The Lowdown Show - By ADVrider

A Straight-Talking Harley-Davidson Dealer

Fri, 08 May 2026 15:47:00 -0000

Everybody—everybody—has an opinion on Harley-Davidson. The company, who’s stock, not so many years ago, was a safer bet than gold, has fallen upon challenging times. This from a company—according to analyst Michael Uhlarik—that in its heyday turned a profit of nearly 30 percent on each motorcycle sold, when the industry average is nearer the mid-single digits. In the fat years, Harley-Davidson was indeed a license to print money. But no more. Past Harley CEO’s have tried seemingly everything the right the ship. There’s been the re-wire, the hardwire and the cut-the-wire-in-two. As much fun as speculating on the future of Harley is, this week on the show we speak to someone with skin in the game. A Harley Dealer. George Gatto owns Three Rivers Harley-Davidson near Pittsburgh. Gatto also runs Gatto Cycle, a Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, Kawasaki, CF Moto and Royal Enfield dealership. On top of all this, Gotto chairs the National Powersports Dealers Association Harley-Davidson dealer council. He’s a busy man. With a bad back. But he made time for us—and we’re chuffed.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Unpacking The Secret History Of The Suzuki V-Strom

Fri, 01 May 2026 04:00:00 -0000

On Episode 108 of the Lowdown Radio Show, Michael Uhlarik pedals his fixed gear bicycle into town to talk about the most unhip motorcycle this side of the Bajaj Pulsar. It’s motorcycling’s equivalent to sensible shoes, and you and I know it as Suzuki's V-Strom. It’s not pretty, it won’t brighten the corner of your garage in wintertime and it’s clearly built to a price. And yet—as its adherents never fail to tell you—it’ll do everything a BMW or KTM can do for half the cost. But while the V-Strom is moderation personified, its development history is anything but dull—it may have ended up as everyman’s motorcycle, but at its heart, it was a machine built to conquer the racetracks of the world.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Investigating The Death Of The Harley-Davidson Street Lineup

Fri, 24 Apr 2026 04:00:00 -0000

On Episode 107 of The Lowdown Radio Show we speak to Michael Hopkins, president of an industrial design firm with longstanding ties to Harley-Davidson in the brand’s formative years. Hopkins also worked at the Motor Company for nearly 16 years, and our conversation stretches from the design of the Coke bottle to Willie G. Davidson’s Hail Mary play that dragged Harley-Davidson out of the doldrums 50 years ago.

Well, couldn’t they use another miracle right about now. Like a lightweight introductory machine to bring new blood into the brand. Like the Street was supposed to do, but failed. And wouldn’t you know it, Hopkins worked on the Street when he was at Harley-Davidson. Why was it a flop? What did he learn from the experience? We also talk planned obsolescence—the founder of his company is heavily associated with the term, speaking of which, did you know that rival manufacturers colluded to ensure that lightbulbs died an early death? This and more on The Lowdown Radio Show.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Lowdown On Cold Trips and Hot Grips on the Springtime Special

Fri, 17 Apr 2026 16:43:00 -0000

This week on the Lowdown Radio Show managing editor Zac Kurylyk chews the fat with Neil Graham about the ritual of the first spring ride. For Zac, it's often a miserable ride in gruesome weather, while Neil focused on his travails with gusty winds and frigid girlfriends. Rarely did the trips—or relationships—go well, though both confess that early season jaunts were not without merit, proving the old dictum correct: Why did the man beat his head against the wall? Because it felt so good when he stopped. Then Zac recounts a harrowing tale of attempting to fix the heated grips on his WR250 and Neil looks forlornly to the heavens and asks why, despite having cleaned the carburetors on his Ducati, it remains a cantankerous cold starter. All this, and Zac’s mindset in anticipating his first ride after a serious crash late last season.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A Photographer's Tales from the Tail of the Dragon

Fri, 10 Apr 2026 04:00:00 -0000

This week something a little different. US 129 just may be the most famous motorcycle road in the world. We know it as the Tail of the Dragon. Three-hundred-something curves in 11 miles. Today we talk to Darryl Cannon, the photographer behind Killboy.com, the company who takes all those roadside photos that you can buy once you get back home, to prove that you rode the road. Darryl’s the first to admit it’s an odd business. But think of this, for 25 years thousands of motorcyclists have ridden by his lens. Is anyone better equipped to discuss everything from riding technique to the trends and fads we motorcyclists follow more than Darryl? And if you’re planning to ride the Dragon this season, we get his tips on when to go and how best to give ourselves a fighting chance of coming out the other end. This and more on the Lowdown Radio Show.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What You See When Riding A Motorcycle Through A War Zone

Fri, 03 Apr 2026 16:39:00 -0000

Most of us ride to get away from it all. Rare is it that a motorcycle is used to get straight into the middle of a mess. But that’s exactly what journalist, photographer and philanthropist Neale Bayly did. With a GS on loan from BMW in Munich, Neale rode straight to a Ukraine on the verge of war. And he’s been back multiple times in the years since. What does one find in a war zone? How do you navigate the day-to-day? It’s not what you might think. We wouldn’t have thought that soldiers, staying is a house abandoned by a family fleeing for its life, would insist on removing combat boots before walking on the carpet. This and much more with Neale Bayly.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gone Electric: Here's What's Happening In The World Of Battery Bikes, And Why

Fri, 27 Mar 2026 04:00:00 -0000

This week Michael Uhlarik talks about Motorcycle Global’s hot-off-the-press 50-page white paper on the state of motorcycle electrification. It’s important to note that this isn’t an up-with-people whitewashing. It’s a data-driven report on the industry—to the industry—on the ups—and there are many—and the downs—and there are many—of the electric motorcycle business. It’s a market that’s everything you could imagine. Huge growth in some areas and epic failures in others. And Michael gives us the best answer to why Harley-Davidson-owned Livewire, who predicted that by now they’d be selling 100,000 electric motorcycles a year, instead, in 2025, sold a lowly 653. Whether you’re an early adopter of technology or your last will and testament implores your offspring to bury your KLR alongside you, you’ll find this episode of interest. Original research report available from Motorcycle Global here.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Taking An Inside Look At The State Of Motojournalism

Fri, 20 Mar 2026 04:01:00 -0000

On Episode 102 of the Lowdown Radio Show, presented by eBay Motors, Mel Gantly is our guest. Mel, as die-hard an enthusiast as was ever born, worked for decades (yes, decades) to land a full-time gig at a motorcycle publication after years of freelancing. He even moved from BC, on Canada’s west coast, to the UK to make it happen. And, wouldn’t you know, he pulled it off. He got the job of a lifetime. And then it went south. But the reasons why it didn’t work out are what’s interesting, and should send a chill down the spine of anyone who believes in independent, truth-seeking journalism. And once Mel shuffles off, Neil shares his hard-won wisdom on keeping track of all those steering-head bearing and oil and filter changes—and, in the process, learn uncomfortable truths about the inside of Neil’s head.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How Vintage Motorcycles Can Be An Antidote To Our Fast-Paced Digital World

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 04:00:00 -0000

This week on the Lowdown Radio Show presented by eBay Motors we speak to Greg Bender from ThisOldTractor.com. Bender, a modern man thriving in a digital world, needs an antidote to modernity, which he finds in his vintage Moto Guzzis and on his Suzuki DR350. Bender also shares his love of mechanical things to the world through his website, which has a plethora of information about all things Guzzi, though he squeezes in a little Suzuki and a touch of Saab on the side. Quirky, you ask? Absolutely. In the best possible way. And should you survive to the end of the show, we'll review a viscous substance to help prevent you unscrewing.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From A Mining Town To Milan: A Motorcycle Designer's Origin Story

