Robin: Hello everybody. According to Tim Clark, my name is Rubin Dean. I'm Travis Burleson. And I'm Tim Clark. And this is the Riding Obsession Podcast.

Travis: Cue the music! Today we'll be discussing some possible new BMW models and sub-1000cc tours, Sena's 10C Evo, and ways to lead an insanely fun sport touring motorcycle ride.

Tim: This episode of the Riding Obsession Podcast is brought to you by Ranch Road Fabrication, specializing in architectural, interior, and automotive metalwork. They take on complex tasks that others can't. Visit them online at ranchroadfabrication.com. And also by the Ugly Apple Cafe of Madison, Wisconsin, where they use local overstocked produce to offer a quick, tasty breakfast.

Robin: TheRidingObsession.com is in need of sponsors for this podcast. For 50 bucks, sponsors get three focused mentions toward the start, middle, and end of their designated episode. Their contributions are put towards bettering the program's content, and errors like mine, and recording equipment. Visit the website's contact page and reach out if interested. That address is tro.email, or you can type in podcast at theridingobsession.com. Travis, how are you, my friend?

Travis: Oh, doing all right. Was going to try and get a ride in today. It was a really nice fall day today, but just had too many chores to get done. We got some thunderstorms in the other day, and the big ash tree in my front yard. You heard it right, big ash tree. You see that ass on that tree? No, no, no. No, big ash tree.

Robin: Oh, big ash. I'm sorry.

Travis: Yeah, big ash tree. The big ash tree.

Robin: I got it.

Travis: The big ash tree in my front yard.

Robin: Some fine ash.

Travis: Dumped all its leaves, so I spent most of my day cleaning that up. At least, I usually just wait for that tree to finish, because that's the main trouble in my life, so that unfortunately ended up taking longer than usual. Other than baby watch 2019, we had a little head ultrasound today, so that was good. What's new about that? So, they're both about four and a half pounds each, so nine pounds of baby right now, going on with six weeks left.

Robin: And we just spoke with Laurel a second ago, so December 3rd is the cutoff.

Travis: Yeah, that's the cutoff, so they'll make it happen then if we get that far, but statistically speaking, it'll be sooner than that.

Robin: That's awesome.

Travis: Yeah, that's been pretty much my life. That music stuff, we picked up my band, Johnny's picked up a gig here on Friday, sort of last minute, so that'll be good. My other band, Four Strings, got some gigs coming up, so it's been pretty good. So hopefully, the babies come to delivery in a time that doesn't mess up that stuff, but yeah, it's been pretty good. Haven't been riding as much as I'd like to, which is a little sad, I think, but I've been busy with music and family stuff right now as we head into fall, and the cold is impending, so that's all right.

Robin: It was a good riding year, though, man.

Travis: It wasn't bad. I mean, 777 Store is always good. I wish I would've gotten a little more local riding in, but between the new pup and the impending children, I feel like I got a little tied up, but once that gets settled down, I think we'll be good to go.

Robin: Yeah, so basically when you're about 65.

Travis: Yeah, like 20 years from now, it'll be all set.

Robin: Well, we'll be back up there. When I get back there, April 1st-ish.

Travis: Just kidding.

Robin: I'll see if I can't come up with a proposition for opportune scheduling where that one day of each month, we just go berserk for a weekend or something. I don't know, whatever.

Travis: Yeah, well, we're already using your dog's kennel for my dog, so we can't put the babies in there. Anyway, if I'm going to read the script here, Timmy, what have you been up, question mark? I'm going to go off script and go, hey, Tim, how has your month been?

Tim: It's been pretty good. We did a big road trip with Sylvia, and this one, we left the motorcycle behind and took the bicycles and didn't even actually use those. So we just, we never took the bicycles off the truck. We were busy the whole time. Went out to visit friends and family and do a little exploring as well. Went to Philly, went to Hartford, New York City, went to Marblehead, just north of Boston, which driving through Boston was horrible, pulling a camper behind you.

Travis: Yeah, but I think Boston is notoriously the worst city to drive in. Maybe San Francisco is up there.

Robin: DC's pretty, DC sucks.

Travis: I think Boston is always the top of the list because the roads basically predate cars.

Tim: So yeah, well, like, like, uh, even though I stayed on the highway going through there, it was like the classic move was I'm leaving a car length gap in front of me and two cars move in almost at 90 degree angles to get into the lane in front of me. Any signal? No, of course not. No, they just, they just go. It's just insane. So yeah, so once we got done with the East Coast stuff, we started heading back inland and we hit New Hampshire and Vermont during peak fall colors. And it was just stunning, beautiful. And we got into the wilderness and I was so happy to be away from people. It was such a relief.

Travis: When you were in Boston area, did you manage to finagle a bagel?

Tim: No.

Travis: Oh, okay. There's a chain there called finagle a bagel.

Tim: Oh no, no. We went to Marblehead, which is just this little, old, used to be a fishing community, but now it's mostly a nice, very nice Boston suburb and bedroom community kind of place.

Robin: Meaning when they strike you in the jaw, they don't wear, they don't wear brass knuckles. Right.

Tim: Yeah.

Robin: So it was, it was nice. I was talking to Joe Gooden because we were, sorry man, that about how like, you know, back in the early 80s, late 70s, early 80s, you know, the cops, they weren't, they weren't scared to throw. And you know, it was like Boston was one of those towns.

Tim: Oh yeah. So yeah, we went through Niagara and saw the falls and then went north up to Manitoulin Island, which is a beautiful place to be. That's the largest freshwater Island period.

Travis: Is that in Lake Erie? Huron. It's in Huron. Okay.

Tim: Yeah. Yep. So it was, it was gorgeous. We did some hiking and spent a lot of time in the camper. It was just a lovely trip. And then just this last weekend, I finally got out and got some riding in the Driftless again with my friends, Sean and Sandy and a couple others. We were, well, this is Sean and Sandy of the Burr Oak Inn. The breakfast just between Lone Rock and Spring Green.

Robin: Two people that I've tried to reach out to multiple occasions and it's failed miserably. Yeah.

Tim: They're wonderful people. They're, they're busy, busy, busy these days, but.

Robin: That's a new business. It's been fun. Oh, that is. Yeah.

Tim: And it was fun to chat with them and hear about some of the guests they've gotten just from all over the place. Most of them go into like checking out the Frank Lloyd Wright stuff in Spring Green.

Travis: Oh yeah.

Tim: Taliesin and all that.

Travis: Oh, if I may interject for just a moment. Taliesin. So Laurel was lucky enough to get invited to be a guest chef at Taste the Taliesin. So she did the dessert dish there for that event. But then managed, there was a really bad thunderstorm that rolled in that night. And she was driving home down the wooded over, like over wooded where the branches come over narrow gravel stonewalled drive in this torrential thunderstorm.

Robin: So the lost highway. Oh yeah.

Travis: And hit the wall with the car. Oh no. Which, which one? The Kia.

Robin: The Kia.

Travis: Okay. So I was in the shop for like two or three weeks, but everyone was fine. I mean, it was slow, but it was just, be careful out there.

Robin: Which is all right, man. Yeah.

Travis: That will now forever be associated with Frank Lloyd Wright. Excellent.

Robin: Yeah. So what did you do while you were, you know. Oh yeah.

Tim: So, you know, at the Burr Oak Inn, I, after we were done riding, I rode a horse.

Robin: Hey Tim, what else did you do?

Tim: I got thrown from a horse.

Robin: That's exactly how I was hoping that would go. That's exactly how I was hoping we would say that. So it's in the notes here.

Travis: Did it rear or was it a full like loony tunes where it came to an abrupt stop and you kept going?

Tim: That was actually very close to what happened. So this horse wanted to run. And I was doing all that I could to try and slow this thing down. So apparently when you want a horse to go fast, you squeeze it with your legs. Also when you're terrified of falling off, you do the same thing. So I'm giving the horse kind of mixed messages. I try not to fall off and pulling on the reins at the same time saying stop. Whoa.

