Month of October 2021

Today , 48 deg F in Northbrook . 47 in Elk Grove.
Rain all the way.
17.2 miles , ave speed 28 , fcd = 61.6 x .943 = 58.1 MPG.

 

Filled up this morning at my Amoco in Naperville.
87 E10 was $3.479/gal.
600.9 miles , 19 remaining , fcd = 67.8 x .943 = 63.93 MPG.
Miles/gal = 600.9/9.475 = 63.42 MPG
The "Crook" County Exxon I sometimes use was $3.499/gal when I passed
it this morning.

 

Within 20 miles of our place, there is a Crooked Mile road….. not nearly as famous as the accurately named Crook County.

 

I may work in Crook County , but I wouldn't live here.

 

I can see why!...


fun fact from a wiki source used by goo gle maps:

Cook County is the most populous county in the U.S. state of Illinois and the second-most-populous county in the United States after Los Angeles County, California. More than 40% of all residents of Illinois live in Cook County. As of 2020, the population was 5,275,541.

and from another source (cookcountysheriff):

The Cook County Department of Corrections is the largest single-site jail in the nation at ninety-six acres, housing approximately 7500 inmates daily.

and another wiki source:

The Cook County Jail, located on 96 acres in South Lawndale, Chicago, Illinois, is operated by the Sheriff of Cook County. As of 2017, Cook County operated the third-largest jail system in the United States by inmate population.

 

GEE….I was only talking about the crooked politics & politicians. If there was true justice, half(more?) the inmate population should be politicians. But then, white prison population would be equal(more) to the colored population.

 

We do have one honest politician. At least he hasn't been accused or convicted.
Sec of State Jesse White. He's squeaky clean.

Today , damned cold. Frost on windshield because the motorcycle is taking
up the garage , at least until I organize it a bit , so I can put the Prius in.
35.0 miles , fcd = 60.8 x .943 = 57.3 MPG. Hello , winter , my old friend.

 

I like that Paul Simon song with similar lyrics.

 

Over the decades we have managed to keep space for two cars in the garage. However, my wife keeps intruding on the car space such, I increasingly have to stretch my parking skills to the max……AND sometimes I FAIL!!!

 

Today , 48 deg F in Naperville , 49 in Elk Grove.
Wind ENE7.
35.0 miles , fcd = 65.1 x .943 = 61.4 MPG.
I took a short ride in the neighborhood last night ,
and practiced some low-gear U-turns and work on smoothness.
The fuel injection is spot-on and controllable , even at 5 MPH in first gear.

 

Wish I had fuel injection on my bikes... (1980s so available, but just not as common perhaps)

 

Not really sure how many bikes had it in the 20th Century.
I first became aware of it on the 1998 or 99 Honda CBR1100xx ,
also known as the Super Blackbird. My 93 Honda VFR750F was carbureted.

 

I guess I was thinking of the BMWs... found a mention of their first use in 1983.

I also desired the ABS technology. (goo gle says... 1988).

 

I'm surprised at how many cool features are on the KTM 200 Duke.
It has an FCD ! A temperature gauge is also a nice thing. Neither my 2015 Prius
or 2014 Civic had one. Very cheap of them. For a while I had a ScanGage hooked up ion the Prius
until that died. I do have an Ultra Gauge somewhere in the house , but I am not sure if it ever worked.

Today , 55 deg F in Northbrook. Wet roads.
17.2 miles , fcd =65.4 x .943 = 61.5 MPG.

Today , my oldest daughter is 39. Happy Birthday , Shannon !

 

I just looked up the KTM Duke 200. Nice bike and even not too tall for short people like me. Enjoy! And keep the rubber side down.

 

Thanks , Bill and Gord.

Gord , Shannon lives in Yately since 2013. She is married
to an Englishman.

Bill , at 5'6" , I'm no giant. I have handled much bigger and heavier bikes , but I was
younger and possibly stronger then. For sure , my sense of balance was better 20 years ago.
I'm still learning to ride the KTM.

 

I had to tiptoe at stops or lean slightly to one side. I'm 5'6", too.

In retrospect, I should have gone with lighter, less powerful bikes. I was young and foolish. No wonder my mother asked me to give up riding, which I did. Maybe having had proper superbike track training saved me. They used race versions of the Ninja600 for the classes.

https://bikeswiki.com/Kawasaki_GPZ600R 1986

https://bikeswiki.com/Kawasaki_GTR1000 1987

 

In addition to sheer penny-pinching, I suspect that another reason Toyota omitted a coolant temperature gauge on the Prius is that they feared the wide temperature fluctuations would confuse naive owners, resulting in complaints. Likewise for the missing tachometer.
My ScanGauge still works as well as ever---including the same annoying bugs it always had. Having it normally show the aforementoned missing basics limits the number of other interesting variables conveniently viewable.

 

A few of my bikes are 1968 Yamaha DT-1 , 1974 Suzuki GT550 , 1972 Triumph Bonneville , 1979 Suzuki GS1000 ,
1983 Honda V45 Interceptor , then a whole bunch of used bikes ( but I did keep the GS1000 until 1999 ) , then my last new bike until this year
was a 1993 Honda VFR750F , a bike I took a few long ( fast ) trips on. Chicago to Denver in a day ? Done. That was a nice bike. You tuck down
behind the fairing and you can hear the sweet mechanical symphony of the gear-driven cams.

RedylC94 , I agree with all of that. And not having a tach on the Prius doesn't really bother me anymore.
I know that accelerating at the high end of the eco zone is about 2000 RPM and 30 HP. Unless I am in the very hilly part
of NW Illinois , I never need to go above 2000 RPM.