Bamboozled

It amazing what you come across online when you are mindlessly bored and randomly clicking shit doing productive research. Today I was looking for a pic of a bamboo forest for the new incarnation of frashcards.com (yes it's a real domain - I bought it last night for $8.95, what a bargain).
Anyway, I should get to what I discovered....

This site: http://www.bmeres.com/bambooframe.htm which is about a bike a guy made out of bamboo. Looks pretty neat. He's got a review of how it performed over a whole year. Very nice job.

The Coffee Table is your Runway

This radio-controlled Carbon Butterfly airplane is the world’s lightest at merely 3.6 grams. Recently improved from a previous design, the new model is super flexible and brand-new to the market. At $300USD, it's a pricey toy, but—nearly indestructible, quiet, durable, and featuring a simple modern design—the cost's worth it.

Sporting a rugged yet elegant Carbon Fiber frame, the Carbon Butterfly is nearly indestructible. As flexible as fiberglass and strong as steel, the Carbon Butterfly can bounce back from almost anything you can throw it at.

Especially considering that most radio-controlled planes are similarly priced, but are difficult to build, noisy, and intended only for outdoor use. Plantraco is easy to use in a tiny apartment ("The coffee table is your runway!") or outside at a range up to 400 feet. You can pre-order from Plantraco or just go to their site to watch the fun living room flight demo.







Plantraco

Ferrari 599 Fiorano Available With iPod Dock

I am really glad this fine car now comes with an iPod dock. Now I think I might get one.

The Ferrari 599 Fiorano is now availible for purchase at dealerships worldwide. The 599 Fiorano was unveiled at this years Geneva Motor Show and was designed by Pininfarina. The car which is named after Ferrari’s test track and the engine displacement has a V12 engine similar to the one used in the Enzo which can output 612 hp. The chassis is based on the 612 hence the striking similarity. The most interesting feature is that the car will come with an iPod dock connector as standard so you will be able to plug your iPod in and listen to it on the Fiorano’s Bose speakers straight away.

Nice. Oh, that is a farking sexy car, btw.

Ferrari website

Everyone needs a leather notebook

Isn't it awful when you go shopping for one thing and see something that makes what you thought you needed (read: wanted) seem like crap?

Well, yesterday we finally decided to go and have a look a buying a replacement notebook for our ailing Compaq 1500AP. It has served us well....er actually, not that well, but it has served. From the word go, it's always overheated, randomly crashed, weighs a ton, the battery is dead and isn't really that much to look at either. A few months ago it was sitting on the arm of the couch and I was chasing Jack the dog around and round the couch....or was it him chasing me? I can't remember, but, eventually in all the excitement, someone knocked the 4 year old P.O.S off it's perch. "Ah HAAAAAA!!!!" I yelled at it. "There you go you piece of shit!". I could sense the tears of joy welling up in my eyes as I contemplated setting fire to it.

But it kept going. The screen was ok even. There were a couple of cracks on the lid, and the wireless PC card was smashed, but it still worked fine. Even the wireless did, damn it.

Anyway, the Art Director at Truantville, suggested perhaps it is time we got a new notebook (actually it was me, relentlessly mentioning it, but the "Art Director" sounds better)

So yesterday we ran the gauntlet of Laptop stores at Guang Hua Computer Market in Taipei. In the Pissing Rain.
It seemed that the best machine for what we need was the Asus W6F. Nice. Dual Core CPU, 100 GB HDD, 1 GB RAM, Super DVD Burner, Widescreen...blah, blah, blah. Here is a link to the Asus W6F details.
I say "seemed" and "was" because as we were about to leave the store, the Art Director spotted the S6.
I have to admit, if all things were equal (Namely, er, the PRICE) then I'd like to get that too, but it is almost 50% more than the W6F. But what a work of art....it's a very high-end machine in specification but what people like Art Directors notice is not how high-end it is, but the LEATHER all over it.

