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Only have ridden it 3 times so far because of the weather here, but I'm getting more comfortable with it. The clutch is heavy, I'm going to need to do hand exercises or just ride it a heck of a lot more to work up the muscles in my left hand. I brought it to work this morning so I can drop it off for state inspection. Thinking back, this is the biggest bike I think I've ridden, maybe not the heaviest, but certainly the largest engine and most powerful. It's a lot of bike and I'm still getting used to it. One of the nicest things that makes me glad I bought it is that once I'm rolling, it doesn't really matter what gear I'm in, I can just roll on the throttle and go without having to downshift. Love the torque.

Supply down + Demand Up = higher prices.... not that hard. Prices for nearly everything are going up. It has nothing to do with BEVs. It has to do with everything from lumber to microchips being in short supply. Also... prices for used and new gasoline powered vehicles is going up too, so at worst, BEVs are just keeping pace with the industry as a whole. Furthermore, no one gave a date as to when the cost of BEVs would dip below ICEs, so calling that misinformation is substantially premature. The big, experienced manufacturers like GM and MB have been awoken like a sleeping dragon and the new BEV platforms coming from them are going to be serious entries, not just an electric motor thrown in one of their gasser models with a bunch of laptop batteries in the trunk. As of about 3 years ago, they all started taking BEVs seriously. There will be economies of scale as the cells of a Silverado don't need to be any different in composition than the cells in a Bolt... the only difference will be quantity. GM will no longer need to build 197 different powertrain combinations, it will be reduced to 10 (if memory serves, it's somewhere in that ballpark of a delta in powertrains). There will no longer be a need for complex 10-speed transmissions. No AWD systems. No exhaust systems. There won't be complex electro-mechanical systems to turn cylinders on and off while driving. There won't be turbo-chargers. There won't be those electronic shutters that close a grille at speed. All of that stuff listed that needs to be engineered and re-engineered every 5 - 7 years will go away. None of that is in place today and no one claimed it would be in place by today, but you have the combined industrial might of GM, Ford, BMW, Mercedes, VW, Hyundai, Telsa, Panasonic, Samsung, LG, and others working on it.

True. But we (our modern society) seem to WANT to be seduced by these wolves in sheep's clothing. Our morals and scruples seem to have been loosened over the years. And when we do that, we beget more and more wolves in sheep's clothing until the wolves our brazen enough to not even disguise themselves as sheep. Look at the last President... Money...the root of all evil.

I knew about him and what he did when it was hot off the press. But today, I read a little blurb about him. I was disgusted to learn that he looked down his nose at prospective very wealthy clients who wanted to invest somewhat more moderate sums with him and that, unless they invested more, he would not take them on as clients. Those were the conditions he put forth. Madoff is an appropriate surname for this dude: he MADE OFF, all right. Good riddance.

There is just enough competition out there that someone will do it. Once all the biggies get into it, someone will break. Of the major manufacturers, I would guess Hyundai/Kia will be the first to do it as they like being a disrupter. If they can do this as a way to further undermine Toyota/Honda who are way behind everyone else (and in Honda's case, relying on GM for technology) they'll take that shot in a heartbeat. If not them, it will be Ford. GM has taken the stance of everything they make being "premium" and "premium price". They aren't even interested in catering to the lower end of the market even in ICE vehicles. Take away the Spark which no one buys, their lowest priced vehicle is the Trailblazer in base trim... but that's a catalog only model... nearly all of them are LT or higher trim starting at $25k. Then so is the weather report. If the only weather report you believe is the raindrops on your head, there's not much I can do to help you. You see, I also have an app on my phone that shows me the radar and wind direction in Ohio so that I know that rain is still coming my way. Right now, the majority of the cost of BEVs is in the batteries. Electric motors are relatively cheap compared to a turbo V6 or something like that. They're substantially easier to manufacture. Will a 2025 Silverado BEV be cheaper than a 2021 Silverado? Of course not and neither will the ICE 2025 Silverado. But just like hybrids the cost difference will diminish until they reach an inflection point. There will also be a period of time where manufacturers will hold prices higher because they can. Just like Tesla working what you don't pay in gasoline into their monthly payment, the other manufacturers will "sell" that aspect as part of the advantage of going electric. And they'll be able to do that until one of the manufacturers breaks in order to try and corner the market as I mentioned above. Again... There will come a time when the manufacturers stop spending money on developing these parts. A few manufacturers have already stated they're not creating any new ICE engine families, what they have now it going to be it for the next 15 or so years. They'll do tweaks where they need to, maybe pair a smaller engine up with an electric motor, but I think we have already seen our last all-new V8 from a major manufacturer. GM and Ford may each squeak out one more big revision of their current V8s, but it won't be a clean-sheet design. V6es won't be far behind... with the current trend in turbo-charged 4-cylinders, there is zero reason for a manufacturer to invest in a new clean-sheet V6. The newest Jeep I6 could be the last new 6 from a major manufacturer that we see. GM's latest engine developments were the I-3s... GM probably already developed their last V6. I don't expect any more revisions to the 3.6. The 3.0TT will live for a while in Cadillacs, but the Lambdas will go Turbo-4 and I4 Hybrid next go-round. The 3.6 will live on in the Canyon/Colorado for a while until they put the 2.7T in there instead, probably at the next full-redesign. As always... follow the money.... and the money flowing to ICE engine development is trying up.

