Unitrack removal / strip-down?

Well I don't get that part of it apparently <sigh>, however luckily
quite a few others seem not to either so I'm happy. ;-)

 

As you might have guessed, a great number of people here have got to
know each other personally through this ng.

We go for beers, ride-outs, Continental weekends, even holidays,
together. Ukrm exists beyond cyberspace.

There are plenty of people who post, or just lurk, who never participate
in the irl activities, and that's fine, but the biggest mistake anyone
can make is to assume that all the action happens online.

Now, the next French Run is in May 2009. Some 60 people went on the last
one. Two nights in France in comfortable hotels, epic eating and
drinking, much hilarity[1], cost about £150 a head. Watch for the
announcements.

[1] The regular who filled his bike with paraffin instead of unleaded
will *never* be allowed to forget it.

 

You're catching up fast.

I'm working at a nuclear power station and I've had an evening of
snorting vodka so I'm possibly not the best person to judge these
things but even I can see that he's a bit of a cock.

 

Yup and topic that is often raised within the BMW club. ie, How come
there are thousands of members but so few who turn out to the rallies
and ride outs?

We have in the past synched our family motorcycle / camping fortnight
with the National rally and have had some great times. [1]

As I have mentioned before TOG it's not really my thing but you never
know (and thanks for the heads up).

Nor will the local lad who filled his V-Max with diesel. :-(

[1] Whilst on a trip up through Scotland we stopped at some traffic
lights and another BM came up beside us. We asked them if they were
going to the rally and they didn't know anything about it. We all
pulled over up the road for a proper chat and it turns out they were a
couple from America and were touring Europe. We invited them to join
us at the rally (and described where it was) and went on our way.

When we arrived at the rally site the next day they were already there
and we chuffed because the BM club had offered them free camping and
they won the furthest distanced traveled prize! ;-)

 

That wasn't an off day because if I can help people then I usually do
so.

Every time (or so it seems) that someone tries to be helpful you
question what they say and that becomes a bit wearisome. Several
people on here have had old 550 Kawasakis and they've happened across
the boring old problem of the anti-dive but you wanted to question the
advise they offered. Now I appreciate an inquisitive mind because
that's what pays my mortgage but you have to take it to the next step
onward and at that point you get a spot of hammer...

My best advise to you is to either rock up at a ukrm meet (1) and chat
to people and either argue your point or listen to someone elses and
then make your mind up or **** off.

(1) Don't worry, I won't be at the next one because I've been summoned
elsewhere.

 

Nah, we've been on the slivovitch most of the evening and then capped
it with the vodka but (in my defence) I did start off on pints of
Stella and a nice plate full of seafood tagliatelli (sp) so it's got a
bit blurred.

I just hope I don't have to work on anything that might have an
environmental impact tomorrow..

 

Fif...
--
Dave
GS850x2 XS650 SE6a

"It's a moron working with power tools.
How much more suspenseful can you get?"
- House

 

^^^ ^^^^

That's your card well and truly marked

<plonk>

 

I might have known...

 

I have lots of crusades T i m, sigseps (or the lack thereof) is just
one of them. I snip before I respond and I try to leave just the
right amount to give context to my responses. I get hacked off having
to trim off a redundant sig every time I want to respond to a sepless
poster, that's all. Even more annoying is the clueless responder who
leaves the sepless sigs in just 'cos they don't get autosnipped.

You use Agent. You manually type your habitual signoff in each time.
There's an easy answer - set up a proper .sig.

Options ->General Preferences -> Signatures and type:

-- [return] All the best [return] T i m and click on 'OK'

Then instead of laboriously typing your signoff, hit return at the end

We all help, T i m, all the time - and with a lot more than motorcycle
issues. If the FAQ was extant you'd be able to read the immortal gem
"Nothing is OT in uk.r.m." What you've singularly failed to grasp, it
seems, is that what you have in uk.r.m. is a bunch of disparate
damaged goods, doing all sorts of stuff, with all sorts of life
experiences - who have an /interest/ in motorcycles as common ground,
that's all. There's far more OffT than OnT here: that's the way it
is, the way it was, and the way we like it.

