No rest for the weary.

Who's in for the next event at Summit on 11-12 June?

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Dan Parmelee texted me this morning to share some news about one of our own. He found out through his airplane mechanics that Chad Rhodes passed away on Sunday, at his home.

His obituary is posed on the DNR site: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.dnronline.com/obituaries/view/9211">http://www.dnronline.com/obituaries/view/9211</a><!-- m -->

I'm collecting donations via PayPal to be sent along to Relay For Life, as the obit requests. I'll collect until Friday at noon which will give me time to send off to RFL before the service on Friday afternoon. You can send via PayPal here.

Chad was an active MMer when we were in school and I know many of us have fond memories of him around school and at club events with his WS6 and later, his Cobra. He worked a few NASA events and always brought a good attitude and some laughter wherever he was.

RIP, Chad.

Instead of intro pics, how about an intro vid with one of my favorite title sequences of all time:

[youtube]Od4-XaGqsLw[/youtube]

So a couple of weeks ago I picked up a leftover 2015 Yamaha R1. I decided it provided the best combination of novelty (crossplane inline-4 and trick traction control), price, style, purpose and reliability for the time being. Will be doing track days with it, per usual, and I plan on throwing a few modest mods at it soon.

So far it's been great. At first I felt a little lukewarm because it's a bit quieter than my RSV4 (and a A LOT quieter than the 1199) but now that I can give it a few more revs and I've gotten used to the bike, I'm loving it. It's a bit wider than the RSV4, but I think that fits my body a bit better, makes it easier to grip the tank.

First order of business will be case covers, swingarm spools, and an exhaust. Right now the front runner for an exhaust is the Austin Racing but there may be a few other viable options if i can dress up the naked gap exposed by removing the stock cat.



After that will probably get some track plastics and maybe some gold magnesium wheels, or maybe I'll just get a second set of stock wheels and paint em gold. Either way I wanna get a second set of wheels so I can slap some race rubber on it.

I've got a Taskmaster 2600 gas powered pressure washer. It would start and run fine for a while, then die, starting fluid would get it going again for a while. I do have a new carb that will go with it to fix that, since it was easier to buy a new one than cleaning out the old. I got a newer washer from the father-in-law (with electric start..fancy), so don't use this any more. I put it on CL for $140, but if anyone here wants it for like a hundo, let me know.

Posting this for my buddy Jason Happ.

Room for rent available in Vienna, VA right off of Route 50 and Nutley St. Metro is a short bus or walk through Pan Am Shopping Center It is a 3 bedroom townhouse with 2 car garage (although I believe he is keeping all of the garage, there is plenty of parking :lol: ). Only one room is available for rent (just you and him). I have known him over a decade and was best man in my wedding, so suffice to say I trust him. He is on the forum as well but doesn't post much and I suggested a recent MM grad might be a good fit (even if for the summer).

If you are interested, please let me know and I can pass on his number. Please reach out to me through Facebook.

Learns me the ways of the trailer game, great hate.

From what I have found online:

Wood Pros: is lighter = better gas mileage, no slip like you can with steel, multi-use (cars, moving shit, etc..) more than steel because of the no slip, and easily replace plank of wood.

Wood Cons: Wood goes bad if sitting out in the sun within two years even if UV coated?

Steel Pros: steel lasts a bit longer as long as it stays painted or coated?

Steel Cons: heavier and a bit more expensive to replace rusted

What else am I missing here? Or what are your experiences between wood/steel towing? What your likes about steel vs wood? Or gripes?

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I was hoodwinked by Craig and his list last week and picked up this 75 2002a. At least it was local and only 3 miles away; how I hadn't met this guy before is beyond me. Didn't run/drive, guy had it for a year and a half with intent to restore but picked up a tii a few months after he got this one, so this sat around. Someone had dumped some $ into it at one time, upgraded carb, suspension, head, exhaust, electronic ignition, etc. Got farting around with it last night for an hour after the kids were in bed and low and behold, it's alive!

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CL photo

Inherited this from my mom. My dad had been holding onto it for years, but decided he no longer had room and was not willing to sell it. We're a one car household, why not take a second for free?

Picked up with 135k miles in DC w/ a faulty power driver's door actuator.
12 days and 3500 miles later, she's in Portland. Caught a CEL about a third of the way into the trip. O2 sensor. I attempted to replace it in Minneapolis, but was unable to remove it without twisting the hell out of a POS CarQuest O2 sensor socket.
Other than the O2 sensor, she ran like a top. All fluids are exactly where they started. Can't say that for a typical trip with a certain A4
Only saw about 22mpg - bad O2 sensor, bike on top? I expected better.
She struggled up a lot of hills and I didn't want to run it to redline because she's been babied all her life and I wanted to get home. Desperately needs another 20hp - I think there was a supercharger available for these?
AWD came in pretty handy - probably the first time it's ever activated as I was on some muddy road in a South Dakota downpour.
Headlights were typical Toyota yellowed. Spent 10 minutes with a $8 kit, only used the cleaner, and they're pretty damned shiny. Will polish and seal them when I get around to it.
Soundtrack was provided via a cassette adapter. F yeah!
Decent looking car for what it is.
Had a roof rack with crossbars so all I had to do was pick up a Yakima rack that fit.
Great sight lines - it's kind of nice not having 14 airbags obstructing your vision (it has 2).
I'm pleased. I forgot how enjoyable a simple vehicle can be. No bullshit, just driving.

If you didn't keep up with my trip on FB, your loss
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Plans: clean up headlights, replace O2 sensor, fix power door actuator, kill a rattle or two, new head unit, and drive the pants off it.

i think it is my fuel pump, but really don't know. After getting the car running i drove it for two days no problems, but i was taking my mom to walmart, about 15 miles. Got pretty close but on a hill in 4th gear going 45 it started to feel like it had no power. Shifted into 3rd, started to buck, backfire, and still had no power. i made it to the light, turned it off. I tried to turn it back on, no start. i waited for about 30 minutes it cut on and i drove it another couple of miles parked it. Waited for an hour drove it close to home died again. waited about 3 hours, i drove home with no problems. Drove it again a day later made it to work, after and 8 hour day, drove home, died 2 miles from my house. Waited 30 minutes drove a bit, same symtoms stopped, but the next time i tried to go it couldn't keep it's self on. After 3 hours drove home no problems. WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON? :dunno:

I know it's probably a little late in the season, but on the off chance that someone of you has graduated, and not yet procured employment, I have at least one, maybe two positions I can hire for. The work is in the Chantilly area.

The company I work for is: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.engilitycorp.com/">http://www.engilitycorp.com/</a><!-- m -->

If any of you other alums are looking, feel free to ping me as well. Post here if interested and I'll send you my personal email where you can send your resume.

The work is mostly small-time boutique software development for government customers. It's a small shop, and you are allowed to work creatively. It's a good opportunity for someone who wants to touch all parts of a system, instead of just being a boxed in coder. Also, they have been known to do profit sharing for ideas that you come up with that they can sell, they will cut you in on it.

Note: I am not a recruiter. I am only posting here because I think it's a decent opportunity, and whoever we hire will directly help lessen my workload.