transcript

Speaker 1:
[00:00] Welcome to the season finale of Highside, Lowside. Zack and I have come together to wrap up season 11 with you as our guest. That's right, this is gonna be the comments episode, and we're gonna dive into all of the queries you have thrown our way over the past season, as well as a Fiat 500 with a Suzuki Gixxer 1000 motor in it that you can buy. You gonna spend the cash? We got a t-shirt for you if you do. All that and much more, but first, a word from our sponsor.

Speaker 2:
[00:28] This is the part where I remind you that Motul is the biggest supporter of Highside Lowside, and you should buy its products. But maybe you already do buy Motul products. You're thinking, I'm already putting Motul oil in my motorcycles and bathing myself in chain cleaner. What more can I do? Great question. And I'll just remind you that Motul also makes, for example, diesel system cleaner for use in all types of diesel injection systems in cars, trucks, RVs, and even military spec KLRs. To see all of Motul's products, check out revzilla.com/motul. That's revzilla.com/m-o-t-u-l.

Speaker 1:
[01:05] And when you're over there on revzilla.com, just keep in mind that every time you make a purchase with RevZilla, a little bit of that money goes back into funding the programs that you enjoy. Whether it's Zack and I sitting here talking with you on Highside, Lowside, or the shenanigans that people get into when you're out riding for a CTXP episode, or maybe you just appreciate the gear reviews and the product information. RevZilla gives back to riders because that's who we all are, riders. So keep that in mind next time you need to make a purchase for your motorcycle. From cruisers to sport bikes to adventure bikes and everything in between, we've got you covered at revzilla.com.

Speaker 2:
[01:44] All right. Giddy up everybody, Highside, Lowside, Season 11, Episode 12, Spurgeon. I would pat myself on the back for making it through a whole season, but I didn't really help you out that much this season.

Speaker 1:
[01:55] You made it through half a season, you know? You came on, you shared your personal story of trials and tribulations, coming back from a motorcycle crash, and you helped me finish out the season strong. It's not how you start the race, Zack, it's how you finish it.

Speaker 2:
[02:10] Hey, that's a good friend for you, everybody. We're going to kick off this finale episode of all of your viewer, listener comments, which we're excited to get into, with a Craigslist find sent to us by Eric, E-R-I-K, via email. Eric says, I'm not quite sure this counts as a motorcycle, but thought it would be an honorable mention given the recent Suzuki Gsx-R Icons episode, which was episode five of this season 11. And the link to Craigslist is quite a find, Spurge. Can you talk to the ladies and gentlemen through what we're seeing here?

Speaker 1:
[02:53] All right. So if we get this ad up on the screen, there is somewhere out there available for purchase a 2006 Fiat 500 EV with a bad battery. So they pulled the electric drivetrain and replaced it with quote-unquote thousands of dollars in fabrication costs to install a 200 horsepower Gsx-R 1000 engine.

Speaker 2:
[03:21] That's right. This is 2006 Suzuki Gsx-R 1000 engine. So that's essentially the K5 Gsx-R, famous K5 Jixxer, the best Jixxer of all time in many people's eyes. Someone put this engine into a Fiat 500 automobile, and we're not going to read the whole ad, because it's very, very long. And spoiler alert, the project's not quite finished yet. There's two cars and one of them has the engine in it, and you could take the suspension from one and put it in the other one, but they ran out of time or something like that. But it does appear, based on the pictures and the description, it appears that the engine is in there and the car drives and it has a Gsx-R 1000 engine and a Fiat 500. And yeah, the line I really like, Spurgeon, let me see if I can find it here, I just lost it. Oh yeah, it uses the motorcycle's engine, sorry, it uses the Gsx-R 1000 gearbox and clutch, so I think it has a hand clutch, as far as I can tell, and then a sequential gearbox, like a motorcycle. And the one line in the ad says, it has semi-tall gearing, so it doesn't take off from a stop overly quick, but once going, it rips with a 13,000 RPM redline, which I think is a nice way of saying, yeah, it's kind of dog slow when you first get on it, because the Gsx-R doesn't make a lot of power at 3500 RPM, but it must be a real wild ride when you get up to five-digit RPM and you have that sort of like super bike howl. I bet it's pretty wild.

Speaker 1:
[04:56] I mean, I feel like a Fiat 500 from the factory is not a super aggressive car off the starting line.

Speaker 2:
[05:03] You said you were going to look that up.

Speaker 1:
[05:05] Did you look up with the... Yeah, I couldn't find stats on the EV version, but typically what I did find was Fiat's... The Fiat 500 has anywhere from a 0.9 liter all the way up to a whopping 1.4 liter turbojet I4 and makes somewhere around 75 upwards of 110, 120 horsepower. So it sounds like this Suzuki Gsx-R 1000 engine is quite the upgrade. And the one note that I wanted to throw out was in addition to Zack's comment about the fact that this has got a hand shifter, still a front wheel drive, but it now has a chain drive. So they have a chain drive to the axle, presumably, of the car. And if you want to utilize reverse, the car will move backwards easily on flat ground.

Speaker 2:
[06:06] Because it used the starter motor, I think, right?

Speaker 1:
[06:08] It uses the starter motor of a BMW K-Series motorcycle.

Speaker 2:
[06:12] That's right.

Speaker 1:
[06:13] And you just don't want to park it on a hill because it will not necessarily go backwards up a hill without a friend pushing.

Speaker 2:
[06:20] So it does have some limitations, but quite a machine. And if you're worried about fuel mileage, don't worry. It has a 15-gallon fuel tank. So even if you're only getting like 13 miles per gallon because you're spinning this Gixxer 1000 engine up at 10,000 RPM to keep the thing going down the road, you can still make it a little while before you need gas. I just think it's a delicious and hilarious project. It definitely deserved a call out and thank you Eric for sending it in.

Speaker 1:
[06:51] A Fiat 500 with a 13,000 RPM red line is the final note there. If anyone listening decides to buy this, we'll give you a T-shirt. So if you want to make the bad decision to invest in this Fiat 500, Zack and I will patch you on the back with a free T-shirt. Just let us know.

Speaker 2:
[07:14] $5,500 by the way for the Fiat Gsx-R.

Speaker 1:
[07:17] I feel if you offer $5,000, they might accept your offer.

Speaker 2:
[07:23] Good stuff. That's a really great find. Thank you again, Eric, for sending that in. We had a great time mulling it over and we hope that we did it justice describing it. If you're watching on YouTube by any chance, you would have seen some of the ads that we put on the screen. Either way, great Craigslist find. Thank you, Eric, and send us your preferred T-shirt size and mailing address because we think this deserves a T-shirt. Gosh darn it.

Speaker 1:
[07:52] And you didn't even have to buy it to get one. So that's the real gem for you, Eric. I do want to say before we jump right in, for those of you that are avid Highside, Lowside listeners, you probably have noticed that we change things up a little bit here in Season 11. Typically, we have the comments episode as our 11th episode and then we go into a finale episode with a guest. We wanted to acknowledge that we do take feedback from our listeners seriously and we're always trying to slowly tweak and improve the podcast. One of the things that we noted was that there were a lot of good comments that always came in on the finale episode and we're like, oh, that would have been fun to include in the comments episode. In an effort to flip the script a little bit and see if this works a little bit better, season 11 episode 11 was obviously a little bit more of a finale type episode as we would historically do it. And now what we're doing is we're getting all the comments from the first 11 episodes of the season and bringing you this new finale episode.

Speaker 2:
[08:54] New, I would say new and improved, but we don't actually know yet. We haven't done it.

Speaker 1:
[08:57] So you have to let us know.

Speaker 2:
[08:58] I will, one thing I'll add, if you're an avid enough Highside, Lowside listener that you noticed that the comment episode was episode 12 instead of episode 11, I'm impressed. I would offer you a T-shirt, but I'm not sure I have the authority to do that. Anyway, let's jump right in, shall we, Spurge? The comment episode is always one of my favorite ones because I think people ask questions that are both silly and thoughtful and educational, useful, and we have a lot of fun digesting it. So I'm excited to dive right in. Why don't you take it away, Spurge-O? Comment number one.

Speaker 1:
[09:31] Comment number one comes from Mike. Mike sent an email saying, why do we not have a US manufacturer making a range of motorcycles like we see coming out of the Japanese companies? Obviously, other examples from around the world too. These manufacturers have comprehensive lineups of sport bikes, adventure bikes, naked, dirt bikes, cruisers, the whole gamut. CFMoto demonstrates that there is slash was space for newish players to join the fray, at least new in the variety of models that they're creating. What gives? The too long didn't read here, Zack, is why do we not have Harley Davidson or Indian motorcycles creating more variants of bikes, if I'm reading this correctly. Does that sound about right?

Speaker 2:
[10:18] Yeah. I think that's what the question is rooted. It is sort of like Harley and Indian have leaned into the sort of, I don't know, define this American V-twin style of a big luxury. I mean, not all luxury, but big V-twins that are either cruisers or touring bikes or something like that. To be fair to Harley Davidson, they made the XR 1200 and whatever that was 20 years ago. Gave that a try, didn't, I mean, whatever. Also, to be fair to Harley Davidson, the Pan America branched into adventure bikes. So I just want to give some credit where credits do. To be fair to Indian, they had that whole FTR 1200 experiment. But Mike's question is still valid, which is sort of like, how come? Why aren't there, why isn't Harley Davidson making a 450cc liquid-cooled motocross bike that's just like every other motocross bike? Triumph and Ducati have recently showed that you can just not have any history of motocross and just build a motocross bike and go motocross racing if you want to. And I think it comes down to brand image and culture, kind of, right? It feels like big European companies like KTM, like Ducati, like BMW. They don't mind blowing up their image a little bit to branch into a new place, a new avenue of the industry, right? Like we saw with BMW due at the S1000 in 2009, 10, whatever that was. You know, there were a lot of people, BMW fans that were like, an inline four BMW. I never thought I'd see the day. But that's turned into a staple of their lineup and a really fantastic bike and blah, blah, blah. I just don't like, that's what it seems to me. Like, is it, can you ever, like would Harley Davidson ever just build a 450 motocrosser?

Speaker 1:
[12:15] I think, I think that's part of, I think the answer is probably a little bit more simple here. And it's that people don't buy them and they don't, they don't end up.

Speaker 2:
[12:23] People don't buy dirt bikes?

Speaker 1:
[12:24] No, no, I'm saying people, like every time we've seen a manufacturer try this. And so we had this conversation recently during a Common Tread meeting, because for those of you that were paying attention at Daytona this year, Harley Davidson unveiled an XLCR replica, which was basically they took their-

Speaker 2:
[12:44] Yeah, let's put that on screen, shall we? That's a really cool looking bike.

Speaker 1:
[12:46] Yeah, they took the new, is it the Evolution Max? Is that the Pan-America engine?

Speaker 2:
[12:52] Revolution.

Speaker 1:
[12:53] Revolution Max. Okay.

Speaker 2:
[12:54] Not sure, yeah.

Speaker 1:
[12:54] So the Revolution Max, which is their big 1200, 1250, you know-

Speaker 2:
[12:59] It's Pan-America engine, basically.

Speaker 1:
[13:00] Yeah. And they put it in a cafe racer, they built this sport bike around it, and all the comments were like, oh, I'd buy that, I'd buy that, I'd buy that. And Lance and I were talking about Lance, he's like, how much would you actually pay for it? And I was like, I don't know. He's like, no, no, you want Harley Davidson to build it, like how much would you pay for it? I was like, and I'm thinking personally, I don't know, if I was looking for a sport bike, if I was in the market, like $15,000. And the problem is Harley Davidson can't build that bike for $15,000.

