Robin: Let's see here I just I just made notes this time instead of actually writing out what I was gonna say I just made notes So there was everything in the IMS show, you know I did a walkthrough my favorite part was the product bizarre because I don't know it's the little guy and the new ideas that don't Get over promoted that I I feel like there's always something there. They're like, oh this has to go big we got to talk about this and of course it started out with like the Appalachian Trails crooked riding maps and The dragon roars and back of the dragon, you know, I ran into that first right off the gates That's the first thing I saw and then I saw JNS jacks, which looked pretty promising. I'm gonna check those out. Looks like a French Motorcycle armor company came to town. I hope that's how I say it is Fury gun saw them and I'm open to talk to them more specifically Farrell performance. They actually offer Two person track training or speed training on sport bikes, and I don't know how they pull that off I mean how do you get the whole track to yourself and have to ask them about that got some new tourmaster boots Got a pamphlet for the National Motorcycle Museum, which has some really cool bikes in there or let's see almost done here Got the k-tech Suspension they do mostly Yamaha's it looks like and then my favorite so far this aero motive you ever heard of these guys No, they they wire everything back. They create like wiring harnesses.

Travis: Oh, so that's like aftermarket wiring harnesses for your vintage, whatever

Robin: Yeah, and they show an entangled wire spaghetti mesh and then just says broken connector tangled wires

Travis: We can help if you have a 1960s Ducati where they the guy in Italy just made it all with red wire

Robin: Yeah, because it matches Red matches the red frame that's got the red trellis and the red tank and the reddity red red But this one looks good the Africa tours 2017 monkey We are gonna be offering guided tours starting this year in Africa.

Travis: No, there will be a monkey though Leading the tour.

Robin: I resemble that remark, but this guy's it's Africa tour a really great pamphlet And it was just humbling. So I immediately swooped it up. I was like, I'm gonna have to learn a thing or two from this Guy that's like all the stuff. I grew up at the bazaar that I just could not ignore As far as what's been going on in my house. Yeah, let's see the bandits ready D winterized. Mr. Yamaha did my tires? I have to thank you specifically Travis for the tip on dielectric grease Going on to the spark plugs because it fired right up Way better than it ever has even mid-season and warmed up problem-free after a full winterization It just kicked right on. I think that there had to have been something going on with the connectors there Took my first ride about 117 miles up to Waterford and back that maps on the site. You guys can check that out I need to exercise I need to work out like a personal exercise regiment because it was just painful Once I got off the bike, I was old and sore and I think I need to you know Just bodyweight exercise period and like Pilates or something

Travis: Probably not Pilates, but Pilates has like like a women's workout connotation But I was invented by a marine so he could work out without equipment

Robin: Yeah, when you first said it I pictured myself on yoga mats doing hardcore exercise and then just like staring at butts

Travis: So I mean if you need motivation

Robin: The hot GT I've I'm one step away from having the GPS speedometer installed It just needs to be wired up and I got to figure out a couple more things for the mounting mechanism Got to go to Arizona. I was surprised to find that there is no MSF dirt course Anywhere near Phoenix, Arizona, and it seems to be somebody should capitalize on that because I was ready Dollars in hand to go learn how to ride in the dirt a little bit better What about you man? You don't have as many notes as me, but I'd love to hear what's going on

Travis: Yeah, I've been you know, it's been unseasonably warm here in the Midwest Yeah, 71 mid-february in the Midwest it was ridiculous so went out did some riding Tuesday I did some work been doing some work on the on the big one still got the tank finished So I had stripped the tank and I'll do a write-up on that But stripped the tank down the bare metal because it was terrible and hazed and chipped and you know That bikes had a rough life and you know kind of did a rattle can job But took my time with it and managed to buff it up to like a nice shine and then promptly screw it up With bad masking and kind of and then kind of half fix it but it's still way better than it was when I started and then I also modified the Tail rack so it had a Honda line tail rack that bolted on to the rear grab rail the handle There's a cast piece of aluminum But it forced my top case to sit really far back on the rack because of the way the the rail leaned back There was a lot of leverage from the mounting points. I bought a new one of those cut it off They cut off the actual rail part drilled it tapped it screwed in a cross member of just flat steel and that let me move my top case in in board about three inches and Reduce the put the more of the center of mass over the mounting point on my top case so excited about that

Robin: I just remembered that you had Leverage issues with your bike in the past

Travis: So I think when we were riding to Portland, you know the subframe that was on the yeah, I was on the BMW

Robin: But yeah, yeah sub frames and leverage you got to be conscious of yeah

Travis: And then I lost I lost the bolt for the the tail rack on that on the BMW to had rattled loose somewhere in Oregon And I've had I've had the bolts come loose, but not fall out on the on the big one as well. So Just one of those things Well, it's kind of been helmet shopping, but can't decide if I want to spend the money on it The and then I just bought a set the aero stitch gloves the the competition ropers nice what they about They're about 60 bucks Link me I want to see a picture of these. Yeah, they're they're really nice They're elkskin and they do like real glove sizes. So it's not like medium large small medium large size It's like you're you're an eight or an eight and a half or nine or nine and a half or a ten or ten and a Half so you measure your hand and you order it by half size.

