Can't trust the cloud.

[lsemmens]

If a cloud downloads its contents, it is not always a good thing, such as when you are driving.

Even more so if you happen to be on a bike!

[Portreve]

If a cloud downloads its contents, it is not always a good thing, such as when you are driving.

Even more so if you happen to be on a bike!

[AZgl1800]

I have a bike
I don't worry about the clouds, they fall behind me

[lsemmens]

Ah! A Honda Leadwing (at least that's what they used to be called, way back when.) That is a nice looking ride! They are a very capable bike, and those who own or have owned Goldwings say they are brilliant. Not my cup of tea mind you. I've tended to lean towards sports bikes in my (older) youth. I'd shortlisted a Victory, Harley and Enfield for my travels now that my wife has passed away, I ended up with a Suzuki C50 Boulevard from a friend. 7K on the clock and 13 years old! I'm now getting it ready for a trip to Queensland via Birdsville and Innamincka. It was not my plan to do this for a shakedown cruise but the opportunity presented itself, so, in for a penny, in for a pound!

[antikythera]

I have a bike
I don't worry about the clouds, they fall behind me

Very nice ride! The UK owners club tour the country around Christmas each year with the bikes covered in fairy lights and neons to raise money for a designated charity. The procession looks awesome when it rolls past.

[AZgl1800]

I forgot to mention that my bike is now 18 years young...
with 115,000 smiles on the Odometer....

those pancake, water cooled engines just never wear out.

it is quite a contrast to the 1972 Yamaha DT-250 and CT-175 that my wife and I used to ride. those were Enduros for riding in the sand and river banks.

my yellow baby balks at riding in sand, says she can't get any "footing".....
being 850 lbs empty, and add 275 lbs of blubber on her back, she don't like loose soils.

I have two tires for the back wheel, one is a normal Dunlop E4 m/c tire, the other is a Winter tread car tire... that one can handle loose soil, whereas the E4 just buries itself in loose stuff. I have 3 rear wheels, different tires for different reasons.

[RollyShed]

If a cloud downloads its contents, it is not always a good thing, such as when you are driving.

Even more so if you happen to be on a bike!

No matter how hard I pedal it will still rain on me, not behind me. One place where it always rains and one can look forward to it is Samoa. Some times heavily for less than half a minute - that's when the humidity rockets up from 99.9% to 101%. It then drops back to 99.9% and you struggle on, hoping the next hill tops out under 400 metres.

[lsemmens]

I forgot to mention that my bike is now 18 years young...
with 115,000 smiles on the Odometer....

those pancake, water cooled engines just never wear out.

it is quite a contrast to the 1972 Yamaha DT-250 and CT-175 that my wife and I used to ride. those were Enduros for riding in the sand and river banks.

my yellow baby balks at riding in sand, says she can't get any "footing".....
being 850 lbs empty, and add 275 lbs of blubber on her back, she don't like loose soils.

I have two tires for the back wheel, one is a normal Dunlop E4 m/c tire, the other is a Winter tread car tire... that one can handle loose soil, whereas the E4 just buries itself in loose stuff. I have 3 rear wheels, different tires for different reasons.

Thanks for those obervations. I'm planning a trip via Birdsville as I type, and tyre choices are going to be critical on those roads. How do you get on if you have a flat in the middle of nowhere, I can't see an easy way for a side of the road repair. I know about the wonderful product called Slime, but that's not going to help if you've put a rock through the sidewall.

[AZgl1800]

Thanks for those observations. I'm planning a trip via Birdsville as I type, and tyre choices are going to be critical on those roads. How do you get on if you have a flat in the middle of nowhere, I can't see an easy way for a side of the road repair. I know about the wonderful product called Slime, but that's not going to help if you've put a rock through the sidewall.

Slime is not good for a M/C tire, it will not stay balanced.
Some folks use a liquid product called "Ride On" for nails and thorns.
https://www.ride-on.com/


If I have flat on the road, and don't have an easy way to get it fixed, and it is in the tread area, I use one of the "Rope Type" patch kits... you pull the nail out, and use the included punch/awl to make the hole a little bit bigger, then use the awl to push the rope into the tire.... you have to use the included glue on the rope, light it up so it burns for a while ( make the rope very hot and sticky ) then push it into the tire. Holds up good, usually for the life of the tire. I have two tires patched that way now, one is on our car, the other is on my lawnmower tractor.

I have been lucky in my years of riding, not a single flat, ever and I am 78 now, been riding since 1958.
The Dunlop E4 tires will withstand you riding them flat for a few miles at low speeds to get to a place to fix it.
or, if you can do it yourself, just pull it off and use Tire Irons to do the job.

The car tire I use is a RF, ZP and can be run at 50 mph for 50 plus miles until you reach a tire shop.

my bike, can be laid down on the right side w/o any damage, and the rear wheel comes out just like off your car.

the front wheel, ( remove fender ) put it up on the center stand, block up under the front of the engine an inch or two and loosen the axle nuts and pull the axle out, the wheel then just rolls away.

the Honda GL1800s love car tires on the back. Especially if you are pulling a trailer.





