WEBVTT

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Brian Wringer: In this episode, What Do vs. How, meaning keeping cool when taking on any task.

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Brian Wringer: Riding Kit Stockholm Syndrome, we all have gear we refuse to replace.

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Brian Wringer: And Brian's Tiny Tasty Tooltips, Vera Edition.

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Brian Wringer: Visit radio.tro.bike in your web browser if you'd like to hear our random songs of the minute.

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Brian Wringer: This time around, it's Magic Mountain by Hollow Ship.

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Brian Wringer: Great instrumental jam, very pleasant funky beats. Make you ride quick.

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Brian Wringer: Have a good time with that.

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Brian Wringer: Big announcement on this one. Riders First is offering free classes.

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Brian Wringer: So this is an Indiana MSF curriculum provider.

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Robin Dean: Nice.

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Brian Wringer: So before we get rolling, a heads up for younger riders around Indiana.

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Brian Wringer: Riders First Motorcycle Safety Training is advertising a free motorcycle safety

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Brian Wringer: class for Indiana residents age 21 and under. That's 21 and under, not just under 21.

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Brian Wringer: To get the promotion code, text 463-269-9959 and be ready to verify your age.

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Brian Wringer: Get that code before you register. Riders First's Entry-Level Motorcycle Safety

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Brian Wringer: Foundation course combines online preparation with two days of hands-on training.

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Brian Wringer: They provide the motorcycle, and you don't need a motorcycle permit for the class.

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Brian Wringer: You do need to meet their enrollment requirements, complete the online course

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Brian Wringer: beforehand, and bring your own DOT-approved helmet and required riding gear.

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Brian Wringer: That's a full-face helmet, by the way, folks. Don't bring a motorcycle hat.

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Brian Wringer: Riders under 18 need a parent or legal guardian present to sign the waiver.

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Brian Wringer: The free course offer is for Indiana residents only. Out-of-state riders can

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Brian Wringer: still sign up and pay full price if their home state recognizes MSF completion

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Brian Wringer: cards from providers in other states.

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Brian Wringer: Check with your home state's licensing agency before booking to make sure the

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Brian Wringer: rider's first completion card will count toward your endorsement.

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Brian Wringer: When you text for the promotion code, confirm which classes and dates qualify before registering.

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Brian Wringer: If this sounds like you or someone you've been encouraging to get trained,

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Brian Wringer: contact riders first and get the details before booking.

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Brian Wringer: Now, news, which we will not read as if we're seeing it for the very first time

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Brian Wringer: because we're completely familiar, says Brian and not me so much.

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Brian Wringer: Let's give this a go. You want to read the first one?

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Robin Dean: I'll dive in. Robin, how about a navigation screen that you can take into the diner?

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Brian Wringer: Tell me more.

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Robin Dean: This is from CarPureRide.com. I'll tell you more. Car Pure Ride,

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Robin Dean: which is a horrible word. Car Pure Ride.

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Robin Dean: Latest screen updates tackle a very ordinary touring problem.

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Robin Dean: What stays on the bike while you go inside and what are people outside going to do to it.

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Robin Dean: Use 702S Plus. Got all that? W702S Plus.

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Brian Wringer: Catchy!

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Robin Dean: Adds a quick-release mount to a 7-inch display running Android 12 with built-in

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Robin Dean: GPS and front and rear 1080p cameras.

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Robin Dean: The smaller W603DS, oh, can it be consistent here, also gets the removable mount

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Robin Dean: and dual cameras, optional tire pressure sensors, and so forth.

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Robin Dean: The interesting upgrade is not really another icon in the dashboard or another

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Robin Dean: device. It's being able to take the expensive part with you at a lunch stop.

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Robin Dean: That's what's interesting to us. So, would you rather run navigation apps on

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Robin Dean: a separate Android device or let your phone do the work?

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Robin Dean: We have different takes on that. Either way, easy removal deserves a place on

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Robin Dean: the shopping list alongside screen brightness and glove-friendly controls.

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Robin Dean: So, these are the maker's announced features, not a road test yet. Are you guys listening?

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Brian Wringer: There are a lot of these popping up, man. I don't know if I would need to walk

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Brian Wringer: away with it. Like, it's...

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Brian Wringer: I've got the phone. This is just an expansion of the phone. I'm pretty satisfied

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Brian Wringer: with what I would see on the screen on that level.

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Robin Dean: So, you know, figuring out what to take with you, what to leave on the bike

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Robin Dean: is always kind of an individual decision.

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Robin Dean: And as long as it's clamped on the bike, I don't really, I don't know if I feel

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Robin Dean: an urge unless it's overnight.

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Robin Dean: But yeah, it's a great feature to have. And I'm glad that people are out there thinking.

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Robin Dean: I said a few episodes ago that this is all in Wild West development mode.

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Robin Dean: And it's going to be really interesting to see where things end up when...

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Robin Dean: People kind of settle down and the market understands what's important in a

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Robin Dean: few years or right now, whatever. All right. What else you got?

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Brian Wringer: Next up, Kawasaki takes the clutch squeeze out of stop and go riding.

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Brian Wringer: This comes from Kawasaki.eu.

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Brian Wringer: Kawasaki has announced a European market KLE 500 SE smart ride for 2027 with

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Brian Wringer: a mechanical centrifugal clutch integrated into the conventional clutch assembly.

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Brian Wringer: Kawasaki says you can pull away and come to a stop without operating the clutch

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Brian Wringer: lever with no electronics needed for that function.

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Brian Wringer: You still shift gears yourself using the normal clutch lever and shift pedal.

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Brian Wringer: This version also gets tubeless tires. The announcement is European,

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Brian Wringer: so don't treat it as a confirmed U.S. showroom offering.

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Brian Wringer: Forget the adventure bike label for a moment. This is a useful road riding question.

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Brian Wringer: How much of the manual experience do we actually want to preserve in a traffic

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Brian Wringer: jam at the end of a long day?

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Brian Wringer: Taking away the repetitive squeeze without taking away gear selection could

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Brian Wringer: be a sensible middle ground.

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Brian Wringer: It is an automatic transmission, and the distinction matters.

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Brian Wringer: Personally, I don't have any use for what is essentially the E-clutch or whatever they call it.

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Brian Wringer: It seems to be sprawling across brands now, and I like the feeling of a normal clutch.

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Brian Wringer: It feels like they're trying to cater to people who don't want to learn to drive

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Brian Wringer: a stick shift car or operate a clutch on any machine at all,

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Brian Wringer: when that also could be the devolution of society in my mind.

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Brian Wringer: And if we don't help people learn the idea of coordination and consequences,

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Brian Wringer: I say whatever to this. It's news. Some people are going to be excited to hear it.

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Brian Wringer: I myself am just reading it verbatim because it needed to be said.

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Robin Dean: Go back to your opening announcement about free rider training here in Indiana.

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Robin Dean: Clutches are a barrier that are keeping younger people and older people now,

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Robin Dean: out of motorcycles. And if we can remove that barrier, that is probably going

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Robin Dean: to be a good thing if we're getting more people on motorcycles.

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Robin Dean: We don't get a lot of details on how this works. I do really like the idea that

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Robin Dean: this is a purely mechanical solution.

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Robin Dean: And I don't know if it's just like it's a limited strength clutch,

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Robin Dean: like it'll get you rolling in first gear, but you can't get up to speed.

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Robin Dean: I'm not sure what the details are, what this is like to ride,

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Robin Dean: but a purely mechanical solution.

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Robin Dean: As opposed to the really expensive electronic solutions that we've seen,

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Robin Dean: could be kind of the magic sauce here.

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Robin Dean: And if it gets some new people into writing, I'm all for it.

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Robin Dean: At least here in the U.S., the market has so far been very against automatic

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Robin Dean: transmissions, against costumers.

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Robin Dean: De-clutching, but we'll see. Honda system is supposed to work really well in real-world use.

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Robin Dean: There have been failures in the past in other bike makers, but it's coming,

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Robin Dean: it's going to happen, and old farts like you and I don't get to complain about it.

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Robin Dean: If it brings more people into the fold, that's fantastic.

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Brian Wringer: What's up next?

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Robin Dean: There's a mini rant here. I'll get to that. Held is the European gear maker. I think they're German.

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Robin Dean: Held's rain layer works inside or outside the jacket. That's just from Motorcycle.com.

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Robin Dean: So there's a FreshMotorcycle.com review where Held's Carissa or Carisse Evo

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Robin Dean: jacket and Tomo Evo pants are kind of new on the Turing radar.

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Robin Dean: The practical hook here is there's a rain layer arrangement.

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Robin Dean: Held confirms that the jacket's removable Gore-Tex layer can go inside the jacket,

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Robin Dean: over the jacket, or can even be worn on its own if you're out for a fashionable dinner.

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Robin Dean: So the reviewer reports that the suit kept water out during hundreds of wet

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Robin Dean: miles in Canada. Nobody sent us a free suit to test, so whatever.

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Robin Dean: So our take on it is that a weatherproof layer isn't much help if changing into

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Robin Dean: it becomes a whole roadside production and dance.

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Robin Dean: So having it built into the suit can be a really good thing.

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Robin Dean: So would you rather stop early and put the shell over everything or leave the

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Robin Dean: rain bearer inside and manage ventilation around it?

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Robin Dean: I guess with this suit, you kind of have the choice to do what you want and it's kind of with any,

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Robin Dean: solution for weather resistance and crash resistance and so forth you kind of

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Robin Dean: have to learn your way around it you have to learn how to wear it how to use

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Robin Dean: it it's like any other tool so how quickly can you adapt what gets wet,

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Robin Dean: where's the extra layer does it go in the bag do you put it in a pocket hard to tell the other.

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Robin Dean: Relevant piece of this that you need to know is that the jacket is $1,300.

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Brian Wringer: Good grief. You've got to be kidding me.

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Robin Dean: So this is at the high end. And so I think you can kind of have a certain level

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Robin Dean: of trust that this is going to work as advertised.

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Robin Dean: Held makes very, very high-end gear. I don't know where you get it in the U.S.,

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Robin Dean: but I bet rich people know.

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Robin Dean: My take on it is I really, really hate having the waterproof layer under the

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Robin Dean: jacket. And I think we've talked about this before.

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Robin Dean: That works. It can keep your skin dry, but now you've got this soggy mess to

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Robin Dean: hopefully dry out or just stay soggy and heavy for the rest of your ride.

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Robin Dean: I do like the idea of including with a jacket, making it a system where you

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Robin Dean: have a jacket that goes on the outside.

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Robin Dean: I know Revit offers that and Held offers that and a few others offer that. So that makes sense.

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Robin Dean: But I don't know why anybody put it on the inside, but if they want to,

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Robin Dean: I guess they have that option.

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Brian Wringer: Very good. Well, next up here, Leet moves from protecting the rider to cleaning the bike.

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Brian Wringer: This comes from PRnewswire.com.

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Brian Wringer: Leet, L-E-A-T-T, has announced GRIT, capital G, capital R, lowercase i,

00:11:43.412 --> 00:11:45.058
Brian Wringer: double T. Just making sure you get that.

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Brian Wringer: It's a care product range covering motorcycles and bicycles,

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Brian Wringer: including washes, chain lubricants, and degreasers.

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Brian Wringer: Its cleanest product pitch is thicker liquid that clings instead of immediately running off.

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Brian Wringer: That's a manufacturer claim, not proof of better cleaning or longer component life.

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Brian Wringer: Leet says the range is available to order. Bicycle retailer reports U.S.

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Brian Wringer: And Canadian inventory is expected in mid-November.

00:12:07.675 --> 00:12:10.595
Brian Wringer: So ordering and having it on a local shelf are different things.

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Brian Wringer: The touring question is whether a new bottle makes maintenance easier or just

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Brian Wringer: makes the garage shelf more crowded.

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Brian Wringer: What would actually earn a place in your routine? less mess,

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Brian Wringer: less scrubbing, or one product that replaces several others.

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Brian Wringer: A familiar logo is a reason to look, but not a substitute for seeing how the stuff performs.

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Brian Wringer: I don't know. We wrote an article a minute back that talks about the muck-off system.

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Brian Wringer: Which is fiercely dedicated to this exact thing.

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Brian Wringer: It comes with this machinery you can buy and all these different things.

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Brian Wringer: And basically, it's merchandise and merchandise. And I actually really like

00:12:45.538 --> 00:12:51.059
Brian Wringer: what they did. I didn't buy it, but I dig what they're up to. I support what they do.

