Paddock stands, you say?

The effect is sort of lackluster when I try to leave you hanging about some paddock stands and then have a couple of post that don't mention it. Just after the video of winterizing the bikes, I started looking for some stands for the SV. I did a little asking on the SVrider.com boards and the general consensus was buy Pitbull stands. They are top notch. High quality stuff, they say. They run about $125.00 for the rear stand. I wanted a front and rear set and for convenience of lifting, spools would be nice. As long as I'm wishing, how about the triple tree attachment for the front stand so I can do brake and fork work too? Enter T-Rex racing. Someone on the board mentioned the T-Rex stands and said for the average non-race guy who needs a stand for winter storage and basic maintenance these stands are the cat's pajamas. You can buy the stands through ebay or direct from the T-Rex website. I went the ebay route. After an email or two I got a quote for the rear, the front with tree adapter (includes a bike specific stud) in the color of my choice, rear spools, and shipping for $165.00. From Texas to NW Indiana in two days. They are bolt together stands and are not of the quality of a Pitbull stands but are well made and fit the bill. These stands are to the Pitbulls what the SV650s is to the Ducati 748. Not the top of the line but gets the job done equally well. And if you are going to use it with your Ducati Falcon 50 they might be a bit too large. O.K. they totally dwarf the poor little bike but it's a funny picture anyway. By the way, the rear stand is made to be used with or without spools but the contact is more positive with the spools and the spools offer a bit of crash protection. I haven't tried the triple tree adapter yet. The SV has a plastic cover over the bottom of the stem and I didn't have much time in the garage tonight to take it off. I just took a picture of it hanging on the garage door track.

Perhaps more resolve in the new year.

Many people have New Year's Resolutions in order to make a change, or more importantly, improve themselves. I've never been a fan of waiting until a specific day to make a change. In and of itself it makes no sense. In an order of operations sense, I totally get it. By this I mean if one is consciously thinking about thier well-being and the thought occurs to them they are overweight and it happens to be October they shouldn't wait until just after the hangover on January first to start eating right. If that person takes a look in the mirror on December fifteenth and the increasing double chin is suddenly obvious, waiting until the first of the year is certainly not unforgiveable given the Holiday parties and the ubiquitous red and green M&M's. This is just an example and I'm certainly not in the diet advice buisiness *(I'm eating apple-crisp as I write this - thanks Mom). The point is self awareness. Many of my frustrations have been from figuring things out a bit too late. Of course we all have the 20/20 hindsight problem, don't we? Perhaps having a bit more resolve throughout everyday life could help to maintain our foresight. Make concious descicions instead of doing things blindly.

*I wrote this the day after Christmas and I have been sitting on it because I was going to add to it. I have since started eating healthy and exercising. Partly due to some new resolve but also due to the fact that I entered a contest with my Dad and some other folks. Super-Middleweight here I come.

cross post

TJCMT

More on Design and the Peter Principle

I mentioned in my last post that mechanical design was a part of my job. I had been thinking quite a bit about mechanical design along with indstrial design and all the creative aspects those things entail. I then get blindsided at work by a job shift where they take me out of the design role and place me in a manufacturing position. The Manufacturing Engineer and myself traded positions. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining and this will ultimately be a great carreer move (I think) for me. I have more manufacturing experience than design but have always aspired to design due to my creative nature. I get by in manufacturing, but I'm not what you'd call a detail-oriented person. Because of my experience I've been relegated to the world of manufacturing. I guess now I'm just a design hobbyist, or I'm proving the Peter Principle. I hope it's more of the former rather than latter.