[1065] Summer Heat

This summer has been brutally hot, and it's only starting.

It does appear that every year the hot and dry season is hotter and dryer. Maybe climate change has something to do with it. Maybe it's the lack of trees in Metro Manila. I've seen plenty of social media posts about these things. Honestly I'm not sure if I 100% believe them, but there may be some truth to them. I just haven't verified.

Heat index temps are even worse elsewhere. I have no idea how to combat this, I just hope things get better.

Out.

[1064] Super Beetle

A Volkswagen Beetle is still my dream car. Specifically the flat windshield Super Beetle, mainly because I'm contrarian and the Supers don't get as much love as the 1969 and older Beetles. Super Beetles have better suspension and are more stable. I'll take (relatively) safer over higher value.

Also I have plans of retromodifying the car, which will maybe tank the car's value for others. Things like four-wheel disk brake upgrades, better speakers, Apple Car Play and Android Auto ready head units, an alternator instead of a generator, and other (possibly) questionable upgrades.

Twin carb is in play. I have no idea why, I'm just curious about the performance of the stock carb versus aftermarket carb and twin carb.

A new, modern wiring harness will also be installed. It'll be easier to find replacement fuses plus new wires will hopefully help prevent electrical fires for a fifty-year old car.

A roof rack will also be installed so that I can install a bike rack or a cargo box.

Out.

[1063] Journaling

I think I mentioned sometime ago here on this blog that I've started journaling again. A friend suggested it to help me cope with life, and so far it probably has been working.

So far it's been challenging to keep writing everyday, specially when I missed a week because we were out on vacation. If I don't get to write at night before I sleep I try to write the next morning.

There are so many things to be mindful of nowadays just to cope, and it's really been challenging.

Out.

[1062] Bike Thoughts

A friend of mine recently sent me this link of a locally made (?) gravel bike frame being sold as a fully built bike. The bike looks nice, but the page lacks a lot of info.

As of writing the Marbel Vibro gravel bike I linked above is still on sale for around PhP25k+ which is a pretty affordable price if you factor in what components are used. While it does offer two sizes, I have no idea what the geometry of each size is. I recently realized that stack and reach might be better metrics for measuring if I'll be good on a bike or not. Effective top tube might not be a good enough metric to see if I can ride comfortably on a bike.

I told my friend my crazy idea of purchasing one and then swapping components from my current bike to the gravel bike frame, then maybe upgrading my brifters to hydraulic ones so I can get some hydraulic brake calipers.

Good thing my friend is more sensible than me. He also researches stuff better and he basically told me I'd probably be downgrading the frame if I do get the bike. He does make a good point since we're both not sure how well the frame is made, what the frame is made of (though he did say it could be an alloy bike), and the geometry of the bike.

So after a couple of hours doing back and forth in our chat I decided to just stick to my original plan of trying to save up for my original upgrades, better wheelset, better branded cassette, and narrower tires. 

I am still targeting tubeless ready rims, and a better brand for my either 11-50 or 11-46 cassette. I'm sticking to either 32 or 35mm Panaracer Gravel Kings for my tires, or something of a similar width. Maybe if I save enough I can even change my chainring to either a 44T or 46T from my current 42T, though I have no idea why I want to get a bigger chainring. I have a weaker riding stamina now than before, though I can still cruise at around 20 kmh along the Service Road. I do feel my quads burning along the "false flat" section going back home but I was averaging around 18 kmh or so.

So yeah, a 35m wide, gravel ready tire on tubeless ready rims with an 11-50T cassette and a 46T chainring is probably going to be my next bike upgrade. Most likely along with a better bike saddle, if I'm being honest.

Out.

[1061] Wigo vs S-Presso

Once again in my fantasy car garage I'm torn between two different small, practical cars. The Toyota Wigo E CVT and the Suzuki S-Presso AGS. I chose these two cars because they're in the same price range. There is a more expensive, top-of-the-line Wigo but that's over PhP700k as of this blog.

Honestly at this moment I'm really leaning towards the S-Presso because the warranty is 5 years or 100,000 km plus one year free preventive maintenance service. There's also the fact that the Suzuki is about PhP24k cheaper.

Strong points of the Wigo though are the rear wiper and the fact that it's a Toyota. Parts may be more readily available, both in the dealers and aftermarket. There's also the reputation of "Toyota reliability" that's been around since maybe the 1990s here in the Philippines.

Either way both of these cars are hopefully both practical and useful for daily city driving here in Metro Manila.

Out.

[1060] Headlights

Yesterday I drove our 23-year old Rav4 in the evening and realized something. It needs new headlight assemblies.

No amount of headlight restoring will remove the yellowing, and the headlight was dim in the evening. I tried to drive without the fog lamps to test it out. I'm just glad we had street lights and it wasn't dark on the road, but I can imagine in the event I drive it in some dark are that the headlight won't be enough.

So yes, it might be time to get it some new headlight assemblies to replace the yellowed ones. We may rarely go out at night but I'd still rather have an extra level of safety just in case.

Out.