Speaker 2:
[13:28] Or they won't.

Speaker 1:
[13:29] Or they won't. And so that becomes a $20,000 motorcycle. And are you going to spend $20,000 on a sport bike that makes 150 horsepower and isn't really competitive? It's more of a fun ride around in the street type piece.

Speaker 2:
[13:43] Well, that's arguably a whole other podcast is like, how much horsepower do you need? And I think that there's a pocket of sport bikes in the market now that's proving that you don't need maximum horsepower to have maximum quality and maximum fun and that kind of thing. But another thing I would like to point out Spurge, you said historically these motorcycles are not purchased, right? You said, you know, Harley builds an XR 1200, nobody buys it. They build a Pan America, not enough people buy it. And in some ways it's important. We've said this before on the podcast, but it's important to reiterate that Harley-Davidson is a victim of its own success in. I think we're going to have to do that in a few ways because historically, Harley-Davidson sells so many street glides and road glides and touring models and cruisers that it's just hard to pencil out what we're going to sell 3,000 of these bikes or 5,000 of those bikes. Whereas Ducati builds a bike, and if they sell 5,000 of them, it's like, great, cool. That's what we do. We build bikes that we sell 5,000 of. You know what I mean? The year or something or whatever. I'm making up the numbers. But like, then you can't, that's like such bread and butter. You can't, you can't, you can't depart from that. It's too difficult. I think that the, but you know, the landscape's always shifting and, and Harley's like, there's been a lot of stories lately about Harley-Davidson losing market share and dealers closing and Indians under, you know, different ownership now. And things, things are getting shaken up in the, in the American motorcycle industry. And I guess I like to think, I mean, I don't know, how cool would it be if you went to Supercross and there was a Harley-Davidson? Like, would it be a, would it be a quote unquote real Harley-Davidson? If it was a 450 motocross bike? No, it wouldn't be a real Harley-Davidson. But like you could, it would have the barn shield on the side.

Speaker 1:
[15:28] No, I think, and this is where like, where this is, this is probably a whole other podcast here. But like if Harley-Davidson is actually manufacturing the motorcycle itself and putting it into competition, yeah, it's a real Harley-Davidson. If they're importing tiny Italian dirt bikes, like they did in the 60s and 70s with the Airmachie badge on them and throw on a Harley-Davidson badge on top of it and saying, oh, we've got dirt bikes now. Yeah, like that's problematic. OK. And then also, like just to kind of round this out, because I know I went into the new prototype that everybody's excited about, but like Harley-Davidson introduced the XLCR in 77. It didn't sell. Harley-Davidson invested in Buell and brought Buell to market. And eventually, that didn't work out. Buell was making sport bikes and adventure bikes for the American market.

Speaker 2:
[16:14] Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[16:15] You had Modus brought in a V4 sport touring bike that was manufactured and sold in the US. People couldn't afford a $30,000 Modus. You have the FTR, no.

Speaker 2:
[16:30] Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[16:30] Was it the FTR 1200 that you were talking about? Indian made it, and then they changed the wheel size to make it even sportier and get away from the weird flat track thing. No, it didn't sell. People were all upset that they were getting rid of it, but nobody actually bought it. So that's what it comes down to.

Speaker 2:
[16:48] You know what, Spurge? You make a good point. And the answer was right in front of us the whole time. Mike sent us this email. You're the problem, Mike. You're not buying the bikes. Mike, if you would just buy the bikes, then they would make them. Mike, do you own a Pan America?

Speaker 1:
[17:07] Mike, do you own a Pan America?

Speaker 2:
[17:09] Because if you don't, then you're the problem. No, I think obviously we could spin this out into a whole hour long conversation. And if we were on a road trip, Spurge and I, we would. But we're going to move along in this conversation for the sake of you, the viewer listener. The point is, Mike, I'm just kidding, you're not actually the problem. And this is a good question. I think there's room for it. I guess that's what I'll say. I think I can imagine a day when when we see Harley or Indian change their tune a little bit, literally and figuratively.

Speaker 1:
[17:43] Well, until that day comes, we have another question from James. So Mike, thank you for the question. Zack, would you like to read comment number two?

Speaker 2:
[17:53] This comes in from James via email. James says, I currently ride a 2009 Honda CBF 600, which I do not enjoy. It's slow, ugly and heavy with no bottom end. Bought out of desperation. As a rider in the less than ideal British climate, is it worth the extra to get a bike with a big screen or front fairing? I commute about 30, 40 minutes to the office per week along the motorway, highway, freeway, whatever, 70 miles an hour on straight roads. Does the screen and fairing make enough of a difference when riding in the rain to justify the extra cost or is it just a case of buying good waterproof gear? Pretty basic question here. We just loved this so much because it is so unbelievably rare to get an email from someone that says, I ride this bike and I don't like it.

Speaker 1:
[18:38] I bought the wrong bike is basically the same.

Speaker 2:
[18:40] Exactly, yeah. People always have, yeah, it's just rare, I think, to hear about a buyer's remorse or a truly critical owner of their own machine. Normally people are like, well, I bought this bike. And yeah, it's not perfect. But oh, man, when you get on the, it's so great for these reasons. People want to justify their purchase. James has no problem absolutely panning his own motorcycle, which I think is hilarious.

Speaker 1:
[19:02] I want to say that I feel like there's two questions here. And I just want to acknowledge that. It sounds like James is unhappy with his motorcycle because it's slow, ugly and heavy with no bottom end. There's probably a lot of better bikes out there for you, James, that are more focused on low and mid-range power.

Speaker 2:
[19:21] James likes big bottom ends and he cannot lie.

Speaker 1:
[19:23] Yeah. I mean, who doesn't?

Speaker 2:
[19:24] Sure.

Speaker 1:
[19:25] And so in that sense, there's probably even an FZ07 would probably be a better bike for you just in its torque curve, even though it doesn't have the top end wallop that an inline four would have.

Speaker 2:
[19:40] Right. Well, yeah, I mean, James, I'm guessing, well, I don't want to argue the TV too much here.

Speaker 1:
[19:46] I'm sorry, can you explain to the audience that maybe doesn't understand that a CBF 600 is not the same as a CBR 600? Is that worth explaining?

Speaker 2:
[19:55] I actually don't quite remember what a CBF 600 is. I believe a CBF is like an air pool. If you're imagining a CBR 600 sport bike, it is not that. It is a much more street-oriented motorcycle, but it does have the 600cc inline four that's broadly the same as...

Speaker 1:
[20:19] I think his is the older one that has the old Hornet engine in it.

Speaker 2:
[20:22] It's like the old 509 style.

Speaker 1:
[20:24] Like 75 horsepower, yada, yada, yada.

Speaker 2:
[20:27] So yeah, that's a fair thing to point out. This is the naked bike he's talking about. It's not a CBR 600 is the point. That's a good thing to call out just to be clear. So yeah, maybe a twin-cylinder bike or a MT-09 or something like that would be better. But the question that James put to us really is sort of like, is it worth it to have wind to weather protection on the bike? Does it even help? Spurge, what's your answer there?

Speaker 1:
[20:55] I think you're better off investing in a car rain suit than a windshield.

Speaker 2:
[21:02] Really?

Speaker 1:
[21:04] I mean, a windshield's not going to do anything to keep you dry if you're out for more than 10 minutes. He's got a 30 to 40 minute commute. If it's pouring down rain, you just have to get a throw over rain suit.

Speaker 2:
[21:21] So, yeah, I guess Spurge's answer would be like, buy good waterproof gear. What I would say is that if you get a bike that has some wind protection, it does make a big difference. At 70 miles an hour, having a windscreen that keeps the wind off your torso, at least, like your arms are going to be in the water, your feet are going to be in the water, your head's going to probably be in the water. You're going to be riding in the rain, James, but if you have a motorcycle that pushes wind away from your torso, you're sort of at the middle of your body, it's going to make a big difference with how much water actually hits your body and how hard your waterproof gear then has to work.

Speaker 1:
[22:01] I guess if you're in motion the whole time, but if you're coming to a red light...

Speaker 2:
[22:06] 70 miles an hour on straight roads, he says.

Speaker 1:
[22:08] And so I guess if there's no red lights at all, or stop signs?

Speaker 2:
[22:12] Let's not split hairs here. The point is, what Spurge is saying is that water falling from the sky is gonna get you wet, no matter how you slice it on a motorcycle, pretty much. But what I'm saying is that at highway speeds, it, in my opinion, it makes a huge difference to have a little bit of wind protection. Like if rain and weather is just hitting you square in the chest and in the stomach, and like pooling in the seat and in your crotch, like that's hard for waterproof gear to deal with, harder for waterproof gear to deal with and if you have, you know, your arms and shoulders and your lower legs and feet are out in the water, or out in the wind, you know, but your torso is protected from the wind. I think it'll make a big difference. And I think you deserve a better motorcycle, James, if for no other reason than your humility.

Speaker 1:
[22:59] Well, I will say that Zack and I are gonna agree to disagree a little bit on this one, James, but maybe there's a compromise. Maybe you could meet somewhere in the middle. Instead of going out and buying a fancy big bike with a giant fairing on it, maybe you could buy a naked middle weight, get a little clip on windscreen, which does what Zack's talking about, which just helps to keep the water from blowing and hitting you in the chest and pooling, and then just get a nice throw of a rain suit to help keep you dry for the moments where the water is coming straight down from the sky, or to keep your legs and your arms dry as well.

Speaker 2:
[23:32] Okay, all right, okay.

Speaker 1:
[23:34] I'm trying to be diplomatic here.

Speaker 2:
[23:36] Yeah, that's fair. I just think that, I just think I'm imagining James trying out a, you know, whatever Honda Trans Alp 750 or something like that and bombing down the highway, and then he's got his twin cylinder engine, he's got that big bottom end he wanted, and he's got some wind protection, and he's thumping along and he's happy, and maybe he still thinks it's ugly. I don't know, but at least he'll be a little bit drier.

Speaker 1:
[24:02] Is that your bike recommendation for him?

Speaker 2:
[24:04] Not necessarily, I don't know. I was going to say NX500 also or Trans Alp, but maybe he wants to be a little faster. I don't know. I'm trying to think, maybe James bought a 2009 Honda CBF 600 because he thought it was the perfect motorcycle, but I'm guessing price was a factor. No offense, James. And so I'm not going to say, you just got to get an R1300 GS, James, and you only have one.

Speaker 1:
[24:28] No, no, he bought it out of desperation. I think it's fair. I think it's interesting that we both of us gravitated towards parallel twins, right? Like I made the comment about the Yamaha FZ07, you picked Trans-Alp.

Speaker 2:
[24:37] It's hard not to gravitate towards parallel twins these days. It's like they're everywhere. Can't swing a crankshaft in this industry without hitting a parallel twin.

Speaker 1:
[24:46] So James, maybe that's something to consider, too, is the engine type. Maybe a parallel twin of a... There's a lot of varieties out there, to Zack's point. Maybe something with a parallel twin in it will be an option for you. All right.