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Brian Wringer: Imagine if this one bottle, elixir, as you call it, with the Suzuki coolant,

00:12:56.905 --> 00:12:59.540
Brian Wringer: ultra blue, elixir of magical qualities.

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Brian Wringer: I don't think it's going to replace all those things, but hey,

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Brian Wringer: cool. This is great. Find your brand. Go that route.

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Robin Dean: Cleaning motorcycles yeah oh it's raining let's go ride this thing's dirty all right,

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Robin Dean: this comes from ridermagazine.com they're route planning so montana's us2 offers

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Robin Dean: a different kind of cross-state ride,

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Robin Dean: so rider magazine has published a planning guide to roughly 665 miles of us2

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Robin Dean: across northern montana,

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Robin Dean: this links mountain scenery in the west with small towns and open planes further east.

00:13:34.405 --> 00:13:39.308
Robin Dean: So the feature includes a mapped route and downloadable GPS files, et cetera, and so on.

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Robin Dean: It recommends going July through September. You do not want to be in Montana right now.

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Robin Dean: So this is an ideal plan for next summer rather than an invitation to head out

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Robin Dean: there to the mountain passes in October or November.

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Robin Dean: The appeal is the change of scenery across one state.

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Robin Dean: It's not a promise of nonstop corners. So would you ride west to save the mountains

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Robin Dean: for the finish or ride to the east to put the winding section first.

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Robin Dean: A route like this also asks whether the small town stops are the point of the

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Robin Dean: trip or merely interruptions to racking up mileage and corners.

00:14:14.353 --> 00:14:18.201
Robin Dean: A good touring road doesn't have to keep your tires on their edges all day.

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Robin Dean: Well, we'll see about that. You have your opinions.

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Brian Wringer: I don't really mind the Lake Michigan Circle Tour if I'm doing it to spend time

00:14:26.768 --> 00:14:33.190
Brian Wringer: and I just happen to have handlebars in front of I mean, the motorcycle becomes an additive to that.

00:14:33.950 --> 00:14:37.008
Brian Wringer: Like, do you want to go spend time with the fam and see the pretty sights and

00:14:37.008 --> 00:14:41.028
Brian Wringer: do this stuff? Oh, and you can also do so either in a car or you can get on

00:14:41.028 --> 00:14:44.143
Brian Wringer: the bike and just go straight ahead and enjoy the bike. I'll take the bike.

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Robin Dean: Yeah.

00:14:45.211 --> 00:14:48.943
Brian Wringer: But at the same time, my default is like, well, if I'm going to Montana,

00:14:49.402 --> 00:14:52.449
Brian Wringer: well, I'm going to jump on 12 and go to Lalo Pass.

00:14:52.908 --> 00:14:54.621
Brian Wringer: And I'm going to ride that back and forth 15 times.

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Brian Wringer: I'm just going to live on 12. But it's a nice thing.

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Robin Dean: Time on the center of the tire is not always wasted, and there's a lot out there

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Robin Dean: to see that's not mayo, mustard, and lean angle, I guess.

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Robin Dean: I'm not selling it, am I? I'm not selling this at all.

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Brian Wringer: Hell, look at our NM3 tour. The space between Silver City and the start of Devil's Highway.

00:15:17.011 --> 00:15:21.168
Brian Wringer: That is 70 miles of just, you're going to go that way, and it's going to be

00:15:21.168 --> 00:15:22.857
Brian Wringer: blazing, but look around, and you just...

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Robin Dean: That's gorgeous. Yeah, that's true. Yeah.

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Brian Wringer: It can be good. It gets into something we're going to talk about here in a bit

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Brian Wringer: anyhow, so. All right. Well, Brian, enough of this news. We've done our part.

00:15:32.998 --> 00:15:35.389
Brian Wringer: Catch me up. It's been a little bit. What's going on?

00:15:35.836 --> 00:15:39.808
Robin Dean: Just had kind of the season finale ride, if you want to call it that,

00:15:39.808 --> 00:15:42.633
Robin Dean: with my good friends, Tim and Greg. You know them, you know them too.

00:15:43.098 --> 00:15:44.608
Robin Dean: Absolutely glorious day.

00:15:45.268 --> 00:15:50.650
Robin Dean: Very cold in the beginning. We stopped and had a leisurely breakfast to let it warm up.

00:15:51.109 --> 00:15:57.326
Robin Dean: And we got a really, really good last look for the year at all the middle Southern Indiana classics.

00:15:57.796 --> 00:16:04.274
Robin Dean: You know them, you love them, 135, 58, bunch of back roads, just a wonderful day.

00:16:04.733 --> 00:16:08.708
Robin Dean: We did not see any deer, which is kind of the usual pattern,

00:16:08.708 --> 00:16:11.954
Robin Dean: is they kind of really lay low for a few weeks about now.

00:16:12.413 --> 00:16:17.841
Robin Dean: And then in a week or two, end of October, early November, they're going to just explode.

00:16:18.195 --> 00:16:20.685
Robin Dean: And they're going to be out running around all over the place.

00:16:21.080 --> 00:16:24.878
Robin Dean: And I am not going to be on the road. So I'm out of the countryside for six

00:16:24.878 --> 00:16:27.169
Robin Dean: to eight weeks, well into December.

00:16:27.628 --> 00:16:32.080
Robin Dean: Although i do still ride locally for errands and stuff like that and,

00:16:32.550 --> 00:16:37.170
Robin Dean: yeah if we get any bonus days like in the december and january and february,

00:16:37.629 --> 00:16:43.834
Robin Dean: we can be found out there if we get a 50 degree day which is not uncommon just a tiny rant uh,

00:16:44.287 --> 00:16:49.535
Robin Dean: indot indiana dot finds a creative new way to screw up highway 135 every year

00:16:49.767 --> 00:16:52.739
Robin Dean: and this year is no exception what happened,

00:16:53.295 --> 00:16:56.291
Robin Dean: They chip and sealed the road earlier this year, I believe it was.

00:16:56.743 --> 00:17:02.159
Robin Dean: And then there's an extra layer of seal. So it's like this kind of lumpy black surface.

00:17:02.624 --> 00:17:07.622
Robin Dean: It's very rough. I don't know why. Like your suspension is working, not just like gravel.

00:17:08.075 --> 00:17:08.684
Brian Wringer: Oh, great.

00:17:09.131 --> 00:17:13.468
Robin Dean: It's finally settled in. The debris is gone. But it's a really lumpy,

00:17:13.822 --> 00:17:15.389
Robin Dean: teeth-rattling type of surface.

00:17:15.859 --> 00:17:19.760
Robin Dean: Traction's okay, but it's already starting to fall apart. And,

00:17:20.213 --> 00:17:23.203
Robin Dean: you know, if it's not tar snakes, it's fresh chip and seal.

00:17:23.667 --> 00:17:26.181
Robin Dean: Or they go through... I don't know what's up with those guys.

00:17:26.645 --> 00:17:30.044
Robin Dean: And also, I'm dealing... I got a couple of blown seams on a Tourmaster jacket

00:17:30.044 --> 00:17:31.214
Robin Dean: that's kind of pissing me off.

00:17:31.214 --> 00:17:32.558
Brian Wringer: So we'll get to that.

00:17:32.976 --> 00:17:38.055
Robin Dean: I stuck some tint patches on it. I need to sew on a patch and just deal with it.

00:17:38.603 --> 00:17:42.414
Robin Dean: Tour Master does have a warranty, but I have no idea where the receipt is.

00:17:42.414 --> 00:17:45.494
Robin Dean: I bought it locally, and it's been more than four years anyway,

00:17:45.494 --> 00:17:47.072
Robin Dean: so whatever. I'll just deal with it.

00:17:47.537 --> 00:17:51.694
Robin Dean: Keep your receipts, kids. What do you got going on, Robin? You're out riding

00:17:51.694 --> 00:17:53.887
Robin Dean: awesome roads in New Mexico. You're in the desert.

00:17:54.345 --> 00:17:54.967
Brian Wringer: I am.

00:17:55.413 --> 00:17:56.470
Robin Dean: Tell me what I don't want to hear.

00:17:56.923 --> 00:17:57.689
Brian Wringer: Did you ride today?

00:17:58.142 --> 00:17:59.332
Robin Dean: I did. I went to lunch.

00:17:59.803 --> 00:18:03.394
Brian Wringer: Then you were smiling. That makes me smile because I also rode today,

00:18:03.394 --> 00:18:04.734
Brian Wringer: and yes, it was an awesome ride.

00:18:04.734 --> 00:18:07.551
Brian Wringer: I think I cranked out about 90 miles or something like that. It was good.

00:18:07.999 --> 00:18:10.438
Brian Wringer: Quick out and back, rode the lunch route, which is a good time,

00:18:10.879 --> 00:18:12.498
Brian Wringer: and then connected that to Winston.

00:18:12.957 --> 00:18:18.344
Brian Wringer: Yeah, so we finally set up camp, and it's a nice, spacious site we got going

00:18:18.344 --> 00:18:21.641
Brian Wringer: on here, celebrated with stir-fry on the walk.

00:18:21.862 --> 00:18:27.793
Brian Wringer: I have a new sidebar hobby passion is just cooking on a walk over an open fire.

00:18:28.259 --> 00:18:32.824
Brian Wringer: Really digging that, so eating healthy. I do need to get a steel walk,

00:18:32.824 --> 00:18:35.474
Brian Wringer: though, instead of this non-stick version. I need the one that you can...

00:18:35.504 --> 00:18:37.024
Robin Dean: Oh, good Lord. Yeah. You got to.

00:18:37.024 --> 00:18:40.814
Brian Wringer: Beat the hell out of it and just let it collect all the nasty and burn it off

00:18:40.814 --> 00:18:41.817
Brian Wringer: and keep it in. You know what I mean?

00:18:42.276 --> 00:18:46.074
Brian Wringer: I need a walk I don't have to care about, where if I cook it hot enough every

00:18:46.074 --> 00:18:51.686
Brian Wringer: time at the start, the fragments of anything in there are part of the seasoning. That's the goal here.

00:18:52.144 --> 00:18:55.984
Robin Dean: That's the only way to do it. Yeah. Probably not a lot of Asian markets and

00:18:55.984 --> 00:18:59.528
Robin Dean: truth or consequences. So I guess you'll have to go to ABQ for that.

00:18:59.992 --> 00:19:04.574
Brian Wringer: I think that our campground is the Korean district of the town.

00:19:04.574 --> 00:19:06.349
Brian Wringer: You know what I mean? I mean, we are Koreatown right here.

00:19:06.808 --> 00:19:07.469
Robin Dean: That's about it.

00:19:07.928 --> 00:19:11.504
Brian Wringer: I did go on another lengthy ride not long ago with the wife.

00:19:11.846 --> 00:19:15.574
Brian Wringer: So the bikes are running nice and smooth. My winter plans are definitely in

00:19:15.574 --> 00:19:18.214
Brian Wringer: order. And I just got a new toy in the mail that I'm happy about.

00:19:18.673 --> 00:19:21.900
Brian Wringer: For Maggie's bike, she's going to have a phone charger. She's going to have heated grips.

00:19:22.364 --> 00:19:27.356
Brian Wringer: Probably get some grip covers that are those, you know, cheapo wraparounds that you've seen me use.

00:19:27.819 --> 00:19:32.161
Brian Wringer: And my FOBO tire pressure monitors are going to get transferred over to her bike.

00:19:32.626 --> 00:19:36.596
Brian Wringer: I've got an Android module coming in that I'm happy about. It cost me $150,

00:19:37.055 --> 00:19:40.823
Brian Wringer: and I'm glad she's not here to scold me about it. You know who I'm talking about, an innate Maggie.

00:19:41.287 --> 00:19:45.588
Brian Wringer: I've got the Android 6-inch module that's going to have TPMS on it,

00:19:46.053 --> 00:19:49.963
Brian Wringer: and also two cameras front and rear to record routes and promote things,

00:19:49.963 --> 00:19:51.631
Brian Wringer: all that stuff. Pretty stoked about it.

00:19:52.090 --> 00:19:54.563
Brian Wringer: The big one, though, this is a little bit of a rant for me, too.

00:19:55.027 --> 00:19:58.766
Brian Wringer: We both have hyperflash on the bikes because of our LED signals.

00:19:59.230 --> 00:19:59.962
Robin Dean: Ugh.

00:20:00.420 --> 00:20:04.948
Brian Wringer: Which doesn't make much sense to me, given the fact my bike came with LED signals.