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 05:00:00 -0000

For Episode 100 of the Lowdown Radio Show, frequent guest Michael Uhlarik joins us to share his backstory on how a kid born in a remote northern mining town ends up working as a designer for, among others, Yamaha and Aprilia. Michael is a favorite of Lowdown listeners and here’s your chance to learn more about the man who’s as tuned-into the pulse of the motorcycle biz as anyone. And, to kick off the next 100 episodes, ADVRider editor Zac Kurylyk pops by with info on how you can get even more out of ADVRider while supporting our editorial content at the same time. Win-win, as they say

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Here's Why The Motorcycle Industry's Shows Are Dying Out

Fri, 27 Feb 2026 21:17:00 -0000

Motorcycle shows have been a staple of the cold-weather months for generations. Most of the old-school, new-product, OEM-supported shows have gone the way of non-ABS equipped new motorcycles—they're nowhere to be found. In the US, the slick show circuit disappeared in favor of custom and lifestyle events, like Born Free or The One Show. Or become industry-only shindigs, like AIM expo. But in the UK and in Canada, traditional shows have maintained a death-like-grip on an ever-shrinking clientele. ADVRider.com managing editor Zac Kurylyk pops in this week for a discussion with Neil Graham about what it looks like to view an event hanging by a thread. Or is that a noose?

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Coming Revolution In The Motorcycle Industry Will Affect ADVs

Fri, 20 Feb 2026 05:00:00 -0000

Our guest this week is Motorcycle Global’s Michael Uhlarik. For his industry clients, Michael has exhaustively researched the marketplace, and he shares some of his findings with us. Most startlingly, perhaps, are his findings about the invisible 10 percent of sales that don’t show up on any official Motorcycle Industry Council ledger. Michael also shares some thoughts about the ADV market—hint—we may have passed the peak, and we end with a review of Harley-Davidson’s financials. And for once HD isn’t blaming “market headwinds” for its woes. That’s news right there. And stick around at the end of the show, where we'll review an online riding course that will give you a better chance of being around next year at this time.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How ADVrider Helped This Tuning Company Take Off

Fri, 13 Feb 2026 05:00:00 -0000

Chris Parker of Rottweiler performance joins The Lowdown Radio Show this week. From his involvement in building pikes-peak winning cars, to his gig fabricating exhaust systems for Singer—the company that builds bespoke Porsche 911s for those with far too much money to burn—to his intake systems for KTMs that put his company on the map, Parker is a man with no shortage of drive. Or is that ride? And this, too—Parker credits ADVRider for Rottweiler’s first big break, specifically the one enthusiast who started a thread on the forum touting his work. We’ve all got to start somewhere, and Rottweiler started right here. And stick around to the end of the show, where host Neil Graham reviews a product that's improved motorcycling safety as significantly as antilock brakes. And it’s cheap. And you’ll never guess what it is.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How To Handle The Grind Of Adventure Travel And Avoid Burnout

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 15:42:00 -0000

Every traveler does it their own way. For Maria Schumacher, that means taking her time. Maria shares her story of how bumping into Sam Manicom (a former guest on this show) changed the course of her life, how recent travels in the US stack up against traveling in her favorite country, Venezuela, and how picking the best adventure bike is a very personal decision. She also shares ten common mistakes travellers habitually make. (Number four is overestimating daily distances.) She also shares one of the least discussed aspects of hitting the road—travel fatigue—and how, if you don’t know how to address it—it can cut you and your dreams off at the knees.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

ADVrider Readers Write

Fri, 30 Jan 2026 15:16:00 -0000

From cheap shots to well-judged commentary, ADVRider’s commentary section is interesting. To say the least. In the first of what will become a month feature, podcast host Neil Graham reviews a selection of stories from the past month along with the best comments. From travel stories to bike stories to things so odd that all you can do is scratch your head. Only on ADVRider.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You Gotta Be Tough To Ride Like A Girl

Fri, 23 Jan 2026 06:49:00 -0000

This week our guest on The Lowdown Radio Show is Emily Roberts, who is just as wonderfully mad as her flaming red hair would lead you to believe. Emily’s story is compelling for a few reasons. Firstly, her family business is the last standing motorcycle print magazine in Canada, and Emily is a full-time motorcycle journalist for it. Secondly, she’s a hardcore off-road rider. How hardcore? Her recollection of racing in Baja is probably not a tale you want to listen to if you’re dining. Emily is also—from the age of 11—a riding instructor, and she gives us tips for trials and trail riding, and slips in cautionary tales of aggressive cacti and what to do if you’ve eaten iffy Mexican seafood and feel the urge to fart.

And stick around to the end of the show where the essential tool for customizing your motorcycle will be revealed.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What's Selling, And What's Not

Fri, 16 Jan 2026 15:02:00 -0000

This week on the Lowdown Radio Show Motorcycle Global’s Michael Uhlarik joins us to talk about the global motorcycle trade. Much of which is far more unexpected than you might think. For instance, Michael hunted down the most searched motorcycles online in India, Italy, and the US. Two of those countries most often searched for aspirational bikes while one country chose a sensible, economical, middle-of-the-range motorcycle. The results will surprise you. And then we discuss what’s selling in each of those three countries and what’s not, and, as a bonus, we delve into America's Motorcycle Industry Council and how its secretive sales numbers are out of sync with reality. On the show this week we show some photographs, too, so if you’re unable to imagine the splendor of Hero’s 125 cc Splendor Plus, then check us out on YouTube.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Saying No To Knock-Offs

Fri, 09 Jan 2026 16:48:00 -0000

Do you know where your parts come from? It’s a serious question. One posed recently in a most unusual public confession by Nikola Maletic from Perun Moto, a manufacturer of high-end bits for your ADV motorcycle. Tired of having his parts copied by another manufacturer—even to the degree that they reused his catalogue photos and descriptions—he didn’t get mad, go online, and lose his mind. How old-fashioned of him. Instead, he solicited the views of the public on what has become an issue of increasing concern: where does the stuff we buy come from? Is it made in a manner that dovetails with my beliefs? Are employees paid living wages? And, specific to the Perun Moto case, do we, as purchasers, have an obligation to honor intellectual property right for those who’ve invested the time and money to make the bits we buy.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Rise And Fall Of Daytona Bike Week

Fri, 02 Jan 2026 13:01:00 -0000

This week our guest is John Bentham, who just this year published Bike Week, a collection of photographs taken over more than a decade at Daytona’s notorious spring gathering. Bentham first went to Daytona in the mid-‘90s and would return another dozen times when his career as a New York City editorial and advertising photographer allowed. It just so happened that John’s attendance at Daytona began at the event’s peak and, in part, his chronicling charts Daytona’s decline as a very peculiar cultural phenomenon. How else could you explain an event that brought tens of thousands of people and millions of dollars to a town, and yet never garnered a notice on the city’s official website. Additionally, ADVRider managing editor Zac Kurylyk pops in for a quick review of the jacket that saved his ass.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Year Behind And The Year Ahead

