Mojo31

It has some sort of secondary battery that was running low. I don't know what it does, and didn't even know it has one! The car is not a hybrid of any type.

It obviously needed some love, and may have even been a bit jealous.

Mojo31

Yep, afraid that one day it will act like a jealous mistress, lock the doors while I'm driving, and then go bat sheet crazy on me.

ls01

Skynet. Judgement day. 3/23/21. It has begun.

big john

Chevy Volt engine never starts if you keep the battery charged. If you don't use any gas in a year the engine will start and after it consumes a part of the fuel and you add new fuel it resets and you can go another year. This perplexes some customers and we had a guy insisting that we override the feature so it wouldn't use any gas. I guess to him, buying 6 or 8 gallons of gas in a year was more than he could bear.

When it goes into that mode there is a message on the screen that informs the driver. I guess some people don't look at the screen or don't know what it means because they bring the car in and complain about the engine coming on.

The other thing they do is forget to turn the car off and after it sits in electric mode for several hours the engine will start because the battery is depleted. They bring the car in saying it started "by itself" in the middle of the night. We actually had a recall with a software update to stop that from happening.

WhyFi

That's cool - I'd wondered about PHEVs and old gas. I take it that it only does this while you're driving and not on its own, when potentially sitting in an attached garage or something?

Mojo31

Can you imagine all the happy lawyers if the cars would start in the middle of the night while in the garage?

WhyFi

I can.

WhyFi

^^^ That's as close as I could get to ambulance chasing in emoji.

big john

Yes, it notifies the driver before the engine starts that it is going into that mode.

LAJ

Cars are so clean now, 20 minutes running in the garage wouldn't be noticed.

Mojo31

Pretty clever. Especially when lawyer who ride bikes are involved.

Mojo31

One never notices once they pass out.

seedsbelize 

Christine

indyfabz

If being forced to share the office suite today. No cussing aloud allowed.

genejockey 

The Circuit restoration is taking a brief respite, waiting for the Nitto Dynamic stem to arrive, which should happen today. This should give me a bit more rise, maybe half a cm, maybe a little more. Then I have to do a crapload of measuring to make the final decision, because once I do, I can do the brake cables and bar tape. It's still going to end up with about the lowest bar, but if I can get it down to 9.5-10 cm of drop, I'll be cool with that. I'm not planning on making this my Epic Ride bike - now with a 42x24 low gear! I figure I can manage that up the hills I have to climb when I ride from home, but no actual mountains. One of those qualifies as a Category 4 on Strava, which sounds more impressive than it rides.

LAJ

Understood.

Last car I saw that was tested ran .135 Grams Per Mile Hydrocarbons, .319 GPM CO, which is Carbon Monoxide, basically, and .189 NOx. I could leave that sled running in my office, and never get sleepy.

genejockey 

Mrs. GeneJockey suggested that fixing old bikes might be something I could do for money once retired. I said, "Wanna know how to make a small fortune fixing and flipping old bikes? Start with a large fortune."

I think it's like watches - you have to scout garage sales and thrift shops and such for items that you know and the seller doesn't, OR buy things in really rough condition. And then you have to have a big supply of parts, because finding all the parts you need is godawfully expensive and time-consuming. In watches, the guys who make money fixing and flipping may have bought out whole shops from retiring watchmakers. Not sure what you'd do for bikes!

genejockey 

It's really amazing how much they've cleaned up emissions. Anytime I'm behind a pre-smog car, you can really smell the unburnt gas, and those are the ones in good condition, not pouring out smoke! That's how they all were. It's why cars got such horrible gas mileage back in the day - they were terribly inefficient!

ls01

So, wait....It hasn't begun? Ok. Gotta make some calls bbiab....

bampilot06

Rode the ritchey today for an actual ride. Rides super smooth, quick acceleration, shifts clean. I think I am in love. Will probably make this my main bike once I had a little bit more confidence in the frame coupler . I would hate to be 50 miles away and that come apart, not that it should happen.

I might need to get a shorter stem for it, I feel like the reach might be a little long. My elbows weren’t locked straight but I didn’t have the bend that I do when I ride the C2. Also think I will swap saddles with Lily. It came with the WTB deva, but I think it’s a touch big for my non existence butt.

Took Lily onto some roads today and she handled the cars well. When she got on Centerville she took off. We were only on there for about a half mile but she was pushing 20 the whole time. She’s getting stronger, I also have secretly been raising her seat every ride. I will take some of the credit.

bampilot06

I thought about building wheels on the side. It’s an idea I bounce around in my head every now and then.

DougRNS

Nice homophones.

Mojo31

Might be careful saying things like that. You know how "they" will construe the statement - that their butt is big and needs a bigger saddle.

I won't go into how I know such things.

WhyFi

nttawwt

Mojo31

Pretty essited about this.