Speaker 2:
[25:01] Let's move on to comment number three, Spurgeon. I'm going to read comment number three because I want your take. You're the one that's going to answer this question. Comment number three is quite long, so I'm not going to read the whole thing. But I would like to thank Michael for sending this in via email. Basically, Michael's story goes like this. Test road went to a dealership, test road in Indian Springfield. The dealership was happy to let him take the bike on a test ride with proof of insurance and proof that he had a motorcycle endorsement. Long story short, Michael tips the bike over, like turning around to muddy something or other, gets back to the dealership, says, guys, I tipped the bike over, sorry about that. Then they work it out. But then his insurance finds out that it was a test ride, and then all of a sudden it blows up in his face, it's not covered. They tried to charge him $6,000 for all this damage. He's blown away. He thought it was okay. The dealer thought it was okay. Everyone thought it was okay. Insurance didn't cover it. He ended up working this out because the dealer was nice to him. But basically what Michael says is, should test rides be banned? Should dealerships be forced to carry liability insurance if they even allow test rides? And should insurance cover test rides if you have full coverage slash comprehensive on your current motorcycle? All good questions. Spurgeon, former dealership employee, what say you?

Speaker 1:
[26:27] Michael, this is a hard question to answer. And I did a little bit of research to like brush up on like how we used to do things. Like it sounds to me from the little research that I've done is that this is still very much a case by case basis. I think the biggest issue with test rides in general is that there's not a uniform policy that blankets across all dealerships or all brands. I know for example, there was a policy for a while when I was working at the dealership where you had if someone had a motorcycle endorsement on their license and they wanted to take a Triumph product out, you were not allowed to say no, you were encouraged to offer a test ride.

Speaker 2:
[27:08] Sorry, just quickly, you're suggesting that if they wanted to take a Kawasaki, different story, but because the manufacturer was behind, okay, got you.

Speaker 1:
[27:17] Yeah. Again, I can't speak to whether or not this is still the case, but we got secret shopped and if someone came in and secret shopped a Triumph product, and we did not offer them a test ride or at least ask if they wanted to take a test ride, if you have a motorcycle license, we got negative points on our score from the dealership network around like, hey, you didn't offer this person a test ride. That was specific to the Triumph brand that we carried at the time. I will say that this, Michael, sounds also to be maybe a potential issue with your individual insurance. I know that my particular insurance covers me if I'm using someone else's vehicle. I know that the dealership that I was working at did have insurance that covered, to an extent, test rides. I think the larger issue here isn't should test rides be banned because there's probably a lot of people listening to this podcast. It feels like we need more opportunities for test rides. I would argue that maybe some type of uniformity across dealerships is what we're really looking for, and that's not going to come without support from OEMs, right? It's going to have to be more of an OEM push down is the way I see it.

Speaker 2:
[28:33] To some extent, this was a perfect storm for Michael. Was a sort of like a gap in insurance, a misunderstanding with the dealer, an unfortunate tip over to begin with. Okay. Well, I think that's fair. I don't think that's a good answer, Spurge, and I don't think that we, correct me if I'm wrong, have a lot more to say about that, except the reason we wanted to present this was as a, to some extent as a cautionary tale, if you're listening, and you're about to take a test ride and your dealer's like, yeah, no problem, take it for a spin. You want to take that adventure bike out? Yeah, there's a dirt road up there, go for it. And then you could slip through the cracks of a gap in insurance and a misunderstanding with the dealer, just like Michael did. And so maybe, if there is any advice we can give, Spurge, aside from the background that you gave about dealerships, is sort of like, get your ducks in a row ahead of time, like make sure that you have, yeah, you know, make sure what your insurance does cover and does not. And make sure that if something happened, how the dealer would feel about it or like, I don't know, I think that's maybe the right thing to do.

Speaker 1:
[29:42] Well, I would say to Zack's point, if you find a motorcycle dealership that tosses you the keys to a brand new adventure bike and says, hey, feel free to go trundle down that dirt road, you hold on to that dealer, because I don't think there's too many of them out there that are willing to let you do that, and you treat them well. The other thing I would say is, we would love to hear from anyone out there listening, whether you work at a dealer and you have some anecdotes or policies in your individual case you'd like to share with the audience, or if you too have had a mishap test riding a motorcycle, and you would like to let us know how your experience faired, we would love to hear more. Maybe there's a future episode around dealerships or test rides or something that we're going to talk about in the future.

Speaker 2:
[30:29] Yeah, we're still working on cracking that nut. I think it's a good idea.

Speaker 1:
[30:31] Shoot us a message if you've got any experience on your own for motorcycle test rides at a dealership. Michael, thank you for your e-mail, and we're now going to move on to comment number four.

Speaker 2:
[30:44] Yes, sir. Take it away, Spurge.

Speaker 1:
[30:46] It's from Jason. Jason says, My current ride is a naked middleweight, a GSX S750. I'm starting to look for a second bike for touring. I'm planning to go with a street-oriented adventure bike or a sport tour. My question is, what is a better distant tire combo? 17-inch front and back tires or a 19-inch front wheel tire slash 17-inch rear on the back? Most of my miles on this bike will be spent on the highway and I will keep the naked bike for track days and back roads. Zack, what is your tire preference, basically?

Speaker 2:
[31:28] Right, so this question is essentially, do I need 17-inch wheels or what difference does it make to have a 1917 wheel set? Our buddy Tim Harris from Episode 11 has, we've talked about this a good deal because he always wonders about the sort of like front wheel size and what difference it makes. I suppose, I feel like if Ryan Fortnitne here, he would say, well, he would say, well, he would say, if you want distance out of your front tire, well, then get the 19-inch front instead of a 17-inch front because then you have more tire, like your front tire will theoretically wear out less quickly because you have a larger circumference. So for each mile, your wheels will be doing fewer revolutions and that will be better for distance. Is that?

Speaker 1:
[32:27] You are going all scientific on me. I wasn't expecting that.

Speaker 2:
[32:31] Here's the bottom line here, Jason. My quick take is it doesn't matter. It's fine. Harley-Davidson just came out with that Panamerica ST, which has a 17-inch front wheel on the front. Theoretically, it's sportier because the smaller front wheel provides more agility and greater handling characteristics or whatever the press releases always say when a bike gets a 17-inch front wheel instead of a 19. I mean, I don't think it makes a huge difference. I think a bike's, there's a lot more, there are many more factors and characteristics that go into creating a bike feeling agile, stable, all those things, than the wheel size. And I think if you have a bike that you like that has a 19-inch front wheel, get it. It's probably gonna be fine. And if there's one you happen to find versus 1100 or versus 650 and it has a 17-inch front wheel and you decide to get that bike for touring, also fine, also fine.

Speaker 1:
[33:32] I was just going down a rabbit hole recently, Jason, researching some facts on Michelin for a product review video that I was working on. And one of the things that I will note is that if you would have asked this question 10 or 15 years ago, our response probably would have been different because tire options 10 or 15 years ago are not what they are today. But for example, one of my favorite sport touring tires that I've used historically is the Road Series. It used to be the Pilot Road Series. Now it's just the Road Series from Michelin. They wear tremendously well. They give you great mileage. They give you great handling, great all weather grip. And I bring this up because the tire or the Michelin Road 6 tires are now out. The last time I bought them, I think it was they were on the fourth iteration. And I started buying on the second or third iteration. But they now have options for 19 inch wheels. So they don't have 21s yet. If you want to go 21s, you have to kind of switch away from the pure road series. But if you're looking at something like a GS 1250, which has a 19 inch front, or if you're looking at something like a Tiger 800 with 17 inch front and back, you're going to be able to get great tire options for both of those. So I would put less emphasis on the wheel size.

Speaker 2:
[34:50] Tiger Sport 800 you mean?

Speaker 1:
[34:51] Tiger Sport 800, sorry. Thank you for that correction because there's now multiple Tiger 800s out there. But if you're looking between a sport touring bike with 17s or an adventure touring bike with a 1917 combo, I think your better consideration is what bike gives you the features and the comfort that you're looking for. Because both of those options will handle relatively well.

Speaker 2:
[35:16] Yep. Good of you to bring up tire selection Spurge because that's something too that if you have tires that you definitely know you want to run or perhaps the tires for the bike that you'll be buying will be a lot more expensive because it's a 1917 wheel set or something like that, then that's something to consider. It's a smart thing to have on your mind because the selection is different. It has gotten a lot better as Spurge said, but it can be different. So keep that in mind. But otherwise, don't worry about it. Get the bike you want, Jason.

Speaker 1:
[35:45] So Jason, hopefully that helps to answer your question, especially with your specific point about distance. For tires, I think you're going to be good no matter which one you go. Now we're going to move on. Zack, I'm going to throw this one at you. This is a combination of five and six. We're going to start with five, but I wanted to say that both of these questions relate back to the episode where we covered a little bit of the behind the scenes on your accident, which happened at the start of the season, which is why you were not necessarily with us for half of Highside, this season, but specifically about getting injured abroad, where we talked about this in episode six. And first comment comes in from Justin. And Justin says, first of all, I'd like to thank you, Zack Courts, for sharing your crash journey. When I ride internationally, I just wanted to point out that I always get adventure travel insurance, and the type of insurance is key. Some will only cover up to 125 cc's, i.e. a moped in the Caribbean, rather than a full-fledged motorcycle. It's also important to have reparation coverage for both you and your bike. The policies that I usually buy include air transport, which is sometimes private for both me and my bike back to the United States. It's obviously an additional expense, but one that's very much part of my routine when traveling.

Speaker 2:
[37:17] Quick correction there. He says repatriation coverage.

Speaker 1:
[37:20] Repatriation, sorry.

Speaker 2:
[37:21] Which is an important distinction. That's what he was saying. Repatriation coverage, as far as I understand it, is the policy that will include transport back from whence you came. Yeah, so Justin sent us in his email about how he's extra cautious about the type of insurance that he purchases when he travels abroad. I think, again, we don't have a lot of, we're not gonna, this isn't an insurance podcast. We're gonna break down every single policy you can get and how some of it will cover you in Uganda but not in Kenya because that's not what we're doing here. But multiple people responded to this episode about my crash and injury in Spain and the hospitalization in Spain and how that all went with a couple of notes on either what they do or good things to remember when you're traveling. So the next comment came in from Martin V.E.Mail who said, my wife was traveling in Italy and suffered a major heart attack. When we travel outside the States, we use Amex travel insurance and he was very impressed with it. He said they called him at 2 a.m. to say they had vetted the hospital and doctors for caring for his wife. They handled all the financial dealings with Italian medical system, including billing and payment. They even paid for the plane fare back, or sorry, for him to get to Milan to see her. And yeah, friendly reminder, that's another avenue of insurance, that's the credit card insurance that happened to cover them. And it's a good thing for anyone to know when they're traveling internationally, but especially a motorcyclist who, you know, you're more likely to tip over and hurt yourself and be stuck somewhere. So it's a good thing to keep in mind, either purchasing insurance ahead of time, adventure travel insurance or something like it, like Justin said, or checking on what you are covered with, with a travel credit card, for example.

Speaker 1:
[39:20] The one thing that I wanted to, that Zack and I were talking about during the pre-pro of this is that, you know, even listening or even reading through some of these emails that came through, you know, historically, I've had a spot device or a Garmin inReach is what I currently use, probably for, I mean, going on seven or eight years at this point, you know, from when I started riding adventure bikes a little bit more on my own. Just in the case that something happens, you want to be able to click the button and have somebody come and get you. And I pay for the, it's a monthly subscription. And then on top of that, you pay for an actual insurance plan and the insurance covers the evacuation. But what I didn't even think about, and Zack, you and I were talking about this in relationship to India because we had to get special in-reach insurance because of how high we were traveling in India. But that only gets us to the nearest hospital. Should something have happened, what I didn't even think about, until we were going through this and reviewing these comments, and you and I were talking about your instance, was that gets you to the closest hospital in India, but it doesn't cover to get you then back home. And so, what we wanted to do was call attention to some of this, because up until these comments came through, I was like, no, I'm covered. I pay for my in-reach insurance and I'm good. I'm not worried about it.

