The V8 Bike Bus
Discussion
Yeah it's growing. Still, 1% of the 30M users on one of the national services that I'm responsible for use it.
I'll sort the cert, but that domain is literally just for hosting images for posting on forums.
Edit: there was probably a joke in there about Chrome being deleted but it's too late now...
I'll sort the cert, but that domain is literally just for hosting images for posting on forums.
Edit: there was probably a joke in there about Chrome being deleted but it's too late now...
Edited by 573 on Wednesday 10th February 16:11
This is how it spent most of the bit of 2020 when we were actually allowed to travel to trails rather than ride from home. And it did a great job of it.
I thought this worth sharing as people often like to tell others what cars they should have. I've heard lots that nobody needs an SUV and estate cars do everything just as well. I've tried, and they really don't. Loaded up with 5 bikes they drive awfully, bordering on dangerous. The Porsche and the X5s before it with their extra mass and all round proper self-levelling suspension make light work of it and take this in their stride. The Porsche having the extra benefit of PDC and active body control, dynamically stiffening the ARBS too; It's also still able to beat most things in a TLGP when loaded up.
I thought this worth sharing as people often like to tell others what cars they should have. I've heard lots that nobody needs an SUV and estate cars do everything just as well. I've tried, and they really don't. Loaded up with 5 bikes they drive awfully, bordering on dangerous. The Porsche and the X5s before it with their extra mass and all round proper self-levelling suspension make light work of it and take this in their stride. The Porsche having the extra benefit of PDC and active body control, dynamically stiffening the ARBS too; It's also still able to beat most things in a TLGP when loaded up.
I got this into Owen Garages in Haywards Heath for Olly to undertake a service. I used all genuine Porsche parts. I also had the thermostat changed as I'd noticed it was often slow to come up to temp and as summer was turning into autumn I noticed when called on the heater took ages to get warm. While there it made sense to do the waterpump too. I'd also noticed the front pads were getting low, so lazily got Olly to do those while on his ramp. Some of the bits were reassuringly expensive; Genuine front pads are £260 +VAT for instance, although they are the size of house bricks for the 6 pots.
Then the MOT was due. I used Mr MOT in Burgess Hill as usual. The guys there are very good plus I helped them get their first website set up many years ago. The fact that Mid-Sussex Porsche main dealer also use them for MOTs is reassuring too.
Unfortunately it failed.
Luckily only on tyres as one had a deep cut on an inside edge. I searched about for tyres, knowing I wanted to fit Michelin Pilot Sport 4s to it. Incredibly with the deal they had on Kwikfit were cheaper for 4 fitted than any of the mail order places could achieve to just deliver them.
I love how the Pilot Sport 4s work on road cars but they're also a really good looking tyre with a solid square sidewall. They're also a proper dark black compared to other tyres that are a dark grey (/ocd).
I then had Mobile Porsche Specialists visit to sort out the headlight module coding. They'd fitted it for the previous owner and neglected to code it so they came out to do it for free. While here I got the guy to blow his airline through all the sunroof drains too.
...and I'm rebuilding the house, hence the broken driveway. It'll get fixed soon.
Then the MOT was due. I used Mr MOT in Burgess Hill as usual. The guys there are very good plus I helped them get their first website set up many years ago. The fact that Mid-Sussex Porsche main dealer also use them for MOTs is reassuring too.
Unfortunately it failed.
Luckily only on tyres as one had a deep cut on an inside edge. I searched about for tyres, knowing I wanted to fit Michelin Pilot Sport 4s to it. Incredibly with the deal they had on Kwikfit were cheaper for 4 fitted than any of the mail order places could achieve to just deliver them.
I love how the Pilot Sport 4s work on road cars but they're also a really good looking tyre with a solid square sidewall. They're also a proper dark black compared to other tyres that are a dark grey (/ocd).
I then had Mobile Porsche Specialists visit to sort out the headlight module coding. They'd fitted it for the previous owner and neglected to code it so they came out to do it for free. While here I got the guy to blow his airline through all the sunroof drains too.
...and I'm rebuilding the house, hence the broken driveway. It'll get fixed soon.
