S11E01: The Best (and Worst) of EICMA 2025
Annotations will appear as you listen
0:00
107:31
Car
BMW F 450 GS
The BMW F 450 GS is a new motorcycle that will be available in 2027. It's designed for adventure riding, which means it's good for both on-road and off-road travel.
Car
Triumph Speed Triple
The Triumph Speed Triple is a type of motorcycle that is known for being fast and easy to handle. Many people enjoy riding it because it looks cool and performs well.
Brand
Suzuki
Suzuki is a car and motorcycle manufacturer from Japan. They make various vehicles that are often seen as budget-friendly and dependable.
Car
Suzuki SV650
The Suzuki SV650 is a well-liked motorcycle that many people enjoy riding. It's known for being easy to handle and has a powerful engine that makes it fun to ride.
Part
bi-directional quick shifter
A bi-directional quick shifter is a feature on some motorcycles that lets you change gears quickly without using the clutch. This makes riding smoother and faster.
Term
parallel twin
A parallel twin engine has two cylinders placed next to each other. It's commonly found in motorcycles and is appreciated for being smooth and compact.
Term
V-twin
A V-twin engine has two cylinders that are shaped like a 'V'. It's often used in motorcycles and is known for its unique sound and power delivery.
Car
Ford F450
The Ford F-450 is a big truck made for carrying heavy things and towing trailers. It's built to be really strong and is often used by people who need to do tough jobs or go on big adventures.
Brand
BMW
BMW is a well-known car brand from Germany that makes sporty and luxury cars. They are famous for using advanced technology in their vehicles.
Car
BMW R1300RT
The BMW R1300RT is a type of motorcycle designed for long rides. It's comfortable and has features that help make long trips easier and more enjoyable.
Car
Yamaha WR 125R
The Yamaha WR 125R is a small motorcycle that can be used on both regular roads and dirt paths. It's light and easy to handle, making it a good choice for beginners.
Term
variable valve actuation
Variable valve actuation helps an engine perform better by changing how the valves open and close. This means the engine can be more powerful at high speeds and more efficient at low speeds.
Term
MSRP
MSRP is the price that the car manufacturer thinks you should pay for a vehicle. It's like a starting point, but the actual price you pay can be different depending on where you buy it.
Term
cam profiles
Cam profiles are the shapes of the parts in an engine that open and close the valves. Different shapes can help the engine work better at different speeds.
Term
RPM
RPM tells you how fast the engine is spinning. Higher RPM means the engine is working harder and can produce more power.
Term
power spread
Power spread is how much power an engine can give you at different speeds. A wider power spread means the engine can perform well whether you're going slow or fast.
Term
variable valve timing
Variable valve timing is a system in engines that helps control how the engine breathes. It adjusts when the valves open and close, which can make the engine run better and use less fuel.
Car
BMW G310 GS
The BMW G310 GS is a smaller, more affordable adventure motorcycle that is good for beginners. It has basic safety features like ABS to help prevent wheel lock-up during braking.
Term
TFT display
A TFT display is a modern type of screen that shows important information on motorcycles. It's bright and clear, making it easy to read while riding.
Term
traction control
Traction control is a system that helps keep the wheels of a motorcycle from spinning too much when you accelerate. It helps you stay in control, especially on slippery roads.
Term
centrifugal clutch
A centrifugal clutch helps prevent the engine from stalling when you stop, making it easier to ride without having to constantly use the clutch lever.
Car
Aprilia RS457
The Aprilia RS457 is a new motorcycle that looks like a race bike used in MotoGP, and it has features that help you change gears quickly without using the clutch.
Term
turbo lag
Turbo lag is the wait you feel when you press the gas pedal and the car doesn't respond immediately. It happens because the turbocharger takes a moment to start working and give the car more power.
Car
NC700
The Honda NC700 is a motorcycle that is designed to be very fuel-efficient, meaning it can travel a long distance on just a little gas.
Car
Honda That Honda
The Honda That's is a small car that was made in Japan and is designed to be easy to drive and park in the city. It's known for being practical and fuel-efficient, which makes it a good choice for everyday use.
Term
V3R900 E compressor
The V3R900 E compressor is a special part made by Honda that helps engines produce more power. It's still in the testing phase, so it's not available in cars yet.
Term
V4 engine
A V4 engine has four cylinders that are arranged in a V shape. This design helps the engine be smaller and lighter while still producing a lot of power.