Robin: That's nice.

Travis: They're not a lot of places will do that yeah, and they're elkskin and they You put them on it. It's just like oh They're so nice. They're heavy, but they're comfortable. Which one is it again the aero stitch? Competition roper so they have three variations on their elkskin gloves There's the the super basic one which just has like a snap wrist closure the competition has a little bit of knuckle padding and then has a Velcro wrist closure and then there's there's one that has like a full gauntlet that comes halfway up your arm. That's cool They look like almost sort of they have a construction glove quality about them Yeah, they're they're made in America by a company that makes gloves for Cowboys and people out west in like Montana and Wyoming.

Robin: Yeah, that's cool. We need more of that.

Travis: So those are that's really good I think what else? Oh, I found I Came in the mail today. I found an FCR slide carb for the DRZ for 200 bucks on flea Bay.

Robin: Okay. Now, is that a carb slide that was designated for a different model?

Travis: Nope, it's so if you buy the dirt only version of the DRZ it comes with the slide carb Okay instead of the CV carb Which but ever if you do even it's some cursory research on the DRZ It's like oh if you can get an FCR slide carb put it on there and you'll you'll get more power And it'll just be better than the CV carb Nice, and they're usually about 500 bucks and I found a guy on eBay that was parting out a bike and it was 200 bucks So I snapped it up sweet. And so and it looks like it's in pretty decent shape I'll tear it apart and give it the once over because even if I don't end up using it I can probably sell it for 400 I can it's it's worth more than I paid for it. Gotcha Nice, and if you do use it, you can just sell the old part and get some of your money back If I do use it, I'll keep the old one and then when I sell the bike I will swap it back because the carb is worth way more off the bike Nice. Yeah, well, it's one of those parts We always keep the old one because yeah, like it won't add to the value of the bike when you sell it But on its own it's worth so much more sweet I mean then I managed to totally jack up the headlight on the big one today. That was well done, sir. Well done Dickon with the windshield, so we'll see if I can get that fixed I can't find my old parts and I will we'll see how that goes. But yeah, I did a little bit of Ryan today went out Not motorcycle related, but I did join the Madison home brewers and tasters guilds. Oh, here we go And then they did they had a tour and drinking scheduled last night at one of the local breweries This sounds like the opposite of a workout Yeah, well, I was doing pint curls. It was fine But yeah, I know is it was awesome because the the brewmaster Really? He's like, oh, here's a bunch of homebrewers. So it wasn't like here's how we make beer First we take malt and we boil it. This is called the boil it was like he was in-depth talk about quality and assurance and mitigating oxygen in their production lines and different problems that he had with some float regulators and his brew kettles and Some screen filtering processes in his centrifuge and his bottling line and stuff is so it was cool And then he was like, yeah So when we're trying to mess with the bottling line We had a whole run go short like all the bottles got short filled.

Robin: How does that even happen?

Travis: so the the there's a filter screen and in the bottling Mechanism that actually sits on the bottle and they weren't working right they were getting clogged up or they're the wrong size or something So the bottles weren't getting filled As much as they should have been but they were capped right? Yeah, but they the run the run was going so he had a whole pallet of Bottles and he was like we can't sell them guys help yourself.

Robin: Okay, that's one thing But I hope that they even kept a couple of them because if they go big at any point in time Then that's gonna be like super collectible like the beer can connoisseur.

Travis: No, I mean it they're just it's just a bad production run It's like there there's 11 ounces in the bottle instead of 12 Okay, no, that's lame I was thinking more like a third full no, no No, it's like they look pretty much but he couldn't sell them. So he just just like up yourself So people were carrying out like flats of I mean, I I rode the bike There's like it just took a six-pack, but it was good. Yeah.

Robin: Hey, thanks for the growler, by the way You brought me that chocolate stout that just rocked the house.

Travis: Yeah. Yeah, that's it for motorcycle stuff I'm trying to think if there's any new gear gloves thinking about helmets It's tough there's one of the local shops has an awry on clearance from last year. Mm-hmm, so it's only like $360 Okay.

Robin: Well, let's just to put some food for thought here who was making that crazy helmet where the management went. Hey wire

Travis: Oh the one with the heads-up display Yes, who was making that some company doesn't exist anymore and they guys see it into the ground The Vizio or some something weird like that about Vizio the Vizio

Robin: Now that should Vizio is a company where yeah, I remember we're like partying way too hard

Travis: Yeah, and they it was they were like a Kickstarter thing and then they never actually developed the thing

Robin: I think somebody picked them up I think somebody bought the rights to everything they had developed so far and they may have continued on I'm gonna look into that I'll look in it. We'll talk about it next time. But from what I remember I saw somebody had said like, okay Idiots will buy you out of you know Basically, we'll buy you out of bankruptcy and get you out of jail and and and keep all your technology, right? Goodbye Thank you Craigslist.

Travis: This is a spy. Yeah Now what it's funny So I've been I've been really hunting for helmets and trying to find a so my big promise is that the Nolan I have right Now I liked I went to the store. I wore it around the store for a half an hour seemed fine But then I bought it and after about two hours, it really hurts my left ear Really, right?

