Monthly Archives: December 2008

Want to sell your car? Just tell it how it is.

Posted by David Hurst on December 30, 2008 None comments

I’ve been looking around for a cheap second motor to use for work without depriving my wife of the main family roadster. Being something of a picky chap, I want a decent car from a decent make, so I have been looking at high mileage, well-maintained larger motors. Having spotted a suitable specimen on an eBay auction that didn’t sell, I got in touch with the seller and arranged a lower price and a visit.

According to the advert, I was going to look at a lovely W registered Saab 9-5 2.0t SE in silver. Alloy wheels, leather interior, all the toys, but high-ish mileage at 128K, and hence a bargain price of £1,250. The principal draws were the advertised “full Saab service history”, the fact that the turbo had been replaced three months ago along with a basic service, the car had just “flown” through its MoT, had “four good tyres”, “six months’ tax” and that it “drives like a 20,000 mile car”. The seller assured me that it was a beautiful car and that if I bought it, I wouldn’t regret it all. His advert also claims close to 40MPG fuel economy (pretty outstanding for a 2 litre Saab). The only downside: a small scratch to one of the wheel arches that has been very nicely touched in. Got to be worth an 80 mile trip to view it… so, off I trot to Chippenham.

The car in fact has no tax. No service history beyond 66,000 miles, and therefore no indication of whether the cambelt has been changed (twice) as it should have been. There is a huge crack (20 inches at least) in the windscreen. There is a hole in the nearside headlamp lens, which has caused condensation on the inside. The front discs are severely pitted and very lipped, and will require changing within a couple of thousand miles. Something is squeaking in the engine. The “scratch” has clearly gone down to bare metal and is also dented, although it has been touched in properly, it’s pretty obvious. The “four good tyres” are actually two good tyres, and two that will need almost immediate replacement. The car does not have heated seats as per the advert. The fuel computer, which has not been reset in 3000 miles, shows an average MPG of 29.7 – although, it’s a wonder I managed to read it, because someone has smacked the computer screen and now it doesn’t display properly. The mileage of the vehicle is actually closer to 135k – can it really have done 7000 miles in the week since the advert was placed?

Then I notice a paint run on the offside rear door. Closer inspection reveals crazed lacquer across the entire door and an appalling piece of bodyshop work. The wheel arch on this corner has again been ground to the metal and touched up. There are bizarre cracks in the roof rail runners that have water ingress and will shortly be rusting from the inside out. The badge is a complete mess. The offside mirror doesn’t move properly and is cracked. The list goes on…

I understand it’s a cheap car. I understand it’s old. I’m prepared to accept a few dinks or the odd scratch, but here I am standing next to a chap describing a wonderful, well looked after, well maintained car, and I’m actually staring a shed that, if bought, will swiftly start making up for its cheapness by further emptying my wallet. I specifically told him on the phone that I didn’t want to buy something that needed stuff doing – he assured me the car was ready to go.

The Parkers guide price for a car of this age with average mileage (80,000) in good condition from a dealer is £1,700. As it’s being sold without warranty, the private good price applies, which in this case is £1,400. I figured the lower price was due to the mileage, so I was expecting to see a good example. In reality, this car is in very average (if not poor) condition, and not worth a penny more than £750.

It may well be that it’s a mechanically sound car that will provide cheap and safe transportation for some willing punter for many years to come, but I’m not going to take that gamble because I just don’t trust it. If the seller had described the car properly in the first place, I could have budgeted the bits that needed doing, set my expectations and made a decision, which in this case would have saved me a 160 mile round trip with my wife and two young children on a very cold and miserable day.

And so, to save others some time, here’s my helpful guide to some of the phrases traders use:

“One lady owner” = loads of carpark dings and a coked up, poorly serviced engine
“Partial service history” = a couple of receipts from KwikFit and not much else
“Flew through its MoT” = barely scraped through the test and will probably fail next time
“First to see will buy” = it’s a shed, but I’m hoping this line will get you to come and look, then I can sell it to you
“Absolute bargain” = pile of unroadworthy crap
“Genuine reason for sale” = something big is about to go wrong so I’m selling it quick
“Tidy bodywork” = numerous dings and small scratches
“Small patch of rust – barely noticeable” = the vehicle is one firm kick away from being a Fred Flintstone special
“One owner from new” = so what? He could be a one legged, one armed, blind man.

