The 23mm bicycle tire has a contact patch of about 9mm due to radius. Note, for a minute, that the ratios are nearly the same...

...the assumption is that the width of the contact patches is proportional to the width of the tires. The ratio is important, not the absolute number.

Assuming similar tire compounds (big if, I know), grip is a function of static friction, which is just coefficient (tire compound and road) times normal force. Contact patch is weight * tire pressure. The formula is linear, though in reality aggravated by the changes in road surface which have a larger impact on the…

Well, a typical sportbike tire has a rated width of...let’s say 160mm in the back? A typical road bike tire is 23mm. So that’s 7-8x more rubber under the motorcycle (less if the front tire is narrower but you get the idea), while the motorcycle fully laden probably only weighs 4x more (a bicycle is going to be 20 lbs…

I feel compelled to inform you that Jehovah’s Witnesses are also Christian.

Sorry, the way their families treated these people was nonsense. I can reserve wholesale religious criticism, but the interpretations I saw did not merit respect.

Once you meet someone who’s been through the Christian homeschooling meat grinder, it seems a lot more believable. In my case, I’ve known a few people in various Christian sects that literally had to cut off ties with their family to get out of the nonsense.

All of those TSBs were from 2013, and all of your other sources are merely algorithms that tabulate past results. TrueDelta rankings show a dip in 2013 that matches those findings...and then real world reliability shot back up. Yeah, it was a rocky start, no argument there, but the core cars are not inherently…

Fortunately, there’s some data around. Looking at Cargurus nationally, there are 259 BRZs for sale used. Large range of ages, some of them very stale. Out of that sample, around 75% of the cars are less than 50 days on the lot. The same analysis done for the Miata shows that fewer than 60% of the cars are less than 50…

Yes, best-selling statistics are cut up and made up by the manufacturers to make them look good. The truck sales figures do mean exactly as little as I imply. Ford can claim best-selling all they want, but if GM is selling more, then yes, GM is selling more. The powers that be you speak of are marketing departments.

The only relevant statistic is the two cars combined...they’re marketing distributions between Subaru and Toyota. That said, the only car that may outsell the two this year in the category is the Miata, and that’s comparing a brand new car against a four year old one.

Half of them are just fawning...the R-package and the color cars weren’t limited production.

Laugh if you must, but the thing with all these limited editions is that Subaru (and Scion, who set the precedent) sells every single one. If you need a reminder that enthusiasts don’t dictate the market, it’s that Subaru will make hundreds of thousands of dollars of profit on yellow contrast stitching.

It happened with 90s Toyotas, too. I was getting my Celica in high school inspected, and after I gave him the key, he ran back to me and asked “is yours the Celica, or the Camry? They’re both 91s...and the key starts both of them.” I don’t know whether this was key codes or lock cylinder wear, the car was at least 13…

Zero evidence? Type “Florida” into Youtube.

Western Sky pretty much was illegal due to usury laws in most states. They skirted these laws by being incorporated on tribal land.

Especially considering this story is about a contractor, does Angie’s List work any better? Same basic principle as Yelp, with a paywall to enforce identity and honesty.

Laugh all you want, but a 5hp difference (or more likely the 5 ft-lb difference) is likely accompanied by engine tuning that will eliminate or at least moderate the dreaded “torque dip” and likely make the new car feel a lot more lively. For those who want a lightweight sports car, all this improvement, bigger numbers…

Yeah, I replied elsewhere, but in short, I’m a researcher and “day traders” will pull loads of facts out to support their already-made purchase that I now don’t have to go find myself. I follow energy and automotive, and the energy flamewars are just as interesting as the auto ones.

To be fair, the only reason I brought up Seeking Alpha is that they will post things from contributors on both sides of an issue. I get updates in my inbox and the TSLA updates are like flame war smoke signals visible from miles and miles away. Investors are very good at collecting data to support their purchases ex…