Robin: Have you ridden a horse before?

Tim: Yeah, but it's been like a decade.

Robin: Yeah. Yeah.

Travis: Well, cause like on a bike, like you're always used to hanging on with the squeeze.

Robin: Oh yeah. Focus on your core.

Travis: So yeah. Cause you want your hands to be loose and you want to hold on with your knees. Yeah.

Tim: Yeah. So this horse is quickly moving from a trot to a canter and I am trying to fight this urge and my feet are kind of like splayed out in the stirrups and I'm bouncing.

Travis: Yeah. Cause you're in a Western saddle too, right?

Tim: Yeah. So I'm giving, I'm doing what I'm supposed to do. You pull, you hold, you tell him, whoa, then you relax. I do that like four times and he's just accelerating, you know, and we're, we're along the we're along the wood, wood edge lung next to a field. And then we're coming to the end of the path and it's turning into the woods and downhill. And the horse says, oh shit, I can't run down that. I need to slow down. So he hits the brakes. I bounce on the sandal. Then the next bounce, I'm on his shoulders. And the next bounce, I'm like, oh my God, we're doing this. I'm going down. I'm over the front of the horse. And I like totally took a header into this and it was just deep sand. So thank God because like I did a forward diving roll, bounce up on my feet, grabbed the horse's reins because I didn't want this horse to run away from me. And he's just got this panicked look on his face. Like what the hell happened? And I'm like, I don't know.

Robin: But he's staying with you? Yeah.

Tim: Hanging out? Yeah. Okay. But he was freaked out the rest of the night. Um, we were speculating maybe there was some coyotes in the area because both him and the other horse were just. Nah, it was just you, Tim. Yeah. So it was like, he was trying to get back to the corral to a safe place.

Robin: I mean, I know that you've capably put a series of different vehicles on the ground in a variety of ways, but you've done it with skill and maybe like finding the limit of certain factors in a very, I know my shit way. So I can't, I can't make this joke with you specifically, but if you were anybody else, if you were somebody who was dumb enough to cause this to happen on accident, like with a certain amount, with a certain lack of skill, I would say your new name is Rex.

Travis: Yeah. In my head, I just see Yosemite Sam going, come on horsey. Won't you please?

Robin: So I remember during our honeymoon, we were in Costa Rica and I, you know, Margaret had never been horseback riding and they brought out a, uh, I signed us up cause you know, I was a stable hand for a long time. I was like, okay. So they bring her out this asthmatic Clydesdale. It's just like, it's going to move at a snail's pace. It's all just happy to see anything as small as her and like may as well have licked her, you know?

Tim: Yeah.

Robin: And then they, they bring me this half broken junior cause on the sheet they ask you for your experience level. I'm like, well, I'm an advanced rider. So they bring me this half broken junior and I'm just gone and like, I'm the whole time I'm just like, okay, so I have to finalize the training on this thing. I have to do like, you know, rear, you know, rear heel, right side, rear heel, left side, get it to turn. And that's, that's an intense vibe.

Tim: Yeah. The horses I've previously ridden were like the go ride a horse event or in back in boy scouts or something like that. And they normally put you on the horse that like, he is going to follow the ass of the horse in front of him.

Robin: Yeah.

Tim: Full stop. He doesn't care. He's done this a thousand days in a row.

Robin: And the retiree.

Tim: Yeah. Yeah. He is not. So this was the first time I'd been on a horse of he's not super young. You know, he was a 12 year old horse, I think. You know, so he's a mature horse, but he's not the ride around. There's take the kids to the resort horse, you know? So she put me on him on a bareback saddle and we just walked around for a while, kind of in the training yard. And that was the first time for me on a bareback saddle. I was like, oh, where do I put my feet? You just tuck them under his belly.

Travis: Oh, so you were, you were, you were bareback or like on a blanket or?

Tim: No, he's not a saddle. Yeah. It was a bareback saddle is basically a thin, it just looks like extra padding.

Travis: Yeah.

Tim: It's kind of, you know, you're just trying to reduce irritation to the horse's back.

Travis: They don't like stirrups or anything.

Tim: Yeah. Well, so that was for the first 45 minutes or so of riding around. Then we swapped it out for a Western saddle. Oh, okay. You know, the old, the big leather beast with a cantle and all that. Yeah. So, and that's what I got chucked off of. And yeah.

Robin: You're okay. You're okay, right?

Tim: Yeah. I got bruised up a little bit, but I'm all right. I mean, considering how many things can go bad when you get tossed off of a horse, you're a long ways up.

Robin: Yeah, man. Frigging six feet often.

Tim: Yeah. His, his, uh, his shoulder was my head height. Yeah. He's a big horse. So yeah.

Travis: It wasn't the Husky 401.

Tim: No, not the one that I barely need to lift my leg to climb on top of.

Robin: All right. Back to motorcycling. What else you got?

Tim: All right. Um, I, I gave it a cleaning and, uh, you know, chain maintenance, which I didn't need, did not tension my chain, but I need to do that. But I also sprayed it with some, uh, ACF 50, the old anti anti-corrosion formula and got a little overspray on the, uh, catalytic catalytic converter. So, you know, it's, uh, the strategy is to try and warm it up to smoke it off without letting it catch fire, fire, bad, fire, bad. So it's like you warm it up. You let, you know, let it start smoking. You turn the bike off. And then until it starts coming down.

Travis: Just spray your cat down with brake cleaner. Does that work? Hold a lighter up to the brake cleaner and then spray it. Well, the brake cleaner will take off anything that's stuck to it. Especially if it's on fire.

Tim: That sounds like it could be make more problems. I mean, not while it's hot. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But it was, it was fine. It was fine. It's like, you just warm it up. You let it cool. You warm it up, let it cool. Do that a couple of times and then go ride. Nice. You know, it's, yeah, it's most of the time it's harder than people think to get things to ignite unintentionally.

Travis: Sure.

Tim: Until it's not. Yeah. Yeah. I've, I've seen a couple of bikes start fires. You know, usually it's because we were riding in like grassy mud or something like that. And it got packed in the engines or you, the best are the dirt bikes, like the DRZ where they, the exhaust comes out and it has this little U loop and then goes back and the mud just packs in that U loop and just gets hot.

Robin: So that just clogs and the grass catches on fire.

Tim: Yes.

Robin: Yeah.

Tim: Usually it just smokes and makes everything very scary, but I have heard rumors of them starting on fire and. It's hot enough to put the plastics up.

Robin: Yeah. And you sold the Africa twin shock?

Tim: I did. That did finally find a new home.

Robin: Nice.

Tim: And he already has it mounted up and said that it is everything he was hoping it was going to be. He's very happy. So thank God it's out of the garage and sold. Did he put it on an Africa twin? He did. Yes. Okay. Yep. All right. Yeah. He'd already done some front suspension mods. So putting the back on, he was really happy with its performance. And I just wish I didn't have to drop the price to 50% of new to get it to sell.

Robin: These are not return on investment machines, man.

Tim: Yeah. From everything I've been reading is like 50% is usually the best you can hope for to return on aftermarket parts.

Robin: Unless it's like a thousand dollar purchase.

Tim: Well, I'm just saying like aftermarket parts. Like if you put that thousand dollar shock on, you're going to get 500 bucks off of it.

Robin: Or if you put a $600 suspension onto a thousand dollar 400, you'll sell that 400 for probably a thousand dollars less than what you bought it for. Anyhow.

Tim: Yeah.

Robin: Cough. Cough. Cough.

Tim: Yep. All right, Robin, how about you? What have you been up to this week, this month?