Also to be avoided like the plague are dishonest sellers – they are so easy to spot. Have a look on AutoTrader for the following:

  • People that quote a price under £1,000 to get cheap AutoTrader advertising, when the cost is actually much higher. An example of this would be a car priced at £339, and then in the advert text it says “price is £3395″. Like they just made a typo. Give me a break! Cheapskates! Would you trust a person who steals from the company advertising the car for them?
  • Adverts with mileage quoted without zeros. For example: 137,000 becomes 137 miles. Dealers do this to make sure the car still comes up in searches for cars with less than 100,000 miles. Oh yes. How cunning. I. Am. Fooled. This is nothing more than a cheap sales trick – expect plenty more when you go to view the pile of rust they are advertising.
  • Adverts with no mileage at all. Why won’t they tell you? Because the car is overpriced, on its last legs and again, they want the opportunity to do a sales pitch.
  • Adverts with no photos, no high-res photos, or photos taken with mobile phone cameras. If they don’t care enough to take 10 minutes to do some decent pics, what hope do you have of getting any problems sorted if something goes wrong?

I may be getting far too cynical, but whilst it may seem like there are loads of automotive bargains to be had just now, the truth is that bargains are few and far between. Looks like we’ll be staying a one car family for the forseeable.

Why does my helicopter lean right (or left) whilst hovering?

Posted by David Hurst on December 22, 2008 None comments

Just over a year ago I got into radio controlled helicopter flying. I started with a couple of 4 channel co-axial helicopters, moved up to a fixed pitch single rotor, and most recently took the step up to 6 channel collective pitch with a new Align T-Rex 250.

With the two single rotor helicopters, I find they tilt to the right whilst hovering, whereas the co-axial models don’t. Got me wondering why?

The answer is something called “translating tendency”, and really it’s obvious when you think about it. The tilt comes from the thrust of the tail rotor. The tail rotor is pushing against the natural torque of the main rotors to keep the helicopter on a heading, but of course the tail rotor is mounted below the hub of the main rotors. This basically causes the helicopter to pivot slightly.

This happens with most helicopters, models or not, apart from co-axial or tandem rotor helicopters which have no tail rotor. In a real helicopter, significant levels of left foot input are needed to keep the helicopter straight whilst hovering, and it would be normal for the aircraft to be leaning slightly to the right or the left. In fact, European helicopters will lean right, whereas American helicopters will lean left. This is because the main rotors spin in different directions on American and European helicopters. (Not sure if this is the case with radio controlled models.)

It can be a little disorientating at first, because the temptation is to provide a little cyclic input to correct the lean, but if you do, the helicopter will start to drift in that direction. You just have to get used to it. At least on my model the heading hold gyro takes care of the yaw, so I don’t have to – real helicopter pilots don’t have that luxury! As difficult as it is flying a full 6 channel radio controlled model, it’s nothing compared to doing it for real. Maximum respect to those guys!

SORBS – The Internet police no-one appointed

Posted by David Hurst on December 16, 2008 4 comments

Any web developer / ISP running their own web servers will know that, occasionally, you get some spam email being sent through your server(s) without your permission. This can be down to a newly found, and as yet un-patched, security hole, an insecure mail form script that one of your clients has kindly uploaded, or a virus on the computer of one of your SMTP users. Frankly, it can be caused by all sorts of things, and even with the best will in the world, it’s very difficult to stop it happening in an environment where users have access to your server in any shape or form.

In between the above happening and you becoming aware of the problem, complaints about your IP address may have been submitted to a black list service. There are lots of these services around and they feed spam filtration software and systems. Generally, if you get blacklisted, you then just visit the website of the service in question, enter your IP address and some basic details, and it will be removed from the list – usually immediately.

This system works. Some might wonder why the spammers themselves don’t just go in and delist themselves, and indeed there is nothing to stop them doing this. However, spammers will always continue to send spam and so will become immediately blacklisted again. Hence, it’s a complete waste of their time to do this, particularly when the vast majority of email users don’t have any active spam filtration. Remember also that most spammers send their mail through hijacked servers and computers, and therefore it’s not their own IP addresses being blacklisted anyway.

Today, I realised this had happened on one of our servers and that it had been blacklisted with SORBS. I followed the hugely convoluted process on their website of trying to get the IP address de-listed and finally got presented with a message telling me that SORBS would not de-list my IP unless I paid a ‘fine’ of $50 to a charity of their choice.

What?! Who the hell do they think they are???

This is little more than kidnap and ransom. SORBS have absolutely no right whatsoever to charge any kind of fine, inverted commas or otherwise. They certainly do not have the right to coerce people into donating money to a charity that they may not themselves support.

Will I pay the $50? Hell no! I’ll just change the IP address – they are free after all.

Will I ever use a spam filtration system that queries the SORBS database? Of course not, because a system that works in this way is never going to be worth a damn. In fact, most high-end filtration solutions do not query SORBS.

