On Wed, 27 Apr 2005, Kyle wrote:
> Foriegn crude prices are currently not on the rise. They are in fact
Hmm, they hit $50 a barrel and haven't gone down. They're expected to
average $55/barrel this year, $66/barrel next year, and hit $100 per
barrel sometime in the next ten years, if Chinese demand for oil keeps
growing. (Darn Chinese, aren't content with being a third world nation and
want to be a modern industrialized nation, oil usage and all). (Note to
sarcasm-impaired -- get a sense of humor).
> down as of last week. Fuel refining is increasing in cost here in the
> US due to government mandate. My company build these lovely Gas and
> Diesel Desulfurization Units for the petro-chem giants in the S and SW
> US at about $30M a pop. Another excuse to raise gas prices is all.
$30M a pop is nothing compared to the massive profits these guys are
pulling in right now. Exxon-Mobil, for example, is currently making about
$200 million per DAY in profits, and is running out of places to stash the
extra cash (they're currently sitting on a $25 billion dollar cash horde).
The desulfurization units are needed in order to do like Europe and move
to diesel for most of our cars. Diesels get almost twice the fuel economy
of gasoline engines, and will run on a variety of fuels from JP/1 to
vegetable oil. The problem is that the particulates in that belching black
smoke produced by high-sulphur diesel fuels have been proven to cause
cancer. The moment that belching black smoke crosses my property line and
trespasses on my property you are violating my property rights and that's
why we create governments, to protect property rights. You have a perfect
right to belch as much smoke as you'd like if you keep it on your property
and off of mine, as far as I'm concerned. I am glad that our government
has decided to protect my property rights by keeping diesel engines from
belching their black smoke onto my property by requiring them to use
desulfurized oil. Europe's diesel has been desulfurized for decades now,
so it's not as if it's new technology. (Yes, true Libertarians are
"environmentalists", but only to the extent that they truly support
property rights -- the moment you justify spewing YOUR pollution onto MY
property, sorry, you're not a Libertarian).
> Just like paying more for gas that they put less additive in back in
> the 70's. Rubber grows on trees, maybe some of these 3rd world folks
> like Kenda and Kings use natural rubber? Doubt it.
Taiwan is *NOT* a third world country. I am in the computer industry.
Approximately 25% of the parts in my company's new computer comes from
Taiwan, including the motherboard and the motherboard chipset. Other major
parts come from Germany, South Korea, and Japan. The only "American"
components are the hard drives and the metal case. Anyhow, Taiwan is as
modern a country as any, believe it or not civilization DOES exist outside
the borders of the United States.
Regarding "natural" rubber, I'm not sure that what tires are made of
nowdays should even be called "rubber". Yes, it looks vaguely rubber-like,
but it's more a rubbery resin reinforced with carbon-black and various
mystery fibers and powders with high-strength reinforcing cords holding
everything together. Tire companies protect their recipes with a passion,
but it's clear that what tires are made of is about as closely related to
the stuff that comes out of rubber trees as humans are related to
chimpanzees -- i.e., a vague similarity, maybe some distant ancestry, but
I doubt a chimpanzee is going to Yale anytime soon (please, save your Bush
jokes
and similarly, a natural rubber tire would completely suck
compared to modern tire "rubber".
> My KT-966's are indeed Chinese (discovered post-purchase). Front tires
You might go to the Kings Tire web site and read their company history
sometime, you might have found that out before
.
> is decent on road, sucks off. Rear is great, 50/50. Both are made for
> warmer climate so they don't stick in turns well at 60F and lower,
> front especially (scary). My brand new kenda front, here in my hand
> does not say Taiwan on it, but wouldn't be surprising to know that was
> where it was made. How about cheng-shing? China?
Kenda recently (within the past ten years) opened a tire factory on the
mainland, and also has a tire factory in another low-wage area (check
their corporate web site, I think Malaysia?). So your Kendas could very
well have been made in Taiwan -- or China, or Malaysia, or etc. They're a
lot like American companies, wages have gotten high because Taiwan has
become such a developed nation, so they've exported jobs overseas to
lower-wage countries. Anyhow, regarding your KT-966, I agree with your
unimpressive review of the KT-966 front tire. It has a tendency to cup
too.
>
www.mxsales.com has the kendas for cheap. Arrowhead Motorsports has
> them in stock for a few dollars more. KT-966's were $108/set to the
> door from motorcycle-superstore.com (screwed me on shipping). If you
> are an aggressive rider on any surface, neither of these brands are
> not for you, IMO. If you are the average KLR guy, they'll be cool for
I'm not sure if there's one tire that is the Universal Solvent of tires,
that rocks on both pavement and in the dirt. The Kenda 270's certainly
don't rock on pavement, no matter how great they are on dirt. The KT-966's
are great on pavement as long as it's warm and dry, but only mediocre on
the dirt. Dunlop D606's (a really serious knobby looking thing) seem to
get good reviews from a lot of people here as a dirt-oriented tire that
also handles decent on the pavement, on the other hand for pavement use
they howl and have short life.
Right now I'm running Kenda 761's, a street-oriented tire, because this is
the rainy season in California and they function adequately in the wet
(they don't have enormous traction in the wet but are predictable and
don't scare the **** out of you, unlike the KT-966). When I make my annual
trek to the Sierras in the dry season I'll probably put my KT-966's back
on for bashing through those "fire roads" that more resemble goat paths,
although they're looking a bit peaked (a bit of cupping on the front --
I'll turn it around and run it "backwards" to even that out -- and the
back is worn about 1/3rd down in the center, though those knobs are so
deep that there's still a lot of knob left).
> you. For the most part, you get what you pay for. My little commie
> pinko REAR tire rocks for me. The front was worth every penny, which
> is not a whole lot! name brands like Continental DOT knobs, or Avon
> Gripster types stick, but they cost.
What you get from the big dollar tires is better handling in poor
conditions, in general, because they have better "rubber" (though as I
noted, the substance that tires are made of nowdays bears little
resemblance to actual REAL rubber). But big bucks does not mean better. It
depends on where and how you're riding. Paying big bucks just for the sake
of paying big bucks is, uhm, dumb?
-E