Fri, 26 Dec 2025 14:11:00 -0000

This week, Lowdown Show host Neil Graham and ADVrider editor Zac Kurylyk wrap up 2025 with a conversation that ranges across all segments of motorcycling. From Zac's recovery following his bad crash last fall, to Neil's successful return to the racetrack, to the future of Harley-Davidson and KTM, the difference between Dakar and the Africa Eco Race in the upcoming rally raid season—they take a look at every segment of the world of motorcycling in a conversation just like something you'd hear between friends at an off-season riders' meet-up, as they think about the year behind and the year ahead.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An ADV Cannonball Run For Anyone

Fri, 19 Dec 2025 13:15:00 -0000

Aaron Pufal is far more than just a man with a grey beard. He’s the grey-bearded mastermind behind the ADV Cannonball coast-to-coast GPS rally. It’s not like the old cannonball runs, those ones in which you’d rip through Ohio at 130 miles per hour at 3 am after having ingested a fistful of little white pills. No, this a rally you can do on your oversized adventure bike while following the law of the land. But you don’t even need a bike that’s more than you needed in the first place, because this is a cannonball you can do on your KLR, turning the event into a bowling ball. Just add an extra bungee-cord to your milk crate and off you go. And you can even opt out of the off-road sections and do it on your Electra Glide.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Motorcycles vs. The Masculinity Crisis

Fri, 12 Dec 2025 12:28:00 -0000

Ex-Confederate motorcycle designer JT Nesbitt—whose current project is re-imagining the American motorcycle with his audacious Magnolia 4—stepped into the fray recently and wrote an open letter to New York Times bestselling author Scott Galloway. Galloway’s book, titled “On being a man,” discusses the so-called “masculinity crisis” affecting young males—the very same young males that not so many generations ago were drawn to motorcycling. Nesbitt, who’s this week’s guest, took exception to Galloway’s language and suggested a cure that would give disaffected young men their mojo back. And, wouldn’t you know, it involves a motorcycle.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why Design Details Matter

Fri, 05 Dec 2025 13:46:00 -0000

Michael Uhlarik from Motorcycle Global joins Neil Graham to talk about—wait for it—motorcycle seats and mirrors from a designer’s perspective. And then Neil makes the case for an ADV motorcycle inspired by Kawasaki’s 400 cc four-cylinder ZX-4R screamer—a high-spec, small displacement bike with all the tech of a big bike but without the bulk of something like a 1290 Adventure. Like a 600 cc V-twin not built to a pauper’s budget. Wait until you hear Michael’s shockingly (predictable) response, you’ll be (un) surprised.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A Wide-Angle Lens On The Moto World

Fri, 28 Nov 2025 17:18:00 -0000

The late great Steve Thornton edited ADVRider.com's Photo Of The Week feature for years. I’m happy to report we’ve found a worthy successor to carry on Steve’s work. And I don’t say that casually. Katie Hunter is just about as singular a personality as was Steve. She rides an BMW airhead, she’d rather shiver at a campsite than have a warm shower, and she’s worked at a funeral home as an embalmer. And that pose that funeral home employees have? You know what I mean. The way in which they’re in a room but not really in the room, well, Katie says it’s all in way you cant your neck. That and much more in this week’s rambling chat.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Challenging Dakar (And The Aftermarket Industry)

Fri, 21 Nov 2025 05:01:00 -0000

Mirrors on motorcycles are almost universally wretched. They either present you with a movie of your elbows or they whimper and fold at merely the thought of a twig brushing against them. Most of us just complain about them. A wonderful motorcycle with bad mirrors is dead to us. (Unless it’s Italian.) But one man with a similarly vexed history with the mirror put his foot down, drew a line in the sand and said "I will make a mirror that will change the way we look back on where we've just been.” (He didn’t actually say that.) His name is Ned Suesse, and his Doubletake mirrors never cease to amaze. Oh, and he’s a Dakar finisher, too!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How You Can Get The ADV Skills You Need

Fri, 14 Nov 2025 05:00:00 -0000

Dallas Shannon from Traction ERag Adventures joins Neil to outline their upcoming schools and to debunk some of the myths that surround off-road riding. We’re in a peculiar moment in that the ADV-style motorcycle is the de-facto standard of our age, and yet taking a significantly-sized motorcycle into the dirt is beyond the skillset of many a purchaser. Dallas & company hope to change that. Have a listen and then check them out at tractionerag.com.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The World's Biggest Motorcycle Show

Thu, 06 Nov 2025 22:25:00 -0000

It’s the most important motorcycle show in the world and regular contributor and Motorcycle Global main-man Michael Uhlarik is here to give The Lowdown the lowdown. We’ll address the rise of the Chinese, the resurgence of Honda, the absence of KTM and ponder a scooter with two cupholders. And lots more, including ADV bikes-a-plenty. Because of the liberal use of video and photographs, you may wish to sashay on over to YouTube to watch this episode.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Best Motorcycle Ride in America

Fri, 31 Oct 2025 12:36:00 -0000

Scott Calhoun has the most bizarre motorcycling history of any man I’ve met. Up until age 55 he hadn’t ridden a motorcycle. And then, for the next decade, he rode every paved road in America that held any promise for enthusiasts. Every single road. Then the co-founder of Butler Motorcycle Maps—that’s why he rode those roads—sold his BMW and moved on to disc golf. What you and I would call tossing a frisbee. Scott gives us the skinny on those years of travel and gives us the best single location in America to ride. And believe me, you’ll never guess where it is.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bike Rental Done Right

Fri, 24 Oct 2025 12:51:00 -0000

Have you ever been away, for vacation or for work, and had to rent a car? But what if you could rent a motorcycle instead of a car? Of course you can rent motorcycles now. But it’s often a cumbersome process involving a dealership—which can complicate pickup and drop-off if they’re far from you and that often limits you to whatever units they dedicate as rentals. But what if you could rent a wide range of bikes from fellow enthusiasts? This week we talk to Austin Rothbard, owner of Twisted Road, a peer-to-peer motorcycle rental business that’s just now building up steam.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is This Man The Most Versatile Rider on the Planet?

Fri, 17 Oct 2025 12:34:00 -0000

If you’ve ever watched police riders whip a Harley or a big BMW in and around pylons that appear impossibly close together, then you’ll appreciate this week’s guest, Quinn Redeker. Redeker is a maverick in the world of pilon-slaloming in that he adopts techniques from most all motorcycling disciplines, including, but not limited to, motocross, trials and roadracing. Even if you’re not interested in turning your 1250 GS around within the footprint of a porta-potty, Redeker has something to say about technique that will make you a better rider.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A Moto-Guru In ADV History

Fri, 10 Oct 2025 12:02:00 -0000

Gregory Frazier skips to his own beat. Dr. G, as he prefers to be called, is an author and globe-trotting bon-vivant and a man often mistaken for Ozzy Osbourne—when Ozzy was still living, presumably. Dr. G riffs to Neil Graham about pioneer motorcycle traveller Carl Stearns Clancy, references a book he considers the best ever written about an RTW trip, and disses on meeting Robert Pirsig—yes, the Zen author himself—while Pirsig was on his seminal trip. Part showman, part shaman, Dr. G is untethered to the mundanities of life.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From Superbike Racer To Exhaust Guru

Fri, 03 Oct 2025 08:51:00 -0000

When Lang Hindle’s career as a superbike racer ended he turned to the art of pipe bending, using experience gained in racing to build an empire of exhaust. Lang and Neil discuss the art of tuning, the mindset of a racer, the progression of an industry, and—naturally—noise.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A Lifetime Of Weird Motorcycles

