Somewhere on the road
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Monthly Archives: September 2008
Grey Power redux: You don’t drive like her does
(Updated below)
Complain about those insipid, vapid, and idiotic commercials by Grey Power and its mother company, Trafalgar, here:
Or better yet, write them a letter.
Trafalgar Insurance Company of Canada
700 University Avenue, Suite 1500
Toronto, Ontario M5G 0A1
Toll free: (866) 464-2424
Local: (416) 227-6740
The Trafalgar Insurance Company is yet again foisting upon us the screaming ninny characterized with such zeal by their Grey Power television commercials. I would have thought that by now, enough people with grammar skills, as well as women and men who take exception to being zealously characterized as horrible, screaming, angry and incompetent drivers, would have registered enough complaints that Grey Power and its grammatically challenged advertising agency would have been banished to the dustbin of bad television commercials.
Not so.
Thankfully, the television remote has been designed with not only an off or a mute button, but also with the ability to change channels to one that does not feature the Trafalgar Insurance Company and its ear-splitting, grammar-challenged Grey Power commercials.
Link to my previous entry on Grey Power and Trafalgar here.
(Update)
Can someone explain to me why women haven’t stormed that corporate bastion of female empowerment known as Grey Power to protest the vile, insipid and disgusting characterization of a female driver flopping her head around her vehicle like a screaming, adult-sized bobble head doll?
Some of the comments I’ve received on the ever-popular Grey Power television comedy of errors:
I hate the Grey Power ad… – Penny
…cheesiest, most irritating advertisements ever produced!!! – John
This TV ad has driven me to the point of smashing my remote control! – david1006
I absolutely HATE this commercial. – Baz
I am so sick of that ad… – Steve
I can’t stand it. – Mark
…annoys the hell out of me! – Kenneth
Motorcycle boutiques
I almost forgot about this.
In an earlier post I proclaimed how great it was that H-D dealerships would take a long-distance rider in and do things like oil and tire changes without appointments. And yes, it still is a great accomplishment for most dealerships.
Well, subsequent to the oil change that I received at that dealership in Winchester, Virginia, I happened to have run another 5,000 miles, thus a requirement to change the oil and filter back in August. Lo and behold, the dumbass responsible for doing that oil and filter swap in Winchester managed to completely screw it up.
No, there was plenty of oil in the bag. I checked that out in their parking lot before I pulled out.
Lets make a list.
- After removing the magnetic plug on the oil pan to drain the engine oil, the maintenance tech proceeds to wrap Teflon tape around the threads and re-insert.
The stupidity in this is that there’s an o-ring on the plug to prevent leaks, thus negating the need for any kind of sealant on the threads. Additionally, Teflon tape isn’t a friend of oil, and it will dissolve due to the heat and composition, thereby causing possible blockage of an oil passage. There are proper compounds available to seal such plugs, but obviously the individual wasn’t aware of them, and whether they were needed or not.
- When installing the new oil filter, the filter was torqued on so tight that on removal, the filter was attached to the adapter plug and it came off with the filter. Red Loctite is used from the factory to hold the filter adapter in place, so you can imagine the torque that the tech used to hold the oil filter in place.
I had to use a power bar to remove the oil filter, and as noted, the adapter nut came off with the oil filter. Now, attaching an oil filter is not rocket science. Whether it be car or motorcycle, you screw the new filter on hand tight, then apply a quarter-turn past that. Can someone show me where it says to torque down an oil filter so hard that you need two men and a boy to get it off?
Nope, didn’t think so.
So, while happy with the Winchester dealership’s ability to get me in and out quickly for a basic oil and filter change, I must take exception to the competence – or lack thereof – of their service department’s capabilities. Obviously, competent professional motorcycle technicians aren’t something Winchester H-D is capable of employing.
I thought of sending an email or making a phone call, but do I really care if they screw up their local customers’ motorcycles in their shop? They’re a boutique, after all, and what should one expect from a boutique other than doo-rags, dog leashes, suspenders and fingerless gloves?
Tired tires
Last fall I replaced my rear Dunlop 402 motorcycle tire on my ’95 bagger because of wear. The bike shop owner where I was getting the work done told me that the Metzler would last at least as long as the D402. A bonus for me was that the Metz was a bit cheaper than the Dunlop 402, so I told him to throw on the Metz.
Well, I should have known better when he also told me that mine was one of very few motorcycles he’d seen with so many miles on it. In fact, I absolutely do know the following:
- not many riders put any miles on a motorcycle these days, and that is especially true of American-made motorcycles;
- many riders don’t maintain their tires at the correct pressure, thus negating their self-inflated (if you’ll pardon the pun) tire mileage statements;
- consequently, anything most riders tell you about motorcycle tires and their experience with said tires is bullshit, and not worth the time spent listening.
Why I didn’t listen to my own voice of experience, I’ll never know, but I do know this: I rode 5,000 miles less on the Metzler 880 than on my previous Dunlop 402.
Yes, that’s right.
Based on the 15,616 miles I put on my last Dunlop, I got 1/3 less on the Metzler 880 – a measly 10,432 miles.
I’m anticipating another 15,000 trouble-free miles with my new Dunlop 402 rear tire.
Here’s a link to a previous post about motorcycle tires.