Car
Royal Enfield Bullet
The Royal Enfield Bullet is a well-known motorcycle that has been around for a long time. It's famous for its classic look and powerful engine, making it popular among riders.
Company
CF Moto
CF Moto is a company that makes motorcycles and all-terrain vehicles. They have been selling their products in North America for about 25 years and are known for their powerful bikes.
Term
V4 motorcycle
A V4 motorcycle has an engine with four cylinders that are arranged in a V shape. This setup helps the bike be powerful and run smoothly, which is great for performance.
Car
Hudson Hornet
The Hudson Hornet is an old car that was made in the early 1950s and is known for being fast and stylish. It was popular in car races back then and is now considered a classic that many people admire.
Brand
Harley Davidson
Harley Davidson is a famous brand that makes motorcycles, particularly known for their large, powerful bikes that are popular among riders.
Car
Scrambler 400X
The Scrambler 400X is a motorcycle made by Ducati that looks vintage but has modern technology. It's good for riding on different types of roads, including rough ones.
LIVE
Breaking news. Highside, lowside, America's favorite motorcycle podcast is back for season 11.
I am Spurgeon Dunbar. However, I am not joined today by my normal co-host, Zachary Courts,
and that's because Zachary had an accident on a motorcycle. Hey, this podcast is named after
the two different ways you can crash a motorcycle. You have a highside, you have a lowside. Zach had
one of those two and is recovering from an accident. So he will be out for the first couple
episodes of this season. Fear not, he will be returning. He is okay in the long run. But in
the meantime, we put our thinking caps on and we came up with some interesting guests to get the
season started. So Ryan F9 will be on the podcast this season talking about his groundbreaking
new documentary. He will be joined by Spencer Robert, our very own producer for CTXP and other
productions like Shop Manual and Daily Rider. We will also have other regular favorites like
Ari Henning and Patrick Garvin to discuss the motorcycle dating game coming back again,
and we might even have our very first ever interview with a prominent motorcycle CEO.
We got to wait and see. Today, however, we are kicking off the season with a fan favorite,
Lance the Silver Fox Oliver, who joined us despite having a cranky old man cough that was
tickling the back of his throat. He was actually a little bit under the weather, but he pulled through
in support of Zach to sit down and talk about Eichma and everything we saw roll out of Italy
last week. We're also going to be discussing RevZilla's 18th birthday. We can vote and you
can't even smoke at 18 anymore. So what are we doing here? But 18th birthday for RevZilla,
bad motorcycle advice from friends and much, much more. Well, I know that Zach is bummed
that he is not here for all the excitement of kicking off a new season. I know that he wishes
as well. He's excited about some of the special guests that we have sitting in for him, and we
can't wait to have him back. Without any further ado, however, welcome to a new season of High
Side Low Side. We're going to get it all started in just a minute, but first, a word from our sponsor.
So you've just spent hours washing and detailing your motorcycle and you don't want to do that every
time you go out. You want to be able to ride. So you need to check out Motul's E10 Shine and Go
Spray. In between washes, spray a little bit of this onto your motorcycle, keep it looking nice
and neat, and it leaves a protective film, which helps to repel dirt and grime,
so that it's not as hard to wash next time. Check out Motul's E10 Shine and Go Spray,
as well as their entire line of cleaning products over on RevZilla.com slash Motul,
that's RevZilla.com slash M-O-T-U-L. And while you're over there on RevZilla.com,
make sure you check out the airbag save page. RevZilla is dedicated to making sure that you
are informed about all the newest safety technology coming down the pike. And the newest,
most protective safety technology that we've seen in recent years is the evolution of airbag
technology. So to learn about the entire line of airbag products and which one might be right for
you and your ride, check out RevZilla.com slash Airbags. Now, on with the show.
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages, cats and dogs,
everyone gathered around the radio, like it's an old time news program from the 1920s. Welcome back
to season 11 of Highside Lowside. I am Spurge, and as you can tell, my co-host today is not
Zach Quartz. It is Lance Oliver who is graciously stepping in. Lance, I want to start by allowing
you to say hello and let the audience know who you are in case they might not be familiar with you.
And then we'll let them know exactly why you're subbing in for Zach Quartz today. So Lance,
welcome to the program. And just a little snippet about who are you, Lance? Why do we have you
here today? Yeah, thanks Spurge. Happy to be back again for my irregular visits to Highside Lowside.
