Here's some good news for everyone who's ever had a scam call...

A tax scam ringleader just got sent down for 20 years 

Ok, this one is already on the Facebook forum, but it's very difficult to follow all the different conversations on there, so hopefully we can discuss it reasonably here.

Theft victim charged with murder after ramming thief off his motorcycle

THE victim of a motorcycle theft has been charged with murder after ramming two motorcycle thieves from his motorcycle as they tried to escape.

First of all, I'd like to ask that, despite how people feel, we keep this discussion civil and avoid ill-tempered comments.

The short version is that the biker heard someone trying to steal his motorcycle, chased after them in his car and rammed them twice, the second impact causing the thieves to be knocked off the bike, one dying after hitting a lamp post and the second suffering serious injuries.

It should also be mentioned that the biker then left the scene and other members of the public then had to help the injured people.

Now, whilst some people may be thinking "they deserved it" or "serves them right" or "I'd do the same", there are few points that need to be made. (NB I follow The Secret Barrister on Twitter who often explains how the newspaper headlines and stories about cases like these are often exaggerated or distorted and don't necessarily represent the facts correctly).

So, a few points...

1) Obviously, theft is wrong.


2) You have the right to use "reasonable force" to defend yourself and your property if it or you are at risk.

3) Using a car to chase people and knock them off a motorcycle most probably does not come under the heading of "reasonable".

4) Taking the law into your own hands is generally frowned upon.

5) Whilst the headline says the prosecution are calling for a murder charge, it's unlikely that such a charge would actually be proven as it would be necessary to demonstrate intent to kill.

6) Because he left the scene, presumably he was aware that what he had done, so it's very unlikely he'd get off completely. Most likely the charge will be reduced to manslaughter and he'd probably be best to make a guilty plea before it goes to court to get the maximum reduction in sentence.

7) Yes, certain members of the Police are authorised to use "Tactical contact" to stop stolen bikes, however they are *trained* for this and to evaluate the best way to do it in a way that causes least danger.

8 ) No matter what you think of bike thieves, the penalty for theft is not murder, so please, no lynch mob style comments about "they deserved it" or "if more people did this, there would be fewer bike thefts".


9) The Prosecution are trying to get their case out into the public domain and media, unfortunately the Defence can't generally do the same. That's just how the system works.

There's probably more, but that covers a fair few things that will come up.

Does anyone know the dimensions (length/ external diameter) of the spacer on the front forks of the FZ6-S Fazer 04-06?


It's part 18 (or 38) on the picture.


Alternatively, does anyone know the internal diameter of the Inner Fork Tube (2 or 22)?


 I want to shorten mine to reduce the preload on the Hyperpro fork springs I bought (they're a bit too firm as I only weigh 64kg), but I want to get some PVC or aluminium tube to experiment with rather than start cutting down the OEM spacer!


https://www.bike-parts-yam.com/yamaha-motorcycle/600-MOTO/2006/FAZER_ABS/FZ6-SA/FRONT-FORK/16_1637-1637/B26/0/23235

From today's New Scientist magazine:

A new artificial material effectively cannot be cut, holding out the promise of lightweight but cut-proof bike locks, security doors and protective clothing.


Its inventors embedded ceramic spheres in aluminium foam to create a material that couldn’t be cut with angle grinders, power drills or water jet cutters. They dubbed it Proteus after the shape-shifting Greek god, for the way the material metamorphosised in different ways to defend against attacks.

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2249275-material-that-cannot-be-cut-would-make-the-ultimate-bike-lock/

Ok, it's not going to stop someone picking the bike up if it's not chained to something secure, but it should stop the "two scrotes with a moped and an angle grinder" sort of thefts...
  

As you might have seen in the "What did you do with your Fazer today" thread, I've had a bit of a nightmare and now I need to replace the left mirror and side stand for my 2006 FZ6-SA as soon as possible.


If anyone has these, please let me know.

BTW I'm also going to post this on the Facebook group.

I want to create a watertight case made from clear acrylic (about 2 foot long by 2" wide by 4" high), but I'm after some advice on how to seal it.

Yes, I can buy acrylic glue,but it's ludicrously expensive (about £20 for a small container) and that would cost twice as much as the materials

Given the size of it, using some form of caulk or sealant wouldn't really be feasible because it would be very difficult to get it into the interior.


So can anyone recommend an alternative that would work?

(I've posted this on the Facebook forum too)

I was trying to balance my throttle bodies today on my FZ6-SA 2006.


 I hooked all the gauges to cylinger 1 to calibrate them and worked out the differences in readings. no problems.


 But when I came to actually trying to balance them, I did have a problem.

Here's the set up...
 I'd checked the idle speed, tweaked the adjusters on the adapters so the needles on the gauges were just not jittering, blipped the throttle a couple of times then let them settle, but no matter what I tried and how much I altered the throttle screws, for some reason I simply could not get much movement on the gauges and certainly not enough to get the readings even nearly the same


I don't know what I'm doing wrong. Anyone got any helpful suggestions?

Three men in a car tried to drag a man from his motorbike after pulling over in front of him
 

Yes, this is a thread about politics, but how your politics compare to others, rather than actual issues.


Hopefully it won't degenerate into the sort of slanging match that other threads have, but I hold out little hope... 


Anyway, if you don't like politics, please ignore this thread and don't post messages in here saying "Oh gods, another foccing political thread, because you'll just make it worse (I know, you're already reaching for that reply button to do exactly that...!)


Anyway...

* * * * *
As many people are now aware, politics is more than just the old, crude, Left/ Right divide, for instance the Political Compass test includes Authoritarian/ Libertarian axes too.


So here is a link to a test that includes Economic, Diplomatic, Civil and Societal scales for a much more nuanced view of how someone's politics pan out.

For each question you pick an option on a 5 point scale from Strongly Disagree to Strongly Agree. If you're not sure about something, just leave it in the middle.

And, yes, it's 70 questions, but it really doesn't take that long and, as I said, you can skip an answer by not moving the slider from the middle.

You can post your results here if you have the courage or you can just say "too boring/ can't be bothered/ I don't want to tell" if you prefer.
https://www.idrlabs.com/8-values-political/test.php

I think I've seen people post about using the Spark Plug tool that comes with the FZ6 tool kit to remove the front axle nut.

But I tried mine today and it was *just* a fraction too large to fit.

Could I use the Dremel to grind it down or would I be better getting the proper tool?

So, planning on doing some work on my bike, I'm looking through the list of instructions in Haynes.


Ok, do that?


No problems.


Unscrew this?


Simple.


Move that out the way?

Easy.


Remove the rear shock?


Piece of ca...

Hang on?


What?!   

You could have mentioned that at the start, instead of casually chucking it in at about stage 8 of the process...!!

If you drive an expensive car you're probably a jerk, scientists say

A new study has found that drivers of flashy vehicles are less likely to stop and allow pedestrians to cross the road -- with the likelihood they'll slow down decreasing by 3% for every extra $1,000 that their vehicle is worth.