I really like design master pieces, and this has to rank right up there as something pretty stunning. I just wanted to stick my nose to it and smell that leather in big deep lung fulls, but the shop was busy. Besides that, the demo had protective plastic on it. Probably just as well.

This link: Asus S6 Leather Collection, 2006 is actually pretty arty itself, nicely done in flash.
Oh shit, I just noticed they do the W6Fp-, which is a leather version of the W6....oh dear.

Asus website

Video killed the Jpeg star

Everyone's got broadband now it seems, and gone are the days of waiting for pictures to load on webpages.
Videos are all the rage now, with several video hosting communities now very popular.
One I see coming up more and more is youtube.com
You can search for whatever you like, and there are home-made movies, funny clips, favourite moments, you name it.

Here's a great clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qn6MvtomrsA

Check it out, it's a awesome clip of MotoGP highlights. Even if you're not into bike racing, this is really worth a watch. Check out these guy's wheeling and 2 wheel drifting like they do it aaaaall day. You'll see Valentino Rossi feature quite a bit (number 46)Rossi is to MotoGP what Ayrton Senna was to F1. He is the man.

Youtube.com

The Longest [Crashed Scooter Journey] Way Round

It's been a hectic couple of weeks. On Friday I got a call, some guy speaking to me in chinese, and as I usually do I assumed it was a wrong number (pronounced: Long Number). A few minutes later the phone rang again, and this time it was a lady speaking engrish.
She told me that her husband is a policeman, and that he had found the long lost Vino 125 scooter.
WTF? That was 7 months ago that it went missing, and they had found it in a place called Chang Hua, which is maybe a couple hundred km's away halfway down the Island.
After a few return calls to see what condition the scooter was in, and to find out where and when to go get it, I decided to take a train down to Chang Hua on Sunday morning. Trudi was keen to come too.
The train in Taiwan is brilliant. It's an example of what NZ could have had if they'd kept the railway for regular use. $350 nt (about $15 NZD) for a reserved seat for the couple of hours journey to Chang Hua. Chunga Hua is famous for the "Fan Shaped Garage" which, oddly enough is a Train Garage that is fan shaped. I reckon if you were into trains, then you'd want to go and check this out.
When we got there, we walked to the police station, about 15 mins away. They ushered us into the "Special Forces Department" of the police station, and then a guy came and got us and took us to a smaller room upstairs called the "Special Mission Section of the Special Forces Department" and inside was a bunch of guys sitting around in boxers and tanktops eating lunch.
They were saying "Whey Ter Ull" which is what these chinese characters: 威托爾 sound like. If you say "Whey Ter Ull" often enough is sounds like my last name.
So, they were expecting us. No one could speak english, and my chinese still sucks enough when it comes to talking about the good shit, so they found a student policeman who spoke a tiny bit of engrish to help.
He basically said that the bike had been crashed and I'd need to get it repaired before it can be taken away. At this point, I was just keen to take a look at the damn thing, so we asked to "take a look at the damn thing."

Well, firstly, Trudi was absolutely right: The FLAMES were still on it! Now that surprised me, as I thought NO ONE would be dumb enough to ride a fairly rare expensive scooter, and leave some stick-on flames on it that basically make it extremely noticeable, Island-wide. Well, obviously the guy was an idiot, cos he'd also ran into the back of a truck or something on it.
The Vino looked a bit of a mess with a smashed front, twisted steering and it also looked like it had been lying on it's side for a month or 3 getting all dirty.
I'd love to know where it was found and how, but there was no way of getting that sort of info out of the cops with our communication problems.
I reached into my pocket and grabbed the Vino key I still had and put it in. It went in perfectly (there was no damage to the ignition switch/lock due to the theif having a set of keys) but the battery was very sluggish, almost dead. I figured I was worth a try to start it, and after 30 seconds or whir, whir, whir it fired into life. All four of us couldn't believe how sweet the engine sounded. It seemed that apart from crashing the scoot, the dude actually took reasonable care of this beast - it is a sweet ride after all.

Anyway, we were a bit gutted it was smashed as it looked like our plan of riding it back to Taoyuan was foiled...........................or..................or was it?
Thinking to myself "What would Ewan do?" I took a look at the sky. Blue. Sunny. Not Rainy or windy.
I took a look at my watch, 12.30, and figured we had 5-6 hrs ahead of us without a head light, so if we wanted to leave, NOW would be a good time.
I took a closer look at the damage and the frame looked fine. The plastic front was a mess but structurally it was sweet. I asked the policeman if they had any tools and one guy came back with a pair of vice grips. mmm. Oh well, let's see if I can TWIST this.....there, the handlebars are now aligned with the wheel (a trick not so different from fixing yer bike after falling off when you're 8.)

So after a quick lap around the police station car park to test the brakes and steering, the policeman was shaking his head saying thru the translator dude "YOU CAN'T RIDE THIS BACK TO TAOYUAN"
I said "Ker Eee, Ker Eee, I am an engineer, Ker Eee" Which basically means "No wucken furries mate, this machine is running sweet, it will be OK"
The policeman said we can only take it to get repaired. So we all nodded and went a got all the paperwork signed up, which included me having to put my thumb print in about 5 places along with my signature. I was given one sheet of paper that was basicially a "Get out of jail free" card if I got stopped along the way, which was quite likely.
Once we were on the bike, the policeman reiterated that they felt the bike was unsafe and it was at our own risk that we were riding it to the repair shop. I said Ker Eee again and thanks etc.
Well, funny thing was, there are no repair shops open on a sunday. We knew it, they knew it, so they probably had some idea that the crazy foreigners were going to ride the damn thing back.
So we set off. The thief was kind enough to have left the bike gassed up, and that got us 1/2 way home. The ride was awesome, perfect weather on empty coastal roads for 4 1/2 hrs including a couple of breaks. The scooter didn't miss a beat and was SINGING all the way home.
We got all sorts of weird looks while stopped at traffic lights etc, but ya tend to get that being white here anyway, so the crashed scooter thing wasn't too much more interesting.

I took the scooter to the shop last night. It was raining. HARD. With lightning. The 20 min journey was more of a challenge than the whole day's riding from Chang Hua, and today I heard on the radio that the rain at that time was the Heaviest Spring Downpour on RECORD, so I picked an fantastic day to ride in the rain. Not.

When I rolled into the scooter shop, the same place where the scooter was sold new, it was like a homecoming (not so different from Ewan and Charlie's homecoming in "The Long Way Round") and the guys were practically trying to fix it before I'd even got off the damn thing.
Out came the service notepad and 5 mins later all the parts were listed and priced, so I gave them the nod to fix up ole Vino.

The mighty Vino will live another day.

Official 2005 Yamaha Vino 125 website
The Vino factory (literally 10 mins down the road)
Some guys road test review of a Vino 125
Taiwan Train Schedule Information Service

E30s, Clive Owen and 8 minute DVDs

I like BMWs.

In Taiwan, every 3rd car is a BMW, and it is usually black or a dark shade of something else. Apparently Black 5 series sedans are the car of choice of Taiwan Gangstas, so big ups for them.

I owned a BMW once. It was a 1986 E30, 325i with manual Getrag box. Anyone familiar with BMWs will appreciate that in the mid 80s, this car was a rocketship. 2.5liter injected 6 shoe-horned into tiny 3 series bodywork. To find one with a 5 speed Getrag box was a huge bonus.
I spotted the E30 at a car auction around '96, and no one was interested in it because a) It was a european car in a predominantly Jap import auction and b) BMW M20 6 cyl engines are very 'tappety' (girl's, that means a "tick,tick,tick,tick,tick....." sound) so if you are not used to it, it sounds wierd.
So I bought it for next to nothing. It had a fender dent and a lot of milage, but it was still tight to drive.

My other car was a series 1 RX-7 that was a sleeper (rough car, hot engine). Hot 12A ported Rotary (that I built myself from a box of bits that I picked up from an aborted recondition) and on the rice burner was a 48 IDA weber. The carb of choice for normally aspirated rotary's.
My point in mentioning the RX-7 is that at the time, I liked to drive cars with engines singing all day at 7000 rpm. Rotarys ruv that. Ruv it. Anyway, BMW E30s do not ruv 7000 RPM, so there was the transition problem right there.
On the drive home, my buddy Andy was driving the RX-7 and I was driving the BMW. It was a 3 hr coastal highway driven by 2 petrol heads so you can imagine what was going on. On the outskirts of the home town, once again I was extending the legs of the screaming 6 and admiring how it just seemed to be bullet proof when the car suffered a soft thud and dropped a cylinder. It was one of those experiences where I was grinning away at the mechanical music one second, and the next second I was wondering if I just hit a small dog or something.
When I lifted the hood, there was no conrod out the side of the block, no oil slickall over the engine bay, nothing. It idled ok, no vibrations, but just running on 5. Mmmm, well shit, it could be anything like a dropped plug or lead or whatever, so I limped it home the last 10 minutes.
I am not the kind of guy that takes a car to garage, even a BMW, and I figured I had nothing to lose by taking the Rocker cover off. Within a few minutes (gotta love working with German Engineering) the cause of the problem was plain to see: Broken Rocker...shit, how much is that going to cost I thought? A sheepish call to the BMW dealer surprised me. $23, for a genuine part. Man, is that right?
The nature of the failure meant that all the happened further down the head was the valve just remained closed, so no real possibility of any other damage like valve to piston contact or anything. What I should have done was buy the $23 part and put the weapon back into service, but being the paranoid, inquisitive soul I am, I figured the broken rocker was an indication to look further and harder. I decided to take the head right off, and see what else was up. and replace the Cam Belt. and put new manifold studs in. and plane the head. and replace a few rough looking valves. and get the cam nitrided and re ground a bit hotter. and bead blast the rocker cover so it was like new. and...you get the idea. As i didn't have a garage at the time, all the work was done in the lounge, on the coffee table covered in newspaper - rock on. My $23 fix turned into a $1000 piece-of-mind tinker with the big ass cylinder head.
That was the first and last time I had any trouble with that car. I put a Schnitzer Chip into it and a K&N Air filter, which nudged the HP towards 200, and that was fine by me.

The E30 to me is the classic BMW. Rear wheel drive, heavy steering and the model before ABS and electric you-name-its everywhere.
I am going to get another one at some point. The chip and filter are in storage, waiting. Tinkering in the garage is something I really miss living in Taiwan.

BMWe30.net
E30 Service Manual

I like DVDs.
A year or two back, a friend told me about the BMW movies online, www.bmwfilms.com: " Brace yourself for intricate plot twists, riveting car chases, and a dose of wit. All eight short films of The Hire, created by Hollywood’s finest talent, are available now for downloading and streaming.

These brilliantly produced films star Clive Owen as the driver. Hired for his superb driving skills and unshakable poise, the driver encounters unexpected obstacles that put his abilities to the test. Watch as each film reveals new depths of character, intrigue, and cinematography."

Yes, Clive Owen is Da Man in these 8 DVD quality short films. Obviously, they are funded by BMW so they showcase the various BMWs available at the time, but the driving and cinematography is fantastic. Each is unique in who directed and starred in it, and the style of filming and driving. Guy Ritchie, Gary Oldman, James Brown, Ang Lee and Madonna are some of the people that feature in the productions.

Below is a link to the movies for downloading. (the official BMW site above claims there are no more downloads, but they are still around)

The Hire

The Hartford

I should mention the Hartford early on. As summer approaches here in Taiwan, I can see I will be out an about exploring a fair bit on the Hartford, so let me tell you the story.

Back in the old days, like 2004, we bought a new Yamaha Vino 125 which is a retro vespa style looking thing built out of modern technology.

As you can see I put hotrod flames on it, based on the "hotwheels" look I remembered as a kid in the late 70s. It was a weapon.
I say was, cos about 4-5 months ago it got stolen...grrr.

