A little perspective.

Jims sacred limited edition twelve engines and the power that binds them (lord of the rings?) had me thinking.

A good portion of this forum is dedicated to gripes about the quality of the NTJL engine aka China Girl /Happy Time. And how it could be improved, or better manufactured.

But lets not get carried away.

Mass Manufacturing brings the price of goods to affordable levels, but more often than not at a sacrifice.

Lets take the automobile. Once a preserve of the rich and a play thing for the aristocracy, is now a machine upon which people, economies nay civilisations now rely. Leaving out the recent environmental concerns one would could say thats a good thing. Yet there have been inevitable sacrifices along the way.
Most early "quadricycles" and automobiles were undoubtably little portions of superbly crafted and engineered magnificence built to last and many still do, unlike the throw away cars we drive today.

My point is this. There are many of us including myself who would be willing to pay that bit extra for a damn good quality engine, but that is only after buying, playing with, and subsequently learning from, a cheap one. If the cheapys didn't exist i wouldn't be writing this, i'd still be dreaming.
So i say lets treat them as we would a Durex, enjoy the crazy pleasure they bring while it lasts but be ready to bin it for safetys sake and move on without crying about it....

(That analogy has but a smile on my face! heheheh)

I think the reason for my little ponder is a run of bad customers here in the UK. Yes times are tight and we understand and accomodate those embarrassed by "buyers remorse" but to moan about a product not being "up to expectation" when you paid peanuts for it is damn ridiculous. Added to the fact those who do not understand mechanics complaining a tried and tested engine is faulty because they couldn't be bothered to do a bit of googling!

GRRRRRR!

Anyhoo i know im preaching to the choir here.

Love you guys - ALL OF YOU. hehehehe

Same deal with the SA-80 LA1 rifle when i served in the British Army. The LA2 was supposed to be better but its not - to the point where the PARA's are also trained to use the AK-47!

Some tribesmen leave their weapons buried in the sand and dig em out to pop at passing patrols, try that with an M16 or SA80 and watch it explode into your face!

Large Filipino said:

The China engine made me appear much manlier to the world when I rode. People actually thought I was this awesome tinkerer of things I could pretty much tinker with anything and it would fly.
People and friends and not admittedly but you can tell family members and in laws as much as they poke fun of you at the same time have a respect for you as well.
All that from the most simplest of 2 strokes I have ever had the pleasure of owning.
Everyone knew that my engine blew a bearing and everyone around the neighborhood knew it sat around while I rode Cronus and then the Buggy Bike.
But then when MOOP2 came back to life everyone saw that I had rebuilt that simple little engine.
I get respect from engine builders and mechanics taking a smoke break at their shops they always wave me over when I pass by so they can see just what I did this time.
New car dealers be giving me this look like I'm changing customers minds about buying a new car or something.
And I don't weld and I don't have thousands of dollars in quality tools.
The China engine changed my life.
No joke.
And slowly I've been trying to improve on my rides yesterday I made a double bracket on the Buggy Bike OMG that thing will not move it is on there good.
And my wife is always asking me why I'll just sit out there staring at my bikes for hours.
And I tell her "Because these are my babies."

Click to expand...

I and i'm sure many many others here couldn't agree more with you. And yes, they really do become special to you and give you pleasure but only because you have and are willing to dedicate the time and love required rather than the attitude of oh its not working, must be broken, in the bin with it.

This is also the trouble with our modern cars, if our old VW's, Chevy's Fords etc broke down, up went the bonnet and you had a jolly good play. If you fixed it, that car then owed its life to you and became that much more special. Now, if you don't have a laptop handy, your screwed!

Reminds me of The Matrix, "Take the red pill, and lets see how far this rabbit hole goes..."

Wise words FM2200. I rarely exceed 15mph a) cars pulling out don't expect bikes to be travelling at 30mph! b) thats the limitation for electrics. I ride defensively and sensibly and although it appears these bikes are illegal vehicles in the uk (unregistered) i have never been noticed by the boys in blue. I think the key reason being ghost pedalling and travelling at cyclist speeds keeps me under the radar and i'm not hurting/causing a nuisance to anyone. I view the fact im not actually pedalling the thing to be important not the top speed.

Very well put Jim - there ya have it chaps from the MANIC mechanic himself - masterforger of the sacred 12 - bag em while ya can!