Robin: I'm now recording. I'm locked. Check one. Check, check. Check, check, check.

Brian: Yay. Sibilance.

Robin: Sibilance. Sibilance.

Brian: Sibilance. Sibilance.

Joanne: I think that's my favorite character of his. Sibilance.

Robin: What is it? Is that Spinal Tap?

Joanne: No. That is SNL. That's Wayne's World. And that's when Tom Hanks comes on as a guest because he's like their cousin, who's the PA for Aerosmith. so he gets Aerosmith to come on the show but he comes on first and does a mic test for them before they come down. Hello.

Brian: That's perfect. That's a lot of detail.

Joanne: Siblings.

Brian: Come on. That's a hell of a good memory, Joanne. Joanne knows stuff. Come on. Joanne knows stuff.

Joanne: Get with the program. Tom Hanks.

Robin: I should probably not edit this episode. There are people out there who have requested a completely unedited episode.

Joanne: Don't edit it.

Robin: So this one will be the raw.

Joanne: Come on. Core SNL. Come on.

Robin: Well, we better get on it. Brian, you got to announce what's in this episode.

Joanne: What's in this episode?

Brian: Well, I don't know what's in this episode yet because we'll get there when we get there. But I do know we're going to find out what everybody's been up to. I do know we're going to talk about bringing our loved ones with us on the trip, on the ride, how that interaction works.

Robin: Bringing them into motorcycling.

Brian: Bringing them into motorcycling as a whole. Yes. Let's put it that way.

Robin: Yeah. That's going to be, yeah.

Brian: Whether they're there physically, in spirit, ahead, behind, back home. I like that. It's a big topic.

Robin: Big topic.

Brian: And then by the end of this episode, I have to figure out what we're going to talk about next time. Or is it your turn? I don't remember.

Robin: I think technically this is supposed to be your run, but it might be Joanne's run. So you may, we may have to.

Joanne: I don't think about it.

Brian: No, we, we, we punted and Joanne suggested this topic and it's a great one.

Robin: So. Which means you've contributed, which means next time it's either Brian or my turn. So we'll have to do the spork battle. All right. Well, are you good with opening announcements, snooze corrections all the stuff absolutely get through this one right quick first off correction i love you more today than yesterday is not by stevie wonder it's by spiral staircase it sounds just like stevie wonder it sounds like stevie and i heard it while we were watching nobody 2 which is not a great movie totally worth it for that guy though for what's his name the actor that plays the guy that plays Saul Goodman. Saul Goodman Saul Goodman Pop culture. Oosh.

Joanne: Yes. Over my head.

Robin: Bob Odenkirk. Yes. Bob Odenkirk. And yeah, so Bob Odenkirk, it plays in Nobody Too, and it's a great tune. And so that was my song for the minute last episode. That's my correction. That correction is now out of the park.

Brian: Spiral Staircase. Yes. That's got to be like an alias for Stevie Wonder or something. It does sound just like him. It could be.

Robin: Yeah, it sounds identical.

Brian: He's undercover. Okay.

Robin: On to the banter. How is everybody? What's good?

Brian: I'm fantastic robin where you been what you've been doing what's your song of the week get it right this time.

Robin: Yes random song in the minute we could all have one if we want this is a this is all mutual this is all communal think of your random song in the minute that inspires you you know especially if you're behind especially if you're riding a bike random song in the minute if you want to look at our random song in the minute playlist it's radio.tro.bike in your web browser. For me this week, it's Little Current by Bay Ledges. Little Current by Bay Ledges. A very mellow interlude that can really make mountain views beautiful on a bike. I'll tell you what. Other than that, we've got two spots left for trip sevens. I am anxious to fill those two spots. Otherwise, other arrangements will need to be made and discussed and elaborated upon, and we'll figure it all out depending on what people want to do. But we've got two spots left. That's seven riders, seven states, seven days. And we hope that you guys will sign up. So be sure and at least consider it because considering some of the other companies out there with their dent on the wallet, I think we're pretty kind in a lot of ways. Yeah. Brian's made a point of that recently. Then weather here is downright perfect. It's absolutely beautiful. I rode Road X, brought back two still warm Cuban sandwiches. Yeah, I see you flicking me off there. Brian's all, you know, flipping me the bird. You know, customer service. Friendship is Brian's middle finger.

Brian: Yeah. Screw you, Mr. Warren. No, that's why you're there. That's why you went to all that trouble, to go to the frickin' desert. Yeah.

Robin: It is. I was supposed to ride with our friend. Shout out to Will. Shout out to Steve. People from the Brews Day Tuesday over at Truth and Consequences Brewery. And I was going to ride with him to Silver City along Rodax. He immediately had to bail for unexpected reasons. I said, do you want me to bring you a sandwich? When I handed it to him, we're talking about 90 miles out, 90 miles back. And when I handed him the sandwich, it was still warm. So I think I was averaging 55 miles per hour in those curves. Not bad. It was a good day. That's me. Who's next? What's going down?

Brian: I'll share a little bit of pain here. I'm doing the fork seal dance on the FJ09. Getting a little juicy on the right side. And these are upside down forks. So it's just a, I've got all the tools. I've done it before. I know what I'm doing. It's just, I'm tired of it. I'll get it done, whatever. It's just one of those annoying jobs. It's not like you're putting on new tires. You're like, yeah, I'm going to ride all these cool places. I need new tires. I'm going to be right in there. It'll just be like, yeah, I'll get this done, and then my bike won't leak anymore until the next time, 50,000 miles later.

Robin: Well, I'm glad you're getting practice because I'm bringing my bike to your place when we get up there.

Brian: Well, just, yeah, hopefully your fork seals aren't leaking, but we'll have to spill some fork fluid on the floor.

Robin: No, no, don't worry. I'm going to pour some right on the floor when I get there, and then we'll be able to not worry about it.

Brian: Yeah, just get it over with. It's going to happen. That's how it works with us.

Robin: Do you want to explain that to Joanne?

Joanne: No, you're just reminding me that my fork seals are leaking. You're muted, Joanne. You're muted. I forgot that.

Robin: You're muted.

Joanne: I thought I hit the button. I forgot that my fork seals are leaking a little bit, and I can't afford to get them fixed right now. So I need to remember to just wipe them down.

Robin: Okay, so Brian and I need to ride to your house. We'll take care of it, and then we'll leave.

Joanne: Yeah it's on the list i have a long list of things to pay for that i can't pay for so but that's yeah i forgot about it's a light one it's not crazy but it's it's there and i need to yeah take care of it

Brian: Yeah on my bike it's kind of it's kind of a light one but it's they never get better like i tried the thing with the seal saver went around and no it's just time 50 52 53 000 miles something like that yeah it's time yeah so along with that i have there are three pro tips i'm gonna just like we're not doing the tiny tasty tool tips anymore although we should at some point we can do.

Robin: That at 91

Brian: I know i need to think of something but anyway tip tip one i've tried everything and nothing is better than oem fork seals on all makes and models i don't know i don't know why no one can make a fork seal it works as well as the factory one it's just how it is i've really tried to save money and it just doesn't work and my bike has about 53,000 miles, something like that on it. And so the bushings inside the fork are, it's also a good idea to replace it while I've got it apart. So I'm going to do that. And we kind of had a question one time about how often you should replace those. And it varies. You know, I've seen them last 80,000, 100,000 miles, no problem. But anyway, I ordered them up from Yamaha. I'm going to replace them. And also I'm going to do the seal clips, the fork cap O-rings. There's there's bushings there's a few other things one of anyway the tip is to order up the damper rod bolts or at least one of them because these i mean i have impact tools etc i'm good at getting them out but these things just love to strip out they have a fine thread they've got thread locker on them and so forth so just yeah just kind of go through the fork diagram order the order the other stuff and then on older bikes yeah they're.

