Author Archive for taro

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Tires Are Good – Bridgestone Potenza RE-71R XL

Published on January 7, 2017 in car and Review by taro. Closed

p1060998Finally got around to replacing tires on the FR-S, the original Bridgestone Turanza finally wore down to point of questionable safety check. Everyone would ask, oh are those the Prius tires? The FR-S actually comes from the factory with either of two tires, the “Prius” tires are probably better since they are summer tires. The ones that came on mine are the Turanaza’s which are all season, although their performance in mud was laughable.

These Potenzas are a new model that came out this past year and are considered the new king of the street tires for autocross, 200 treadwear qualifies them for street/stock class. Summer tires meant for ultimate road traction. They do not like cold.

Continue reading ‘Tires Are Good – Bridgestone Potenza RE-71R XL’

Beer Is Good – Deschute Jubeale

Published on January 7, 2017 in Food and Review by taro. Closed

p1060997Deschutes seasonal, pours a very dark amber, medium strong head. Spice and floral aroma, Hops bitter, but well controlled. Medium mouth feel. Given its darkness, would hope for more roasted malt, but that’s not to be. Not a really high ABV, but there’s a decent warmth.

A pretty decent beer, but it also doesn’t really excite me either. Just barely 3 out 4 jubiliant monkeys.

 

Beer Is Good – Full Sail Imperial Stout

Published on January 1, 2017 in Food and Review by taro. Closed

p1060996From Full Sail this is a stout aged in bourbon barrels. Pours opaque black with weak head. Alcohol presence is pretty strong. Surprisingly not a strong smokey aroma, but there is a dark chocolate. There’s also some interesting flavors going on that aren’t immediately identifiable as being from the barrel aging. The bitterness is there, but actually very even and controlled. As expected of an imperial stout, a fairly thick mouthfeel.

Solid entry, more than 3 of 4 barrel monkeys.

Hatsuhinode 2017

Published on January 1, 2017 in Culture by taro. Closed

img_6864OK, got really lazy this year, woke up late. I’m sure our end of year ride had something to do with that. Anyway, here you go. Beautiful cloudless day with nice brisk temp. It’s shaping up to be a La Nina year so temps are more “winter”like and the rain has been more plentiful.

Tools for Trannies

Published on December 29, 2016 in car and Gear by taro. Closed

p1060995So update on the rally FX16. I spent a day getting the broken axle spud out of the transaxle. I first tried to drill and tap a hole in the broken piece. I was able to drill a decently deep hole to start, but when I tried to go up to the proper size for the tap I wanted to use I didn’t go anywhere. Tried to use next size down tap, ended up snapping it. Oh well, there was enough of a hole to insert a bolt then hit it with the MIG welder. It was proving difficult, I was doing this with it still in the car. Finally dropped the transaxle out and got the bolt welded, a slide hammer on it, and the piece extracted. Unfortunately it looks like there’s some damage.

So now I need to open up the tranny to get the diff out. Another roadblock is the need to extract the 5th gears which are really tight clearance. My common two arm adjusty arm puller is too thick. Bunch of searching found straight arm pullers look like it would work. Further searching and I found Grainger stocks the right size Proto, at a premium price, ouch! I don’t mind investing in tools, this was a bit steep, but it is USA made. Of course that is not end of story. It’s too thick, so here I am taking a grinder to a brand new expensive tool! Ah well, it works.

Beer Is Good – North Coast Old Rasputin

Published on December 22, 2016 in Food and Review by taro. Closed


On tap on nitro. Creamy strong head. Pretty strong hop, but mitigated by dark roast. Butt kicking 9% ABV does give it the alcohol presence in the middle, but its pretty sneaky. I am thoroughly enjoying this.

4 out 4 Russian monkeys.

 

 

Beer is Good – Sam Adams Winter Lager

Published on December 13, 2016 in Food and Review by taro. Closed

Pours a dark amber with medium head. Bright aroma of the orange peel without being identifiable. The adjunct spices are unidentifiable also but lend to the brightness and warmth. A little bit of bitter gives way to a nice malt grain finish. Carbonation goes away quickly giving it a medium mouthfeel.

Im finding myself enjoying this quite a bit. Easily 3 out 4 spice monkeys.

Beer Is Good – Kizakura “Flavor of Sake Brewery” (Kura no kaori)

Published on December 7, 2016 in Food and Review by taro. Closed

p1060992The last of the Kizakura brews I’m trying ends up being one of the first the company made. Kizakura us actually a sake brewery, so I guess it shouldn’t be a shock to see that this beer is brewed using sake yeast. That claims to give it a more sake flavor. Pours a light cloudy amber with light head. No really strong aroma, there is a fair amount of tang that come to the brink of being sour. This has ended up being quite a light beer, light in body and taste. While not horrible, not one of the more interesting brews.

2 out of 4 sake brewery monkeys.

Beer Is Good – Anchor Porter

Published on December 4, 2016 in Food and Review by taro. Closed

p1060991Usually see Anchor Steam so when I came across this at Foodland, had to get it. Pours black, heavy head. Roast malt aroma, but not smokey. Balanced hop gives it some bitter, but well moderated. Medium thick mouthfeel. Gets better as it warms. Am I just too happy to find a nice dark?

3 out 4 dark monkeys.

 

Patagonia Black Hole Snow Roller 167

Published on December 4, 2016 in Gear and Review by taro. Closed

p1060987OK, I know everyone calls it Patagucci, but I have to admit that the Patagonia clothing I have is well made and is worth what I paid. I’ve been looking for a snowboard bag with wheels and this came up. Even at discount, still some good chunk of change. But it is well constructed, heavy hypolon like material, padded panels on all sides, stiff plastic sheet on lower third where wheels are does allow bag to be folded in half when empty. Continue reading ‘Patagonia Black Hole Snow Roller 167’