Robin: In this episode, represent Zent. How can we bridge communication between seasoned, skilled riders and would-be squids in a way that's mutually beneficial? Joe Man Don brings us casual armor, ways to un-stormtrooper your riding attire. And lastly, I'm not quite sure what. We'll just reach into the grab bag yet. At any rate, opening announcements, news, corrections, banter, all of that. Random song of the minute, this round. If you want to hear our random songs of the minute, visit radio.tro.bike in your web browser. This time it's Steve Bike, parentheses, Stir It Up, by Tribe Called Quest. For all reasons predictable, represent Zent.

Brian: First item of news we thought was interesting. Cardo Ride Pro puts CarPlay and Android Auto on bike displays.

Robin: Comes to us from MotorcycleNews.com.

Brian: Probably other places too but cardo they have a premium ride app and now that app can put navigation ride information on supported factory screens or aftermarket screens instead of leaving your phone just hanging out there on the bars in the weather very interesting and it's really interesting to see everybody sort of rally around carplay and android auto as a way to get data from hither to thither. So there's less phone juggling. We also wonder about having a dependency on a helmet communication company and yet another dashboard ecosystem, but we'll see what happens. Kind of interesting. Is it cleaner writing or is it just one more app and one more service between you and the pavement? Hard to tell.

Robin: We'll find out.

Brian: Dun, dun, dun.

Robin: And then next up, Lobu turns crash bar luggage into an inflatable drop buffer. This comes from bikewhale.com.

Brian: I had to laugh at that one, yeah.

Robin: Right. The Wanderer uses two 6-liter bags on 25-millimeter crash bars, each with an inflatable TPU chamber. So Lobu claims at least a 300-kilogram, this is clearly coming from Europe, bearing load, plus IPX7 waterproofing. The X means they didn't rate it for dust, but seven for waterproofing. That's pretty hellaciously awesome. Reflective panels and an anti-theft mount. It's a clever use of dead space. Keep the pump and plug kit up front, then let the bag soften a parking lot nap. The real question is whether an inflatable bag survives a scrape.

Brian: And from what I could tell, I mean, they showed on a BMW GS. It makes it about, what, 12 feet wide? Like you have to put a flag out? I don't know.

Robin: Just park it like a triangle isosceles.

Brian: Hop off the bike and leave. From what I could tell, it's basically just an inflatable chamber, but it's not like an airbag. Is that correct?

Robin: Yeah, nothing like that. Not that I could tell. It does qualify as storage still, but it just has all this padding and sort of a tougher air-packed outer membrane of a shell of some kind.

Brian: Yeah, it could be good for off-road endeavors, unpaved endeavors. People are out there thinking, I love it.

Robin: This next one actually caters to a lot of what we'll be talking about during our segments.

Brian: Sure. This is everywhere. The article we're looking at comes from ultimatemotorcycling.com, but it's kind of a press release you'll see in other places. So the Chrome Super Airflow is CEAA rated with level one shoulder and elbow armor. It's got a snap-down hood, so it's in a hoodie style, and enough mesh for the reviewer to use it in temperatures above 100 degrees Fahrenheit. List price is pretty friendly at $265. dollars they don't include a back protector but you can get those 50 60 70 bucks anywhere we got an alpine stars plasma nucleon turbo encabulator something anyway so anyway open hand pockets are a cargo so i guess they have pockets you can put all kinds of junk in

Robin: But what gets me is that it's a mesh system so it's like basically you can wear a hoodie be casual about it look kind of normal or really get the questions of aren't you hot and all that stuff But, it looks basically like you're walking into a restaurant wearing normal attire.

Brian: Like, I'm old and not cool at all, and we'll get to more of that. But I really don't understand why you'd want to wear something that looks like a hoodie instead of just wearing a motorcycle jacket. But it's an actual protective garment, and it doesn't make you look like a Power Ranger. It looks like, you know, just a normal garment, which is kind of cool. I'm just glad people are out there thinking, you know, and trying things. Like, hey, maybe someone will like this. And the pricing 265 bucks that's not bad

Robin: Yeah i'm hoping to get some of this nature at some point just for just so i look like a normal person walking into a place rather than you know master chief from halo but at any rate brian, Did you ride today?

Brian: I did. Was it exciting? No. Was it a ride on a motorcycle? Yes, it was. Went and picked up some motorcycle parts that finally came in. So basically, my FJ09 is a 2015. It is 11 years old. And I know from bitter experience that the radiator hoses on motorcycles start to get iffy around about now. And so that's one of the things I wanted to have on hand for the winter. And so, yeah, I ordered like $100 worth of funny rubber hoses, which is not bad. Yamaha parts prices are not bad. Anyway, went over to the motorcycle dealer, got that. For the first time this year, there was actually another dude on a motorcycle there. It's the weirdest thing. The motorcycle dealer and there's like pickups. I don't know what's going on over there. Getting ready to head to Missouri tomorrow to do a wonderful ride with some friends. More and more of my friends are retiring and it's kind of pissing me off. But some of us working stiffs are still there Loving it

Robin: And I'm still trying to get my first job.