I am the managing editor of Common Tread, which is the editorial brand for all the Komodo companies,
RevZilla, JMP Cycle, Cycle Gear. And so you should check out all of our daily articles
on Common Tread on all three of those websites. All three of the websites. Now, we are officially
publishing on Cycle Gear, which is really cool, which happened, I believe, in between
season 10 and season 11 here for Highside Lowside. The other thing that happened in between season
10 and season 11 is Zach Quartz had a little motorcycle crash. And it's something he and I
talked about. He's like, you know, you should bring it up on the podcast. I mean, the podcast,
after all, is named Highside Lowside, which is two different ways that you could crash a motorcycle.
And I think it was also Zach's desire to bring awareness to the fact that what we do
comes with risk. And Zach was wearing the appropriate motorcycle gear he was wearing,
an airbag he was wearing, a helmet and an array suit and gloves and boots. And he walked away from
the crash ultimately, but he did not walk away completely unscathed. And he, at the time of
recording this, is getting surgery on his ankle. But he is back safe and sound with his family.
We are wishing him a speedy recovery. But in the meantime, a lot of Zach's friends
and co-workers are going to fill in for some different podcast topics. Anyway, Lance,
so we're here to talk about Aikma ultimately. But as you are familiar with, we like to do a little
pre-show warm up for the audience. And I thought a fun one for us to hit on today,
because the entire episode is going to be kind of like motorcycle news is breaking out of Aikma.
It's the 18th birthday of RevZilla.com at the day that this is going live. So
Friday, I believe it's November 14th. Does that sound correct to you?
It sounds so not right.
I don't have a calendar in front of me, but I guess I should know this. But I believe it's
November 14th, which is a Friday when you are potentially listening to this episode.
It's the 18th birthday of RevZilla. And Lance, you have been with the company now for
11 years. Common thread is going into its 11th year. Is that correct?
Yeah, this is the 11th year. We're going to the 12th year.
We're the 11th year. It will hit 12 years in February.
Yeah. I just hit my 12-year anniversary at RevZilla personally earlier this week. So it's
very exciting. So what I wanted to ask you was, in your tenure at the company,
what were some of your fondest memories of working? You don't have to say working with me.
If you wanted to, I'd be happy to hear it. You could flatter. I want you to give me a little
bit of the love back that I like to give you. But if you don't want to say it out loud in front
of all the people, I can understand that too.
No, I got to say that it has been really interesting rewarding watching Spurgeon's
meteoric rise through the ranks at RevZilla since he started out as a gear geek answering phones.
And now he's this high-placed executive with busy schedule meetings and stuff. But for me,
it's just been a lot of fun over the last 11 years doing what I pretty much would do anyway.
People say, are you thinking about retiring? If I retired, I'd probably just ride some motorcycles
and write some stuff about it. The only difference is I wouldn't get paid for it.
So there's not a lot of incentive for me to retire really. Probably wouldn't look much
different from my day now. But the most gratifying thing for me is that when I came back in those
days of RevZilla, when it was moving from its original scrappy little startup stage into a more
established bigger company, and people then thought, oh man, the change around here is just so huge
and rapid. It's changed so much. And now if you look back at it, that's not even a fraction of the
change that's happened over the last 18 years. But the most gratifying thing for me was being able
to walk in the door and being told, here's, look, we want to create basically an online magazine.
We want to create content. We need somebody who's done it before. Tell us how to do it. And I took
over and it was so rewarding to be able to build something from scratch and to be able to do things
the way I thought was the right way to do things. And it was to my benefit that nobody else in the
company at that time really had that particular experience. So nobody ever said, well, we can't
do it that way because that's not the way we've always done it here at RevZilla because nobody's
ever done it there. So it was actually very gratifying to build something from scratch and see
that it's been successful. And I never imagined I'd still be doing it 11 years later because I've
never done anything else for 11 years. But here we are.
Yeah, I think it's funny. We were talking about this today internally in a meeting,
but this is the longest I've ever been at a company before. I've been here for 12 years
almost to the day. And it's been just an incredible ride. I know that some of the fun
moments for me, and I'm not sure if we shared this story publicly, but I would just say in
general, the people that I've gotten to work with, yourself included. So before I started at
RevZilla, I was an avid reader of Motorcycle magazines, and I read stories from Ari Henning and
Zach Quartz and yourself. And the story I always thought was really interesting was I,
as a younger man, read this story about a guy that went motorcycle camping in, I believe,
West Virginia on his Triumph Speed Triple and woke up in a snowstorm. And I thought to myself,
and it was just this crazy story, and it was just a simple little piece. And it really stuck with
me about the adventures that you can find on a motorcycle. And I come to learn years later
that Lance actually wrote that article, published it in Rider Magazine. I read the article before
it, any idea who Lance Oliver was. And then fast forward to working with Lance for the last 11
years. And it's just been moments like that where it's always really, really fun to experience the
fact that I get to work with people now that I used to really look up to in the pages of their work.
