Robin: I'm Robin Bean. I'm

Tim: Tim Clark.

Travis: And I'm Travis Burleson.

Noise: Holy Drive. Woo. Piper, where are you right now?

Piper: I am in Austin, Texas at the Moto GP Race for 2023. 2023. And this is my very first Moto GP experience ever. It's awesome. You look like you're

Robin: part of the Aurelia race trees for the headphones alone. I know. You look like you, you look like they're, you're missing your, you like you can't find the

Piper: pits. I know. I was at the Alia tent and somebody asked me for a size, like, I don't,

Robin: so you beat us all to the punch. You're the first one of the four of us to actually attend one of these events. If I'm not mistaken, what. Oh my God. Correct. I have no idea what to make of any of what, how we're gonna go about this, but if your arm gets tired, don't hurt yourself doing this. We're just glad you're there.

Piper: No, I love it. I was, uh, I was recording some stuff yesterday and somebody asked me what I was holding and I told him it was my vape.

Robin: That is too funny.

Piper: Yeah, he was like, what is that? He looked, he seemed very, you know, like, what is that, what are you

Robin: doing there? Do you have a selfie sticker or a handle or a holster or any of that kinda noise?

Piper: I have, um, my wrist and also my four fingers of the thumb.

Robin: So is there a scoreboard? How do we know the stats in Austin? What would the scoreboard there be called in Moto GP terms?

Piper: Um, I think it would be called. The scoreboard sounds French. And also I'm not, I don't know where the scoreboard is either. They're a European, there's, I don't know about the whole scoreboard thing, but there are lots of video screen, like big TVs everywhere. So that's kind of what I've been like just watching to figure out

Robin: what's what. Well, I just Googled 2023 Moto GP Austin

Noise: scores. Okay.

Robin: What I have so far, I guess there's 18 more rows here. Okay. Wow. This is crazy.

Tim: So are they live streaming

Robin: status? I get, well, here, I'll link you in the uh, but I just linked you guys to the stat results for Grand Prix of the Americas. Is that the one we're looking at?

Noise: Yep.

Piper: Circuit of the

Noise: Americas?

Robin: Yeah. No, it's Coda, but the, it's the Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas is the name of the title race for today.

Piper: Oh. See how much I know I'm here and I don't even know that. Yeah, I don't even know.

Robin: Who knows? I'm not sure I'm correct. I might be looking at the wrong screen. Tim, help me out. You're technical.

Tim: Looking it up on a different

Robin: device here. Piper, what have you seen so far? Tell us what your experience has been like.

Piper: Yeah, so, um, yesterday they did a, like, there's like a pre-race steak. It's like a sprint race, I guess. Um, Uh, and it was all, all three of the different like levels, right? So sort of the newer, newer, younger dudes who I think are, um, young, like 15, 16, 17 years old. And then Oh, wow. The next class of, yeah, then the next class. But they, these kids have been racing since they were three and four years old. So this is, yeah, they're amazing.

Robin: Um, yeah. It's too late for most

Noise: of us. Yeah. Yeah. Here they go. Look

Robin: at that. Look at that. Look at that. Oh, I see a lot of bike on the porch. I'm guessing that's gonna be Moto two at this time of the day.

Piper: Moto three. I think that is Moto. Moto two. That's Mo three. Oh, that's Moto. Three. Three. Okay.

Robin: Moto three. That's Moto three. So those are like, how many ccs are those bikes? Oh, those are 500 s. Awesome. You're on a sweeper,

Piper: so, uh, yeah. That's pretty cool. This is the best spot. This has been the best spot that I've, I've seen for the last day and a half.

Robin: Yeah. I've got all my friends on Facebook who they're posting their little videos, they're posting their vertical videos sideways. Thanks for that. And, which is great. And then so they're at a hairpin that's entertained watch too. Cuz those guys come sailing in. That's dramatic as it gets, especially when you have to crook your neck sideways.

Piper: Right.

Noise: That's pretty good.

Robin: Nice. Okay. Here for the record, anything you say takes priority here. Okay, here we

Noise: go.

Piper: Isn't that so awesome?

Robin: I see you got your crowd

Piper: gathering there. Yeah, it's, it's getting busy. It's crazy when you, um, as the classes move up and the bikes get bigger, like you almost can't sit through it.

Noise: It's, it's so loud.

Robin: See, that's what this episode is. They're listening to an audio, audio only platform of us watching racing through a cell phone

Piper: on a Zoom meeting. Maverick is, uh, is the Aplia writer, and that's the. Signature. I, yeah, that's the signature I got this

Robin: morning. You got a signature,

Noise: did you? Yeah. On my hat. We've got a

Tim: lifetime again. Our gas, gas rider is currently in 24th.

Piper: Gas, gas, gas. Gas is in 24th. Yeah. They, they, I was telling Tim when I got here this morning that, uh, they've, they have a writer

Noise: in this, this. Wow.

Robin: But you got a signature. Talk about that. How'd that go?

Piper: Yeah, it was really, it was very cool. Um,

Robin: How excited was he to see the T Rro press pass? And how long was your interview with this person?

Piper: Oh my God, he was so excited to see me. He knew me actually. He was like, oh, I listen to TRO all the time. You know, I like, I don't even think he looked up

Robin: right. Okay, sign it. Go away.

Piper: You know, I was the last person in, in line. I think he didn't wanna sign anymore and I like sort of just forced my way into there. So well done. He signed it,

Robin: begrudgingly kind of him to do that. I'm laughing at how many of our listeners right now heard Tim say, well, I found a score chart or a timer here, and they all just went, thank God. Something to anchor the discussion. Yeah. We've got a little

Tim: bit of a, a move being made of the, uh, number 13, Benes sny, Menden Snyder. He's just gained a position battle it. It's actually giving me a highlight when someone's making a pass and there they are, riffing around the corner again.

Noise: Nice. Uh,

Tim: Joe Roberts just making a move up

Noise: to number 10. Oh, somebody just, uh, somebody just jump their bike. Is that the van?

Robin: Gas Gas? Is that Honda Monkey guy? No, I

Tim: don't. He's still hanging back in number 24.

Piper: Yeah, that's not gas. Gas.

Robin: Nope. He dropped it in number 25.

Noise: Pedal harder.

Piper: Poor kid. Yep. Who's in the lead now?

Tim: Ooh, we just had a lot of shake up in the scoring.

Robin: Holler. Yeah. Mention, go into detail. We're asking kind of

Tim: the, the later guys are shuffling around a lot. A lot of the 8, 9, 10, 11 position them moving around. Okay. And a lot of the guys in the back end are exchanging places. So our, our laugh times are, the hot ones are going around at 2 0 9 and a half. And the, uh, the slow guys, uh, talking about you, Mr. Shiro, Minto, Minna, Mito, Mr. Uh, two minutes and 17

Robin: seconds. Are you the guy that when you're in a Mexican restaurant, you order up Rito?

Noise: Probably. No, no, no. Probably. Maybe. Yeah. We had a

Tim: change in the lead. Mr. Tony Aino is now

Travis: in the lead.

Noise: Where's my Alia dude? It's just

Tim: Moto timing.live.

Robin: Moto Timing Live. Brought to you by tro there's a lawsuit, the Making

Tim: Lopez fallen into third place

Robin: and hopefully anybody who listens to this will email podcast, TRT Bike, that's podcast TRT bike. All four of us will receive the email explaining what the hell it is that I'm failing to talk about.

Piper: I can always walk around and ask people,

Robin: if that's what you wanna do, you do that. I might do that. I like your style just ahead of him, though. I see a lot of activity now. Lopez just jumped. No,

Tim: he's dropping, he's dropping hard. He's he's going slower than the others right now. He's kind of struggled on that last lap at two 10. Everybody else is running under

Robin: two 10. We have a, uh, an episode where we interviewed Sam Cook. Two part episode racer super bike racers, team Cook. And he's, he's, what is he Moto America? Is that what he said? Or, uh,

Tim: yeah. They're, they're doing a lot of battle battling around there. Fifth, sixth, seventh place. And another guy that watches this. Ben Snyder. Yeah. Bo Ben Snyder. Are you currently in ninth place? He was,

Robin: he's down five points. He's had

Tim: had a bad start down around, uh, 14th, I think. Okay. And he's been Okay. So slowly climbing. Okay. And he's running under two 10 consistently. On the,

Robin: who's the, uh, Alia guy again? Uh,

Piper: Maverick.

Noise: Maverick.

Piper: Something I, I can't say his last name. I'll butcher it. You know how I feel about butchering names?

Robin: That's Arm a Piper people.

