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From Margaret Sullivan's piece in the Guardian today:

"There really is no comparison in the amount or intensity of coverage. One journalist, Jennifer Schulze, counted New York Times stories related to Biden’s age in the week following the debate; she counted a staggering 192 news and opinion pieces, compared to 92 stories on Trump – and that was in a week when the US supreme court had ruled he has immunity for official acts."

That's not true - Biden has never been the best public speaker, but he can maintain coherency through a delivery, even if via the teleprompter. Trump sounds crazy with all sorts of tics and nonsensical asides. The enormous difference is that the media don't report it, or do so as a footnote. They have zero interest in trying to drive a wedge between trump and the republican apparatus because there is no window to do so. With Biden, they're falling into the trap of trying to force the issue to make the news, rather than report on it.

Yes. There's an uncomfortable feeling in the US right now, that NYT and some of the other institutions are more concerned with the future of the 'business' part, rather than equal handed reporting of the news.

I think the serious news institutions see a real chance of him being re-elected and are terrified of what he will do in office. The insanely one sided coverage, post the debate does nothing but increase that likelihood.

Yeah, but with a hose and a catch can, you could undo one corner at a time and just pump and refill the reservoir. Not that I know anything about cars but you'd be stuck without someone to open and close the nipple, otherwise.

One of my mates had an X7 when I was a kid. Quick little thing - it took a substantial amount of abuse before he eventually seized it.

On the ongoing RD saga - I did one jetting pass but it was showing signs of detonation, which I confirmed by removing the heads. Back on the lathe with them, to remove another CC from the dome. Next pass was inconclusive, I had suspicions it was still unchanged though, so took the heads off again. This time, after some chin scratching, I decided to skim the head and reduce the squish clearance a little more, from 0.95-1mm, down to 0.8-0.85mm - essentially, this should remove any remaining mixture from the boundary area and prevent detonation. I took one small clean up pass on the domes to compensate the for very slightly reduced total CC.

I've also rebuilt the carbs - Yamaha fitted an unusual, air bleed type, needle arrangement for the RD. It basically means air mixes with the fuel in the cavity between the main jet and seat. I drilled out the air jet for this, and converted it to the more common, primary type arrangement. This gives a much stronger signal, so you have to reduce the main jet size considerably. Also helps with the sputtering just before the pipe kicks in.

Anyway, since then, I've been creeping down on the jetting and am getting close enough for another proper jetting pass. Bike seems happier and more tractable everywhere, so fingers crossed. Waiting on a new throttle cable as the old one is knackered and hanging up one of the slides ever so slightly....

Yeah - they're self bleeding. I can see using them on a car when you're on you're own. Bit pointless on a bike.

Sounds like an air bubble. If you've got a syringe and hose....

Make sure the reservoir is full at the lever, pull the clutch in back to the bar and secure it with a rubber band. Then open the bleed nipple at the slave cylinder and start sucking with the syringe. You'll get air and bubbles. Keep an eye on the reservoir and don't let it drop below minimum. You might need a couple of goes - close the nipple on the slave, while you empty the syringe and reset. Once you feel some line pressure, you should be able to bleed as normal.

Magic! Fantastic that you can put that sort of loop together. Looks especially appealing that you can pull off and have a quick pint / bite in a quiet country boozer.

Anything that length over here, you're way out in the boonies with the only the rattlesnakes for company. Exciting, but decidedly more hostile.

Yeeeeeeees. Probably won't do anything with it for a bit - the tank is glass, and won't hold anything. Might see if I can get it running on the bottle and go from there. I think I'll probably end up pulling the motor and giving it a full refresh. It's got compression but notably less than my mates, which just had a fresh top end.

Good job @pdlouche - 100 miles off road is always a workout.

My multi-year bike drought broke this weekend when this old heap followed me home from an Oxnard trailer park. I didn’t really want it but at the price I ended up bidding, couldn’t say no. Another project…

Damn, in my day, we had a radio and a call number. I used to go to bed with the echo of the damn thing in my ears, although there were always hilarious / exasperated exhortations from the controllers. My number was 46, which happened to be my first race number (shared by a then, not particularly famous Italian gentleman.)

Very little bike theft here, even in some quite sketchy locales. I've almost stopped worrying about it. Given the number of cameras in central London, it wouldn't be rocket science to have a crack down on the professional gangs that target the bike parks in the centre. My impression from having 2 bikes nicked, is that they just don't care. The last one, the landlord of my local called them as it was having the chain cut and pushed, alarm going off, into the back of a van - he gave them plates / descriptions / the lot. They didn't even come out.

6pts for checking the time on your phone, while not moving is fucking stupid. Not like you can ride a motorbike and look at a phone, they're operated by hand controls. The Met really are useless.

Could not get my Yamaha running right in time for the ride, so ended up borrowing my mate’s 68 TR6C. First time riding one and it was an absolute sweetheart. A really charming, fun motorcycle, that you can’t help but feel like Steve McQueen on.

110f where this photo was taken. Phew….

I use modern full synthetic, currently Motul 710 but I've got some Klotz Techniplate to go in next as I couldn't get more Motul in time. It's way better, lower carbon deposits and higher flash point. No reason to use straight mineral oil, though synthetic blends are fine for most applications I think.

I use Maxima 927 for anything pre-mix which is mostly castor based. Just because I like the smell - its great for HARD use, but a bit dirty / spoogy for general pootling.

@chak - Kick start is all good...starts very easily, it's almost certainly rich on the pilots.

Bit of a cross post from the project thread but my little RD is back together and running. Ported 350 barrels, 350 clutch and oil pump, 250 heads recut to suit, new pipes, Reed spacers. FZR600 disc and r6 caliper conversion. Should be about low 50’s HP now - certainly feels brisk from a quick Outing yesterday eve. I'll get around to fitting the new swing arm soon too.

Back together, though cranked my back in the process so I haven't ridden it yet....doh. Will have a crack at jetting after work this week if I'm feeling a bit less nonogenerian....

Ta mate. My inner weight-weenie is happy to discover that my new pipes weigh just a bit over 3.5lbs a piece, packed, rivetted and ready to bolt on. Stockers weigh 10+lbs!

Clutch Cush rebuilt - I think the technical term for the old rubbers is wanked. Intake side buttoned up with some bigger jets and new Reed spacers to try and lower the crankcase compression a bit. Speaking of compression, the cylinder compression is somewhere between 145-150psi, on the wobbly old gauge that @BRM kindly donated me many years ago…might be a bit hot. 150 is a generally right at the top of what pump fuel can live on. Hmm.

Waiting on brake parts, which hopefully should land today, after that I should be ready for a start up.

Urgh… two made two sets of slip collars after I fucked the first pair attempting to braze them. I’ve a very mixed history with brazing but I didn’t want to weld. You need to put a lot of heat into steel this thick and it warps a bit too much.

Took the second set to the weldor for a little bead of tig.

Started on the brakes but don’t have the correct banjo union…another one of those days

Made the end caps from billet. Had to throw the first set away as I buggered them up at the last minute. It was one of those days.

And….on the bike. I need to make new slip collars. I was lazy to do it but they have a nasty step. Phew.

I'm sure I've told this story before, but I watched one of the advanced screenings of Closer To The Edge, in a cinema full of non-bike people and the gasp of sheer, disbelieving, terror as the onboard swept off down Bray hill at the start was electric. You could smell the adrenaline.
I can't watch the races live....

There's pics of Davey Todd, elbow down. He's not messing around. Mad.