Robin: Right now I'm doing all kinds of maintenance on the Beamer and I'm discovering quickly like I don't know this bike, of course, still even now after, you know, put 35,000 on it in two years. I still don't know it. Like I did the bandit mechanically. And what I can tell you is that whenever I needed to get parts for that bandit, oh, no problem. But now with this bike, it's like even asking the forums, the responses all read as though I'm talking to a sales rep. You know, you should take it to the dealership. I never worry about those things. I just pay the dealership. It's like, well, then you're boring and you're missing a little bit of what goes into the beauty of motorcycling, the heart of it, you know? So like right now I just need to get the brake pads for the front. And I have a bookmark that shows a list of options. I'm not sure which one is it. It's been complicated. But okay, to go back to my script here, we're in Dripping Springs, Texas. I love Dripping Springs. I forgot how much I love Dripping Springs here. We are staying at one of our sponsors locations, Ranch Road Fabrication, the dot com on the end of it. You guys might remember Joe Godin from an interview we had with him. Wonderful human being, usually. Joe took the Hawk GT as an insisted payment towards us staying here for a good long time. You know, he welcomed us back here no matter what. But I was like, you know what, let's make it worth your while. I gave him the Hawk. So the Hawk has been transferred over to Joe. He is totally, he feels like he got done by that. And I feel fantastic about that. Every time he looks at it, he's like, you know what, I need his brake pads. I'm gonna have to do all kinds of stuff to it. I'm like, yeah, your life sucks. And I think that's wonderful.

Tim: Oh, let's see. Make the point that he didn't like come up and like, get it in a truck.

Robin: No, he flew to Grayslake, Illinois and rode it back to Texas by way of the freaking Missouri Ozarks for a rally.

Tim: Awesome. Absolutely awesome. Yeah, man.

Robin: On a, on a what, 40 year old, 89 with that. It's an 88. It's the first year that the Hawk GT existed. I mean, it is a great machine. It's, I'm happy for him. 31 year old bike. Certainly vintage. The rear shock is original. Oh, it's on the, no, the whole thing is. The whole suspension is the, there are no race techs up front. I changed the fork oil to a heavier weight. What's that fork oil?

Travis: Yeah.

Robin: I warned him excessively. I was like, you shouldn't do that. You should just pay to have it shipped. You know, free bike, have it shipped. He's like, no, man. So he did though. He did it. Only Godin can pull that off. I mean, Tim, I give you some serious cred, but if you add an ingredient of crazy into the mix, you're riding to Texas, South Texas, Austin, you know, like nuts.

Tim: Yeah, that was, that was impressive. And a little bit questionable.

Robin: Yeah.

Tim: I like it.

Robin: And he still went, he still triangulated it. Like he went to a Greg White wrote, wrote it while he was there. He's like, this thing's kind of a hoot. I kind of like it. He's going to be asking the questions.

Travis: I like the way the rear tire bounces around in mid-corner.

Robin: Or how the swing arm swings horizontally. Like the whole joist of the rear section switches in parallel to the earth.

Tim: Is that needle bearings in the back? Or is that just like...

Travis: Well, it's a single sided swing arm. It's probably got some sort of bearing in there. Not a plain bearing.

Tim: Or just like a bushing.

Robin: Probably. Not, I would guess a bushing, just a rubber greased, like that's it. With some peanut butter in there or some bullshit. So then, so we got down here and it's been great. You know, we've been warming up to each other again, hanging out. Maggie's happy. I'm happy. Joe's happy. Celebrated my birthday, 45 years old, years young, whatever, with some greasy chicken and a local ride on one of the routes that we remember from down here. I forget how great, it's just beautiful here. Enjoying beautiful sunsets every night that are up a hill that's only 50 yards away in the middle of rural nowhere. It's just amazing. So we're good there. As far as the site's concerned, I'm working on an article. I'm trying to get writing again, man. I want to write for the site so bad, or at least I want to have new content that's worth posting. The ideas I'm getting from volunteers are not, they're just not good. So I'm working on an article that compares USB ports, which surprisingly has started coming up in conversation on the Facebook pages, the FaceBalls. So then I realized quickly that living, and I'm reading right from the sheet here. I realized that living rural means I need to manufacture some social time. So I joined a bunch of the Austin area motorcycle groups, and I'm going to check those out. I joined like Austin Venmoto. I joined Austin Sportbikes, Austin Riders, all this stuff. Collectively though, I'm seeing a lot of stolen bike reports. I'm thinking I need to write something about motorcycle security and like locking mechanisms, however effective they might be. Something that's just, if it's just a deterrent, a little bit of a deterrent. I mean, low jacks, physical security, they're worth the scratch, even if you don't trust that they'll work. I mean, we've seen that video of the guys that roll in with two by fours, and they just lift stacks of bikes.

Travis: Yeah, they just lift bikes up and put them in a van.

Robin: They're gone. I mean, it's that quick.

Travis: Yeah, like locking, immobilizing the bike onto itself is not an effective theft deterrent to someone who really wants to steal it. It needs to be attached to an immovable object. Yeah.

Robin: Picture three or four guys rolling up with 15 feet of two by four or four by four, running them under a row of motorcycles, and then lifting them up Roman style into a truck and driving away. Guess what? That happens. So, that's who you want to imagine yourself fighting. Go up against that. See if you can beat it with whatever security you can for your own bike.

Travis: That's also the, you know, there's an old saying, the best theft deterrent you can have is good insurance.

Robin: Yeah, that too. Yes. Or, yeah, the will to accept a higher deductible.

Travis: Or, I mean, you know, if it is a chronic thing in your area, take, you know, apply your local motorcycle hangouts. If there's a place where, you know, motorcycles frequent, you have some sort of basically bike rack equivalent for motorcycles that you can chain your motorcycle to.

Tim: Yeah.

Travis: Oh, yeah.

Robin: What I need is something that can change its gravitational weight on arrival.

Travis: Does that exist yet? Just like we got a 1034 in progress. Failure to scoop. I'm trying. It weighs as much as a thousand suns.

Tim: It's just so disheartening, man. When you, especially when you start digging into it, it's like everything out there, every security measure you can think of, it just takes a little time and they're going to have it, you know? So usually it's how much of a pain in the ass can you make it?

Travis: Yeah, everything is just a deterrent. It's not, there's no foolproof.

Tim: Yeah. Yeah. And often, you know, cover it. If it's covered, they don't know what it is. They may just go to the thing that they can readily identify.

Robin: Yeah.

Travis: Or just, you know, ride a beater.

Tim: Yeah. Buy something that, you know, if you've got one that you're in high crime area, don't buy a fancy bike for your commuter.

Robin: Something that doesn't require a GS911, which I just received in the mail, a $400 tool that allows me to turn off the stupid wrench after I get everything done. Oh my goodness. Yeah, it lets you do other things too. A whole bunch of stuff, but it's still a pain in the butt. It lets you see all the readings on the motor, CPU, ECU, both, whatever.

Tim: Why in the world couldn't they just use a standard, what is it?

Travis: ODB2? Yeah.

Robin: I don't know, but here's what I will say. I started and founded TheRidingObsession.com. This is, it's a sport touring motorcycle website. I will never own another BMW motorcycle after this one ever again. And I advise nobody to ever purchase one of this nature in their riding career. Only for that reason. It is a, the community is useless. As far as I can tell, useless for this particular bike. Maybe you shouldn't worry about it. Don't worry about the oil change of the coolant. Don't worry about it. Just don't worry about it. Take it to the dealer. Just take it to the dealer. Yuppie.

Travis: Don't buy a BMW any newer than 2005, basically.

Robin: Yeah. I mean, Travis had like the last awesome BMW machine to ever let you get away with anything.

Tim: Yeah. That was a great bike. You know, the funny thing is I am seriously looking at the BMW C650 GT. The big scooter.

Robin: Okay. Well, why don't you read the maintenance effort and see, like my manual says, all right, it's time to change the oil. Take it to a certified certification certify.

Tim: Yeah. Yeah. That's always nonsense.

Travis: But you can't turn off, you can't turn off the light that says change the oil unless you take it. The wrench ain't going away.

Robin: And that's a 75 bucks.

Travis: Yeah.