Speaker 2:
[40:35] I have health insurance and everything's fine.

Speaker 1:
[40:37] And even for you, I know your American health insurance, there were issues with that being accepted abroad, and then you had a lot of that.

Speaker 2:
[40:47] Yeah, it's a very, very smart thing to... It's sort of pessimistic, kind of cynical, right? To think about all that stuff sometimes, to be like, well, I just need to make sure that I have all this insurance covered in case literally the worst occurs, but it's the right thing to do. And I appreciate these two anecdotes from Justin and Martin V. Well, because two different approaches to solving a similar problem. And yeah, good food for thought, I think.

Speaker 1:
[41:24] And what Zack and I don't want to do is discourage anyone from motorcycle travel or traveling abroad or anything like that. We just want to make sure that we're at least calling attention to the fact that we've both learned some things. We've got some highside, lowside listeners that are writing in with additional tips. And we figured it would be worth sharing that with our audience. So next time you are planning a trip, maybe you make some considerations that, while we might not have made them in the past, we will certainly be making them for ourselves in the future.

Speaker 2:
[41:56] Yes, indeed, indeed. All right. Moving right along. Comment number seven to change...

Speaker 1:
[42:05] I'm laughing at the name here.

Speaker 2:
[42:06] Yeah, right. This is an Apple Podcast review, actually. Someone left an Apple Podcast review with a question and we appreciate that very much. The username is grumpy1. So you can just set the tone for what this question is gonna be like. Actually, totally reasonable question from grumpy1, which is that, quote, I am an old new rider, which means I rode a long time ago, but took a break in life and started again, not unlike our buddy Tim from episode 11 there. I bought the quintessential Harley-Davidson that I dreamed of as a kid, then I bought an Indian and thought I was done. After listening to you, yahoos, I'm now looking at speed triples, monsters, et cetera. I'm approaching 60, I'm six foot two, 225 pounds, and I want to learn how to do wheelies and endos without completely killing myself. What should I get? Well, grumpy1, I feel honored that we, yahoos, have inspired you to do endos and wheelies without killing yourself, but you shouldn't get a speed triple or a monster to start doing wheelies or endos. I just want to start there. Don't get like a hundred and something horsepower naked sport bike to start fooling around on. I think that, well, here, I'm going to give you two different answers. If you are serious about doing wheelies and endos, then you should get a tiny little dirt bike and go to a grassy field or something like that and start experimenting with wheelies. You should also be ready to tumble off and hit the ground a little bit because that's what's going to happen. If you're just saying wheelies and endos in kind of a playful sense, like you just want a motorcycle that is more playful or a motorcycle that is capable of doing those things and that's how you want the motorcycle to make you feel, then maybe a Speed Triple or a Monster is the right avenue to go down. What do you say, Spurge?

Speaker 1:
[43:54] Yeah, I took it more literally and your answer-

Speaker 2:
[43:57] Yeah, that's what I did too. I just realized when I was reading it that maybe that's not what he meant. I don't know.

Speaker 1:
[44:00] Yeah, I was going to say you took the words right out of my mouth. You could go even smaller, but I know that my KTM 350, it makes it really easy to practice wheelies and endos because it just wants to get a little rowdy right away. It's an easier lighter machine. To your point, going out in a field, it's a lot simpler when you do flip off the back to get yourself up in a dirt field than it is to pick yourself up. The asphalt with a brand new street triple or speed triple laying on the ground. It's lower risk, same reward basically.

Speaker 2:
[44:39] But you don't need a $10,000 enduro bike to do that.

Speaker 1:
[44:43] Depending on where you're living grumpy, you can buy a used Honda CRF 250 dirt bike and it's going to be just fine for you to play around and practice on. I'm sure Zack in his mind is thinking about like a CRF 50, which might be a little bit too small. No, but there's probably a compromise in there somewhere for you to practice on.

Speaker 2:
[45:04] Yeah, if you really want to learn how to do wheelies, I think, you know, whatever, like what's the bike that Nicole has? Is it a Kalex 230 or something?

Speaker 1:
[45:15] She's a 230L.

Speaker 2:
[45:16] Yeah, a 230L or a TTR 225 or whatever. Something like that, like sort of an adult sized little dirt bike. Those are really fun and you can learn a lot. If you actually want to learn how to do wheelies. And you should be doing something very small and cheap and going very slow is what you should do.

Speaker 1:
[45:36] But to your point about Grumpy1, maybe he just wants to be a endo wheelie doer in quote unquote theory. And you're just looking for something sportier.

Speaker 2:
[45:47] Yeah, or wants to like, you know, leave a stoplight and have a bike that will just sort of like gently lift the front wheel as he accelerates. You don't want to do like 12 o'clock wheelies down the highway, just wants like a little more wheelie here and there, you know. And if that's the case, then, then yeah, some kind of naked sport bike is not a bad idea. I'd get something. If you're 60, maybe six foot two.

Speaker 1:
[46:09] Maybe smaller than a speed triple. I mean, I guess I'm trying to, I'm sure he's, he's 60, an old new rider, like a 70 or 80 horsepower, mid-sized naked sport bike is probably going to feel a lot different than the hard ride that he's currently riding on.

Speaker 2:
[46:25] So you could experiment with that. But I would also, I guess I wouldn't, I wouldn't say you need to shy away from like a full size bike. I just think like something like an MT-10 or something like that, be more comfortable for, for, for Grumpy. Six foot two, 225, be like a little more comfortable on a, on a full size bike and MT-10 is not like overwhelmingly fast, but it like, it'll, it'll certainly hoika wheelie if you want it to. Anyway, whatever. Okay.

Speaker 1:
[46:48] We can move on. No, no.

Speaker 2:
[46:50] I hope that helps Grumpy.

Speaker 1:
[46:51] I'm always, I think I'm always just always weary. And this goes back to like even some, some personal associations, but it's like, oh, well no, I rode a motorcycle 20 years ago. So I'm, I'm experienced. I can go by the 150, 160 horsepower.

Speaker 2:
[47:09] Right. Right.

Speaker 1:
[47:09] I feel like sometimes like, you know, they did people don't realize that like, again, like that torquey 70, 80 horsepower parallel twin is going to be a lot of fun.

Speaker 2:
[47:20] Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[47:21] And probably a little bit less chance of getting away from you.

Speaker 2:
[47:24] Sure. Yeah. All right. Let's do, let's do, yeah, this is, this is a good one to, all right. So comment number eight comes in from Chase. No, not producer Chase.

Speaker 1:
[47:38] Chase W.

Speaker 2:
[47:39] Chase W via email. And Chase W says, I am an avid listener watcher of Highside, Lowside and a lot of RevZilla's content. I just found out that you guys did a Highside, Lowside live. As far as I can tell, this is the only Highside, Lowside live event that's ever happened. I was wondering if you're going to do it again. Because if you do, I guess I'll have to make the cross-country trip to watch it in person. So yeah, good question, Chase W. And this is sort of like a production question, and maybe it doesn't interest all of you, but we wanted to take the opportunity to say that we would like to do it again.

Speaker 1:
[48:17] Yeah, so for those of you that are not familiar, it is on YouTube. You can watch it. We ran it out of theater in Southern California. Zack and I were joined by our colleagues. We had a great time. It was really enjoyable. It was a different way of producing a podcast, a lot more stress, because there was 250 people in the audience. And if they weren't cheering or laughing, we kind of heard crickets and it made things feel a bit more real. We have explored this option in the past, Chase with a W. Most recently, we were talking to the good folks at the ABR Festival in England. Unfortunately, we couldn't make it work this year because of just some scheduling conflicts between Zack and myself. But we are trying to figure out when, where, how we could potentially do a live episode again in the future. And, Zack, to that point, I believe we had a question for the audience.

Speaker 2:
[49:16] Did we? I can tell you're throwing to me as though I'm supposed to know what's happening, but I don't remember what the... No, it's okay.

Speaker 1:
[49:21] So if anybody has suggestions out there about where we would potentially, where you think a good location for a live episode would be, small theater...

Speaker 2:
[49:33] Or a large theater even? Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[49:35] If you think that we can fill 500 people in a room, 700 people, who knows? Let us know. Shoot us an email if you have any suggestions for a location for a live episode. Like I said, ABR Festival and the good folks over there that have been very patient with Zack and I is on our list as well as some other revisitations of what we've thought about in the past. So let us know.

Speaker 2:
[50:00] All right. Well, thank you, Chase W for bringing that up and letting us give you a little window into our minds and how we would like to do that again.

Speaker 1:
[50:09] Let me ask you a question. I'm sorry. We're going to go to a Motul ad here in a second. Zack, what was your favorite part about the live episode?

Speaker 2:
[50:22] I don't know. I'm not sure. I mean, just the environment is totally different when you have a room full of people that are excited to have the same conversation. And that was great. The energy was great. The Q&A we did was great. And yeah, it was just super fun to, we sit here and we record these podcasts, and we come into your headphones or into your car, into your speakers or whatever, and we are honored to do that. But we really record this in kind of a vacuum. We each sit in our house right now, Spurgeon is in his house, I'm in my house, and we talk about bikes and we get excited and we try to keep the energy up. But it was a really different feeling to be in a room full of people who are excited to talk and ask questions and be engaged in the conversation. So that's, I would say just the energy was totally different. How about you? Did you have a favorite part?

Speaker 1:
[51:17] Yeah, I was gonna say the Q&A slash meet and greet at the end. So we actually, we rented out the bar next door, or we had like a special section in the bar next door. And after we were done recording the episode, we went next door and we talked with people that are just motorcyclists that happened to listen to Zack and I for two hours at a chunk, produce this podcast, people like yourself. And for us, it was great. It was great to have those conversations and get a little bit more FaceTime with our audience. And I think that to me is the best part of getting to do some of these live episodes. And it's why we're interested in doing it again.

Speaker 2:
[51:49] And speaking of the audience, you out there that we adore so much, here's an advertisement from our sponsor, which is important because we got to pay the bills. Gosh darn it.

Speaker 1:
[52:02] It's hard to believe that Highside Lowside has been around for 10 seasons. It's truly remarkable to take a minute and look back and see how far we've come. So much of which wouldn't have been possible without the sponsorship of Motul, who has supported us since season three. Not only has Motul been an amazing supporter of this podcast and motorcycling in general, but they've given me free rein to come up with wacky ads as I see fit. They never balked when I referred to a Stallone classic over the top to let folks know that their oil tasted like s**t, or when I researched neon green drinks like the fuzzy Leprechaun and Hammered Hulk to drive home the dangers of confusing their 300V oil for a cocktail. They weren't phased when I found a way to work in British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's nickname, a Thatcher the Milk Snatcher, to promote lubricants. And they should have cringed, but they didn't, at my poem about bugs to introduce their line of cleaning products. So please take a minute to join me in giving the old Highside, Lowside, tip of the cap to Motul. For everything they've done to help us make it through 10 seasons of this podcast, and for everything they do for all motorcyclists out there, we thank you. Alright, as we wrap up another season, just again, a thank you to Motul for their continued support of this podcast, 11 seasons, going strong into season 12. Let's jump back in here. Comment number nine comes in from Grant. Grant is taking a little bit of umbrage with one Zachary Courts. So Grant says, my wife finds sitting on the back of my ZZR 1400, that is a Kawasaki ZZR 1400, for long rides, absolutely destroys her knees. Recently, I believe that I may have solved the problem in incredible fashion by buying a second motorcycle. Congratulations, Grant. That is always a good solution to our wife's frustrations. A 2014 Kawasaki Vulcan 1700 Voyager. In previous episodes, Zach has often been quite critical of the Kawasaki Vulcans. I'm referring to them as, quote unquote, fake Harleys, whereas Spurge, the lovable and intelligent co-host of Zachary, seems to appreciate the Vulcans a little more and has said that the Vulcan range is full of excellent motorcycles that do a better job at being Harley than sometimes Harley-Davidson's do. Zach, what is your beef with the Kawasaki Vulcans?

