[Bike] Modification Chapter 4

Nothing too exciting this time. But when I removed the "WEST COAST HONDA" sticker from the rear fender, it left a nasty glue residue. I'm not really a fan of West Coast Honda -- in fact I advise against buying from them -- but that's a story for another day.

It's time to use our friends over at Tyga to fix this unsightly mess:

A few seconds later:

Beautiful! Now everybody can see that my bike has been modified using genuine Tyga Performance parts.

Special thanks to my good friends at Tyga for sending different sized stickers with my order of $130-odd dollars. It's nice touches like that, which make me want to buy from them again.

-Gray

[Bike] Modification Chapter 3

This time I want to show you how to make a significant change to your bike's handling, by tweaking the suspension. Some people believe that actually getting down and dirty with the front suspension can significantly alter a bike's ability to corner -- I disagree.

The main problem with the front forks is that the caps aren't up to scratch. Observe:

Yes they're nice and shiny, but are they really doing their job? The answer is no. So I immediately unscrewed them.

I didn't expect a strange hollow bar to pop out though:

After struggling to fit the new cap, I eventually gave up and decided the bike was a write-off and would never run again.

After a short break and a cup of tea, I returned, and somehow managed to screw in the replacement "high performance" caps from, you guessed it -- Tyga Performance:

Increased responsiveness, stiffer cornering, and a cockpit view that would make Rossi jealous.

Front fork end cap replacements -- just do it.

[Bike] Modification Chapter 2

Hello fellow road-racers!
This episode, I'll be showing you how to complete a fairly simple mod, but an important one nevertheless ...

What's wrong with this picture? Yes, that's right -- the little black oil cap. Boring design, poor aerodynamics, and probably letting my precious oil evaporate! Time to fix that little problem with the help of our friends at Tyga ...

After just a few seconds using my bare hands and spanner or "socket wrench" as the American's call it .... BEHOLD!

A quick test-ride confirmed my expectations -- improved air flow around the bike and increased handling. Cornering feels sharper and acceleration slightly brisker. And all for less than the cost of a trip to Sizzler.

A shiny red cap with "CBR" stamped on it -- what's not to like?

[Bike] Modification Chapter 1

Well it's time to increase the speed, handling, and sex-appeal of my CBR250. I will present each modification in a bite-sized chunk which you can enjoy reading while you munch on some cereal or such-like.

I'm not a master mechanic by any means, but as you will see as you follow along, some mechanical aptitude is required. These are not going to be the kind of modifications that your little sister can do!

Chapter 1 - Brake Fluid Reservoir Cover

Now there is nothing wrong with the factory item, but it just doesn't scream "I'm a highly-tuned race bike" the way I would like it to:

Ho-hum. Keeping the fluid in, but not much else ...

So it's time to get a little help from my friends over at Tyga Performance in Thailand. Since their name contains the word "performance", that literally guarantees that all their products will increase the real-world performance of your machine.

Here is a little something I had shipped earlier:

Sweet little bag of performance.

I unscrewed the factory cover using a "phillips-head screwdriver" (that's the cross type, not the flat type -- ask at your local hardware store if you're confused) and tried to replace it with the new one. The new one didn't need a screwdriver, it needed an "alan key".

Fortunately, I had a few knocking about in the shed. Unfortunately, none of them fit. Fortunately, I used a combination of Blu Tac and tissue paper to make a smaller key fit! ... Unfortunately, it didn't work. So I zipped off to say hello to my friends at Super Cheap Auto, and purchased a lovely set of alan keys. I tightened the bolts or whatever they are, and VOILA!

GOODBYE BLAND, HELLO RACE-STYLE!

I'm sure you'll agree, this little item looks very sweet and sexy! And this simple mod took me no longer than 30 minutes! (travel time excluded).

So, avoid nasty brake fluid accidents, and replace your own factory cover with one of these fantastic after-market performance parts!

-Gray

[Minecraft] Survival Island - Day 1

I thought I would do a little Let's Play but in Blog form, kind of like I started with Order & Chaos before I got bored of it. I've been playing Minecraft on and off for about a year. This entry won't be of general interest unless you're a Minecraft player, or are just wondering what Minecraft is all about. A YouTube video would probably show you that much more clearly, in about 10 seconds, but why watch a convenient video when you can read my long-winded and boring adventures in excruciating detail, right here?

The seed I used was  -8320668148713193150 which you can copy-and-paste into your own game to try this island for yourself. It's small, with 1 tree, 1 sugar cane, some grass and sand, and a (deep) cave. Perfect!

I felt like Tom Hanks in Castaway. Flat ocean as far as the eye could see.

So first thing's first, I chopped down the tree. It only gave back 1 sapling but that's OK. So I replanted that, harvested all the grass and got 5 seeds, grabbed some sand, and headed into the cave entrance to set up my little base.

Ah my new home! A virginal cave, waiting to be entered and defiled. Or something.