Piper: Maverick is three o'clock. He's got a big boy bike,

Robin: 500 cc's, a pure kick ass right there. Oh, and he's climbing. Was that Alger? Alde. Oh, I'm awful.

Tim: I'm awful. Yep. I'm sorry. That was him. He just moved up to four.

Robin: Well done. And he's seven points up for his racing season

Tim: racing rider. Yeah, he is having a good

Robin: race. We should do this more often. We don't even need see the race. We'll just sit here in front of the charts and be like, yeah. Tim, what do you think? I think he should be doing good. You know, he's really been working on his form lately. Maybe I'm only a legend in my own mind.

Tim: One of those fun things, like one of our, uh, slow guys, this, uh, Sohi Min Emoto. I think I may have gotten closer that time. He's not going very fast, but I think he's an independent.

Robin: I'll look him up. Okay. He's got a Wiki data page,

Noise: so

Robin: Shero. Okay. Soroto. Okay. Japanese motorcycle razor. And then the whole page is just statistically grided out, but his competition list is pretty heavy duty. I'd like to, yeah, he

Tim: was doing, he's doing good. He's got up six points on the, on his season, I guess, if I'm reading that right.

Robin: He was born in 2000. He's 23 years old. Some people think, I hope that when I'm old enough, my parents will buy me a motorcycle and then there's some, they're like, I open up old enough, I'll, they'll be in Moto gp. Yeah.

Tim: Just imagine how many parents get their kids started early and they enter 'em in these young races and they, and by the time they're like old enough to do this, they're, they're tired of motorcycles,

Robin: so they want to move on. Okay. Well, fascinating enough, it looks like he may not only be an independent, he may also be a placeholder. I've got an article for March 30th, 2023. Moto to Manna Moto to replace Zane at Argentina. Oh. So he'll replace Coda Naza at the co, uh, Corio prop, ProGo Yamaha VR 46 Master camp team at the Argentina Grand Prix. So I think that he's, not only is he an independent, he's capable of, of joining a

Noise: team as needed,

Piper: convinced myself that I should become a Moto GP racer. Yes, I tried on a full leather suit at Alpine Star. You did, right? Oh yeah, I did. Nice. It was freaking awesome. It was really hard to get into, really hard to get out of, but it made me feel like a badass. And they had like the perfect mirror in there that just made you look so like, you made me look so cool. And it matched my, matched my new Alia hat. I don't know. Do you have a

Robin: circuit in Denver? Is there a race circuit in there that you can go to a trek data?

Piper: Um, there is, but I wouldn't dare take my Ilia there. Um,

Robin: why not? So

Piper: I'd have to just begging for it. No, I'm not taking my Ilia cuz I will cry. Ugly. Ugly tears. If

Robin: that's the best place to take your, that bike, it's way better than any road. I would love to have that contracted. It's so safe. It's so safe. No

Piper: way. No, I just wanna take some like, you know, just like some cheap, the thing is, is that if I'm thinking about my bike, I won't be thinking about the,

Robin: what I'm doing. Oh. Oh, lots of activity. Yep. Everybody's

Noise: rallying.

Tim: Yeah, everybody's going for that last minute push. Yeah. Get a little crazier. So you got that, uh, guy I was watching Ben Snyder, he's uh, up to sixth place now. He's gained more than eight slots

Noise: since the start.

Robin: Is it safe to say go bow, go

Noise: go bow. Yeah. Yeah. Go bow.

Tim: Yep. And he is still running faster laps than the fifth place guy, but he's pretty far back. It looks like

Robin: he's still, I'm sure you can see him and he's chasing

Tim: him. Yeah. I think that was our two

Noise: leaders just went past. Yeah.

Tim: Oh man. Bring, awesome. Got to look and see when our next local race is happening. We got some Enduro stuff going on it.

Piper: Okay. Lots of people. People are

Robin: clapping. Last clap. Here we go. Algar

Noise: al what? The world just happened there.

Robin: You saw that's got the lead.

Noise: Aino? Yeah.

Robin: Is up one point. Aino is up six points. Al is up seven

Noise: points. If

Robin: I know anything about what I'm talking about, which I don't.

Piper: All right. Um, will you introduce yourself and, um, kind of tell us Brian Weston: what you do? Uh, Brian Weston with Therye Helmet Inc. Our managing director of, uh, awry Helmet North and South America. Okay. So our office markets and, uh, supports our markets from Canada down to Brazil. How long have you been working with Awry? This is my 38th year.

Piper: Oh my gosh. Yeah. How many awry Brian Weston: helmets do you have? Uh, do I have the pro, well, that's the funny thing is I rotate through. I have to test so many helmets. I actually don't get to, don't get to keep 'em. I just can't keep them. There's just too many. So, and in that same vein, I almost never break in a helmet cuz I'm always rotating to the next one. So I have a unique experience of not having a big collection and I've never really, you know, worn one out because I'm just always moving to a new, a new model.

Piper: So when you say testing them out, what does that Brian Weston: mean? Uh, just basically field testing how, uh, how it's working for this market. A lot of people don't realize the rhyme makes helmets for the world and the world has different head shapes. Uh, Asian heads tend to be more round. American Euro heads tend to be a little bit more oblong, a little, uh, thinner longer. So we actually make different head shapes for different markets and when they develop a new model, they have to develop the new or, or the shape for that market. And then we have to test to make sure that what they've done works in that market. It's quiet, stable, it's comfortable. So even though, um, people would think you just, you know, uh, rinse and repeat, you know, just make, if you got the fit last time, why can't you do it this time? Well, you need to develop a new shell. It's a new mold. Things change. Do a new liner. Mold changes. You try and make it the same. You have to make sure that what you did is right. Nothing changed. Yeah. When you made those updates. So we're always testing for comfort, visibility, quiet, ventilation, stability. So we basically are the ones that have to do the initial, uh, feedback. And if there's anything that we want to address, the factory takes feedback, they work on it, they tweak it, we test it again, and once we're confident, it's as good, if not better than the last generation. Then we can move forward into production.

Piper: Is Ry the only, um, helmet company that has different molds

Noise: for Brian Weston: different head shapes? As far as I know, yes. Uh, I, I believe we're the others. Talk a little bit about, um, well, some, uh, some companies or some dealerships will, well, we coined the phrase intermediate round and long oval. Uh, basically we had to address how the helmets fit. And now a lot of people use that as the standard. Uh, they'll talk about this brand is intermediate, this brand is long. As far as I understand it, we're the only ones that make, uh, three distinct, uh, models that have three distinct fit packages. And then between those fit packages, we've tweaked the foam, uh, interiors that you can take away or add to get between. So you can go intermediate long or, you know, round intermediate, you can kind of mix and match. But we do have, I think the only company that has three basic in distinct models that are, are shape

Piper: specific. Okay. So, um, besides comfort, Why does the head shape matter so Brian Weston: much? Um, actually it has a lot to do with the homeless performance while you're riding. So comfort is one thing, first thing you look for. Um, but stability is the most important thing. A helmet needs to be stable on your head firm. So it doesn't lift, it doesn't move, it doesn't, um, vibrate at speed, therefore distracting you while you're riding, um, being uncomfortable again while you're riding it. Uh, if a, if a helmet's not comfortable, you won't ride very long. You'll wanna stop. We don't want the helmet to be the reason you stopped. So comfort in the store is awesome, but standing there in the store with the helmet sitting on your head, almost any helmet can be comfortable. You have to get, you know, on your bike in a sitting position, lean forward. That kind of tells you what the center of gravity's like standing there with a helmet on top of your head, all helmets could feel light or light. Helmet feels light. Even a he, a heavy helmet might feel light, but when you get on your bike and you lean forward, um, the fit of the helmet determines how it's. Balanced in how it lays that weight on your head. Your neck is now supporting more weight levered out over the gas tank, if you will. So if a helmet fits properly, it will displace the weight more evenly. The helmet won't move at speed, it doesn't wanna start lifting and shifting. Um, when we talk about fit, we always remind people that you're not trying to fit a helmet like a bedroom slipper because, you know, a bedroom slipper's great for getting from bed to the bathroom in the middle of the night, but out on the street in a crash, the the forces at work will just pull that slipper right off your foot. Same thing with the helmet. A helmet needs to go on extremely like a, like a tall boot. You need to work to get your head inside that helmet so that it envelopes your head. The bottom of the helmet wraps around your jaw, grabs your jaw, grabs your, your cheekbones, and holds onto your head like it wants to be there. Kinda like a a, a laced tall boot. It needs to be there and needs to be secure. Um, so comfort's important, um, but it's more about. Is the helmet displacing the weight evenly? Are there pressure points? Because again, uh, if the helmet doesn't fit comfortably, people tend to chase, uh, discomfort or hotspots. With the bigger helmet, the bigger the helmet, the more it's gonna move. Now, in an impact scenario, if a helmet moves, the helmet stops and your head keeps moving and your head slaps up against the inside, they call that a secondary impact. So a helmet that's nice and firm and fits well in an impact, your head will make contact with the EPS liner immediately and start absorbing energy quicker. So you don't want a helmet that's oversized. You don't want a helmet that doesn't fit your head shape. You want a helmet that's snug it, it makes contact all the way around your head so that in the unfortunate and, uh, uh, event of an impact, you're gonna be the best protected you possibly can. So, comfort's one thing, but performance, uh, as far as just riding, even if you never crash, you want a helmet that doesn't distract you. It doesn't, you know, cause hotspot doesn't make noise. Um, but in an impact, uh, of. Properly fitted helmet will serve you better in absorbing the energy more quickly.