Alex, as far as I know, has only ever posted under his own name. As
you see the only reason for his presence on this group to help you, I
suggest you killfile /him/. In fact, as you seem to see the only
reason for the existence of this NG is to help you, just killfile all
of us and have done with it.

Lookee here, T i m T w i s t e d K n i c k e r s, you're in a right
tizzy now. A call of 'netcop' and a 'clique' dig in just three
vitriolic lines. Personally, IDGAF about the OT being missed off - as
I've said above, there's a lot more OffT than on here. I use OT
because I see that as being the right way - but I read just about
everything anyway, tapping down with the spacebar or middlemouse
button, going down through one topic after another, several times a
day. I don't even stop to read the thread titles, all I'm interested
in is the content.

Everbody picks up non-snippers from time to time, because it's a major
PITA to have to tap three times to get through something you've
already read to get to the one (usually pointless) line that's ben
added. Even worse are the Crap Quoters, those who somehow manage to
leave off the indents for quoted text - half way through a post I
realise I've already read it and look up to see who posted it and
whether it's a duplicate post. Then I have to remember who posted it
in the forst place - then I get to the one (usually pointless) line at
the end and sometimes I can be arsed to point out to the errant dimwit
that they've been dropped from the UK Quoting Team again.

As Champ has pointed out - this is a high-volume newsgroup. Not as
high as it used to be, but still a goodly amount higher than the
dribbles of drivel most NGs seem to contain. As a matter of good
form, it behoves all of us to make our posts as clear as we can, so
they can be easily read at speed, digested and responded to or ignored
as the fancy takes the reader.

Every now and again, a tosser appears, but generally they don't last
long. You have made the classic error of hanging around too long and
posting too much, see? Now, it is inevitable you'll be harassed into
conforming or perhaps you'll see the light of day dawning of your own
accord and come and ride on the same side of the road as the rest of
us. Or just **** off - your call.

Appreciated

 

Beat ya to it.

 

Christ but you know how to make people feel like they can sleep safely
in their beds at night.

 

Most but not every time Pip and that was my point. My 'sig' can and
does change depending on what I'm saying and where I'm saying it. (On
that point then, do you know if Agent supports multiple sigs please)?

Ok, I did actually look at that earlier (never tried before and been
using the Usenet for *years*) and think I got it configured but
deleted it again.

It's not laborious Pip, even with my one finger and thumb typing,
it's in autopilot. ;-)

Ah, that's the bit I didn't know (that you actually *inserted* or
actioned the sig yourself, I thought it was auto added) so thanks for
that.

Ok and enjoyed.

Ok. I did ask Lozzo where it was (so I actually knew what the rules
were) but it seems he's killfiled me now for being in the BM Club

No, that was noted, but I'm not sure I was quite ready for the extent!
;-)

No probs with that either.

Me too Pip. I was actually asking IF the conventions which you are
particular about (eg sig seps) extend to the conventions re posting OT
stuff on here (ie, including OT in the subject header, typically at
the beginning)?

No, again that wasn't my point Pip. What I was saying was under the
circumstances, where he thinks I'm a tit for not having lost my
licence (or whatever, I'm not actually bothered why) that he could
save him self the issue of having to read my posts and just kill
filing me rather than 'bothering' to post a negative comment?

But you seem like a sensible lad (and partly why I'm bothering to
reply right now) so why would you actually say something so
ridiculous? If I regularly frequent a group I do my very best to offer
assistance but from my own admission I'm no 'biker' and know little of
many things you (folk) discuss. I also don't get involved in (most)
the personal posts because (as was previously mentioned) I don't know
many people in this group personally so wouldn't presume to 'join in'.

;-) I'm not actually, just mildly frustrated when dealing with
schizophrenics (not you as it happens). ;-)

It wasn't meant *seriously* Pip. I meant it (because I still believe
it exists to some degree, it does in most 'groups' and you have
admitted your own particular crusade here) but as I don't expect
anyone to pay me any concern I thought it would fall on deaf ears?