Fri, 26 Sep 2025 17:00:00 -0000

Daryl Tearne—fresh out of design school—landed the oddest dream gig of all: redesigning the Crocker motorcycle for the modern age. Crocker, with less than 50 ever made, make brands like Vincent seem mainstream. But Tearne did the near impossible and made a prototype that was at once futuristic and traditional. When that project hit a wall, he moved on to Buell, for yet another project that hit an ever bigger wall. Working with Erik Buell in the dying days of the company was a lesson in keeping his head above water. And moving on. Now Tearne heads the design department of a major toy company. Dishing on the inner workings of Buell, Tearne has a few opinions and a bundle of life lessons as a young man making his way through two legendary—if doomed—American motorcycle institutions.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Honda Goes Electric

Fri, 19 Sep 2025 15:21:00 -0000

For more than a decade, small, independent manufacturers have tantalized us with promises of mass electric motorcycle production. We are constantly told of new technologies that will revolutionize the battery bike scene, and yet this corner of the motorcycle world has been filled with bankruptcies, not success stories. Now Honda is about to launch their first full-sized electric motorcycle, early in 2026. ADVrider managing editor Zac Kurylyk says the specs aren't exactly in line with what consumers want, but that doesn't matter, since consumer demand isn't what's driving this market in the first place—it's government regulations.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why Philosophy Matters To Motorcyclists

Fri, 12 Sep 2025 09:31:00 -0000

Is Stoicism the secret to speed? From timid to 200 miles per hour—how Louisa Swaden used stoicism’s principles to unleash the woman within. And how her new book—The Stoic Rider—can help you to do the same. This week on the Lowdown podcast Louisa talks to Neil Graham about how motorcycles changed her life, long before she had any idea on how to change a tire.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A Place Where Motorcycling Is For Everyone

Fri, 05 Sep 2025 04:00:00 -0000

Most every type of motorcycle originated in Europe. Paris—of all places—begat the supermoto and our beloved ADV. But that’s not all. Michael Uhlarik reports in from Italy on a motorcycling culture more inclusive and less dismissive than our ways in the west. We also talk Roman roads, Roman chariots, and expertly ridden motorcycles owned by people who don’t really consider themselves enthusiasts. Don’t miss this one.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Forest Fires, New Bikes, Dealership Tales

Fri, 29 Aug 2025 04:00:00 -0000

Summer's almost over, so what did we get out of it? Rumors and confirmations of new motorcycles, a lot of wildfires and some surprising stories about the situation that average riders face at their local dealerships. The Lowdown Show wraps up August with a talk with ADVrider's managing editor Zac Kurylyk. Zac and host Neil Graham discuss the topics that have made headlines this summer, like issues at dealerships. Neil and Zac both advise to pick your motorcycle based on the dealership that sells it as much as the bike itself. Or Harley-Davidson's new Sprint motorcycle, coming this fall—can they get it right? And then there's the wildfires that have closed down woods riding and wilderness travel in the northeast: how should adventure riders plan around such events?

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Take Off With Peter Egan's New Travel Tales

Fri, 22 Aug 2025 15:00:00 -0000

Longtime Cycle World and Road & Track writer Peter Egan is back with a new book. Landings in America chronicles a mid-‘80s trip around the US with his wife Barb in a vintage Piper Cub airplane. Landings is a classic Egan travelogue with a dash of reflective pathos that lends the book the gravitas of memoir. Neil Graham talks to Peter about the trip, about motorcycles, and about why it took him 35 years to sit down to write it.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Problems Harley-Davidson Faces

Fri, 15 Aug 2025 09:09:00 -0000

Harley-Davidson at the crossroads. How bad are things at H-D? They’ve sold off a chunk of the ultra-profitable financial services division in an attempt to keep the wolves from the door. Will the new CEO—plucked from the world of pizza and golf—be able to craft a plan to lead the brand back onto its feet? Michael is doubtful. And hopeful. But time, just as it is for all men, is running out.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our Man in Washington

Fri, 08 Aug 2025 11:25:00 -0000

The proposed selling of public lands and looming tariffs threaten to derail an already struggling US motorcycle market. Motorcycle Industry Council lobbyist Scott Schloegel, who for years worked inside government, has, for the past eight years, worked to bring the interests of US motorcycle manufacturers and distributors to legislators and lawmakers. In addition to a 2025 status report, Schloegel gives us the goods on what’s looming on the horizon—good and bad—for the American motorcyclist.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Motorcycle Dealerships Are In a Crisis. Here's Why.

Fri, 01 Aug 2025 14:36:00 -0000

The motorcycle manufacturers' head offices tell us not to worry about the state of dealerships in North America—"Everything's fine, fine fine!" we're told. But if you look around, you see dealerships closing everywhere, and others seeming to be in financial straits. What's going on? Dealers are close-lipped trying to avoid trouble with the OEMs' bigwigs. But Mark Sheffield, who's been working on with dealership insiders for decades, is here to tell us what's really happening in the domain of the dealer. Get the straight information in this second part of a two-parter episode.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Here's What's REALLY Going On At Your Motorcycle Dealer

Fri, 25 Jul 2025 04:05:00 -0000

While OEMs claim all is well in dealership land, the dealerships themselves tell a different story—if only they’d talk on the record, which they won’t. Mark Sheffield has been involved with dealerships for decades and pulls back the curtain on a relationship that is as often contentions as it is convivial. Part one of our conversation with Mark is this week, next week in part two we’ll wrap it up.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why Small Bikes Are Winning

Fri, 18 Jul 2025 14:16:00 -0000

America has long been seen as the big bike capital of the motorcycling world. Gold Wings, Harleys, Indians, superbikes and, for this readership, KTM Adventures and BMW GSs. But, as industry watcher Michael Uhlarik points out, it’s just not true. Or at least not true anymore. Small bikes are making a big comeback, and that’s not just an opinion, it’s the truth—sales numbers make it blatantly clear. Michael has the latest figures that show Honda’s CRF300L as the best selling bike in America today. Followed by a Harley. Is it surprising to see a split between the haves and the have-nots? Or is this just what we expect in 2025?

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How Hard Is The BMW GS Trophy?

Fri, 11 Jul 2025 11:55:00 -0000

How tough is BMW’s GS Trophy, the one-make, one-model competition that pits skilled amateur riders from across the globe against each other? We talk to team USA’s Scott Acheson, who competed in Namibia in the most recent competition. Here’s a spoiler: Namibian sand, Scott tells Neil Graham, is not like Floridian sand. Would Scott do it again? Absolutely. Would he prepare for it differently? Absolutely.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A Design Guru Shares The Truth

Fri, 04 Jul 2025 13:04:00 -0000

Hugo Eccles does it all. Designer, teacher, customizer, lover of petrol and enthusiastic about electrification. In this episode, Hugo and Neil dig into the perils of designing electric motorcycles, the challenges of customization and malaise that makes most new motorcycles look so damn busy.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This Film Festival Was Made For Motorcyclists

Fri, 27 Jun 2025 12:09:00 -0000

Caius Tenche doesn’t do half measures. After discovering motorcycling in his 40s, he promptly decided what the world needed was a film festival catering to riders. And riders only. If you can’t make his festival, listen-on, as Tenche picks a few favorites from the past and tells us how to watch them for free.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How To Build A Moto Brand Without Investors