Robin: I changed the oil myself. Well, still, we got to charge you for basically a half working hour. That's $75. I'm going to burn your establishment to the ground overnight.

Tim: So you got your own gadget. Now you can charge 50 bucks to other people to turn off their lights.

Robin: I could actually. I can add nine more VINs after the only BMW VIN I'll ever add to this tool. And I tell you, when I sell the bike, I'm not selling the tool. That'll be a rental item for somebody.

Tim: Yeah.

Robin: Wrapping my stuff up. I'm also doing my damn just to get coaching the MSF courses down here to make some scratch in Texas. I thought Wisconsin was demanding in their out-of-state coaching certification. Texas, they're hard line as it gets, man. I had to get a letter of recommendation, not from the guy that runs the Northern program, the state representative for the MSF. I had to get that guy. And he did. I had to get a sponsor who wanted to hire me. And then I had to get fingerprinted digitally. And then they had to do a background check. And then they had to check my driving record. And then they told me they'd find somebody to observe me, hopefully by next month.

Travis: Well, first thing they did was issue your gun.

Robin: Yeah. Welcome to Texas. Here's your gun. Here's a gun. Here's some bullets. Here's like some anti-psychotics. That's my update. Travis, you are back up to bat.

Travis: In my note, this month in motorcycle history, that's not even me. That is you. Oh, why am I in charge of this? You have to say it like an old timey. This month in motorcycle history. Tragedy strikes them. I don't want to read this. Tragedy strikes. I can't read in like a funny voice. I just have to read it normally. Death. Tragedy strikes the motorcycle racing world when a propane gas tank explodes inside a caravan, killing British Grand Prix racer David Simmons. Simmons was in Rougie, France, enjoying a race with friends as only a spectator. David Simmons had won the 1969 125cc Grand Prix World Championship for Kawasaki. And it was Kawasaki's very first world championship.

Robin: Yeah. Now, there'd be a whole lot other stuff for this month in motorcycle history, but we already read it last week or whatever. There's nothing new. And so with that, yeah, let's get into this month's feature segments. Travis Burleson, what year, make, model are we focused on today?

Travis: Well, it's late October as we record this. It's that time of the year when there's so much rumor and gossip about upcoming bikes. I thought we'd talk a little bit about that. I think last time we did talk about the rumor of an Africa Twin powered NT Veradero or Deville. We talked about that last time. 1,000 or 1,100cc, but there hasn't really been too many whispers of that coming up in the 2020 year. What we have seen is this R1600 or R1800 concept. And there was a rolling one that was debuted. It kind of had that classic R32 original BMW hardtail look to it, even though it wasn't. This giant retro styled big opposed boxer engine from BMW. And then there's also been this R1600 concept that's been tossed around, which is more of a modern version of it, but like a bigger version of the R motor from BMW, which I think they just look cool. Whether or not they come to fruition is another thing, but that's something that's been tossed about in the ether. Something that's a little more solid is a mid-sized BMW Sport Tourer. They're taking the new F850 twin platform that the F850GS is based off of and making an F850RS. So essentially a smaller version of the latest version of your bike, Robin.

Robin: Yeah, if I could get that for four digits, I'm in.

Travis: Yeah, I mean, it's not going to be under 10 grand, this BMW. But if it comes in under 15, I think it would be a player. I think some of the pics and renditions that are out there look pretty good. But it's something that's out there. F850RS looks a lot like the current 1250RS or the 1100XR, whatever they call their S1000 derived adventure tour. So modern, pointy, dual headlighted sport tour adventure style language with a chain drive based on the new... Pissed off headlights. Yeah, well, it's that BMW language. It's like I said, it's similar to the current stuff. So that'd be interesting. It'd be great if it came to the United States. I'd love to see the Japanese bring in something competitive with that at a better price point. Right now, the only thing is really the Tracer 900, which is still $12,000. I would love to see the Tracer 700 come to the United States. We've talked about that before because the MT07 or FZ07, highly rated third gear power wheelies from a 700.

Robin: Yeah, it's a silly bike. Unnecessary behavior.

Travis: Yeah, but the sport touring version, the Tracer, which is in Europe, has the longer swing arm and the luggage and the fairing. A little more practical day to day for a commuter for touring. Would love to see that come to the States and we'll see if that ever actually happens. Also, in Europe and European brands, the KTM 790. So the 790 Duke has been around for a while. And the 790 Adventure, which is the adventure bike with the spoke wheels, the 21 inch front wheel. There's been some rumor that they're going to do essentially a Duke GT version.

Robin: Really now?

Travis: That'd be nice. And again, whether or not that comes to the United States. As anybody's guess, motorcycle sales have been lacking in the United States. And the sport touring segment, despite being the focus of this podcast, I think the focus of a lot of people's riding is a bit of a niche segment. The adventure segment has been the big one. I mean, even if they did a 790 Adventure with a 1917 cast wheel combo, essentially a sport tourer. These days, it's like the V-Strom 1000 is basically a sport tourer.

Tim: Well, this is very much like what Michael bought, a scaled down version of his bike. He's got the super tanker version of the 1290 Super Adventure. Yep.

Travis: Our friend Michael has the one-year-only 1290 Adventure T with the 1917 cast wheels.

Robin: As unique as he is. You've seen the Super Duke though, right, Tim?

Tim: Oh, yeah.

Robin: Yeah. Same motor. And the only downfall is that maybe that octagon luggage doesn't exactly do much. Oh, sure. The top loading box stuff. Holy crap.

Tim: When I rode with him, I spent far more time looking in my mirrors mesmerized by the cornering lights turning on and off.

Travis: So, yeah, I mean, that would be super cool. I think there was talk of there being like a 790 or maybe even like an 890 because they strive to meet Euro 5 emissions. Well, they're trying to do a 250. Is it a 250 Adventure? They're trying to do it.

Tim: Talk about the 250 Adventure.

Travis: There's some small displacement stuff for Asia and tiered licensing in Europe.

Tim: And I also heard that they're talking about replacing the Duke 390 engine with a small displacement parallel twin somewhere in the upper 400cc range.

Travis: Yeah. Because, yeah, as they run for Euro 5 emissions requirements, it seems to be the trend is bump displacement. So bump displacement up to make it more efficient. So, like, you bump it up 100cc and you basically get the same power or like 510 more horsepower, but you meet the emissions requirements.

Robin: OK, nice.

Travis: There was also, I think, I didn't put it on here, but I remember seeing something about Kawasaki doing a new 250 four-cylinder. Really? That's supposed to make like 60 horsepower.

Robin: So it's 475cc cylinders. What?

Travis: Yeah.

Tim: Oh, my goodness. That is wild.

Travis: And I imagine it will rev like 18,000 because the pistons are like teeny tiny. And that's how it makes like 60 horsepower. That was the thing. I don't know if that's true or not.

Robin: 63. 63cc cylinders across the board.

Travis: Yeah.

Robin: That's hilarious. I love it. I mean, it's going to be quick revving, but it's going to be just like a zoo.

Travis: Honda did do something like that back in the 70s. Yeah. So I don't know. Yeah. Going to rev to the heavens and back. But yeah, I don't know. That's kind of off topic, but that would be fun for sure.

Robin: Heck yeah.

Travis: But yeah, it'll be interesting to see what they do with Euro 5 coming up for the global manufacturers. And I mean, I guess tangentially to see what happens with electric bikes, though. They can not really focus on a model, but talk about the current status of bikes. Livewire, they just announced that they are having a recall and a cease production.

Robin: No, no, no. They're back in production. They're back in production.

Travis: Yeah. But they had to like stop and figure out and like recall stuff and figure out the charger on their bike. On a $30,000 flagship. Yeah.

Robin: I want to buy my electric bike, but I'm not going to buy that.

Tim: No.

Robin: Right.

Tim: Yeah. Well, one of the things that I dislike the most about the whole thing is Harley's advertising makes it sound like they invented the electric bike and they're the only one and they're class leaders. And frankly, they're late to the party and they're not competitive with Zero. No.

