I am so confused. Bike makers spend hundreds of millions to design a bike and put it into production. A new rider believes he can "upgrade" it with a $50 muffler (hell, a $500 muffler). WTF?!.
Dave Chapman
@wrenchmonster.bsky.social
Motorcycle / Scooter Mechanic Instructor, ASE Certified Mechanic, Retired Semiconductor (High Speed Memory) Electrical Engineer / Marketing VP, Liberal Jack-of-all-Trades Fix-it-Guy. www.WrenchMonster.com
In my business, when the cost of what I am selling goes up, my profits go down. Seems like a scam is afoot. www.npr.org/2026/07/31/n...
Oil companies report sky-high profits thanks to wartime crude prices
Chevron reported its highest quarterly earnings ever. Shell had its second-biggest quarter, and ExxonMobil doubled its earnings compared with the same time last year.
npr.org
Shark attack. "Poppa! Pretend you are having a nice day at the beach...but then you hear the JAWS music!"
Want to turn a 1 hour coolant change into a 3 hour slog? Add crash bars to block the way.
'16 FZ07. Starter runs. No pwr @ coils & pump. Switches, relays & wires test good. Find brief power up @ key turn but spontaneously off! Remove tank. Test Pump. DOA. Remove Pump. Test Pump via internal wires. RUNS! Corroded internal pump connection. (ECU knew & killed the system, hence no spark)
Purple Martins roosting briefly (4-6 weeks) near Austin on their way to Brazil. Thousands of them attempting to spend the night in the same tree.
Truly staggering how many ways, large and larger, the Trump administration continues to find to be utter dickheads.
The U.S. Alone Votes Against A Road Safety Declaration
Yesterday the UN's General Assembly passed a near-unanimous declaration on cutting road-traffic deaths in half.
forbes.com
Southwest was complicit. They helped ICE every step of the way. Boycott Southwest Air
'21 Piaggio Liberty 150 scooter. Oil drain / screen directly behind the pipe. OMG. UNREACHABLE! Too low to wrench (ok, could jack it up). Crazy tool combo to get there! (Glad I bought the chain-drive socket wrench extension a few months ago.)
Meet Fuzzy Bear. He has been with me 70 years; now hanging out in my first rocking chair (a couple of years younger), with my wife's first cuddle buddy (whose music box still plays). Fuzzy has endured a lot, including a bad haircut at my hand, had a few repairs, and survived it all. Well done.
Here's the plan: (1) Win midterms by landslides, then (2) defund/dissolve ICE, then impeach AND prosecute (3) the corrupt Supreme Court Justices (4) Cabnet incompetents/criminals (5) Trump, THEN send Trump & Hegseth to The Hague for war crimes trials by our allies to restore our dignity and cred.
A 3-year-old girl watched ICE murder her father yesterday. We all watched Sebastian Guerrero’s final moments through our phones. We can scroll away — but Sebastian’s 3-year-old daughter cannot.
New Rider: Had a wreck, totaled my first bike, but it wasn't my fault. WM: It was your fault. NR: No, he pulled out in front of me. WM: You didn't avoid the crash. Your fault. All bike crashes are the rider's fault. Blame others, you die. NR: Hmm, maybe I need to adjust my attitude. WM: Good start.
Unexpected benefit of running a motorcycle repair shop: You get invited to a customer's Bossa Nova music performance at a house concert (where you are three decades older than the next oldest audience member). Too sweet.
There may be nothing quite so inglorious as a West Texas graveyard, except perhaps an unmarked grave in it. The sweetest friend of my youth has laid there abandoned for 11 years. Finally she at least has a stone. How can we not hope aganst all reason our loved ones find peace and beauty beyond.
Un-trained and underage riders, in traffic and in pedestrian walkways, on vehicles as heavy and fast as gasoline powered motorcycles. No controls, no consequences for anyone but the victims. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...
‘I felt my spine and body split’: the woman who was hit by a child on a Lime bike – and denied compensation
The collision was catastrophic. Jane Ouartsi suffered a fractured collarbone, two spinal fractures, a broken femur that took three operations to fix, and she had to learn to walk again like a baby. Wh...
theguardian.com
Goldwing GL1800 2012-2017. Least accessible clutch bleed screw ever.
Damn Wrench Gorillas %$@&!!! How can you install an o-ring cover port so tight than an impact gun is needed to break it free!
The invention of this device will go down in history as the peak event in the course of human evolution.
The Death of Tyrin Johnson at the Hands of the National Guard… By Brent Molnar: A Voice of Reason A twenty-year-old man is dead in downtown Memphis, shot by the soldiers his own government sent to keep the city safe. Tyrin Johnson was killed just before 4 a.m. on Sunday, July 5,
SUPCO wants you to believe they are not political activists. Don't go believing that bullshit for a single second.
Hell's Bells! Got Big Red up on the lift and can't find anything to fix! Pads & rotors are fine. Tread on both ends > 50%. DOT4 and coolant @ 12 months. All I could do is change the oil. So disappointing!
A 5-year-old girl was killed and 7 other children were injured in a Russian strike on Sumy. The girl's 34-year-old mother was also killed in the attack, while her older daughter has been hospitalized with moderate injuries. A 61-year-old man also lost his life.