Please consider joining my M/C forum, lots of help there.
My username there is AZgl1800 and I am the Administrator.

WWW.GoldwingFacts.com


here is a Picture taken at my son's home in Dawsonville, GA as I was getting ready to leave for home, in Oologah, Oklahoma.

[lsemmens]

This is my toy, sadly, plugs don't work on tubed tyres. The blokes on the Boulevard forums here have used slime to get themselves out of trouble, I've used it in the past so it is not out of my experience. My biggest issue is that about 2000km of my journey is going to be on outback roads which will be predominantly gravel and bulldust. I've done this sort of stuff in a car, but this will be my first time on a road bike. Strictly this sort of journey should be done on an offroad bike, so this is going to be an adventure. As there is no centrestand on this bike I'm gonna have to lie it down to fix any sort of major tyre issue. I will have a 4wd as a backup vehicle, which I hope to not need at all as, once we hit "civilisation" again, we are going in different directions.

[AZgl1800]

rode a Boulevard back a couple decades ago, I really liked that bike.

the roads you describe are akin to what we have to face if we ride from the USA thru Canada, to Alaska.
It is brutal on tires/tyres.

sharp shale stones that are like riding on knives.

yet, we have several Goldwings do that ride every summer. Not a huge crowd, as it is expensive, and time consuming, and the regular working stiff guy has not chance of doing it on a 2 week vacation.

it is 3,000 miles one way!!!

[lsemmens]

Any suggestions as to tyre pressures suitable for those roads.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

...If I have flat on the road, and don't have an easy way to get it fixed, and it is in the tread area, I use one of the "Rope Type" patch kits... you pull the nail out, and use the included punch/awl to make the hole a little bit bigger, then use the awl to push the rope into the tire.... you have to use the included glue on the rope, light it up so it burns for a while ( make the rope very hot and sticky ) then push it into the tire...

I used to use the "Rope Type" patches on car and pickup trucks years ago, then tires got better and I almost never get a flat now (I've had one in the past 20 years and it was a slow blowout). Never had to burn them first, though. Just ream out the hole with a cement coated rasp/probe, thread the "rope" into the eye on the end of the probe, liberally coat the "rope" and rasp/probe with cement, then poke it into the hole.

I remember, and have used, the old hot tire patches that required one to remove the inner tube, scrape the tube clan, then clamp (using an odd looking C-clamp) a weird looking patch that was on the bottom of a shallow metal pan that was filled with something like what a road flare was made of, then light the "something" to literally melt the patch to the tube.

Here is a video that shows a hot patch being used on a bicycle tire. https://youtu.be/ennV0BVFZVw This guy screwed up, though. You are supposed to clean the inner tube by abrading it with a rasp, usually the lid of the container the patches are stored in, not by using mineral spirits.

I now buy my tires from a company that has an iron clad road hazard warranty that will either properly patch a tire from the inside or, if the tire can't be patched, replace the tire. My auto insurance will change a tire for me at no charge. I could change a tire myself if I had to but, being a handicapped flatulent geriatric now, I'm more than happy to let someone else change a tire for me, especially since I drive an F150 and those tires and rims are HEAVY!

Back to the ranch...er...topic, whether to trust the cloud depends on whose cloud service you are using. I definitely will not trust free or cheap cloud storage sites. They are not secure and often harvest your data for their own advertising or to sell to others (I'm looking at you, Google!). Reliable sites you pay to use will usually charge based on the amount of data you store and will be expensive. Business safely use these sites all the time. Reliable cloud backup and data storage services encrypt data before it leaves the computer. The servers are heavily guarded and have multiple layers of firewalls, AVs, etc. to keep out hackers. The better ones will also use geo-redundancy. Even if the site gets hacked, the data will be useless to pretty much anyone except big government spy agencies (and most will find it easier to just hack or seize the computers).

For data to be reasonably safe, it has to exist in at least three places, such as on the computer, on an onsite backup, and on an offsite backup. A good, paid cloud backup service can serve as an offsite backup.

[AZgl1800]

Any suggestions as to tyre pressures suitable for those roads.

on the front tire, a Dunlop E4, I keep it at about 42 psi to prevent it from cupping.
I also use Dyna Beads for balancing ( maybe mentioned that? )
Ceramic beads of any brand work just fine, just can't insert through the Valve Stem, Dyna Beads will.
, http://www.innovativebalancing.com/motorcycle.htm

for the rear tire, if it is the E4, run it at 44 psi.

if it is the car tire, which is a RF ZP meaning a super stiff sidewall, I have run it from 50 psi down to 24 psi, and finally just ended up at the sidewall pressure of 32 psi and leave it alone...

what is super nice about car tires, is you can double up with a passenger, and both of you being of a "stout" build, and that tire will NOT be over loaded.... also, car tires pull trailers with impunity, I put over 5,000 miles on a Michelin one year while pulling a trailer, and the nipples on the tread were still on the tire when I got home.

