Quote: "but it just feels a little incomplete in places, even on Android 5.0."
Even I agree with that. Google needs to do a massive consistency pass on Android.
Quote: "nothing can compete with iMessage. I was told Android had a counterpart. No it doesn't."
What did iMessage do that you miss? Maybe I can help you out here.
Quote: "Sure! I'll just stick the Rover in a little envelope and send it your way. Just give it back eventually! I hope 3 stamps covers shipping..."
rofl
Quote: "He wasn't buckled in"
It's sad that he died, but I'll still say this: he was an idiot for not wearing his seatbelt.
Quote: "I was young when I saw both of those accidents, so I was haunted for a fair bit."
Yeah, I'll bet...
Quote: "EDIT LOL, I love my new signature. I think I will keep it."
Ahahahahaha!!
LOL that dingbat mod! I know who it was, too, 'cause I looked the audit log
I've wondered so many times if anyone ever gets their sigs erased by accident
lol...
Quote: "Typing on the S5 is very cumbersome. (Familiarity isn't the issue, I had my Galaxy Note for a year and still couldn't do this.)"
The thing is, I hate the iOS keyboard. It sucks SO BAD. I can type really well on Android but not at all on iOS, no matter how much I try. My point is that it probably
is familiarity.
The advantage of Android is that if you don't like the stock keyboard, you can easily change it. My brother loves the stock keyboard but I don't; I use Swype. I want to help you out here as well, so what specific problems are you having? Are you just not hitting the keys accurately? Is the auto-correct not working as you'd expect (which I'd find hard to believe - iOS' auto-correct is pretty bad)?
Quote: "even Swiftkey isn't as nice as the iOS keybord."
In what way?
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About the KLR250 we bought on Tuesday: well, it goes nicely and just idles smoothly, which is a good start. It's huge and quite difficult to mount. We rode it a bit after we got it home (the guy we bought it from had nowhere to actually ride it, so he started it, proved the gears all worked and showed it idling 'til it nearly choked us out of his garage and he had to turn it off) and came to the following conclusions:
- The suspension has ridiculously long travel (a good thing) and the ride is buttery smooth.
- The rear shockie is basically dead. It does no shock absorbing whatsoever. This means that going over lots of small bumps quickly the back wheel dances about and tries to run away by itself. It also means that going through large bumps the rear suspension preloads and then tries to fling you over the handlebars. Gotta be really careful with that.
- The engine is WAY underpowered for its size. No torque at all at low revs, reasonable power in its optimal range and then won't rev above 6,000. More on this later.
- The throttle is too stiff. It was so sticky it wouldn't return by itself until we put a temporary extra spring on it. We've ordered new throttle cables since they're a bit worn.
- The clutch is stiff but usable. The guy we bought it from has fitted a brand new clutch, so it's a bit grabby but once you get used to it it's a nice snickety gear change.
- The tyres are almost brand new. The green mark that's visible on new tyres is still there on the front tyre.
- The "neutral" indicator light didn't work. I found the broken wire and resoldered it, and it now works perfectly.
- The Australian version of the KLR250 doesn't have a switch to turn the headlight off, so it's always on. A bit strange, but not really a problem.
- All gauges work; speedo, tacho, odo, trip meter and temperature.
- The thermo switch for the radiator fan (it's a water-cooled motor) is broken (but I the switch would be dead-easy to replace, so we might try and buy a new one) and the guy has fitted a small manual switch in its place to turn on the radiator fan.
- The bike is
fast, even without its full engine power.
- The horn doesn't work.
Yesterday, we decided to check and set the valve clearances since that can affect engine performance. That was a fiddly but not too difficult job, and the looked cool with the tapet cover off because of the 4-valve DOHC setup
One of the inlet valves was too loose and the other was too tight; one of the exhaust valves was good but the other was slightly too tight.
My brother took it for a run first, and said it was definitely pulling better - still not as good as it should be, but better. Dad decided to take it for a go then. He powered away, and since Mum had just arrived home from town, we all started helping unload the groceries. Then we heard Dad yelling for us to come quick. We all ran out into the paddock. Dad was standing next to the creek and pointing into it. Luckily the creek is normally dry except in heavy rain, so the bike hadn't fallen into water (which would have cracked the head due to sudden temperature changes). When we got down there, the bike was on its side in a ditch. It's such a heavy bike that Dad couldn't lift it by himself, at least not from in the ditch. We heaved it up, and Dad explained how he had tried to go around to squelchy muddy bit, but the grass was too long and he didn't see a hole on the other side. The bike went through it just fine, but the rear suspension preloaded and flung the bike left, then right, then over sideways. We inspected the damage; visually, the only thing broken was clutch handle, which was actually weird since the bike had landed on its right side.
Long story short, my brother put the clutch handle from our Suzuki DS80 on the KLR250 until we could get new clutch handles. Then we couldn't get it started at all, so we assumed a wire was lose somewhere. In the end it got stripped down and put back together many times, and I spent most of today going over a wiring diagram and checking each and every wire. The kickstand switch has been bypassed and there's a few bodgied jobs, but overall the wiring is mostly stock and not too back. The neutral indicator light wasn't working, so I removed the crappy plastic wire splices from a few wires and properly soldered and heatshrinked them, and the discovered the wire to the neutral switch was broken, so I soldered that back together and now all the lights work. The horn, as far as I can tell, is actually connected properly so I assume the switch must be broken. I'll test that properly later.
Anyway, in all our testing to work out why it wouldn't start, we noticed it had a very weak spark. All the grounds were good and there were no breaks in the wires, so we think either the coil or the CDI is not working fully. In the end we put it all back together and tried push-starting it and it just went "broom" immediately. Our current theory is that the very weak spark is making it hard to start (because it is hard to start) as well as causing the lackluster power output and limited rev range. It fits well, so we'll take it to an auto-electrician and get them to take a look at it. Hopefully that'll fix the problem!
Oh, Dad just walked in now to show us the nasty big bruise on his leg where the bike landed on him. Ouch!
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Right! Time to go find a suitable MAF sensor on eBay that isn't a rubbish Chinese thing!
I believe I can find a genuine VDO/Siemens MAF sensor for about $180 from the UK!
