big john

Filter only or cold air intake?
In my opinion, not worth it. Keep the stock filter clean, less hassle than cleaning a K&N.
It may give some small increase at a certain rpm, but I doubt you can feel it.

caloso

I may be misremembering. (This was the Reagan administration, after all) But it was strong enough that holes started appearing in denim immediately. That I recall vividly.

Dolamite02

I could go either way. Part of why this interests me is not having to replace filters, but simply clean and reinstall. HP increases would be nice, but an ancillary benefit, if use causes long term issues then I'll pass.

Enthalpic

18M sounds right for sulfuric but not HCl. It is also a much stronger dehydrating agent which would explain the rapid formation of holes in cotton.

For fun put the various acids on a kimwipe and watch it dissolve (I've done this demo for grade 9 kids during "take your kids to work day").

One year I decided to show them how you can dissolve an Al can in HCl but used a much larger piece of metal than normal to show off. The rxn went crazy fast after a while and I had to close the fume hood completely and tell them to back up. I pretended it was intentional.

shovelhd

The oil sometimes fouls sensors so be careful.

rkwaki

Neighbor has one and really likes the difference, all positive.

My son has one but it is a non S so can't comment...

Dolamite02

Some of what I've been reading says that because the filter is designed for higher air flow, it inherently doesn't capture as much particulate matter. Makes sense, but the result of this is increased engine wear.

rkwaki

Ahhhh drive it like you stole it...

bmcphx

in that car, it will make absolutely zero noticeable difference, zero. It ill sound a *little* bit growlier, but that's about it.

I use one in my car only because a cold air intake would throw all sorts of red flags at the dealer and give me warranty issues, but they are okay with the drop in, and on a turbo'd car, it gives enough better air flow that it is noticeable, usually. The software I'm running pretty much demands a cold air, so for me the K&N is a compromise, for you I'd say it is a waste of money.

For what it's worth, cleaning it is a pain in the ass because while you are waiting for it to dry, you can't drive. I cleaned mine yesterday and left it out overnight and it was dry.

bmcphx

I think I'm about to pull the trigger on a "race bike" which I'm only calling that because it makes me feel justified in a purchase of a second bike. I've wanted aluminum wheels, and I've wanted a frame I am comfortable racing crits with, and generally a bike that I am ok with giving a bit of abuse... rain, dirt, etc.

I, of course, need a new bike, right?

SteveM

I solved that problem by having an old, still usable paper filter that I put in while I clean the air filter in my truck. Arguably truck does not have same airflow requirements as your car, but works for me.

grolby

Good times. The biology equivalent is showing off weird-looking insects or rotifers or something under the microscope. If we want a bang, a piece of dry ice in a micro centrifuge tube (note: don't actually do this, you might scare the literal **** out of the wrong person).

Hoo boy don't me started on crit bikes. I think if you don't feel comfortable doing that stuff with your primary race bike, you're doing something wrong. But hey, I'm not going to try to talk you out of a new bike.

bmcphx

This is a logical and easily doable solve to a pretty first world problem. I like the use of common sense here.

bmcphx

The bike I want to buy has the same geometry as my primary bike, but has a price tag almost $9,000 less, so I'd be less likely to (quite literally) cry if I trashed it.

More importantly it's a good excuse to buy a bike!

Wesley36

Sounds like S - 1 is not a problem for you (spousal problems), you prolly have the room in your budget, sounds like N + 1 time!

tetonrider

so, i'm waiting to see the ortho for my 6-week post-op check-up. they have tons of charts there so i learn about the anatomy of the hip, knee, shoulder, etc. while there. then i notice this warning on the shoulder chart. all i could think of was having to alert @rkwaki.



edit: fixed the pic!

bmcphx

The only person who is disappointed in my obscenely irresponsible spending is me!

misterwaterfall

Yo money man, figure out those overdrafts!

tetonrider

haha....oops! fixed the attachment.

(in case you were worried, those o/d's were by not a surprise...money's just swept in automatically to cover. i pulled that screenshot to send to someone whose check for multiple power meters bounced, though! had to administer a beat-down. )

himespau 

My wife shut down harvard medical school a few years back because the acid cabinet in her lab had a wobbly shelf and dropped like 3-4 4 L bottles of concentrated sulfuric, hyodrochloric and nitric acid. Fumes, then the emergency shower caused the moderately diluted acid to leak down to the floors below and into the walls.

carpediemracing 

CAI is sort of a stealth sound mod, more growl when using big throttle. Otherwise not so much anything.