Piper: So, um, when it comes to performance, is that also why awry has that egg shape and why you won't do the dropdown visors and why we can't find any three quarter open face helmets from Brian Weston: awry? Well, we do have three quarter open face. Okay. Um, we do, um, because people say, well, what about the face that awry want? This is all about protection. What about the face? Why, why, why would you even make an open face? Well, the issue is helmets are head protection. They're protect your brain. Face protection is nice. If you want face protection, we make full face helmets. If you want open face, if you, if you're claustrophobic, if you want to cruise, you want to feel the wind in your face. We make a helmet for that. But we make our open face helmets to the same level. We make our racing helmets. It's there to protect the brain, and we offer the most possible protection we can possibly do. There's no guarantees. You know, even in a helmet as good as an awry, we know there's energies out there in an impact that are. You know, beyond the scope of what a helmet can do. So knowing that we make the very best helmets we can, um, but we know our, even our helmets can be overwhelmed. And unfortunately, it, um, it's, it's hard to accept. But knowing the fact that we make the very best helmets we can, we don't compromise. We sleep very well at night knowing that no one is gonna be better protected than if you're in an ride. And if by chance, uh, um, you know, our helmets were overwhelmed, we know we left no stone on turn, we know we didn't compromise. No helmet would've done better. And we just keep moving on to make the best helmets we can because it's that important. Um, round smooth helmet performs better in a crash. Um, we tend to crash at speed. Motorcyclists, you know, you low side, high side, you're moving, you know, there's always this forward momentum a lot of times on, on, on camera. If a crash is happening, coming at you. It looks very static. It looks very like just falling. But a lot of races, we have video racers falling from, you know, 15, 20 feet in the air after being high sighted. They also happen to be traveling at 150 to 180 miles an hour. So on impact, they're not just hitting something, they're hitting something with a tremendous amount of kinetic energy from being pole vaulted into the o, into the air, the weight of their body falling, and the kinetic energy once their body pushes through into the helmet and then hitting the ground. The goal is to avoid as much energy as possible, avoid as much energy getting into the helmet as possible. So when you hit the ground at speed, the idea is that the helmet will skip or slide on contact. Yes, some energy will be imparted. As the helmet flexes, the shell flexes and the liner, uh, starts to compress. But if you can keep the helmet moving, if you can slide and keep that momentum forward every bit you slide, you're leaving kinetic energy and impact energy behind you. You're passing it, you're not letting it get into the helmet. So our goal is by minimizing how much energy gets into the helmet. The helmet can handle more energy as the crash continues, cuz the crash does continue. You skip, slide, bounce, tumble. Um, so we wanna make sure that during those tumbles, those multiple impacts, hitting obstacles, the bike hitting you, hitting a curb or a pole, we wanna make sure that that initial impact didn't use up the helmet's capacity. That that initial impact didn't ab you know, crush the entire liner, leaving you basically defenseless. So we want the helmet to be there over and over and over again should you need it even in the same spot. Cuz as we crash, we tend to tumble and as you tumble you hit the same spot over and over and over again. So we wanna make sure that the shell still has integrity. It's flexed, it may have delaminated a little bit, but we want it to still be round and smooth. We still want it to be able to resist impact energy and displace it over the widest possible area. And the more energy you can displace over a wide area with a strong shell that sends the energy wider and out the um, This full surface of the shell, more of the liner can absorb, uh, that energy. And the more liner you can absorb the energy with, the more capacity you still have. Having said that, there's only so much EPS foam we can put inside the helmet. There's only about an inch and a quarter of material. There not a whole lot of energy when you're dealing with the speeds that we ride at and the obstacles we come in contact with. So the idea of taking any of that foam away for any reason, especially one that's as frivolous as sunglasses, you know, a dropdown lens, it's convenient, it's very cool. But in the end, we don't wanna take away precious material that's there to abort impact energy to protect the brain. Uh, awry. That's why Ry came, uh, came up with the pro shade system. So we hung an external, uh, shade, um, which in itself is even better than a dropdown because it's not on or off. It's not up or down. Our pro shade functions in three different, um, modes. Full up. It's kind of like a visor to block overhead glare halfway down. So if, if you're kind of midday, kind of coming into the, uh, afternoon or in the mid-morning and then full down if you're going into sun up or sundown. So it actually functions, uh, three specific ways and then it's full up position and even works at night. So it can block the glare from overhead streetlights. So we've actually come up with something that does not detract from impact absorption or protection. And we've given you something more functional and beneficial by giving you four independent things that it can do. That a, a dropdown lens just can't. So awry is always looking at any accessory we do to enhance the ride, uh, benefit the rider without detracting from protection in anything we do. So it's important to recognize and remember, too many people take helmets for granted. They assume they're all safe because they've got a sticker. They're all offering the same protection because they've got that certification sticker. And the reality is those minimum standards are there to make sure that. The consumer's getting the basic minimum that the government thinks is necessary, and they're, they're pretty tough standards, but it doesn't mean we should just stop. It doesn't mean we should just give up and say, yep, we meet the minimum, we're good. You know, let's wait for the next standard and just make helmets all day long. Arise, always looking for, you know, how do we protect the rider better? Just because we could put something into our helmet and it would still pass a standard, it doesn't mean it's necessarily a good thing. Um, now it doesn't mean it's also a bad thing. However, again, everything we do, we look at it from a rider's point of view. The when we're out in the street or the racetrack, the, the impacts we have our dynamic, and it's something that I don't believe any standard could actually replicate standards or laboratory repeatable tests because they need to compare apples to apples brand to brand on, on a meter, on the, uh, the test rigs. You can't test a high speed, high side on pavement because every time you try and repeat that process, It's different. Every crash is different. You can't compare apples to apples in the real world. So we look at everything we do, um, to benefit the rider and to benefit protection. So over the years, we evolved from a fairly round to make shape. You know, we didn't, we didn't design our helmets with the end goal of being an egg. It just kind of happened that way. And then we looked at it one day and said, wow, this thing's really egg shaped. And then we started thinking, well, that's almost seems like common sense. Why didn't we do that before it, uh, the egg is the stronger shape in nature. I mean, it's this thin little shell, but it supports a tremendous amount of weight. It protects the egg inside of it quite well. And we kind of slowly came around to that realization as we developed the helmets over, over the decades. So egg shape is something that we've really, um, focused on. And some might say, God, you're stuck there. I'm like, well, it really works. People have to remember a helmet. The, the job of a helmet's never changed. It's about protection. So once we've found that shape is the optimal shape, We continue to use, use that as our foundation. All of our helmets are very, very similar because they have to, the core of the helmet is protection. It's round and smooth, strong. Um, we change it up with, um, ventilation components, aerodynamic components as necessary based on what people are doing, racing, touring, just street riding, commuting. But the basic helmet is the round, smooth, strong shell. And it's important to recognize all those things that we put on the helmet to make it a better riding experience. Aerodynamic, uh, for quiet stability and ventilation. All that stuff. Once you leave the motorcycle at speed are a liability. You know, now they're sticking out. They're, they're, there are points of contact that could create rotational force that could make the helmet stop even for an instant sending energy into the helmet. So all of our parts are frangible. They break off, uh, or crush upon impact. So they get out of the way. They, they contribute nothing to the crash. They don't get involved. They disappear. They should break away or crush so that the helmet can just do its job of. Avoiding energy not interjecting itself into the crash. It needs to just go along for the ride, protect what's inside, you know, slide past as much energy as possible. Um, smooth, you know, slide over smooth terrain, glance off obstacles as they come, and in multiple impacts, withstand, you know, those energies so that the rider inside hopefully gets through it pretty well.

