Ryzza5

You can imagine my surprise last night when I look in the mirror and... Click for video

Ian's just had his Finance manager post up a returns spreadsheet that has a more realistic view of costs that eat into profits and reflects the updates with the next-gen consoles. WMD Forum. We only need ~645k EUR to break even. 3m sales sounds like a safe target, although 5m would be a nice goal that's not impossible to attain. Enter how much you spent on tool packs in the green square towards the bottom right. Also note if you change the Platform %ages to make the next gen consoles higher, and PC/Steam lower, then that also reduces our profit, since we get 50% of next-gen profits as opposed to 70% of other platforms.

How strange, given it featured in their latest video trailers too.

Maybe the prize should've been a DUCK WEBCAM :lol:

:hmmm:

The Forza trailers have always made the game appear more fun than I've ever had playing it.... I reckon I wait for the next one in 1-2 years to see if it's more revolutionary.

:hmmm:

What? :mhmm:

#36 T1M I'd say the moon is just a photo location and not a drivable track.

I don't have Facebook or IG I don't like their business model of "Let's make a great free service, attract millions of users, wait a few months, and then all of a sudden change the terms & conditions in order for us to start making money off them". Yes, of course they have to make money, but be upfront about it from the start and let users Opt in rather than hope that they'll be too lazy to migrate to another service.

Well I kinda drew that connection with the second pic, didn't see what the Subaru had to do with it ;)

:nope:

^ I don't get it :confused:

At least being on PS3 there's no reason for it not to work with my steering wheel :)

As you may already have seen, the GT6 car list has been revealed over on Virtual R Gran Turismo 6 Sim Racing News And a new trailer has also been released:

Not interested in Scooters with their tiny wheels, etc. What makes you think I'd never use the bike besides commuting? I'd probably be riding around somewhere today with this perfect weather. CB500X: Keep the ideas/questions coming guys, I'm sure eventually there will be something I haven't thought of yet :)

I haven't done extensive searches, but on one website (bikepoint) the cheapest ~500cc bikes started from around $5000 (but were the awful Suzuki G500S model that looks like it hasn't changed since it was designed in 1989 - it doesn't even have a fuel gauge. Then at $6000 there was a decent Yamaha. If I'm gonna spend that much I might as well go the extra amount for something new. I'll have a look at other websites as the month progresses. Train commute is 90 minutes each way, minimum. Recently I've been stuck on packed trains for over 2 hours when there have been faults. With Summer approaching I'm aware that train air-conditioning and infrastructure faults become more common as well. Bike comfort depends on the model. A sports bike would become uncomfortable and not great for commuting. The 'adventure' style bike where you sit upright is more comfortable. Reviewers have driven 500km on them in one go and felt fine.

So when do we get the answers? :toetap:

A car commute comprises of parking ($20), tolls (~$13), and fuel (~$5), and usually takes 75 minutes. Better if the roads are quiet (school holidays, RDO, etc), or much worse if there's an accident up ahead. The alternative of taking the train is ~$13 per day, and is often slow/delayed/annoying. A bike commute would benefit from free parking, half price tolls, and almost half the fuel usage (the Honda can do ~80mpg). I would have to change clothes but others at work do it, so it wouldn't take long, plus I'm one of 2 people who has access to the IT server room which is seldom entered so it's more private than the toilets if that's a preference. Of course it would take a number of years for these savings to add up to ~$10k, but part of the equation is that riding is inherently fun (although also dangerous). And the time savings would be good - once I'm confident enough to ride on the motorway and lane filter I should be able to reduce commute times to ~40mins. So if I do some maths... let's say I work 16 days per month. 16x $38 (car) = $608 per month. Whereas 16x $10 (bike) = $160 per month. Possible saving of time and $448 per month. So in 2 years (22 months) it will roughly have paid for itself (assuming that I currently drive to work every day... which I don't). I could also possibly trade off some time savings for money by avoiding the toll roads, so then I would only be paying for fuel only.

Gotta think of 3 things for yesterday... 1. Fantastic weather, not too hot or cold, perfect blue skies 2. Most people took yesterday as a holiday since today is a public holiday, so the roads were quiet - so quiet that I decided to drive to a train line that I'd never used before just for a change of scenery. 3. Caught up with some friends last night, had pancakes w/ ice cream for dessert.

Compared to all the second hand bikes I've seen priced at 6k+... yes.

Yes, for that reason I've made sure to watch plenty of YouTube vids of different riders on each bike to see what they think and to compare how they accelerate. I'd put the Suzuki into the 'too powerful' category I think but the bike itself has other good features. Of course I haven't found out how much they cost yet. I only know the Honda is around $8-9k new.

Trouble is they almost cost the same as the more powerful ones, so why wouldn't you get the more powerful one and just ride it slow for a year or so. If it's still Learner Approved then it can't be too difficult. To be sure I still think the Honda 500 (~480cc) would be the best engine for me compared to the other bikes.

I'm getting sick of taking the train to work and getting stuck every time it rains or is too hot, and driving to work is just too expensive to do often (~$35 per day in tolls, parking, and fuel - that would be $140 per week compared to $45 per week on the train), and sometimes it doesn't save me any time if traffic is bad. So I'm somewhat interested in the idea of getting a decent motorbike to reduce time and costs (although obviously the initial outlay could be anywhere up to 10k). I've watched a lot of YouTube videos recently and have convinced myself that it doesn't look that hard if you take it easy and following some helpful guidelines to avoid being hit by others. I've booked in a whole day of training and a learner permit test next month which will help confirm/deny that theory. :) So now comes the tricky part, finding a bike that I like. I'd welcome your input, but as a guide I'm looking for the following: ~400-600cc (~47 HP) - LAMS (learner) approved (parallel twin/V-twin (2 cyl)). More upright riding position to help see over traffic (and is more comfortable) Fairing would be preferred + also a windshield as they reduce buffeting Decent mileage per tank of fuel Liquid cooled (not air cooled) (Relatively) Quiet on start-up so as to not wake up the neighbors in the morning Easy to read dashboard (i.e. can easily glance at speedo with sun-glare or at night). A Gear indicator would be handy I reckon, although these are uncommon. Reliable, not expensive to service. Leaning towards Japanese brands for this reason. So far standouts include bikes such as the Honda CB500X or Kawasaki Versys 650L or maybe Yamaha FZ6R or possibly the Suzuki GSX650FL (has a great dashboard but seems over the top). Those 600+cc bikes appear to be detuned from high performance models, which means you're paying for more than you're getting (and they're probably less learner-friendly than the Honda), but the upshot is that once you get a full license you could pay another $800 or so to have the restriction removed via ECU tune. That's assuming I actually want to go any faster. From what I've seen the Honda CB500 is quite torquey at lower revs (it only revs just beyond 8000rpm anyway), and can do 0-100 in around 6 seconds which is a little faster than the Golf, which I think is probably the sweet spot in terms of power for a learner. I haven't spent much time researching older bikes that may be discontinued (I think the learner power limits have recently been increased which is why there aren't many options above 300cc going back a few years), but if you guys have time and find something I'd be interested in having a look. Especially if you can find it for sale around Melbourne (and it shows the price). List of bike sales websites: Smilies - turboduck Here's what I've looked at so far... Honda CB500X Kawasaki Versys 650L Yamaha FZ6R Suzuki GSX650FL

You need to get 2 of these Harley /hint ;)