Robin: Not even close.

Tim: Zero's got it. That SRF is the direct competitor and it beats it on every stat.

Robin: Yeah. Better rake, better posture.

Travis: Better range, better power, lower price.

Tim: Yeah. Yeah. $10,000 lower.

Robin: And they're not even considering what's happened before that. The Vectrex.

Tim: Oh yeah. Or the old, what is it, Bremo?

Robin: Yeah.

Tim: Stuff before Victory bought them and shut them down.

Travis: Yeah.

Tim: That was good stuff there.

Travis: Or even the Energica. Yeah. The Italian. I mean, that's a proper, they're the only one making a proper sport bike version.

Robin: The Energica was, are they still around?

Travis: Yeah.

Robin: So Energica, I mean, they need to get louder because I remember how much I was into that.

Travis: I mean, they're European. They're small scale. And I feel like most of their market is in Europe. I mean, though they do, they are present in the States, but anyway.

Robin: Yeah. We're going to get to that in a minute. Anyhow, this may have to be a two-parter. You guys may have just completed two episodes.

Travis: Worth of yammering about. So anyway, Tim's got some new kit for us to talk about. Some comms. Some cams. Some camity cam cam cam.

Robin: Nice cams.

Tim: Yeah. So this is the Sena or whatever you want to call them. This is the 10C Evo. This is the newest version of their headset, Bluetooth headset and communicator with integrated camera. And they're up in their game and they're up to the 4K at 30 frames per second. And, you know, their audio integration is fantastic from everything I've heard. But it's going to be an interesting thing to see how they compete with the traditional GoPro who has been, you know, the leader of action cams. And they just came out with their paper smooth stuff. So if this comes out and it's got good quality stabilization, I could see this going really well with a lot of the motorcycle guys because you don't have to mess with an extra gadget.

Travis: Yeah. It's like you're calm. You're recording your video. It's all one signal instead of having your GoPro and then having your audio recorder. And then also if you're in a group where I like having a calm integrated also.

Tim: Yeah. So that's, that's really, you know, until we get our hands on one. That's about all we got to say about it. Really.

Robin: That's maybe I can do that. Let me, I'll work on that. I'll work on that. I was going to say that, like, we're still using the 10.

Tim: Yep.

Travis: That's 10R. But yeah, I mean, I have no problems with this last long.

Robin: If there's anything that Sina has mastered, it's, it's putting buttons in a place where people will know where to reach for the thing they want to do.

Tim: I saw a Kickstarter campaign for this silly thing that it was basically, have you heard of the bone conduction microphones and speakers? They basically, they rest up against your inner ear, the bones along your jaw or stuff like that.

Robin: They use your jaw as a resonator.

Tim: Yeah, I've heard of this. So this is a company that I already have spaced the name of the company. I'm so terribly sorry, but they use your helmet as the resonator.

Robin: We've heard, we've all seen this. Okay, go on, you got lead.

Tim: All right. So this gadget, the biggest problem is they mounted it dead center on top of the helmet.

Robin: Aerodynamics, anybody?

Tim: Aerodynamics. And, and they showed a short video of a lady tapping herself on top of the head. And I'm just like, I do not want to go looking for buttons up there. No. It's like the center is always nice. It's like, it's right at your chin.

Travis: I still maintain that what I would love to see is like a comms, navigation, Bluetooth, mobile phone integration tool. That's a box that you hardware into your bike and it runs, it runs off your bike power. It's not attached to your helmet at all. It runs off your bike power. So you don't have to charge it. You want to make sure it's not dead. Don't worry about a battery going bad after a couple of years. And then you just run a Bluetooth battery option to your helmet for buds or in helmet speakers and microphone, or you just run a line, you know, an easy disconnect line up to your helmet for ears and mouth. But all the goo gobs and all the power is running off of your bike.

Robin: All right. Hold on one second, because we are, I already did this right up a while ago. The thing is wired or wireless was what I'm searching for. My own search engine on our site is failing me.

Tim: Oh no.

Robin: Oh, here it is. Yeah. This might be right. Motorcycle helmet, intercom systems, a definitive buyer's guide is the main headline. Wired or wireless? The Starcom one. So this is dated. I wrote this back in 14. And man, I used to actually know how to write. Now I can't freaking even use Silly Putty properly against the newspaper. This, this is dated tech, but the Starcom one does precisely what you're talking about. Everything is hardwired and it's not the worst system. They have a diagram here that I had pasted into the article that is pretty gorgeous. You can run a Zumo 550, a Bluetooth phone. Oh, a Bluetooth phone. Oh my. Then a two-way radio, radar detector, passenger to passenger. Anyhow, it's a, I'll link you guys in the actual chat here. But anyhow, the problem is I don't even know if that exists anymore.

Travis: I mean, there's a website, starcomone.com. Yeah.

Tim: I always wonder like how many people before they buy them, they poll their friends. Like, what do you, what do you buy? What do you buy? Yeah. Because the universal compatibility still isn't there. Betamax!

Travis: Yeah, right. Like, I mean, I know that is the, so I know there was, one of the big things is that Cardo has the, the, the instant mesh technology now. Which if you're riding a big group is, is arguably better. Cause like someone can pull away, come back and you go right back in the group chat.

Tim: Yeah. It treats everybody like a relay. So the guy in the back is like talking to the guy in the front with no problem.

Travis: Yeah. But the SANA does offer an option to pair your com to another brand as a separate Bluetooth device. You lose some of the features, but it's like, you can make it work with SANA. And so that's good. But yeah, I really wish they would just be like, you know, everyone would stop trying to be Apple and sell their own things and just use USB. Like, just like come up with a thing, use it and everyone will be happier. Oh yeah. Stop trying to make us buy two different headsets, you know?

Tim: Yeah. You know, I've kind of given up on some of the fancy ones because I, most of the time I'm riding by myself, you know, and I, I want some tunes.

Robin: I just want music to get adrenalized too. And then stay high alert and whoop some ass on the bike.

Travis: Yeah. And then just, so he doesn't have to talk to me.

Robin: That too. Unless my wife is, unless my wife or Travis is there. In my wife's case, what I want to do is talk and hear about how she's feeling for the duration of the ride. Absolutely. Oh yeah. Just making sure that that's announced in public to understand that that's, I truly live for that. And if Travis is there, I just want to find the point where I can say like, all right, bye.

Travis: Listening to music now. And then I can chime in and be like, Robin, Robin, we were supposed to turn back there. Robin, we didn't, we didn't turn. We were supposed to turn.

Robin: And it happens every fucking time, every fucking time. And now we are definitely going to be on the, our, our list for this podcast. All right.

Tim: All right. What's Fix It Sticks? All right. Fix It Sticks is the little, uh, uh, little.

Robin: We discussed them in the last podcast.

Tim: The screwdriver bit drivers.

Robin: They're T-drivers.

Tim: Yeah. They're like disassemble, T-drives that you can disassemble, put them back together.

Travis: Oh yeah. It was like super portable, lightweight tool.

Tim: Yep. And I've had some time to, to use them while I've been riding the mountain bike and just really like them. So I've went back on their site and found a, they've got a version that has a little quick spin, like the little spinner T-drives.

Robin: Yeah. So it's actually, you gotta, it's got something that spins under it. Yeah.

Tim: Like a bearing in it.

Travis: And you can like.

Tim: Yeah. They just, so if you're doing, you're using it like a T-drive, you know, instead of turning your wrist every damn time, you just kind of like give it a spin and it'll use its own momentum to, you know, once you've broken loose the screw. So I ordered a set of that, uh, put in the moto toolkit.

Robin: Of course you did.

Tim: Yeah.

Robin: I see the guilt on your face, man.

Tim: And then I've got to get, you know, I've got torques, drive, um, screwdriver bits, you know, so I've got all of that. So basically taking, I'm mimicking the stock toolkit, but it's going to be half the size.

Travis: Yeah.