And now we're friends and colleagues, and it's been one thing after another of it's a lot of
hard work, but there's also a lot of moments like that where you get to pinch yourself and be like,
this is cool, I get to do this for a living. Yeah, it's been quite a ride.
Quite a ride. I feel like we should probably do some kind of a long term producer chase. If you're
listening, you should probably think about something as we're going into the 20th anniversary,
two years from now, we'll build out a runway of like most memorable things that have happened.
And we can kind of highlight it because it's like, I was trying to think about the list of
events and like, I've shot a video with producer Chase on a beach in Morocco in front of an
abandoned palace. And I got to go to India with Zach and ride to the highest road in the world.
I just got back from riding dirt bikes in Utah with Ari Henning for a work event where we just
got to go out and ride dirt bikes with Wilderness Collective. And like, I think about this stuff
and in the moment, you're not really appreciating it maybe as fully. And when you look back on
what you've done over the past 11 or 12 years, it's like, man, it's just been so much fun.
And we're really, really, really lucky. And we're lucky because we have audience members like you
that allow us to do this stuff and come along for the ride. And so Lance, let's get into...
Okay. Yeah, let's talk motorcycles.
With the audience that might not know, Lance, what is Aikma and why should they care? Why is
this groundbreaking news? So this is a big show every year. It's actually, there's bicycle stuff too.
I mean, motorcycle is probably the biggest now, biggest show in the world. And it's where a lot
of the manufacturers, not only in motorcycles themselves, but also gear and other accessories
and parts and things, will sort of introduce their new stuff to the industry. So it's always
a busy time of year for us because we have a lot of announcements coming out all in one week of new
things that are hitting the market. So it's always a busy and exciting time. Yeah, it's interesting
because as we're recording this, it's the last official day of the press day. You and Dustin
have been kind of finger on the pulse, Dustin Wheeling, our colleague over at Common Tread.
And we have a Slack channel going at the moment with like, if there's any last minute news popping
through, he's kind of sending us messages. But I feel like we have a pretty good look.
One of the things that we didn't want to do with this episode was focus on other bikes that have
been announced recently. We have another episode coming later in the season where we'll talk a
bit more about new models we're excited for for 26. But like, for example, we're not going to go
heavy on the Triumph models that are rolling out because those are technically not really tied
to AICMA. We want to really focus on what are we seeing roll out from AICMA and what are we excited
about? First and foremost, things that stood out to us is the first umbrella topic. And Lance,
I'm going to give you guest honors because I know you're my co-host today, but you're also
one of my favorite guests. So guest honors, what was one of the things that stood out to you
from AICMA this year that you want to kick off the conversation with?
Well, I thought I'd start out with a motorcycle that I think personally is very interesting and
also was a little bit surprising to me. And that's the Suzuki SV7 GX, which, you know, a few years
ago when Suzuki started bringing in their 800 cc parallel twin engines and bringing out those models
a lot of people just assumed that the writing was on the wall for the SV650, which
podcast listeners will remember was one of the iconic motorcycles that was chosen for
treated with its own special podcast. So it's been around for a quarter of a century. It's a
beloved motorcycle. But a lot of us thought, well, maybe, you know, we're in the last days of the
old SV650. But instead, Suzuki keeps coming up with new ways to keep it alive. And this year,
we saw the SV7 GX, which is the same 645 ccv twin engine, the same kind of trellis frame,
which I personally love. But they've upgraded it considerably. It's got, you know, new electronics,
ride modes, traction control, a bi-directional quick shifter. They made some changes to the
engine to allow it to be compliant with the European emissions regulations. It's upgraded with, you
know, a full color display. So it's really come into the modern, modern time. And if you're,
I'm sure we'll put a photo up. But for those who are listening to the podcast, think of
sort of a half faring, upright, what Suzuki calls a crossover. I'm not sure I love that word. But,
you know, sort of a sport touring bike. But is this going to be, this isn't going to be replacing
the SV650, is it? Well, I'm not 100% sure. We did confirm with Suzuki that it is coming to the
United States. I don't expect it to be a replacement. I expect it to be an addition. But then, you know,
every year, we're never sure. But we did confirm that it is coming to the US market and it will
be here in the middle of next year. So I think it's just a really interesting model. And I'm
happily surprised that Suzuki is still sticking with that tried and true and much beloved
between engine and coming out with something new. And I'm really interested in getting to see it.
