peterxu's Blog

Motorcycles will often devalue a lot faster than automobiles do, so purchasing a bike second hand can get you a near new model for a bargain price. You do need to do your homework before purchasing a motorcycle and it is recommended that you use a motorcycle bill of sale form to document the sale.

One of the first things you need to do before buying a bike is to check the market price for a comparable make and model. This will tell you straight away if the bike is worth following up. This can be done quickly online using the NADA price guide.

Other things you should ascertain for any bike you are considering of purchasing include whether the bike has ever been involved in an accident. Has the owner performed any modifications on the bike Is the registration valid Whats the mileage like Has it been routinely serviced and maintained It is also a good idea to find out if any money is still owing on the bike.

When you have come to a decision about a bike and are ready to finalize the sale, you should write down the following pieces of information on your motorcycle bill of sale form. It is suggested to include both your own name and that of the seller. The make and model of the bike as well as the vehicle identification number also need to be obtained. Lastly, both the date of the sale and the price you paid need to be recorded and when agreed upon, both buyer and seller should sign the document.

It does not take long to use a motorcycle bill of sale. It is required in many states as proof of ownership and will need to be produced in order for you to register the motorbike in your name. It is a simple thing to do to guarantee that the purchase of your new bike is without dispute and stress free.

Max Keller is an avid biker and businessman. He runs a website providing professional motorcycle bill of sale forms that provide motorcycle buyers with security and peace of mind. For more information on motorcycle bill of sale forms, please see http://www.MotorcycleBillOfSale.org

Subwoofers. The bass. The loudness. The glory. The most obnoxious component in your system, and also, one of the most necessary.

If youve read my article about speakers, youre up to speed. If you havent (and dont know anything about speakers or subwoofers), read it here.

Subwoofers reproduce the lowest frequencies of the audio spectrum, AKA bass. They are essential to both SQ and SPL systems, but for different reasons. Lets take a look now...

For SQ systems: Effectively reproduce the lowest frequencies making the music sound full and powerful. Instruments that play lower frequencies such as organs, drums and synthesizers will sound more realistic and powerful with a subwoofer installed.

For SPL systems: Because subwoofers are loud, they are the preferred speaker to make a whole lotta noise.

Also, because our ears are less sensitive to lower frequencies we need the extra bass for the system to sound balanced.

So, what do I have to look for to find a great woofer Ill tell you!

Power Handling:

Just like with every other part in a stereo system, power handling is important for subwoofers as well. Earlier, in my article about speakers, I talked about how you can send more power to them to increase their volume, but decrease the distortion. The same is true of subwoofers, but be careful! Since lower frequency distortion is harder to perceive, its easy to overdo it, and blow your subwoofers. Anyway, with that said, it is smart to buy an amp that can put out exactly what your subwoofers are designed to take, but take it easy!

Size:

Subwoofers come in many sizes, but the most common are 8, 10, 12, and 15. This is probably also noted in metric for the european brands. As you can imagine, the bigger woofers are the ones that will play louder and play lower. Of course, the smaller ones are more musical, more precise, and sound tighter. What size you decide on usually has to do with your own preferences, as well as installation considerations. Remember! 18 subwoofers dont just fit anywhere!

Voice coil info:

SVC: Single voice coil

This means that the speaker has only one voice coil. In other words, only one input.

DVC: Dual voice coil

This means that the speaker has two voice coils, or two inputs.

Ummmmmmm, ok. Why does it matter

I could go into details here, but I know you dont really care. Basically, it boils down to this: With a DVC subwoofer, there are more installation options. Look at it this way, a DVC looks like two subwoofers to your amplifier. With some nifty wiring tricks (called series and parallel), you can hook up many subwoofers to a single amp--even if the amp is a mono or a two channel amp. In addition, you can manipulate how many ohms the amp has to push. If you have an amp that is stable to a half ohm (like some old school Orion HCCA amps), you could potentially hook up 4-8 woofers to a single channel! Imagine the noise you could make!

Some words about boxes:

Boxes are essential to most subwoofers. In other words, consider a subwoofers box just as important as the subwoofer itself. Why Because most subwoofers need a box to operate properly, sound good, and not damage themselves. Subwoofers that dont need a box are called free air or infinite baffle subwoofers.

