, at least with mine. Insurance company rate, not cheap. Full price, we got a live one, lets gouge 'em, outrageous. I mean someone has to subsidize the insurance company rates.

You and yours are ok I presume?

Yeah, it was me. All good now. Had a bad medicine interaction. Fuckin $5000 deductible which means I get the whole bill. There goes the Christmas fund.

So, NO 'bama care.

Thankful at least your healthy physically.

[davintosh]

ER visit via ambulance is EXPENSIVE.

It all depends. Insurance co pay, not much, at least with mine. Insurance company rate, not cheap. Full price, we got a live one, lets gouge 'em, outrageous. I mean someone has to subsidize the insurance company rates.

You and yours are ok I presume?

No, Mike; it's expensive, period. Doesn't matter who is picking up the tab.

Glad to hear it wasn't anything serious, Brian.

[John in VA]

So, NO 'bama care.

The $5K deductible IS what you commonly see with the ACA/exchange products. If you're relatively healthy you won't reach it without an ambulance ride or overnight stay in hospital.

[Brian in TN]

Toni Basil is 72. 72? 72?!

[Karl Grau]

[davintosh]

I drove over the hill to the grocery store yesterday, and happened to have my phone mount on the windshield so took a video of the nicest part of the drive. This is what I have to put up with at least once a week.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3K8ng5JzXLg

Yeah, no arm twisting needed to get me to volunteer for a grocery run.

[byf_42]

I remember driving on some of those roads around Kandern. Man, I miss driving in Germany. Some of the best times in my life, and I was fortunate enough to have experienced it in an e28.

When you get your M535i sorted, you really should try the A62 which terminates near Pirmasens where it meets the A6. Not much traffic, lots of hills and long sweeping turns, and should still be mostly free of speed limits as it was a very rural area. The A62 always reminded me of I-79 here in West Virginia, except the A62's lack of speed limits! Thanks for posting the video!!

[1st 5er]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3K8ng5JzXLg

RTTish.

[davintosh]

RTTish.

And plenty more where that came from. Lots of twisty roads around here that are fun to drive even in our stodgy 9-passenger vans. Even more fun in the Ford Focus sedan. Can't wait to give them a go in the e28.

And just for fun, here's the same video in HD. Didn't realize how crappy that first one was until I saw it full-screen just now. Make sure you turn up the volume to hear that rumbly Ecoboost engine (with the intake noise piped into the cabin!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UvNsOHKozU

[Jeremy]

I was wondering what the vehicle was. It actually doesn't sound half bad really.