http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/ecu-p ... -your-bike
http://thekneeslider.com/we-dont-need-a ... rototypes/
Two of the more thought provoking articles I've read of late
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Stuart
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Two of the more thought provoking articles I've read of late
Stuart. M1030M1, Honda NC700S, Grom!, Toyota Corolla 1.4 Turbo Diesel. Favouring MPG over MPH.
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Diesel Dave
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Re: Two of the more thought provoking articles I've read of late
As to the first article; it's a complex arena and falls under exactly the same laws/rules/regs as buying a spreadsheet software for your laptop, or indeed the operating system it runs on. Cracking the software will naturally null and void any warranty just as boosting turbo pressures would do mechanically or fitting bigger carbs and gas flowing the head on a petrol engine. The danger as we have seen is manufacturers using this software to do nefarious things such as cheating emissions tests but it also makes you wonder what else has been buried in there - how about a 5 year lifespan before going permanently into limp home mode or a myriad of other possibilities. Camshafts made of dissolving chocolate metal are easily found, dodgy ECU's are not.
To the second - this is just privileged engineer speak, of course your going to equip your workshop almost exactly the same as it was 50 years ago - at least for the home engineer anyway. Some advances have obviously been made - notably in electronic controls so welders, variable speed motor control for later/mills/drills etc. You can't tell me you can just buy a CNC lathe/5 axis mill is now within the reach of the home engineer. Don't even think about getting me started on 3d printers.
Hand made items will always be more valuable in my eye's, it must be the case for the rest of the world otherwise art would not exist, Have you seen the premium price being asked for the Black Douglas motorcycle? This is just a hand made bike with a generic Chinese 125 or 250 engine:
http://www.theblackdouglas.co.uk
The biggest danger to the future of our beloved sport is major manufacturers putting the squeeze on Governments and regulators to eliminate the tinkerers and modifiers; how long before it becomes illegal to modify an ECU, change indicators, or not use a certain brand of fuel? (you laugh but Lotus have issued such rules for their cars). The lead will be taken by the insurance companies - it's already halfway there as in the UK you must declare EVERY modification down to the wattage of the bulbs. There is an advert on national TV in the UK for using a smartphone app "to see who is the best driver in your family", clearly it's just a way of gaining telemetrics for the Insurers. As with any regulation it will catch out the mostly law abiding (but able to pay) but those who habitually use excessive speed are hardly likely to use it.
Make no mistake the future is going to be riddled with more regulation not less; indeed it won't be long before I can no longer ride Sluggy to work in London as I have for the past 10 years.
To the second - this is just privileged engineer speak, of course your going to equip your workshop almost exactly the same as it was 50 years ago - at least for the home engineer anyway. Some advances have obviously been made - notably in electronic controls so welders, variable speed motor control for later/mills/drills etc. You can't tell me you can just buy a CNC lathe/5 axis mill is now within the reach of the home engineer. Don't even think about getting me started on 3d printers.
Hand made items will always be more valuable in my eye's, it must be the case for the rest of the world otherwise art would not exist, Have you seen the premium price being asked for the Black Douglas motorcycle? This is just a hand made bike with a generic Chinese 125 or 250 engine:
http://www.theblackdouglas.co.uk
The biggest danger to the future of our beloved sport is major manufacturers putting the squeeze on Governments and regulators to eliminate the tinkerers and modifiers; how long before it becomes illegal to modify an ECU, change indicators, or not use a certain brand of fuel? (you laugh but Lotus have issued such rules for their cars). The lead will be taken by the insurance companies - it's already halfway there as in the UK you must declare EVERY modification down to the wattage of the bulbs. There is an advert on national TV in the UK for using a smartphone app "to see who is the best driver in your family", clearly it's just a way of gaining telemetrics for the Insurers. As with any regulation it will catch out the mostly law abiding (but able to pay) but those who habitually use excessive speed are hardly likely to use it.
Make no mistake the future is going to be riddled with more regulation not less; indeed it won't be long before I can no longer ride Sluggy to work in London as I have for the past 10 years.
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sbrumby
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Re: Two of the more thought provoking articles I've read of late
What Dave says reminds me of a case a few years ago where an ex Cadbury engineer was selling house alarms, they had a control chip inside that faulted out 1 year and 1 day after install, hence out of warranty, it was only discovered when another engineer interrogated the chip. The guy got a few years in nick.
Sam