I built a workbench. As opposed to a "normal" game of singleplayer, where you can't walk 5 meters without bumping into a tree, this island made me value every last plank of wood. I made a wooden pick-axe, dug out some cobblestone for a living space, and then used that cobblestone to build a furnace. I burned some wood to make a single piece of charcoal, which I delicately turned into 4 torches. So at least I could stop mobs spawning inside my cave tonight. These torches were worth their weight in gold. They were protection from the darkness, the certain death of sitting in a dark cave waiting for a monster to spawn and slaughter you like a pathetic little lamb. I would treasure each and every one of these 4 torches!!

I carefully climbed down deeper into the cave, and quickly came across a few blocks of coal -- I can tell you, I've never been so relieved to find coal. I made some spare torches, chucked a couple around the place to brighten up the mood, and headed back up to the surface to check where the sun was.

It was just past midday and to my surprise, the sapling had grown into a tree already! Bonus. So I chopped the bastard down and replanted the 2 saplings it gave me. Now we're cooking with gas. I made a stone pick-axe, stone sword, and stone hoe. I carved out a little garden space inside my cave and planted the grass seeds. With the 1.8 update, it's more important than ever to have a steady supply of food to keep your health regenerating. I'm not sure if any cows or sheep are going to spawn on this little island and if they don't, I'll need to bake some bread.

Here is my little cave at the end of the first day:

Home sweet home. Workbench, furnace, indoor wheat farm and a hole leading into the depths of the Earth.

Stay tuned for Day 2 tomorrow.

[iPhone] Review - Pinball HD

[This is an opinion piece on "Pinball HD" by Gameprom. The official website is here.]

Let me just say I've never actually played real pinball. Never interested me before, but I will now jump on the next machine I see -- Pinball HD is awesome!

It's pretty much a real pinball table created inside the iPhone, rather than a pinball game created for the iPhone. The difference is, everything exists in 3D and the camera smoothly zooms, swoops and pans to keep the action on the screen. The ball behaves with completely realistic physics. If the table has a spinny-whirly thing, it doesn't just use the graphics of a spinny-whirly thing -- it actually spins a 3D plate within the table, which sends the ball flying. As far as I can tell anyway. Even the sounds are realistic. Even the little dot-matrix scoreboard animations at the top of the screen are realistic.

For $0.99, you get 3 complete tables. Wild West is the most simple. You can tag targets to get the Bank open, then send the ball up that ramp to bounce around the bumpers, robbing the bank and collecting loads of points. You can hit the tricky entrance to the "gold mine", you'll blast along the rail-cart track and end up with loads of points. You can tag other targets, then hit a hole and you get to "Shoot Dirty Harry" -- if you aim the ball just right, you can hit him and get loads of points. He is actually a little figurine that moves out and along a track. Just like a real pinball table -- the illusion never gets broken.

Ah, wooden surface and cheesy cowboy music! I love this table.

The Deep is my favourite table. You have the gentle ambient soundtrack, the dark-blue colouring, and sweeping ramps, voices that talk to you when you get missions, or hit certain goals. A circle in the middle of the table lights up to track your progress as you complete the "missions", which involve just getting the ball to a certain target or ramp on the table. It's awesome.

Again, this is juts the top-third of the table or so.

 Then there is Jungle which I haven't learnt yet. It almost looks too chaotic, but still seems to be awesome. Wish I took a full-table screenshot for you.

This is only a small part of the table. It's zoomed in, man!

You can force a static complete-table view just by swiping outwards, and re-enable the dynamic camera at any time. You can tilt to landscape and it will seamlessly shift your perspective to a low-down, full-table view, if you prefer. It's all very smooth and polished.

I think the enjoyment of pinball comes from the heavily-themed table with sounds and music, the "pachinko" or luck factor of the ball bouncing around the bumpers, and the skill of completing tasks. Yes it's obviously a skill-based game, since my high scores have been increasing massively as I play more. And it's completely non-violent! Brilliant change of pace.

Finally, I have to mention the scoreboards -- you get local scores, and Game Center worldwide scores. Keeps you motivated to shoot for the top 10! Also, this game has loads of achievements which discreetly slide in from the side when you get them. They are interesting too, like "Pillage $X from the Indian village" and "Hunt and kill 10 sharks" and stuff.

Pinball HD - 5 out of 5
Brilliant!

Increase your power levels, then blast down the ramp and smash open the treasure chest!

-Gray

[Bike] 5 - 6 hours in a day

Can anybody tell me if this is legal and/or safe?

Obviously I'll cut the rope and tie it off. Seems a bit iffy but I'd prefer to not have a backpack on my back for the entire trip.

Also here is my newly-installed aftermarket thermometer:

Ambient air temperature readout -- because you can never have too much information.

All it needed was a spot of blu-tac.

And finally, here is my newly installed "ride timer", aka "stopwatch", aka "wrist watch strapped to the handlebars":

Never forget to take a rest break! Brilliant.

Tomorrow is the ride.

-Gray