This is the tire I just mentioned: https://i.imgur.com/vARc8ai.png

I have replaced the Michelin ( no longer available ) with this tire: https://tiresize.com/tires/Dunlop/SP-Wi ... -60R16.htm

very hard to see the car tire, it is in my Toy Hauler RV,
. https://i.imgur.com/qg2JWAu.jpg
: ( all of the Tie Down Straps are not on the bike, as of the time that pix was taken )
It has 5 straps when all is done. 2 on front wheel holding it into the front chock.
2 on the handlebars via a Canyon Dancer handgrip accessory http://www.canyondancer.com/canyondancerbarharness2

and very important, a Single strap from the left wall tie down hook, thru the rear wheel ( 1 time ) and to the Right wall tie down hook.... that strap is snugged down super tight, prevents the rear wheel from moving sideways when trailer hits a rough spot.

this is my little scooter, but it shows how the rear tire is snugged up.
. https://i.imgur.com/luiIlUO.jpg

.

[GS3]

For data to be reasonably safe, it has to exist in at least three places, such as on the computer, on an onsite backup, and on an offsite backup. A good, paid cloud backup service can serve as an offsite backup.

I would say three is a bare minimum but it also depends a lot on the importance of the data. And know well and master all the recovery and restoration process.

Some years ago I saw a (small business) case of a guy who needed to restore from a backup but not understanding how it worked erased the backup instead. Not to worry as he had a second backup. Except he did the same thing over again with the same result. Having backups without having practiced restoring from them is worse than bad because it gives a false sense of security.

I have no really important files but still, I have at least eight or ten backups because I have many HDD which came out of old computers and are pretty much free and I just rotate them. This has occasionally allowed me to recover an old file or an old version of a file.

I have some few files that, every time they are modified, they are saved to another computer on the network and to a USB or SD memory.

Generally I do not backup to the cloud although some files I will package in a ZIP file and then encrypt using PGP and store on a server online just for ease of access if I am travelling. Also, I do not want to have any files on my laptop when i am crossing borders because border authorities in many countries can get quite nasty and search your data and even demand passwords, etc.. It is best to carry an "empty" laptop and later download your data. Many large companies prohibit their employees from having any data on their laptops and they should just VPN home.

So, the cloud is not only for backups but also for "parking" your data away from prying eyes. It needs to be encrypted, of course.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

For data to be reasonably safe, it has to exist in at least three places, such as on the computer, on an onsite backup, and on an offsite backup. A good, paid cloud backup service can serve as an offsite backup.

I would say three is a bare minimum but it also depends a lot on the importance of the data. And know well and master all the recovery and restoration process...

I totally agree. That's why I said a minimum of three places. The more, the merrier but there comes a point where the cost of the more backups will outweigh the advantages. As you alluded, this will vary from person to person and will depend on the value of the data and/or cost and ability to replace it.

[majpooper]

Here is my silly question. . . . Since as Pjtor aptly points out there is really no such thing as "the cloud" just other people's servers (computers). So why is one's data less safe stored encrypted on someone else's computer than stored encrypted on their external HD or even in a encrypted container on their PC.

I concede to the control argument from the perspective that the data could be lost - fire, erased whatever. But as far as hacked . . . . I am not as convinced.

[GS3]

Here is my silly question. . . . Since as Pjtor aptly points out there is really no such thing as "the cloud" just other people's servers (computers). So why is one's data less safe stored encrypted on someone else's computer than stored encrypted on their external HD or even in a encrypted container on their PC.

I concede to the control argument from the perspective that the data could be lost - fire, erased whatever. But as far as hacked . . . . I am not as convinced.

It is not a yes/no question. Backups in third party servers have their use and their place as long as you know what you are doing. Many people had all their photos in some Internet outfit that disappeared. It is not even security, it is also reliability.

Cloud backups can be useful if one understands everything about encryption, security, etc.

Is the data encrypted at my end and then uploaded so no one has access? Or does the service tell me they encrypt it and not to worry?

Big servers can be hacked. I suppose my computer can be hacked. Good luck hacking into my backup HDD which are offline sitting on a shelf or in a safe box.

My hdd are not going anywhere. My cloud store can go up in smoke from one day to the next. It is a matter of managing and diversifying risk.

When I travel on vacation every night I make backups of all the photos I took during the day. An older Australian couple were telling us they had lost a whole month's worth of photos because something happened to the SD card.

[BG405]

Here are my thoughts on this:

• I trust others' machines, in general, less than I do mine, because I don't know anything about the hardware or software they are running.
• I trust other computer operators, at least (in general) those who I do not know, less than I do myself, as I have a personal vested interest in my data ... they likely don't.
• I don't have absolute trust in security of data transfers.
• Bonus point: No acces to their server = no access, by you, to YOUR data.

         .  .  .  .  .
Whilst "cloud" computing definitely has its uses, there are alternatives in most cases & in the scenario of the "mostly blank" laptop for travel purposes, that is likely to raise more suspicion than an obviously well-used one IMHO. They will be watching your connections. I'd just make sure everything is backed-up at home just in case.

[BG405]

I missed the most important point of all ..

• You have absolutely no control over what happens to your data.