Piper: So, um, all of those pop off as soon as they touch the pavement. So leaving just that, that egg shape. So when, when we think about other helmets where they have sort of the flare out at the, the neck or the chin, those are all hooking points, right? That could all get hooked and kind of snap Brian Weston: your neck. Yeah, we, we make head protection. We, we don't think too much about anything beyond the head, cuz that's not what we do. So I always kind of shy away from saying those things. Sure. But our attitude has always been anything that's, you know, like, like, I mean leverage, you know, levers, sure levers on your, on your motorcycle. They're used of levers cuz they create, you know, they, they allow you to, uh, twist and turn. So we wanna avoid leverage and things that twist and turn, we want to avoid sending energy somewhere else that might also do harm. Correct. So in the grand scheme, we look at anything sticking out is, is a potential trip hazard, you know, if you will, um, aerodynamically, uh, yeah, it, it might be, um, beneficial, but there's no reason why you can't do that with an add-on piece. Right. Um, a lot of companies have add-ons, but it's, um, a lot of them also have very exaggerated, sexy looking shells. I, I can't deny it. Um, our helmets are round and smooth and strong. Some people say they're boring, but you know what? Safety isn't always sexy. Uh, it's hard to sell safety. A lot of people don't want to really address it or talk about it. We have to kind of have that awkward conversation with the kids about, you know, riding a motorcycle even with the best gear on your, your. You're out there on your own. There's no airbags, there's no seat belts, no crumple zones, no padded dashboard. You're on your own. So even the best gear, you know, it's a very thin, uh, shield of, of armor. Um, and I love the fact that album star, you know, the best, uh, tremendous. It's a helmet for your upper chest and your body. Awesome. Um, you need to put as much between you and the impact as possible. You need to do your homework and choose a helmet that you believe is gonna offer you the best protection. And again, there's no guarantees. Um, and standards all pass or fail. It's really hard to distinguish between, you know, what is a good helmet and what is just a helmet that was produced for mass volume consumption and margin. So it's important for people to do their homework. Don't take my word for it. I worked for rye 38 years. Obviously I'm a little bit biased. I think everyone should wear an awry. Um, but do your homework and, and investigate the company that made your helmet and ask why did they make that helmet.

Piper: Well, can I ask you, um, cuz I did some research on the minimum standards and I, I'm sure it's not as easy as just saying, you know, 30, 40 miles an hour, 60 miles an hour. Can you talk a little bit about the d o T standard versus Snell versus MIPS versus ece? I'm sure we could spend all day talking about it, but I, there's some great confusion for me. Like what does it take to get the Snell approval and, you know, can any company just get the d o t? Like, is there a mile per hour rating in which they have to get passed to get it on the shelf? Brian Weston: Or a consumer? Um, well, d OT is self-certification. So if D O T sets a standard, they put it out there, the government says this is what you gotta do. And by bringing helmet to market and you put a d o OT sticker on it, you're telling everyone that you've self-certified you, you satisfied the, the minimums. And the government once in a while will go out and test and they'll, they'll verify it. So it's kind of like an honor system until you're caught kind of a thing. Um, Snell is, is, uh, independent, um, Standard that was created in Memorium to, uh, Pete Snell, who died in a car racing wreck back in the fifties in a helmet that he thought was good. And his wife and a friend of his, who was a doctor at the time, wanted to do something to, uh, to better the potential for drivers to one, understand what they're wearing and will it actually offer them better protection. And they bumped up, uh, the requirements, and it's not necessarily a mile or an hour, it's, well, I guess they're trying to get some mile an hour. I encourage everyone to go to the snow website and learn how Snell looks at protection. But it's a matter of, um, you're dropping five kilogram head form from I believe nine feet, you know, three meters, give or take. I forget the exact number. Um, so you have to get, uh, uh, feet per second speed, uh, with the kilogram head formm onto a steel anvil, both hemispherical, flat anvil and also penetration. And you just can't pass a certain amount of Gs to the brain. Um, and Snell is the most strict standard in the world. Yet it only tests to about 17 and a half miles an hour. That's the speed at which they test to, and they've been accused of being too tough. Um,

Piper: and you said 17, not 70, Brian Weston: 17. 1, 1

Piper: 7 0.5 is what the company ha that's all, that's the highest speed rating they have to pass to get the smell Brian Weston: sticker on the back of the helmet. Yep. And now when you look at that, it, it sounds ridiculous. Like that's nothing, you know, I do, I do 50 in first year on some motorcycles or, or, you know, or 30 at least. Um, but I, I always challenge people and I've had people, like, again, when they attack, Snell, smell is too hard. It's too tough for the average crash rolling, riding around town 35 miles an hour, you know, we don't need a helmet that strong, to which I have to argue, you know, at 35 miles an hour, if you're riding down the street, watch the telephone poles go by. They go by pretty quick. And imagine if you turned into one and hit it head on without any deflection. That's a tremendous amount of energy. 17.5 miles an hour from nine feet onto a steel vil is a tremendous amount of energy and a tremendous, um, um, test of the helmet shell's, uh, strength and its ability to withstand those forces, not crumple, dis straight displace the energy and absorb it from the interior, you know, the EPS liner. It is a tremendous amount of energy. Um, and we do really well in big impacts like that. But luckily again, in motorcycle crashes, we're moving that sliding, that glancing, and that's why we look at improving our helmet's performance by sliding, take advantage of what, what's already, what's already there. Maximize the fact that you're kinetic energy, you're still moving it. As long as you can keep moving, as long as you can keep sliding, you're avoiding impact energy. So, uh, I love the fact that e c e has stepped up quite a bit from the oh five to oh six or they're requiring much more energies, uh, as is the, uh, f I M standards. Uh, however, they do not require penetration resistance. Snell and d o t do, uh, require penetration resistance. Again, you have to check out Snell and look what they look, what they ask for. I believe it's a three kilogram, uh, striker. I believe it is also from nine feet. Um, and it basically has to be tested on the bears shell and also any ventilation holes within the strike area, which is the entire crown of the helmet. Um, and it can't make contact with the head. So you have one and a half inches of foam, the shell, which is about a quarter inch, three eights of, uh, three eights of an inch, I'm sorry, an eighth of an inch to a quarter of an inch thick, depending on where it is. It's a tremendous testimony to a shell that can withstand that striker. Um, but it's, it's one of those things that a lot of people say. There's really nothing that sharp out there. It's truly not applicable in real world. And I've seen razors, especially race bikes with a fairly pointed foot peg, land on a rider's head with the foot peg at the temple. It's not probable, but it's possible. And arise philosophy is we're not gonna go based on percentages. If it's possible, we're gonna try and develop something that can withstand those things. How much we don't know? Can we cover everything? No, but we look at things that we know of and we're not gonna dismiss them because they only happen once out of a thousand because Murphy's always there. And chances are that 100,000, it might be you one day and you're gonna be really thankful that you're in an rye because Rye thought about making a helmet a little bit better because that could happen. And again, I have to fall back on. There's no guarantees cuz we don't know what kind of energy. We don't know. If you're doing a hundred to 150, we don't know if the bike is gonna hit you square or glancing. We don't know what's going to happen. Every crash is different. Even lower speed crashes can put much more energy into a helmet than high speed crashes. So not knowing how fast you're gonna ride, not knowing your environment, not knowing your, your ability to take a punishment. Cuz some people can take bigger hits than others. I know, you know, some races will take a massive crash, get up and walk away. I've hit my head on a, you know, the corner counter and you know, I cry for a week. So, Not knowing all those things. We just make the helmet the absolute best we can and then hopefully it's gonna serve you, serve you well, whether you're in a small, uh, tip over, you know, lay down or a high speed, high side. So it's important for people to do their homework. Look at every standard E C E D o T, um, Snell, even the f Im, and decide for yourself. What, how much protection do you want? Which one do you believe offers the most potential to cover all the bases? How much protection do you want? How important are you to you? I always ask people that, it's like, well, I'm not, I don't need a helmet that good. I'm like, what do you mean you don't need a helmet? Good. You need the best helmet you could possibly get. Well, I'm a new rider. I don't need a helmet. That good? You're a new rider. You might crash more than most people. You need a helmet that good. Well, I only ride once, once a month. Occasionally. I'm like, no, you're, you're out of practice. You gotta get back up to, you know, kind of feel comfortable on the bike. You need a helmet that good, you know, you're riding down the street, you know, someone distracted on a phone. You know, grandma's not paying attention. You know, she didn't wear glasses today. I don't know. I've had. People in Cadillacs pointing their cars at me a lot when I lived in Florida. I didn't like that feeling, but I do like the feeling of making sure that should I hit something, I've got the best helmet on my head. So everyone has to make that decision how much they're willing to compromise. You know, if you're gonna spend a few hundred dollars on a pair of boots, which is important, I think it's the most common injuries and ankle injury, but you break your foot, you can still get around on crutches. You lose a foot, you can still get around and, and, you know, prosthetics and, and, and crutches or a cane. Sometimes it's pretty hard to reboot the computer, you know, so it's important for people to recognize, look, do your homework. We're not asking you to drop a tr tremendous amount more money than other helmets. Just look at what you think you, you were, you wanted, what you think you're willing to spend, what you think is good enough. Then research orry think if you think the family that puts their name behind every helmet they make, that still is a hundred percent control of the helmet that the grandfather started more than 70 years ago, and the third generation will be taking over to defend that awry name and still wear it for his own protection. Knowing that there's only one production line. Every single helmet's made by 15 men that have great care in the helmets they make, because their name is in every helmet they make, every helmet's inspected twice. That used to be reserved for our race program back in the sixties and seventies. Now it's for everybody. Every helmet gets inspected twice, raise for helmets, come off the same production line. Mr. Rise, he comes off the same production line. Uh, you know, uh, a Jonathan Raya replica, a Maverick Danielle's replica, could be the exact one. Snell Digit off of the one you buy today. It literally could have come off the exact same production lot because they come from the same production. So no one's more important than anyone else. Everyone gets the best we possibly can, and it's important for everyone to look at where they're riding, understanding the risks, and recognizing, okay, I was gonna spend four or 500. Do I wanna spend another one, two, or three on an ride? You know? And, and we're not necessarily entry level price points, if you will, but think about it, for another a hundred or $200, you might get the. The, the, the, I guess the, the feeling that there was a family that cares about protection more than market share and more than profit puts their family name on it every single time, risks their own safety when they wear their own helmet that was made in the same production that you bought. And basically every ratio that racism around, around the world is again, getting the same protection you're getting. Cuz honestly, racers are all going in the same direction with other professionals, with runoff, airbags, ambulances, and helicopters all nearby. You're alone on the street with trucks, telephone poles, curbs, and crazy people. You need more protection, I think, than most racers. You're not going as fast as them, but you have a bigger opportunity to hit a lot of things. So again, everyone has to do their own research, figure out what they're worth to themselves, how important is their own protection? Is awry doing things that they feel are in their best interests, um, better than others? Or do they feel like a $500 helmet or $300 helmet that has a standard good enough? And it might be for some people. I have to end it with saying we can't make enough helmets for everybody. If the entire world one day said, I'm gonna buy an awry, there'd be a 15 year waiting period. There's no way we could possibly do it. So it's okay if, if you're not ready for an awry right now, right? I mean, there we can only make so many. And we'd love the discerning few that are willing to spend the extra money on ride because they believe in awry. And I believe everyone who tries an awry will appreciate what we do and will probably become an awry fan. Everyone who crashes an awry I know is an awry fan. Um, I kind of used the joke saying, you don't know how good a awry is until you crash in one. And that's really not true. You don't know how good an awry is until you've put up one on that was properly fit, properly shaped, and you go out and take a ride in it and realize, wow, this is incredible. It's like being in a pillow field of view is incredible. It's quiet, it's ventilated, it's gonna be the best experience you have even if you never crash. So it's, it's a unique brand. Um, we only do what we want to do. For the sake of improving safety and protection and performance all for the customer, because we care about our customers. We really, really want to know that if you buy an awry helmet, you're buying with the absolute confidence. That is the very best helmet we could possibly make.