Tim: Nice. Yeah. So, so yeah, I'm a, I'm a fan. I'm a fan. I endorse.

Travis: Yeah. So are you keeping the, uh, the pickled herring that comes in the Husqvarna stock toolkit? Or.

Tim: No, I'm going to put that with the chainsaw oil. Okay.

Robin: Oh man.

Tim: The two stroke mix. We got an agenda here. I don't know. What are we doing? What are we doing? All right.

Robin: This is you spontaneously introducing me. Like it's part of a conversation.

Tim: Oh, Robin, you're up. Oh, am I? You're up. What article are you going to read this episode?

Robin: I don't know. I just don't know.

Tim: I don't know. It's almost like you highlighted that on the page for me.

Robin: Yeah. I haven't finished my latest article for this month. I really want the site to get more material, good material, solid material. Um, and I just haven't had time to do it. Life has, uh, life has kicked me square in the nuts. All right.

Tim: So you want me to send you more scooter photos?

Robin: I will post more scooter photos because that's all 50 yards away. Those are the sunsets we get to see anytime we want. Yeah.

Travis: They're right there. I was going to reach out if anyone's listening and they want to write something, want to reach out. They think they got something pertinent, they want to say, or some, a topic, you know, reach out to TRO.email in your web browser or, uh, you know, podcast at the running fish.com. Drop us a line, give us a topic or say, Hey, you know, I'd like to write something up and we'll, we'll work with him. We'll make it work.

Robin: I'll tell you right now, between the three of us, we're able to produce about a one podcast every two months if we're lucky. And probably we can do more now because we're going to flex it, I guess. And again, between the three of us, each of us can probably get an article done once every two months. And Tim is just trying to get his toes wet with that even. And so you take all the time in the world you need. And Travis, you've got enough on your plate, man. It's not like it's something I can ask. I've got, I've got my own burdens. So like, so if I read from the script here, I've not yet finished my article about, for this month. So I'm reverting to a previous, but not yet read post by Brian Ringer called 10 Commandments for the ST Ride Leader. That's the sport touring ride leader. And you know what? Maybe we'll open with that in the next episode. But the point is, we're going to continue on recording this one.

Travis: So let's just assume I just read that. Yeah. And that brings us to updated site features and developments from Mr. Robin Dean, our webmaster guru overlord. Super geek.

Robin: Master of all things password to the freaking Instagram account, you fucks. Putting pictures of me on Uncle Sam, you know, and Travis is the one that did it. And I thought it was Tim because I just figured, oh, Tim's the only one that's that freaking crazy.

Travis: No, Tim was at work. He had better stuff to do.

Robin: So now like Tim's posting pictures of dead squirrels with Wonder Woman riding on them. And it's like, don't do that. Don't do that.

Travis: And then Travis is like, watch this. Hold my freaking beer. Well, Robin's like, don't, I'm tired of my face on Instagram. So I literally copy pasted his face on Instagram.

Robin: All I'm trying to do is take this website that makes next to no money. It makes like almost nothing per month and make it look like we have actual staff.

Travis: Like, oh, we're all in on it.

Robin: And we're big, successful, important.

Travis: Robin, our gift is authenticity.

Robin: That's super.

Travis: You're super.

Robin: All right. So here's what I got done this month. I managed to get, because I was working on so much other crap. Managed to get all TRO-specific JavaScripts into a single .js file on the server.

Travis: Everyone knows that JavaScript is the premier programming language.

Robin: Okay. If JavaScript were a car, just Google that. Just Google it. JavaScript were a car. You'll see what the hell I had to deal with. Just to, you know, I do speak the language.

Travis: I hate speaking it. Speaking of Instagram posts, we do have a question. Two and a half questions, maybe. 2.5 questions. From the venerable Mr. Greg White, how much better does all the latest tech make sport toying, so this is something we were talking about earlier, appended with, is it necessary, nice to have, or just unnecessary, expensive fluff that will leave you stranded?

Robin: Let's stop there. Let's leave that as the contained element.

Travis: Let's say one and a half questions, yeah.

Robin: That's one and a half, 1.5. Yeah, well, if I may continue rambling for a moment. Tim goes first. We got to make Tim go first, because he's so quiet, and he's got the most, you know what I mean? This will be awkward as shit.

Tim: All right, so let me think. Like, we'll go with the touring part of the sport, sport touring first. If we go with a cruise control, I would love to have had cruise control going through Iowa or Kansas. So it's not so much the sport part of it. It's the highway drone to get to the fun stuff.

Travis: That would have been nice. It's the opportunity to take a nap while you're riding. I mean, not literally, but yeah.

Tim: No, I mean literally. To let your hand relax, you know? You just kind of, you got your fingertips on the bars, and that's it, and you're looking at the birds, and you're looking over to see if the soccer mom is yelling at her kids or just beating them, or what's going on there.

Travis: If I may interject, I do believe I saw a thing that BMW is working on radar-guided cruise control for their motorcycles. Yeah, they are. For that RS, they are.

Tim: Yeah, and then like I said, the fun things that they can do with the inertial mass unit, the IMU in the modern computers is fascinating. I would absolutely love to have the cornering headlights.

Travis: And lean sensitive like ABS and traction control.

Tim: Yeah.

Travis: That'd be pretty cool.

Tim: And it's, you know, for 90% of your riding, you'd never notice it's there. But it may be the difference that keeps you on the road on that nasty bit of corner that you come around, and there's a car in the lane, you know.

Travis: Or gravel, or it's wet, or a goat.

Tim: Oh my goodness, I almost got flattened a while ago.

Robin: You don't realize it's there, and then you get on a 1980 Suzuki GS, and then you, for fuck's sake, you goddamn know it ain't.

Tim: Yeah, yeah. So yeah, I've had a couple times when I've been rambunctious, and I like, on the Africa Twin, I had the, usually it was a little heavy-handed on the back brake, or heavy footed. So I've locked up the back, and I felt the ABS kick in on that a couple times. And I would have been fine, you know, I would have just dragged the back end around the corner a little bit. But it's one of those things that like, I know it could have just as well gone from dragging the back end around the corner to sliding the back end around the corner and down into the ditch.

Robin: That's physical safety tech, man. And it's like, I'm letting you say it. I'm just letting it go by. I don't even need to hear it, because I know you're on the money about that.

Tim: Yeah, so one of the things that I love the most about ABS is that when they fail, you just have brakes. I mean, that's like, you could pull the fuse, and you just got regular-ass brakes.

Travis: Yeah, well, that's that old Mitch Hedberg joke. Escalator becomes stairs.

Tim: Yeah.

Travis: Escalator is now stairs. Sorry for the convenience.

Tim: Yes, yeah. So some of the other more fancy things, the traction controls, if they fail, they're basically just not doing anything. But they do have the chance of, you know, you're adding more complexity.

Travis: Yeah, or like putting your bike in limp mode, and now it's like no fun.

Robin: Yeah, any time I've felt traction control not doing anything, it's just become, the bike has just become weak. So anyhow, it's like it's defaulted. Let's pass the baton here. Let's pass the mic around. Travis B., you're up on the mic.

Travis: Yeah, well, I have to agree with Tim. Like, you know, definitely like, you know, ABS, just blanket statement, is probably a good thing. Definitely, definitely you want it switchable, I think, is an option, depending on what the bike is maybe meant to do, or what you want to do with it. And obviously, any adventure off-road bike, you want to be able to at least turn the back wheel ABS off. Anything you want to be doing like serious track time with, you want to be able to turn the ABS off. But it's generally a good thing. But not necessarily, especially on the bigger sport-terrain bikes, right? Like, I feel like on my NC700, which doesn't have anything, that's fine.

Robin: K1600.

