I pull out a chair in the library and sit, exhausted. A strong whiff of gasoline drifts past my nose. I stink. But there's an underlying sense of satisfaction beneath it. I glance around the table. Nobody close. Good.

Today was officially a good day for one very good reason: I've officially made it to two of the three categories of ownership!

Blood, sweat and tears.

I've sweated. It's hot and humid here. Today marked the first occasion of blood; I banged up my knuckles while trying to convince a stubborn hose onto an inlet. No tears yet, though I came awful close to them a bit ago.

Maybe two out of three is enough?

Anyway. Sorry, dear reader, for the delay - I've been spending most of my time reading and catching up on work, with a bit of socializing here and there.

I fear my work may not be of interest to most of you; so I'll avoid talking about it in the main gist here. But, if you decide you are indeed interested in the nitty gritty of feature recognition in images, I'll be keeping track of it here.

City pictures!

Motorcycle

I'm a bit embarrassed here - I got the tank off the bike for the first time today and did my first deep inspection. Turns out, nope, there's definitely a carbureator. My EFI dreams will remain just that for now.

The carb was in good condition; I didn't get into the float bowl as that would have required more disassembly than I was willing to get into, but things were clean as far as I could tell. I'm hoping to avoid doing a full carb disassembly; but if I have to I will.

I suspect I might know what the issue may be, though.

In a fuel tank, as fuel drains it needs to be replaced by something to avoid a vaccuum. That something tends to be air - it's supplied through the fuel vent hose.

This fuel vent hose was, interestingly enough, disconnected. The connector for the hose was rusted over.

Problem: motorcycle periodically (and randomly) dies. This death is characteristic of running out of fuel.

Hypothesis: this death is caused by a (small) clog in the vent hose. The creation of a vaccuum in the tank would would lead to the cylinders not being able to get sufficient fuel - hence - death by fuel starvation.

Supporting ideas:

• Air wouldn't be able to get into the fuel tank to equalize pressure with the fuel. This clog might not be total - air must be getting in somehow, otherwise the deaths would be more common.
• The previous owner of the bike said he replaced the fuel cap from a vented version to one that isn't - i.e. one that allowed air in to one that didn't.
• Whenever I remove the gas cap, there's a slight pop of inrushing air. Indicating there's some pressure inside.

Solution idea: Make the cap a vented version.

A wire coat hanger sticking across the seal of the cap would work; or, we drill a small hole in the base of the current gas cap, let it vent through the keyhole.

The drill idea would be ideal. Let's try it out tomorrow.

In other news, I was feeling like the DIY sads are a bit janky. Not full jank - maybe just, like, 28% jank. I'm worried the M10 bolts are going to somehow disengage from the bike frame which would lead to the crates falling.

Solution?

Paracord. Right up there with duct tape and towels in terms of usefulness.

If the crates come loose from the main frame, the other side will support it - at least until I can come to a safe stop and figure out something long term from there. It's not a perfect solution, but it takes me from 28% jank to ~11% jank.