Fri, 20 Jun 2025 13:46:00 -0000

Motorcycle-mad Peter Dering founded Peak Design off the back of one product. Now, the San Franciscan has built an empire of rolling carts and backpacks and what he claims is the single best motorcycle phone mount in captivity. Peak Design is also a case study in how to build a business in the modern age, as it successfully crowdsources development funding in lieu of seeking outside investors.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How The KTM Buy-Out Will Benefit Bajaj

Fri, 13 Jun 2025 11:46:00 -0000

Pundit Michael Uhlarik claims we in the west have been getting the KTM story all wrong. Or mostly wrong. The readily-accepted narrative—that new majority-shareholder Bajaj will benefit from KTM’s technology and expertise—is pure poppycock. And Michael draws a parallel between KTM’s woes and the near collapse and diminished future of another major European OEM to prove his point.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

KTM's Future Is Revealed

Fri, 06 Jun 2025 14:08:00 -0000

Brian Price, who joined us in Lowdown 42 to talk all things KTM, is back with an update on the fate of the once-proud Austrian brand. Now that KTM's future is assured—or so KTM would like us to believe—Brian fill us in on what’s next now that the brand is Indian-owned.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Crashing Won't Slow Him Down

Fri, 30 May 2025 12:04:00 -0000

Fearless Fazer Manny is the luckiest man alive. Just ask him. His confidence far outpaces his skill. He says it himself. But despite a lifetime of crashing—his latest a 100 mph shunt into the woods just this month —he carries on with boundless enthusiasm. He’s overweight, out of shape, and at 72 carries on like he’s 25. If that doesn’t make him legendary, we don’t know what does.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Can Can-Am's Three-Wheeler Work For ADV riding?

Fri, 23 May 2025 11:38:00 -0000

This week's guest is ADVrider editor Zac Kurylyk, who's just returned from riding the Can-Am Canyon. Is this bold new three-wheeler really suitable for adventure riders? What's it like to ride, and who is it made for? Zac and Neil also discuss a recent ride to Cape Breton Island, with some tips for travelers who want to explore this paradise of paved and unpaved roads, with distinct cultures and gorgeous scenery.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How This Rider Went From Rookie To RTW

Fri, 16 May 2025 09:23:00 -0000

Tall tales from Africa part two. The ultimate innocent abroad, Sam Manicom headed out from the UK to Africa having never ridden a motorcycle before. Ever. As in never. Forget working on your skillset to help combat African sand—Sam was just doing his best to differentiate the brake lever from the clutch lever. But he survived with beautiful, well-observed stories from the continent.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From Never Riding a Motorcycle to Exploring Africa on Two Wheels

Thu, 08 May 2025 16:44:00 -0000

Traveller and author Sam Manicom joins us to talk about riding Africa and to read excerpts from his book Info Africa. With little experience on a motorcycle (as in none) Manicom took the advice from his two mates down at the pub and bought an R80GS and set out from England for points south, fulfilling his mother’s mantra that her son could be foolishly naive. But he survived. And what a story he brought back home.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How The BDR Organization Makes Discovery Possible

Fri, 02 May 2025 14:09:00 -0000

In this episode, host Neil Graham speaks to Inna Thorn and Bryce Stevens from the BDR organization, aka Backcountry Discovery Routes, a centralized, registered non-profit that provides off-road routes through some of the most visceral, breathtaking country in the US. The BDR organization may be the best thing that’s happened to adventure riding since the advent of motorcycles that don’t fall over.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An Insider's State-Of-The-Moto-Industry

Fri, 25 Apr 2025 11:16:00 -0000

JT Nesbitt took a break from fabricating the great American motorcycle—his built-from-scratch Magnolia 4—to chew the fat with Lowdown host Neil Graham. JT shared his feelings on kids these days, the flatlining Harley-Davidson motorcycle company, when to ignore and when to pay heed to criticism and more. All from the land of New Orleans.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

They Rode Around The World And They'll Show You How

Thu, 17 Apr 2025 17:49:00 -0000

Andy and Alissa, better known as the couple that helm MadorNomad.com, gave up the sensible life in 2018 and hit the road. So far the UK nationals have trekked just about everywhere a wheel can roll. Of particular interest is their website, which is a treasure trove of useful information for tips and advice that burgeoning travellers can’t live without. Even if you’re just curious about how to live as a globetrotter, is a fascinating read.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From The Coal Mines To The Dakar Rally

Fri, 11 Apr 2025 13:40:00 -0000

“I hope it can get me out of the coal mine.” Cool words spoken by the ultimate underdog. And “coal mine” isn’t a metaphor. Jordan Strachan works in the coal mines of British Columbia and, after stepping away from riding after breaking his back a few years back, he came back with a bang. Having applied to race Dakar on a whim, the man who rides for the joy of a crisp beer at the end of the day made it to the finish despite issues that would have discouraged many others. But, as he says, when you work 16 hours a day at the mine, working on your bike in the middle of a sandstorm is no big deal.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

He Took a Chance And it Changed His Life

Fri, 04 Apr 2025 15:42:00 -0000

Michnus Olivier had a good life working in the insurance business in Johannesburg. That is until his partner Elsebie goaded him into take a chance on taking a chance. There was no looking back. They hit the road to points unknown and, in the process, developed South African designed-and-made touring gear via their Turkana brand.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How Motorcycle Travel Can Change You For The Better (Or Worse)

Fri, 28 Mar 2025 18:07:00 -0000

Have you had a ride that’s changed your life? Designer and industry watcher Michael Uhlarik joins Neil Graham and they talk about the trips that changed them. Not always for the better...

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How You Can Travel For $20 A Night

Fri, 21 Mar 2025 09:31:00 -0000

Is the cost of lodging stopping you from travelling? How does $20 bed and breakfast sound? Curious? Christi Reynolds' Motorcycle Travel Network could be just your thing.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Motorcyclist Who Does Everything

Fri, 14 Mar 2025 21:35:30 -0000

Michael Waterford is the kind of super-enthusiast you can’t help but love. The Hoosier seemingly has a hand in just about everything going on in Indiana. He’s a keen ADV-er on his Yamaha T7 and is part of mostly-moped club that has saving turtles as one of its mandates. All that and he’s paddled down the Mississippi. Twice. Mark Twain would be proud.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You Don't Have To Be An Expert To Ride The World

Fri, 07 Mar 2025 18:07:50 -0000

With 30 miles of riding experience under his belt, Geoff Hill set out on a Royal Enfield from India to Ireland. And that was just the beginning. Hill then retraced the ‘round-the-world ride of Carl Stearns Clancy, a 22-year-old American who hit the road in 1912. Additionally, Hill is the most capped volleyball player in Ireland’s history, whatever that means.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What It Takes To Run The Daytona 200

Fri, 28 Feb 2025 16:13:00 -0000

On the eve of the Daytona 200 we speak to hard-ass road racer Trevor Daley. Most of you won’t know Trevor, but he’s the epitome of what a racer should be. Think of him as a modern-day Gary Nixon. He’s as tough as they come: he’s raced with broken everything—hands, hips, feet. And he builds his own bikes, and finds the money, all while running a one-man fabrication shop that supplies many of the top teams in the MotoAmerica series with specialized pit equipment.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Building A Better BMW

Fri, 21 Feb 2025 12:57:09 -0000

Hacking up old BMW airheads is a common pastime for anyone with an angle grinder. But Robert Sabel, who operates out of Los Angeles as Roughchild, is different. His BMW restomods are tasteful, useful, balanced and purposeful. It’s the closest the motorcycling world has to the manic-obsessiveness of Singer’s Porsche 911s.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How To Beat Winter Moto Blues

Thu, 13 Feb 2025 22:51:45 -0000

What do you do if you're stuck in a rut—a snowy rut? ADVrider editor Zac Kurylyk left the snowbanks of the Northeast behind for the sunshine of the Southwest, hitting the AIMExpo moto industry show, the record-setting Mecum Las Vegas auction and even The One Moto Show's first road trip appearance in Sin City, meeting a few former Lowdown Show guests along the way. He's back to tell us all about it, and the bikes he rode on the trip.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Are All Motorcycles The Same?