Speaker 2:
[54:43] I don't remember saying that Kawasaki Vulcans weren't good or that they're fake Harleys.

Speaker 1:
[54:47] I do. I'm going to go. I'm going to side with Grant on this one. Zach, why don't you, why do you not like Kawasaki Vulcans?

Speaker 2:
[54:54] I think I can like them and they can be fake Harleys at the same time. Two things can be true, Grant. Yeah, I mean, if your wife's knees hurt on the back of a ZX-14 and you got a Vulcan to solve that problem, I would say that's a good call. I don't know. I don't have any mechanical problem with a Kawasaki Vulcan. I don't think it's a bad motorcycle. I don't think it handles poorly or performs poorly or anything like that. I don't know. I don't know. I think if I was going to lean in to any hate that I've sprayed toward a Kawasaki Vulcan in the past, it would be sort of like, you know, if you went to like a burger joint and someone ordered a veggie burger, you might be like, oh, you got the veggie burger. Is that a, are you a vegetarian? Or like, why didn't you get the burger that's made out of beef? Well, what was the reason? And if the person said, well, it's cheaper, then you'd be like, okay, fair enough. You got it because it costs less than the burger made out of beef. But you'd have some question. You'd want to know, right? And there are people out there that'll say, well, a veggie burger just tastes better than a beef patty. And those people aren't wrong. They're entitled to their opinion.

Speaker 1:
[56:26] That's a great analogy. I'm sorry. Like I didn't see that coming. That's nothing, ladies and gentlemen, that we rehearsed in pre-production for this episode. That is straight off the cuff. The veggie burger versus beef analogy when thinking about a Kawasaki Vulcan versus a Harley Davidson touring bike. I will, Grant, come to Zack's defense here a little bit. I don't like to do it, but I will.

Speaker 2:
[56:47] I don't like to do it.

Speaker 1:
[56:49] As someone that has worked at a dealership where we sold Kawasaki Vulcans and quite a lot of them in middle Tennessee, you would have customers come in and they'd come in to look at a used Harley Davidson touring model that we had sitting on the floor. And they would try to negotiate on price or they didn't like something about it. And you would show them a gleaming row of beautiful Kawasaki Vulcans. Often, you could buy them brand new for less than a used Harley Davidson. And they'd be like, nope, don't want it, not interested. And I think there's just this mindset with certain demographics of riders where if they want a Harley Davidson, they want a Harley Davidson, and they do not want the Japanese version of a Harley Davidson. To that end, the Kawasaki Vulcans are great motorcycles. They're big, they're torquey, they do the big touring bike thing really well. They've got a lot of different variants you can choose from, and they're bulletproof reliable. So I don't think either of us are negating that. And if you found a Vulcan 1700 Voyager that you like, it fits in your garage and your wife enjoys riding on the back, well, more power to you, Grant. I think Zack and I would probably both give you a virtual high five for that.

Speaker 2:
[58:04] Yeah, I agree. I think this is my personal opinion that a Honda Shadow, a Starbolt, those are good motorcycles. There's really nothing wrong with them. I don't think. When I ride them, I think, like, this is good. This is a good motorcycle, and lots of people have purchased them. I just wouldn't do that. If I was going to get a mid-sized air-cooled V-twin to rumble around on, I would just buy an old air-cooled sports car. That's what I would do.

Speaker 1:
[58:46] So you're a Harley-Man at heart. I didn't know this about you. I'm learning something new.

Speaker 2:
[58:50] I don't know. To go back to the burger analogy, I was a vegetarian for years. I like a veggie burger. I do. They're good. I don't have any problem with them. But you cannot deny that a veggie burger is impersonating the original thing. That's all. That's all I'm saying.

Speaker 1:
[59:09] I have nothing more to add. We've come back around to the veggie burger analogy a second time, and I think that takes us into comment 10.

Speaker 2:
[59:15] Which is one time too many.

Speaker 1:
[59:17] So speaking of folks that are taking umbrage with us and apparently the way that we're positioning our feelings about certain motorcycles that they may own, Zack, why don't you read comment 10 for the audience?

Speaker 2:
[59:30] Yes, comment 10 comes in from quote anonymous via email, who says, I bought a 2012 Yamaha Super Tenere new, and I've put over 100,000 miles on it. Most of them very-

Speaker 1:
[59:42] That's like, that 100,000 miles on a motorcycle, you get an applause for that sir, anonymous.

Speaker 2:
[59:49] Most of them, very hard, comma off-road, comma single-track, comma et cetera. So, riding this Super Tenere through the thickets and bush and having a good old time, it seems. The email goes on to say, I've been listening to your podcast backwards now, and I'm now almost through season seven. I see, looking backwards, that took me a minute. I've heard you mention the Super T maybe twice now. What am I doing wrong? To me, it's perfect. It can do this, it can do that. Burnouts, a thousand miles, never breaks down. Shaft drive, awesome. The endorphins are flowing, I just think about how great this thing is, yet clearly I am wrong. According to your expert journalism, I need a Himalayan or a KTM 890, but I feel this will simply exasperate my problem of having no friends. Please help me. Yeah, so another person that thinks that we don't talk about how awesome their bike is enough, and I don't remember, I don't think I have an analogy, I don't think I have a hamburger analogy for anonymous here, but I think the first thing I would say before Spurgy weigh in is that just because we don't talk about a bike doesn't mean that it's not good. There are the Honda Shadows and the Starbolts and the Super Tenere's out there that are fine.

Speaker 1:
[61:03] So I was at a barbecue the other day.

Speaker 2:
[61:05] Nice, I hope you're going to do a burger analogy with us.

Speaker 1:
[61:07] I had some hot dogs on the grill, and we had some all beef hot dogs, and we had some turkey hot dogs. No veggie hot dogs, and they were both delicious. So I'm going to say that, frankly, while I prefer the beef, I don't know. I'm not going to keep going with this, but it's the same thing that we just talked about here, to an extent. The Super Tenere is a fine motorcycle. However, our missus Anonymous, there were some hiccups with the Super Tenere that did not make it a first option for a lot of people for riding off road. There were some quirks with the way that you had to turn the traction control off. You had to put it up on the center stand and restart the bike. I watched a guy in a sand wash really struggle and was really not happy with his choice. One of my best friends, his first adventure bike was a Super Tenere. He rode it and he had a great time with it, but he was also very excited to move on and trade it in on a different model. He owns a Tenere 700 now and had owned a KTM 890. But the Super Tenere is a great motorcycle. It's just not one that we really gravitate towards. It wasn't super popular. They don't, I think, do they even import it into America anymore?

Speaker 2:
[62:33] Yeah, they had that electronic suspension model. Wasn't there a Super T 1200? Yes.

Speaker 1:
[62:37] That was like 18. It's now 2026. I don't even know.

Speaker 2:
[62:42] Life comes at you fast. I think if I was going to, again, if I was gonna lean in to Anonymous' email here and sort of like take the stance that they think that I have, the Super T is a good bike, but doesn't do anything better than another bike. And I think that's why it doesn't bubble to the top of our list, because if you're saying like, well, what adventure bike should I get for touring? Well, you should probably get this one. Well, which bike should I get for riding off road? Well, you probably get this one. And it's possible, every motorcycle has its, it has this sort of like pluses and minuses in the things it does. And each bike has a different balance of things that it's good at and things that it's not good at. And for a certain rider, a Super Tenere is the bike that like, it has Japanese reliability, it has a shaft drive like a BMW, but it has a parallel twin like an Africa Twin, but it also has this, but also has a large tank like that bike, but it also, you can copy this.

Speaker 1:
[63:49] It's got the weight of an American cruiser on a touring bike.

Speaker 2:
[63:52] Yeah, exactly. So I think that there's the perfect customer for each bike. And maybe you're the perfect customer, anonymous, for the Super 10 Array. But I guess I would be surprised if you, even pulling from the 2012 or whatever, 2012 to 2014 model years of motorcycles, if you rode every other option, if you rode a KTM 1190 and a BMW R 1200 GS and a, what else was there back then? Anyway, if you rode the other options from that era and I feel like you'd be impressed with some of the things that those bikes do as well. But at the end of the day, I just want to say, I'm happy that you're happy. And who cares if we bring the bike up a lot or not? It doesn't matter.

Speaker 1:
[64:40] Yeah, so just a couple of final points here. One is, it looks like 2024 was the last, it is not currently available in North America, but it had a good run. It had a good run. To Zack's point, I do want to bring up an analogy because this is actually something that came up the other day. We released our Best of Motorcycle Helmets video, which we try to do every year, highlighting new and favorite motorcycle helmets. It's not a be-all end-all. It's not like, hey, if we didn't mention the helmet that you like, it means that the helmet you're riding isn't safe or whatnot. And one of the comments we got was on the Shoei Neotec 3. And they said, hey, how did you not pick the Shoei Neotec 3 for a best modular helmet? And I think this speaks to, Zack and I have our opinions. We have the things that we like and we don't like. I like the Shoei Neotec 3. But it's hard to say that it's one of the best modular helmets out there because it only carries a DOT rating. They import a different version for the US. It doesn't, it's not the ECE version. It weighs over four pounds in the American market. Do I still have one and like to ride in it? Yeah. But it's not necessarily the first one that I would go to if someone's like, hey, what's the best modular out there to consider? You know, it's not the one that I would necessarily go to. It's the same way that frankly, I don't think the KTM 890 is the best bike for everybody out there looking to get on an adventure motorcycle. Right? It's the one that I really like. It's the one that I have in my garage, but it's not necessarily the one that I recommend if someone's like, hey, I'm looking to get an adventure bike. What's the best one for doing XYZ? So I would just say keep that in mind. Like we have our favorites and our opinions and we have certain things that we gravitate towards. And then there's ones that we genuinely think are like a great all-around option. And I'm sorry that we've upset you by not talking about the Super Tenere more and hopefully by talking about this comment with our multiple comparisons to hotdogs and helmets, it has helped to ease a little bit of your pain.

Speaker 2:
[66:39] But genuinely congrats on 100,000 miles. And we're happy that you're happy with the bike. That's great.

Speaker 1:
[66:45] Yeah. I will be interested in Mr. or Mrs. Anonymous, if you would like to give us one follow-up. Do you plan on keeping it and trying to hit 200,000 miles? Or was this question a way of saying, hey, I am thinking about getting a different motorcycle and I'm disappointed that you haven't just recommended me to go buy another Super Tenere?

Speaker 2:
[67:05] Right, exactly. Fair enough. And if you hit 200,000 miles, we'll send you a T-shirt. Comment number 11.

Speaker 1:
[67:12] And a gas card.

Speaker 2:
[67:13] Comes from Eric, E-R-I-C, via email. And what is, oh, this is another dealer. This is another dealer question. I'm gonna read this one, Spurg, so you can answer it. Because I think this is a... Eric says, why can't I order a new Honda Transalp 750 from my local dealer? I have called around and apparently this isn't a thing. Each dealer gets allocated certain numbers and models of bikes, as far as I've heard. Is this just a Honda thing? Also, there are rumblings of the 2026 Transalp 750 getting upgraded suspension and a stock skid plate, but no one seems to know when this will hit the US market. What gives?