Spam is a scourge. Having some self-appointed police force punishing the ISPs is not the answer at all. SORBS use the analogy of a police speed camera on their website. This is a good analogy, because speed cameras rarely catch the real criminals either. No, this is just another bunch of self-absorbed, labotomised morons trying to make some kind of mis-guided statement without taking any time to actually think things through properly.

I strongly urge all ISPs and users to boycott this ludicrous bunch of jokers.

Motorcycling in Winter – how to stay warm and dry

Posted by David Hurst on December 2, 2008 3 comments

As the weather has taken a turn for the worse, I have found myself having to adapt my riding to suit the new conditions. I think I’ve found solutions to the majority of problems facing motorcyclists in bad weather, so I thought I’d list them here. Let’s start with dealing with the cold.

Staying Warm

When your body is cold, your reaction times are increased and your concentration levels are decreased. This is not a good combination for a motorcyclist! This can be particularly problematic as far as your hands are concerned. Cold hands are not only painful, they’re also slow, numb and clumsy, all of which could contribute to your failing to be able to make quick adjustments to the controls to avoid dangerous situations. The best solution to this problem is:

Heated Grips
Heated grips not only keep your hands warm, they also warm the blood that is circulating through your hands, which in turn helps keep your upper body warm. Whilst original manufacturer heated grips are quite pricey, other manufacturers such as Oxford sell grips suitable for all bikes from about £50. That’s less than you’d pay for a good set of winter gloves! The difference heated grips make to winter riding is phenomenal. You can ride for longer, and in comfort, despite very low temperatures.

Regardless of whether or not you choose to install heated grips, it’s essential to have good:

Gloves
Invest in a good quality pair of leather winter gloves, and you will be rewarded. Winter gloves, unlike their more flimsy summer counterparts, should be airtight. This ensures that your hands stay warm for as long as possible (which in cold weather, still won’t be very long). Make sure the gloves are waterproof as wet gloves will make your hands colder much more quickly. Gloves needn’t be expensive. I bought a very good pair made by Lewis for just £30.

To extend the warm time, consider some:

Inner Gloves
These are thin gloves that you wear under your main motorcycling gloves. You need to make sure that they don’t restrict your movement of course, but wearing an inner pair of gloves will keep your hands warmer for longer. Again, they needn’t be expensive. A simple knitted pair cost me just £3 and are barely noticeable under my main gloves.

Just as your hands need to stay warm, so do your feet. It’s important that you have good:

Boots and Thermal Socks
Feet tend to stay warmer for longer anyway when motorcycling. Partly due to the proximity of the engine, and partly due to the fairing (if you have one). You can keep them much warmer by buying a good pair of thermal socks. You don’t necessarily have to buy motorcycle socks, which tend to be expensive, consider offerings for hikers, mountaineers, snowboarders etc. Often, you can find good quality thermal socks at bargain basement prices from outdoor pursuits outlet stores.

When choosing your boots, buy the best you can afford, but don’t necessarily assume the best is the most expensive. I have some £30 ProBiker boots that are both warmer and dryer than my £100 TCX pair. The only annoyance is the laces on the cheaper pair, but an extra minute putting them on is worth it for the extra weather proofing.

Now, it’s important to keep your legs warm too. Don’t be scared, buy some:

Long Thermal Underwear
“Long Johns” or full-length thermal underwear may make you feel like a bit of a prat at the sales counter of the store you buy them from, but this is soon forgotten when you are enjoying a ride in cold weather without having cold legs and knees. I got a pair made from Merino Wool from Marks & Spencer for £17. There are cheaper versions made from synthetic fibres, but these will never be as comfortable and warm as natural fibres. I wear mine over my normal underwear so that they don’t need washing every day. Worth every penny!

If you have a good pair of textile motorcycling jeans with a thermal lining, the combination of thermal underwear, lining and waterproof outer is more than enough to keep you comfortably warm even in very cold weather.

Moving up the body, don’t forget some:

Thermal Vests or T-Shirts
Again, these can be quite pricey, but you needn’t spend a fortune. All the supermarkets sell vests, and cheap outdoor pursuits stores will have full sleeve thermal t-shirts for reasonable prices. Keeping your upper body warm in cold weather motorcycling is hugely important. Once your core body gets cold, you will have no choice but to stop and warm up somewhere.

Bizarrely, big thick jumpers are not the ticket here. Think layers. Lots of layers. Vest or thermal t-shirt, plus a t-shirt, plus a thin pullover or sweatshirt worn under a good jacket with thermal lining will keep the cold at bay for ages. Remember, it’s easy to remove a layer if you get too warm, but it’s not so easy to find an extra layer whilst on the move if you get too cold.