Cosmetically the thing that let the car down most, were the wheels. They had various bits of kerb rash and paint chips. So I booked it into Wheel Works in Crawley as they've always done quality work for me before.
I'd had a massive wobble about how to refurbish the wheels since buying the car. Generally, silver wheels look best on almost every car. With the full GTS option from Porsche as new this would have been delivered with black trim but also had the option of black wheels. As the day of the refurb approached, I changed my mind back and forth between a nice fresh coat of silver and going full GTS and painting them black.
The wheel centres were tired too, so whichever colour I chose I'd need new centres to match. In the end I went to Mid-Sussex OPC and ordered new wheel centres which cemented my decision.
It was dark when I collected it, but I pulled it over the road to a garage forecourt to have a look.
I know painting them black will really divide opinion but it's given it the look I wanted. In many ways it actually seems more anonymous now, the huge wheels are less obvious. As with all black cars with black wheels they're also hard to photograph with a point-and-shoot (iphone) and look better in the metal.
As always the job done by Wheel Works is very good. The combination of filthy weather and my driveway still being a broken-up mess of a building site means the car is filthy though.
...and some quick pics from when out and about.
The weather is really grotty at the moment so it mainly looks filthy like this.
I'd had a massive wobble about how to refurbish the wheels since buying the car. Generally, silver wheels look best on almost every car. With the full GTS option from Porsche as new this would have been delivered with black trim but also had the option of black wheels. As the day of the refurb approached, I changed my mind back and forth between a nice fresh coat of silver and going full GTS and painting them black.
The wheel centres were tired too, so whichever colour I chose I'd need new centres to match. In the end I went to Mid-Sussex OPC and ordered new wheel centres which cemented my decision.
It was dark when I collected it, but I pulled it over the road to a garage forecourt to have a look.
I know painting them black will really divide opinion but it's given it the look I wanted. In many ways it actually seems more anonymous now, the huge wheels are less obvious. As with all black cars with black wheels they're also hard to photograph with a point-and-shoot (iphone) and look better in the metal.
As always the job done by Wheel Works is very good. The combination of filthy weather and my driveway still being a broken-up mess of a building site means the car is filthy though.
...and some quick pics from when out and about.
The weather is really grotty at the moment so it mainly looks filthy like this.
Done. Can those of you that couldn't see the images now see them?
One of the other favourites of people in the 'tell other people what they should do with their cars' camp is the 'Why have you lowered an SUV?' brigade. This is simple. I did it because I think it looks better, it definitely rolls less and... it's completely adjustable still. It still has a matrix of different suspension settings offering damper stiffness, ARB stiffness etc but also 5 heights selectable in seconds.
In other words, if needed I press a button and it does this. Simple.
In most of the other pics it's in normal or 'low' setting. It has an even lower setting that drops it on its arse that's supposed to be for loading.
One of the other favourites of people in the 'tell other people what they should do with their cars' camp is the 'Why have you lowered an SUV?' brigade. This is simple. I did it because I think it looks better, it definitely rolls less and... it's completely adjustable still. It still has a matrix of different suspension settings offering damper stiffness, ARB stiffness etc but also 5 heights selectable in seconds.
In other words, if needed I press a button and it does this. Simple.
In most of the other pics it's in normal or 'low' setting. It has an even lower setting that drops it on its arse that's supposed to be for loading.
Black for the trim was a great move (dependant on how it ages, though 573 referred to automotive grade and seems like a thorough sort of chap).
Black for the wheels negates the observation that the Michelin sidewalls seem blacker than the rest (they do so as a result of the veins). The black alloys have the effect of lightening them.
Perhaps OP might consider some silver alloys for the winter tyres, in order to quell the aesthetes of this thread?
EDIT: I use chromium edge so that I can sync passwords easily on desktop and mobile. Bloody passwords - I just auto generate and fire away.
Black for the wheels negates the observation that the Michelin sidewalls seem blacker than the rest (they do so as a result of the veins). The black alloys have the effect of lightening them.
Perhaps OP might consider some silver alloys for the winter tyres, in order to quell the aesthetes of this thread?
EDIT: I use chromium edge so that I can sync passwords easily on desktop and mobile. Bloody passwords - I just auto generate and fire away.
Edited by bolidemichael on Thursday 11th February 22:41
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