Speaker 1:
[67:51] Okay, deep breath. Eric, first and foremost, I'm going to give you, to my knowledge, the best information that I have rolling around my head of how this works. Dealerships place an order prior to ride season, usually three to six months out, their allocation of bikes come in that they order, and once they sell out of that, then they're out until the next ordering period. We are, I would love, and we're trying to figure out how to put together an episode that looks behind the curtain a little bit about how motorcycle dealerships work. We're actually talking to a couple of different owners to see if they'd be willing to come on and talk about what it takes to run a motorcycle dealership, because I think there's a lot of misunderstanding and misinformation out there. But it's not just a Honda thing. You place an order in advance, your shipment comes in, those are the bikes you have allocated to you. Now, what I will say is that while a dealership typically can't just go place another order willy-nilly, typically what they can do is reach out to their Honda rep and say, hey, do you have any of these hanging out in a warehouse somewhere? No? Okay. Let's head over to the website, which is not the website that you and I see, but there's a dealership side of it and see where might other local dealerships have a Transalp sitting on the floor. Can we get a dealer-to-dealer transfer? It sounds like maybe there's some levels that your local dealership could pull if they wanted to. Maybe the incentive for them doing that isn't in the right place and they just don't feel like doing the extra mile. That it sounds like it might be an actual dealer thing that they're not at least offering you some solutions as to how they could help you solve that problem.

Speaker 2:
[69:42] All right, and the answer.

Speaker 1:
[69:45] The final note here, Eric, is the second part of your question. As far as rumblings around a upgrade to a 2026 TransAlp 750 getting upgraded suspension and a stock skid plate, what I will tell you is that Lance and I at the end of 2025 rode and did two separate reviews. Lance did an on-road review. I did an off-road review of the updated TransAlp. I believe it was a 2025 model that got the upgraded, very minor upgrade to the suspension. They changed some of the damping around. If you look at the articles that Lance and I published on Common Tread, one is a TransAlp on-road review, one is a TransAlp off-road review. We can make sure that those pop up on the screen. There was no skid plate on that motorcycle, but it did get the upgraded suspension. I'm not sure and I've heard nothing about them upgrading the suspension again for this model year. Zack, I don't know if you've heard anything.

Speaker 2:
[70:41] Have not. No. I can't say what, if there's another update or if there's another trim level or something like that. So I can't say. But it does seem like, I guess one thing I'll add is that occasionally motorcycles are, a specific model of motorcycle has a high enough demand that dealers can't keep them in stock. They just order them and there's a wait list and that's it, because they can't get, there aren't enough models and there aren't enough units of that particular model. And it's popular and you have to wait. And that's the way the cookie crumbles. So that does happen sometimes, though, from what I know about the motorcycle market lately, I don't think that that's the case. I would guess it's more in line with what Spurge said.

Speaker 1:
[71:30] And in defense of the dealership, it might have been an allocation from Honda. Like certain very popular new models, a dealership might say, hey, I want 12 of these. And the OEM, in this case, Honda North America, could have come back and said, hey, we can only give you four because we're trying to make sure every dealership gets X amount. So there could be something specific with the popularity of the Transop 750, or it could just be that you would just want to maybe go back to your dealer and say, hey, could you call around and see if there's anything out there that you could do a dealer-to-dealer transfer for?

Speaker 2:
[72:06] I like it. Good answer, Spurge. We got a couple of questions here that we're going to cut for time, but I think we're on time here. We can touch on these. These are fun. They're not huge or longer necessarily.

Speaker 1:
[72:24] I think it bears mention that this gets into Zack and I paying attention to the comments you leave. It's funny because we'll see comments that are like, this episode was way too long. It should have been shorter. Then there's people that are like, this episode wasn't long enough. You should have talked longer. Zack and I are always very cognizant of our runtime. We try to keep it at or around or slightly below the two-hour mark. We recognize that for some people that's too long, and maybe you have to break it up into different listens, or some people that's not long enough because you're a long-haul truck driver and you want to listen to us for eight hours on end. Any thoughts or opinions, again, please feel free to share them with us. We're going into a consideration of how we want to revamp things for Season 12, and we're always looking forward to hearing your feedback.

Speaker 2:
[73:16] Indeed. So, the comment number 12 comes in from Animesh who says, I am a 25-year-old new motorcyclist of one month. Animesh has come to realize that most people, brands, and governments do not see motorcycles in enjoyable, efficient motor transportation, but more as a sport or hobby. And basically, to get to the chase here, Animesh says, what do you think about governments giving rebates on fuel-efficient beginner motorcycles and scooters? To MSF or other safety agency-qualified riders? Animesh goes on to say, it feels like most people, well, I'll just quote Animesh here. I don't know where he got these statistics, but that's not my problem. Something like 80% of American car trips are taken alone, in other words, one person in the car, with nothing more in the car than you can carry in a backpack. And I hope people realize how silly it is to not use a motorcycle. Animish goes on to say that a motorcycle will generally have a lower lifetime pollutant footprint per mile than even an electric car once you include manufacturing associated oil and plastics and transportation, et cetera. So, bottom line here, Animish is a new rider and says like, why don't more people do this? It makes sense, you use a smaller vehicle, you blah, blah, blah. Spurgeon, what's your first response here?

Speaker 1:
[74:34] Well, anytime I'm in Southern California visiting my dear friend Zachary, I'm always amazed at how many people are traveling down the 405 at rush hour in a car and two, Animish is common about 80 percent of Americans. I would believe that because there's a carpool lane on the 405, and there's a lot more people in the four lanes outside the carpool lane than there are in the carpool lane. So, there's a lot of people just sitting singular in a car driving around. I have done a little bit of research on this for an article because every time we see a fuel crisis, the question always comes back is, oh, well, why shouldn't we all be riding motorcycles? And while there are some bikes out there that give you tremendous fuel mileage, right? I'm thinking of a Honda NC 700. When that was released, they were claiming like 70 miles to the gallon, things like that. Oftentimes the overall operating cost of a motorcycle, when you're getting into like how many sets of tires you have to wear through compared to a car, how many the frequency of oil changes, things like that. I've heard both sides of the coin. I've heard that motorcycles and some of the research lends itself to motorcycles are actually not as efficient as cars for the environment. And then other information and other statistics will say that it is, in fact, more efficient than a car.

Speaker 2:
[76:07] I think there's certainly something to be said for the fact that more people could use two-wheeled transportation to get around, especially in urban and suburban environments, and save on parking and save on congestion, and it would certainly be a good idea. But I don't know that it really pencils, as Spurge said. If you're interested in talking or if you're interested in listening to more discussion about this and Emish, I would like to point out that Highside, Lowside, Season Five, Episode Nine was a conversation between Spurge, myself, and our buddy Spencer, Robert, where we talked about, where the question we were trying to answer was, are motorcycles the cheapest way to get around? And we talked a lot about buying cheap motorcycles, fuel mileage, insurance costs, stuff like that. So if you and Emish or anyone else listening are interested in this conversation being drawn out, we drew it out in Season Five, Episode Nine, which was a lot of fun. And I don't think that there's a really solid answer here. I don't think there's a, it's not black and white. But I appreciate that you're a month into this motorcycling thing, Emish, and you're loving the efficiency of it. And I think if other people don't do it, at least you can have the satisfaction of parking anywhere you want and not using a lot of fuel or space on the road when you go somewhere.

Speaker 1:
[77:26] I will say to your question about the MSF, certain rebates and stuff, I know certain states, like in Pennsylvania, the MSF program is covered by motorcycle registration. So our state government actually pays to cover your motorcycle training using motorcycle registration fees. So I know that's not exactly what you're talking about, but there is a little bit of a give back there.

Speaker 2:
[77:50] And I was just going to say, when I got my license, which was a long time ago now, I got a break on insurance for having done the MSF course as well. So there are some things that you get for being a trained licensed motorcyclist. And probably not exactly what you meant, Animish, but there's some movement in that direction at least.

Speaker 1:
[78:14] I think it's a hard conversation to have at the moment because we saw even at the end of 2025, the current administration is rolling back credits for EV vehicles and other things. So it doesn't seem like necessarily the environmental side of things is necessarily the priority at the moment. I stand with you on the mission and I think that if we're all riding motorcycles back and forth, it would probably have an overall positive effect on a lot of people. Maybe not just environmental, but we'd probably all be mentally a little bit happier if we're just out riding bikes together. Bring back Lane Splitting 2. Have we talked about Lane Splitting yet? Let's come on. Let's pile that on there as well.

Speaker 2:
[78:55] Comment number 13, Spurge, take it away.

Speaker 1:
[78:57] All right. Comment number 13 comes in from Tony. Tony says, American motorcycles weren't always cruisers. The Indian chief of the 40s to the first electric lines of the 60s had high seats and controls under their hips. They were closer to standard motorcycles. When did cruisers completely take over?

Speaker 2:
[79:23] All right. Comment number 14 is, oh, sorry, right, Tony. When did cruisers completely take over? This, I said these quick questions and I forgot that Tony's, we could ramble for a long time about this. But this is a fair thing to point out that we talk about Harley Davidson, we talk about India, we talk about American V-twin motorcycles, we talk about them as though it's like they've always been these big, lumbering, sometimes cumbersome, heavy things that were made to thunder across the open plains of the vast country. It is true that what Tony says that that wasn't necessarily always the case. If you look at a 1962, when did the Sportster come out? 1959, maybe? I don't remember. Anyway, if you look at early Sportsters in the 60s or something like that, we have an episode of the podcast on that.

Speaker 1:
[80:21] Just go back and check out our Sportster episode.

Speaker 2:
[80:25] It wasn't totally different than a Triumph Bonneville or something. But I think that ultimately the market has dictated that, Tony. That's the bottom line is that those are the bikes that people gravitated towards, liked, bought, and then American manufacturers leaned into it even more, and they sold even more of them, and then leaned into it even more, and then they sold more of them. And the evolution has dictated that the bikes are the way they are. The demand was for big and heavy and go straight. And that's what the American manufacturers made. And now here we are with 800 and 900-pound motorcycles with big fairings and big saddlebags. It's a, that's just like what people wanted, and that's what they built.

Speaker 1:
[81:21] 1957 was the introduction of the Harley Sportster, for those of you that were curious on that. Zack, to your point, if we want to put a finer point on what you're trying to say, Tony, I would say the 70s, you know, we talked about this in the Gold Wing episode a little bit, you know, when Honda started coming to America with a bike like the Gold Wing, saying, hey, we're going to build a big, dependable motorcycle for American roads. And then you had Harley-Davidson kind of responding to that. And then it became this displacement war. And it got into, you know, the brand focusing a little bit more on big touring comfort. And as the technology evolved, you know, that was that was their version of what made something, you know, more comfortable.

Speaker 2:
[82:08] My dad really likes the term sneakerization. Are you familiar with that, Spurgeon?

Speaker 1:
[82:12] I'm not.