Like I said, most subwoofers need a box. So, lets talk about boxes!

First, what types of boxes are there

Sealed: The simplest kind. Essentially, a sealed box is a box where the inside and outside are not linked. There are no holes, and care is taken to ensure that the box is completely sealed.

Ported: A ported box is a subwoofer box with at least one hole, or port in it. The goal of the ported box is to emphasize a certain frequency. These boxes are used because they are often louder than sealed boxes.

Bandpass: A bandpass box is similar to a ported box because it has ports; however, the bandpass box tries to de-emphasize certain frequencies, while emphasizing others. In other words, it works like a bandpass crossover. The bandpass box emphasizes a frequency band while de-emphasizing frequencies lower than and higher than the band.

Isobarik: These boxes aim to fit more than one subwoofer into a small box. The subwoofers are set up to work in tandem. Sometimes both subs move in the same direction at the same time, sometimes one sub pulls while the other pushes. There are advantages to this type of setup, but box design is difficult.

OK, so now you know everything about SUBZ, but here are the specs that youll need to know to choose your subwoofer:

Power Handling: Subs are speakers, and as such can only handle so much power (or distortion) before they blow! Power handling is measured in watts, and is often given in two specifications: RMS and Max (or peak). The RMS rating is the most important. If a sub says it can handle 200 watts RMS and 400 watts Max, be sure the amp will provide 200 watts RMS as well. Not 400 watts RMS. While its true that the sub can handle 400 watts, it can only handle that kind of power for a short time. If you hook that sub up to an amp that puts out 400 watts RMS, you will ruin that speaker pretty quickly--because it is constantly being exposed to 400 watts, not short bursts of 400 watts. You dig Good.

Sensitivity: This term means exactly what you think it means. In short, a subwoofer with higher sensitivty will be louder than a subwoofer with lower sensitivty when they are hooked up to the same amp. The spec is measured in db.

Frequency response: You obviously want a subwoofer than can handle a wide range of frequencies. However, the subwoofer does the most work under 100hz. If the subwoofer plays all the way down to 20hz, you know youve got a great sub. The good news is that even if it doesnt go that low, most music doesnt either. Sooooo, youll still be fine. I would say the its more important to have a low-playing sub in systems with DVD players and 5.1 sound. Also, frequency response varies depending on the box that the subwoofer is installed in. Ummmm, so with this in mind, just pick a subwoofer that will handle the power, and sound how you want it to.

Cone Material: When it comes to subwoofers, this is actually a pretty important thing to pay attention to. Because subwoofers are big and powerful, you need a cone material that can withstand lots and lots of abuse. I personally am a big fan of metals such as alluminum. This is because aluminum is light and stiff, and likewise, produces very tight and musical sounding bass. I know that many subwoofer manufacturers use exotic sounding materials for their subwoofers, which makes it difficult to determine which material is the best.

Surround material: Heres my advice: Always get a subwoofer with a rubber surround. Rubber holds up the best in the auto environment.

Impedence: Measured in Ohms, this spec tells you how much resistance the speaker presents to your amp. Too much, and you get no volume, too little, and your subwoofer will fry your amp! This spec will help you decide which amp to hook up to your subwoofer, whether you want to bridge your amp, and whether you want to wire multiple subs into parallel or series. Also, subwoofers sometimes have more than one voice coil (aka DVC). This means that the subwoofer will have two inputs, each with the same impedence. Subwoofers with dual voice coils are more versatile to install, especially in multiple woofer systems.

A basic subwoofer install is fairly easy. If you buy a pre-fab sub box, mount the subs and power them, youre going to get good bass. To install professionally, and achieve the best sound, much planning and work must go into the whole process. This is a situation where if you dont feel confident in your ability to build a box, tune it, and hook it up, you should visit a car audio shop, and have them do it for you. This can be relatively cheap, or quite expensive.

If you are planning on doing the install yourself, but lack the box building skills, you can buy a pre-fab box. I would also strongly recommend an EQ device to fine tune the bass. This will help you overcome road noise (which ruins bass), and also cut back on boominess and muddiness. In the end, this route is the best compromise between a custom box and a pre-fab box. Youll get great sound, and save money!