Can you see how someone might find that confusing though Pip? I have
frequented other groups for a long time and rarely had anyone mention
my lack of sig sep, but they have very quickly picked up on a post
that was off topic but not marked as such.

As do I.

Ah, ok well like I said, much here is outside my knowledge range or an
'in conversation' so I don't bother with them. Anyone obviously asking
for help or mentioning a subject I may have some knowledge of I read
(or at least scan) and offer a reply (be it helpful or just my attempt
at 'funny').

If you say so.

Agreed, however because I rarely use the keyboard to do anything other
than enter text, it only takes me one rapid sliding action with the
mouse to scroll down to the bottom to spot the reply text.

And I don't believe I'm too bad at that?

I guess if you reading everything it would be.

Agreed, however, we aren't all authors, wordsmith's or good with
punctuation or spellins etc, but I do try (trust me). What makes it
worse for me is my Tinnitus (affects concentration) and a mild form of
dyslexia.

If you say so.

Ok, well I know now to save *my* time here by using any sig and thanks
to you how I can semi-automate one if I felt the need.

Well, I'm going nowhere Pip but I might not bother 'playing' here as
it's just too complicated. The correct HBOL is due in my local bike
shop tomorrow so that, Google, eBay and the online fiches will
probably be sufficient to answer most of the sort of questions I might
have asked here (above those I've already asked and generally had
answered already of course).

And thank you for your time and advice Pip.

 

I know, that was a joke. Why on earth do you think I asked you for
more advice if I thought otherwise? I felt stuff like "Get a fucking
life would you!" is just your way. ;-)

I can't help it Andy and I'll give you an example why (and please
don't take it any way other than it is).

I was in Wickes tonight and spotted a local bike MOT man I've known
for years. After a quick 'you ok' etc I asked him if he had many
issues / dealings with anti-dive, specifically in his role as a MOT
man. His answer was basically "no" (he had seen them, did test for
their functionality as much as he could and didn't have any specific
problems with them). Now I know he rides and has ridden a range of
bikes since I've known him, but I've also known MOT people to be
fallible?

So, do I go to the effort of blanking off the anti-dive (as suggested
by some here) or leaving it all on (at least till I tried it on the
road myself) and till I've put it through the MOT?

It's not that I don't trust most stuff I read here but as with many
things in the real world it often becomes a sort of poll, count the
no's versus the yes's, it's not all black and white.

Hopefully explained above.

Again. explained above and not done ungratefully. Out of interest
Andy, would you commit yourself to a load of potentially unnecessary
work or cost on the say so of an unknown (to you) voice from the
Internet? [1] In spite of what you *may* think I have put to good use
*most* of the advice given here, both directly and in confirmation of
other information.

I'm not quite sure how that would differ from doing the same here but
.... ? Don't get me wrong though, when I get the 550 on the road I
would be very pleased to have some experienced eyes and ears check it
out.

Shame (genuinely, in spite of what they all say about you). ;-)

 

You see, this is where you come a bit of a cropper with some people.
You ask a question, somebody answers it - then you ask another
question on the same subject: a second question that has an answer not
very far away from the first one.

I appreciate that you din't ask a question in this particular case, I
offered some info - but it's the principle man, the principle! If
you'd just looked at the following clicky-tabby bit and had a fiddle
around, mebbe risked a couple of posts to a test group (alt.test,
uk.test), you'd already be there.

Yes, Agent supports multiple sigs. You can set a default .sig and
that *will* be auto-added if you get to the end of your post and just
hit 'send' then when you read it it will have your default .sig
attached to it, whether you wanted it or not.

There is a [None] there in the right-hand upper pane, use that if you
want a null .sig. Just click it and click OK, then when you come to
use it hit Ctrl+I<return> and there's your null .sig - or not, IYSWIM.