Fri, 07 Feb 2025 20:22:46 -0000

There are motorcycle industry insiders... and then there are real motorcycle industry insiders. Michael Uhlarik is the latter, with a career that's spanned the western world, for overseas powersports manufacturers like the Piaggio Group and Yamaha Motor Europe, then back in North America with Bombardier as well as other startups. He's seen it all from a high-level perspective, and he's here to tell you the motorcycle industry is changing.

Remember Universal Japanese Motorcycles? This term came about in the 1970s, used to describe a situation where all the bikes from Honda, Suzuki, Kawasaki and Yamaha had started to follow a very basic pattern. Now, 50 years later, we're seeing a similar thing happen, spreading across the entire motorcycle industry no matter where your bike is from. We've gone from the UJM to just... "UM."

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Forget Your Bike: Improve Yourself Instead!

Fri, 31 Jan 2025 04:31:08 -0000

Farkles won't make you a better rider; you need to frankly assess your riding skills, and work on developing them. That's the message Dallas Shannon preaches at Traction eRag's XTADV riding school, based on a decade and a half of leading dirt bike tours and teaching people how to ride enduros, dual sports and ADV machines. Along the way, he's learned a few other things as well: The ins and outs of electric dirt bikes, and just how good we have it as motorcyclists in North America.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How Did KTM's Money Problems Start?

Fri, 24 Jan 2025 17:42:16 -0000

Mr. Price Is Right is here with us this week. Oregon gear retailer Brian Price has, with an unusual dose of diligence in his research, dug into the root of the financial problems that have led to the company entering bankruptcy protection and now looking for buyers, even as the CEO steps down.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why You Should Throw Caution To The Wind

Thu, 16 Jan 2025 16:17:38 -0000

Just Do It. Rosie Gabrielle isn’t you typical globetrotter. She doesn’t over plan. She doesn’t much plan at all. She doesn’t even carry a tool kit. Leaving the details to serendipity isn’t for everyone, but it works for her. Though her father was killed in a motorcycle accident, it didn’t scare her off. Quite the opposite. It gave her the desire to ride. Eschewing the machismo of many travellers, Gabrielle habitually pushes herself to breaking and beyond. Why? Let her tell you in her own words. And learn why Pakistan is more that just another country to check of her to-do list.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From The Corporate World To Dirt Bike School

Fri, 10 Jan 2025 23:42:59 -0000

Funny, perceptive and articulate. B.J. Hessler has, seemingly, done it all. From a degree in Latin American studies at Boston University to a career in public health to chucking it all away to run DC Dirt Camp, an east-coast school for off-road riders of all skill levels. But that’s not all. B.J. credits riding in the dirt as a major factor in helping to pull her out of a lifestyle that teetered toward addiction.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mind And Body: Prepping For The Dakar Rally

Fri, 27 Dec 2024 14:11:34 -0000

Lawrence Hacking is a veteran off-road racer, with plenty of motocross and enduro experience in North America and overseas (including the Baja 1000, ISDE, Baja Rally, and lots more). This week, he's here to talk about what it takes to prepare for, and then survive, in the Dakar Rally. He knows what he's talking about—Hacking raced in the very last Dakar Rally that ran the traditional France-to-Senegal route back in 2001.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Retro Moto Lifestyle: No Cellphone, No Liquid Cooling, No GPS

Fri, 20 Dec 2024 10:55:36 -0000

All things old: Airhead 247 podcaster Darren Dortin talks vintage BMW, life in rural Arkansas, his love of paper maps, and why he just can’t fathom cell phone ownership.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Moto Guzzi vs. The North

Fri, 13 Dec 2024 15:14:26 -0000

What is adventure? How do you find it? Most of us will answer that question in different ways. In the case of Nick Adams, he doesn't attack near-impossible terrain, ripping up the mud with full-on knobbies and a hundred-horsepower-plus engine. Instead, Nick takes regular street bikes—particularly his old 1972 Moto Guzzi Eldorado—much farther into the wilderness than most adrenaline bros would ever dare.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

RIP Malcolm Smith, The KTM Saga, And Why Small Bikes Are Cool Again

Fri, 06 Dec 2024 20:22:32 -0000

Motorcycling was shocked by KTM's worsening financial news, and saddened by the passing of racing legends Malcolm Smith and "Motorcycle Mary" McGee. This week, podcast host Neil Graham and ADVrider managing editor Zac Kurylyk discuss the big news and the cultural shifts (would you ever ride a Chinese motorcycle?) that we see in the world of moto.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This Man Is Proof You Can Ride Around The World On A Vintage Bike

Fri, 29 Nov 2024 12:47:22 -0000

Doug Wothke isn’t your typical globetrotter. From his home in LA ("Lower Alabama” he says with a chuckle), Wothke, better known around these parts as rtwdoug, has ridden an oddball assortment of antique motorcycles to the far corners of the earth. Ever wondered what to do if your 1940s Indian shreds a transmission while you’re half-way across Russia? Talk to Wothke, he’s been there.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why One Man is Building Bikes That Nobody Else Will Make

Thu, 21 Nov 2024 14:45:40 -0000

From the balls-out Confederate to the ornate and unexpected Curtiss EV, designer JT Nesbitt strikes out on his own to make the ultimate American motorcycle—the Magnolia 4.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Riding Through a Literal Minefield in Africa

Fri, 15 Nov 2024 12:40:55 -0000

Lois Pryce is a low-key rebel. She bailed on her record label gig in her 20s and hit the road. And hasn’t looked back. From Alaska to points south, through snow and deserts, to a romp through Iran—and all done by her lonesome. But what makes her different is her acutely observed writing. And then there’s the banjo…

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

2025's New Motorcycles: What's Hot And What's Not?

Fri, 08 Nov 2024 20:59:00 -0000

It's the most wonderful time of the year for motorcyclists. This week, in Milan, Italy, the EICMA motorcycle show ran, with manufacturers from around the world showing off their new bikes. Podcast host Neil Graham and guests Zac Kurylyk (ADVrider managing editor) and Michael Uhlarik (veteran motorcycle designer) all have some thoughts on the show's good, bad and ugly machines.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What's The Future Of Motorcycle Shows?