Brian: Job what's that it's one of those things where like i'm like man i don't want to deal with illinois because illinois is between me and missouri it just sucks but i'm going by myself i'm gonna trailer the parking lot i don't have anything to prove to anybody when we first started getting together there the hotel was rocking they had a bar and a restaurant that was good and it's just every year there's it's a little less so we'll see what we have this year it may be time to think about the Hampton or something in Farmington.

Robin: I get it.

Brian: And it's interesting, like we have a set of routes that Joe Canrardi put together years and years and years ago, and they're just fantastic, just the right length, really well-designed routes. He spent a lot of time on getting this figured out and actually went down there and, you know, and actually rode everything. Every time I try to improve on these routes, I end up like in a creek bed or on a gravel road, or it's a dead end on a mountain.

Robin: On a fan boat.

Brian: Yeah, I end up at a swamp. We'll mix it up, ride different directions, try different things, that kind of thing. But yeah, it's... So yeah, highlights are like 34 is kind of that really sweeper mountain road with nobody on it.

Robin: Tons of runoff.

Brian: 32... Letter Road, C, P, Double D, WW. It's going to be a blast. There's some great guys, people I've known for years that are going to be there.

Robin: Got to keep these things going. It's tradition, and we have to build on it.

Brian: So the Kentucky crawl planning is underway.

Robin: Yes.

Brian: Berea, Kentucky, moving the base of it. Because if you look at a map, you look at a topographic map, there's Berea, and then there's hills. Like you're there. Like when we stayed in, we stayed in Georgetown, there was kind of a 30 minute commute and then the festivities began and we're like, well, let's just go there.

Robin: If beachfront property were motorcycle playland, this would be the beachfront property. Begin, surf in any direction. Having problems, take a right. Having more problems, take as many rights as you want. you'll end up maybe on the same road but keep turning right until your smile is wider than your facial musculature can handle you're gonna love it.

Brian: We got some sorting to do old routes to contemplate new routes to think about try to guess that this road is a has a line in the middle i'd like to have a line in the middle although i enjoy the hell out of goat paths too i don't know so we'll see last thing i got some uh you know again winter project getting ready for that is got all new brake lines on the way from Spiegler. Via sportbiketrackgear.com. Shout out, not a sponsor.

Robin: Need a promotional outlet? We are here.

Brian: I spend a lot of money with them. Sometime this late fall, winter, I'll get bored and I'll do the brake lines on that. I did the old tie the brake lever to the bar and just let it sit trick. And that actually seemed to get quite a bit more improvement than I was expecting. So like I said, the brakes are good. They work great. You can lock them up with two fingers if you want to, that kind of thing. It's just not like perfect and this winter it's going to be perfect that'll be a winner so what do you got going on you're you got parts swapping happening

Robin: Starts with we ordered a pile of kit for both bikes nothing too extensive for mine definitely for hers though one thing, i've always wanted is a simple mechanical temperature gauge in fahrenheit terms for ambient temperature to know what I'm dealing with outside. So I ordered like a $10 five pack that I think is coming from somewhere between, Venus and Mars because it's supposed to arrive here September of 28. But the, It's this little like 25 millimeter, it looks like a little mini compass, but it reads the ambient temperature. I'm going to tape that to a big dumb bolt that belongs to stuff that I'm not using on the bike. You know, my bike had the option of being a naked version. If you get the S and that had mirror outlets, well, the mirror outlets are on the handlebars, but they came with bolt caps, pull out the bolt caps, use the bolt to fasten in my heated grips controller. And that Bolt is a perfect platform for a little informative dial. Like I said, I am loving still the modular build of a less expensive machine, less proprietary driven machine.

Brian: That's a thoroughly modern machine, but it does not display ambient temperature.

Robin: No, nothing like that. Even with the TFT color display, it's funky like that. Also, so she'll get one on her bike too. For Maggie's bike, that's really where the money was, whatever, because her bike is now paid down. We now own both bikes. Everything's yay, whatever, right? You know? Per your recommendation, she has ordered her chain and sprockets. They needed to happen, as we discussed in our previous episode covering the track day. So that's on the way. We're just waiting for them to get the chain itself in stock because it's kind of a strange number of links compared to what they had on the shelves. And then last but not least, the big one. We've been waiting to do this, and it became a little bit of a hiccup in discussion points. But we did finally order the same SW Motec street rack and installation hardware for her top case to go on that will keep the passenger, seat free and clear of anything. So she'll have the same adapter. My top case will fit on her bike. We have two of the exact same top case and it's the same plate. So it just clicks in GV. Right now, we've got one on the scooter. At any rate. Those are the big purchases we've made in the recent past. I also just coached my first MSF course in a long time, which was a real pleasure. Shout out to Alan of Writer's First. Good company. They're the ones that put on our advanced writer course that we took last year. Good people. Fantastic range. I had a really good time. Also, shout out to Shelly, who took the afternoon class. Got to meet a lot of people. Got to get my feet back in the water with all that and understand what I was doing. And everybody who stuck around passed. That was good.

Brian: Sweet. Very important.

Robin: This is all about Route 62. All right. Now, I've got a bookmark in Facebook Marketplace. It's just like Ryobi. Ryobi One Plus, to be exact. Because, you know, I'm, like, trying to get rid of all the stuff that's, like, rando batteries and incompatible and cables I don't want anymore. Per your recommendation, go on Ryobi for the size of the catalog. So I noticed, oh, boom, there's one of the things I definitely wanted, which is their one-gallon One Plus battery-operated shop vac.

Brian: Oh, that's great.

Robin: I think, what does that go for new? It's like between 70 and a hundred something dollars. I don't think it was all that expensive for the one gallon, but the four amp hour battery by itself is like 60 bucks and they come in two packs of $120 new.

Brian: Yeah.

Robin: Yeah. So I found the one gallon vac with a four amp hour battery bought in December. So it's still in pretty good shape for 60 bucks. Talked the guy down to 40 and i got to ride 62 due west, all the way to his place nice i'm telling you that 62 that's good that's pretty good recommendation it just i was like i thought that it kind of started to taper off at what is that sulfur.

Brian: False no it it's kind of tapers off after St. Minerad a little bit.

Robin: Yeah.

Brian: So Sulfur to La Croix is amazing. And La Croix to St. Minerad is huge sweepers. Really fun. It's still okay, but yeah, anyway.

Robin: It was a good ride.

Brian: 62 is just a giggle, yeah.

Robin: Yeah, went to a guy's house, bought a $40 set of $250 worth of crap, and then duct taped it all to the back of the bike and off the way I went. It was just a damn fine time. At any rate, That means it's time for listener questions. In this case, questions from the wild.

Brian: So if you'd like us to field your questions, visit email.tro.bike in your web browser to place a message into our brains. First question.

Robin: Is a quick shifter actually useful on the street or is it just fun? Yes.

Brian: Absolutely.

Robin: Okay, so the in-depth version is a rider test rode a Yamaha XSR900, a cool bike with a quick shifter and also tried Honda's e-clutch both felt rough and low value compared with using the clutch smoothly so why pay extra for either system on a street bike, this is not just manual versus automatic it opens up technique throttle load, engine speed bad calibration fatigue long days and whether convenience takes anything meaningful away from riding so, our goal in this conversation should be to separate a conventional quick shifter from the e-clutch really and, I think they're totally different animals the quick Shifter is, for me, I use it pretty extensively with the exception of regular transition from one to two, first to second. That can be a little rough if you're not really going for it. Like if you're going for it, yeah, get in there. But if you're trying to cruise along that first use, first to second, it's not great. After that, it's fine. So I find it greatly convenient. And Brian made a point a couple episodes back. Opened my mind up to things I did not consider, namely that it does help preserve the clutch to some extent. However, the calibration, I've never done that. I need to learn how to calibrate it. That time's coming.

Brian: On your BMW, you had to kind of go through a calibration after quite a while.

Robin: Yeah.

Brian: I will first disclose I have never ridden a bike with a quick shifter.

Robin: Are you familiar with how they work?

Brian: Yeah, yeah. So basically your engine shuts off for that fraction of a second the gears slide smoothly together and in and in power comes back on they're normally calibrated for pretty aggressive riding

Robin: Yeah if you're on the gas you can upshift and if you roll off the gas you can downshift unlike the average bump shift.

Brian: Yeah you can you know pretty much everybody learns to do a clutchless shifting without using the clutch lever but that's also sort of dangerous if you get it wrong you cut you can bend or damage your for your shift forks in your transmission and parts go boom and yeah it can be bad obviously robin finds a lot of value in it i really can't say whether it's worth it or not i think a lot of people do feel it's worth it it's also something that's not too hard to to add aftermarket on a lot of bikes a lot of track bikes have this added you know it didn't come with it from the factory I agree. Your previous on this bike came with it from the factory. The E-clutch is different. It's basically just a little, there's like a wart on the side of your engine and it's full of motors and gears and stuff. And it operates the clutch for you. As the questioner noticed, it doesn't know what's in your brain. It doesn't know what you're going to do. So it's not going to be as smooth as an experienced rider can be with a clutch. It's also one of those things, I think there's a little bit of a learning curve with an E-clutch as well. You kind of learn what it wants to do and then you do that you facilitate that

Robin: Every rider should say oh okay okay sure sure sure that's a.

Brian: Sure whatever you want inside the engine it's all the same there's just kind of a wart uh yanking a cable for you i can see where it'd be something to get more people on more motorcycles so i like it that way but if i'm going to have a clutch if it's not going to be like a twist and go electric or something yeah an experienced rider can do a better job with a clutch

Robin: But the bottom line is yes is it useful on the street or is it just fun yes, absolutely i'm happy i have it do i care that much no it wasn't a deal breaker for the bike if i wanted one that bad i would add an aftermarket.

Brian: Next question should a passenger ever use a quick release top case as a back breast yes and no

Robin: Also and or.

Brian: So a rider of some sort moved to a yamaha fj09 nice bike and wants a passenger to relax against their monolock case it's a kappa k45 monolock case

Robin: Is that the rigid one or let me see.

Brian: Yeah it's a rigid plastic case so monolock has a it has like two fingers at the front bottom of the case and then a lock at the back

Robin: Monokey is the heavy duty monolock is the relaxed you know single ply.

Brian: Something like that yeah and it's one of those you know where gb will sell you a back pad to put on it so you're like oh i've got this uh cushion on there so may i

Robin: Yeah, it's about the hardware.

Brian: Yeah, grab it and wiggle, see what happens. I don't know.

Robin: Back in the days of a bandit, I got the static hardware for all things GV installed. I eventually switched over to the quick release hardware for style points. So I had installed originally the rigid piping, which was a static permanent installation. You pulled out some bolts. It had all kinds of connection points. It was plumbing and it was sturdy. It meant business. And then we had a 45 liter satellite dish of a top case with a back pad on it. And there was no issue leaning on that. So if you go with the stock dedicated, year make model specific, Sears tower in steel installation hardware for this thing, then you may as well go ahead and install a dang Barca lounger. Just make it as comfortable as you want. You have nothing to worry about, in my personal opinion, from personal experience.

Brian: And I will say, I've got an FJ09. I have all the GV hardware on it and the rack and everything, and it's super sturdy. It's got reinforcements and all that stuff. The only difference is my setup is mono key.

Robin: And that's more durable.

Brian: Everything is the same, except the top plate is more durable. I don't think there's that much of a difference in the durability of the locking system that holds the case on the bike. The rest of it's identical, and then there's a little bit of, you know, the case goes click, click with either system.

Robin: Yeah, I don't think it's the plate. It's the rigidity of the material used to make the top case.

Brian: The other thing is that, you know, unless you have some kind of weirdo passenger who's constantly, like, trying to break it, shoving against you and stuff, There's really not that much force put on the thing. You know, whatever riding you're doing. I've carried passengers a few times on my FJ and it's never been like a big issue. And even under hard acceleration, they're hanging on to you. Their legs are clamped onto the bike. You know, you're not taking the full brunt of, you know, 4G human being on these two little knobs of plastic.

Robin: It's like define recline. What are we talking about here? Really? There is a flip side in the form of the hardware. Again, I eventually pulled the GV stuff because I wanted to look cool and I got the detachable hardware, which can hold the same general touring capacity it was basically this, system where you would turn some, pin bolts and they would just line up you could pop everything right off and it looked kind of neat, but that definitely changed my view on whether or not a human being should be leaning back too much which was never the case anyhow it's not really a natural effect you want to hold on the rider and every now and then going down the expressway maybe you'll get to chill slightly.

Brian: Both yes and no. Go on, yes. What do we got?

Robin: Is a 3D offset chin camera mount a clever solution or a crash hazard? So a rider used a side-mounted adhesive base and a 3D printed arm to replace a DGI Osmo Action 5 in front of the chin bar. The bond looks clean, but the arm adds leverage and hardware into the face. What needs to be checked before trusting it at highway speed or in a crash? I'm not even worried about it.

Brian: There are any number of people who ride with those. Because if you're in a crash, it just pops off. It doesn't make a big difference. It's kind of like, yeah, if you turn your head, it'll add a little leverage. And if that bothers you, then don't put it on. If it doesn't bother you, then go on with your bad self.

Robin: It certainly isn't going to cause an accident.

Brian: Yeah, what causes an accident is dicking around with a camera. That's the problem. And the other thing is if the thing starts sagging or whatever, and you're playing with that and not flying the plane, then that's the main problem. And I will say the track organization we went to last time does not allow those because, you know, under the greater stress, the cameras can and do fall off and they really just don't feel like having cameras bouncing around out there. Yeah, it might bounce off a Buick and honk somebody off, but whatever. I don't call it a big danger. Just the other thing I would say is have a little tether and maybe clip it to your jacket or something so the thing doesn't go down the road if it falls off.

Robin: I just wrote an article about how really it's time for us to revert back to the hardline cameras instead of wireless everything. Some things wireless, some things hardline. So I wrote an article about motorcycle tech screens that come with hardwired cameras that you would hear the front and rear of the bike. They are not going anywhere. Probably they'll make the grade for track day anyplace. And that is, so if you go to TRO.bike, question mark, P equals 33848, that'll take you right there. Catchy, right?

Brian: And once again, if you would like us to field your questions, visit email.tro.bike in your web browser to send us a message.

Robin: You ready to go big with it?

Brian: Let's go big. You got some splaining to do here, Robin.