Mutiple .sigs are available, I guess the idea is for posters who post
to a variety of groups, they may have a different .sig (or identity)
for each group - but there's nothing to stop you dicking around with
different .sigs in the one group if you want. Again, pop the .sig box
up, create your .sig in the bottom pane, give it a name and add it to
the list. Highlight your desired signoff, click OK.

If you want to double-check which .sig is going to pop up at the end

Oh, and that's a point: it isn't /the/ usenet, it's just usenet.
Stick "the" in there and you start sounding like Sir.Tony, the dweeb
from Dweebville. You'll find that a lot of people here have been
using usenet for years too - darsy springs to mind here ... and Ivan
practically invented usenet.

Either. As with so many apps, there's several ways to do anything.
By default, Agent /will/ auto-add your default .sig if you have one
set up. You can select which one you use as your default .sig and
change it as often as you like, or have [None] as default and go back
to typing it if you like.

There you go, then. That's the thing with a public forum - anybody
can read what anybody writes. Public domain, innit - that's what was
so laughable about that numbnut FCS and his 'copyright' notice on the
end of every post.

Not only that, but there's a shitload more readers than there are
writers - they reckon 10 lurkers to every poster: I mean, I usually
read ~500 posts a day, and reply to ~5, so in that example they're an
order of magnitude out. Who knows how many (or few, I s'pose) lurkers
there really are out there - swaddled in their big black cloaks,
floppy hat brim pulled down over their reddened eyes, their only
source of illumination and entertainment the flickering bluish glimmer
of an elderly CRT ...

What I'm trying to get at is this: every time one punter asks a
question, there's a sigh of relief from 37.8 lurkers on average, who
all wanted to know the answer to that one, but were too scared to ask.
In the context of a /really/ stupid question, the ratio will be three
times that.

Moreover, there's no such thing as a private conversation on usenet,
any bastard can stick their oar in at any time and they often do.
There's no ownership of threads and no guarantee or possibility of
penalty for topic drift in an unmoderated forum like this one.
uk.r.m. has long been known and revered for its ability to go
off-topic - often by parsecs in a matter of seconds. That's where the
fun is and the ability to sort wheat from chaff in a pseudo-technical
thread a vital one.

Once you've got a proper feel for the place and the posters, you can
expand a thread (especially an 'interesting' one (that's one that's
grown by 150 posts since you last made a coffee)) and spot the names
of the regular offenders ... then cut straight down there because you
just /know/ there's a pisstake session going on. Alternatively, you
look down the tree and see Pip alternating with a noob's name and know
to avoid it (like all the regulars are ignoring this one by now)
because Pip's just doing Pip's thing again.

Heh. No, there is one - well, there was. The uk.r.m. FAQ is a thing
of great wonder and a singular source of information on subjects
divers and many ... but due to a bit of a bollock being dropped (well,
a couple of them actually) it is currently in cyberspace limbo
awaiting a domain to be secured. Once somebody sorts it out, the
mighty FAQ will once again return, like a concours-restored Fizzy and
about as pointless.

The longer you stay around, the more you'll learn, as we all have and
do on a daily basis. The best thing is when somebody pops up from
nowhere and starts spouting off becasue they think they're the
greatest living authority on some bastard obscure shitty subject that
no normal human being would ever be interested in - then a lurker from
Outer Baluchistan pops out of the woodwork and shoots them down in
flames .. then Simian comes along and shows them both that they've
fudged the sums in their initial premise in any case.

We've done the "OT" wars from time to time. It has never, IIRC, been
advocated as a capital crime. Bear, for example, ahs publicly given
up OTing as so many other people haven't bothered to stick it in. I
don't see the harm in OTing, but I don't personally object if it is
omitted - that's where the funnies usually live, as I've already said.
Omission of the OT prefix is (or was) an issue for some, as they
filter the OT threads out at source, as they don't want to read them.
Their loss, I reckon - but that's just my personal take on it, and I'm
biased as most of the shit I post is OT and overlong to boot.