Now go easy on those ears!

-Honest AEB

Alan Bayer is an entrepreneur and car audio enthusiast. He runs an eBay store selling car stereo install supplies:

Conceiving, designing and building a one-off custom motorcycle is a complex task requiring a lot of patience, dedication, passion and talent. A Custom Motorcycle Builder should not only be chosen for his past built motorcycles, but also for his personality and philosophy about what it takes to build an exceptional Custom. Here is my own philosophy that I apply to all my creations

12. A good Designer is not the one who takes you from what you have to what you want, but the one who takes you from what you want to what you didnt even know you wanted.

11. When you customize, dont follow the crowd. Just follow your dreams. A Custom Shop should be a dream factory.

10. Great mechanical skills can only take a motorcycle so far. Passion is the engine of creativity.

9. Designing building a motorcycle is like composing orchestrating a song. Everybody can use the same notes. But who is going to make a Hit

8. A good bike appeals to your reason. A great bike appeals to your emotions. There are so many emotions you can assemble on a motorcycle.

7. Have nothing on your bike that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.

6. If you invest in beauty, it will be with you for the rest of your life.

5. Just because an accessory fits doesnt mean it looks right.

4. Good ideas result from uninhibited experimentation.

3. Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.

2. Good design is guts, brains and soul.

1. Customizing. There are no rules

Cyril Huze is a master custom motorcycles designer builder, inductee in 2006 in the IMBBA Hall Of Fame, whose work has been featured worldwide on TV, videos, covers of magazines, hard cover books, calendars, etc. His customs are some of the prettiest and most acclaimed in the motorcycle industry (http://www.cyrilhuze.com). He also designs and markets his own line of custom motorcycle parts sold to motorcycle dealers and direct retail all ver the world (http://store.cyrilhuze.com) He is a columnist and contributor for several major magazines in the US Europe. He is also the only celebrity of the custom motorcycle industry to publish a Blog (at http://www.cyrilhuzeblog.com) updated daily with news, new custom bikes parts, tidbits about the custom motorcycle scene. His Blog is the most credible and the most read by the medias, professionals and fans of custom motorcycles all over the world.

Auto repair quotes can be confusing. In many ways youre going to be fighting an uphill battle because cars are about as complex an organism as the people who service them. In order to start stacking the deck in your favor, you need to know who youre dealing with. When it comes to auto repair quotes, whats almost as important as asking the right qualifying questions is knowing what sort of person youre speaking to. Weve been able to identify three major types when it comes to the auto repair professionals on the phone. Heres who they are and how to deal with them.

Auto Repair Quotes &shap;1: The Low Baller

Weve all been there before holding that coupon in our hands and thinking, Wow, a $5 oil change What could be wrong with that

The low price leaders will frequently present the possibility of very inexpensive service when the exact opposite is the case. In situations like this, you will want to be very, very careful.

Keep this rule in mind: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

For example, if you need to get your engine repaired, and three out of four shops tell you that based on the info, youre looking at around $850 best case and $1350 worst case, and some other shop swoops in with, Well have you out the door for less than $650, well...

Something is wrong. Inhale deeply, because you will smell a rat.

Low ball auto repair quotes are simply tools for pulling unsuspecting drivers through the front door. In situations like this, these predators will almost always find something wrong with your car and the repair will explode to over double what you were expecting.

Frequently the business plan of a technician running this sort of shop reads like this: A Sucker Is Born Every Minute.

Avoid these shops like you would a stumbling, rotting zombie.

Auto Repair Quotes &shap;2: Premium Powerhouse

Right next to the low price leaders in terms of completely confusing customers are the premium powerhouses. These are facilities run by total perfectionists who break out in hives if they have to let a car out of their garage in less than tip top shape.

These shops are fantastic at what they do, and theyll do everything possible to make sure your car is taken care of.

So whats the problem In almost every case they are the good shops looking bad because they are completely out of touch with their customers.