Robin: I'll try to make this good. Segment one, represent Zet. This is all about the squids, all about the young riders, those who are just looking for role models or not looking for role models, looking to be left alone, posturing, wanting to be the people that know the thing, but they don't want to go through the motions to take on the new information. Let's help each other out here. I know that I'm the old guy in the mix when it comes to walking up to you and saying, hey, how's it going, kids? I'm hip and whatever, you know, let's get into this here. Somewhere in, I don't know, maybe a cycle gear or box store parking lot, sits a group of young riders. Each is wearing a small portion of ATCAP, but nowhere near the entire acronym. Jackets, t-shirts, gloves. The entire lot is in ripped denim. One guy has a cute girlfriend in a tank top, oversized helmet, and spandex booty pants. Neither wants combos with anyone in motorcycle safety, let alone us from the ST crowd. Instagram followers aside, each is a unique individual with potential not even they have realized. They like their bikes and twist in the throttle. But there may be missing bolts in their understanding of motorcycle culture. We hear a stranger's model and displacement the moment they meet another rider. Maybe they think what skilled riders can do on that bike automatically carries over to them. All for busting out, what, a credit card? I'm gonna say it now. The bike you own in no way reflects your ability to operate it. Saying that makes me some old man yelling at clouds guy, but I too enjoy speed and ride an impressive piece of road-ready engineering. Had I ridden at their age, I predict I wouldn't have made it to this platform. Who the hell am I to them? Really, outside of unproven speech and opinions about how they should behave. Forcibly imposing my opinion is an exit door from relevancy. One of two words I want to wear like shoes throughout this outreach. The other is authenticity. So here we have young riders posturing on their bikes, seeking recognition, fresh out of a movie theater, where stars trade seats with stunt doubles deciding what deserves recognition according to fiction. Mind you, this segment isn't for the squids. It's for any of you who wish to convince them to A, chill out, and B, up their game. So I'm perpetuating the stereotype pretty damn inventively. The social walls between an old, unbuffed, pear-shaped writer with incredibly average skill. And the would-be squid are massive. What's more, they're electrified with a shut-your-mouth-old-man mindset. They'll listen, respond, and leave. Or just leave. And why shouldn't they? If trying to tell their maybe absentee parents about music gets met with, yeah, but that'll never be as good as Rush or Pink Floyd or, insert fucking yawn here, why would they open their minds to, and another thing from seasoned writers they don't know, that they don't want to know. Worse, don't dress like them and use their lingo, though I would buy tickets to that comedy fest shit show. All caps, safe opportunities to prove yourself are rare. Be careful if seizing one. A wide open parking lot, knowledge of the best training, modest bragging rights about something you've accomplished, backed by visual proof. I've seen curriculum-driven instructors bust fiercely difficult slow maneuvers. Dem Dare Kids Likely Haven't Mastered. There are local road courses, meaning track days, and combos about how they've improved your riding. I've said it many times. Motorcyclists should be allowed to ride in whatever manner they wish, so long as they choose the correct venue. Speed is cool. At the track, learn to suck less in the corners. Mobility is cool, meaning cone courses. Big bikes in tiny spaces make one hell of an impression. Stunting is cool. There are stunting classes. Learn to look dangerous where it's welcomed without ruining the communal reputation. I'll introduce known terminology so you understand the convos too. Trail breaking, delayed apex, weight shift, ergos, tuning. Communicating this, my real point, what you say isn't worth hearing until you have something the audience wants. If they can see what you're made of and it's beyond them, you're likely getting that crowbar into the door jam. But are you chill? Or are you ready to hand them a Jehovah's Witness guide to motorcycle safety with an invite to the next drawn-out presentation? Hint. Be the former. Maybe you've got enough chops to gain their approval. But your opinion of them? It ain't shit. You're a nobody. Do not pass go. Communicating next-level training priorities should put zero gravity on anyone willing to listen. They've already spent energy expressing that willingness. They don't owe us that. They don't owe us anything. A young person allowing an old person's words into their mental supreme court is the ultimate compliment anyone with knowledge to convey can receive. So know and keep track of where you stand. They're in charge of what sticks. You're in charge of adding an interesting adhesive. For every three conversational moments you get them talking about themselves, hope they'll hear one sentence about you. Wash, rinse, repeat. This next part takes a miracle. I've heard non-hooligans, sidebar, Brian and I are both wise-ish once-were-hooligans for sure. I've heard non-hooligans drool motor safety curriculum wording until they get the actively planned no. Then they walk away saying, well, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink, that walkaway is the problem. Just don't push. Repeat and silently prove your point. Regularly outride them. Be uncommonly smooth and predictable. Make intersections look effortless. Make slow maneuvers look like time standing still. Make speed a deliberate act of risk-assessed certainty. Again, outride them. and until the horse drinks, stay with the horse. What do you think, Brian?

Brian: I like to ride the motorcycle, yes, but I also, you know, do a lot of motorcycle work. And so I do end up kind of talking and interacting with a lot of younger riders when we talk about, hey, this thing doesn't work right or whatever and that kind of thing. And that can open up a lot of conversation. I fixed a lot of bikes for a lot of those whippersnappers. So I'm never going to be cool and I can't, you know, there's no way to be cool, but it's also a way to have a conversation and things like you get a writing question about gear or like, man, my ears hurt or my head hurts or my, you know, something like that. And then you can have a little moment to impart something like, hey, try earplugs. You'd be amazed how many people that I've met who don't have any idea earplugs exist and they should have them on underneath their helmet. I tell you, it's weird. This helmet doesn't fit or it spins around my head or whatever. It's like, okay, well, go to CycleGear, get the guy, get the helmet guy, and you have to try different ones. They're not all the same. You know, what help? Just basic stuff like that. Or things like if you're on a ride and, you know, I'm looking friendly, I'm looking more comfortable, I'm looking happier, I'm looking fresher. They maybe saw me do something that they can't do and they think that's neat. Then you have a moment to talk about it. But yeah, like you said, forcing things is never going to work. I think the keystone to all of it is to have respect for where people are, respect them for where they are in their journey. That's kind of odd, you know, like, why should I respect some kid doesn't know what he's doing? Well, you were that kid once and the potential of people deserves respect, their experience, their happiness, their joy, that deserves respect too. People know when they're not being respected and they're not going to talk to you. And people, when they feel like they respect her, you're like, you're getting joy. When we talked to Angel Marie as a new rider, it was really, it was invigorating. Like, oh, wow, I remember that feeling. You know, I remember that when everything was new, vaguely, and a long, you know, a long time ago. Respecting that as well is a way to make that conversation come about and those good conversations become natural. And stuff like, how'd you ride through all that gravel in that corner? Well, I didn't. I rode where the gravel was not. And you're like, oh, how do you do that? Well, I've had that conversation with somebody. Hadn't really thought of the idea of like well you can actually there's a there's a path there all you need is a couple of inches you know how do you hit that

Robin: The opposite is also how do you relax well enough that you can hit the gravel spot on and still recover from it smooth as butter.

Brian: There's a lot of technique there to talk about, a lot of neat points to talk about. Thinking back, like I still, I remember where I was the first time I was on an on-ramp onto a highway and I rolled into the throttle on the corner. Like that clicked. I'm like, oh, well, that was neat. That's important. Mr. Throttle is my friend. Wouldn't it be neat to go back and have those experiences again? You know, that's why I love talking to new riders or newer riders. You know, there's all these neat little things that they can pick up, you know, and it gets, and of course, it's the kind of thing where you can just learn forever. So you can keep going. You can keep learning forever. You're never going to reach the end of it. And that's cool, too. You know, wherever, you know, if you're on the left side or the right side of the bell curve, you've still, you know, you've still got a lot to learn and you deserve respect wherever you are in your journey.

Robin: I think the thing that will frustrate anybody who's trying to deliver information is when it's not being understood, trying to figure out how to say the same thing a thousand different ways. That's a complicated issue. That's frustrating for both parties because one person is frustrated that they are not able to relay the information. The other person thinks that they're frustrated with them while they're trying to receive the information. It's nobody's fault but the presenter. That's a big thing, but that gets more into coaching than anything else.

Brian: Yeah, and there's also just a lot of bad information people are hearing.

Robin: Some of it is good information presented badly.

Brian: How do they know yours is better?

Robin: Think about how many times you take for granted the minutiae of the in-between steps that are included for one step. Let's go big. Yeah, you just ride the bike. Like any question anybody has could fit into that overhead. People who will give an answer, not realizing that, no, no, no, you got to break things down sometimes and other things will require a little bit more nuance and just whatever. Communication is a big deal. The thing of it is, optimism was the key word from our last sit down with Joanne Don, who just entered the room, which is awesome. It means it's time for the Armory. And that's brought to you by GearChick.com. G-E-A-R-C-H-I-C.com with Joanne Don.

Joanne: And on TikTok as the gear chick, because somebody took my name. So I have some old content on there, but I'm trying to be more active and I'm going to try to post some new content.

Robin: You're dealing with riders who are grouped together. They're ages 16 to 23. They've got their own descriptors. They've got their own approach to what means anything on motorcycling, but they haven't actually gone through any motions to really get their act together on it. They're certainly wearing hodgepodge gear, and they're really not interested in anything you have to say. They're wearing T-shirts, they have helmets, fingerless gloves, and they've got torn denim jeans. If you're able to crack the door far enough to get them to listen to you about gear, and you look at them and you realize they ain't got no money, how are we helping them out?

Joanne: Just for clarification, I want to acknowledge the fact that not all the people in this age group all feel this way, but there's probably a chunk of them that do, right? And that's who you want to reach. If we're trying to communicate to them, hey, you really should gear up. Honestly, my first approach is always to share with them my wonderful friend, Brittany Morrow, and that's rockthegear.org. And Brittany was 18 and she was going through exactly that, but because she didn't know, and I think a lot of our young adults, they just don't know if they are in that, well, I don't want new and I'm never going to, to me, then it's just all about education of, hey, you know, the really great thing about living here and being here in different states and you can buy what you want, you can ride what you want, but there's a consequence to that if you say don't have insurance, you don't have health insurance or you don't have a lot of money. So the minute you decide not to wear anything, you're upping the ante of risk that you're going to get hurt and now you can't afford to fix yourself. Now you can't afford the hospital bills. Now you can't afford to not work because you got hurt. So I always go to the consequences, do what you want, but you should know that this could be the out. So I always want to make sure that people know, young or old, that, cool, your choice. But if you go that route, this is what could happen. Maybe if I had a kid who was like 18 or 19 and they're really defiant and they don't want to wear gear, I would totally show them what Brittany went through. And she went through the hardest, most difficult accident recovery anyone could ever go through. And she survived. And she says, I quote, I skinned myself alive because she wasn't wearing anything. She didn't get a brain injury because she had a helmet, but she had nothing else. So that's where I usually go because that is the consequence of your actions. If the person comes back with, well, I don't want to because I don't want to look ugly. You know, I've seen what you wear or what other people wear and I don't want to look like that. Well, then the reply is you don't have to. It's 2026 and the choices are vast. There's literally no excuse for I can't find what I want unless you're in that one to five percentile outside of an average body size or type. Because manufacturers are businesses and they're there to make money. Let's be honest. So they're not there to produce for the one percent. They're there to produce for the 80 percent. So unfortunately for people like that outside, those are very specific personal solutions. And depending who they are, I usually try to find something. To help them in their current state. And I just do my very best to educate them on the state of things.