00:20:05.354 --> 00:20:09.773
Brian Wringer: So they were predisposed to having resistors built into them,

00:20:09.773 --> 00:20:13.913
Brian Wringer: even stock, and kind of defeats the purpose to some extent.

00:20:13.993 --> 00:20:14.985
Robin Dean: Strange.

00:20:16.217 --> 00:20:19.985
Brian Wringer: I just ordered the blinkers that replaced it from TST Industries,

00:20:19.985 --> 00:20:23.421
Brian Wringer: their blinkers for her bike and mine. But this is the little rant I got.

00:20:23.879 --> 00:20:27.802
Brian Wringer: I got an email from them. The address I gave them was Robin Dean,

00:20:28.005 --> 00:20:32.307
Brian Wringer: care of the campground we're staying at, the town we're staying at, Zipco.

00:20:32.765 --> 00:20:36.057
Brian Wringer: They sent me an email, sir, can you give us a different address?

00:20:36.515 --> 00:20:41.615
Brian Wringer: Our policy says we cannot send to a temporary address or anything,

00:20:41.615 --> 00:20:45.485
Brian Wringer: a campground, a temporary housing, mobile home parks.

00:20:45.985 --> 00:20:49.141
Brian Wringer: We can't allow that to happen. I'm sorry. My response. Okay.

00:20:49.600 --> 00:20:53.808
Brian Wringer: Remove the care of part. It's my name, the address. That's it.

00:20:54.273 --> 00:20:58.035
Brian Wringer: I will receive it. Now, this is the part where I always laugh because you receive

00:20:58.035 --> 00:20:59.741
Brian Wringer: that email back where they say,

00:21:00.206 --> 00:21:05.815
Brian Wringer: unfortunately, whenever I see that an email, I picture them like they receive

00:21:05.815 --> 00:21:10.329
Brian Wringer: my initial response and then it just breaks their heart. Brian.

00:21:10.782 --> 00:21:14.215
Brian Wringer: They just can't deal with themselves and the fact that they're going to have

00:21:14.215 --> 00:21:20.117
Brian Wringer: to tell me that it's a physical impossibility for them to allow that to happen.

00:21:20.935 --> 00:21:24.685
Brian Wringer: There's simply no chance. They don't know what to say. They're so hurt by the

00:21:24.685 --> 00:21:25.845
Brian Wringer: decision. They're so hurt.

00:21:26.309 --> 00:21:28.834
Brian Wringer: They're going to have to explain to me that this can't happen.

00:21:29.293 --> 00:21:31.783
Brian Wringer: And you know that they feel it. They really do. So when they say,

00:21:32.120 --> 00:21:35.650
Brian Wringer: unfortunately, they really mean it.

00:21:36.108 --> 00:21:39.845
Brian Wringer: My response, yeah, that is unfortunate. So luckily i got a buddy here in town

00:21:39.845 --> 00:21:41.071
Brian Wringer: was like hey can i borrow your address

00:21:41.536 --> 00:21:45.835
Brian Wringer: having a refrigerator and some dumbbells sent along with a portable shipping

00:21:45.835 --> 00:21:49.555
Brian Wringer: container and he was like yeah it's cool so i got the product so that's how

00:21:49.555 --> 00:21:53.390
Brian Wringer: we're doing life's good how do you feel about some questions from the wild brian

00:21:53.842 --> 00:21:58.115
Robin Dean: We'll blast through these but first off if you'd like us to field your questions

00:21:58.115 --> 00:22:03.363
Robin Dean: visit email.tro.bike in your web browser and send us a message.

00:22:03.833 --> 00:22:09.452
Brian Wringer: First question, what is electronic suspension worth if the setup does not fit?

00:22:09.899 --> 00:22:10.665
Robin Dean: You must acquit.

00:22:11.118 --> 00:22:17.027
Brian Wringer: A rider weighing about 209 pounds described a Multistrada V2S test ride that felt floaty.

00:22:17.480 --> 00:22:21.258
Brian Wringer: With little front-end feedback, even in dynamic mode with the rider and passenger

00:22:21.258 --> 00:22:25.953
Brian Wringer: preload setting, their current electronically suspended adventure tourer also leaves them unhappy.

00:22:26.336 --> 00:22:30.214
Brian Wringer: They say maximum preload does not put the sag where they want it,

00:22:30.545 --> 00:22:32.681
Brian Wringer: and finding replacement springs has been difficult.

00:22:33.140 --> 00:22:37.180
Brian Wringer: This owner has tried not to repeat a suspension compromise on the next motorcycle.

00:22:37.633 --> 00:22:40.268
Brian Wringer: They like the Multistrata, but questions about front-end preload,

00:22:40.541 --> 00:22:43.879
Brian Wringer: separate damping adjustments, and replacement springs changed their enthusiasm.

00:22:44.315 --> 00:22:45.998
Brian Wringer: What would distinguish an unfamiliar

00:22:45.998 --> 00:22:49.400
Brian Wringer: electronic setting from a setup that simply does not suit the rider?

00:22:49.794 --> 00:22:53.904
Brian Wringer: For a sport tourer, that alternates between solo rides and loaded trips.

00:22:54.375 --> 00:22:58.208
Brian Wringer: Would you rather have quick electronics adjustments or easier access to the

00:22:58.208 --> 00:23:00.551
Brian Wringer: springs and settings you know you need?

00:23:01.004 --> 00:23:06.728
Brian Wringer: I would rather have a manual adjustment I did love it on the beamer I really did

00:23:07.192 --> 00:23:11.968
Brian Wringer: but just to be able to dial in because I know the dark art I understand the

00:23:11.968 --> 00:23:17.458
Brian Wringer: process I can set sag I know how to tune my rebound and compression damping

00:23:17.458 --> 00:23:19.847
Brian Wringer: so I'm not worried about it I'd prefer to be able to do it manually what about you?

00:23:20.305 --> 00:23:26.778
Robin Dean: One element of that is that you are the average humanoid people come with calipers

00:23:26.778 --> 00:23:33.342
Robin Dean: and they measure you to find out what the middle of the human experience is. I am,

00:23:33.835 --> 00:23:37.225
Robin Dean: more of a too extra large, extra, extra large person.

00:23:37.683 --> 00:23:43.523
Robin Dean: Our experiences are different. Oftentimes stock suspension is made for extra medium over here.

00:23:43.982 --> 00:23:47.459
Robin Dean: And I think the same thing is happening with the electronic suspension.

00:23:47.912 --> 00:23:51.802
Robin Dean: And one thing that's a real fundamental of suspension that you can't electronic

00:23:51.802 --> 00:23:56.608
Robin Dean: your way around is the need to have the correct spring rate going.

00:23:57.066 --> 00:24:02.822
Robin Dean: And just mashing a spring further using preload to get to correct sag still

00:24:02.822 --> 00:24:04.560
Robin Dean: does not give you the correct spring rate.

00:24:05.013 --> 00:24:08.508
Brian Wringer: Oh, shoot, just fill the freaking down tubes with concrete. It'll be great.

00:24:08.961 --> 00:24:13.502
Robin Dean: You need more sprung-a-tudeness for someone that's 209 pounds,

00:24:13.502 --> 00:24:15.706
Robin Dean: assuming that's 209 pounds in your socks.

00:24:16.176 --> 00:24:20.942
Robin Dean: You know, you're at least 50 pounds north of the average that European and especially

00:24:20.942 --> 00:24:23.298
Robin Dean: Japanese bike companies are going for.

00:24:23.756 --> 00:24:29.662
Robin Dean: In Japan, like Suzuki hires retired ballerinas and horse jockeys and things like that.

00:24:29.722 --> 00:24:33.422
Robin Dean: But, you know, they have very tiny people doing their test riding from what

00:24:33.422 --> 00:24:35.773
Robin Dean: I can tell. Preload can only do so much.

00:24:36.237 --> 00:24:39.000
Robin Dean: If you're looking at a bike with electronic suspension, that's great.

00:24:39.465 --> 00:24:44.294
Robin Dean: Preload's not going to do it. You need to be able to put some heavier springs in there.

00:24:44.759 --> 00:24:48.572
Robin Dean: Check and see if Racetech or Sonic or somebody like that can get you hooked

00:24:48.572 --> 00:24:50.488
Robin Dean: up and get you dialed in and in the ballpark.

00:24:50.941 --> 00:24:53.992
Robin Dean: And the second thing, the rule of averages, I guess you would call it,

00:24:53.992 --> 00:25:00.606
Robin Dean: also applies to the compression rebound adjustments, the on-the-fly software. and things like that.

00:25:01.071 --> 00:25:05.616
Robin Dean: Hopefully those have a range sufficient for your personal gravitational...

00:25:06.075 --> 00:25:07.410
Brian Wringer: Your bearing on this Earth.

00:25:07.863 --> 00:25:09.070
Robin Dean: I'm trying to be delicate here.

00:25:09.534 --> 00:25:10.858
Brian Wringer: Vertical inertia.

00:25:11.311 --> 00:25:12.739
Robin Dean: Your personal acceleration.

00:25:13.203 --> 00:25:16.099
Robin Dean: So a couple of specifics come to mind, you know, in these test rides.

00:25:16.099 --> 00:25:21.059
Robin Dean: One, new suspension or better suspension that you're not accustomed to is going

00:25:21.059 --> 00:25:23.390
Robin Dean: to feel weird at first, and you just have to deal with that.

00:25:23.761 --> 00:25:28.009
Robin Dean: So to a degree, it's really hard to separate what is just something that's not

00:25:28.009 --> 00:25:31.633
Robin Dean: familiar versus something that's genuinely better or genuinely a problem.

00:25:32.091 --> 00:25:38.549
Robin Dean: For example, on my 850, my ancient 1983 GS850G, it's 43 years old,

00:25:38.549 --> 00:25:40.607
Robin Dean: and you can imagine how primitive the fork is.

00:25:41.072 --> 00:25:44.859
Robin Dean: I installed a fork brace on the GS850 because everybody said that's what you

00:25:44.859 --> 00:25:46.790
Robin Dean: needed to do because the forks are so skinny.

00:25:47.248 --> 00:25:52.009
Robin Dean: I hated it. I was using all that, all that wiggliness and all that stuff was

00:25:52.009 --> 00:25:54.819
Robin Dean: feedback I was using to tell what the front end was doing.

00:25:54.819 --> 00:25:59.579
Robin Dean: And the fork brace kind of objectively should have made an improvement,

00:25:59.579 --> 00:26:04.176
Robin Dean: but I didn't think it was an improvement in feels. So there may be something like that going on.

00:26:04.634 --> 00:26:09.145
Robin Dean: So things like people sometimes complain that after they install cartridge emulators, they,

00:26:09.610 --> 00:26:13.978
Robin Dean: that the front end feels kind of numb that can be a concern anytime you you

00:26:14.378 --> 00:26:18.888
Robin Dean: ride upgraded suspension or you upgrade the suspension it takes some time to

00:26:18.888 --> 00:26:21.787
Robin Dean: to tease out okay is this just something i'm not used to,

00:26:22.251 --> 00:26:26.218
Robin Dean: or is this genuinely a problem active suspension if you're riding something

00:26:26.218 --> 00:26:29.848
Robin Dean: with active electronic suspension it's going to like sit in the middle of the

00:26:29.848 --> 00:26:33.108
Robin Dean: track it's going to feel weird like it sits in the middle of the travel and

00:26:33.108 --> 00:26:35.795
Robin Dean: it kind of you can feel it clamping down on,

00:26:36.254 --> 00:26:39.666
Robin Dean: you know it doesn't move around as much and so you don't get as much feedback,

00:26:40.108 --> 00:26:42.395
Robin Dean: it may be more of a u problem depending,

00:26:42.854 --> 00:26:46.648
Robin Dean: and all the traditional stuff applies if your front end feels vague look at

00:26:46.648 --> 00:26:50.258
Robin Dean: the rear end you know people are like oh this feels vague up here and it's like

00:26:50.258 --> 00:26:53.877
Robin Dean: well maybe the bike is sitting too low you have too much sag in the rear yeah.

00:26:54.318 --> 00:26:55.712
Brian Wringer: There's nothing left

00:26:56.152 --> 00:27:00.378
Robin Dean: And also if your spring rate in the rear is still not anywhere near the ballpark

00:27:00.378 --> 00:27:04.078
Robin Dean: where it needs to be for you, that can make the front end feel really weird

00:27:04.078 --> 00:27:06.590
Robin Dean: because you're kind of sitting up too high.

