OK, what are you guys buying yourselves for Christmas?

[Sal1950]

Just bought myself a new B-Day present.
Neuropathy in feet and legs has also started causing some strange balance problems and more.
Also there's been a loss of strength in my legs, etc.
Sadly that's been making riding and moving my 2 wheel motorcycles around a bit of a challenge.
Decided I give a 3 wheeler a try for the immediate future. I've had some experience riding and selling
Harley Tri-Glides but they are way over my personal budget.
Picked up a new Can-Am Ryker 900 Sport a few days back for a whole lot less. I've enjoyed my time on it so far but
it's taking a lot of getting used to. A very different riding experience.

 

[Doodski]

Just bought myself a new B-Day present.
Neuropathy in feet and legs has also started causing some strange balance problems and more.
Also there's been a loss of strength in my legs, etc.
Sadly that's been making riding and moving my 2 wheel motorcycles around a bit of a challenge.
Decided I give a 3 wheeler a try for the immediate future. I've had some experience riding and selling
Harley Tri-Glides but they are way over my personal budget.
Picked up a new Can-Am Ryker 900 Sport a few days back for a whole lot less. I've enjoyed my time on it so far but
it's taking a lot of getting used to. A very different riding experience.
View attachment 388904

That is one trippy machine! It looks way better than the dated models I see riders whipping around town on. I like it. Does it have a belt clutch drive or gears?

 

[Balle Clorin]

What a nice thing to do for your daughter. Does paying back the bank mean you took a loan, borrowed from retirement accounts, or just need to replenish savings?

Yes a loan, it is what we call “early inheritance “ , Crazy house prizes makes it quite common in Norway, sadly , if the parents can afford. I Would normally not do it , but one daughter is disabled l= minimal income and we helped her with a home so now it is time to help the other , to be fair. . I will have a very good retirement plan from work, and still have a good amount in saving account. the plan is to finish the loan in 3 years before I retire, …and at some point I will inherit too. Not worried.

I could have bought some Ferraris and a crazy Hifi or a holiday home, but family comes first ..

 

[001]

Hhmm, Christmas. Already? Again? Cool. I've got my beady eye on a non-working R2R, TC-630, which I'd like to use as loungeroom decor. I'm also considering retiring; just been diagnosed with burnout.

 

[Doodski]

I bought new skis today. Atomic Maverick 86 C & made in Austria. I am so excited to be skiing this winter.

 

[Sal1950]

Does it have a belt clutch drive or gears?

It's a belt CVT (constant velocity transmission) like snowmobiles and such.
Good news is no shifting and all that.
Bad news is a fairly expensive belt replacement at a recommended 12,000 miles.

 

[Sal1950]

I bought new skis today. Atomic Maverick 86 C & made in Austria

What are they made of?
I'm guessing they're carbon fiber or alike for strength and light weight.

 

[Doodski]

What are they made of?
I'm guessing they're carbon fiber or alike for strength and light weight.

Yes sir! You are correct. A layer of carbon fiber over a fancy wood if memory serves me correct. I looked at so many skis in the past week and I'm a bit saturated with details. Very low swing weight and still stiff enough for running over crud and pow pow. These are a upper intermediate to advanced/beginning expert level skis and are highly recommended for experts that are aging seniors that will be happy with a lighter swing weight ski and snappy response. I'm stoked! My last in-line skates where carbon fiber too. I was jumping off 4 foot ledges with them and they where cross training skates and not park skates. Carbon fiber if done well is so amazing. An amazing side note is that I had K2 skis with a piezo transducer in the front for dampening the vibration and at night when I was givin' er people on the chairlift told me the LEDs where really beaming them. The LEDs are supposed to dissipate energy...LoL. Very gimmicky but they where cool as can be... Hehe. The piezo powered LEDs or whatever they used can be seen in the little circle on the front of the skis/planks.

 

[Doodski]

It's a belt CVT (constant velocity transmission) like snowmobiles and such.
Good news is no shifting and all that.
Bad news is a fairly expensive belt replacement at a recommended 12,000 miles.

I have run the bag off Arctic Cat snowmobiles and with the mountainous terrain in BC with all the climbing where I was at the time the clutches and belts worked very very hard. We carried between 1 and 2 extra belts at all times for each sled. CVT belt driven clutching is a amazing power experience in which one can really feel the powerband and acceleration. I enjoyed it wayyyy too much..LoL.