Brian: We just talked about a new mesh hoodie from Alpine Stars, I believe. Somebody's going to go, that's what I want to look like. I don't want to look like this dumpy old guy outside of Home Depot. I want to look like, you know, I want to wear that. And it's mesh and it makes a lot of sense.

Joanne: And basically now there are so many choices, Not as many choices as, say, a jacket, but there are choices. So it's really a cop-out to say, well, there isn't anything like that. Because there is. And to people who are new, especially younger adults or just any new writers, is you have to really do some work to figure out where to shop. Because where you shop defines your perception of reality, of what's available to you. If you shop at your local Honda dealer, no, they're probably not gonna have anything for you because all they sell are Hondas. So they're not there to sell you the best variety of motorcycle gear. If you live in Denver and you're lucky enough to be near the Revzilla store and the Revit store, now you see thousands of options you would never have seen in your, wherever you're from.

Robin: Let's talk about money.

Joanne: Oh, I want some.

Robin: Yeah, we all want more of it. If you're addressing the willing, anybody who's decided for themselves, yes, I am good for armor now, and then they see the price tag of enough to keep them relatively safe, and they're like, I don't have anything near that. Anyhow, I'm going to go ride. What would you recommend to somebody who is on the lowest price, highest purchase rating spree to just get themselves safe-ish?

Joanne: I probably would encourage used options, eBay, Facebook Marketplace, maybe any local motorcycle regional clubs. Or groups. If you contact a hog owner's group, that's not what I'm talking about. But say if you live in Colorado and you buy an entry-level sport bike, well, there's a ton of Facebook groups that cater to your riding lifestyle. There's like Denver sport bike riders. And I would go in there and be like, hey, I'm new. Does anyone have a jacket they don't want anymore? And I've responded to post it like that. It's like, does anyone have small women's gloves? And there are people there who will be willing to give it to you and not sell it to you. But you know what's really difficult is when you're new to motorcycling, you don't have motorcycle friends, typically. You don't already know motorcycle people.

Robin: Zero mentors.

Joanne: Your people are not motorcycle people. You're jumping into something that's totally new, out of your comfort zone, that makes it really hard. So my hope is that people are Googling and they're researching to see what they should do. And I'm sure that, you know, MSF and Total Control and all the training classes are giving, you know, some good general advice. But that's always my favorite. Facebook Marketplace, eBay, because there's a lot of good used product. I've actually bought a ton of great used product on eBay, cheap, like really expensive for things that should cost a lot. So you can find it. And then if you do need help finding something, you can always hit me up and I'll help you. I'm really good at shopping and looking for that stuff. But I would also say that you have to have a budget. No matter how big or small it is, you need to have one.

Brian: We got a cart here at Cycle Gear. What do we got here? $394.96 for a jacket, some pants, and this is all mesh because nobody's riding in the winter. $120 helmet. Is it a great helmet? No. Is it a helmet? Hell yeah.

Joanne: Yeah.

Brian: And some gloves.

Robin: Price after tax?

Brian: $409.96. Depending on tax, you're just over, you're about $430 for jacket, pants, helmet, and gloves. And this is built stuff at CycleGear. I know somebody who did that.

Robin: $3.94, $4.95 with a CycleGear discount.

Brian: Yeah. Yeah, there you go. That's all new. That's not used.

Joanne: And it's real product, actual product, not fake product.

Brian: If you add more to that, you can do better. You can go to Sedici. You can go to Dionysia. You can go to Alpine Stars. Yeah.

Joanne: You can also do better buying used.

Robin: Absolutely. Yes, you knocked it out of the park with that.

Joanne: You can do way better buying used. And honestly, I would go there first because you can find such good product used for nothing instead of buying new basic product.

Brian: If I were on Facebook, which I'm not, and somebody in my area said, hey, I'm a new writer. I'm about yay big. Has anybody got anything in their closet? They could not give me their money. I would refuse it. Yeah, I think people would be like, well, Well, hell yeah, I've got all kinds of stuff in my closet.

Joanne: Absolutely.

Brian: And I've done it before. A guy showed up to buy a helmet. I had a new helmet that didn't fit me very well, and I forgot to return it. And a guy showed up to buy it. It fit him great. He felt great in it. I actually, like, I ended up, like, lowering the price, like, 50 bucks, like, here, buddy. And I'm like, do you need any other stuff? Because we're about the same size. And I, like, gave him a bunch of stuff.