Fri, 01 Nov 2024 16:13:22 -0000

Bike shows are dying. And bike shows are thriving. Thor and Tori Drake of Portland’s The One Motorcycle Show give The Lowdown the lowdown on making a bike show succeed amid the ashes.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Advantage Of Traveling Light

Fri, 25 Oct 2024 10:50:12 -0000

Ryan Egusquiza from Bend, Oregon’s Giant Loop is our guest this week and we talk hard cases (not head cases) vs. soft bags and the art of leaving LA.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Rise And Fall Of Flat Track

Fri, 18 Oct 2024 13:00:51 -0000

A half-dozen years ago flat track racing was having the most unusual resurgence. The most American—and the most cultish—of all motorcycle sport had superstars like Marc Marquez and Valentino Rossi under its spell. But then something happened. The grids shrunk, the riders began to feud with management, and the spectators stayed away. This week Cory Texter, a former champion in the sport and a long-time critic, is our guest as we try to unpack how something with so much momentum hit the skids with such ferocity.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A Riding Season Of Adventure

Fri, 11 Oct 2024 16:09:11 -0000

As the 2024 riding season winds down, Neil and ADVrider managing editor Zac Kurylyk meet up to talk about the different bikes they rode this summer (new and old), including Zac's time on the new Royal Enfield Himalyan 450. He thinks it's stiff competition for the KLR650 and DR650.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What's The Adventure Bike Origin Story?

Mon, 07 Oct 2024 19:07:12 -0000

Who built the first ADV bike? Was it the BMW R80 G/S, or was there another dual sport/travel bike hybrid before that machine? This week, designer/industry insider Michael Uhlarik returns to The Lowdown Podcast to talk about another brand that has a solid claim to the title of first to the ADV segment.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This Man is a Motorcycle Genius

Fri, 27 Sep 2024 15:49:45 -0000

Motorcycling’s most happening man. Paul d’Orleans is a historian, curator, author, and founder of The Vintagent, the go-to for motorcycle culture online. He’s also funny, shrewd, a keen lover of all things obscure, and a natty dresser.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Re-Tracing The Route of The Original Adventure Rider

Fri, 20 Sep 2024 10:32:36 -0000

From building choppers in the decadent 1990s to amassing more than a million kilometres in the past 15 years, Paul Stewart doesn’t hang about. But Stewart’s more than just about hammering his way across continents. For his latest expedition, he pottered across America on a Honda 125 retracing the steps of a man who, 120 years ago, headed into the wilds on a bicycle with a clip-on motor as the very first ADV rider. Add to this a passion for helping stray dogs and perpetual struggles with his vision—he’s had multiple eye surgeries—Stewart is not a man to be held back.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The OG Of The ADV Aftermarket

Fri, 13 Sep 2024 18:11:06 -0000

Eric Hougen has a lifetime in the ADV riding aftermarket scene, founding Wolfman Luggage from nothing and equipping thousands of riders for adventures around the world. Today, he talks with host Neil Graham about the challenges of the business and what he's up to now, with his new Threadworks project.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Secret Behind Royal Enfield's Success

Fri, 06 Sep 2024 16:14:07 -0000

In the early 2000s, Royal Enfield was a niche company, an India-based oddity building crude bikes that were basically unchanged since the mid-20th century. Now, they're a fully up-to-date manufacturer, with ABS, traction control and other modern electronics, and they have a wide range of products from cruisers to retros to scramblers to adventure bikes. How did they make this all happen? Mark Wells, the company's UK-based head of design, is here to tell us how Royal Enfield transformed themselves into the mid-sized motorcycle market leader.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The ADV Dream Team

Sun, 01 Sep 2024 13:19:56 -0000

Neil sits down with special guest Scott Acheson from the US BMW Challenge Team ahead of his trip to Namibia.

Can he and a group of other ADV-ers bring GS Challenge Gold Back to America?

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Are Old Bikes Really That Simple?

Fri, 23 Aug 2024 06:00:00 -0000

The Bear, based in Australia, has been a valued forum member on ADVrider for a long, long time, and is one of the site's most valued contributors. He's been working for motorcycle magazines since 1978, and has a lifetime of adventure on machines ranging from a World War II-era Harley-Davidson WLA to BMW adventure bikes and everything in between. Tune in to hear his experiences from decades of adventure, including an incident where he and his slightly off-kilter riding companion feared they'd get a visit from a Japanese fighter-bomber after their turbocharged CX650 broke down!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The World's Best Motorcycle Museum?

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 08:00:00 -0000

The Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum houses the world's biggest motorcycle collection, as well as a roadracing track that's built to an aesthetic standard you won't find anywhere else in North America. Oh yes, and a vintage motorcycle festival that's a must-visit event every fall. Still not convinced to make the trip to Birmingham, Alabama to take in the museum? By the end of this week's episode with communications director Robert Pandya, you will be!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Don't Dream About Adventures, Just Get Out There!

Fri, 09 Aug 2024 05:00:00 -0000

Eva Rupert is a motelier, an overland adventurer, a Baja devotee, and a woman who once, while naked, cut the head off a boa constrictor and ate it—the body, not the head. At least we don't think she ate the head. She’s chock full of advice about riding in Mexico and the American West, and offers candid views on adventure riding’s "awkward teenage phase."

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How This Coffee Shop is Part of a Motorcycle Revolution

Fri, 02 Aug 2024 17:13:18 -0000

Cynical about coffee shops that align themselves with motorcycling? Jim Vandekas’s Flying Squirrel Motorcycle is a café with a difference. They host OEM test days, they built the Moto Craft custom bike show, and they’ve only just begun.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Trials And Triumphs: ADVrider's Origin Story

Fri, 26 Jul 2024 14:54:41 -0000

If you think the Dos Equis spokesman is the most interesting man in the world, you’re wrong. That honor goes to ADVRider.com founder Chris MacAskill. From a hardscrabble childhood to Stanford to a career as a geophysicist to working with Steve Jobs to his own little family run startup that he sold for a cool $100 million, Chris is one of us and yet not one of us.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Brains Behind The Racebikes

Fri, 19 Jul 2024 07:00:00 -0000

From Brittany to Milwaukee: French engineer Chloe Lerin has followed an unusual career path. Rebuked by KTM and BMW, she elected to stay in America after school, working for Cummins diesel and John Deere before landing at her current gig developing powertrains for Harley-Davidson. A racing enthusiast, Lerin also works with Harley’s entry in King of the Baggers, the madcap racing series where Indian and Harley cruisers are modified to go at ungodly speeds. Lerin—never one to sit idle—is also a data engineer for a Suzuki-backed road-racing team in MotoAmerica.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Riding Into The Unknown... And Filming Along The Way

Fri, 12 Jul 2024 16:58:19 -0000

When the Cold War ended, schoolteacher Austin Vince and his friends rode around the world on Suzuki DR350s, and did something nobody had done before: They made an adventure movie about their trip, called Mondo Enduro. Millions saw their film and its follow-ups, and thousands were inspired to start their own ADV riding careers. Yet, it was an uphill battle to even get their film on television, as it was rejected by every single broadcaster.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

West Coast Wunderwoman

Fri, 05 Jul 2024 03:21:57 -0000

Sarah Schilke is the ultimate motorcycle industry insider, with a career that had stops at various gearmakers as well as BMW Motorrad. On top of that, she's one of the people behind Women Riders Now, one of the longest-running female-focused motorcycle websites out there. Oh yes, and she loves riding dual sport bikes!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is The Bikeriders Honest?

Fri, 28 Jun 2024 21:00:54 -0000

This summer, The Bikeriders plays in theaters across North America, sharing the story of a fictional motorcycle club that's based in reality. The storyline and even much of the filmography is inspired by Danny Lyon's classic photo book of the same name. But is it really an honest look at motorcycle culture? Neil Graham and ADVrider managing editor Zac Kurylyk discuss their thoughts on the film.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is the Future of Motorcycles Electric? And Other Hot-Button Topics

Fri, 21 Jun 2024 13:16:39 -0000

The Lowdown Podcast returns, with host Neil Graham once again dialing up industry insider Michael Uhlarik to discuss the world of motorcycling. But this time, while some listeners might think this is inside baseball, Neil's got a few sliders and knuckleballs to pitch at Michael to keep him on his toes. Neil is challenging the industry's claim that EVs are going to be the great replacement for our current internal combustion engines, and he raises some arguments from the world of boat racing, of all things.