00:27:07.048 --> 00:27:10.918
Robin Dean: So everything's connected. And so it takes a lot more than a right around the

00:27:10.918 --> 00:27:14.669
Robin Dean: block on a dealer demo to kind of tease all this out.

00:27:15.127 --> 00:27:18.268
Robin Dean: And I suspect the answer is some of all the above.

00:27:18.610 --> 00:27:22.558
Robin Dean: I definitely make sure that there's some aftermarkets, at least an aftermarket

00:27:22.558 --> 00:27:24.381
Robin Dean: spring available for both ends.

00:27:24.845 --> 00:27:29.861
Robin Dean: Like if I'm above average weight, I'll just go ahead and admit it. I'm so brave.

00:27:30.325 --> 00:27:33.878
Robin Dean: But before I buy a new bike with electronic suspension, I would absolutely check

00:27:33.878 --> 00:27:37.256
Robin Dean: and see, okay, can I get at least the correct spring rate?

00:27:37.703 --> 00:27:42.283
Robin Dean: Does the electronic adjustment have enough range to be where I need it to be?

00:27:42.620 --> 00:27:44.576
Robin Dean: Or am I going to need to have this modified?

00:27:44.959 --> 00:27:46.741
Robin Dean: Am I going to need to install a new shock?

00:27:47.194 --> 00:27:50.878
Robin Dean: Every bike I've had, I've had to upgrade the suspension. So I need to budget

00:27:50.878 --> 00:27:55.333
Robin Dean: for a better shock. I need to budget for upgrading the front end. And,

00:27:55.872 --> 00:28:00.603
Robin Dean: The same process applies to electronic suspension. The electronics simply can't do it all.

00:28:01.061 --> 00:28:05.220
Robin Dean: You can raise spring rate with pumping air in, but nobody's done that for a

00:28:05.220 --> 00:28:06.924
Robin Dean: long time. It's really not that.

00:28:07.371 --> 00:28:09.357
Robin Dean: It's got a lot of problems with that tactic.

00:28:09.798 --> 00:28:13.220
Brian Wringer: It makes more sense to me that on the electronics side, it'd be great to have

00:28:13.220 --> 00:28:19.508
Brian Wringer: presets so that you can actually dial things in exactly as you would want and then save that setting.

00:28:19.973 --> 00:28:24.588
Brian Wringer: One of the biggest issues I have right now is I have two bikes, one of which,

00:28:25.052 --> 00:28:29.480
Brian Wringer: depending on the person after some discussion with the owner of our SV,

00:28:29.480 --> 00:28:34.710
Brian Wringer: which is Maggie Dean, her permission is what brings the gavel down on whether

00:28:34.710 --> 00:28:36.349
Brian Wringer: or not a person's allowed to ride that bike.

00:28:36.749 --> 00:28:40.923
Brian Wringer: And when they do, I want them to be comfortable. What do you do?

00:28:41.376 --> 00:28:42.351
Robin Dean: Not enough adjustment.

00:28:42.810 --> 00:28:46.660
Brian Wringer: You got to have the adjustability and the know-how. Now, if you would like to

00:28:46.660 --> 00:28:53.870
Brian Wringer: learn to tune your suspension, visit TRO.bike mouse over DigiTools and click

00:28:53.870 --> 00:28:57.334
Brian Wringer: on the suspension sag calculator.

00:28:57.740 --> 00:29:01.119
Brian Wringer: This doesn't necessarily fine tune your rebound or compression damping,

00:29:01.328 --> 00:29:02.715
Brian Wringer: but it does get your sag right.

00:29:03.052 --> 00:29:06.410
Brian Wringer: And then all you need to know about your rebound or compression damping is whether

00:29:06.410 --> 00:29:13.674
Brian Wringer: you hit a bump or rise over a hill, your bike should only respond once and then settle back to normal.

00:29:14.010 --> 00:29:16.270
Brian Wringer: That takes some practice and we can discuss that if you like,

00:29:16.270 --> 00:29:17.981
Brian Wringer: just reach out via the contact page.

00:29:18.445 --> 00:29:24.244
Brian Wringer: Anyhow to be able to do this requires the three adjusters that allow it the

00:29:24.703 --> 00:29:31.501
Brian Wringer: preload the compression and rebound damping so we got to work on that emulators

00:29:31.948 --> 00:29:36.070
Brian Wringer: the component that you would install you then have to remove and adjust every

00:29:36.070 --> 00:29:37.654
Brian Wringer: time that's a little bit tedious

00:29:38.124 --> 00:29:41.966
Brian Wringer: in standard forks they go at the bottom of everything so it's a process yeah

00:29:42.757 --> 00:29:46.444
Brian Wringer: Anyhow, onward. Our next question is about wind protection.

00:29:46.444 --> 00:29:49.850
Robin Dean: Brian, how much wind protection is too much wind protection?

00:29:50.297 --> 00:29:52.544
Robin Dean: This is a question near to my heart.

00:29:53.014 --> 00:29:57.757
Robin Dean: So a rider of some sort, about five feet, nine inches tall, an average medium

00:29:58.047 --> 00:30:04.142
Robin Dean: extra person, bought a 2025 Kawasaki Versus 650 to get away from the wind fatigue of a dirt bike.

00:30:04.595 --> 00:30:08.324
Robin Dean: The report that every position of the stock screen produces severe buffeting

00:30:08.324 --> 00:30:12.221
Robin Dean: above about 50 miles per hour, along with poor helmet ventilation.

00:30:12.674 --> 00:30:17.074
Robin Dean: A taller screen largely stops the buffeting, but leaves them uncomfortably hot

00:30:17.074 --> 00:30:19.327
Robin Dean: and looking through the screen instead of over it.

00:30:19.791 --> 00:30:22.294
Robin Dean: They like the bike, yet they wonder whether a different screen,

00:30:22.294 --> 00:30:25.225
Robin Dean: helmet, or even a naked bike would make their riding more comfortable.

00:30:25.677 --> 00:30:30.774
Robin Dean: But they also like to have the rain and cold protection they get from a fairing.

00:30:31.221 --> 00:30:33.003
Brian Wringer: Now, I know what you might say.

00:30:33.468 --> 00:30:35.232
Robin Dean: You know my thoughts on windshields.

00:30:35.697 --> 00:30:39.104
Brian Wringer: Brian has a prejudice against windshields, and the first thing he does is,

00:30:39.104 --> 00:30:42.884
Brian Wringer: without even loosening the screws, he walks up and rips it right off the plastics

00:30:42.884 --> 00:30:45.786
Brian Wringer: and leaves the jagged, broken fiberglass right there

00:30:46.204 --> 00:30:51.301
Brian Wringer: as a message to all others who would dare offer him such things as wind protection.

00:30:51.765 --> 00:30:55.666
Brian Wringer: But here's the trick, and this is going to get into our main segment.

00:30:56.125 --> 00:31:01.198
Brian Wringer: It depends on the height of the rider, the shape of the windscreen,

00:31:01.477 --> 00:31:04.008
Brian Wringer: where it deflects the airflow to.

00:31:04.275 --> 00:31:11.054
Brian Wringer: I remember that Maggie's Triumph and now her Suzuki SV650 both have impressive

00:31:11.054 --> 00:31:18.402
Brian Wringer: designs on the windscreens we chose. Those were through SWMotech. This one's Puig.

00:31:18.873 --> 00:31:23.180
Brian Wringer: But the SW MoTeC on the Triumph did something I'd never seen before.

00:31:23.401 --> 00:31:28.062
Brian Wringer: Instead of the whole like loop-de-loop thumbnail, shape it this way, it was splayed.

00:31:28.515 --> 00:31:33.952
Brian Wringer: Almost like a split window VW Beetle, you know, like it just had this crease

00:31:33.952 --> 00:31:38.252
Brian Wringer: in the center that said, yeah, yeah, we'll try to get the air to go up over you.

00:31:38.252 --> 00:31:42.622
Brian Wringer: But before we do that, can we just push it around you and evenly as such?

00:31:42.622 --> 00:31:46.582
Brian Wringer: So the contours were nice, but it had a crease in the center that gave it an

00:31:46.582 --> 00:31:50.295
Brian Wringer: angle that shoved air to the far right and the far left.

00:31:50.754 --> 00:31:53.962
Brian Wringer: Like the one from my Beamer, I got the thumbnail, the giant thumbnail,

00:31:53.962 --> 00:31:58.811
Brian Wringer: because for me, again, Captain Average here, it was the perfect answer.

00:31:59.270 --> 00:32:03.292
Brian Wringer: The air would end up at the right point on my helmet, clean flow,

00:32:03.292 --> 00:32:06.995
Brian Wringer: and the remnants of which were then taken care of by my helmet.

00:32:07.442 --> 00:32:11.342
Brian Wringer: That worked for me. If you're taller than that, I remember people riding my bike.

00:32:11.422 --> 00:32:14.052
Brian Wringer: Like, hell, Brian rode it, Travis rode it. All these other people had been on

00:32:14.052 --> 00:32:16.068
Brian Wringer: the bike, and they were like, yeah, I'm getting dirty air.

00:32:16.527 --> 00:32:19.186
Brian Wringer: Because they're a foot taller. They're way up in the stratosphere,

00:32:19.522 --> 00:32:24.840
Brian Wringer: dealing with the after effects of clean air, getting blasted into dirty air,

00:32:25.066 --> 00:32:27.922
Brian Wringer: having a fist fight that we don't know about, and then shaking our heads about

00:32:27.922 --> 00:32:29.815
Brian Wringer: until our brains are scrambled. So...

00:32:30.278 --> 00:32:33.430
Brian Wringer: There are answers. They just need to suit you. Know your physique.

00:32:33.877 --> 00:32:38.881
Brian Wringer: Assume what may or may not work. And remember, what looks aerodynamic might not be.

00:32:39.340 --> 00:32:42.828
Brian Wringer: There's a great regular car reviews discussion.

00:32:43.293 --> 00:32:47.807
Brian Wringer: Look up the regular car reviews station on YouTube where he gets deep into the

00:32:47.807 --> 00:32:56.070
Brian Wringer: Hayabusa and talks about how aerodynamics don't look the way you might want them to.

00:32:56.528 --> 00:33:00.977
Brian Wringer: And that's okay. it's okay to buy the bike that looks the way you want and compensate

00:33:00.977 --> 00:33:02.803
Brian Wringer: later it's all right that's my take brian what you got

00:33:03.249 --> 00:33:07.069
Robin Dean: I'm normally not a fan of windscreens i am a fan of clean air,

00:33:07.527 --> 00:33:12.694
Robin Dean: and that's how i have everything set up some people do like windscreens and that's fine,

00:33:13.147 --> 00:33:17.027
Robin Dean: i would say a really good starting point to really get an idea okay this is

00:33:17.027 --> 00:33:22.858
Robin Dean: what i'm dealing with and help separate out the components that go into creating smooth airflow,

00:33:23.317 --> 00:33:25.964
Robin Dean: yank the windscreen off, which is what I do anyway, but,

00:33:26.428 --> 00:33:28.843
Robin Dean: take the windscreen off and see,

00:33:29.308 --> 00:33:31.821
Robin Dean: what is coming from the fairing, what's coming from your mirrors,

00:33:32.286 --> 00:33:34.921
Robin Dean: what's coming up over the headlight or whatever's left there,

00:33:35.380 --> 00:33:39.449
Robin Dean: and try to kind of piece together something that works for you.

00:33:39.908 --> 00:33:44.257
Robin Dean: You know, a lot of people do end up with a different setup for summer versus

00:33:44.257 --> 00:33:47.677
Robin Dean: winter if they want weather protection, if they want protection from the cold

00:33:47.677 --> 00:33:50.885
Robin Dean: wind, and it's incredibly individual.

00:33:51.338 --> 00:33:52.499
Brian Wringer: Unique to you.

00:33:52.917 --> 00:33:56.092
Robin Dean: It is unique to you. It's incredibly individual. So there's not,

00:33:56.556 --> 00:33:59.157
Robin Dean: you know, we can give you like a little bit of guidance, but we can't say,

00:33:59.157 --> 00:34:01.617
Robin Dean: yeah, buy this part number and your troubles are over.

00:34:02.070 --> 00:34:07.445
Robin Dean: So check the forums, look at the feedback. You know, you're an average height,

00:34:07.921 --> 00:34:11.056
Robin Dean: for an american male but you know what if you have really short legs and a long

00:34:11.056 --> 00:34:13.093
Robin Dean: torso so you may need to adjust there.

00:34:13.465 --> 00:34:14.307
Brian Wringer: We know a guy

00:34:14.765 --> 00:34:19.276
Robin Dean: I would say the other thing is make sure you have a helmet that fits correctly,

00:34:19.734 --> 00:34:21.969
Robin Dean: and the correct fit on a helmet is often a lot,

00:34:22.428 --> 00:34:27.336
Robin Dean: more snug than people buy so if your helmet is rattling around on your head

00:34:27.336 --> 00:34:31.166
Robin Dean: that's going to cause a lot of problems of its own any reasonably modern helmets

00:34:31.166 --> 00:34:33.469
Robin Dean: going to be pretty have pretty good aerodynamics,

00:34:33.939 --> 00:34:36.046
Robin Dean: so i don't know if There are a lot of differences there.

00:34:36.511 --> 00:34:39.576
Robin Dean: Touring helmets are going to be a little more stable, maybe a little heavier.

00:34:40.000 --> 00:34:43.296
Robin Dean: Versus is kind of an upright bike, so you're going to want to bias towards more

00:34:43.296 --> 00:34:47.012
Robin Dean: of a touring or a naked bike helmet anyway.

00:34:47.465 --> 00:34:49.816
Robin Dean: Like a full race helmet is intended to be used.

00:34:50.280 --> 00:34:51.192
Brian Wringer: Kissing the tank.

00:34:51.650 --> 00:34:55.998
Robin Dean: Yeah. And so it's going to aerodynamically behave a lot differently.

00:34:56.463 --> 00:34:59.567
Robin Dean: But yeah, there's a lot of things to piece together. Even things I found,

00:34:59.973 --> 00:35:05.346
Robin Dean: I'm fairly wide, and I found that getting spacers to move the mirrors out about

00:35:05.346 --> 00:35:07.671
Robin Dean: three inches on each side actually helps a lot, too,

00:35:08.135 --> 00:35:11.444
Robin Dean: because I get a lot of turbulence that can kind of hit my shoulders and my head,

00:35:11.903 --> 00:35:14.184
Robin Dean: just from the mirrors on a standard bike.

00:35:14.630 --> 00:35:16.297
Brian Wringer: Get truck mirrors. Big rig.

00:35:16.838 --> 00:35:24.830
Robin Dean: Yeah, just set up cameras and an Android tablet and electronics and radar units, all wireless.

00:35:25.290 --> 00:35:28.162
Brian Wringer: Because you know what's fun? Changing batteries.

00:35:28.628 --> 00:35:30.874
Robin Dean: Bluetooth connecting, Bluetooth connecting.

00:35:31.320 --> 00:35:36.389
Brian Wringer: If you'd like us to field your questions, visit email.tro.bike in your web browser

00:35:36.389 --> 00:35:38.751
Brian Wringer: and send us a message. You ready for segment one, Brian?

00:35:39.199 --> 00:35:39.988
Robin Dean: Segment one?

00:35:40.452 --> 00:35:46.350
Brian Wringer: Segment one. I'm calling this what do versus how, because it's not what you do.

00:35:46.703 --> 00:35:48.851
Brian Wringer: It's how and maybe why you do it.

00:35:49.305 --> 00:35:54.049
Brian Wringer: It's a vague notion of a subject. If you cherry pick a favorite concern or opposite,

00:35:54.049 --> 00:35:59.270
Brian Wringer: like a route rally or a plan, there's likely a best and worst way to approach it.

00:35:59.729 --> 00:36:05.928
Brian Wringer: With a loosely exacting effort, I want to talk about how we either get in or out of our own way.

00:36:06.375 --> 00:36:11.014
Brian Wringer: You know, like sensibility, cognitive load, patience,

00:36:11.471 --> 00:36:15.739
Brian Wringer: when to hustle, whether or not the time window for any decision we make is going

00:36:15.739 --> 00:36:20.079
Brian Wringer: to leave us stressed when we start or not, or if we can come back to it and

00:36:20.079 --> 00:36:22.159
Brian Wringer: not feel like it's going to be a mess of

00:36:22.618 --> 00:36:25.549
Brian Wringer: mismatched memory when we arrive back at the task.

00:36:26.008 --> 00:36:30.629
Brian Wringer: The first one that I thought of, the instant I start a maintenance task that

00:36:30.629 --> 00:36:35.459
Brian Wringer: I promised myself I would address from a relaxed posture with more than enough

00:36:35.459 --> 00:36:39.818
Brian Wringer: time at the very first wrench turn, I want it to be done. Done.

00:36:40.346 --> 00:36:45.603
Brian Wringer: Done, I say. This can and has caused the kind of mistakes that only make matters

00:36:45.603 --> 00:36:48.293
Brian Wringer: worse and sometimes exponentially so.

00:36:48.671 --> 00:36:53.733
Brian Wringer: So let's remind ourselves, you know, I'm in these clothes to get dirty and I've

00:36:53.733 --> 00:36:55.091
Brian Wringer: got all day to dirty them.

00:36:55.544 --> 00:36:58.230
Brian Wringer: I have two bikes. I have two bikes. I have two bikes.

00:36:58.694 --> 00:37:05.295
Brian Wringer: And freaking breathe. Take a breath. You've got time. Turn the wrench. Observe.

00:37:05.748 --> 00:37:09.293
Brian Wringer: Remember that you forgot to do the other thing first that's supposed to come

00:37:09.293 --> 00:37:12.373
Brian Wringer: before this. So go ahead and stop turning the wrench and address it.

00:37:12.373 --> 00:37:15.529
Brian Wringer: Just give yourself enough room to realize, oh yeah, that's okay.

00:37:15.697 --> 00:37:16.655
Brian Wringer: This might take a weekend.

00:37:17.120 --> 00:37:22.263
Brian Wringer: I told myself it would. Now, Brian, I'd have compressed efforts into like two days.

00:37:22.704 --> 00:37:26.628
Brian Wringer: It's going to take two days. And then everything starts to compress.

00:37:27.087 --> 00:37:31.043
Brian Wringer: The effort starts to constipate. But like, why get stressed?

00:37:31.043 --> 00:37:35.633
Brian Wringer: If you have the time to stretch it out, why not just take a breath you're going

00:37:35.633 --> 00:37:40.263
Brian Wringer: to find that you might even cut the time in half just because you decided not

00:37:40.263 --> 00:37:41.384
Brian Wringer: to let it get the better of you.

00:37:41.837 --> 00:37:42.244
Robin Dean: Yeah and,

00:37:42.765 --> 00:37:46.544
Robin Dean: We'll stay in the garage for a little bit. Now, my perspective in the garage

00:37:46.544 --> 00:37:50.364
Robin Dean: is pretty different. When I was five, I rebuilt my first lawnmower engine.

00:37:50.822 --> 00:37:56.344
Robin Dean: And when I was seven, I saved up my pennies to graft a glitter gold banana seat

00:37:56.344 --> 00:37:59.064
Robin Dean: onto my little red Schwinn. So nice.

00:37:59.523 --> 00:38:02.904
Robin Dean: I have a different challenge when it comes to the garage. The challenge is just

00:38:02.904 --> 00:38:04.887
Robin Dean: getting my ass out there in the first place.

00:38:05.339 --> 00:38:11.690
Robin Dean: Once I'm there, I'm home. I know what I'm doing. I'm calm. I'm zen. The anxiety leaves.

00:38:12.149 --> 00:38:15.614
Robin Dean: But the problem is making a time to get out there and to do the things I need

00:38:15.614 --> 00:38:19.474
Robin Dean: to get done and making that time like one of the things you said was I've got

00:38:19.474 --> 00:38:24.055
Robin Dean: all day it's like I when to hell do I ever have all day it's hard to set it aside.

00:38:24.519 --> 00:38:25.529
Brian Wringer: It's a long game

00:38:25.976 --> 00:38:32.199
Robin Dean: Yeah the motivation for me this may sound weird but it's just plain lonely out there a lot of times,

00:38:32.663 --> 00:38:38.024
Robin Dean: I really enjoy the social aspect of that when you and I have had extended garage

00:38:38.024 --> 00:38:41.524
Robin Dean: sessions I really enjoy that I enjoy teaching people things.

00:38:41.524 --> 00:38:45.254
Robin Dean: I enjoy showing them things. I enjoy learning things from people that know things that I don't.

00:38:45.707 --> 00:38:51.224
Robin Dean: Teamwork, that kind of thing. And kind of the example I give here was when Travis

00:38:51.224 --> 00:38:54.257
Robin Dean: had a tire that was looking mighty, mighty thin.

00:38:54.710 --> 00:38:59.574
Robin Dean: And once again, I parachute in out of Indiana to Kentucky with a tire.

00:39:00.039 --> 00:39:05.904
Robin Dean: We pull that off. And what was fun about that was we had not Not just my hands,

00:39:05.904 --> 00:39:12.734
Robin Dean: but your hands and Travis's hands were in there. All of us with untold experience

00:39:12.734 --> 00:39:14.830
Robin Dean: in wrangling rubber onto rims.

00:39:15.288 --> 00:39:19.636
Robin Dean: And the whole thing happened as if by magic, like in seconds.

00:39:20.002 --> 00:39:20.884
Brian Wringer: Like a pit crew,

00:39:21.337 --> 00:39:27.854
Robin Dean: A tire was and then it was not. Then the new tire appeared and it just magic.

00:39:27.854 --> 00:39:31.624
Robin Dean: And it was on that kind of thing is a lot of fun where everybody knows what

00:39:31.624 --> 00:39:34.189
Robin Dean: they're doing and it's like a pit crew thing. That was kind of fun.

00:39:34.654 --> 00:39:37.666
Brian Wringer: It was even better to see the people that didn't know what they were doing watching it happen.

00:39:38.125 --> 00:39:39.042
Robin Dean: Oh, that was the best.

00:39:39.495 --> 00:39:41.347
Brian Wringer: They were just like, oh, okay.

00:39:41.794 --> 00:39:42.804
Robin Dean: What did I just see?

00:39:43.257 --> 00:39:44.011
Brian Wringer: Boom, done.

00:39:44.464 --> 00:39:47.744
Robin Dean: Once I get there, I'm on my way. I'm good. I'm locked in.

00:39:48.203 --> 00:39:52.893
Brian Wringer: This winter, we will make a point to keep company with Brian.

00:39:52.893 --> 00:39:58.053
Brian Wringer: So I'm going to set up a special Discord server, and I'm going to invite very

00:39:58.053 --> 00:39:59.369
Brian Wringer: particular people to it.

00:39:59.828 --> 00:40:04.083
Brian Wringer: You and I will be there, and you can log into it anytime and say,

00:40:04.083 --> 00:40:04.994
Brian Wringer: like, is anybody in there?

00:40:05.448 --> 00:40:09.203
Brian Wringer: No, there's not. Okay. And then maybe reach out and be like,

00:40:09.203 --> 00:40:10.405
Brian Wringer: hey, I'm going to go into the garage.

00:40:10.864 --> 00:40:12.873
Brian Wringer: You want to hang out? What are you doing? I'll be like, well,

00:40:12.873 --> 00:40:16.952
Brian Wringer: I'm writing an article. Cool. Write your article and meet me in the garage.

00:40:17.081 --> 00:40:19.797
Brian Wringer: And then we'll just hang out while you're working on stuff. Right. Does that sound good?

00:40:20.251 --> 00:40:21.191
Robin Dean: Sounds lovely.

00:40:21.615 --> 00:40:23.065
Brian Wringer: Do you have a garage computer?

00:40:23.513 --> 00:40:24.267
Robin Dean: No, I don't.

00:40:24.714 --> 00:40:29.272
Brian Wringer: Change that today. Get yourself a dedicated

00:40:29.735 --> 00:40:34.603
Brian Wringer: oil-based computer that just it takes all the brunt of every punishment but

00:40:34.603 --> 00:40:38.547
Brian Wringer: has just enough CPU power to stay online and keep track of steam powered yeah

00:40:39.006 --> 00:40:43.842
Brian Wringer: but then back to Kentucky getting that tire swapped out that fast now we're riding again right

00:40:44.295 --> 00:40:49.363
Brian Wringer: in writing the whole what do verse how not what you do but how you do it this

00:40:49.363 --> 00:40:54.138
Brian Wringer: might mean repeated forgiveness of self which is something I'm writing about right now

00:40:54.597 --> 00:40:58.561
Brian Wringer: whereby a poor line selection doesn't need to become a domino effective.

00:40:58.840 --> 00:41:01.123
Brian Wringer: I always try and select the porous line, you know what I mean?

00:41:01.123 --> 00:41:03.983
Brian Wringer: Like from here on for the entire duration of the ride.

00:41:04.424 --> 00:41:12.238
Brian Wringer: We catch ourselves, we loosen up, breathe in, breathe out, acknowledge the error, correct and refine.

00:41:12.691 --> 00:41:16.573
Brian Wringer: Whereas option B is like we cringe, we gnash our teeth, we angst and blame the

00:41:16.573 --> 00:41:20.574
Brian Wringer: self so as to ensure that next corner goes to shit, followed by the one after that.

00:41:21.032 --> 00:41:23.662
Brian Wringer: We do enjoy riding motorcycles, right?

00:41:24.115 --> 00:41:24.626
Robin Dean: Right.

00:41:25.119 --> 00:41:29.361
Brian Wringer: Find that. Find that enjoyment. Immediately following the error.

00:41:29.361 --> 00:41:35.202
Brian Wringer: Cap it with a laugh. You know, this is a way back into that Zen state.

00:41:35.655 --> 00:41:41.731
Robin Dean: Yeah, and I simplify this down, and this applies to all aspects of the act of

00:41:41.731 --> 00:41:44.572
Robin Dean: writing, but let it go. You have to let it go.

00:41:45.030 --> 00:41:48.843
Robin Dean: Your own mistake, learn from it, adjust, you know, adjust, learn from it,

00:41:48.976 --> 00:41:52.825
Robin Dean: move on, keep that grin on your face, keep enjoying yourself.

00:41:53.278 --> 00:41:58.491
Robin Dean: But one of the things is to really keep an eye on the people around you the people you're leading,

00:41:58.955 --> 00:42:04.131
Robin Dean: and look for those people who are experiencing anxiety or are mad about something

00:42:04.131 --> 00:42:08.461
Robin Dean: or they're mad at themselves or they're mad at you talk about it buy them a

00:42:08.461 --> 00:42:12.492
Robin Dean: candy bar whatever it takes to to get them off of that and the same thing applies to,

00:42:12.957 --> 00:42:16.841
Robin Dean: road rage things like that if people are going to road rage or people if other

00:42:16.841 --> 00:42:20.120
Robin Dean: people do dumb things things like that you gotta let it go.

00:42:20.567 --> 00:42:22.076
Brian Wringer: This is going to tie in so well.

00:42:22.529 --> 00:42:28.009
Robin Dean: For me, the biggest lesson in forgiving myself was in off-road riding.

00:42:28.462 --> 00:42:33.814
Robin Dean: Because when you fall off your bike on a street ride, it's kind of a big problem. It's a deal.

00:42:34.273 --> 00:42:39.468
Robin Dean: It's a big thing. Falling off off-road is kind of part of the thing sometimes.

00:42:39.933 --> 00:42:45.161
Robin Dean: So the first several times I fell down when I was building what little skill

00:42:45.161 --> 00:42:48.941
Robin Dean: I have off-road, it ruined the whole It was a disaster. It was like,

00:42:48.941 --> 00:42:52.714
Robin Dean: oh, my God, you know, I'm no good at this. I can't do this. I need to go home.

00:42:53.173 --> 00:42:58.171
Robin Dean: I was locked up. I was stiff. And that just increases your chances of something,

00:42:58.635 --> 00:43:01.311
Robin Dean: happening further down the road. I mean, you're further down the trail.

00:43:01.770 --> 00:43:06.211
Robin Dean: So, yeah, self-forgiveness, things like that is a big part of it and forgiving others.

00:43:07.099 --> 00:43:09.479
Brian Wringer: Don't be a block of meat sitting on the seat.

00:43:09.932 --> 00:43:10.146
Robin Dean: Yeah.

00:43:10.355 --> 00:43:11.754
Brian Wringer: Be able to be fluid.

00:43:12.219 --> 00:43:15.268
Robin Dean: Nobody's perfect. Something is screwed up with every corner.

00:43:15.268 --> 00:43:16.543
Robin Dean: It's just a matter of degree.

00:43:17.002 --> 00:43:20.410
Robin Dean: As long as you're still on the bike, you know, that's good. You're doing well.

00:43:20.868 --> 00:43:23.689
Robin Dean: Stay on the bike. Keep riding the bike. That's important.

00:43:24.148 --> 00:43:27.602
Robin Dean: Don't go, start beating yourself in the head and run off.

00:43:28.055 --> 00:43:32.437
Robin Dean: Yeah. Handle that imperfection and move on. Learning off-road riding,

00:43:32.745 --> 00:43:36.843
Robin Dean: track days, things like that, give you like a bigger toolbox for compensating.

00:43:37.302 --> 00:43:41.592
Robin Dean: Dealing with and forgiving yourself for all kinds of things that can happen.

00:43:42.039 --> 00:43:47.454
Brian Wringer: Now, remember the theme here. What do versus how. You will meet people out there who...

00:43:47.999 --> 00:43:53.050
Brian Wringer: Under no circumstances, they ain't going to learn nothing gooder.

00:43:53.503 --> 00:43:57.485
Brian Wringer: You're going to bump into people at gas stations who are going to question your

00:43:57.485 --> 00:44:02.645
Brian Wringer: choice of bike, who are going to wonder why you wear gear, who are going to

00:44:02.645 --> 00:44:06.837
Brian Wringer: say, what I like to do is, and it's going to make no sense to you.

00:44:07.295 --> 00:44:12.710
Brian Wringer: And it's not even bait. They're just trying to project on you an alternative

00:44:12.862 --> 00:44:15.689
Brian Wringer: to anything that you've learned that is good.

00:44:16.147 --> 00:44:22.045
Brian Wringer: And you have to navigate these conversations. I mean, have to is relative to

00:44:22.045 --> 00:44:27.584
Brian Wringer: your will to do so. You can also just not speak or just turn your back and stare at the wall.

00:44:28.042 --> 00:44:32.305
Brian Wringer: But it's going to happen that you're going to meet people who don't necessarily

00:44:32.305 --> 00:44:37.951
Brian Wringer: share your perspective and they express such before they've even heard your perspective.

00:44:38.404 --> 00:44:44.323
Brian Wringer: Deny those who cross your mind palace threshold with, I don't wear no helmet.

00:44:44.729 --> 00:44:49.878
Brian Wringer: My bike is faster than your bike, by the way, really, because they're stationary

00:44:50.174 --> 00:44:55.590
Brian Wringer: until the better writer tells you we're not into racing on public roads.

00:44:56.049 --> 00:45:00.281
Brian Wringer: Or my favorite, if you don't use this technique to make a U-turn,

00:45:00.571 --> 00:45:03.358
Brian Wringer: you should feel inferior to those who said so.

00:45:03.810 --> 00:45:05.651
Brian Wringer: Just deny them the response.

00:45:06.109 --> 00:45:10.455
Brian Wringer: I'm not interested in learning who's faster and U-turns are nothing more than

00:45:10.455 --> 00:45:16.686
Brian Wringer: a maneuver in favor of a proactive, positive, optimistic response that disarms everyone

00:45:17.483 --> 00:45:22.207
Brian Wringer: A much better experience. I need to practice my own words here.

00:45:22.434 --> 00:45:27.015
Brian Wringer: It is so hard for me not to be like, sure, I'll play.

00:45:27.473 --> 00:45:30.526
Robin Dean: Yeah, yeah. Don't take the bait. Yeah.

00:45:30.967 --> 00:45:37.329
Brian Wringer: I've got this Kung Fu at my disposal in this particular subject matter,

00:45:37.766 --> 00:45:39.489
Brian Wringer: and I'm ready to dole it out.

00:45:39.952 --> 00:45:40.376
Robin Dean: Yeah.

00:45:40.910 --> 00:45:44.738
Brian Wringer: You can say, no habla inglés. Of course, then they'll say, oh,

00:45:44.738 --> 00:45:47.736
Brian Wringer: well, me llamo, and then they'll like no Spanish flu.

00:45:48.044 --> 00:45:50.703
Robin Dean: Oh, shit. Yeah. No, no. Damn it.

00:45:51.161 --> 00:45:51.411
Brian Wringer: Yeah.

00:45:51.910 --> 00:45:56.101
Robin Dean: The key here is the same thing. Keep smiling. You're having fun, man.

00:45:56.554 --> 00:45:59.888
Robin Dean: Sometimes it's hard to escape the guy who wants to tell you the story of how

00:45:59.888 --> 00:46:04.328
Robin Dean: his Uncle Fudd killed himself and one of them devil machines or whatever.

00:46:04.328 --> 00:46:08.681
Robin Dean: But keep smiling and find a way to engage. Nice paint.

00:46:09.145 --> 00:46:13.188
Robin Dean: Nice chrome. That sure looks like a lot of fun. Thank you very much.

00:46:13.188 --> 00:46:16.500
Robin Dean: But no, I don't need a Budweiser right now. But thank you.

00:46:16.953 --> 00:46:19.159
Robin Dean: Very kind of you. I've said these things.

00:46:19.617 --> 00:46:23.788
Robin Dean: And also, I think what's kind of fun, I've done this deliberately many times,

00:46:23.788 --> 00:46:28.458
Robin Dean: is when people, they'll make a comment about like, ain't you hot and all that.

00:46:28.923 --> 00:46:32.754
Brian Wringer: My new favorite answer comes from a friend local and it's, oh, thank you. Nice.

00:46:33.294 --> 00:46:37.796
Robin Dean: Just get like super nerdy, enthusiastic. Oh, wow. Let me show you this.

00:46:37.796 --> 00:46:40.984
Robin Dean: Well, like see all them little holes in this thing. It's like, it's mesh.

00:46:41.269 --> 00:46:45.716
Robin Dean: Air comes right through. And it's really much, you know, much better than being

00:46:45.716 --> 00:46:49.346
Robin Dean: hip, but you know, than riding in the hairdryer or, you know,

00:46:49.346 --> 00:46:55.334
Robin Dean: the helmet thing. It's like, man, I really, my doctor said I had to stop eating so many bugs.

00:46:55.683 --> 00:46:59.891
Robin Dean: So I really find that this is a lot more comfortable.

00:47:00.298 --> 00:47:02.846
Robin Dean: You know, most people just don't have a helmet that fits right.

00:47:02.846 --> 00:47:05.197
Robin Dean: You know, they haven't really tried one that fits right.

00:47:05.661 --> 00:47:11.414
Robin Dean: Just nerd out and smile, and maybe they'll learn something, and maybe they'll just walk away.

00:47:11.867 --> 00:47:12.935
Brian Wringer: I like it. I like it.

00:47:13.382 --> 00:47:16.691
Robin Dean: Yeah, there are all kinds of ways. Just be positive. Keep smiling.

00:47:16.987 --> 00:47:19.535
Robin Dean: Riding is fun, damn it. I like the suffering.

00:47:19.994 --> 00:47:23.367
Brian Wringer: It's our turn. We got to learn. We're moving on to segment two here.

00:47:23.831 --> 00:47:27.755
Brian Wringer: I've made a request. We're going to talk about riding kit Stockholm syndrome.

00:47:28.220 --> 00:47:32.116
Brian Wringer: We all have something we refuse to replace because the alternatives might be

00:47:32.116 --> 00:47:38.365
Brian Wringer: worse in our mind, that means we're going to need some extra special expertise to discuss the matter.

00:47:38.679 --> 00:47:45.668
Brian Wringer: I can tell you that right now, hanging up, I've just pulled out my Sedici Rapido and Altimo kit.

00:47:46.127 --> 00:47:54.266
Brian Wringer: It's exactly what I prefer. It is the best writing gear I've bought in all the

00:47:54.266 --> 00:47:57.394
Brian Wringer: gear that I've bought. Why? Because it's three season.

00:47:57.847 --> 00:48:03.256
Brian Wringer: It's easy to switch out. It's got two breast pockets to hold my extra audio

00:48:03.256 --> 00:48:05.806
Brian Wringer: line and my phone on the exterior.

00:48:06.270 --> 00:48:12.626
Brian Wringer: It is exactly the, dare I say, third person Robin Dean-ist, Robin Dean-ery that

00:48:12.626 --> 00:48:14.642
Brian Wringer: I could Robin Dean with on a motorcycle.

00:48:15.100 --> 00:48:17.046
Brian Wringer: And I know that sounded weird, but I'm going to stick with it.

