The Lowdown Show - By ADVrider

Latest Episodes:

Is the Future of Motorcycles Electric? And Other Hot-Button Topics Jun 21, 2024

Show notes

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

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

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How One Chinese Brand Plans to Dominate the Motorcycle Industry Jun 14, 2024

Show notes

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

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Why You’re Wrong About “Zen And the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” Jun 07, 2024

Show notes

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

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The Inside Scoop in How Motorcycles Come to Life May 31, 2024

Show notes

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

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How This Man Revolutionized Motorcycle Gear May 24, 2024

Show notes

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

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How to Ride Off-Road: Tips from a Master Riding Instructor May 17, 2024

Show notes

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

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

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

You won’t want to miss it.

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From The Music Business To Motorcycles: One Man's Journey May 10, 2024

Show notes

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

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

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How One Man Rode Around the World for $25 A Day May 03, 2024

Show notes

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

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Disrupting Motojournalism: The Hell for Leather Story Apr 26, 2024

Show notes

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

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How India Became A Motorcycle Superpower Apr 19, 2024

Show notes

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

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

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

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

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