It's gear oil like you would find in a rear differential... the service life for rear diff oil is between 30,000 and 150,000 miles depending on the manufacturer and driving style. For an F-150 for example, normal duty without frequent towing has a cycle of 150,000 miles. If you tow all summer, they recommend every 30,000. With an oil filter, that service interval will be very long... much longer than the length of time the initial leasees will have the vehicle.

This page is proof of two things: 1. Some people have a problem with context. 2. Some people just want to bitch for the sake of bitching because they think they have to accomplish some kind of mystical “gotcha” moment. And you (and a few others) have beat that horse to death. Maybe it’s time for a new argument.

I have multiple bench grinders. They are one of the most used tools in a shop full of well loved tools. It actually is a damn fine product. I would proudly put one in the driveway next to the Ranger. I love Michigan, but you folks never catch a break ever on anything. Ever. Maybe you can sell the Detroit Lions to some Third world country....throw in the Redwings....take the proceeds and everyone in the state can move to Tenneseee or some place warm. It's low level manufactured drama, the stuff that our nation has thrived on for hundreds of years. It's exactly why we have so many televangelists and so few people who actually follow the teachings of Christ. I love a lot of things about America, but this wing of the country isn't one of them. The Denial of reality is I think the root of all kinds of evil. And it isn't just one president. Bushes, Reagan, Nixon, others were human shit stains also.

Firstly, my commentary on Tesla's pricing increase is to counterpoint a narrative seen repeatedly here; that BE's prices are going to "come way down" and even "be below equivalent IC vehicles". Other than the Bolt, it's not happening. OEMs can charge whatever they like, and nothing is cheap anymore, just don't try and convince me that any future economies of scale / "much" simpler powertrains is going to make BE's any cheaper than they are now. Because to date; there's no evidence of that. Maybe it happens down the road... but we've been along this road for years now. BTW, the $35K Model 3 did happen; it was an 'off-menu' availability... for 6 months before Musk yanked it. And that's fine if it works for whatever business case Musk has in mind.... but he DID repeatedly push that price tag 'carrot' in the face of his $90-110K other models. I never heard GM selling the $38K Bolt by saying it would be $25K or the like in the future.

I forgot...the Trailblazer. Spark and Malibu are gone for 2022. You sooooo want to make a case for BEVs being expensive. Get over it... Average transaction prices of new car sales in the US are just a tad below to what a Model 3 sells for... The mythical 35 000 dollar Model 3 never showed its face. But does it matter? The Model 3 flew off the shelf anyway. It still does. And if Elon could eek out MORE money from future consumers, then why not? Its still early in the 2020s. We got a whole decade ahead of us. A whole decade of battery tech improving and actually becoming cheaper to produce. It. Will. Happen. PS: It STILL doesnt change the fact that GM has, in effect, ALSO raised its prices by limiting the amount of cheaper models to sell. A move that you yourself have blasted Tesla for doing. Tesla has eliminated the mythical 35 000 model 3 option and you didnt like it. GM has done the same for 2022 by getting rid of the Spark AND a 23 000 dollar Malibu effectively only having one shytty 20 000 dollar Trailblazer to offer the poor folk to buy. What happened to a century plus of ICE tech to offer the poor folk some transportational ICE options for their transportational ICE needs?