00:48:17.046 --> 00:48:22.316
Brian Wringer: So point is, I see gearchick.com, Joanne Don,

00:48:35.927 --> 00:48:40.385
Brian Wringer: Like I said, we all might have something we refuse to replace because the alternatives might be worse.

00:48:40.849 --> 00:48:46.648
Brian Wringer: What would make you repair it, alter it, or just finally retire it?

00:48:47.020 --> 00:48:51.437
Brian Wringer: And bring an example of a beloved piece that deserved another chance or one

00:48:51.437 --> 00:48:55.129
Brian Wringer: whose owner needed a gentle intervention. Has it happened to you?

00:48:55.588 --> 00:48:59.067
Joanne Donn: I haven't worn anything out to that level.

00:48:59.407 --> 00:49:04.187
Joanne Donn: I have things that I just don't like anymore, but they're perfectly fine.

00:49:04.187 --> 00:49:09.367
Joanne Donn: And I just don't want to wear them because I got something newer that looks

00:49:09.367 --> 00:49:11.790
Joanne Donn: better or something or my tastes have changed.

00:49:12.254 --> 00:49:15.354
Joanne Donn: So then I've sold those cheap or given them away.

00:49:15.807 --> 00:49:21.130
Joanne Donn: For me, it's really that my closet was overflowing with too many things that I wasn't wearing.

00:49:21.594 --> 00:49:27.637
Joanne Donn: So I donated a bunch. Most of it was new, like hardly worn, but I don't have

00:49:27.637 --> 00:49:34.407
Joanne Donn: anything that's super worn out. The only thing I've replaced a couple of times were gloves.

00:49:34.727 --> 00:49:40.187
Joanne Donn: So when I started, I was riding a scooter and it was a small scooter and I was

00:49:40.187 --> 00:49:45.028
Joanne Donn: mostly using two fingers for braking and I wore out my index fingers.

00:49:45.492 --> 00:49:50.728
Joanne Donn: So that I replaced immediately because as soon as there's holes in the fingers,

00:49:51.187 --> 00:49:52.708
Joanne Donn: I don't want to risk one finger.

00:49:53.380 --> 00:50:00.329
Joanne Donn: Care. So I bought new ones. After that, I've replaced a gear I've crashed in.

00:50:00.787 --> 00:50:05.069
Joanne Donn: So I crashed in my hybrid leather pants and my hybrid leather jacket,

00:50:05.069 --> 00:50:08.038
Joanne Donn: and I specifically wore down the knee.

00:50:08.485 --> 00:50:13.459
Joanne Donn: I slid on my right side. It was a low side. So that means I abraded my elbow

00:50:13.459 --> 00:50:18.040
Joanne Donn: seam, my right knee, my right elbow, and a little bit of my stomach.

00:50:18.493 --> 00:50:27.067
Joanne Donn: Now, because I slid on the seams of my right elbow and my right knee, I chose to replace them.

00:50:27.531 --> 00:50:32.519
Joanne Donn: Also, I'm vain, and aesthetically, I don't want to wear gear that looks like

00:50:32.519 --> 00:50:33.516
Joanne Donn: I've already crashed in it.

00:50:33.972 --> 00:50:37.479
Joanne Donn: It's okay to be vain, and it's okay to buy things because you don't like how

00:50:37.479 --> 00:50:40.789
Joanne Donn: they look or you want something different, and aesthetically,

00:50:40.789 --> 00:50:42.437
Joanne Donn: you want a different whatever.

00:50:42.900 --> 00:50:48.279
Joanne Donn: I really don't like it when people say passive aggressive things to other people

00:50:48.279 --> 00:50:50.255
Joanne Donn: like, well, I don't care how I look.

00:50:50.720 --> 00:50:56.949
Joanne Donn: Good for you. Some people value that and some people don't. And that's great.

00:50:56.949 --> 00:50:58.150
Joanne Donn: You don't have to value it.

00:50:58.324 --> 00:51:00.971
Joanne Donn: I don't have to, but I do and I want to.

00:51:01.441 --> 00:51:06.760
Joanne Donn: Also, the jacket was white and so it was gray where I had abraded it.

00:51:06.927 --> 00:51:11.025
Joanne Donn: But my main concern was if I low sided again on the right side,

00:51:11.420 --> 00:51:14.712
Joanne Donn: then the seams might actually compromise.

00:51:15.177 --> 00:51:19.679
Joanne Donn: They were Revit leathers and they were very good. So sliding at about 50 miles

00:51:19.679 --> 00:51:27.012
Joanne Donn: an hour rubbed away the white leather to reveal the gray of the leather underneath.

00:51:27.471 --> 00:51:32.201
Joanne Donn: I'm sure I could have used them again. Like they weren't worn through.

00:51:32.491 --> 00:51:38.511
Joanne Donn: I bet I could have crashed in them one more time, and then they probably would have worn through.

00:51:38.877 --> 00:51:41.535
Joanne Donn: I just didn't want to wait. So,

00:51:42.024 --> 00:51:47.169
Joanne Donn: Honestly, if you don't want to give up something, hang on to it as long as you

00:51:47.169 --> 00:51:54.719
Joanne Donn: want to, as long as those core safety pieces haven't worn away, right?

00:51:54.719 --> 00:51:58.556
Joanne Donn: If there's a big holes in your elbow because you've crashed three times, it's time.

00:51:59.021 --> 00:52:03.317
Joanne Donn: If you've compromised the hip seams because you crashed, it's time.

00:52:03.775 --> 00:52:07.995
Joanne Donn: Now assuming you are using the right product in the right context.

00:52:08.315 --> 00:52:15.229
Joanne Donn: So I don't mean people who buy city abrasion clothes and go on the highway at 70 miles an hour.

00:52:15.229 --> 00:52:19.829
Joanne Donn: I mean, if you're buying something that was designed for the purpose of what

00:52:19.829 --> 00:52:26.687
Joanne Donn: you are doing in terms of abrasion and strength, this is what I'm speaking in the context of.

00:52:27.152 --> 00:52:33.389
Joanne Donn: If I buy this leather jacket like I did back then, It was designed to work for

00:52:33.389 --> 00:52:37.478
Joanne Donn: me going on the highway at 60, 70 miles an hour.

00:52:37.913 --> 00:52:41.622
Joanne Donn: The leather was that heavy. So it was 1.2 millimeter.

00:52:41.930 --> 00:52:46.489
Joanne Donn: That's track leather weight. So it was the heavier weight leather designed for

00:52:46.489 --> 00:52:51.746
Joanne Donn: that. So when I crashed at 50, I might have been going 60. It was a 45 corner.

00:52:52.211 --> 00:52:56.535
Joanne Donn: At that speed, it wore away the color of the leather. I expect that.

00:52:56.994 --> 00:52:59.612
Joanne Donn: It started to open, I think, on part of the knee.

00:53:00.077 --> 00:53:03.929
Joanne Donn: The way that safety seams are constructed, if you Google this,

00:53:03.929 --> 00:53:08.116
Joanne Donn: is you don't just layer the fabric on top like this and sew it.

00:53:08.587 --> 00:53:13.775
Joanne Donn: The materials are folded two or three times and then stitched together because

00:53:13.775 --> 00:53:16.743
Joanne Donn: it takes longer for the seams to compromise.

00:53:17.201 --> 00:53:23.140
Joanne Donn: Mine actually started opening, but my armor was there. So even if it did open, I was fine.

00:53:23.500 --> 00:53:27.552
Joanne Donn: But a lot of people think that seams aren't supposed to compromise at all.

00:53:27.975 --> 00:53:32.415
Joanne Donn: And it depends, again, on the context of what you're doing.

00:53:32.415 --> 00:53:37.455
Joanne Donn: And what I've seen are people who buy cheap product designed to work at low

00:53:37.455 --> 00:53:42.285
Joanne Donn: speed and they're testing it at high speed, those seams are going to go and

00:53:42.285 --> 00:53:46.835
Joanne Donn: they're not going to hold on versus properly designed.

00:53:46.835 --> 00:53:54.485
Joanne Donn: Your garment stays whole, but yeah, you might wear a hole through where your

00:53:54.485 --> 00:54:01.747
Joanne Donn: shoulder slid on the pavement at 60 miles an hour, but the whole thing doesn't fall apart.

00:54:02.003 --> 00:54:07.815
Joanne Donn: So it's okay for there to be a hole that wears into your knee because you used

00:54:07.815 --> 00:54:11.070
Joanne Donn: it, that's what's kind of supposed to happen.

00:54:11.506 --> 00:54:14.855
Joanne Donn: You know, not with track leathers. You know, if you're buying the wrong leather,

00:54:15.314 --> 00:54:18.350
Joanne Donn: Yes, the whole garment will probably fall apart on the track.

00:54:18.547 --> 00:54:22.094
Joanne Donn: But when you buy a proper track suit that's, you know, designed for a motorcycle

00:54:22.553 --> 00:54:26.295
Joanne Donn: and manufactured correctly, right, and stitched correctly, then no,

00:54:26.295 --> 00:54:28.861
Joanne Donn: you shouldn't have giant holes in your leather.

00:54:29.313 --> 00:54:33.784
Joanne Donn: Well, unless you're Marc Marquez, okay, but we're not that. No one's that here.

00:54:34.150 --> 00:54:40.111
Joanne Donn: So in just normal riding, it's okay if a hole opens because what happens is

00:54:40.576 --> 00:54:44.581
Joanne Donn: The hole starts small like the size of a dime and it opens up.

00:54:45.050 --> 00:54:51.364
Joanne Donn: The longer you slide, the smaller the hole, the shorter you probably slid or

00:54:51.364 --> 00:54:53.039
Joanne Donn: the slower speed you went.

00:54:53.492 --> 00:54:59.064
Joanne Donn: Just remember that if you don't trust the garment to protect you in all the

00:54:59.064 --> 00:55:01.281
Joanne Donn: places, then it's probably time.

00:55:02.334 --> 00:55:08.515
Robin Dean: There's a layer of dirt and bugs. Yeah, anyway. Yeah, this is my five-year-old climb induction.

00:55:08.753 --> 00:55:10.854
Joanne Donn: Wash it. Once a year, wash it.

00:55:11.312 --> 00:55:12.520
Robin Dean: It's been in the rain a lot.

00:55:12.985 --> 00:55:15.830
Joanne Donn: Soak it. And you'll get a lot of stuff out of there.

00:55:16.281 --> 00:55:20.305
Robin Dean: The high-vis is just gone. Actually, overall, it's holding up well.

00:55:20.623 --> 00:55:25.324
Robin Dean: The one thing I've seen that I'll mention, I've shamed people about when the

00:55:25.324 --> 00:55:28.314
Robin Dean: armor in their jacket starts to fall apart,

00:55:29.010 --> 00:55:32.975
Robin Dean: Because a lot of them, the foam will eventually just get hard and start cracking.

00:55:33.992 --> 00:55:37.573
Robin Dean: It's time to do something, whether you get new armor or you get a new jacket.

00:55:38.031 --> 00:55:42.931
Joanne Donn: Yep. And anything foam, it will, like you said, it'll harden and start to fall apart.

00:55:43.395 --> 00:55:48.832
Joanne Donn: But then also some armor that's not foam and it's just kind of a weird rubbery

00:55:48.832 --> 00:55:51.220
Joanne Donn: material, it can get hard.

00:55:51.673 --> 00:55:54.702
Joanne Donn: And when it gets hard, it's not going to do anything for you.

00:55:54.702 --> 00:55:58.047
Joanne Donn: It's not going to absorb impact. It's going to hurt even more,

00:55:58.424 --> 00:56:01.907
Joanne Donn: and it won't protect you as much as new armor.

00:56:02.290 --> 00:56:07.902
Joanne Donn: So definitely throw out armor that isn't going to absorb impact anymore.

00:56:07.902 --> 00:56:12.372
Joanne Donn: And I would say 10 years, that's probably, I would say that's long enough.

00:56:12.372 --> 00:56:15.892
Joanne Donn: And armor is so much better now than when it was.

00:56:15.892 --> 00:56:21.912
Joanne Donn: It sucked 10, 20 years ago. armor options were okay, but now they're even better

00:56:21.912 --> 00:56:27.790
Joanne Donn: because the really good manufacturers that spend all the money on R&D for us,

00:56:28.255 --> 00:56:34.786
Joanne Donn: they've developed lighter, softer, more ventilated and comfortable armor.

