04-26-2020, 03:39 AM
Guth, I just ordered up some of that silicon grease you mentioned. Thanks for the tip. I've already purchased a maintenance kit from Raggtopp. No doubt, I'm sure I'll be hitting you up for additional maintenance tips.
See, unlike mickey's brother, my ragtop car will be my daily driver. I no longer have another vehicle. This Miata is it. If I return to work, it will be parked outside. Rainstorms, winter frost, Sacramento's unforgiving summer sunblast...all of it. I need to protect that top.
Stichill, on that single occasion when you ran your car through the automated car wash, were there any leaks? I know the sounds from inside the car had to be fairly intense, but did the top actually suffer from it?
mickey, I get what you're saying about the differences between riding a bike and driving a convertible. I agree with you, at least when the top is up on the convertible. Top down, though? I don't know about that. I think a quick drive to dinner or a short rip in the foothills is just as al fresco in this little car as it is beneath my helmet and clothing gear while riding a bike. Plus, I wear earplugs while riding. Overall, I think there is an equal or maybe even slightly more pronounced sensation of isolation on the bike than in this little car, when the top is down.
Now, as for excitement? Can't say that I still felt excitement while riding the bikes on routine errands. The CB1110, definitely not. That was more about serenity, and pure motoring enjoyment. It just felt goooood. Not a lot of adrenaline rush there, however. That was never really the point. The XSR gave more of that thrill rush, as did the Z900, but not while simply running errands, and I'm not sure it was more than what I get from this little two-seat ripper at 7,000 rpm on the same twisty roads. Again, it's on the freeways or very fast sweepers that the bikes certainly feel faster and more thrilling, due in large part to how much more speed they still have left to give, but on proper twisty roads I'm finding this MX-5 to be every bit as engaging as the bikes were.
One main difference is the safety factor. With the bikes, I always had to rein them in a bit, because they can so easily overpower any twisty public road. It's not often that you're dancing with the redline on an XSR, Z900, or any modern sportbike. Also, traction. Are you really willing to pin it hard and drift your streetbike, and risk highsiding, low-siding, deer, squirrels, large rocks, pine cones, etc? With the MX-5, you get to use all of the throttle. You get to let the motor wail. You get to drift, if that's your thing, and it's much more controllable than a similar drift on a sportbike.
The speeds are relatively equal, as long as you're not talking 100+ mph things, which I know you never do, car or bike. Rolling foothills, of the sort I rode with Eric on his CB1100? I would wager that a stopwatch would say I get through them faster in the Miata, if I'm pushing both the bike and car within the limits of my comfort zone, which is much higher in the car. Four big contact patches compared to two tiny ones sure boost the car driver's confidence.
I do feel more like a stealth assassin, a...ahem...ninja when going fast on a motorcycle, but at the cost of constantly fearing for my mortality, and for my license. There is so much less of that in the Miata. Instead, there is more of a feeling of Steve McQueen-style childish nonsense, without the fear of instant death, maiming, or jail time.
Isn't that the goal, if not the entire point?
It's silly, sure, and undeniably juvenile, but it's really fun, and kind of necessary. Every so often you just need to placate your Inner Twelve-Year-Old, and there is something to be said for doing it more safely, in a vehicle that will also let you stop by the market on the way home to grab a case of Coke, a big ol' pizza, and a ginormous pack of paper towels.
Like I said, not a bad trade-off. There are certainly worse fates; more depressing ways of surrendering to the inevitable.
See, unlike mickey's brother, my ragtop car will be my daily driver. I no longer have another vehicle. This Miata is it. If I return to work, it will be parked outside. Rainstorms, winter frost, Sacramento's unforgiving summer sunblast...all of it. I need to protect that top.
Stichill, on that single occasion when you ran your car through the automated car wash, were there any leaks? I know the sounds from inside the car had to be fairly intense, but did the top actually suffer from it?
mickey, I get what you're saying about the differences between riding a bike and driving a convertible. I agree with you, at least when the top is up on the convertible. Top down, though? I don't know about that. I think a quick drive to dinner or a short rip in the foothills is just as al fresco in this little car as it is beneath my helmet and clothing gear while riding a bike. Plus, I wear earplugs while riding. Overall, I think there is an equal or maybe even slightly more pronounced sensation of isolation on the bike than in this little car, when the top is down.
Now, as for excitement? Can't say that I still felt excitement while riding the bikes on routine errands. The CB1110, definitely not. That was more about serenity, and pure motoring enjoyment. It just felt goooood. Not a lot of adrenaline rush there, however. That was never really the point. The XSR gave more of that thrill rush, as did the Z900, but not while simply running errands, and I'm not sure it was more than what I get from this little two-seat ripper at 7,000 rpm on the same twisty roads. Again, it's on the freeways or very fast sweepers that the bikes certainly feel faster and more thrilling, due in large part to how much more speed they still have left to give, but on proper twisty roads I'm finding this MX-5 to be every bit as engaging as the bikes were.
One main difference is the safety factor. With the bikes, I always had to rein them in a bit, because they can so easily overpower any twisty public road. It's not often that you're dancing with the redline on an XSR, Z900, or any modern sportbike. Also, traction. Are you really willing to pin it hard and drift your streetbike, and risk highsiding, low-siding, deer, squirrels, large rocks, pine cones, etc? With the MX-5, you get to use all of the throttle. You get to let the motor wail. You get to drift, if that's your thing, and it's much more controllable than a similar drift on a sportbike.
The speeds are relatively equal, as long as you're not talking 100+ mph things, which I know you never do, car or bike. Rolling foothills, of the sort I rode with Eric on his CB1100? I would wager that a stopwatch would say I get through them faster in the Miata, if I'm pushing both the bike and car within the limits of my comfort zone, which is much higher in the car. Four big contact patches compared to two tiny ones sure boost the car driver's confidence.
I do feel more like a stealth assassin, a...ahem...ninja when going fast on a motorcycle, but at the cost of constantly fearing for my mortality, and for my license. There is so much less of that in the Miata. Instead, there is more of a feeling of Steve McQueen-style childish nonsense, without the fear of instant death, maiming, or jail time.
Isn't that the goal, if not the entire point?
It's silly, sure, and undeniably juvenile, but it's really fun, and kind of necessary. Every so often you just need to placate your Inner Twelve-Year-Old, and there is something to be said for doing it more safely, in a vehicle that will also let you stop by the market on the way home to grab a case of Coke, a big ol' pizza, and a ginormous pack of paper towels.
Like I said, not a bad trade-off. There are certainly worse fates; more depressing ways of surrendering to the inevitable.