UmneyDurak

Actually it does, well kind of: Why You Need to Bike with Car Insurance | Bike Law

tetonrider

you think that's bad... i hate having to bend over at the Ferrari dealership every time I need a headlight bulb replaced!!

topflightpro

That's my concern. I'm sure I could do it, but in all my experience doing any type of repairs or renovations - car or home - something inevitably goes wrong. I'm pretty mechanically inclined, so I can usually figure out how to fix things. But when it comes to electronics, I'm less savvy and much more concerned about what I could screw up.

And the last time I had work done on the car, I called around to a few independent shops. In at least one case, the dealership was actually a lot cheaper, and in the others, the cost was really close - within about $10-$20. And the dealership is open on weekends, whereas the independent guys are not.

Still, I plan to call around some this morning.

himespau 

It's 14 out this morning (for us that's the coldest day of the year so far). My wife started our car this morning and a warning display immediately came on saying Engine Hot A/C Off. Couldn't figure out why that would be, but I checked the coolant and oil levels and they're fine, and I know the engine wasn't hot. Apparently, it's an issue with 5-10 year old impalas like ours is, and so far my limited google-fu hasn't brought a solution.

big john

A code that sets related to the coolant sensor can cause this message, can turn on the engine light and force the temp gauge to stay at cold, and can prevent a/c operation. Usually it's the thermostat stuck open which sets a po128 code but newer cars have coolant flow sensors and electronic thermostat heaters (!).

If you can get a code reader on there and clear it, it may go back to normal. If you can tell me the code I might be able to help.

himespau 

Thanks, more googling says that a lot of people replace thermostats only to have it happen again and have to replace another thermostat. Almost sounds like GM had a run of poor design where they were using bad thermostats or putting them in a position where they were more likely to fail. I'll have to get someone to check it out and see what it says. I've got a really slow oil leak in the intake (I think) gasket that I was going to get fixed eventually (the guy said it was really slow and wasn't sure it was worth doing for the 8 hour job on a 10 year old car, but he has really reasonable rates if I take it to him on his off hours (his shop lets him work on the side nights for cash without paying shop fees - he eventually wants to set up his own shop tuning engines for people who want to race, so he does it to build a following/extra cash), so I might see if he has time to look at both things.

scheibo

Drove in to work this morning at rush hour and on a rainy day (where more people drive and drive stupidly, meaning traffic is even worse). To get to work I just need to basically get on the on ramp and then immediately take the exit. Its usually pretty backed up, but this time it was almost backed up onto the freeway (~1km+ of stopped dead cars waiting for a light to turn right). After waiting for a minute or two I realized it would take 20min+ to get through the traffic, so I decided to just give up and turn left instead of right and try to find an alternative way to work (maybe involving u-turns or something).

As I drove up the empty left lanes and got to the front of the lanes of cars waiting to turn right, I noticed the pickup in front of me take advantage of a driver's slow reaction in the right lane as he cut ahead of them and bypassed the entire wait. While I was horrified by this blatant line cutting, I simultaneously noticed that there was *still* a gap in the right lanes that could be filled and before I realized it I was already cutting ahead and turning right.

I'm still trying to justify my actions by blaming it on baser animal instincts, or on the logic that I didn't actually screw anyone over because the driver who the pickup and I cut in front of wasnt paying attention and was looking at her phone and wouldnt have made the light anyway, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to have some bad karma following me for a while.

Saved a whole bunch of time though...

UmneyDurak

Get a motorcycle, it's two wheels travel with less work.

People in Bay Area can't accelerate worth a ****. My car has almost no power, and I am crossing intersection before most make it 1/4 way.

scheibo

Meh, I usually bike because its quicker than driving (with no traffic both would be 5 minutes door to door, but theres pretty much never no traffic so the bike wins), but I didnt feel like getting covered in mud riding in.