 

[dguillor]

Found your new house.

Jokes aside, probably a good time to wait to see where the real estate market settles.

I didn’t mention it, but that’s something that I am hoping for. In the 2008 bust I did well selling, renting and buying after the bust. It might take a longtime this time, and I don’t know if we can wait so long.

 

[Chr1]

Sounds like a quote from The Big Short...

 

[Sal1950]

Carbon fiber if done well is so amazing.

For sure. Being the geezer I am, I well remember when carbon-fiber was this exotic, ultra expensive, unobtainium material and fiberglass was the SOTA in lightweight, strong manufacturing materials. Paid big bucks for my glass slalom waterskis back in the day.

 

[pseudoid]

Hhmm, Christmas. Already? Again? Cool. I've got my beady eye on a non-working R2R, TC-630, which I'd like to use as loungeroom decor. I'm also considering retiring; just been diagnosed with burnout.

You know? In this little community of ours, it would be more pleasant, if you leave some links for other members, when you reference some specific hardware.

 

[Joe Smith]

Currently planning on getting a Schiit Gjallhorn annd Saga 2 preamp stack for my upstairs system...

Unless @Fosi Audio comes up with a brilliant multi-input solid state preamp in the meantime!

 

[pseudoid]

For sure. Being the geezer I am, I well remember when carbon-fiber was this exotic, ultra expensive, unobtainium material and fiberglass was the SOTA in lightweight, strong manufacturing materials. Paid big bucks for my glass slalom waterskis back in the day.

A red carpet invitation for you.

 

[pseudoid]

Currently planning on getting a Schiit Gjallhorn annd Saga 2 preamp stack for my upstairs system...
Unless @Fosi Audio comes up with a brilliant multi-input solid state preamp in the meantime!

Have you considered any of the latest offerings from SMSL, that @amirm has tested/reviewed here recently?
Some of the current crop of DACs are truly flexible enough (future-proof and at reasonable prices) to allow you to get benefits out of non-analog media inputs.
XLR, S/PIDF, USB-C, HDMI, network, NAS, streaming services, WiFi, BlueTooth are all accounted for.

 

[Multicore]

Beats me, but another camera is a possibility, and this is the first all-new 35 mm (half frame) film camera from a major manufacturer in ages.
View attachment 388892

That looks like fun. Half-frame is very unusual now. And it seems they set it for portrait as the default which kinda makes a certain sense.

But at $600 there are a lot of nice options. On Saturday my friend's teen daughter was showing off her Rollei 35 at a wedding. Very cute camera.

 

[Chr1]

Apologies. But I don't get the resurgence of film photography. What are the advantages?
Or is it the same as vinyl, kinda retro/hipster/snake oil?
Mucho respect to the likes of Leica, Hasselblad, Rollei etc.
But surely the actual medium itself is kinda flawed and expensive like vinyl? Or no?

 

[Multicore]

Apologies. I don't get the resurgence of film photography. What are the advantages?

I don't do it myself but there are aspects that I find quite attractive. One is that you don't get to see the pictures until much later and that can be a lovely surprise.

Another, and this is something I guess some young people feel much more than even me, it would be nice to have a photo that isn't immediately backed up to the "cloud" of an advertising company and spread around and tagged on social media.

What I think makes even more sense from this point of view is "instant" print cameras like Polaroid or Fujifilm Instax. This generally means there's only one print of each snapshot and that makes it all the more precious.

For me personally I prefer digital photography mainly because I can check the shot immediately. And when I got my first tilt screen camera, well, that changed everything. And I prefer digital audio too. But at the same time I'm acutely aware of how the infinite reproducibility of digital cheapens, something I blogged about many years ago: Compact Disks make you immoral.

 

[Killingbeans]

What are the advantages?

I think people mostly point to claims about "molecular pixel density", same as "infinite sample rate" on vinyl. Both have been debunked easily many times.

People probably just like it because it's more cozy, and has "soul" (whatever that means).

Honestly, all hobbies just seem to become more and more attractive to people, the more expense and inconvenience you add.

And I get it. I was at some point pretty close at letting tintype photography become one of my countless short-lived ADHD flings