Piper: Well said. Thank you. I love my orry. I'll tell you, I, I've, I've been an awry, um, fan since I first started riding and I will wear nothing else. So. Awesome. I really appreciate your time. Seriously, so, so.

Piper: So we're, we're here today at Motor GP and um, I've come into the Alpine Star tent and I've got an interview with, um, one of the guys who is, um, responsible for the Air Tech gear. He sort of promotes it, knows all about it. Um, and it's that really awesome body suit that sort of, um, blows up if you come off a bike. Expands, maybe I shouldn't say blows up. It, uh, it, there's a whole body

Noise: airbag,

Piper: it's an airbag system and it's, it's rad. Um, but it's not a, it's one of those, it's one of the few that is not attached to your motorcycle. Um, it just is so high tech that it knows, um, as soon as you start going a certain speed, 25, 45 miles an hour, and I think depending on the suit that you get, kind of determines when it kicks on. But as soon as you hit that particular speed, it, it kicks on and it's ready. And it knows if you high side, low side, if you get hit from behind, um, and it deploys. So it's, yeah, it's pretty neat stuff here. Oh, wait, we're we're doing something? Oh, they're about to pop. Oh, they're

Robin: gonna pop the jacket. They're demo, they're gonna pop the jacket. Yeah. Watch the dude just like disappear and then they find him 20 feet to the right. This one was miscalibrated. Ignore what you just

Travis: saw. Oh, we got one from a Toyota Camry instead

Noise: in a very low profile package here.

Piper: This is awesome actually because once it

Travis: deploys connection, nothing but a pair of red shoes.

Piper: Once it's, once it deploys, you guys can send it back to California and they can um, fix it. You can use it again.

Robin: Yeah. Yeah. That's a, oh, you're talking to somebody next to

Noise: you had the greatest service? Yes. Alrighty. In 5, 4,

Robin: 3, 2, 1.

Piper: Oops, this fire,

Travis: they gotta throw 'em off a bike at speed or it won't word. All

Noise: right, here we

Piper: go. Okay, here we go. Promise me 4, 3, 2.

Noise: There we go. Holy. But there, as you can see, that was 25 milliseconds and the coverage that you see full back shoulders, upper arms, collarbones and sides, for any area that that covers, again,

Piper: that's amazing. Any sort of impact. Do you need anything else from me before we, before I

Robin: sign off? You rock, go have a good time. Do what you do and find out what you find out. Have fun. All right.

Piper: Thanks guys. You guys enjoy

Robin: the

Piper: All right. Um, can you tell me your name and what your role is for Alpine Brent Jazwinski: Star? Sure. Yeah. My name is Brent Jazwinski. I'm the technical product specialist at Alpine Stars, and I do a lot of different things from sales to media and pretty much everything in between, but my focus is with, uh, you know, basically, basically, uh, airbag

Piper: products. Oh, awesome. How did you get into this, um, Brent Jazwinski: industry? Uh, well, I'm a lifelong rider. I've been riding since I was five or six years old, you know, growing through the ranks, racing, uh, both on road and off. I was, uh, in the media as well, test riding bikes. And then it was after that I, uh, you know, linked up with, uh, friends at al. My stars and, and started, you know, my career there.

Piper: Awesome. Have you ever, um, been on a bike and then deployed and had the airbag go off? Brent Jazwinski: Uh, not yet, no. Uh, fortunately, but, uh, I have deployed myself, uh, several times. My last, uh, road crash was, uh, a few years ago, probably in 2017 or 18 or so, but it was a, uh, it was a, it was a low side where I was cranked way over and basically framed out on the foot peg and, you know, it was enough. Pressure off the, the rear tire that it, you know, slid out on me. And, uh, you know, I was already so far over that it didn't necessitate the, the deployment of the airbag. Fortunately, you know, high side could have been a different

Piper: story. Gotcha. And I'm assuming you were wearing all of your Alpine Brent Jazwinski: star gear? Yep. I was wearing full, full leathers. Um, so, you know, I, I walked away No problem. The bike was even, you know, pretty, pretty minimally damaged. It was just a couple scrapes on, you know, the bar ends and, and whatnot. But, uh, yeah, no, the, the gear definitely did his job. I was able to ride away and, you know, keep working the next day and, you know, no. Uh, came away

Piper: unscathed. How do you convince people to wear their Brent Jazwinski: gear? Just gear in general? Yeah. Uh, well, you know, it, it really is, it's kind of easy, honestly, if anybody's ever, you know, had a crash, especially on the pavement, whether it be a, uh, you know, a simple accident or you know, something bigger, uh, you know, really all it takes is that experience to understand the importance of wearing any form of gear, whether it be just gloves and a helmet and boots, or long, you know, long pants. Or a jacket, you know, whatever the case may be. You know, all it takes is one to really kind of rewire your whole perspective on protective gear and, uh, uh, but really a lot of people are obviously risk averse, you know, especially the older you get obviously. And, uh, you know, being able to, you know, walk away from these crashes without any sort of, you know, road rash at the, at the least, at the, you know, the easy getting off, easy end of the spectrum to broken bones is, uh, you know, if you've ever been in that position where you've had to miss work or have a surgery or anything like that, you know, it really changes your whole perspective. So, uh, you know, the earlier you can get, you know, the earlier you start riding and wearing gear and the easier and faster you can appreciate, you know, what it's there

Piper: for. So for me, since I own a motorcycle training, School and most of the people who come to my school have never been on a motorcycle before. They really don't understand the concept of what it, what it's like to come off a bike and fly and all of those things, but at the same time, trying not to scare them out of the sport. What could I, what do you think I could say to them to sort of encourage Brent Jazwinski: that behavior? Well, yeah, I mean, obviously scary, uh, crashing is scary, but, uh, but knowing that you have the right equipment, mini minimizes and mitigates that risk tremendously. And, uh, you know, having that confidence and knowing that you're as best protected as you possibly could be, really does help, you know, increase rider confidence. And whether that be a, a newer rider who's just getting, you know, started. Learning how to shift gears and, you know, merge onto the freeway or whatever the case may be, to a more experienced, uh, rider. You know, having the right gear really does help you enjoy the whole experience that much more because, uh, you're able to push the envelope a little bit further, you know, as you progress and get better and knowing, you know, and you'll have your little scares in your moments. Um, but you know, that little scar and moment, depending on the road condition, you know, could be the, that thin razor thin line between going down or keeping it up. And obviously any sort of spike in heart rate there is, uh, is exciting and scary, but, you know, you do it enough times and you get comfortable with that feeling. Um, which again is attributed back to wearing that gear and knowing you can push that envelope. It, you know, makes the, the whole experience that much more fun. You know, the more you do it, the more comfortable you get. The more fun you have, the more you want to keep coming back.

Piper: Awesome. Thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate it. That was No problem. This was great. This is awesome.

Robin: That's cool. I gave myself an entire extra week to make production of this next episode easier on my. Mine cuz I want to get one out for every month and I guarantee it's gonna take me a week to get through all the production on the audio I'm gonna have. Cause my old time there, all we heard was bikes going by. They were doing, they were doing uh, the 500 class. What is it? The, uh, Moto three. Moto three.

Travis: How you been, man? Who

Noise: me?

Robin: No, Tim, how you been? Been talking to him for an hour. Who do you think I'm talking to?

Travis: Oh, alright. Hanging in there. The, uh, we had that, uh, fools Fool Spring, um, last week. So that was nice. Rode the bike to work. It's gonna snow tonight, so,

Robin: Hey, where did you get that

Travis: information at? Uh, the chiro.bike weather page. Of course.

Robin: I have been busting my butt on that thing, man. I've been working on it and working on it and then I realized that like I, I've set myself up for success because all of the variables that are included can be programmatically. This is where you get that information for every single one of them. Problem is the place I'm telling them to go. I was telling them to like calculate using over 120 hours instead of 24. So fix that last night. Sorry if anybody got rained on. Yeah. You were saying so it's gonna

Travis: snow. Um, yep. But, uh, otherwise, you know, been uh, just commuting on the bike, haven't really gone out for a ride or anything. It's been too busy. Um, oh, so I got that. Uh, AGV, K six helmet, K six s I guess good timing. The whole story is I was up late one night. One night, which you know, is how you ended up buying things you don't really need. Staring at my phone. Yeah. Um, and I started looking for, and I think Revzilla had called it like the helmet of 2022. It was on their like list of helmets cuz it was like the lightest helmet. Outside of like a carbon race helmet. Like it was like super light. It's designed for like adventure sport, bike touring. Like it's designed to kind of, you can be in a tuck and you can still see, and it's aerodynamic. You can be more upright and you can still see. And it's aerodynamic. Does

Robin: that have the removable visor? The removable brand? No, it's

Travis: not like an adventure helmet. It's a, it's a, it's a, it's a sport by helmet. Nice. Um, so I'm like, uh, just kind of on the internet and I find this Danish website, champion helmets, um, and the album on clearance, cuz it's like, it was like, this was like in December, maybe January. So it's like the 2022 models. They were clearing up uhhuh. Um, and so I like ordered one. They had like the gray and, uh, medium, small. Cause they had like two medium size. It's like medium small and medium large. So there's like extra small, small, medium. Small, medium. Large. Large. Okay. Um, And I guess what they do is they use like a multilayer, multi-level, uh, eps so that, um, like the helmet's actually thinner. So like between like your head and the shell, they can use less material because there's like multi density foams in there. Not just like one, one density of uh, you know, expanded polystyrene. Oh, really? Cool. And they're like an amid carbon infused, you know, whatever polymer for the, um, for the shelve. So this thing's like super light. It's like two pounds in change. Like it's, it's ridiculous.

Robin: Nice. It sounds like also it's the same level of protection with less real estate.

Travis: Yeah. And it's like ECE rated, you know? Um, so anyway, I ordered it and then they get back to me and they're like, Hey, so there was a problem with our inventory system and we actually don't have any left, but, um, what if we give you one of the new ones that's coming out, one of the, the 2023 revisions, which is the K six s, um, for like 50 bucks more. And I was like, sure. I was like, great. So when those come in in March, we'll ship '

Robin: em out. So then what's the price

Travis: point for that one? Like M S R P? I don't know. I paid like, I think three 50 for everything and that included advisor, so Wow. Uh, yeah, it was a good deal. That sounds really good. Yeah. Uh, oops. Apparently there's some sort of gun accessory that is also called that. Um, so right now, uh, Google is showing me. On sale from various vendors. They're like 400 bucks, so

Robin: great price or something that like that has that much protection. Heck

Travis: yeah. Um, so I ordered it and then I ordered a, um, like a, a dark visor for it too, right? Because it's not like a dropdown, it's, I just have to get a dark price and I don't like dropdowns Anyway, so I got a dark visor and then March comes like, Hey, your helmet's in, but we don't have the visor anymore. We're outta stock on the visor. Oh no. He's like, can we send you like the, the mirrored one I should go grab, I should go grab it because it looks so instead of like just having like the black dark, like dark smoke visor, it's like the silver mirror on the gray helmet. It looks really ra I was like, that works out

Robin: aviator's visor.

Travis: Yeah. So it's, um, it was a little tricky that I had to track down another pin lock for the, for the. Mirror visor for the dark visor. But, um, yeah, you know, pin lock ready. The pin lock is like recessed into it. Like it's really nice. Um, yeah, and it's like super quiet. So light, like, it's like, you know, you, you know, when you pick up like a carbon bicycle and it just feels weird because you're used to bicycles weighing a certain amount, and this is not that. It's like that, like it's, it's one of those super light helmets, like really close to like, um, floats away, picked up in, in Arfa 11 Pro, the um mm-hmm. Those, those are super light. Yeah. But it's like, it's really quiet event's. Pretty, pretty decently. Um, and like, you know, big, big wide go, um, like, you know, modern helmet design. Pretty cool. Um, what's the head shape on those? It's intermediate oval. Like, I feel like almost everything's intermediate oval these days. I

Robin: am interested in that. You know, the other thing I like about Agv is they've got so many great paint jobs. If you want a custom looking helmet, they've got tons of different

Travis: paint jobs. Yeah. Yeah, there's lots of cool colors. Mm-hmm. Um, the, uh, I just got the, like theo gray, the like gloss matte gray, you know?

Robin: Yeah. But it's carbon, I mean, is does it have that carbon fiber?

Travis: No, no. It's just gray. It's like, well, it's not like, it's not just like a carbon weave. It is, let me see what they say. Car, uh, car, uh, it is carbon, but it's not like carbon fiber. It's a combination of carbon and amid fibers. Nice. And part of the reason it's so light is they use, they have four shell sizes. Oh, cool. So they really split. That's really good. And that also reduces the, um, the amount of like, Eps you need in the helmet so you can get a, like when you get a medium or you get a small, the helmet is actually smaller on the outside. Yeah. Whereas like with a lot of helmets, like the medium and the large and the small all have the same shell. So if you get a medium or a, or a small, it's a large helmet. More foam. Just size. Just more foam fill. Yeah. So you have a giant

Robin: helmet. I've made this joke many times where you've got any helmet that comes with a lot of features. If you buy the, the worthwhile version of a helmet with a lot of features, there are a lot of great features built into the helmet. And then when you get the cheap version of a helmet with great features, they build those features onto the helmet. So everything grows versus

Travis: integrated. One, two. It's like, I like a simple helmet. I don't want a modular, I don't want a dropdown visor. I want it to be one piece that goes over my head there, the visor seals really well. Um, and I can always swap the visor when it gets dark to a clear one, right? Um, yeah. So I just find that and like this, like one less line in your line of sight too versus like the dropdowns and one less little button to deal with on it. Um, and again, it makes it lighter, makes it stronger, makes you get like more helmet for your money cuz they're not bolting extra stuff on. Um, so the, this is saying that they're way comes in at 1298 grams, um, which is 45 ounces. Are you

Robin: asking us a question?

Travis: Um, uh, question mark phase? Um, yeah, 2.8. 2.8 pounds. I think that's about right. So coming in under three pounds, that's. It's very light. Um, it's impressive. Yeah, it's cool. So I, I, I would recommend, I would recommend it if you're in the market for a helmet, check out the a Gvk six. And like I said on my NC 700 X that I have modified with bar risers and a tall seat. So I'm in a very kind of upright adventure bike riding position, clean air. It really, um, it's like, like the quietest helmet I got as nice. You

Robin: picked my interest on it. I could always use another one. I've got two helmets right now. I'm happy with my awry. I forget which one that is. It's, you know, all in all, I think I dropped about 800 and coin on it, but it does have a lot of different adjustments for vents that don't operate well while you're riding. And I think for the price, no matter what they had to go through to get those features to

Travis: pass snow or whatever, or ec

Robin: Yeah. To be sellable in the United States, they should still be. Easier to operate than they are. Some of them self close while I'm riding two little buttons up top to open up your top vent and then all of a sudden I'll be like, why am I getting hot? It's like one has closed itself somehow.

Tim: Yeah.

Travis: Huh. Yeah, I know. Otherwise too, have like the little, like the vents in the visor. The little brow vents that are like in the visor and

Robin: stuff. Not easy to open. Yeah, not easy to open at all.

Travis: I never liked the awry visor mount system too. You have to like pop the cover off and get into it and it's like, you know, AJCs got a great one where you just open it, pull a trigger and it pops off, and then the mm-hmm. The agv one is very similar and actually it's like way more, there's actually an aluminum in the visor. There's like an aluminum latch system like on the plastic that connects in. So it's like, it's a metal connection for the visor, not, not plastic, on plastic. Nice.

Tim: You get a little bit

Travis: more durability. Yeah. It also does, so it's got like a center, a center locking button for to lock it and open it. So you can do it with either hand. And it, it's got a little loop on it so you can kind of half pop it and do the like, little vent pop on the visor, but it's still latched. That's cool. You know what I mean? Yeah. No. So like, so like if you had it, you know, just popped a little bit for that little bit of extra vent, like you're in the, in the town or something like that. Yeah. And something hit it. It's not gonna fly open cuz it's latched closed, so that's pretty cool. Oh, okay. Gotcha. That is neat. Yeah, so you kinda have to like, you can like half press the, the release and it'll, it'll pop up to that vent crack, but it's still, it's still locked. It's still locked down. I like that idea. Yeah. Now I thought that was a cool feature and I don't think anyone's talked about it, but, and maybe that's just what H A G V does, but physical, that's my most recent mo motorcycle purchase besides I did an oil change and put a new rear tire on and got it ready for the season. I just hadn't changed the oil in two years. Cause I haven't ridden the bike that much and it has 8,000 mile service intervals. Yep. So I wanted to put fresh oil in it.

Robin: Yeah. When your cylinders are like

Travis: pancakes, what do you mean? No, it it's the other way. It's over, it's under square. It's got a longer stroke than a bore. It does, but it's a 670 cc bike that holds a gallon of oil. So I did

Robin: not know that your bike was, uh, a tall bore. Yep. It always feels so farm

Travis: ready. I mean, that's why Yeah, that's why it's got, that's why it's got the like super low end torque and it doesn't rev very high.

Robin: I might be learning something right now. I may have had that backwards all this time. Yeah. So a high, a high revving bike, 13,000 RPM bike, is that gonna be over square where the it. I

Travis: always forget which one is over and which one is under. But that's gonna be have a short under is tall stroke. Yeah. Under is tall and over a high raving bike is gonna be, yeah. So, uh, an under square bike that's got a short stroke is gonna be high revving cuz you're not oscillating the mass as much.

Robin: Okay, so something with like Maggie's bike with a 13,000 RPM rev. Yeah.

Travis: Yeah. Your 600 cc sport bikes have like a really, like, I mean, let's see here. CBR 600 R R r r r r Rrr edition, um, bo and

Robin: stroke, which you are not kidding, you've got a 9% ride quality right now. Today according to t R O, you've got a 9% rug. 43 is your high,

Tim: it's cold and

Travis: rainy. It's like 40 degrees and raining and it's gonna turn the snow overnight.

Robin: Rain, wind, visibility and temperature.

Travis: A uh, A C B R six hundred's got a 67 millimeter bar and a 42 and a half millimeter stroke. Okay,

Robin: so over square. That's under square,

Travis: whatever one. It's got more, it's wider than it is, than it moves.

Robin: I just learned something. And that makes more sense cuz if the piston has to go that much further distance through metal, metal to metal with oil, you're gonna be, there's more wear and tear opportunity. So it's gonna be torquer. That makes more sense. I just got smarter. Yeah,

Travis: cuz you, like with the, with the longer stroke, you're like compressing more air, you get more torque off of the, the low end, but you can't oscillate the motor back and forth as fast. Um, yeah. So the, the NC has a 73 millimeter bore and an 80 millimeter stroke. So the stroke is slightly higher than the bore. I think the seven 50. The seven 50 might be square. They might have boarded out. Well it's a little closer, so it's 77 and 80 on the seven 50 Honda. Yeah. Um, speaking of Honda, we're just gonna kind of, uh, Ramble here, like the reviews are pouring in for the new Hornet and the new trends out. And I'm just like, man, is this gonna come to the evidence? Said anything about the United States? I keep checking, like every week I scour the Google and no one, there's no even mention of like United States release.

Robin: Okay, so I'm gonna do Honda Hornet 2023 USA Review is the Honda Hornet coming to the u s usa? Uh, Honda will sell the Hornet as a 2023 model, but weirdly, it has kept relatively quiet on whether or not the bike will come to the us, which given Yamaha's success with the MT range seems like kind of a no-brainer, particularly to, given the fact that the CB six 50 R naked bike is getting a little long in the tooth. So that's from Jalopnik? Yeah. Again, I'm just, I'm busting down the whole lawsuit wall, just reading information direct from the source. This

Travis: episode? No, you got it. From the AI from Goggle. People who don't know Robin Dean isn't real. He's just an AI chat bot.

Robin: We do not say these things. Self-destruct. Initiating in three, two. Robin

Travis: Dean is a message red rejected.

Robin: Oh man. Well, it does make sense for the, I don't necessarily like the headlight, but I've, I've said that before. We talked about it in an entire episode. Yeah.

Travis: Um,

Robin: what was the other one? The trans alp. Which one's that, what's that all about?

Travis: So it's like the, so the, the classic trans ALP was like a mid-size adventure bike that again, they sold in the art for a real long time. And now the new version used that same motor that's in the new Honda Hornet. So it's like every mid-size bike is now, it's a mid-size 750 cc parallel twin with a 270 degree crank. But unlike the 700 ish CC parallel, twin with a 700 or um, whatever, 230 degree, 207 degree crank. Like my bike, it actually like revs high and makes power if it makes like 90 horsepower.

Robin: That's not bad. Tim, you wanna weigh on this? What do you got? You look like you're thinking over there. Oh,

Tim: let me think. Trans help, that's a little bit more like pre adventure bike. Adventure bike. At least the first generation.

Travis: Oh, the original one? Yeah. Yeah.

Tim: And I think that, I'm trying to remember if they are really trying to go after that

Travis: again. Um, yeah, the new one is, I mean, it's like a 21 inch front. I mean, it's a proper adventure bike, you know, touring. Okay. It's like maybe not as hard as like the 10 ore, but it's like harder than a vrom. Okay.

Tim: All right. I'm looking at it now. Yeah. Yeah, they're definitely, uh, marketing that as an adventure bike. This looks good. This looks, yeah. It's a little bit more road focused than the, uh, T seven from Yamaha.

Travis: Yeah. I got more creature comfort. It's like a little less bare bones. Yep. A little more wind protection. A little bigger. It still looks good.

Tim: Yeah. It's still like, it's not as big as your flagship GS Africa twin. Mm-hmm. It's gonna be a little more

Travis: streamlined. Yeah. It's, it's, I mean, it's really like a baby Africa twin. Yeah.

Tim: Or a, so this is the middle ground be between the CB 500 X and the Africa twin that needed to happen, I think would be an awesome spot

Robin: to be. I just remember standing next to Tim's Africa twin before he was about to go conquer the moon, and then looking at the seat and being like, how this Clydesdale. And I tried to sit on it. I was like, I'm a little boy, little boy, boy. Like, I couldn't, there was no, it wasn't gonna happen. Yeah. That was a big bike. Yeah. I, I'd do it if I had to. I just don't see, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm a we man.