Speaker 2:
[82:13] Tell me about it. I don't remember where it came from or some article he read years ago or something. I don't know. But someone pointed out that, you know, sneakers used to be just sneakers. Decades and decades ago, you could get a pair of sneakers and you could do whatever you did in sneakers with them. You play basketball, you go whatever. And by the time you and I were kids, Spurgeon, in the 90s or whatever, then it was like, my dad was always blown away with like, oh, you get, we're going to buy basketball shoes. And then we got to buy cleats. You're going to buy cleats to play soccer and you can buy cleats to play baseball. And aren't they both just shoes with spikes on the bottom? Like, why do you need a different pair of shoes to play soccer? And then you need to play baseball, which is kind of a good point. You don't really, but ultimately, you know, whatever, shoes have gone in all these different directions and they're sliced really thin now. And that started happening, I think, in the 70s, and especially in the 80s with motorcycles, right? They started branching out and that was the birth of the adventure bike, the birth of the sport bike, these sort of like branches on the tree of motorcycling that went in different directions. And probably that exacerbated the American companies leaning into the bread and butter of big touring bikes.

Speaker 1:
[83:29] So, I will leave you with this because one of the things that I love to do on Highside and Lowside is throw out book recommendations. I'm an avid reader and I like books. If you ever want to learn more about the evolution of sneakers, the Phil Knight book is actually an amazing read. So if you're looking for something to read this spring, this summer when you're on the beach or taking a vacation or maybe you're on a motorcycle trip and you want to sit below a tree and eat your lunch, check out the Phil Knight book. It's very good.

Speaker 2:
[83:58] I believe it's called Shoe Dog, right?

Speaker 1:
[83:59] Shoe Dog. Shoe Dog. Correct. All right. Comment 14. This is just one that we wanted to focus on. This comes in from Timothy. He had sent me an email actually. It just said, Spurge, great job covering such an iconic bike with Aerie. This was in reference to our Gsx-R750. I think it was the Gsx-R750, specifically the Gsx-R model that we focused on. For an ICONS episode.

Speaker 2:
[84:28] Episode five.

Speaker 1:
[84:29] Yes, and Timothy went on to say that he restored a 1990 Slingshot and he absolutely loves the bike. We just wanted to give Timothy's bike a shout out here. Remember the Slingshot refers to the carburetors that would have been on that particular model. And not only does his bike look amazing, but his garage looks pretty darn swell as well.

Speaker 2:
[84:51] Yeah, yeah, that's a, that's a, it's a, it's a, I got big garage envy there. And yeah, pretty cool restoration on that Gsx-R. I did sort of a Kevin Schwantz Lucky Strike, you know, GP paint job on it and it's handsome. Very cool.

Speaker 1:
[85:10] All right, do you want to read the final comment?

Speaker 2:
[85:12] Yeah, this one I should take, I should take this one.

Speaker 1:
[85:14] Play the engine sound guessing game.

Speaker 2:
[85:16] Comment number 15. This came in from long time listener Jay, who was the one that suggested the alternate timelines episode where we talked about alternate timelines. And this is another of those, but a good way to end out the season, I think, finish off the season here, Spurge. The question from Jay is simply, what if Spurgeon Dunbar never joined RevZilla? How about that alternate timeline?

Speaker 1:
[85:49] This was one that he actually had suggested and was asking us to use in the alternate timelines episode.

Speaker 2:
[85:54] But it got cut for time.

Speaker 1:
[85:56] Yeah. And if you remember back to the episode, it was the one where we did, we're like, what if Germany would have won World War II? What would motorcycles look like? And we pontificated on some different outcomes. We ultimately decided that from a timing standpoint, we would save this one for the finale episode because I think what's really interesting with me or with this question is that it has less to do with me specifically, as it does with the evolution of everything that came along. So I honestly, I don't know what my career would look like right now. Hang on.

Speaker 2:
[86:35] Hold up. Back up a little bit. Does anyone know your story? Your story, RevZilla, here's Spurgeon. We've talked about that maybe years ago in podcasts, but I just want to give a quick recap. You were working at a dealership and you decided to try and get a job at RevZilla, and you joined RevZilla as a customer service app, right? You're picking up phones and talking to people about buying gear, is that right?

Speaker 1:
[86:55] Yeah. I was an out-of-work high school teacher. I got caught up in the layoffs of the economic downturn of 2008, 2009. Ended up in Tennessee at a motorcycle dealership, working nights, slinging beers as well. And I applied for a... There was a... I went on a motorcycle vacation. I took some PTO, went on a motorcycle trip, ended up riding motorcycles alongside some folks. And one of the guys got to talking to me at lunch and was like, hey, you know, I'm an architect and I just designed this new headquarters for this company in Philadelphia. And, you know, you would like them. You should check them out. And that company turned out to be RevZilla. I checked them out. They had a job posting for they wanted to start creating content. I applied and I said, I would like to help you create content. And they came back and they said, absolutely not. You have no experience creating content. But we will hire you to answer the phones. And I had a friend at the time who was advising me and said, hey, I think you need to, you know, swallow your pride a little bit and go answer some phones. I think this would be, you know, good for you. It's a good foot in the door, even though it's not what you had applied for, you should take them up on it. And I did. And I actually, I worked customer service for a year. I loved it. And I did say when I got hired that I would work customer service and all I would ask in return is that in my free time, I would be allowed to volunteer content. And the person that ended up getting hired for the job that I applied for was one, Lance Oliver.

Speaker 2:
[88:34] Obviously, the Silver Fox himself.

Speaker 1:
[88:36] Much more qualified. Lance had a long history of journalism as well as motorcycle journalism. And I got to, I spent my nights and weekends writing articles for him and basically submitting articles and he would come back and say, hey, try this or hey, your writing needs to be stronger here. And I got to learn from him without it being necessarily part of my job. I worked many hours for free, but I learned a lot. It was a great education. At that time, about a year after customer service, I started doing a similar thing. Brett Walling, who is now our VP of Brand, started looking to expand the video team. He was in charge of the video team at the time. And he found one Lemmy working as a merchandiser for the company. And he had found me working for CS. And I was working Tuesday through Saturday shift. So on Mondays, I would come in and work for free for Brett. And we would try doing bike reviews. And if you go back, the first bike review we ever filmed was never released. It was like a test release on an F800. But the Triumph Thruxton from 2014 was the first bike review we ever produced. It came out as the second bike review. Lemmy did one on a Harley V-rod, I believe, which was the first one to get released, but actually the second one to get produced. So there's a little fun nugget for you, is that the 2014 Triumph Thruxton review is the very first bike review we ever did. Fast forward, right? So we start doing bike reviews, we start doing product reviews. I came from customer service, Lemmy came from the merchandising side. And through bike reviews, I met Ari Henning. And out of the whole Zack, Ari, Spencer combination, which later joins this story, Ari and I just kind of hit it off. We were at a Rebel introduction for the original Rebel 300. Ari had a broken arm at the time, or I think it was a shoulder injury maybe.

Speaker 2:
[90:38] Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[90:39] And we just kind of sat around, had a couple of drinks and talked. And we realized that like we're, we both just genuinely like motorcycles. And I think there's oftentimes in this industry, people that, I don't know how to put this. Some people just want to hear themselves talk maybe, or they think pretty highly of themselves. And I, while sometimes we play around in this podcast, like I'm, I don't know, like I'm pretty failable.

Speaker 2:
[91:08] You don't think a lot of yourself.

Speaker 1:
[91:09] I do not. Especially not in the presence of somebody like Ari Henning. Anyway, so Ari and I got along and we kind of kept in touch and we were at a Ninja 400 launch together and Ari was really kind and we just kind of became close. And that's how I eventually met Zack and Spencer, who at the time.

Speaker 2:
[91:28] This is where I'd like to interrupt.

Speaker 1:
[91:29] Jump in.

Speaker 2:
[91:29] And just say quickly to back up a little bit. Real bootstrap story. I like your story at RevZilla Spurgeon. I like how you started answering phones and you did swell your pride. And then, and ultimately you said like, I want to write and I want to write and kept writing articles and making videos and chipping away at it. And and like, you know, change your change your own future there, which I think is a admirable thing to have done. And I hope is inspiring for anyone earlier, early-ish in their career and who might be questioning their ability to change their own stars, as it were.

Speaker 1:
[92:04] Well, I appreciate that. So I guess this is where Zack enters the story, right? So back to the original question, what if Spurgeon never got on RevZilla? I mean, I don't know. I mean, Common Tread would probably be different. Our video content in the early years would have definitely been different because it was really just Lemmy and I working alongside Brett trying to put something together. We had a great team of people behind the scenes, and that team certainly would have potentially still been there, but as I became friends with Aerie, and Zack and Aerie at the time were working for MotorTrend. Zack, what happened with your story at MotorTrend?

Speaker 2:
[92:46] Funny old day. I wish I remembered the date. I don't know. It was November or something because it was at Long Beach.

Speaker 1:
[92:52] I could find the date.

Speaker 2:
[92:53] Yeah, we could find the date.

Speaker 1:
[92:54] I have it in my calendar.

Speaker 2:
[92:54] Anyway, it doesn't really matter that much. But what happened was we took a conference call with the people at Discovery Plus and MotorTrend on demand. We were talking about season three of our show Throttle Out. What they told us is, your show is canceled. We were at this show about to hang out with Spurge and do this collab thing where we were going to sell shirts for Throttle Out show at the RevZilla booth and blah, blah, whatever. It's going to be super cool. We left that meeting from the conference room at the convention center. We were like, okay, well, that's kicking the teeth. We're jobless now. We walked downstairs and we told Spurge. We met up with him and he's like, hey, how's it going, guys? We're like, well, our show just got canceled.

Speaker 1:
[93:32] We don't want to give away T-shirts.

Speaker 2:
[93:33] Yeah, so we're probably not going to give it away. In retrospect, we should have just given away the T-shirts. Who cares? Anyway, but yeah, we were sort of like, I don't really know how this changes things, but our lives just changed a lot. And long story short, Spurge basically said, do you want to work for RevZilla? And we said, do you have money to pay three salaries and a production budget for us to make videos and write stories for you and that kind of thing? And Spurge just said, let me check. And then fast forward to January of 2020, we flew to Philadelphia and met with everyone, hung out a little bit, we recorded a couple of podcasts with the gang and then signed employment contracts in February. So to get back to the question, what if Spurgeon Dunbar never joined RevZilla? Not only would Spurgeon's life be different, but certainly Spurge has been the catalyst for myself, for Aerie, for Spencer, joining RevZilla, for the CTXP program, for the shop manual, for Daily Rider, for these things that existed in some capacity elsewhere in the past on the internet, but the way they have evolved have all benefited from Spurgeon Dunbar swallowing his pride, picking up a phone and talking to people about their online purchase.

Speaker 1:
[94:45] I will say that there were a lot of people behind the scenes that supported bringing Aerie into the call.

Speaker 2:
[94:50] Of course, yeah, people signed off on the whole thing and signed off on budgets to pay us, and we are in their debt, I suppose.

Speaker 1:
[95:00] But I think this speaks volumes. You were talking about the younger people just starting out. So much of it is just relationships, right place, right time, and also putting yourself out there a little bit. And that's what I would say. And maybe if that's the takeaway, if there's something that you wanna do, it's just a little bit of willing it. What would our coworkers say about this?

Speaker 2:
[95:52] Apparently, Editor Mad said that history teacher Spurge would have been a vice principal at least by now. And he says, he says, I can almost hear the hushed tones in the school hallways under the clatter of locker doors. Quote, did you know that Mr. Dunbar plays guitar? Jesse's parents saw him at Club 9 over the weekend. They said he was pretty good. All boomer music, but whatever. Delightful.

Speaker 1:
[96:18] And how about our boss? How about our boss? Because he does U2.