No wonder Neil calls this the "Disagreement Episode," because he also has a beef with parallel twin engines (Michael likes them, Neil claims he doesn't). Neil also beefs with the current Japanese racing programs, while Michael has his own complaints to air, as he thinks the current motorcycle design scene is mired in the same malaise that automakers foundered in back in the 1970s.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How One Chinese Brand Plans to Dominate the Motorcycle Industry

Fri, 14 Jun 2024 12:38:43 -0000

The Chinese are coming! The Chinese are coming! Jason and Chris Chris (Director Motorcycle Strategy CFMoto Powersports), the CF Moto men, sit down with Neil to take us though the upstart manufacturer and their plan for world domination. Did we hear them say a “heated seat is standard”? We sure did.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why You’re Wrong About “Zen And the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance”

Fri, 07 Jun 2024 11:08:23 -0000

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is the seminal motorcycle book. And its most misunderstood. Author Mark Richardson, who’s book Zen and Now is an homage to Zen and the Art, gives us the lowdown on Robert Pirsig’s masterpiece and chronicles the troubled life of an author Richardson calls a “genius.”

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Inside Scoop in How Motorcycles Come to Life

Fri, 31 May 2024 16:14:46 -0000

A life designed. From growing up in a small town near Buffalo to designing KTMs in Austria and, now, electric motocrossers in Spain, Jack Morris gives us the inside scoop on making a motorcycle from the ground up.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How This Man Revolutionized Motorcycle Gear

Fri, 24 May 2024 14:14:02 -0000

Andy Goldfine is a rebel with a cause. When he saw manufacturing disappearing from America in the 1980s, he decided to do something about it. Working out of an old factory in Duluth, Minnesota, Goldfine founded Aerostich, bought industrial sewing machines, and began crafting his legendary Roadcrafter riding suits. More than just a garment for motorcycling, the Roadcrafter—and everything else in Aerostich’s quirky catalogue—is a middle-finger aimed at offshore manufacturing and the style-conscious imperative of modern motorcycle gear.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How to Ride Off-Road: Tips from a Master Riding Instructor

Fri, 17 May 2024 14:17:00 -0000

Nick Ienatsch is a big deal in the world of motorcycle coaching. He runs/owns the Yamaha Champions roadrace school.

And when Nick isn’t working, he continues to enjoy his two-wheeled passion, but off the beaten path.

On today’s episode of The Lowdown Show, host Neil Graham sits down with Nick to discuss his passion and adventure and impart some of his expert off-road riding wisdom.

You won’t want to miss it.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From The Music Business To Motorcycles: One Man's Journey

Fri, 10 May 2024 11:01:58 -0000

What do Jay Leno, Giacomo Agostini, and the first woman to ride her motorcycle around the world have in common? They’ve been photographed by David Goldman, a rock-and-roll and documentary photographer who abandoned LA to pursue a two-wheeled passion project. Goldman is also a hardcore rider, racking up 50,000 miles in the past three years alone. He’s the real deal.

This week he joins Neil Graham to talk about his latest project, why he left the music biz and what life on the road has been like.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How One Man Rode Around the World for $25 A Day

Fri, 03 May 2024 13:49:53 -0000

Rene Cormier, by his own admission, is an all-in kind of guy. A chance encounter with a group of globetrotting motorcyclists when he was a biology student led to a decision to sell everything he owned, and, with a budget of $25 a day, set out to ride around the world. Five years and 95,000 miles later, Cormier has some surprising views on the truths and misconceptions of giving it all up for the road.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Disrupting Motojournalism: The Hell for Leather Story

Fri, 26 Apr 2024 18:15:03 -0000

Wes Siler turned a contempt for US motorcycle media circa 2010 into the highly influential website Hell for Leather. Believing rigorous journalism was compromised because of too-cozy relationships between media and manufacturers, Wes became the most disliked man in the business—a role he relished. But then he sold HFL and it because a very watered-down property that eventually died. Wes currently is a contributor for Outside magazine and lives in the wilds of Montana. Remarkable for his ability to reinvent himself, Wes solders on with his sandpaper-like personally always at the ready to offend a new subset of the population.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How India Became A Motorcycle Superpower

Fri, 19 Apr 2024 17:28:09 -0000

If you've been paying attention for the past decade, you know that India's motorcycle industry is booming. But what's it like to ride there? And why does it matter to North American riders? In this episode of The Lowdown Podcast, Neil returns from riding India, where his eyes were opened.

Neil's no stranger to challenging riding; he's a racer (including years in flat track, speedway and roadracing). He's ridden bikes as a magazine writer and editor in locations all over the world. But India was a whole new level of difficulty, with traffic—including a gas tanker—liable to be coming at you the wrong way, down the opposite shoulder of the road where it belongs.

And yet, the country is moto-mad. People are buying bikes in a scale we just cannot appreciate here in North America. This week, motorcycle designer/industry analyst Michael Uhlarik returns to give us a rundown of the players on that scene, companies that you might have never heard of, but companies that are making motorcycles in a scale that far eclipses familiar North American players like Indian and Harley-Davidson. And you might not think that will matter in North America or Europe, but that's not the case. Historically, western countries extracted resources and financial wealth from India. Now, money is still flowing out of India, but it's returning as companies like Bajaj, Mahindra or TVS buy ownership in brands like KTM, BSA or Norton.

The made-in-India revolution has already hit the world of motorcycles, but Uhlarik suggests it might go even further—with the most American brand of all a potential target of Indian capital…

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Young People Aren't Buying Motorcycles, But Does It Matter?

Fri, 12 Apr 2024 11:24:35 -0000

This week, Neil is talking to Zac Kurylyk, aka Kawazacky, the managing editor here at ADVrider. Kawazacky has a long history here at ADVrider, joining as an inmate more than 15 years back, using the Ride Reports as inspiration to move beyond the world of commuting. He's been running around the halls of motojournalism for roughly the same amount of time, writing for online and print mags across the US and Canada, starting here at ADVrider five years ago. Today, he phones in from his workshop to talk bikes.

Over the past couple of the years, one of the most controversial columns that Zac has written asks: Why aren't kids buying motorcycles today, like they did in the 1970s? Inmates had lots of opinions, blaming everything from parental neglect to video games to distracted drivers, but Neil asks Zac: Why does it matter if young people lose interest in bikes? According to Zac, riders' rights are at stake, if things don't change...

Later, this episode discusses: Who are the motorcycle rebels of today? And what are Neil and Zacs guilty pleasure bikes, the ones they secretly want even though they don't make sense?

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why Are Electric Motorcycles Struggling So Much?

Fri, 05 Apr 2024 10:39:25 -0000

For episode 1 on The Lowdown Show, we’re joined by Michael Uhlarik, a world-renowned motorcycle designer, founder of Motorcycle Global and an avid fan of electrification.

Why have major players in the space emerged onto the scene with so much excitement and then fizzled? What happened to Cake? And is this the natural path forward for electrification in the motorcycle industry?

We’ll put all of these questions and more to Uhlarik and learn plenty about the tribulations and triumphs of battery bikes.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices