Roger -
And I think that is why Doug chooses a sleek German-Engineered machine
over one of those big-iron sculptures you used to see on the side of the
road being fiddled with... (now that they cost more than a Prius and
only Doctors and Lawyers own them, that has changed a little). I have
mostly been a Honda man with a few Yamahas and Suzuki's thrown in for
spice.... I came within an inch of buying a Ducati Elefant once, but
I've never had any of my old, worn out Jap bikes fail me! Of course, it
is harder to ignore warning signs of problems on a motorcycle... if
you hear a noise or feel a shimmy, you just look down, it is all right
there threatening to come apart in your lap... fluid leaks end up ON
you... etc. And that paranoia Dave and Doug profess, it goes double
for "I wonder if I should repack that wheel bearing?".
But your point is well taken. In this discussion of "faith" (still in
the subject line!), I'm amazed at how much the most faithless take on
"blind faith" about such things. I marvel at the strength of materials
and quality of design and workmanship on the simplest things *all the
time* and I know I'm missing most of it. That 5000 lb Camp Trailer
hung off the back of your truck by a 2" ball (with a 1" neck)? Amazing!
Truly Amazing! And we haven't even talked about light planes
(recently) yet!
- Steve
On Tue, Sep 25, 2012 at 8:59 AM, Steve Smith <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
My father bought a wartime surplus Harley when he returned from
WWII, had a grand good time stripping the military paintjob and
repainting it only to have two scary accidents within a few months
(civilian turning left in front of him, mechanical failure in the
drive sprocket) which put him off the whole business.
I was going to bring up our faith in machines to continue to work as
intended, despite our contrary experience. There's nothing quite like
a 2 wheeler that becomes a 1-1/2 or 1 wheeler at any velocity worth
mentioning.
-- rec --
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lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