Travis: Yeah. I mean, it's a big bike. The, uh, the original trans ALP was basically like an XR six 50 with a seven 50 V twin shoved in it. Nice. That looks good. The new, um, stain on Honda here, the CF 500 L. That looks good. I think if we ever get a new bike for Laurel, that would like be right where she needs to be. It's like a, it's like a scrambler, what do they call it? I think it was the CF 500, not the CV 500.

Robin: No, it's not a, it's, that only shows me a bag of some kind. It's like a saddle bag. C L F,

Travis: uh, CLF 500 a c r 500 scrambler. Um, The CL 500. Yeah. This you give me Honda CL 500 scrambler. Got it.

Robin: I see it. Yep. Oh, I see this.

Tim: Yeah. Yep. I like this. Mm-hmm. This is the Honda Rebel with a scrambler treatment. Yeah.

Robin: That's pretty cool. If I may say Laurel Wood rock that.

Travis: Yeah. Cause I was wondering if they were gonna do like a neo retro job with the 500 class cuz there's like the, the f which has the like modern naked bike styling and the X and the rebel. Um, isn't there another one I'm missing? I think it 500. The

Tim: F R L Oh

Travis: yeah. The cbr R. Yeah, the cbr, that's the other one. Um, yeah. And yeah, so it was like, but they didn't do like, um, cuz they did the, like the six 50 R, the CB six 50 R with the retro styling with the inline four, but they weren't doing one with the 500. And I was like, well that, that would be perfect. Um, and then, then they did it.

Robin: I'm super curious what my next bike is going to be because I've got plenty of space left on the Beamer to enjoy it as long as I can and there will be an opportunity at some time in the, I don't know, foreseeable future, whatever. When the chance happens, what am I gonna do? And I keep thinking I'm gonna get something that is sub a thousand ccs and mark my words. It's going to be a base model. I am not getting a maxed out Beamer ever again. Ever. Yeah. The fact that everything is integrated into the E C U, and if you want to change that, like one example would be tire pressure monitor tpms, so mine are in the rim. To get to them, you need to remove the tire. We've talked about this a little bit before Travis watched me think like I, I've seen people try. They have, nobody has succeeded. I've seen people try to dig out the epoxy and the rosin to get to the battery. So I'm trying to figure out if this is even possible. What's in there? A watch battery. This rabbit hole's going gone too far. Uh, so I've got the, the tpms with a watch battery that's been roed in, but you cannot replace. And all it is is a 2032 or a 2016 watch battery. Yeah, it's a regular

Travis: off the shelf.

Robin: And then to get the, to get it out, you have to unmount the tire. And then if you don't put it back in, you're gonna see the wrench icon on the dash, which you cannot disable. This is unnecessary. This is bad to the market. I don't, I don't like that anymore. So my next bike, I remember with the bandit, you know, that when the bandit was done, it was tricked. I had, I had heated everything I wanted power ports, uh, luggage, l e d, lighting, everything was akay because I bought a base model and built it into what I wanted it to be. And that's what I'm gonna do next time. I will never buy a Gizmo tron bike ever again. Sorry. Uh, thank you for your time. Yeah,

Travis: totally understand that. That was part of my, when I got the NC, is it's like, it's, it's got fuel injection and that's it.

Robin: Yeah. I'll take it. Fuel injection all day. Yep. No carburetors. I'll be if it red, if it simplifies things, give me, gimme that.

Travis: Yeah. I mean, at this point that's fuel injection is more reliable then. Oh yeah.

Robin: I'll say this too. So here is our spinoff because Travis, we've done it. You've managed to make the episode. Is there anything anybody else wants to

Travis: talk about? We talked about motorcycles, not just watch Piper walk around. Koda.

Robin: That is true. However, I imagine there are a lot of people here that would like to listen to Piper walking around Coda some more. So in this episode we're gonna do a sendoff. Listen, enjoy everybody. We're gonna go back to Piper and let her discuss Ev all she is seeing, interview all the people she's talking to. I'm Robin

Travis: Dean. I'm Travis Burleson, late as usual. And I'm Tim

Tim: Clark.

Robin: Safe travels everyone.

Piper: Hey, can I ask you some questions about your school? Yes, I'm Okay. So I'm from a, I'm a part of a podcast called Total Riding Obsession. Can you, can I record you? Is that okay? Sure. Okay. Here, I'll do the, so that we can be together. Hi. Hi. Can you, how doing Denise Lou, what's your name? Denise. Denise. And what is your school? Denise Luu: This is Ride Smart. We are curriculum school. We actually take student on a track and teach them how to ride a motorcycle

Piper: safely. No way. So on a track. So do they have to, do they have to ride? Do they have to have riding experience Denise Luu: before they come? They do. They do. But, uh, you know, we can teach them from very beginning. Okay. All the way to advance, which is like practice for racing. We have advanced people come to our track day to practice for their

Piper: race. Really? Yes. Can you get somebody hooked up like with a team? Denise Luu: Yes, we do have a rise mark race team.

Piper: You do? We do. Okay. And so how much does this cost? Denise Luu: Well depend on each track. Okay. Quota is $500 a day. Whoa. And then G two. Okay. And m Sr. H and Preston are

Piper: all different parts. So you don't have any in Colorado? No, not yet. What do we have to do to get Denise Luu: you to come to

Piper: Colorado? A lot of riding. Okay. Because I just tried on an Alpine Star outfit this morning and it looked really good on me and so I think now I'm ready to race. Denise Luu: Yes, yes, yes. Come to our track day. Yeah. And then we have instructor, we take you out and we, you will have a

Piper: blast. How many, how many times do I get to go around the six Denise Luu: times? Six? We have four level. We take turns to go out. And you normally a day will take you

Piper: six times. So it's more than a hundred dollars. Wait, it's less than a hundred dollars for, it's about a wait. I can't do math, but it's about 75 bucks ish. Math is hard per time that you go Denise Luu: around. Well that's for Coda. Okay. Like I msr H

Piper: two 20 at dollars $220. 220 A. Denise Luu: Okay. Um, G 2 225. 325. Okay. So this

Piper: depend on each truck. What do I have to have to join race suit? My own motorcycle suit? Yeah. Denise Luu: So these are the one that we loan now. Okay. We have boots. Oh wow. You do have to bring your helmet and

Piper: gloves. You have to have your own gloves. Yes. Denise Luu: Do I have to have my own motorcycle? Yes you do. Okay. But we are working on rented out on motorcycle. We is still

Piper: work in progress. Awesome. Thank you so much. This is really very Denise Luu: nice. Sorry, I've been talking for come to Road America for three days.

Piper: So do you, do you go, do you guys go to Road America? Denise Luu: Not yet. Not yet. Not yet. But we look into, you know, you're looking into

Piper: it to expand it. Uh, are you one of the Denise Luu: instructors. I am the one of the owner wifes.

Piper: You're the owner's wife? Yes. Okay. Denise Luu: Do you ride? I do ride on the back

Piper: of this bike. Okay. You need to come to Colorado Uhhuh, because I own a motorcycle training school. Mm-hmm. And I'll teach you how to ride a motorcycle and then you can kick his ass on the track. Denise Luu: Yes. I, I like to ride the bass with

Piper: him. Have you tried to Denise Luu: ride your own bike? I do, I do. I ride my own, my own motorcycle, but I like it when you ride to be on the back. Yes. Oh, that's sweet. Yes. I like to lean, but I don't like to control the speed. You don't? No, I don't. So, but I fully trust him.

Piper: Maybe. Yeah. Maybe I have Denise Luu: control issues. Yeah. So I trust him, so I love it when he take me on

Piper: the track. Oh, that's, he'll take you on the track. Yes. Oh, that's Denise Luu: amazing. Okay. He always, for 30 years that we've been together, I'm always on the back of the.

Piper: Is that what keeps you together? Yes. That's awesome. Thank you so much. I really appreciate. I'm gonna shake your hand. Thank you so much. It was nice to meet you. Yes. Okay. Awesome. What do you guys think? Was that okay? That was good. That was just, that was so good. Piper is the, the host that we send into a tornado. What do you see in there, Piper? I see lots of people screaming. I have a piece of metal in my eye, but we're doing good. Okay, so I'm from a, um, a part of a podcast called Total Riding Obsession, a podcast called Total Riding Obsession called Total Riding Obsession Total Riding Obsession Total riding. Total, total, total, total, total.