TMonk

@scheibo i live really close to work like that too. quick question: if you are bike commuting to work and not going on a training ride beforehand, do you get kitted up, or just roll up a pant leg and slap a helmet on an otherwise work outfit?

scheibo

i usually do a training ride in the morning and return to my house to pick up my backpack/drop off my bike and pick up my commuter fixie. i leave my cycling clothes on and shower and change at work. when riding home i'm wearing my 'work clothes' as opposed to changing into my sweaty kit from the morning, but my work has a pretty relaxed dress code that i push the boundaries of. if im wearing pants (9 months of the year i'm rocking short shorts) at all they're tapered joggers so i dont even need to roll up a leg, the helmet is all that is required.

TMonk

nice, I have a similar setup, except I drive to work because I'm lazy

scheibo

i'm lazy too, but biking gets me to work in 5 min consistently vs. on average 8-10 minutes from driving. the 10 minutes i save a day can then be spent lying down doing nothing, which i feel is the optimal way to be lazy

tetonrider

not sure if @scheibo is talking 101 or 280 here, but folks splitting the lanes on 101 always seem super cray to me... and i think we have even more distracted drivers now than when i last lived there.

scheibo

101. definitely lots of distracted drivers, but its mostly stopped dead so its probably fine to split lanes when all the cars arent moving!

tetonrider

well, they DO move, and sometimes suddenly.

i'm sure you've witnessed the lane-splitting and someone come really close to your mirrors. just a bit of weaving and that person is dead.

saw a couple serious motorcycle accidents while there.

it's SUPER fast..... until it isn't.

UmneyDurak

Bay Area is filled with distracted drivers. There was a hit and run in Sunnyvale couple weeks ago, cyclist didn't make it.
On my training ride I used to pass two ghost bikes at some point.

I seriously think motorcycling is safer then cycling. Rider is more of a control, versus when you are on a bicycle and hope that some driver won't drift in to bike lane while twitting about they latte.

furiousferret

Everytime we're in the bay we get caught behind someone going on to the freeway at 20 mph; somehow the cars going 80 don't collide but I always cringe when they merge in.

The years I lived in Pacifica and SF the fog was so bad at times you couldn't see more than 20 feet and there were a lot of head on collisions, especially on Skyline.

topflightpro

My team had its annual Christmas Party/White Elephant gift exchange. The idea behind the gift exchange is to provide something bike related, whether it's something you have sitting around you don't want or need any more or if you are light on such crap, you can buy something. Gifts range from old, extra large jerseys to sets of brake pads, to books, to 12-inch wheels for a kids bike.

I originally landed a set of Velotoze. But those were stolen from me. So I stole a neat little tool set, which also was stolen from me. So I stole a brand new Ultegra 6800 crankset. Not sure what I'm going to do with the crank right now, but it seemed like the best item available, and I had stolen from the guy who had it last year, so I figured I'd steal from him again this year.

mattm

Damn - where in Sunnyvale?

Lol - is that why EMTs call motorcycles "donor cycles"?

UmneyDurak

Don't remember. I saw it in one of the FB groups. I think it was on Fremont blvd.

No, they say that because they are ignorant ********.

caloso

Our incoming mayor is pitching Sacramento a testing ground for autonomous cars. Sacramento Leaders Pitch City As Test Hub For Driverless Cars - capradio.org

There's been some snark on the local Twitter about how dangerous it will be for pedestrians and cyclists, but they're not going to be any more hazardous than the suburban yahoos who are constantly driving the wrong way on a one-way street.

UmneyDurak

Mountain view downtown area has plenty of googles autonomous cars (with people monitoring them of course), seem fine to me.
Although there was a story of uber autonomous car running a red light in SF. Not sure if it was in autonomous mode, or engineer behind the wheel driving like *******.

caloso

I saw that. The other thing is that they've had problems dealing with right turns. They're giving the old right hook rather than slotting in behind the cyclist. Of course, it's the same with human drivers.

furiousferret

After today, I'll have 24 days off work. In addition to tons of cycling, there is a list of things I want to get done. Considering I've been too lazy to actually write that list, my confidence of getting anything done is pretty small.