00:56:35.157 --> 00:56:38.739
Joanne Donn: So it's much better than it used to be. Science.

00:56:39.180 --> 00:56:43.402
Robin Dean: Yeah. You're the one to talk me into, I mean, my track suit had only a few track

00:56:43.402 --> 00:56:48.270
Robin Dean: days on it, but you're the one to talk me into upgrading it all, just the CE2 armor.

00:56:48.729 --> 00:56:51.724
Robin Dean: I didn't test it. I'm not that dedicated, but it was...

00:56:52.195 --> 00:56:55.550
Joanne Donn: Comfort-wise and fitting you, like, did it feel good?

00:56:56.003 --> 00:57:02.412
Robin Dean: It wasn't bad before, but it felt fine. And looking at just the little hunks

00:57:02.412 --> 00:57:08.512
Robin Dean: of stupid foam that I pulled out versus the engineered CE Level 2 stuff that

00:57:08.512 --> 00:57:10.405
Robin Dean: I put in there is a lot more comforting.

00:57:10.858 --> 00:57:18.996
Joanne Donn: It's not the Level 2, the CE2 part, For the armor, I recommended Revit's Ceaseflex armor

00:57:19.554 --> 00:57:23.850
Joanne Donn: for you. And for that particular armor, it's not the level two aspect.

00:57:23.850 --> 00:57:26.838
Joanne Donn: It's really the design that it's fully vented.

00:57:27.296 --> 00:57:33.194
Joanne Donn: That armor is so vented. It is more comfortable and it's ergonomically shaped

00:57:33.531 --> 00:57:39.980
Joanne Donn: and not a lot of armor has the right shape to kind of cup around your elbows and your shoulders.

00:57:40.299 --> 00:57:45.048
Joanne Donn: And they really did a good job to design the shapes so that the shoulders,

00:57:45.512 --> 00:57:47.428
Joanne Donn: they can only work is a shoulder

00:57:47.892 --> 00:57:52.640
Joanne Donn: because a lot of armor is interchangeable, but the elbows are shaped like an

00:57:52.640 --> 00:57:55.404
Joanne Donn: elbow, you know, and they're very specific.

00:57:55.868 --> 00:58:03.010
Joanne Donn: In general, in the past 20 years, armor is just so much more comfortable than it ever was before.

00:58:03.010 --> 00:58:08.160
Joanne Donn: And there's really no excuse to not put any in because if your frame of reference

00:58:08.160 --> 00:58:14.940
Joanne Donn: is 20 years ago, your frame of reference is old because there's cool stuff today

00:58:14.940 --> 00:58:17.213
Joanne Donn: like D3O and all these things.

00:58:17.678 --> 00:58:21.910
Joanne Donn: But Arma for sure, I would say helmets, you know, 10 years is probably pushing

00:58:21.910 --> 00:58:28.131
Joanne Donn: it, even though manufacturers recommend five to seven from the date of purchase,

00:58:28.596 --> 00:58:34.540
Joanne Donn: because you generally purchase your helmets six to 12 months after manufacture,

00:58:34.766 --> 00:58:38.888
Joanne Donn: because it takes time to get over here to go to your dealer.

00:58:39.242 --> 00:58:44.610
Joanne Donn: So five to seven years after you to purchase it, you know, 10 years is reasonable,

00:58:44.610 --> 00:58:53.614
Joanne Donn: but because the EPS, which is the fancy foam inside, it also gets hard just like your armor does.

00:58:54.067 --> 00:58:57.980
Joanne Donn: And of course, if you crash in your helmet, you need to replace that if the

00:58:57.980 --> 00:59:02.281
Joanne Donn: EPS is compromised because then it can't absorb your head anymore.

00:59:14.568 --> 00:59:18.594
Brian Wringer: Thank you, Joanne. Similar banter at higher revs can be found via the Gear Chick

00:59:18.594 --> 00:59:24.364
Brian Wringer: website or by emailing Joanne directly. That email address is help at gearchick.com.

00:59:24.817 --> 00:59:26.077
Brian Wringer: You can also find her on social media.

00:59:26.535 --> 00:59:29.764
Brian Wringer: Moving on to segment three, we were concerned. Do we want to do the alliteration

00:59:29.764 --> 00:59:31.854
Brian Wringer: grab baguette? Do we want to do Brian's Tiny Tasty Tool Tips?

00:59:31.854 --> 00:59:32.799
Brian Wringer: Do we want to do an article read?

00:59:33.263 --> 00:59:40.131
Brian Wringer: And we've elected to do Brian's Tiny Tasty Tool Tips. One or two per episode.

00:59:40.589 --> 00:59:42.534
Robin Dean: Thank you. I was worried I wouldn't get the jingle.

00:59:42.998 --> 00:59:43.910
Brian Wringer: You got the jingle.

00:59:44.217 --> 00:59:45.761
Robin Dean: I've got a jingle. Now we're stuck with it.

00:59:46.208 --> 00:59:48.544
Brian Wringer: Mike is yours. Joanne, feel free to interrupt him and argue.

00:59:48.944 --> 00:59:50.260
Brian Wringer: He needs it. He deserves it.

00:59:50.719 --> 00:59:54.694
Robin Dean: I could do a couple more hours on thread repair and putting threads in place,

00:59:54.694 --> 00:59:56.924
Robin Dean: but we'll put away the thread files for now.

00:59:57.383 --> 01:00:00.936
Robin Dean: So we'll back up a step to the time before the thing is busted,

01:00:01.383 --> 01:00:02.816
Robin Dean: before the threads are mangled.

01:00:03.269 --> 01:00:07.072
Robin Dean: So what are some ways to turn that which is reluctant to turn,

01:00:07.524 --> 01:00:12.279
Robin Dean: to get those threads moving before the head snaps off or the thread strips out?

01:00:12.737 --> 01:00:18.535
Brian Wringer: I did just do this with WD-40 and walking away. It sometimes helps. Depends on the bolt.

01:00:18.994 --> 01:00:23.114
Robin Dean: Soak it, walk away, heat it up, things like that. And there's a lot of stuff

01:00:23.114 --> 01:00:26.884
Robin Dean: like that we can get into. There's one specific thing. This is a short one that

01:00:26.884 --> 01:00:27.835
Robin Dean: I'm going to get into here.

01:00:28.125 --> 01:00:31.910
Robin Dean: So if you have hex head fasteners, and by that, I mean socket hex head,

01:00:32.276 --> 01:00:33.646
Robin Dean: also known as Allen head.

01:00:33.947 --> 01:00:38.673
Robin Dean: There is a hexagonal recess in your fastener. They're common on Japanese bikes.

01:00:39.143 --> 01:00:43.114
Robin Dean: They're a little less common on European bikes, and they're all over Harleys

01:00:43.114 --> 01:00:46.091
Robin Dean: and things like that. They're all over motorcycles because they look good.

01:00:46.533 --> 01:00:48.744
Robin Dean: So whatever you call them, socket head, allen head, whatever.

01:00:49.784 --> 01:00:54.174
Robin Dean: The very specific thing I want to bring up is that there are a couple of different

01:00:54.174 --> 01:00:57.954
Robin Dean: brands of tools that are shaped a little bit differently. It's not just a hexagonal

01:00:57.954 --> 01:01:02.113
Robin Dean: bar, but it's actually got a little bit of a shape in it.

01:01:02.619 --> 01:01:07.177
Robin Dean: It will help lock the tool into the head and give you a much greater chance

01:01:07.177 --> 01:01:09.800
Robin Dean: of getting the thing loose using your tool.

01:01:10.264 --> 01:01:13.427
Robin Dean: One of these is called the Vera Hex Plus.

01:01:13.885 --> 01:01:19.557
Robin Dean: They make a whole range of hex tools, everything from L keys to bits and so forth.

01:01:19.998 --> 01:01:24.487
Robin Dean: Vera is spelled W-E-R-A, so you may read it as Vera if you're an American who

01:01:24.487 --> 01:01:25.524
Robin Dean: doesn't know any German.

01:01:25.983 --> 01:01:29.605
Robin Dean: They're a German brand. I believe they're all made in Europe somewhere,

01:01:29.942 --> 01:01:31.074
Robin Dean: different places in Europe.

01:01:31.527 --> 01:01:37.587
Robin Dean: But Vera Hex Plus Hex Tools are, in my experience, extremely good.

01:01:38.052 --> 01:01:42.359
Robin Dean: They will remove fasteners that other hex keys have slipped and chowdered up.

01:01:42.812 --> 01:01:48.402
Robin Dean: It's pretty amazing. They fit well and they will remove things that other tools will not move.

01:01:48.872 --> 01:01:50.120
Brian Wringer: How and why?

01:01:50.567 --> 01:01:54.947
Robin Dean: Yeah, it's weird. They have like a little weird shape. There's a little relief

01:01:54.947 --> 01:01:58.647
Robin Dean: in them and they can turn a little bit and then the tool can actually bite on

01:01:58.647 --> 01:02:00.801
Robin Dean: a different part of the fastener head.

01:02:01.260 --> 01:02:05.643
Robin Dean: I really don't know much about how the Magic works, but I can tell you that it does work.

01:02:06.101 --> 01:02:13.158
Robin Dean: And a set of Vera Hex Plus keys is maybe $20 for a set of basic metric hex keys.

01:02:13.623 --> 01:02:16.547
Robin Dean: And you can get stainless steel. You've probably seen the ones that are kind

01:02:16.547 --> 01:02:18.295
Robin Dean: of a rainbow set, things like that.

01:02:18.754 --> 01:02:22.177
Robin Dean: These are well worth having. These are well worth carrying the ones that fit

01:02:22.177 --> 01:02:25.261
Robin Dean: your bike, just to make sure you don't ever have a problem.

01:02:25.720 --> 01:02:29.627
Robin Dean: As I put it here, they're the stuff, the beans, the shiz. where lesser tools

01:02:29.627 --> 01:02:31.300
Robin Dean: slip, these will do the job.

01:02:31.751 --> 01:02:36.349
Robin Dean: There's also a tool brand that's a similar idea called RBT Grip Edge,

01:02:36.477 --> 01:02:38.386
Robin Dean: things like that. There's a couple of other brands.

01:02:38.845 --> 01:02:43.821
Robin Dean: It's basically a fancy shape on the hex that will get those things moving when nothing else works.

01:02:44.284 --> 01:02:49.317
Robin Dean: That's my Tiny Tasty Tool Tip. Just one this episode, Vera Hex Plus, get you some.

01:02:49.770 --> 01:02:54.569
Brian Wringer: One or two per episode. That's up to Brian and Brian alone. Well,

01:02:54.569 --> 01:02:56.074
Brian Wringer: I mean, that's three segments.

01:02:56.533 --> 01:02:58.820
Brian Wringer: We've got ideas for next time.

01:02:59.279 --> 01:03:03.399
Robin Dean: I do have an idea for next time, and you have an idea for next,

01:03:03.399 --> 01:03:05.193
Robin Dean: next time. So that's going to be awesome.

01:03:05.658 --> 01:03:11.819
Robin Dean: But my idea is we're going into winter. It's a time to think and to be philosophical.

01:03:11.819 --> 01:03:14.669
Robin Dean: One of the things I was thinking about was changes. What has changed?

01:03:14.669 --> 01:03:17.794
Robin Dean: What has gotten better? What has gotten worse in riding world?

01:03:18.247 --> 01:03:23.826
Robin Dean: I've got gear in this closet over here that was from the time before armor was a thing.

01:03:24.284 --> 01:03:28.249
Robin Dean: It's got like these little quilted pads on the elbows and that's it.

01:03:28.719 --> 01:03:32.759
Robin Dean: It's a wonderful jacket. It's very comfortable. I would love to wear it,

01:03:32.759 --> 01:03:35.320
Robin Dean: but there's like zero protection.

01:03:35.778 --> 01:03:39.169
Robin Dean: From the time you started riding, from the time you became aware of motorcycles

01:03:39.169 --> 01:03:43.232
Robin Dean: to now, what has changed? What has gotten better besides yourself.

01:03:43.609 --> 01:03:48.369
Brian Wringer: And don't answer now. You wait until next week. This is information to process

01:03:48.369 --> 01:03:50.981
Brian Wringer: for the week. Otherwise, I end up with two hours to edit.

01:03:51.434 --> 01:03:56.212
Robin Dean: Gear has gotten so much better. What's been the arc in that and many other ways?

01:03:56.670 --> 01:03:59.016
Robin Dean: What's gotten better about motorcycles? Let's do that.