Speaker 2:
[96:21] Yeah, yeah. Let's see. Our boss also thinks that you'd be a professional guitarist of some kind, or whatever. And then he says that I would be a semi-pro soccer player, which almost certainly not true. But it does make me wistful for the days where I had two ankles that worked because I did enjoy playing soccer. So thanks for that, Steve. I appreciate you boosting my confidence.

Speaker 1:
[96:43] He says that I will be a guitar player in an ACDC cover band wearing my tight Angus Young schoolboy outfit, getting elderly ladies excited. So yeah, Steve, I appreciate the vote of confidence that if I didn't have a successful career here, that's what I would be doing with myself. Editor Matt does say that Zack's vision or editor's Matt vision for Zack is that Zack's Vermont woodpile would be the object of envy and bewilderment because he would be out there just stockpiling wood for a 40-mile radius because he's going to live alone in a shack. But his inborn athleticism and ambition would require a bigger summit than the well-stacked woodpile. I'm thinking he would also be merciless and somewhat legendary in the local cross-country skiing community.

Speaker 2:
[97:36] Well, I'm going to go cross-eyed if I gaze at my navel any longer. Let's move it along to one final engine sound guessing game of this season 11 of Highside, Lowside. Super fun questions from everyone and especially all of our colleagues here.

Speaker 1:
[97:57] I had no idea that our producer Chase is going to do this. What we're not sharing with you is a Patrick Garvin made AI images of us. Zack is a baker and me apparently is a paintball. Anyway, let's move on. Maybe some of this stuff will pop up on the screen.

Speaker 2:
[98:14] Maybe some of this stuff will pop up on our criminal record later. Anyway, the engine sound guess game is brought to you, of course, by Akrapovic. If you don't know Akrapovic, they make premium exhausts for your motorcycle sport bikes to off-road everything in between. And we are very thankful that Akrapovic is generous enough to sponsor the engine sound guessing game. If you haven't played this game before, I don't believe you because you're on season 11, episode 12 of this show. So you probably know how it works. But anyway, we're gonna hear a motorcycle start up and rev a few times. We're gonna try to guess how many cylinders it has and what the make and model is. Spurgeon, are you ready to flip and play?

Speaker 1:
[98:53] Let's do this.

Speaker 2:
[99:21] Mm-hmm, interesting, interesting, interesting.

Speaker 1:
[99:25] They sound a little bit blown out to you.

Speaker 2:
[99:27] Yeah, they did. Recordings, not great. But a fun game to play, nonetheless. I was, okay, well, Spurgeon, what do you got right off the bat? We usually do number cylinders, what do you hear?

Speaker 1:
[99:40] More than one.

Speaker 2:
[99:42] I agree, I agree.

Speaker 1:
[99:44] Doesn't sound like a twin, doesn't sound like a triple.

Speaker 2:
[99:48] No, I was torn between triple and four, but I think when it revved up, I'm hearing four cylinders, I think.

Speaker 1:
[99:53] Yeah, it didn't. I mean, I've been wrong on the triples before, but usually a triple has a pretty distinct sound to it.

Speaker 2:
[100:00] I was hung up on the starter noise because motorcycles have very specific starter noises, and that sort of like slow crank, I don't know. We'll listen to it again in a minute here, but the whine of that starter motor, it's like it's tickling my brain and I thought, God, what is it? But for me, Spurgeon, I'm hearing something very specific in this recording that's giving it away. Did you hear anything when it revved up extra high? Anything tickle your ears?

Speaker 1:
[100:25] No, did you hear an extra valve open or something?

Speaker 2:
[100:27] I heard something, I think I heard a little whistle. A whistle? Yeah, like when the engine revved up, and then when the throttle was closed, on the overrun of the engine, I heard a little chirp, almost like a...

Speaker 1:
[100:42] Do you want to make a guess before we even do a hint? Do you want to do it like a...

Speaker 2:
[100:45] I think this is a supercharged Kawasaki H2. I think I heard a supercharger in there, and I could be embarrassed yet again with my horrible guess in the engine sound guessing game.

Speaker 1:
[100:56] I like you taking a stand, man. I like it.

Speaker 2:
[100:58] Well, anything else you'd like to add before we listen to it a second time? Should we do a hint?

Speaker 1:
[101:03] Let's do the first hint. Give me a second. Let me just open this up. First hint is an inline four. So, Zack, that could be your supercharger.

Speaker 2:
[101:14] Okay, everybody, we're going to listen to it one more time here. Give a listen for that little chirp. I could be wrong, I've been wrong before, but did you hear it?

Speaker 1:
[101:47] It was on the most aggressive rev, right around the 22nd mark, yeah.

Speaker 2:
[101:51] Okay, let's get hint number two.

Speaker 1:
[101:57] Hint number two, this is our final hint. The model line premiered in 2018.

Speaker 2:
[102:06] Okay.

Speaker 1:
[102:08] What year did the H2 come out?

Speaker 2:
[102:10] Before 2018, wasn't it?

Speaker 1:
[102:12] I don't think so. I think I was going to say it was after 2018.

Speaker 2:
[102:15] Oh, okay.

Speaker 1:
[102:17] But that might be it.

Speaker 2:
[102:19] Really?

Speaker 1:
[102:19] I thought the model year premiered in 2018. I can't think of any other.

Speaker 2:
[102:23] Well, I don't have another guess. I think you hear a Supercharger and so that's the only bike I can think of that Supercharger that's popping straight to mind. So that's what I'm going to go with.

Speaker 1:
[102:32] But I'm not going to bet against you at this point in time.

Speaker 2:
[102:35] You heard the chirp, right? I'm not crazy.

Speaker 1:
[102:36] I did. No, I heard it. I did not hear it the first time. But as soon as you pointed it out, I was like, there it is. And I feel like the H2 in its original form was introduced around this time.

Speaker 2:
[102:48] So I guess now the question is, I would never be able to tell based on this recording. But there is a Ninja H2, a Ninja H2-R, a Ninja H2-SX, a Ninja ZH2 naked bike. There's a whole model line, but they all use this. I think it's like a 1000cc supercharged in line four.

Speaker 1:
[103:12] And I think that that first one that came out, like the $60,000 one that introduced this whole thing, I think started around...

Speaker 2:
[103:18] That was H2-R, I think, wasn't it?

Speaker 1:
[103:20] Yeah, and I think it started around this. Well, remember there was a track version?

Speaker 2:
[103:23] Yeah, that was the R, the one that doesn't have lights and stuff. And then there's a H2, which is the sport bike. And then there's H2-SX, which was the sport touring bike. And then there was the ZH2, which is the naked one. So we have to take a guess which one it is. I say it's a H2-SX-SE. I don't know. H2-SX.

Speaker 1:
[103:43] I'm gonna give you... Listen, if this is any of them, you get credit for it. Because they're all gonna sound relatively the same.

Speaker 2:
[103:48] All right, I'm gonna stop talking. Put me out of my misery, Spurgeon, I get it?

Speaker 1:
[103:51] The answer is a 2023 Kawasaki H2-SX. Bone stock, nothing to hear here except for the glory of the motorcycle in its original form. Chirpin, Supercharger and all. Ben sent in a audio clip of his 2023 Kawasaki H2-SX. Ben, thank you so much for helping us play the Ender-Zack Gets game. And I would just like to say tip of the cap to Zack Courts. Man, you didn't even need a hint that time.

Speaker 2:
[104:24] I didn't, no. You know, Supercharger Chirp is a pretty unique thing in the world of motorcycle. That was a fun one. That was a fun one. And I appreciate you sending in that clip, Ben. And a friendly reminder that you have earned yourself a t-shirt. So please do send us your preferred size and mailing address to highsidelowsideatrevzilla.com.

Speaker 1:
[104:45] Well, if you have more comments than you have already left us, make sure to drop them on YouTube, Spotify, shoot us an email to highsidelowsideatrevzilla.com. Please stop by Apple. Leave a review over on the Apple Podcast app. We do very much appreciate it. And share it with your friends. If you have anyone out there that likes motorcycling, if you have a friend, maybe it's because you're not riding around on a Supertenere 1200. Go ahead and pass the podcast on to your friends. We would surely appreciate it.

Speaker 2:
[105:22] Indeed. All right, Spurgeon, well, we come to the end of another episode and the end of another season. So what's your view from 10,000 feet here?

Speaker 1:
[105:33] I did not think that I fully appreciated how hard it is to do this podcast without you. So I know that we sometimes, I'm not being sweet. Just let me finish here. I'm just being honest. There's a difference. But we have a lot of great and talented coworkers, right? To all the people that helped fill in this season, Aerie Henning, Lance Oliver, Spencer Robert, Patrick Garvin.

Speaker 2:
[106:07] He was involved, wasn't he?

Speaker 1:
[106:08] I believe so.

Speaker 2:
[106:09] Let's thank him anyway.

Speaker 1:
[106:10] I want to thank Patrick Garvin, because Patrick Garvin is involved. Yeah, I'm just... These are all people that have helped us in the podcast before, right? And I appreciate all of them. They're all very talented people. But you and I have gotten into such a groove with this, where, you know, I can kind of play off of you and you can play off of me, and I kind of have an idea of what you're going to like or not like. And we know when we're going to disagree and how heated we can get before you tell me that I'm full of s**t and then we have to move on. And it was hard, man, starting this season and having a half season without you. I think the audience missed you, and I'm sure that they'll comment here, but like it was good to have you back. And I think the podcast, to me, is a lot more fun, you know, with you helping me co-pilot the ship and then having the Patrick Garvin's and the Lance Oliver's and the Ari Hennings on in conjunction with us is a lot of fun. But it's just not quite the same without you.

Speaker 2:
[107:10] Wow, thanks Spurgeon. And I suppose to that point, I would like to thank all of our colleagues who stepped in to help, and I would like to thank you listeners for being patient with me in my convalescence. And yeah, I was sad to miss the first part of the season there, but it was a good way to get back into life and to feel normal again after being laid up, and to be able to do Highside, Lowside with you and our man Chase. It was good. And that's actually a good segue, I think. What you said is a good segue into my sort of Jerry Springer moment here at the end of the show and at the end of the season, which is at some point in this show, I don't remember which question we were answering, but you said, I'm going to step in to defend Zack. I don't like to do it, but I will jump in and do it. And I think that that's one of the reasons that I have fun with this podcast, and I like to think that it's a reason that folks that listen have fun with this podcast, is that we have a lot of respect for each other, Spurge, but we don't have too much respect. Because you don't want that either.

Speaker 1:
[108:15] I think part of what makes a conversation fun is when you can have a little bit of a debate thrown in.

Speaker 2:
[108:21] Yeah, absolutely. All right, well, I guess last thing I'll say is thank you to you listeners and viewers out there for listening and viewing, of course, but especially for sending in your questions, your comments, your dog whistles for Spurgeon and I to react to. It's been a fun episode to co-pilot with you, Spurgeon. I had a great time talking about all the questions and comments that people sent in. And so yeah, big thanks to the audience, as usual.

Speaker 1:
[108:55] Yes, the finale or the comments episode is as much an episode where you are our guest as anyone else. So couldn't do it without you. And that's a wrap for Zack and for myself on a wild Season 11. I'm really hoping that in the next couple of weeks, Zack doesn't do anything foolish to hurt himself again because I really want to just have a smooth and comfortable and exciting start to Season 12, which will be coming shortly.

Speaker 2:
[109:28] Indeed. Yes, indeed we do. Okay. All right, everybody. Well, thanks for sticking around for another show. Thanks for sticking around for another season. We hope that your 2026 ride season has started with, I don't know, dry roads, sunny days and exactly the dreams you were looking forward to. So thanks for hanging out with us and we'll see you next season.