Robin: And then I've kind of figured out that for whatever reason there's an asymmetry my left ear Doesn't fit in a lot of helmets for those of you who don't know this already Travis Burlson is it an exceptionally just a generally ugly human being and an overall freak of nature Physically, and that's why we only do a podcast because of the the heinous Visual disgusting just disgusting look.

Travis: Yeah, I have a face for radio

Robin: We don't want to do that to you people

Travis: But uh, yeah, and actually what uh, what did I tried on some shoeys showys and I didn't really they didn't really fit nice Yeah, despite, you know being a top level brand Um, but there's uh, the mid-level hjc actually seems to fit pretty good the fg17

Robin: If you find your brand, yeah

Travis: So and then the I do kind of want to get an arfa an arfa 10 or an arfa 11 pro But it's that's the wrong it's a sport bike helmet like it's made to be tucked in with like the aerodynamics of it So it's not really for me, but that thing weighs nothing. It's like 3.2 pounds.

Robin: It's ridiculously light That's one thing I noticed when we were at the show is how I forgot how lightweight non-modular helmets are I love the functionality of the modular helmet, but all that gearing and mechanism it does add to the body of it It's pretty difficult. I mean you put on a full standard helmet I just felt featherweight to me just even the big bulky one was lighter than my modular yeah, I want to get away from modular and I want to get away from the Uh the integrated sunshield.

Travis: Oh, okay because that adds weight and you can't get a snell rating with integrated sunshield because you separate the uh, The shell from the eps to put the inside sunshield, which is why arai has that weird outside sunshield Oh, that's okay. That makes sense.

Robin: They did that so they can keep their snell rating on all their helmets Now arai tends to work better for an ovular Say it with the ovular head. They're better for ovular.

Travis: Yeah, it's not it And but that's the thing is like the the thing with for me isn't that I need a weird crown shape It's it's the way that your cup is shaped might be set back too far that kind of thing, too yeah, which actually what seems to actually work really well is Adventure or dirt bike helmets because they they have a really big ear cup in them Um, but I just don't want all that they're they're super noisy. I don't want all that venting in the front well in your case, there's also plastic surgery Yeah, I could just have an ear reduction I think we got off topic there somehow. Yeah, but helmets Oh, I did look at scorpion helmets as well, which seemed to fit good But none of them come with pin locks and it's they're tricky to get pin locks for Pin locks are kind of important.

Robin: Those things work great.

Travis: Yeah, they're they're scorpions all about their proprietary Fog-free coating.

Robin: Oh great But I want a pin lock because pin locks are mechanical and they just will always work fog-free coatings wear off You know, that's how I ended up with uh, sena using sena products was because I tried out the what is it uclear? And I wanted to have earbuds and instead of using a standard ear jack They went with this usb plug and it was a 60 set of earbuds 60 bucks for bad earbuds.

Travis: Oh was was apple making it?

Robin: Pretty right and no they weren't they weren't even They weren't even at the quality of you don't want what you want. You want what we tell you to want It wasn't even that good.

Travis: But anyway, so let's take a look at some of the updated features and developments on the website At the riding of session.com. So i'll turn that over to our web master and editor-in-chief. Mr. Robin dean Thank you.

Robin: It's down. Everybody calm down. All right Uh, let's see podcasts are now interactive on the website comments are enabled it used to be that we had one podcast page and it would only show the most recent podcast and the other podcasts you wanted to listen to you'd have to use a Podcast browser that would list them out for you Uh, that's now done and done away with you can actually see an individual page for each and every podcast on the site That has all kinds of features and links to stuff we discussed There was another bug of course with there's always a bug with weather preferences and the maintenance tasks That's been remedied updating weather preferences would blank them out due to a conflicting form value Everything worked with maintenance Except you couldn't actually add a maintenance task such as changing oil or cleaning spark plugs, etc That's now fixed and remedy. Our instagram account is now live It's a nice vent nice place to put the funny photos and all kinds of funny videos So i'm probably going to send the login to everybody and pretty filters Pretty filters hipster hipsterizer.

Travis: Look. I took this 600 Dollar, you know 400 megapixel smartphone camera and I made it look like a polaroid from the 70s

Robin: I am going to get you specifically the login because I think that you might be able to contribute to that if there is in Fact an instagram account or an instagram app for windows phone

Travis: Travitron Yeah, well, I mean if I had a newer windows phone, i'm sure it would it'd be better, but i'm stuck on 8.1 uh, but uh Well, too i'm due for a phone upgrade But I just I don't want to pay 20 bucks a month to get a new phone

Robin: Fair enough fair enough. All right. Well, the next thing is this coming soon? The site is always open to guest contributed content uh, but not everybody likes to write so I found some resources and I plan on installing this. Uh, you'll be able to record By voice directly into your web browser anything that is a how-to instructional or a personal story of yours via that's about motorcycling Um, it'll be through our website. You'll be able to record your voice directly and or Optionally you can submit one of your videos from youtube preferably it can be one the other or both We'll we'll transcribe your audio into an article and as for the video Whether there are tutorials insights or route rides So long as you allow embedding in the video settings on youtube We'll consider writing content that supports the video.

Travis: It's sort of win-win, especially if you monetize But now that's that covers everything that's updated on the site We're going to move on to the guest interview this month's interview features steven Cristina a skilled craftsman whose degree in metal sculpture Led to the successful and highly rated arc academy welding school in chicago So What's up, dude Long time no see good to see you.

Robin: How you been? No, I drove I parked out front. Oh, yeah, come on in. Yeah. Wow. This place is uh Gotten crowded dirt Well, okay, so i'll start off real quick what initially drew you to metal sculpture and when did you realize it was your calling I've always been hands-on.

Stephen: I've always my dad was uh What is now called a maker? He was a diy handy guy and we were also kind of lower middle class, so if there was Anything that was broken that he had to pay for he would absolutely attempt to fix it himself He's got about an 85 percentile of fixing it himself and then that 15 percent, you know I'd actually have to hire out a professional but it was usually for harder things, but I grew up my brother and I Were always helping him fix things. We always were down in his workbench making things. We were always creating things in 3d space and When I got to high school They had gotten rid of all the welding automotive workshops anything Uh in the liberal arts except for you know art in general and you know, uh, they ditched all of it Yeah, they got right before I got there. There was no more automotive. Uh, the automotive classes were only being offered to uh juniors and seniors at the time and then right when I became a sophomore they eliminated the courses and uh You must have been looking forward to taking this. Yeah, I really was I was uh, that was one of the things that um, we had wood shop in middle school and Wood shop was I loved it and I was trying to get more into the auto mechanics and welding and all that stuff and In high school and then they got rid of the programs. We did have the opportunity to do like a vocational uh Where we're where we're bussed out to another school and uh, but you have you have to go through all these prerequisites to get to what I wanted to do And it didn't really work out. But uh when I went to college My second semester of my freshman year somehow I was let into the metal sculpture program And I didn't have all the prerequisites for it. It was just an oversight on the administrative part of it and I got to go into it and I man the first month of the the class I had an oxyacetylene torch and a quarter inch rusty steel plate and I started Uh cutting into that sucker and you had done this before or was your I had not this is my first This is my very first exposure To metal sculpture metal welding metal and I was 19, you know, and I had done everything Before that I had a anything cold connection you could think of like chemicals gluing Staples screws nuts bolts pop rivets, you name it I probably have done it even working on boats with fiberglass and all sorts of different Cold or chemical connections, but I had never at that point welded And then when I was in this sculpture class, it's like I cut into that steel. I knew Right away fell in love with it. It was love at first sight Bam I wanted to do it. I was like, okay, this is what I want to do for the rest of my life I get this and at that time I was also Had an emphasis in oil painting and photography But I started gravitating more and more and more toward the sculpture and welding aspect as I went through the program And I took so many of the metal working classes. They says you know what you're just going to be independent at this point and you have to Basically go to this one professor and He he grades you and so he he kept a look over your entire criteria. Yeah, your curriculum was based on That yes how many projects I did in a semester how many people I would have to help people in the shop and Make sure people weren't killing themselves and all that fun stuff. So I was a shop monitor And I was treated as though I was a bfa And I I will say that I did not go and I didn't go to the bfa program It's interesting story because I went for my senior evaluation my fourth year of college I was I was a super senior. I did the five-year plan. I just really enjoyed college I just I I enjoyed going to all the classes and I also worked all the way through school. I typically held three jobs. I worked at Two different bar restaurants and then one just straight up bar and I also worked in a custom photo lab with photo processing that did all the local police police force and Just the municipality photography and custom processing and public processing as well I did a lot more of that actually but so I worked three or four jobs all the way through college So I couldn't take the amount of credits that needed to get you out of college in four years Honestly, I didn't mind I was having a great time. I really didn't have a path Uh, I didn't I didn't really know what the hell I wanted to do after college, but they they came up to me They're like, yeah, um You gotta go i'm like, uh And it was funny because they said you can Graduate with a double minor but you're three credits shy From your double minor and your three credit shy for your major and then they started pushing me into the bfa program and then I looked at all the Requirements and the ba program itself and I already I had already taken all those classes like My degree was the equivalent of a bfa But not ever saying or paying for a bfa when they asked me if I wanted to do it I went why would I pay another $6,000 to have the same exact education that I already gave myself. So anyway, I mean So I did another year and I got my credits online and then I graduated with a ba in fine art and then I double minored in psychology and philosophy, but if you really want to know where I got My love for metalwork and sculpture and just welding and metalwork in general fabrication. It doesn't have to be Sculptural. I I love doing all metalwork Uh really would be my freshman year of college. I just I just loved it and I just took right to it Yeah, yeah, and that's all I wanted to do into it. Yeah, that's all I really wanted to do.

Robin: I just Did this translate over to any bike bills, I mean you ride do you still have the kawasaki? What was it was a z zr. Uh, zr 1100 zero 1100 great bike. Oh, that's awesome Do you you still have it? Oh, yeah, beautiful Did that translate to any bills? Have you done any work?

Stephen: Oh, yeah, I mean, I know you helped me out like yeah I well i've done basic custom uh Chopping for race bikes, you know lightening the load doing cowls for people for every shape and size crotch rockets to cruisers to standards race bikes I made a monotube a monotubular aluminum frame kind of like uh, it was Based as the poor man's confederate hellcat And it was it had a ducati 900 engine in it. I did the entire frame and then that guy Went to california work for tesla because he was the engineer designer of it and uh he sent me images of the the bike actually running and the only problem we had with it was the The engine that he chose to go in it and that he designed around it had this computer Module that would not allow the bike to be run without all the exterior components ducati.

Robin: Yeah We don't talk about ducati on our show.

Stephen: Yeah, and well it was we don't know how huge Because I I told him I was like, why don't you just find something? That's really abundant and really a standard mounting system and just work with that and and he Just he had the ducati engine. He thought it would be an easy thing to do and Anytime you get computers involved Just don't don't try because you're gonna you're gonna be going through all sorts of wiring and wiring harnesses You've seen what it's done to my social structure. Oh, yeah Yeah, it just eats up. Well, that's what I think that's why like the cheyenne guys I think the cheyenne guys really like working on vintage motorcycles and uh, because they don't have all those Computer abs braking and all the crap that's gonna take What is it, uh engine control modulator or whatever Or ecm or whatever it is If you have one of those just like modern cars have you got to talk to your computer to find out what the hell's wrong with your bike i'm more of The fabricator and not so much a mechanic. Don't get me wrong. I do the Uh maintenance on my own motorcycle and I always fix my own bikes But I to tell you do I do a very good job at uh, uh carb carb cleaning and uh Balancing all that fun stuff. Not really. I'm not the greatest at compression. I don't I can't get my carbs balanced, right? So typically if I screw that up, i'll take it over to a friend or actually have a professional do it I'll pull them out but have somebody else do it and put it back in I've seen this for those of you listening.

Robin: I have seen this guy work miracles Oh, there was a time when I accidentally I didn't know any better and I sheared my uh, my oil filter cover You welded aluminum Yeah in a way that if I right if I had the right o-ring it would have sealed it wanted to hold oil, right?

Stephen: Yeah, so yeah Yeah, that that would have been fine.

Robin: Yeah. Um, I got that pretty welded in got it pretty flat again But it was worth a shot, you know You're not doing a disservice by not Chopping bikes or helping people out with that. You're teaching us You know what?

Stephen: If you if you are going to be chopping your bike and you're going to do anything structural to the frame Your frame takes a lot of torsion, you know, you go into a turn and your your entire frame torques You know the the front tire pitches out and the rear tire pitches down and it's it's pressuring the entire frame Now if you get into race bikes and crotch rockets and all the entire structure of the frame is engineered to Brace that torsion and eliminate it as much as possible But what i'm getting at is if you're going to be doing that Uh, yeah, you should definitely learn mig first mig welding first It's the easiest but it also gives you the foundation and understanding of everything else You're going to go into in the welding world, but you probably will want to get into tig welding because tig welding It's going to be cleaner. It's going to be more controlled you're going to be able to control the heat input going into the bike and the bike frame and you're going to be able to Just weld it properly. I'm not saying you can't make just a standard Chop bike if you're you know making a hard tail or something like that you know, you have a hard tail kit and you just all you're doing is Basically you're sleeving in the kit and then you're welding around the sleeve You can use a mig for that. It's not a big deal. But when you start getting into what a lot of the uh, My friends are into like steve jacks and anders and all that those guys, you know, they race old 1970s ish bikes for chivin, but at the same time when they're chopping a bike they have to reinforce it because Of the torsion going through these bikes they have to make it more rigid more stable. You don't want the frame to fracture or crack so uh, usually when that happens, they're going to come to me and i'm going to i'm going to Really clean up the material to weld it also going over those older 1970s bikes 60s and 70s bikes. Yeah, the welding on those if you ever take a look at them They're not that pretty they don't look that great. They're not that great. So um Usually if I see something that I think is going to be kind of detrimental to their their riding or their safety I will typically Say hey, man, i'm going to go over this one. Well kind of dig it out and just make it a little Make sure it's penetrated make sure it's really fused together properly.

Robin: So for the time it was it looked supposedly like oh, that's the new The 70s era this is how we're doing it. Now. This is the new great but then by today's standards like nope No, no, no, no, no.

Stephen: Yeah, we'll take care of this Yeah, well a lot of the the newer bikes are welded Cnc welded, you know, so if they're doing mass production You're not going to have thousands of guys or girls people sitting there and tig welding these things. They're probably going to be Something if they're aluminum frames, they're probably going to be something pulse controls and if they're steel frames, they're probably going to have some sort of Tig welding system where there will be a person manually feeding in the filler metal But they're probably going to be on a weld positioner and the the torch is actually going to be held Still and then the weld positioner is going to do it something like that

Robin: So they'll move the frame around the torch not the torch around the frame sometimes.

Stephen: Um I think it all depends on the motorcycle manufacturer And what it is there will always be Positions that they cannot have a robot do So a robot probably will make your aluminum oil tank on some of the crotch rockets and the beads will be Manufactured like press break all the material together and then the seams filled in and those those will be uh cnc controlled but maybe some of the Tighter spots that need a professional touch, uh human touch are gonna also be tig welded. I hope they never choose That's just I don't I don't foresee it Let's face it What's the the company boston Dynamics or whatever those guys are getting in some crazy robotic stuff.

Robin: That's the wheel robot that you posted.

Stephen: Yeah Well, they also have atlas who just walks around and picks up stuff and it's it's and that was Years ago. I can't even imagine what's going on right now and the new dexterity they're making robots that go under cabinets that have hands that can Make your those sides of the cabinet by themselves that pop out. Yeah So the one i'm thinking of is just two arms that are on a slide that go underneath your cabinet And then you lay out all the Contents and you don't even have to tell them where the contents is and just starts making you whatever you program it for This doesn't pertain but they did the same thing with drum machines It becomes a matter if it's not what you do.

Robin: It's what you do with it or how you do it, right? So what we might look at is damaging to an industry if we play our cards Just right then it can be put to use for the better and nobody gets hurt. It all becomes a better industry all together Uh, but I guess my next question would be uh, what are the what what is a or even the top three?

Stephen: Favorite challenges you face creatively in metal sculpture as an artist The biggest challenge for most people like myself going into this uh, and i've been out of college for 20 years now, but How much are you worth? How much do you get paid based on your experience your talent?

Robin: Uh and everything your resources In this case you're actually you're a little bit more fortunate because this is a vocation as well I can only assume that those dedicated to what they've learned not only return but they become trained to do well at work Have you run into any with a gift for the artistic sculptural side of the knowledge base that you provide? Do they have you seen a lot of them go on to become whole?

Stephen: Wow. Oh my god Yeah, I I have a few dozen i've been teaching Here For a little over six and a half years It's been arc academy for roughly two and a half years That's when we actually labeled it and I separated the fabrication part of it from the teaching part of it I kind of lost track after four thousand. I think I think we're around 5 000 ish Students at this point in six years somewhere in that somewhere in there Does that give you any leeway towards like becoming uh able to give accreditation is it accredited You know what? I don't I don't really Care to be accredited. I want people to feel like they have access to this. I want people to feel But that's a great number. I mean, that's a big it's a lot It is it is a lot. I mean we did I think we did over 1,200 last year alone and it just keeps getting bigger and bigger Out of all those i've had a couple of dozen uh people go in into uh The welding industry or the welding field they either, you know touch their toe in the water at arc academy and then they go on to uh certification courses or they start studying under Um unions or something like that and then they get placed in jobs. I mean I get emails I haven't had one in a while But uh last year I had a few emails from people that say hey man, you changed my life. I can't thank you enough I work. I I'm i'm now making 80 grand a year and i'm working up in maine on On pipelines and stuff and that's great. I mean it and I had another person. That's a couple of people that were are working in Wind energy business and they're they're doing on-site repair and welding for the wind energy and they're out and uh Well, they're all over the place. Actually, they're they they move around. Uh, most of them are in california, but Yeah, and I also have people that you know, they sign up to be members they come in here and make They make stuff they sell it in our consignment store Uh, and I didn't even know about the membership which makes me.

Robin: Yeah, what are your big plans for this year?

Stephen: So we launched we launched memberships. Um about about 10 months ago, um And memberships are 250 a month, but you can come in here from 9 a.m to 9 p.m You utilize the entire the entire place All the tools that you learn all the welding equipment that you learn in in class. It's fair game And you just you come in here and fabricate stuff and I make I have people make everything, uh motorcycle frames furniture sculpture wall hangings A lot of coffee tables, uh, I have one one of my students he was uh 13 when he first took my classes Uh, he took mig when he was 13 when he was 14 he took my tig classes and when he was 15, he asked me to do a um Not an apprenticeship, but um something for his school. It was kind of like an apprenticeship for a month He went through a month of me training him and doing all this other stuff and he ended up making a Oh, man I can't tell you what it's called a spherical. It's a stainless steel sphere that isolates Uh the 111 isotope to create something that combats a disease Within one of his friends that's out of control. It was amazing. I have pictures of it. It's on it's on facebook I mean if you look it up, I think that was that was 2015 well, so that guy's he's on to something. What about oh, he's a genius. I mean for sure.

Robin: Yeah, but So in my case, let's say I come in there. I'll get my membership. I come in there and i'm uh, Still I am definitely the type of person that needs repeat information if you're on site Are you accessible as the teacher as well as absolutely, you know what?

Stephen: Uh, we always have a uh shop attendant in there That is knowledgeable of welding and fabrication that I I mean I I basically live here So I I typically am here to help people out, but you know rich kara bookers here Um, we have a staff that will help you out to do whatever Fabrication you're going to do. Yeah, a lot of people automotive motorcycle world they'll bring in their frame and chop stuff off for racing purposes, I mean I had a guy that was just in here one of our uh, one of our members mark, he actually made mounting brackets for his motorcycle and then he made luggage racks and the luggage carriers out of uh, ammo boxes Oh nice, and he made these things out of ammo boxes and he's like, yeah, i'm gonna make these and i'm gonna tour and do this 3 000 mile tour around the united states And he got back. He's like, all right I'm gonna become a member because they work great and he did a bunch of other stuff Uh with his bike so he he comes in here and does little little things makes, you know, highway bars engine guards I mean a lot of the stuff that motorcycle oriented is small. I had a guy last year, uh, bring in his uh, Oh, man It was like an amf Yeah an amf harley that's another thing we don't talk about 1986 and he's and he said I just want to use the frame i'm going to get a created engine And i'm sitting there like all right, whatever you want to do man And uh, no, he he actually chopped the frame up made his own Hardtail kit to make a bobber And it it turned out really nice. Um Yeah, you know what? That reminds me. I don't think I ever posted those pictures of his bike, but for the most part Yeah, you can you can come in and do whatever you want I mean a lot of people just make furniture or they just practice. I have another student 10 He's uh, not a member but he comes in and just pays for hourly open shop all the time And he'll just come in to make sure he's still has his chops down. That's probably so he'll he'll do like three anywhere from three to five hours a month and he'll come in for an hour and just Lay down some beads on a tig welder. Make sure he's stick welding Okay, he just took our stick class and then he came in for an open shop to practice which is fine We have scrap metal here. You can practice on but uh, yeah, I mean I have a lot a lot of people that go on to do a lot of cool things with uh, Not just metal sculpture, but all things metal fabrication and welding.

Robin: Yeah It's a beautiful thing. It's something that I think every dedicated motorcyclist should know how to do And uh, not only are you providing a service to our little neck of a web But you're also helping people find work. You're helping people perfect a craft. I can't say enough about this Ark academy is a beautiful thing. I'm going to attend again. I'll start it over again For the writing session. This has been my interview with steve and kristina of ark academy I'll give you the details and where you can find out more right after this and thanks for being thank you, man I appreciate that if you'd like to learn more about steven and ark academy You can do so at arkacademy.com where you'll find a class signup schedule and paid video courses for online review And now it's on to the listener questions this month. We have listener abby.

Travis: It's just one name She's like she's like madonna or or tiffany, or maybe it's like a cloister of monks There you go that collectively they live in an abby and they have a question.

Robin: Yes Well, she's putting her 2012 ducati monster 796 up for sale This is the 20th anniversary edition and she's wondering The exact question is what price should I be asking if I want to sell it fast without getting ripped off? So I think we need to hit the old ebay for one Yeah, well, I did.

Travis: Uh, I did a quick kbb motorcycle search if you go to kbb.com slash motorcycles You can look up the kelly blue book value. Okay Um, I mean, but that's also going to vary by zip code. So I don't know where abby lives She's she's cook county chicagoland. Yeah, crook county here Because it kbb just pulled my location off My ip address is about seven and a quarter is what what they're listening for It'll probably be worth more in chicago a little bit. But yeah, you just look, uh, look around you check ebay check craigslist check some of the The local dealer websites that might be dealing use in a similar model And you can get a good idea of what the pricing is. Of course if you want to sell it fast you know a low price will move something quicker than a high price will so um You can also check with some uh Some resources, you know forum resources Enthusiast resources someone who's into ducati someone who wants ducati someone who's a ducanista Well might be more interested in a 20th anniversary a special edition bike And paying the premium for it to put it in their collection.

Robin: The other part is that she plans on Getting another bike. She's interested in something with a little bit more of a vintage look and feel I don't know if she's going the triumph route. No decision there I actually made mention of the bmw racer the one with the it's got the bullet fairing. Yeah, the r90 racer Yeah, what a great looking bike and it's an r which they've been what making that engine how long? 1906 More than a hundred years. So I think the thought is that we would uh in the case of a bike like this do I Sell it or do I trade it in and i'm coming to the conclusion that why not put it on craig's list for like maybe Two or three weeks and if you don't get the kind of bites you want And certainly don't let anybody test ride it unless they put cash in your hand and they have a legitimate m-class motorcycle license But if you don't get any bites that are up to your standards in terms of what you want to get for it Then there's no harm trading it in at any dealership with that has the bike you want to buy though You might get significantly less for it

Travis: Yeah, that that's a trade-off You always get less for the trade-in because the dealership needs to sell the bike and make money So you might even be interested, you know Go to a dealership that has the bike you want a place where you would trade it in if you had to And see what they'd give you for it and that'll give you that'll give you a a bottom basement price, right? Because at the very least you want to make more than what you'd get on a trade-in if you're going to sell it retail Um, so you kind of know what the actual floor is where it's like where you're you're basically losing money at that point If you sell it for less than you'd get on a trade Where did we go when we saw those two?

Robin: F800 gts that dealership bmw cycle works in barrington cycle works barrington. All right, that's a good Outlet to at least connect with the bike. She might be looking for if not the triumph dealerships in chicago I know johnny chef that's a different cycle works. Yeah cycle works spelled correctly

Travis: Uh, one of them's with an e I don't remember which one's which but yeah, there's the one down on south western avenue uh, that's that's uh johnny, and then there's the one out in barrington, which is part of a

Robin: And and and johnny chef is like the nicest guy in the world and and that's the moto works on south western

Travis: The place we went to was barrington the place in barrington, which is not related to the cycle works that's in Chicago proper on south western. That's johnny chef. You never know that might be related only that they sell european bikes But yeah the guys down at cycle works though on on uh, southern western, you know, they they're pretty they're pretty good They're good. They're cool They'll point you in the right direction And if if you're not looking for a trade if you just can't take the hit on a trade They might know a guy that's interested.

Robin: There's nobody who I know Socially who has ever forgotten who I am and walked by me so politely as one. Mr. Johnny chef He is a he is a he is a salesman. He knows what he's doing. He's a good guy

Travis: Yeah, also meets a lot of people and does a lot of crazy stuff

Robin: Most definitely so that covers that if you'd like to ask us some of your listener questions email your questions and concerns to podcast At tro dot email that's podcast at tro Dot email or you can call 224-358-3010 and leave us a voicemail

Travis: Also, if you're in the market for a 2012 ducati monster 796 20th anniversary edition if you're just an email give us a call and we can hook you up with abby We have our contact information.

Robin: Yeah, that bike's gotta go. It's gotta go and it's gotta go fast It'll go fast no matter what it's a fast bike. It's gonna go fast. All right, that brings us to this Of incredible power

Travis: Yeah You buy

Robin: Okay, the super slick ultra badass motorcycle mega posse of incredible power is super slick ultra badass and as a side note It's incredibly powerful little tip for you If you're ice biking and your bike gets away from you and keeps going and a buddy chases it on their bike Hope they're smart enough to ride up along the right side of the bike reaching for the cutoff switch with their left hand Just food for thought. Yeah, have you seen the viral video of the The autonomous bike that wouldn't fall down Let's keep going round and round and round travis You posted a slowed down high speed picture of a cylinder operating with glass a glass lid so you could see the combustion taking place Yeah, that was baddest baddest noise ever.

Travis: Yeah, that was from uh, destin at smarter every day and uh, well actually wasn't he It's another guy who does moto stuff, but it was an old a vintage briggs and stratton motor Uh was that was a flat head if you're familiar with flatheads where the valve opens Uh up and down the same way the cylinder moves. So it's kind of the perfect candidate Yeah, because because you don't need anything overhead You can see how the the power explosion propagates from the spark plug is is pretty cool video Well, you can see all four cycles. Yeah. Yeah, you can you can see it clearly in the uh, They filmed it with a high speed camera So you can actually see you can see the spark fire and you can see the the flame propagate down the cylinder And then come out the exhaust.

Robin: Yep And then what about the honda that won't fall over?

Travis: I didn't actually check that out, but I think i'd seen something like it before Yeah, so that was um Well honda's doing a slightly different. So i've seen Non tip over two wheeled vehicles that were usually some sort of weird car thing built-in gyroscopics They had a gyroscope in it. They had to run so a Rotating counterweight that was nine degrees to the wheels But the the way the honda works actually The head tube is mechanically controlled and so when you're going slow It makes the rake really long. It makes the rake really low and the trail really long. Wow Um, so it so it basically kind of drops it scoops pushes the front wheel out to make it more More stable and then does like very slight Uh left and right turning corrections And and then once you get up to speed it pulls the front wheel back in increases the rake and then it and it works Gyroscopically like it would when it's moving.

Robin: Yeah, that is wicked the actual Mechanics of that it seems like it would take a lot of power to make it happen So just to add that to the bike. I wonder if it's heavy.

Travis: Uh, probably not too much. I mean, uh You know, electric motors are pretty efficient. So a stepper motor simple too one moving part. Yeah, it's really the um, It's really the the brain. That's the hard part So isn't it always yeah, I mean it has like, you know velocity sensors So it can tell which way it's pitching and then correct for it But then yeah, it's really just the the software and the brain that that corrects it So the other weird thing is about that is it's basically steer by wire Until you start really moving Nice which is weird for a motorcycle to be like steer by wire.

Robin: Yeah, try hacking that with wi-fi Well, all right on to chicago is chicago's getting antsy up here to ride Vintage bikes are popping up on the streets at 11 degree temps. That was towards the beginning of this month We've had some warmer temps as of recent which has been great But I remember when I was that crazy go out and like I was new to motorcycling i'm gonna do it Anyhow, 20 degrees 15 degrees another note Dear ktm dealership at the ims chicago show. It's sport Touring it's been around for some time. I would expect a dealership to know this Sport touring that's where the term st bikes came along not sports Tourers So make sure you do your research sport touring not sports touring.

Travis: Yeah sports sports touring sounds like sports ball It's it's not sporting. We're sporting.

Robin: We're gonna go sport some sports ball at the sporting match And then uh, there was an iconic motorcycle poster If you guys look this up on google just a poster of iconic motorbikes from movies I'm gonna have to get that from my garage and on that note, it's time to go