Robin: You guys want to do a quick baguette?

Brian: Oh boy you got the alliteration grab baguette a little french cafe music

Robin: I do do you want to hear it.

Brian: I'd love to hear it We're spinning the wheel, the wheel of pain. We got V, the letter V. It stands for Vicarious Voyeur. YouTube, movies, TV. What's some riding you've seen on the screen that makes you want to be there? Even just your favorite YouTube channel or what's a ride you saw on the screen? Here's what came to mind for me was my wife and I watch Itchy Boots every Sunday. Who doesn't watch Itchy Boots? Anyway, when she was in Turkey, the off-road riding in Turkey and the mountains and everything, I don't know what it was or what, but... That place she's been in the world that I want to go to and I want to ride the most is Turkey.

Robin: Why is it?

Brian: The terrain was gorgeous. The roads were really primitive and it was really remote and just incredible scenery in and out of mountains. Just really challenging stuff. The big bureaucracy, the big problem in a lot of these countries is just getting at the border, getting in and out of the country. But once she was in the country, there was just enough gas stations and people to get by. but just spectacular off-road riding. I'd love to go there. Love to ride there. Where do you want to ride, Joanne?

Joanne: I'm going to piggyback off of Itchy Boots, and I want to go to West Africa. She hit just some amazing countries, but west side, right? Away from, of course, Civil War, but all the little countries on the left where everything is just, you know, is great and it's peaceful. But the people all were so wonderful. Everyone helped her, But the scenery was stunning. The terrain was crazy. But just to be in a completely different place like that and meet totally different people, experience a different culture. But the riding there looked really cool, too.

Brian: Yeah, well, except for all the mud.

Joanne: I would skip that.

Brian: Except for the rainy season mud.

Joanne: Yeah, that was, you know.

Brian: Other than that.

Joanne: Let's just assume it's dry season. But yeah, I would want to check out some parts. Maybe not her whole route. But I would want to explore like West Africa. I want to go to Africa someday. It's just an amazing continent.

Robin: Nice.

Brian: Pressure's on, Robin.

Robin: Well, I'll give you a two for one, be that road in Spain I told you about a long time ago. It's like I planned a route for a person riding through Spain, and there was an amazing mountain road with nothing. 50 miles in, tennis court. That was the only thing on the road. No gas stations, no people. Well, that's straight out of Mission Impossible. But no, I think I would like to make a habit of taking on the ride to any accessible. Now, accessible is the key word, interview that we would put on on this show. If it's in the United States, you know what I mean? Or maybe even Mexico or Canada, ride my bike to the interview I want to have. Because next year, all about interviews. I've already got everything, starting to collect the dock and see if I can make things happen. So the first one that made me think of this is Motoguzi Mark, who I think is an amazing individual. This guy is a chain-smoking, oil-covered, pack rat of Motoguzi garage. Long Beach, California, Motoguzi shop. And he's got no tolerance for anybody who's making bad decisions and will call you out. The first video I saw this guy was a person that bought a Moto Guzi, new to the purchase, sight unseen, heard it was going to be okay, wanted to own it, bought it. It had first gear and nothing else. Could not shift at a first. And this guy called the person who sold it to him and made him give him a full refund, complete with the title transfer cost. I'm going to discuss having him on for an interview just for the sake of humanity. We all need to hear from this guy. Not all dinosaurs stand alike. It's like, I want to ride to these people and just be like, hi, I'm here. You're worth it. Let's talk. If I had the means, I would do it more often. What are we talking about next week?

Brian: I have an idea. Maybe it'll be something different. I don't know. It's kind of the old question of old versus new, tradition versus fresh roads and so forth. And also mixing in motivation. Like I've been to Missouri, we've stayed in the same hotel, and we've ridden pretty much the same roads. It was 15 years ago, something like that. It was a long time, 2012 around in there.

Robin: When the restaurant and bar were still there.

Brian: Back when it was awesome, yeah. And so things have changed there. But yeah, the thing that I'm a little bit surprised by is like I'm... On one hand, I'm not feeling the motivation. Like I've been there, done that. And then when I get there, it'll be awesome. Can't wait to see P and C and 32 and 34 and all this wonderful riding out there. But you got to cross Illinois to get there, which Illinois is, you know, you balance that motivation against mojo. Maybe that's what we would call it.

Robin: Moto mojo.

Brian: Motivation. So, yeah, how do you balance that and decide, okay, here's the plate. Here's the buffet of what's available to do during the time I have to do it this year. You know, and also money stirs in there. Money and motivation and mojo. Maybe we can have an interesting discussion about priorities, figuring out what you're going to do next, how you're going to do it. And then when the time comes, like tonight, like, oh crap, I got to get my bike loaded up. I got to figure it out and I got to hit the road in the morning.

Robin: I think it's a great topic. I look forward to it. And that's what we got for this episode. my goodness y'all just work me you guys good you guys ready to get out of here.

Brian: Yes let's get out of here