Anyway, after I got over the trauma of losing that sweet machine, it was time to look for a replacement. We have got a piece of shit second scooter anyway, which is a Kymco. Actually, that is the fastest scooter I have ever been on. It looks like crap, but beats anything at the lights, and has been known to pull wheelies with ease. As fast as that kymco is, it will die one day, and I don't really want it to be out somehere in the mountains on highway 7, on a rainy sunday afternoon.

I enjoy riding, and I don't do it just to get from A to B....so when the weather is nice in the weekends that is usually what is on the cards.

After looking around at a few scooters, and some second hand motorbikes, it became clear that to get something decent and tidy you need to pay a large majority of the new price here. Winding back odometers here is rife at dealers also. Living in Taiwan, it is not as easy as you would think to buy stuff. Firstly you have got to find where it is sold, and as the web and the yellow pages are all in chinese it makes it pretty tough just to get there. Add into that trying to communicate with some dood selling a secondhand one to find out hwere to go look at it etc etc(You can see where this is going)
So, after some fairly lengthy discussions with my learning chinese partner, Ratlung (who was also looking for a motorbike), we decided to check out buying a new Hartford HD 150S each.
It was a bit of a mission, but we managed to talk to the Hartford dealer in Taoyuan. As a stab in the dark, we also went back to the Yamaha store that sold the Vino 125 and asked them. Taiwan is a strange place, and it seems anything is possible so it wasn't too surprising when the Yamaha dealer said they could get us a couple of Hartfords (one of their competitors). Ariel from work did the calling around the shops in chinese to get a good price, which included a security system and a new helmet.
We were all set to go around mid December when I realised that if we waited 2-3 weeks more we would be registering the bikes as 2006 not 2005, so a little more negotiating and we picked up our bikes on Monday Jan 2nd, 2006. I like the idea of efficiency, so getting them on the first workday of 2006 was great.
Anyway, about the first available weekend we could, Ratlung and I took our brand spanking new bikes our for an epic journey, to break them in.
It was a sunday and we left around 10.30 I think. The weather was good and we headed to the Shimen Dam. So far so good.
Then we carried on the #7 Highway, which is the north Taiwan cross-island highway. That was fantastic until we hit rain and low viz about the top of the mountain. Did I mention it was also around 2 deg? Thinking that we were experiencing some alpine weather, we decided to push on towards Yilan, which is on the east coast of Taiwan, and then head back into Taipei. By the time we got to Yilan we were soaked, and damn freezing. A search for a comfort shrine like a BK or McDonalds was fruitless, so we opted for a hot chocolate (out of a can) and some food at a 7-11.
I mentioned earlier our bikes had security systems installed, and one of the features is electric start. So while we were getting suited up for the concluding wet leg of our journey, I decided to start my bike to let it warm up again. This seemed like a cool trick considering we were both still inside the 7-11. Problem was, mine was in gear, so when it started it edged forward and toppled onto the kerb. ARGGGH. Fortunately, and unbelievably, the pegs took 99% of the hit and the bike was virtually unscathed...whew. We both learnt a lesson right then.
We carried on the journey which included 3hrs of hell riding on the #9, which is known as "Ghost Highway" for the amount of accidents that occur on it. I was getting a tad pissed off at this point. It was freezing, it was wet, my visor was a mess when oncoming headlights appeared, so I lifted that...but I wear glasses, so the same effect on those too. Combine this with Taiwanese drivers that honk because they believe a 2 wheeler shouldn't be on road outside the city and then literally move over to try and push bikes into the ditch....add into the mix that every corner seems to have slippery wet manhole covers right on the bike track line....grr.
When we got to Taipei it was a great relief, but we still had another 40-50 mins to get back to Taoyuan.
Ouch, it was one hell of a short sunday ride. In the end it lasted about 10hrs in the worst possible riding conditions, so I was kinda relieved to be home. The bikes looked like they were 20 years old with all the grime on them, but we had 400km+ on the clock of each bike - almost ready for the first service. Mission accomplished. :)