Robin: Kind of engineered for temporary permanence

Brian: Yeah yeah and if you're like I said I can I've gotten good at getting them out without an issue but, If you don't have one, then they're like a weird fine thread and you can't find them anywhere and blah. And then on older bikes, some of the damper rods have these little piston rings around them. I've never seen one actually wear out, but, you know, or just get some fork seals and throw them in there. If the bike doesn't have a ton of miles on it, you know, that's valid too. And fork fluid, of course. And the other thing is, I think I found that, let's just say that due to events, parts prices are really in flux. so look around find find a good deal i've got i'm fortunate in indianapolis we have two two dealerships that have an online parts store it's like there's a different online cycle parts dot com is one of them and partshark.com is the other one and they're just in different they're basically just different dealerships around town so i found uh one of them has better prices than the others i normally i was kind of used to them being within a few cents of each other but there was a big difference and okay that's that's.

Robin: Great isn't that great how great things

Brian: Are fun so much fun fishes blah right.

Robin: Joanne your turn or is is it is that it

Brian: I'm i'm done that's that's that's my writing life it's been warm i'm writing a little bit joanne's up how.

Robin: Are you and what's new

Joanne: Well I'm not riding at all. Probably because my fork seal is leaking. I try to avoid riding that bike just until I fix it. But I did take out for a little spin like a week ago or two weeks ago. But our weather has been very erratic. It goes from 60s one day to 40s. And then it's 80s for a couple of days and it just keeps changing. And I don't know. We don't know if spring's here or what's happening, but I'm kind of in a... I don't know. I'm kind of like in neutral right now because I just, I don't, I don't have the motivation to go up to third or fourth and like go out and, and do a lot, but I also don't, I don't know. I don't want to drag around in first gear either. I'm just kind of in a, yeah, I'm just kind of in a, I don't know.

Robin: I don't think there's any requirements. If you, if you are on the bike for any instance, you feel like this is good.

Joanne: I still need to pump battery back in the 250 because it's a pain in the butt to put a battery in an xt 250 it's not a perfect little pop the seat and drop the battery and kind of thing it's a whole thing and it they didn't make it very easy so nice i need to do that i need to do it and then yeah take her out for a little motivation there city bike yeah a little bit and

Brian: Then why why do they hide the batteries like that too.

Joanne: I don't know i don't know and what's up with that i don't know and it takes forever to pry it out of its little compartment it's nested behind all the wiring for the bike all the it's behind the wiring and so you take the panel off and then you gotta like try and then putting it back in is a whole nother exercise and then you gotta figure out a way to get it in there with all the wiring and all that blah blah oh and not drop the little nuts and screws right oh yeah you know yeah that's

Brian: That's just normal what which bike is it that needs the fork seals.

Joanne: The triumph street triple Oh,

Brian: Okay. I guess you replace them. So what Robert and I need to do is show up there with all the two.

Joanne: That'd be great. So if they're leaking a little bit, does it matter if they're leaking a little or a lot, you still have to replace them? That's the solution when that happens?

Robin: Well, they don't get better.

Brian: Yeah, they don't get better on their own. You're even first.

Robin: Yeah, Brian first on this. I'll go second.

Brian: Okay. On a dirt bike or... And once in a while, especially on a dirt bike, because you're in dirt, that Triumph's not a dirt bike, you can get like a seal saver or it's like a seal mate, not a seal saver. It's called a seal mate.

Robin: I've got one.

Brian: Yeah. It's a little, it's a little very, very thin piece of plastic that you can slide up there or down, depending on the forks. And then it's got, and then you can kind of go around it and it'll, so once in a while you'll pull out like a bug or a piece of dirt and it'll fix the problem. I see. Once in a while you get lucky. You can use, if you have any, if you're old enough, you have any like 35 millimeter negatives around, that's the right thickness. No.

Joanne: Actually, we might have some in the storage unit, come to think of it. Yeah. Yeah, the man might actually, I see.

Brian: But, but yeah, so basically you, you, you, once in a while you get lucky. Like on dirt bikes, it's fairly common. Something will get caught up in there because your dirt's flying around and stuff. and you can get a blob of something and then they're fine the rest of the ride. But are there the upside down forks on that bike?

Joanne: No. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Upside down. Sorry. Yes.

Brian: Okay. Yeah. That's what I thought. Okay. Yeah. They're basically, there's always oil up there. So yeah, when they start leaking, it's really just not going to get any better. It's going to keep happening. But yeah, you can kind of judge. I once helped a friend with a used bike he had bought, and it was leaking. And we found somebody had made, somebody had pulled up the dust seal, which is on the outside, and made a little tiny diaper out of paper towel, and then put it in there, a little ring of towel, put it in there, and then put the dust seal back on and pretended like it was all okay.

Robin: I can hear the whistling. I can hear the whistling.

Joanne: No, not going to do that.

Brian: The banjo music playing.

Joanne: Yeah, but I figured at some point it just, the seals just need to be replaced. And then, yeah, I mean, she needs a tune up. She needs a tune up. She, yeah, she needs just a little change and a tune up.

Robin: May I take a go at this to hear the sound of my own voice?

Brian: Sure.

Robin: Please. The seal, the seal mate worked for us. So I used it on the Beamer and Maggie's bike. And it was just one of those things where there was a small drip droplet. And I went up there and, you know, you just put it in there and you rolled around one time. drag it down like a q-tip and it did remedy a fork oil leak on maggie's bike it happened because like a little piece of sand is

Joanne: It because it was just small enough of a leak

Robin: Well it was because a little piece of santa had pressed out the seal so a little bit of green get up there creates a routing it kind of deforms things so that the oil can sort of weep out yeah and then if you eliminate that. I used this word last time, too. I don't know what they're made of. I like to say sorbethane because I've worked with that stuff before. But basically, the sorbethane contracted back into its normal position, and that kept the fork oil in. So it worked for me. It might work for you. And if it doesn't, well, okay, phase B, which is Brian and I have to take a road trip to the mountain roads. We'll have to take the long way there, of course.

Joanne: For $9, just worth trying it, right? And then, okay, it doesn't work. Then I go make an appointment and take it in.

Brian: Yeah. Okay.

Joanne: Okay. I think it's worth trying. Oh, and I can get in different colors. Wow. Fancy.

Brian: I have a yellow one.

Joanne: I'll get a yellow one. I don't know.

Brian: Yeah. Or, yeah.

Joanne: Yeah. Yeah.

Brian: And I think Cycle Gear has them or, you know, any place. They have. Whatever. They're whatever. But, yeah. Nice.

Joanne: Yeah. I'll figure that out. But, I don't know. Otherwise, just trying to look forward to some spring nice weather. and hopefully I'll have time and a job and a way to get out and actually do some real riding this year.

Brian: Nice.

Joanne: More often. We'll see. Really want to go camping up in the mountains because there's some amazing places to camp here. And yeah.

Brian: We've got ponds in Indiana. I'm going to take 10,000 feet at Cripper Creek.

Joanne: Yeah, Cripple Creek's amazing. So we want to go back. I want to go back.

Robin: Do you want to come to the GS Resources rally?

Brian: We've got ponds you can camp next to.

Joanne: Too much. Maybe a lake. I told you about our Cripple Creek ordeal last, it was like two years ago when we got lost and we ended up going down a river. But like ended up going down like the worst trail I've ever been, the hardest trail I've ever been on,

Brian: Sand. That sounds like fun.

Joanne: No, I've never been on it. And like it was not, it was on the dirt bikes, on the dual sports, but still like we went down a road. We were not prepared at all whatsoever to go down and it was a dried up riverbed. So it was like ruddy and yeah. And it was only two miles, but it was like the worst two miles of my life. Thank God it was downhill because there's no way if it was uphill, I would have turned around and just walked the bike back down because there's no way I'm going uphill with ruts and sand. No, not going to happen. But it was downhill. And for some reason, I feel more comfortable going downhill when the terrain is rough i don't know what it is but it's just so much easier and i'm totally okay with it but luckily i mean i just paddle walked it because i didn't know what to do i was like you know what i'll put my feet down i'm just gonna walk down i'll send you some pictures it was it turned out fine but it was terrifying at the moment because we were not expecting it

Brian: Apparently you lived yeah so that's good.

Joanne: We lived but it was hard

Robin: This reminds me of the movie it's a classic movie that i used to watch with my dad when i was a kid called It's a Bad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. You ever seen it?

Joanne: No.

Robin: Classic comedy, all-star cast, but it's got Phil Silvers in there, and there's a scene where he's going to cross. He's just so lost, and this kid is trying to lead him to a treasure, and he's in 1947 Ford Super Deluxe, and he goes to cross a river in this thing. The dude just plays a moron, and he drives into the river and then just proceeds to float away. That's it. That's all.

Brian: Just goodbye.

Robin: He's gone. That's it.

Joanne: Anyway, classic comedy.

Brian: Thank you.

Joanne: Yeah. So I, yeah, but we do want to get back out and then go on the road. We were supposed, you know, do the boring, flat, boring dirt roads and explore, you know, all the scenic, scenic stuff. That's it. Other than, you know, searching for some employments. That's kind of my sad life right now. And you guys, thanks.

Robin: Is that a good lead in for our topic then? We will do this?

Joanne: Yeah.

Robin: All right.

Brian: Let's go for it. Oh, it's on me, huh? Okay.

Robin: You are the leader of the pack. Do it. Do it.

Brian: Do it. Okay. Yeah. Our topic for today. Now, this came from, Joanne just blurted us out. I don't know if you had this on deck in your brain. Which is why she really suffered this episode. No. It was a brilliant topic. No, it actually, part of it came from, and I think part of it was from Robin as well, where we're talking about basically bringing your loved ones, whoever is important to you, into motorcycling in whatever way that takes shape. Like Robin, you know, we had a little bit of a conversation about, you know, when someone's actually riding with you, like when Maggie's riding with Robin and things like that. And also, but I'm not, you know, I can get into the, the, the gory, the literally gory details later, but you know, like what we do has an effect on other people. So how do you bring them in? How do you get them excited? How do you, how do you help them understand why you care about this?

Robin: This topic and step on me all you like, interrupt to your heart's content. But the fact is this topic, it's not just about that. Some of them, some people need to be brought in because if you don't bring them into that fold, they're a greater danger to themselves. And believe it or not, that's how maggie ended up on a motorcycle wait

Joanne: Elaborate on maggie that's

Robin: This is the fun part because i've told this story before every co-host has heard it and now it's y'all's turn i think brian may know this one already but she started out on the buddy 125 you've heard about that scooter joanne that's me yes yeah me too she started on the buddy 125 different scooter yes at the time i was on i probably the seca 400 which brian knows that bike he knows that bike too well we

Joanne: Had a seca we had a seca yeah

Robin: Oh the seca 2 is a great that was a way to 700 machine it

Joanne: Was great yeah i

Brian: Loved it the.

Robin: Total upgrade visually too so i would follow maggie around we'd ride sheridan road north out of chicago so if you look at north if you look at rogers park chicago sheridan road is right next to the lake the whole way and it's got some little curvy bits it's a fun little getaway it's like a lunch route you know okay let's take a break from work and go ride this so she'd be on the scooter and she was getting better and better on this thing And I just started to watch what she was doing, and I realized, that scooter, she shouldn't be doing what she's doing on that scooter. That is not the right vehicle. That is inappropriate. There's no—body English? Give me a break. Stop.

Joanne: Amazing. That was always my favorite MSF student, watching those students like, you're on the wrong bike. Do not buy that bike.

Robin: Yeah. Nice. I observed it, and I said, you know, you're not doing things that you should. you're just you've got millimeters of space left in your lean angle you're using you're using techniques you don't have a name for yet that are you know like chin over wristing and i'm like that's that you don't even know what that is yet but you're already doing it it's putting a halt to this right now you're getting a motorcyclist young lady and you're going to be safe you know and see immediately you know the the the growth in wheel dimension and the stability it was it It was all over from there, and now she's riding what she's riding.

Joanne: Because the Buddies—no, the Buddies didn't have little 10-inch donuts, right? The Buddies actually had 20. They had—yeah, my first scooter was a 50—Aprilia Scarbeo 50 with, yeah, big 15s.

Robin: Yeah, they have— Mine are on 12s. They're 12s.

Joanne: Okay, so they were—yeah, and we specifically got—well, my husband chose it specifically because it was better for the roads, you know, potholes and— It was a better ride for the city. And that's, yeah, I did that for a year. Same thing. But I wasn't railing on it like that. I was just going to work and, you know, running errands after work.

Robin: So you say, I don't know.

Joanne: I was. I was just running. Like, I was going to work downtown. You know, it was like a two-mile across San Francisco commute. And scooters are the best little vehicle you can ride across town to go to work. And they are the perfect. I had a box. You know, parking's easy. And with traffic, it's the best little ride around town. and it was cheaper and faster. That's why I rode it because it was a 20-minute door-to-door to get to work, not an hour with a bus. Nice. Yeah, and it was only 50, way back in the day, 10 cents an hour to park your motorcycle. So for 80 cents a day, you could park all day. And a bus ticket was like 150 one way, you know? So it was cheaper, it was faster.

Robin: Well, plus you're rocking 70 to the gallon. Right, man. Now hear me out. Yep. I watched Maggie and thought, no, we have to upgrade this because she and now she's like a track rider now and again. And same with you. But her bridge was witnessed. I was like, this is no longer. No. How did it happen for you, on the other hand? Well, how did you get enveloped into now you're riding street triples and dirt bikes and all this?

Joanne: I mean, that was it. Like it was the scooter transition because it was purely utilitarian. And then because I was riding it every day, he needed he wanted a bike. So then he bought, we bought a Ninja 250 so that he could have a motorcycle and I would ride the scooter. That was the plan. He went on a trip for a few weeks and I decided I would, I would ride it. I would ride that. Like, why not? I'll just try it. I'll just try it out. And I started riding it to work. Same commute, two miles across town, you know, cost the same. I was like, this is way more fun and it's faster. It's just more fun to ride this than the scooter. So I started riding that every day to work instead. And then eventually we got the Seca. Then he bought the Seca too so that he would have a bike. So it was way more fun than I thought it would be because I really wasn't looking for the fun. I just was trying to get to work.

Robin: Sensible.

Joanne: Yeah, I mean, it was cheaper. It was mainly faster, 20 minutes door-to-door instead of an hour, and that saved me time. But then riding his bike, it was so much fun. And I just didn't know. I really didn't know until I started riding it. And then, yeah, and then a few years later, it took me about three years to upgrade, And I got a 750 and then, yeah, and then more bikes.

Robin: Setting this up for like Brian to take the reins on this. These are just two examples where it's like we're talking about the same basic premise, two very different angles. You know what I mean? So if we talk about the overall, like, it's like a, it's a one-sided object, but from every direction, it's a completely different story. Brian, what do you want to do with this?

Brian: Well, I love, I love Joanne's story because, oh, it's totally practical. Like, that's what we tell ourselves. That's what everybody tells them, tells their other, yeah, it's totally practical. If you get to work and you're blah, blah, blah, and then, hey, this is kind of fun. I love that. That's hilarious.

Joanne: It's practicality, and I just happen to be good at it. It just worked out that I was good at it. But I really do attribute it to riding that scooter for a year. So I rode it for about 12 months and I put about 4,000 miles on it.

Brian: Yeah. And you picked up a lot of good skills. Yeah.

Joanne: Exactly. And that seat time and getting comfortable on that made it faster and easier for me to get better at, to be able to jump on the Ninja and immediately ride it and immediately feel comfortable. Like it didn't feel foreign or scary. I mean, sure, it's still scary because there's still fear because it's a motorcycle. But I mean, it was just at a level where, okay, this is a little scary, but not to where I couldn't ride it. And it was very easy to learn and to pick up because of that seat time. And I actually became an instructor because of it. So as soon as I, when I took my class, the manager was like, how long have you been riding this? I said, a year. She's like, you should come and work for me. So I did. So then I started. Nice. Yeah, I started coaching like three months after I... It was three months after we bought the scooter, the motorcycle, and I did the training. And, yeah, I just happened to be good at it. I mean, I just kind of took to it because it was, I don't know, it was just easy. I mean, not easy, but it felt natural and it was fun. But mainly, mainly because it was fun, because I found it really fun. But it was a huge confidence boost, too.

Robin: Quick sidebar, just to play the clown as I try to just keep it, you know, a little bit light. I did just, we still have the same scooter, okay? And I just rode it.

Joanne: You still have it?

Robin: Oh, yeah. That's the same scooter out there that we, we, that's 2008. So yesterday, three days ago, I wanted to go to get a couple candy bars and some chewing gum from the gas station. So I took the single track route. I took the dirt route.

Joanne: On the scooter?

Robin: On the scooter. And it is not easy. And I rode the scooter all through the dirt route, all the way. The gas station is a half block. I turned it into a mile and a half. And it was totally, it was ridiculous and stupid. And I had a laugh the whole time. I mean, I was in flip-flops, and I'm going to air this, yes.

Joanne: I was, yeah, guys. I'll send pictures.

Brian: Scooters are stupid fun.

Robin: Yeah.

Joanne: They are. They really are, and they're their own kind of fun. But it is really a gateway, because not everybody can and should jump straight to motorcycling. Some people can, but not everybody. Oh, go on. Right? We're all different in how we learn. I mean, when you teach, you know, people how to ride, you can, everyone has a different way of learning. Everybody has a different learning curve. Everybody has different needs to learn and to get comfortable.

Robin: If I remember right, yeah, there's four types of learners.

Brian: I don't remember what they are.

Joanne: I mean, there's all kinds. I mean, there's just, everyone's different.

Robin: Oh, look at her.

Joanne: Right? Right. So, how's my puppy? So, it just, I always encourage people who want to ride a motorcycle, but don't feel ready to, to go ride a scooter for six months. Like, they're cheap. They're easy. It's a gate. It'll be easy. When you take your class, it's going to feel easier because you've had this physical time. Muscle memory is real. And the muscle memory you develop on your scooter absolutely applies to what you do on the motorcycle. and how it feels, right? Like your brain, like your body and your brain, it feels familiar. So that's why when I jumped on the Ninja, it felt, oh yeah, okay, yeah, my feet and legs are in a different position, but I'm not, you know, I'm not like laying down and I'm not on a cruiser with my feet way too far in front of me. So the learning curve was also easier because it was a motorcycle that emulated a lot of the characteristics of a scooter in terms of the familiarity. Right. Because as human beings, our ergonomics go when you sit in a chair. Hey, that's pretty familiar. Anytime you sit on something that's like a chair, it feels regular.

Robin: The classic standard. Right.

Joanne: Just a standard position. So the further you get away from that, the worse it feels. That's why people who...

Robin: I was just talking to somebody about this. Right? Yeah. The rider triangle is always the same. It just tips in a different horseback riding position. Your actual body is always the same.

Joanne: Right.

Robin: But there's so many ways to be uncomfortable.

Joanne: Yes. And that segues perfectly into why it is a horrible idea to bring your loved ones in to your hobby by putting them in and on something that's wholly inappropriate.

Robin: Here's what I envisioned for you.

Joanne: Right? Oh, yeah. Exactly. And not bringing him in in a way that makes sense for them. That is not fair. And that's why they are, that's why they don't want to. That's why they're terrified. That's why they don't want to do it with you, ladies. I totally understand this. Men, this is why you're ladies. And I say this because the vast majority of motorcyclists trying to bring their partners in are men. There are more male heterosexual riders out there bringing their female partners in. And I understand why mine did. I mean, he sneakily bought that scooter because he's a very practical man. And he's not the kind of guy to like, I'm going to go buy an R1. Like, my man does not need that to feel better about himself.

Robin: Bigger bike means better rider.

Joanne: He knew the scooter was a good way to do it, to start out and learn. Like he's that kind of person. And then he knew that a Ninja 250 was the perfect bike to start in on. And he had hopes, you know, he knew it wouldn't be intimidating, but he kind of knew that that might, that would be a good way. And if you're going to help your person come in, well, you got to help them for them, for them, not for yourself. And that's where a lot of men make mistakes, huge mistakes, and they're not thinking about it.

Robin: Keep track of the doorway that you entered. Because remember, I do love the whole concept that we're on a one-sided object. There's a lot of perspectives, but this is the one that I really think we ought to dwell on the way you are. It's good. This is good. Because how many times you talked about the—you mentioned in the last episode the worst customer you ever met, the way he was Barbie-dolling his woman to ride a bike. I was like, ugh.

Joanne: Speak for yourself.

Robin: Bad news.

Joanne: Yeah, or just— Yeah, exactly. And if you really want to bring your person in because you love them, because you want to share this activity that you love and you want them to enjoy it and share it, then you're not going to speak for them. You're not going to help educate them and give them information. Sure. And show them things. And educate and train, but they should make their own choices about what feels good for them. And that's where mistakes happen when you try to bring your person in. And if you are a rider that isn't even doing it right for yourself, like you're squidding around wearing no gear, do you really think someone else who has no desire to ride a motorcycle wants to go all in at the highest risk level possible, just like you? No, because women in general are shown to be far more safety conscious than men. It's science. We are more careful about everything in general. And with motorcycling, the MIC study, the last time they did a women's motorcyclist study, it also showed that women take safety far more seriously And we do way more to be safe than our male counterparts do. And so you don't want to scare the bejesus out of your partner when they haven't even touched the motorcycle yet.

Robin: There's a lot of self-defeating psychology in it as well. You know, a person's mental health in terms of what they deem, you know, how many people, just people, will learn to ride a motorcycle thinking that that's the answer to whatever their personal issues are. As long as they can get the license, then they can go out and create their own dangers, things like that. But I think there's a real trick to your goal. My personal goal is not to make sure that what words I use sociopathically manipulate somebody into doing. It's more that I want them to know that they can make these decisions on their own. If it's something they're interested in doing, they can take steps. I can feel whatever questions I'm comfortable fielding or direct them to somebody who knows better. Neutral ground. Neutrality is huge. It's not about our wanting for them to do it. It's more about our wanting for them to decide for themselves what they are and aren't comfortable with.

Joanne: Well, that's, and also, you know, that's also if the person even wants to do this. Maybe, maybe the situation is my person doesn't want to do it and that's okay, but I want my person to be comfortable with me doing this. And that requires a whole different set of information and a different approach altogether because you have to show your person, they don't have to be scared or worry and you you have to do the work right you have to take some classes you have to invest in gear insurance a motorcycle that is appropriate for your learning level for your experience the

Robin: God account on facebook was like name one thing that isn't grossly expensive and still worth it you know a total waste of money and still totally worth it i just put buying a motor's like oh yes

Joanne: Tires it's all right it's all those things but that's that's not even someone who wants to ride with you so now you have to do Someone's in trouble. I don't know if you can hear the signs. But that is something to make your person comfortable with you even doing the activity. You have to do some introspection. You go, well, what am I doing? Am I really doing this in a way that is making my person comfortable? Or am I riding out there like a crazy person? No insurance, no license, no gear. A motorcycle I shouldn't be riding. Well, yeah, they're going to be scared. and in no skill, they're never going to support you, ever. No one's going to support you trying to kill yourself every day. But there's a huge difference between that and riders like us, where we put on way more clothes than we ever want to put on. And we ride, right? And we spend

Robin: Years- Dress like guar.

Joanne: Right, right. Like sweating to death. And we spend years riding motorcycles so that we can be safe and doing all the boring training stuff that nobody wants to do. And not drinking and driving and, you know, not buying motorcycles on impulse. There's so much for that.

Robin: Well, we got a drive line somewhere. About that.

Brian: Wait a minute. No.

Robin: You should totally buy that bike.

Brian: The other thing related to that is what I've noticed is that Marge is a lot more comfortable when she is able to meet and hang around with the people that I hang around with. Like she rode for a while. We can get into my story and our story, but...

Robin: I think it's your turn. Take the bike for a while.

Brian: Basically, yeah. Basically, a lot of it is, of her being comfortable, is the people that I hang around with. You know, she's met Robin. We've had dinner. He's been to her house a lot. She, you know, Tim and Woz, I ride with them a lot. The people, you know, like she's come to the rallies even when she's not riding and hung around with. And that's a big part of it, too. We're not out there just being, you know, who's got the who's got the biggest gonads. We're talking, you know, we're the stuff, even the stuff we talk about, like we're talking about, you know, like, oh, yeah, we need to do this with this. You know, we're talking about technique and stuff like that. we're not just going out there and just throwing ourselves in into the road and seeing what happens and so that's been that's been a large part of her comfort too i think um.

Joanne: Yeah she wants to know that she can trust the people who you kind of are putting your lives into just to a degree that you're trusting your life with right because when you ride with other people you're trusting your life with them also that's how i feel when i go with you know that's why i don't ride in groups of strangers. I don't do it anymore. I don't feel comfortable. I used to, but I don't feel comfortable anymore. And I'll only really go right with people that I know. And I don't do public events because I just don't, I just don't feel comfortable. And, but that makes a lot of sense too. That's another thing that, yeah, that's another way to help your person be more comfortable. But trust is a whole nother thing in your relationship. If you don't have that to begin with, then no, no matter what you say, they're never going to be on board.

Brian: Yeah. Yeah. Or, you know, like you've got this sketchy friend. I don't trust them at all. I mean, you know.

Robin: I resemble that remark.

Brian: You're out riding around with these idiots, you know, that kind of thing. And even like when, like when, like when John came to our house and we went and had dinner, you know, that helped her comfort level a lot. You know, that kind of thing helps a lot. Yeah. And in our case, when we, when we were dating and living together and then got married, I had motorcycles. I had a motorcycle, like one at a time. And she started getting interested and riding on the back with me. And I think part of it was wanting to be in control of herself was a little bit of it too. And also a little bit was, was having this achievement, doing something that other people didn't do. And it's something, you know, like I'd always been thinking about it. Let's do it. You know, I'm like, okay, here's the right way to do it. took the msf course etc and so and we found an appropriate bike for it was a disco green like a 1980 honda cm 400 it was awesome it was it was it was cool yeah it was a perfect standard it was yes pretty pretty pretty standard bike nice and it was so funny we we you know this was back when they had ads in a paper if you remember there were pieces of dead trees people used to get and yeah anyway oh man they do still exist yeah yeah so you'd call on you'd call and you speak to a human and it was very weird he couldn't text him anyway so we bought it from this little old guy and this guy was like five foot three looks like he was the same height as marge so this is why he had this bike so it was perfect height and he even like he even charged us less money because he just thought it was so great that she wanted to learn how to ride she wanted her own bike and all this stuff and yeah it was a great little bike she rode it for a long time when we you know she decided to stop riding after a while especially after we moved to the city because city traffic is its own thing but yeah she learned to ride the right way enjoyed it and so forth rode rode on the back with me some you know quite a bit over the years she's kind of done with it by now but so you know it's been the whole thing from learning to ride right you know riding on the back, learning to ride, going through all that, and. Also going through, you know, going through me breaking my leg three times, you know, and still being supportive and all that through that.

Joanne: So she's a saint.

Brian: It's been an entire journey.

Joanne: Let's make sure that doesn't happen again. Poor Marge.

Brian: Yeah. Working on it. Yeah.

Joanne: And that brings up, honestly, another angle, which is maybe they don't want to be. Yeah. Maybe they don't want to ride at all. Maybe they just want a passenger once in a while. I mean, that's okay, too. Like, there shouldn't be any rules. or guidelines about it.

Brian: Yeah, make sure there's ice cream at the end. Make sure there's ice cream or good food at the end. That's important.

Robin: It's like training a dog. You actually brought up something interesting before about taking the MSF course or any course, for example. And when Joanne mentions that there really shouldn't be any rules, there are dangers to what I'm about to say, but I'll try to conclude the thought with a little bit of a taper off. And that's that even just deciding to try something new, if you want to place that on your menu, if you have the confidence to address the responsibilities involved, you can go sign up for the MSF course, get to exercise five and be like, okay, I got this far. That'll be enough of that. Thank you. It was a new thing. And I'm not talking about bucket lists. I'm not talking about checklists. I'm talking about just a new experience that you've gotten yourself wound up for. Don't be afraid to go out there and pick something off a tree to fail at if you so desire for the pleasure of life. You know, just existing in the world and experiencing new things. That is the level to which there are no rules. The flip side of that is that when people do show up for this thing, and Joanne knows this all too well, I'm sure, is that you got to want it. That, you know, you rev up that gas because you like the sound, then you dump that clutch. Well, I'll call you from the next zip code because I'm gonna have to figure out where you're at. And these things come into play. So you're putting yourself in a safe environment where you're being monitored by those who know enough to know when it's time for you to go. Yeah. I'm listening.

Joanne: Well, yeah. And in an environment where you're not going to, there are going to be so many safeguards and guides, right, to where you're not going to seriously injure yourself unless you have an out-of-body experience. I don't know.

Robin: I really just like that it lowers the bar for what has to be the boundary for what is your entry fee. you know it's got to be on you and so let's pick any random doorway that isn't the one that we're easily defaulting to so we could think of that jackass in a freaking store he's like my girl needs to wear the cool stuff don't worry i'm teaching her how to ride i'm teaching her my uncle grandpa taught me and we've got we got three we got three dna strands in the in common you know like well that guy needs to get kicked out the damn door well

Joanne: Yes luckily you know to be Honestly, what's interesting is that that was never so much an issue, so much as sometimes she would want him to teach her, you know, or that she would want to do it together with her person, you know, or the partner would want to do it with a partner because we always want to do activities with our partner. like I do. My husband is my best friend. I want to do activities with him. I want to go places with him. Not all the time, but, you know, motorcycling, like I want to do those things with him. I want to ride with him and learn with him. And so that's a very common, I think, dynamic in relationships. I want to do this with my partner.

Robin: Way to flip it. That's a beautiful flip of the coin. You're doing this is what I wanted.

Joanne: Right. So that's one scenario that would come up. And I'd encourage her politely, consider doing this on your own. You have to consider taking this class, taking a class so that one, you'll learn comfortably and learn in a way that you will benefit the most and better. The only person to rely on is you. And also, I remember when I was teaching, we would purposely split up couples because we wanted to make sure that, right, each person was getting their attention and they weren't distracted and they were fully learning. And it's true. You tend to not perform as well and really benefit as much if you are depending too much on your person in that specific learning environment. I'm not saying in life. Right. Like in the motorcycle class, you're there to figure out how to operate this thing. And you really don't want to be dependent. You don't need to be dependent. And what sucks, too, is so many people come to that class. Well, it sucks in that a lot of people come with motorcycles. They will pull up in the parking lot on a shiny new motorcycle they probably shouldn't have bought to get their license because the rules at that time way back, you could do that. You could just present a driver license, class C, have money, here you go, you know, and not even buy the policy yet. But the rules are, I know in California, every state's different, right? But in California, eventually they tied your registration and insurance tier together. So they would tattletale on you. If you didn't have insurance, yes, yeah. So then you had to buy an insurance policy when you left. Yeah, it was really good.

Robin: Well, okay, let's reel it back in.

Joanne: So like the, just the fact that, you know, If you really want to learn, it doesn't matter that someone else has learned already, but they've learned the worst way by themselves without any real help or professional guidance. So it was very intimidating for people who would just be completely green. And I had to explain to them, do you know what, that you are likely to do better than that person who has the shiny new motorcycle. I bet you anything you're going to score higher on this test at the end. And they would. They would oftentimes outperform people who were already writing because they were able to learn all the things the right way that they were supposed to learn versus however these people were learning and learning bad habits.

Robin: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Joanne: Right?

Robin: This is good. This is really good. I have a challenge for all of us. And we can expand on this and we'll use it as a wrap-up. We'll all take our time with this. each one of us coupled with an analogy involving bringing somebody in in a way that is actually productive and safe and considerate for them but the analogy we have to come up with an analogy for that person that is completely different from you know anything that we might see that's typical to the my girlfriend's she's got alerted right because i saw a movie once and i want i want that you know what i mean you know so i'm trying to think of one i'm trying to think of anybody i know that you're

Brian: Losing me what now yeah.

Robin: Okay. So what I'm saying is...

Brian: Give me something more to work with here. Okay.

Robin: Give me an analogy. A situation where somebody is to be brought into motorcycling or to be steered away from it conditionally, depending on the situation. How do they end up on a motorcycle given their personality type? And I was saying there are four, you know, you have the engineering types who are purely instructional and technical information provided and processing and heavy calculation, visual, visual people. I once had a student who, if I was told that they had a hemispherectomy, I would believe it because they could not understand spoken instructions no matter how many times. And I'm pretty articulate with the cards, particular to the info. Yeah. This person was purely visual. They saw the demo. Okay. but that was a serious mental issue. There's two others. I don't remember that they are because I'm not that good of a coach. That's me.

Brian: I'm a visual.

Robin: Yeah. You're visual.

Joanne: Yeah, I'm visual. I like to watch it.

Brian: So I'll, like, I'll.

Robin: Yeah, go ahead.

Brian: I'll throw an example out here. What Joanne's husband did was brilliant. So Joanne, so basically.

Robin: 49 seasons of good times.

Brian: So I'm, and again, so basically he knew what he had on his hands here was basically a cat. So what he had to do was take the cat toy and just put it in the garage and walk away.

Joanne: I mean, pretty much.

Robin: Automatic robot laser pointer because if

Brian: You just say, here, kitty, play with this toy, you know, they'll run away. But they're like, oh, discover, bat it around a little bit, maybe bat it over to work, bat it back.

Joanne: You know what's funny? So what's funny is that I... I learned to ride that scooter. He taught me how to do the basic. I went to parking lot. This is how you ride a scooter. Okay, great. And then I didn't really ride it. And you know when I started to actually ride it? He was gone for three weeks on a work trip. Now, my roommate at the time, we lived with another couple. My roommate, she bought one because she'd already ridden scooters. And she also worked downtown. So she had already bought one too. She's like, oh, that's a great idea. I'm going to buy a scooter. So she bought her scooter, a little 50 or a 100. And one day she's like, hey, do you want to go to the mall? and at the time we lived like five miles from the mall maybe seven miles and you could take all the streets you didn't have to take the freeway there you know I'm on a 50 it's like yeah sure let's go to the mall let's take the scooters said okay sure let's take why not let's take the scooters so she and I went together and she was a bet I followed her and like after that I was I was good I really didn't need help I really didn't need him and I think Up until that, he would take me down to the you know, to the parking lot.

Robin: Parking lot, high school parking lot,

Joanne: All that. And so not having him there, I think, really made a difference. And so, again, that codependency, that partnership, it can get in the way of your learning. It can. It did for me, not for everybody. And unfortunately, it happened again when we bought the Ninja. He left. Well, he wasn't really riding it because he works at home. So I started riding it.

Robin: You were doing him a favor, you know.

Joanne: I was doing him a favor. I think he did leave, actually. I think he was gone the first time I took it out myself.

Brian: This may have been deliberate. Are you thinking, wait a minute?

Joanne: No, no, no. I remember very clearly, distinctly saying to him, I'm happy without a clutch. I will happily ride this. I did love that scooter. I love the scooter. You ride that, Ninja, and I'll ride the scooter, and I'm fine. I really don't care. But then I started riding it, and I'll hold it. So, yeah, he was gone, actually. When I first took it out by myself outside of our little neighborhood. And that's when I first wrote it myself. It took me an hour. I took it to work and it took me an hour because I took all the side streets and avoided all the hills in San Francisco.

Brian: Nice.

Joanne: Yeah. So sometimes, you know, you got to, if you want your person to come in to do it, you kind of have to let them do it. That can be a thing too, is where you got to, here's the safety course. Here's this, you know, here's gear check where you can find gear. Right. Right. Yeah.

Brian: You can find good gear that you like. Yeah. That's comfortable. That looks good. Yeah.

Joanne: Right. Like here's the resources. And then if that's what they want to do, you know, they'll find the resources and do the homework. Right. And you're there to support. But you don't you shouldn't. It's just like you can't ride the motorcycle for somebody.

Robin: They either ride it or they don't. You are taking all the good material from all of us. You're saying all the things we know to say and you're just like, no, she's got lead.

Joanne: She's got this. It's just coming. I just you're making me remember things that I haven't thought about in a very long time.

Robin: Right. That's good.

Brian: That's good. Very long.

Joanne: A very long time.

Robin: This is fun. I don't know what to do next then

Joanne: Well, how about the reverse? So I have a girlfriend, Tamela Rich. She's a wonderful travel author. She's written some really great books. And she rides a F800R, RT. It's like the Sport Touring 800 from BMW.

Robin: That's the F800S.

Joanne: It's got a fairing. It's got a full fairing. It's beautiful.

Robin: It's the first bike I wanted that was a BMW. I think it's an R.

Joanne: It looks like a smaller R200R.

Robin: F800R. Right.

Joanne: So she i mean she's been riding for like 20 years and she started riding because she wanted to her husband doesn't ride he sometimes will passenger with her but she takes she's taken a lot of solo trips a lot of travel without him just like me like gone a lot of places on her bike without him and he's he doesn't care yeah and she's doing her own thing and totally okay with it so you know that dynamic is not as common it's probably more common now like it was definitely less common than when i started but i think it's probably more common because whenever i meet women riders typically most of the time their partners also ride it's really uncommon that at least the friends i've made all the female riding friends i've made and i know only a handful of them their partners don't ride it's

Robin: Just kind of it's interesting a lot of what we're talking about Go on.

Brian: No, I was total tangent topic would be interesting is to look at most people who ride motorcycles have to do a lot of their own maintenance and so forth and figure that out. And then, but yeah, some people, they have to go to a shop and I don't know. It's always interesting. Like, oh yeah, my, you know, like I always did all the maintenance on, you know, and all the repairs and everything on our bikes and Marge's bike as well, obviously.

Robin: There are those who know how to work on bikes and they just are not going to do it. Or they know that they are the people who could learn how to do it and they're just not going to. I have a friend like that here in town who is mechanically capable and he's like, you know what? No.

Brian: I'm not. I'm just going to pay somebody. Yeah. Somebody else. I'm just going to. I mean, I know I can. Somebody else do it.

Robin: I'm not going to.

Joanne: Why not? Yeah. Why not? I mean, if you can, that's great.

Brian: Yeah. Yeah. And that's not a rule either.

Robin: Somebody else.

Joanne: Yeah. Like, that's not a rule either. Like, I can't work on my bike. We're not allowed to. Like there's rules here and I will put my battery in. I took my battery out. I put my foot pegs on. It was very minor work here. There's not like oil pans. I'm not changing my oil. I'm not changing fluids. I'm just, you know, taking a bolt off. So I have done that very minor work. Put mirrors on, take mirrors off, you know. They don't care. But if I had the facility, yeah, I would do my own oil change. I would do, well, actually I wouldn't do the oil change.

Robin: Rock and valve check in the middle of the commercial garage.

Joanne: I still only ever did, when I did have a garage, I just did the basic stuff. I didn't do my own, like, tune-ups. I'm not going to,

Robin: You know. It's not for everyone. It's not for everyone. Yeah. That's all right.

Joanne: And I did the basics. Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Brian: Yeah, find somebody who knows what they're doing and get it done. There you go.

Joanne: But yeah, you know, it's the same. I think of that when, you know, you heard of the saying, ride your own ride, right? That's something to live by. But that applies, in my opinion, to situations like this. ride your own ride if you want to work on your bike great if you don't great you should be gearing up but if you don't want to fine don't tell everyone else not to

Robin: That's all yeah so much of what we've been talking about has me thinking about the next level training stuff because it's like a lot of these analogies are fun to consider they're fun to look at from different perspectives different entries into the same like i said one-sided one-sided globe of what is and is not riding depending on the people but in the case of next level training I still haven't found the magic words to tell people I hear, speak of their desire to be a better writer. Whether they, you know, whatever level they're on, if they speak of, man, I wish I, well, you can't. You just need to make the time to go learn how, but you're too busy boundering off your worldview of, I wish I could in not seeing the giant billboard sign that's right there in front of you that says you totally can. Those magic words are... So, yesterday, riding Road X, pulling out of the gas station onto the road that shall not be named, I was followed out by the equivalent, the Kawasaki equivalent of the second-gen Bandit 1200. It was, you know...

Joanne: Which is...

Robin: It's like 2001 to 2006...

Brian: The X-Rex.

Robin: Oil, yeah, it was an oil and air-cooled.

Brian: He pulls the same. Yeah.

Robin: Love that bike. Gigantic. So cool. Kid pulls out behind me, and the first 20 minutes of this road is a straight line into a mountain. You're just riding into a mountain, and then it becomes gold for a seeming eternity. Now, in this time, he rode staggered, and then... passed me and rode a hundred thousand miles an hour. And I thought, well, I want to get there too. So I just kind of kept about a football field, a distance away and was like, all right, let's go ahead and do this. Let's see what this guy's all about. And then we get to the first set of curves, the very first set of curves. And there was a car ahead of him. And I know this road, this road is family. And I know this corner, I can see where people aren't. I know what I'm going to do in the double yellow. And I proceed to rainbow pass him and the car ahead of him to get to where I want to be so that I can enjoy the road on my own terms. Because I get a feeling this guy can't corner. It's crazy that I was right. I just can't believe it, that this guy couldn't corner for fuck all. And I just thought to myself that I know he wants to be able to do that. I don't think that going in a straight line at Mach 8 is his superficial goal of presenting ability.

Brian: For some people it is. But yeah, maybe. But what are you doing on the road that shall not be named? It's not like you accidentally stumble across this road.

Robin: No, it's like if you're going to Silver City, then maybe you might want to know how to ride a road like that. And all you have to do is spend a day enjoying riding your bike around badass mofos or helping you become a badass mofo in safe terms. but like just getting people to realize they have the option is a lot like it's a flip side to what we're not trying to influence people to do something dangerous but to influence people to improve upon the dangers that they the risks that they assume it's it's similar to me that it's what i'm trying to say is with all this ranting and i'm sorry it's it's a very similar conversation in a parallel universe well

Joanne: I would say that also a lot of people who get into motorcycling, they don't know motorcycle people yet.

Robin: Yeah.

Joanne: Right? It's not really easy to find your motorcycle people when you're starting. You just, right? It's very lonely. And so until you find the good motorcycle people or the right motorcycle people for you to connect with, they, you know, they usually, you need that influence to help you figure this stuff out. Right. Like preach. Right. I mean, it's and that that poor kid just doesn't have the friends. And like, how easy is it to walk into a dealership and just buy a $20,000 motorcycle and like no one cares and they just take your money and that's bye and good luck. And so the experience, right. It sucks. It's hard for new riders and people.

Robin: Motorcycles are cool. And there's learning to ride a motorcycle. Well, actually is cool.

Joanne: Right.

Robin: Two very different message.

Joanne: Yeah. And those messages, right? And that message isn't the latter that, you know, motorcycles are cool and learning to ride is cool. That messaging is not at the dealership level. When you buy the bike, it's not there. The bike is cool. Yes, that message is there, right? Oh, these cool Razoma mirrors. That's cool. Yes, that's there. And the matching shoes, whatever. So it's, I can understand. I mean, I get it. I get why people end up in that

Brian: World because they're not. Yeah, you have to find your tribe is the term I've always heard. You have to find a tribe. And people do that. They'll go through different tribes. You'll see them with the half helmet. You'll see them with no helmet and then half helmet. And you'll see it reflected in their gear.

Robin: Yes.

Brian: I'm really fortunate in that I have come across like some amazing tribes of people. you know the Suzuki GS people are kind of still my tribe we.

Robin: Hope you'll come to that rally at some point that would be amazing

Brian: Oh god that'd be great that'd be awesome I know I when I was talking to Angel Marie she was like we all got to get together and ride I'm like I know your your aunties and and these weird uncles let's take some planning we'll.

Joanne: Do it it'll happen

Brian: Yeah it'll be good but yeah find finding your people finding your tribe and again going back to earlier, that's what, that's a lot of what makes Marge comfortable. My wife is a little more comfortable because she's met these people. And so, yeah, it's just healthier all around.

Joanne: And depending where you are, like, what if you're, you know, what if you love an Aprilia? Like, what if you're like, oh, I just, I love that brand or, you know, I love Triumphs, but you live somewhere where the predominant brand is the H brand, you know, or right. And like, how are you going to find your people to help teach you and show you that you know you really need to learn how to like you really need to learn how to ride this thing you know you really need to right yeah well like like

Brian: It well like indiana's 90 no helmets you know.

Joanne: Right yeah so there's no helmet law here how do you find your tribe like how do you find those people and like i was fortunate to learn in one of the largest populations of motorcyclists in the united states in san francisco And for a while, San Francisco was the highest population of women motorcyclists taking motorcycle safety classes. And the Bay Area is a huge, huge, right, concentration of motorcyclists and a huge community. The Bay Area Riders Forum has been around for 20 years, and that's how I found my people. But that doesn't exist everywhere. Like, what if you're in the middle of nowhere in Nebraska? Like, you're not going to find that tribe, and it sucks. At least you have the internet, right? Now we have the internet, and that's great because, like, you can go on Facebook. you can find people to talk to which is great so I see why you know a lot of young folks don't want to or I just see how a lot of people end up in the wrong place because they don't really know any better you know and they don't know you don't know what you don't know and It just sucks.

Robin: Well, the people you trust for one specific topic, then you get into motorcycling. And now they have produced, they have made you dumber because of that one thing. They don't know motorcycling. They know how to hammer a nail or something like that.

Joanne: They want to help. Or metaphysics.

Robin: Who even knows? Right. It could be anything.

Brian: Right. There is something to be said, like people who end up on similar motorcycles, assuming it's more of a conscious choice than like, oh, this is here, it's shiny, and I bought it. That happened. That's a lot of people's first motorcycles. But if you end up, like the people who end up on the bike I have, the F209 or the old Suzuki or the KLRs, tend to have a lot of things in common. Like the people who have the old Suzuki's are all self-starters because you kind of have to know what you're doing. You have to be able to fix the damn thing to make it reliable again. Maybe you need to do the bike. Yeah, we do have a lot in common.

Robin: Oh, you stop it. You stop it right now.

Joanne: No, she needs something different. No, but that's exactly right. And like, I know that when I was younger and riding, my mindset and my thinking about motorcycling was very different. I was in a very different place as an adult, right? And so that also greatly affected my point of view on motorcycling in general and how to approach it and what I should do. I mean, I was really fortunate that my partner was very level-headed and pointed me like, you should, this is the right direction. Because I remember telling him, I really want a Rebel 250. I took, I rode that Rebel in the motorcycle class and it was great. He's like, well, you know, well, it's just not as good of a motorcycle. This is a better machine. I was like, okay, I'll go with, you know, this is your thing. Because I still, it was still really his thing. I was like, okay, honey, whatever you decide. I mean, right? So he talked me out of it.

Robin: Thank goodness. That starts to kind of contradict some stuff that we're talking about here a little bit.

Joanne: A little bit, but he was right.

Robin: My favorite line.

Joanne: He was totally right.

Robin: I agree. I do. I will agree with you. Like, what happened is this. Hold on. Don Buren, my friend Don. Shout out to Don. One of the things that I always steal my material for the coaching experience. I steal things that work for students. That's how you build your arsenal. It's like, I know what to say, right? Sure. And my favorite line that Don said, someone was like, well, what kind of bikes should I get? And it's like, well, first off, it's not up to us to say that we don't, we can't say what you are and are not available to handle. But the beautiful thing he said was, you really need to go to a dealership and sit on a lot of bikes. Go sit on as many different types of bikes as you can. I think you did that. I think you were with somebody you legitimately trust for the right reasons. Yeah.

Joanne: I mean, yes, but also I think because I rode the scooter so well and that that positioning, I think he also knew that I would take to it. And he just but also it really was his choice, because at that time, the only reason I took that class is because he said, you know, you really should take a class because I went to the DMV and did the whole circle around the lollipop. You know, I did a DMV test to get my license.

Robin: Old school. That is serious, fierce. You didn't have to do the U-turn box.

Joanne: I had, yeah, there's a U-turn at the end. It was like a 20-foot circle. I don't know. I don't remember.

Robin: It was like a circle. A left U-turn.

Joanne: Yeah, I had to do it right.

Robin: That's still there.

Joanne: Yeah. I did that. And then a year later, he's like, you should really take the motorcycle class and learn to ride a motorcycle. I think it was after he bought, after he bought the Ninja. He's like, you should really learn how to ride too. Like, all right, sure. Why not? And back then, it was $150 to take your motorcycle safety class. So I really did it for him. I mean, I did it to be safe. It's like that way, you know, because I was going out on the back. We were going out together on town. Yeah. And so that's why I did it. Well, the kids call it being a backpack now,

Brian: I found out.

Robin: Oh, my God. What?

Brian: They call it, I'm backpacking with my boyfriend.

Joanne: Well, that's what I was doing. I was backpacking with the man on the ninja.

Robin: Brian with the hip on the streets.

Joanne: Backpacking. Yeah, that's what I was doing. so it was really for his benefit that I did it I didn't do it for myself it just worked out you know and then I got to audit the class and I scored so bad I scored 7 16 out of 18 18 was fail I barely passed here's

Robin: Your license you are officially marked as suck good luck good luck on the road good luck out there

Joanne: I know and then but my coach we

Robin: Will have an ambulance

Joanne: Follow you home hired me she still hired me to become a rider coach now when I took my test on the rider coach I only got a 3 I only got a 3 So I did much better, but yeah.

Robin: So that's pretty good.

Joanne: It was really, I mean, I did.

Robin: I mean, we were different back then, right? Yeah.

Joanne: So I, you know, I get it. And back, you know, when you're younger, you want to, if your friends are writing, you want to be with them. It's a natural experience. You want to be with your friends. You want to do what they're doing. And it totally makes sense that you're going to buy what they tell you to buy until you've matured enough to have your own opinions and be confident in your own opinions or be lucky enough to have parents or people around you teach you that. Not everyone is lucky to have it, right? Not everyone, I didn't. So, I mean, I just was fortunate that my husband is very level-headed and he spent months, and I mean months, on the forums before buying this. He was talking and reading and, yeah, like talking to the other motorcyclists there. It's not like he decided this in a week. So he took his time to figure this out and research before we, you know, spent $2,200 brand new on a Ninja 250.

Robin: Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Joanne: Yeah, right. Out the door. It was like $26 or $25 plus.

Robin: Yes.

Joanne: It was so great. Jeez.

Robin: Man, those were the days. Last episode, Brian was like, and they did it for less than $10,000. And we're like, ooh. I'm like, the bikes of the day were like, you know. Oh, this one's. Well, it's 3,000 bucks. I don't know.

Brian: Yeah.

Robin: I know. Yeah.

Joanne: Yeah. So, yeah.

Robin: I need, I'm going to leave it to y'all to figure out how to wind this down effectively, safely, efficiently, and effectively and make this into an episode.

Joanne: Well.

Brian: Nice.

Joanne: You know, I guess I just have, I'd have a message for the partners out there, you know, like the Marges, you know, the partners.

Robin: It's okay. I'm amazing at production.

Joanne: Thank you. You know, the marges, the me's, the whatever's is, you know, have an open mind. Just at least hear them out. You know, hear your person out.

Robin: Well, let's round table this question. This is good.

Joanne: I like this. Right. Like just have these, these are conversations we should be having as adults in relationships. If you're in a relationship, you got to have conversations with your person. It's the way it goes. And, you know, motorcycling is no different than like getting into another hobby like firearms. My husband's deeply rooted into firearms. Deeply. Like so many things in my closet. So much stuff. I don't care. It's not my stuff. Have fun. I'm glad it's your stuff, you know. And, you know, similar questions, you know, and you just got to have a conversation. But if you're going to be the motorcyclists, you need to have your S straight before you bring that to your person.

Robin: And I'm going to let that bridge to me and I'll hand it off to Brian. So my take on it then is also it's to the rider who is inviting somebody in. It's not about you. It's not about your wants. You can have your wants. that is perfectly okay. Your desires, your hopes, yes, but shut up about them. It's not about you. It's about inviting them, letting them know where that line is. And if they wish to meander toward it, they may. And everything from there is for them to grow like weeds. They should grow in their direction naturally, safely, and let it be about them. And then your conversations will get more interesting because you'll be you, they'll be them, and you'll both be riding or they'll be a passenger down then or they'll want nothing to do with it. Either way, keep it about them at all costs. Brian, what do you got on this?

Joanne: What are you going to tell Marge?

Brian: I would just say, keep it about joy. People who love you want to see you happy and want to see you experience joy. And if you can, excuse me, cut that out, man. Anyway, people who love you want to see you happy. They want to see you experience joy. And if you can share that, that's great in whatever way, in whatever capacity that you're able to.

Joanne: Without getting injured.

Brian: Yeah, try not to fall off. I highly recommend not falling off and not getting injured.

Joanne: And I'll throw out. Long Way Round classic TV show to help your person to see what the deal is.

Robin: Real quick. On any Sunday. On any Sunday. Long Way Round.

Joanne: Long Way Round. I just mean, actually, I'm going to call it Long Way Round specifically because that show did such a service to so many people to go, why do you want a motorcycle for? Like, why? That show does it. The first one. That's it.

Brian: Nice.

Joanne: First one.

Robin: I'll go for the closer to the edge. thing then, if I had to pick one. So it's about the Isle of Man TT.

Brian: Oh, God.

Joanne: Hello. I'm talking about throwing someone to the deep end. Hello. That's a little much.

Robin: Yeah. Everybody ready to get out of here? Let's get out of here. Are we? Is that it? Yeah. See, this is why we edit. Let's put our helmets on,

Joanne: Then put our gloves on last, and then we'll go.

Robin: Pants first, then shoes. I have that written on my wall every time I wake up in the morning. I'm going to stop recording. Everybody good?

Joanne: Yes.

Brian: Let's get out of here.