Travis: Yeah, totally manageable. But on the 600-pound bike, or like a Concourse 1400, K1600, you know, high-powered touring machines. It's like, those, I don't want to say nannies, but those tools are very helpful. And I think, you know, the manufacturers also, you know, maybe need to give you the option to turn them off if desired, because... You're into disabling this shit, is the theme that I'm detecting. Not most of the time, but like, there might be times when you want to. And definitely, there's times when, you know, people will complain that the traction control cuts in too early, or cuts in too hard. Riding modes, those are key. Yeah, so it's like, you go to crack the throttle open and have some fun, and it just goes, it just turns off. And you're like, what? You know, so it's like...

Robin: It's like, with my RS, I could leave that thing, I could leave that bike in dynamic mode all the time, if I could afford the tires.

Tim: Yeah. Yeah.

Robin: It's just, but the transition from road mode, which is the middle ground to dynamic mode, which is the hate earth mode, it just, there's no leeway. It just goes complete ape shit. There's no gray area.

Travis: Or especially, I'm like, more like the newer, more powerful bikes. You know, you have the TFT display, the full color menu display that can display anything, you know, and the controls, like having a fairly extensive user option, where you could really go in and tailor that. So, and it's like, I understand, I mean, I don't know legally what the liabilities would be for the company, and how they would word that, or like put it in the agreement, or something for the usage of the machine. But it's like, yeah, what tires are you using? What is your level of competence as a rider? What kind of riding are you doing? Where are you riding? What are the roads like? Like if you, yeah, if you put it in dynamic mode, and you just, and you just eat tires, well, then you don't want to do that. But if you put it in like one mode down from the top mode, and now it doesn't do any of the things you want it to do, well, then that's no good either. So it's, you know, it is, like everything else, it's complicated, and it's a double-edged sword. So it's really up to the manufacturers to kind of get that balance just right. Generally, I think that the new electronic doodads are definitely good, or they can be good. But, you know, there's also nothing wrong with just an analog motorcycle. But then I don't think there's also any shortage of analog motorcycles right now. So if you really hated that, there's no reason you can't buy a great bike from the late 90s or early 2000s that has all the power performance, you know, suspension of a modern bike, and none of the electronic stuff to go along with it. That's really well put. I think you could really, like, if you really care that much, you could have it, and really, honestly, have it for pennies on the dollar than buying the latest $30,000 flagship from Ducati or BMW, right? So, I mean, I don't think, to kind of go into like necessary nice to have or unnecessary, it's definitely all nice to have. In certain circumstances, I think it's nice, I think it is necessary. Like ABS, you know, those essential things, and things that are good, especially on the high powered stuff.

Robin: Okay, you're in the rabbit hole, and you're just going up and down.

Travis: That's just me. Like, I'm technical, and it's complicated, and my answer is it depends, and it's more complicated than that.

Robin: No, I can see the diuretic.

Tim: Yeah, I will see you. One of those bikes that had absolutely nothing that I had was the DR650. And that was the classic bike that you could take apart and reassemble with a 10 millimeter. Yeah, you could, if you had a 10 millimeter socket, an eight millimeter socket, and a set of vice grips, you could probably do a full engine rebuild on that damn thing. It was the classic. Yeah, it was the, you know, you can take it apart in a parking lot, and put it back together, and run. You know, we did all sorts of silly things with the damn thing. Burn out a clutch, you open it up, you lay it on its side so it doesn't drop the oil, you open up the side case, you put a couple washers behind the springs to get a little more grip to limp you to the next place where you can get service. You can do that. And, you know, it's carbureted. It's got no electronic doodads at all. It's got lights. That's your, it's got lights. There's your electric start. That's your, the extent of the sophistication of the DR650.

Travis: So you've basically confirmed the value of the analog. But the DR makes what? 30 horsepower and weighs 350 pounds? A little bit more than that, yeah. But that power to weight ratio pretty much complements the discussion. It's not a ZR, it's not a, what's the supercharged Kawasaki, the Z2 or whatever?

Tim: Yeah, this is the classic.

Travis: It's not, it's not an S1000RR, you know.

Tim: And it doesn't do anything all that well.

Travis: It's not a Concourse 1400. It's not an R1200RS. It's not, it's not an S1000X. Like it's, nope.

Robin: Oh, so here's my, here's what I want to say about this. To answer Greg's question, based on what I'm hearing from Travis and Tim, and I've got, this is a twofold answer. The first answer is, if the bike has something called limp mode in its ECU, it can and very well may fail you because that is the opportunity by a no longer, a now zombie overrun dealership, all right? So if you have to deal with something called limp mode, then they have purposefully installed that as opposed to another option they could have accepted, which was analog mode, where they bypass the ECU completely and it becomes, oh, I don't know, a motorcycle because they want you to come in and have them post-process the digital interface via Wi-Fi next to a Starbucks.

Tim: Well, the problem is the fuel injection is controlled by that thing.

Robin: Fuel injection's a big deal.

Tim: So you're never going to get that pure analog.

Robin: Mechanical fuel injection is something that we, right? So, but to expand my second fold answer is that there's the other world that he may have intended in this question that we're now considering and that's the navigational bullshit, the interfacing, the human interface, the geekology because I use a lot of the geekology on my bike, man. I've got, you know, I almost, a well-known mutual friend of the three of us, you know, he shall remain nameless for the sake of, but when he rolled up on my bandit, which was an analog machine for the most part and saw that I had a GPS unit and a phone unit next to it that was running GPS. I mean, so what I was doing and what I do for like our commercial tours is I've got a phone that has our digital route queued up and that digital route on the phone is, it's offline mode. It has the route, it has the lunch stops, the scenic locations, the opportune advanced version of the route. Travis has experienced this firsthand and then my GPS unit has the, look, we can't do that even though we're a $600 standalone unit, but we do have your purple line that you told us to hold on to so you can see your purple line on there and follow it if the phone should fail. So I've got one phone that says these people are paying for this and another system that says, these people paid for this. These are two interfaces that then run wirelessly to my helmet and my comm to play music and on it goes and on it goes. Do I feel like that's fluff? I mean, can I enjoy riding a naked bike with no tech and all of the safety gear on my person? Abso-fricking-lutely. So Greg, I hope that answers the 1.5 of your question. Here's the 2.5 section of that question. Greg asks, how far out is a viable electric sport touring bike? I've got an answer preloaded.

Tim: All right, I will go first on that. I think that we are a major development in battery technology away from a viable sport touring bike because the simple fact is, sport touring is higher speeds, longer range, and higher speeds is specifically where electronic bikes tend to fall off on range. So I think we're probably good 20 years plus.

Travis: 20 years? Yep. Yeah, I would say five to 10. Yep, me too. Because I think the major automotive manufacturers see the ride on the wall and they're playing it close to the chest, but I think that they're sinking money into this and it will come to light in five to 10 and we'll figure it out.

Robin: The cushion with which that they can have a deaf ear on the consumer is becoming thinner and thinner and thinner. And there's already an answer to the problem of range. So the guy who invented the lithium ion battery, John Goodenow, there's an article out there, nobody is going to put this idea in a coffin. It can't be done. This man has already proven his point. He cares about the ability to store electrical charge. He's got a knack for it. And he had a middle of the night epiphany. Now, remember, it takes more than one person to tango. This guy had a team of inventors. He's not lacking humility. He's a good guy. He had an epiphany in the middle of the night that if he jackets these cells with pulverized glass, he can extend their storage capacity by anywhere between three to five times. Our current range is 200 miles. This guy's idea, which is not yet safe, it was just something he realized, would turn a 200 mile range to, at the mean, 800 miles. So this means an 800 mile day is a prospective option on an electric motorcycle or any vehicle that makes use of the lithium ion battery. Now those batteries, I wasn't too familiar about their safety issues. I got to say thanks to Kevin Mulcahy. He made the point. It's like, hey, let's just strap a lithium ion battery between our legs. What could possibly go wrong? There are some definite safety hazards involved, but the fact of the matter is pulverized glass that has been baked into the jacketing of the cells is going to be the next key. And I mean, that could happen in a month unsafely, but to actually get a leash on it, hey, it's not that far off. I'm with Travis. I'm going to say five years tops, maybe four.