Picture this: single working mother making less than $35K per year needs to get a brake job. Why would she care about premium parts Whats that extra $300 going to get her - less brake dust Maybe an extra two months on the life of the pads In a situation like this you do not need premium.

Another frequent problem is that these facilities have a very difficult time prioritizing a list of needed work. In most cases, they see the situation as everything needs to be fixed!

You will hear statements like, Its really not in your best interest to leave this problem lying around right now

I recommend using shops like this only if you really want that level of attention.

Premium Powerhouses are fantastic for car enthusiasts and anyone else who wants to get zero info on the phone, but have them chat your ear off when you drop off the car.

In almost every case, you will be treated extremely well and your car will run almost better than the day you bought it. But itll cost you.

Auto Repair Quotes &shap;3: Middle Mayhem

The last group of shops falls into the Middle Mayhem category. These guys represent the vast majority of facilities out there, and the reason I use the word mayhem is because mayhem is exactly what they have created.

Shops like this will frequently be all over the place in terms of estimates, information, reasons they cant say anything over the phone, and just about everything else you can think of.

Be aware that the reason many of these facilities refuse to give solid info over the phone is because of the insane level of competition they have. Because of that, they like to play their cards close to their chest. (But dont worry, the good ones will share quality info.)

Auto Repair Quotes Golden Rule:

Middle Mayhem shops are the shops you want to focus most of your time calling. As you call more shops, you will become more comfortable weeding out the Low Ballers and Premium Powerhouses of your area.

While Middle Mayhem is the largest group of shops, you will want to pay special attention to how they are pricing their services. There are almost as many ways to price as there are shops to hand out estimates.

Above all else - If you do not make sure youre comparing apples to apples and not apples to hairless cats, you could be in for a rude awakening. Check and double check. If in doubt, call back. It is their job to help you out.

Drew Turnbaugh is Americas leading authority on communication for the car repair industry and founder of The International Automotive Network (IanAuto). IanAuto is responsible for helping consumers demystify auto repair quotes using simple, real-world strategies.

Nothing could ruin your day more when you e driving in the countryside and then in the middle of nowhere, your Honda CBR motorcycle breaks down. All that because you never checked anything before you went out thinking, e checked that yesterday so there shouldn be any problem. /p>

It important to check your motorcycle before you go for a ride. Maybe it would be too much for you to do it everyday but you have to do it at least before you go out especially for a very long ride. This ride can just be hauled and you l be spending hundreds of dollars because you missed one thing that led to another problem. So here are some of the things that you should check before going out, full throttle.

Tires the most important of them all. Check the tires of your Honda motorcycle and make sure they are inflated properly. Under-inflated tires will take in heat faster than regular tires. With too much heat, the tire will blow up unexpectedly, and you l be lucky if you don have an accident because of blown tires. To make sure you have the digits correct, purchase a portable gauge to know the psi of your tires.

Brakes most of the accidents come from the fact that brakes don work. So before you go out and take the long ride, check your brakes. Make sure the break fluid in your motorcycle is enough. It even better if it . Check the front and back break fluids of your motorcycle. Check the break pads when you e at it. Thin break pads should be changed immediately. You don want to realize that you don have any break when you are already on the road and more than 60mph on your motorcycle.

Chains It will not really cause major accidents but it will cripple your motorcycle to a halt. Before you go out and do a major road trip on your motorcycle, lubricate them before you even go out. You really don need to do it everyday but at least do it every time you visit the gas station. This will ensure your chains will complement your rear tires and will not contrast to it. The last thing that you need in your motorcycle is a busted chain especially on a road trip since chains maybe the last thing you l think will break.

Fuel and Oil probably the most important for a smooth ride. You Honda CBR 600 will naturally stop if you don have enough gas. For long rides, oil should be checked especially the oils in your break fluids.

Battery You l know you need one when you can start anything electronically. Every light and signal that you l need for your trip should be there. If it needs refill, do not use tap water. There specific water for batteries and they are deionized water. Distilled water could also be an option.

These are the things that you should check before you go out even for a short ride. This will also ensure that your motorcycle will also last longer.

Mansi Aggarwal Recommends that you visit http://www.FireBlades.org for more information on Honda CBR 600 and Honda motorcycle.