Here’s another top tip: if you’re out riding and you find that you haven’t layered up properly and the cold is getting in, go buy a newspaper and stuff this under your jacket. The 40p thermal top!

And don’t forget your neck and head! Consider purchasing a:

Balaclava
I buy Spada Chill Factor balaclavas which are made for motorcyclists and have an extra long front to make sure your neck stays covered. A cold neck and chin can be very uncomfortable. You can find these balaclavas on eBay (brand new) for under a tenner. Worth every penny. Just remember that if your helmet is a very tight fit, wear a balaclava might be difficult. For me, it’s a comfortable addition which makes a huge difference. My ears and neck stay warm, and with the balaclava covering my nose, it helps my visor stay fog free for longer.

Staying Dry

Cold is a problem that is easily dealt with. Staying dry can be much more difficult and will exacerbate the cold, so let’s look at what we can do to stay dry. Let’s start again with:

Gloves
Good winter gloves should be waterproof. My £30 pair of Lewis gloves keep my hands bone dry even in torrential rain. Look carefully at the label of the gloves you are buying, and try to find gloves that won’t get soaked themselves. Even though your hands may be dry, if the outer glove is soaked it will catch more wind and you will be colder as a result. Leather does soak up water over time, but textiles offer less protection. You have to find the balance between the two. Again, inner gloves can help, particularly if they are waterproof too, as some motorcycling specific inner gloves are.

Remember: when it’s raining, make sure your glove cuffs are inside the sleeve of your jacket, not outside. If you put your gloves on over your jacket sleeve the water will run down your arms and straight into your gloves, which rather defeats the object!

At the other end of the body, let’s look again at:

Boots
Not all boots are waterproof. Some will survive a light shower, but sustained riding at speed in heavy rain is a different matter entirely. Fabric parts on the top of the boot may make movement easier, but these tend to be weak areas for letting in water. My cheaper textile boots are much more waterproof than my more expensive leather ones, but again they offer less protection.

The cheapest way to waterproof any pair of boots is the humble plastic bag. Pop your feet inside a bag before putting your boots on and you should stay dry no matter what the weather does! Don’t forget also to make sure your trousers go over the top of your boots, otherwise the water will run straight down your legs into the boots!

What you really need is a:

Good Textile Suit
Leather is no good in the rain, you need to wear textiles or a waterproof oversuit. In fact, even if your riding gear is waterproof, a one piece oversuit will ensure you stay dry no matter what, and they’re cheap too!

If you wear a two piece textile combination, remember that as you are sat on the bike, the wind will force the water into your lap, where it will pool and blow up inside your jacket. Ever had the big wet patch on your stomach? That’s the reason. A waterproof oversuit will solve this, but if you don’t have one, take regular opportunities to stand and shake the water clear. Again, the humble plastic bag can come to your rescue: stuff one in the top of your trousers and over your stomach…

Vision

Finally, the other major problem (and I do mean major) is that of visibility. Your helmet does not have a wiper blade, obviously, and constant wiping with gloves will make them wet and make your hands cold. Some gloves have a rubber strip built into the forefinger of the glove to help you wipe clear, but as the visor will be covered with rain again in mere seconds, these are of limited use. Consider some treatment spray for your visor. Once applied, these waxy substances encourage the water to dissipate, and the wind force will be able to push the droplets to the side of the visor.

When it’s wet, the problem of internal fogging becomes much worse. Pinlock inserts, if your helmet supports them, can help hugely here, but otherwise you need to regularly treat the inside of your visor with an anti-fog solution. You can also consider a helmet insert that re-directs your breath away from the visor. All of these things can be purchased in stores like Hein Gericke.

There’s nothing worse than riding at night in the rain with a rapidly fogging visor and rain covering the outside of the visor, deflecting all the light from oncoming traffic. Visibility can be significantly reduced, so ride more slowly. Don’t take risks! Try and follow (at a safe distance) a car, as the red tail lights will help you to see where you are going. If it gets too bad, stop!

Remember too that winter brings lower light conditions and reduced visibility for ALL motorists. Wear a high-visibility vest with reflective material to ensure that they can see you, and obviously make sure you always ride with your lights on.

Winter riding is nothing to be scared of, provided you are properly prepared for it. Don’t expect to be able to ride the way you do in summer, but don’t be too scared of the conditions. Modern tyres grip well even in wet conditions, and a well-maintained bike can be ridden safely and in comfort throughout winter by the well-prepared motorcyclist.

Safe riding folks!