1. Because that's the way it works.
2. My response to that point was less than serious.
3. One of the most frequently-quoted axioms (axia?) here is
"Motorcycling is a broad church" (it has to be to get the fat old
Wings in) and your viewpoint and Alex's on the use for a motorcycle
are diametrically opposed in at least five dimensions.

See (2) above.

The most pointed point in the as yet unrevived FAQ was "lurk before
you post". Only by reading (lots, for quite a while) can a
new-to-the-group type gain any appreciation of posting conventions
(and uk.r.m. is one of the last bastions of 'doing it properly, in
proper English, TYVM you ****') posters' styles and the relationships
between the regular posters.

As TOG pointed out, there's a lot of people here who've met through
uk.r.m. and have gone on to become RL friends, drinking buddies,
holiday mates, lovers and even spouses. This is an aspect that no
newbie realises or appreciates. Also, in many cases, the NG is only
the tip of the iceberg, the visible communication.

**** me, there's schizos a'plenty round here. You might wonder why
you've just bought a round for the three ukrmers you're in a pub with
and there's seven pints required. That's when the penny drops.

"There is no clique". Actually, there isn't. Not in a ruling junta
regard, anyway - no matter what the resident trolls might tell you
(that's just because they're bitter and their botties smart from the
spnakkings). There may be movements by consensus, but taht's the way
of any group, especially when many of the regulars know each other.

Lots of newsgroups (or more particularly pernickety, the
avatar/icon/animated gif laden forums) have topic conventions. It
doesn't work on usenet, especially unmoderated usenet. That's why
there's three(?) Pratchett NGs, one for discussing his books, another
for the social side and the third for fucknowswhat. The multicoloured
HTML forums are split into sections and the moderators therein
continually groan about OT posts and then move them to the right area
- or delete them - or delete the poster who offended them.

I do, and they do. I've spotted four or five plaintive cries to snip
in the past 24 hours, from three or four different people, directed at
three or four different people.

We've had a lot of people through here, who start off with really poor
English skills, who get better and better as they go on. Monkey see,
monkey do. My usual response to the recidivists is that they chose to
communicate in a text-based method, so they can choose to be clear or
be ignored. Once they don't get any replies at all to their drivel
for a couple of weeks they get bored and piss off.

See (2) above.

When in need of a BoL, I ask the local library to source one for me.
Cheaper, see? when you /need/ one, they're always full price. Once
you have one (and paid top dollar) then they pop up on eBay for 50p.
Loz also holds a small (scrounged, begged, donated) library of them,
but I guess he hasn't a suitable one for you or he'd have offered.

All the b e s t

 

You fucknugget.

You've just neatly proved what I have just posted in (the middle of a
lengthy) reply to T i m - that an answer given to one punter benefits
many. Sweet. So I'll forgive you for the whatever you call it you've
done to your .sig, you fucknugget.

 

I wouldn't. Fettle what needs fettling, then try it up the road. If
it dives horribly all over the place, fettle it. How does your tester
propose to test it, anyway - road test? I think not, not these days.

 

I'm not sure which is worse; owning one of those or joining a
single-marque club.

Mind you, I suppose the discount on spares comes in handy.

 

*ding* ;-)

 

Ok thanks. FWIW, it would seem from my searching so far that the
system as referenced by some from the GPz750 (turbo?) and what I have
on the 550 isn't the exact same gear. On the 750 (and possibly other
year / models than mine) it's a two bolt, diamond pattern fitting,
whereas mine is a 4 bolt elongated style. So, (in partial answer to
your "why so many / duplicate questions" elsewhere) I have not yet
found an engineering drawing or description that accurately covers my
model.

The difference between me and some is that I have read many instances
where people have gone to some effort and simply 'blanked it off' (as
I may well have done) and wondered why their suspension has stopped
working? If I'm going to bother to do anything, I'd like a very good
feeling that my efforts won't be in vain.

That's the basic plan Pip. (If I can stop myself fettling whist
waiting for other parts). ;-)

Ok ..

Nope, he said to test that it works he brakes whilst pushing the bike
forward and to test that it doesn't he puts wheel up against an
immovable object and pushes forwards / down?