Travis: There we go. There's your answer. There you go, Greg. Per our combined motorcycle expertise and our Google-o-tomy.

Tim: Email your questions and concerns via our contact form, which is located at tro.email or by calling 224-358-3010.

Travis: Or emailing podcast at thebroadeningobsession.com.

Robin: Which brings us to, we're getting there, folks. Don't worry. The torture's almost over. Which brings us to the mess a la moto. On this week's mess a la moto, brought to you by the super slick, ultra badass motorcycle mega positive incredible power, power, power. Power. The super slick, ultra badass motorcycle mega positive incredible power is super slick, ultra badass, and incredibly powerful. Brought to you by Coca-Cola. But not really.

Travis: Sorry. Coca-Cola, if you want to like throw out, I enjoy your product, throw us some money.

Robin: Hell yeah, make it happen. All right, so let me click the old link here. Let's see what we got for the past. Let's just do like, everybody pick one video for the past week.

Travis: What's this hashtag rec life hashtag blessed? What? I don't know. It was a thing you posted. I did not.

Robin: Where?

Travis: August 20th. I rolled, it's down below the Pontiac, Smokey and the Bandit, Sandskimmer, Star Wars mashup.

Robin: How the hell? Okay.

Travis: Oh. A guide to making your next motorcycle rec more Instagrammable.

Robin: Oh yeah. This Instagram influencer, which let's just be honest, influencer was a dead genre inside of a week and a half. Like, are you somebody who is remotely appealing, who wants to tell people to buy crap? We would like to give you money to do. And then like everybody was just faking baking their entire effort.

Travis: Yeah, it's like, well, it's basically like, do you have kits? And are you willing to put them on Instagram with a filter with a product?

Robin: And giggle and pose and make sure that labels are always facing the camera. So this, this girl poses as a motorcyclist with like a vintage BM. Is that an R? Is that a K75 or an R? That's an R75 or something beautiful. It's a lovely bike.

Travis: It's a classic Beamer. I don't know if I got a good image of actually what it is anywhere. I'll scroll through the things so I can find out.

Robin: But then in makeup and with perfect hair, she fakes an accident where the bike is still standing on side stand and she's lying on the ground next to her water and something tea.

Travis: Or buy brand copyright tea.

Tim: Oh yeah, it was, was it life water or something like that?

Travis: Right.

Robin: So brand. Did the terminology for poser die with the 90s? It was something we would hope would carry over. Don't be these people. Don't be somebody who would just, there's a, there's a great song by Queens of the Stone Age called, I think it's Teenage Hand Model where it's like, it's like, I sacrifice, I counterfeit myself. All right. This is a human being who has completely counterfeited themselves on behalf of anybody who's ever lost flesh in a motorcycle accident.

Travis: Yeah. And it's like, you can, like, if you look at the pictures, it's like you've ever seen an actual idiot hipster go down on the pavement in their tank top. There's like black smudge on her shoulder. Not, not the gore that would happen. And there's a good thing. There's a couple of good quotes on here where it's, if in an accident, make sure to keep your beverage labels clean and easily legible. A horrible wreck is no excuse not to look your best.

Tim: That black smudge is a tattoo. She's got a little bit of a red mark on her elbow.

Travis: Well, I mean, it's a coverup tattoo. I mean, yeah.

Robin: So, I mean, there's, there's a great interview with, with Keanu Reeves on that British variety show. Mm-hmm. Graham Norton. Graham Norton. Yeah. And he talks about how, like, you know, he scraped off some flesh just enough. He was lucky. He only got hurt in one location and it wasn't even all that bad. He walked away from it. But he said, you know, they talk about how your bone is white. Well, bone is really white. Yes. He knew. And it was only in one location and he walked away from it. But that's what he knows about bone.

Travis: Oh man. I've, I've been there. I think Tim has been there too. Yeah.

Tim: So, the one thing that I want to say that I most object about is if someone goes down on their bike, you do not remove their helmet. And they did. They took her helmet off because she's just too fabulous not to show the face. But don't do that. If your friend goes down, don't take their helmet off. Let the emergency personnel do that.

Travis: I mean, if you fell over in a parking lot, you're fine. But, you know.

Tim: Yeah.

Travis: So, okay.

Robin: I'm scrolling up. I'm scrolling up. Get away from it. Just look it up. You can look up a bunch of lot names.

Travis: There's the Trans Am Sand Speeder. There's, what's this? Chicago. Some motorcyclist did some dumb shit. No, they don't have a rally.

Robin: Oh, yeah. No, yeah. It was Chicago United. They went and squitted up Five Star Bar's bike night and ruined it. So, the Five Star Bar decided not to do it anymore. Right. Good. You know what? And good on Five Star Bar because it's a great location. They didn't deserve to have to do that. But so, a bunch of stupid kids jacked it up for the rest of us. So, that's me making it loud and proud.

Travis: Is the FTR 1200 a sport touring? No, it's not a sport bike. It is a styling statement. It's an overwhelmingly expensive scrambler. Yeah, and really, you should probably just buy the Ducati Monster 1200 if you really want a sport bike.

Tim: I mean... Or the Multistrada.

Travis: Harley Halton production. They are back in production. On the live where they screwed up the built-in charger and they fixed it or not. We'll figure it out. Oh, and then there's this. The motorcycle Harley-Davidson should be building, which is like a Street 750 or Street 500 based like sport tour or retro-inspired cafe that isn't... With rear sets. That isn't actual garbage like the crap they're turning out right now.

Robin: It's got rear sets. It's got a lovely exhaust system. Probably rattles your teeth together, but it's just, I want to ride it.

Travis: I mean, those street motors are good. They just need to, like they need to cool up right and put them in a bike that is an actual bike and not a baby Harley for when you're ready to trade up.

Robin: Yeah, so if you Google Shigiro, S-H-I-G-I-R-O, Southside Project Harley, you're going to see an elegant sport bike that will never exist because they're incapable of producing something that good. Let's see here. I got to ride the Alamo Cafe run, which is a beautiful route by me. And then I gave you that video that you selected your motorcycles by.

Tim: Well, yeah, have you... What's going on with the guys from, what is it? MSTA?

Robin: You know, I wish I were more at liberty to discuss my relationship with them right now. Okay. Let me just say that there's been a lot of interesting chatter and that we are working together on a project.

Travis: Nice, nice.

Robin: I'll tell you a little bit more about that after we're done recording this podcast.

Travis: Okay. All right. And that is the Mesa Alamona Power.

Tim: Oh, yes. Tim, you're up. Let's get out of here. All right. Let me get back over to the outline here.

Robin: You're the ball.

Travis: I've already finished my second Glencairn whiskey, so I'm probably pretty good.

Tim: All right, here we go. This episode of the Riding Obsession podcast is brought to you by Ranch Road Fabrication, specializing in architectural, interior, and automotive metalwork. They take on complex tasks that others can't. Visit them online at ranchroadfabrication.com.

Robin: They do titanium. Go ahead. Sorry. Ooh, titanium. They'll weld titanium. Yeah, they guys, Joe, go to that end. Titanium's good.

Tim: And also by the Ugly Apple Cafe of Madison, Wisconsin, where they use local overstock produce to offer a quick, tasty, tasty breakfast.

Robin: TheRidingObsession.com. We are in need of sponsors for this podcast. For 50 bucks, sponsors get three focused mentions toward the start, middle, and end of their designated episodes. Their contributions are put towards bettering the program's content and equipment recording. I mean, content. I mean, according something. It's got to be better. We need money to do that. Visit the website's contact page and reach out if interested. That address is tro.email. And if you really want to, you can email us at podcast at TheRidingObsession.com.

Travis: That's our episode this round. Tune in next time for more discussion on all things specific to sport touring or to universal motorcycling as a whole. For TheRidingObsession.com, I'm Travis Burleson. I'm Tim Clark. And I'm Robin Dean. Safe travels.