Exactly. And what's even more perplexing is how some of the most self-righteous people who play the "holier than thou" card, and should know better, are either swayed by it, choose to look the other way, or are wolves themselves. Without getting into politics, I have no clue how people could stand to watch more than 3 minutes of "The Apprentice," where any douche bag with pearly whites can show up to be a "project manager." It didn't look like many of those contestants were schooled in engineering, construction, finance, IT, and the hard sciences that would even allow them to put parameters around a project. That's because most of the folks who ate that sh!+ up ("The Apprentice") wouldn't even think of asking something like that.

Happiness is... a brand new (fine) wire wheel disc and grinding stone on your bench grinder.

'Electric' plywood isn't trying to compete with 'gas' plywood for price parity. The analogy doesn't apply here. Plywood (and lumber) cost spiking started in the summer of '20 on the East Coast. I know because I priced a deck in May, and had to adjust the price when I actually bought material/built it in Sept. It's primarily COVID-affected. Looked today, and 15/32 sheathing ply is $57 here @ the HD. It was $48 about a month ago, so still going up some, but the bulk of the increase came before the winter.

Just quoted the linked info which calls the Hyundai that. ? Yes, Ferraris are Meh to me! Could die like Alfa did and would not be a big deal. Sadly, they brought Alfa back and still is a Meh, no big deal auto.

You called it legendary, yet you find most Ferraris 'meh'

Prices going up. Economy not fully recovered. Supply shortages. Money printer going brrrr... I think of the following words. Stagflation... And A word that starts with 'C' and ends with 'm'. In Canada - (no incentives for people to work below a certain income level, reducing productivity and making costs go up). Oops I might be derailing thread. Please no one entertain the kind of word I was thinking. Yeah lumber prices are bad. I heard Canada (where I live) might be limiting exports due to the cancellations of keystone too. Not sure if true or not. As for Tesla cars. I don't think any car maker could sell those cheap Wuling things yet in NA. I don't see the price points ever going lower, maybe some more features for the money down the line. And Tesla is about to be inundated with competition. I think their position is not nearly as strong as when the Model Y came out. Paper tiger maybe.

Yeah, that's probably true for most vehicles. The big GM (and probably Ford and Chrysler) V8s are probably the exceptions as they just loaf along at 1500 RPM at 65 and dropping below that would lug them. This BMW doesn't mind being lugged... just twist and go.

It's an impressive beast. Visually, I find it quite attractive. BMW bikes just kind of do it for me. right now....falling off the wagon buying things myself. Setting up a home stereo with decent used components, and negotiating on antoher large heavy woodworking tool I have no bisness owning.

The only reason ICE vehicles considerably increased in costs is because now active safety systems became standard. That alone increased costs of all vehicles by at least $3-5k. Before active safety systems came into play the yearly increase in vehicle cost was only few hundreds at most to compensate for the inflation. The price disparity between comparable ICE and BE vehicle is still significant and so far doesn't seem to decrease. It might change in the future, but as of right now it is a valid argument. It is a dead horse argument already but so is getting daily bombarded about other side of the argument which you seems to ignore.

To each his own!

https://www.torquenews.com/1083/toyota-rav4-prime-2nd-fastest-selling-vehicle-america Toyota RAV4 Prime Is 2nd-Fastest-Selling Vehicle In America. A new study ranking the fastest-selling vehicles in America puts the RAV4 Prime second only to the Chevrolet Corvette. ----------- Seems at least for now, people prefer the flexibility of PHEV over pure EV. (Also number one is a kick ass ICE vehicle )

Sadly snowing outside....

Trailblazer starts at $19K, Trax @ $21K. 2021 Spark is still here @ $13K, Malibu at $22K. BTW, what exactly was I arguing?

Problem is...that GM has nixed their cheapest model that was 15 000 dollars in 2021. For 2022, GM's cheapest model is a whopping 25 000 dollars. 10 000 dollars MORE expensive... GM even killed off a sedan (Malibu) whose base price was 23 000. Like I said, the cheapest Chevy one could buy now is 25 000. Sorry Balthy. Your argument here is non-existent. The Model 3 is on price parity with SEVERAL GM ICE offerings...

Lucky folk, though. It was a blessing for them if not for his other victims. I found it more appalling when back in the day, news media, journalists, analysts, bankers, politicians, etc...revered this thief and swore by him.

Quoted for truth......

I wonder if Madoff will ponzi scheme his way in acquiring a coin for the Ferryman

Proposed future legislation has zero effect on the life span of said vehicle.

So what your saying is that the current Hino powertrain might be problematic and going all Cummins all the time is a good thing!

Very impressive bike!

Did anybody promise lower plywood prices though?