I had CAI on a VW with a VR6 (awesome sound!) and on the Z.

HP difference? Didn't care, and from what I could tell from researching the topic it was insignificant (2 HP for the Z, which may or may not be in the margin of error). In fact I think grounding cables had about the same effect on HP, like 1.5 HP or some such nonsense (I bought the grounding cables also and the car seemed to idle more smoothly).

I've literally picked up a K&N filter off the shelf at a car place and put it back. Any HP increase isn't worth it. I'll save my $ for a CAI to get the sound. My TDI isn't going to turn into a monster with just a filter or CAI but at least with the CAI I'll grin a lot more when I floor it.

bmcphx

@carpediemracing VR6 is my favorite exhaust note of all time, I used to be a vw/audi nut, had many vr, 1.8t, and even an 8v, love the cars. A friend had a vr gti with a prototype GHL exhaust and a VF supercharger, and I swear every time I heard that car my pants fit tighter.

Edit: the Nissan 3.5 found in the Z and other vehicles is also top 5 ***** inducing sounds.

tetonrider

def buy what you want! as long as you're not on the dole and your kids can eat (or you don't have kids), why not?

don't worry too much about damaging that nice bike, either--at least not in a race.

a) if you crash in a race, rarely is a bike completely trashed. you might crack a wheel or destroy a derailleur or break some bars, but rarely will you do all of those (and break a frame).
b) if you're really concerned, you can insure a bike for ~$10/$1k coverage/year under a specific rider. just because one has a $15k (or whatever) retail bike doesn't mean they need $15k in coverage for a race crash.
c) repairing a carbon frame can be done (well) for ~$250 even if you break a frame.
d) if you're in a big enough crash to destroy everything on your bike, the bike is probably the least of your concerns and someone else is probably paying for it.

obv you've been in at least one big crash that wasn't your fault, but that kind of damage that can be done by a truck is very rare.

still....i advocate having two road bikes. it's great to also have one for training and one set up for racing.

Racer Ex 

Google Mazda 767B. Pretty nice.

A TZ250 in full song does it for me.

bmcphx

I will never purchase bike insurance again, at least not through Markel, after the way they ****ed me around after my crash this past summer. I filed a claim with them and the claim adjuster, while friendly, was unwilling to proceed with the claim even after I sent him police reports, hospital documentation, photos of the bike, etc. until I had the bike disassembled, each part inspected individually, and priced out individually. I even went to my lbs and had them provide an itemized list along with parts and costs, but he declined to accept that because it didn't come with a picture of each component and part individually showing damage. The bike shop told him that some parts (handlebars for example) were severely compromised and not safe for use after a 40mph dead on impact with a truck, but he said that unless I could show him a picture of damage like a crack, he would not pay to replace that part. He then told me that the frame would be replaced, but the cracked wheels would be repaired and it went on and on from there.

Essentially, they wanted to piece the bike back together with repaired carbon parts, re use any parts that didn't have damage visible to the naked eye including carbon parts that took impact, and even sent me a letter saying that if I didn't comply within 30 days they were going to disregard my claim. I was still in a back and neck brace and unable to even pick the bike up. It was an absolutely miserable experience. My lawyer wanted to file a bad faith lawsuit and was confident they were in violation due to things they said to me in writing, but I didn't want to deal with that on top of the medical suits and claims so I said screw it and made a claim with the insurance from the truck that hit me. I ended up taking substantially less than Markel should have paid me if they did what their paperwork and policy said it should do, but it was painless to deal with the other insurance company, we just wrote the claim and I got a check a week later for about 70% of the requested amount due to depreciation.

Cliff's notes: companies like Markel who do such specific policies know far too much about the products they are insuring and hire people who could probably take apart and rebuild the item, so this results in them trying to nickel and dime and unsafely negotiate repairs. I understand the adjuster's job, and how he/she is paid, is related to saving money on claims, but this instance went way too far. I'll never waste my money on that **** again.

In regards to the other bike, I bought it today, should ship tomorrow and I hope to have within a week or so.