Yeah. So I think from an aesthetic standpoint, it looks really cool. It's kind of a, it's much more
unique than I think sometimes you would see from, you know, an updated product line like that.
I am really interested to see how they continue to differentiate their lineup,
right? Because they do have that parallel twin right now, which is really playing in the same
category. So they're creating two separate power plants. And you have to wonder how much of that
is just for the nostalgia of people that like the idea of a V-twin still.
Yeah. I think some of us, I think some people are going to want to buy this because of the engine.
I also think that there is at least, say, a little bit of differentiation between this and
something like the smaller V-Strom because the SV has the 17-inch wheels. It's more fully street
focused. It's not really trying to lean into that adventure direction. Yeah. So I like this
as a pick. I also like this because, you know, one of the things that you had talked about was the
fact that this is coming to the United States. And I think as we are two individuals that reside
in the U.S., you know, a lot of what you can sometimes see at EICMA, you know, doesn't necessarily
pan out for us. And we'll get into a little bit more of that later on. One of the things that
struck my fancy was, you know, kind of talking about the adventure world.
You know, BMW did finally launch the F450 GS. Now, for those of you that are saying, well,
hey, wait a second, you know, BMW actually announced this last year at EICMA. You wouldn't be wrong.
But we're actually looking at what is, you know, a more production ready model. But
we're also not going to be getting this bike until 2027, apparently. So like,
what is your take on like this, you know, just iterative tease? Like, why is it taking BMW
so long to get this F450 GS to market? And, you know, I will say this, if you're not familiar
with what this bike is, there's a lot of excitement around the small displacement, you know, adventure
category right now. You know, we saw Kawasaki introduce a KLE 500, which we're not going to
really get into because it was announced before EICMA. But like, this is a bike that's going to be,
you know, just around, you know, claimed 48 horsepower, sub 400 pounds, you know, and it's
just like a small shrunk down version of a GS. And it's kind of the update to the 310 that
everybody's been waiting for a bike that Lance, I know you are a you are a fan of the outgoing 310.
Yeah, but this is such a jump ahead from the 310. It's, you know, got so many features that the
the G310 just doesn't have. So it's really quite a change. It's got, you know, the ride modes and
centrifugal clutch. So it's really quite a different bike.
So I would say if we're looking at this, you know, one of the things that I know you and I talked
about was like the, you know, the trickle down technology of this. And like, you know, I'm looking
at pictures right now, it really does seem like this is, you know, using a lot of the technology
that BMW has become known for. And it's just in a, it's just in a smaller package at this point
in time. So like, you know, again, because so much of this technology already exists, like,
is there like, why, why is this taking so long to come to market? Like, that's my only, that's my
only issue here. Like that's not my only, I have another issue too, but we'll get to that in a
second. No, that I don't know. Honestly, I wouldn't even, I couldn't even give you an intelligent
speculation on why they're dragging this out for years. But that's what it's like.
Do you want one? Do you want, now, if I, if you could have a brand new 450 GS or a brand new SV,
SV7 GX, which ones, which ones Lance Oliver are going to pick?
Well, I mean, the Suzuki is more suitable to my particular riding profile.
I know, you just sold your, you sold your VFR and you need something to replace it with.
Exactly. You bought it, you bought a Kawasaki 300 SM. I don't know if the audience is aware
of that, but that's your, that's your most recent purchase. So, you know, maybe you don't,
maybe you don't need the, the F450 anymore, and you're going to go with this Suzuki. I'm trying
to see if you're going to buy any of these bikes Lance. Come on, let us know.
No, we'll see. We'll see. I got it. I got to check them out first.
One of the things, speaking of checking them out, if you have not been paying attention,
the internet is really coming down on BMW for this one because they're using AI generated images
for the launch of this, which isn't anything new for BMW, but they decided to basically stage
a bunch of riders in what looks to be like an abandoned amusement park. And some of the photos
are showing the bike doing some really ridiculous stuff. And, you know, I think AI is one of those
conversations that we're thinking about. Ikema is all about new things. AI is, is technology
that's really kind of taken the world by storm. And there's a lot of people out there that feel
that it's very polarizing. And I think one of the issues with the artwork here is that it's
one thing to use AI as a tool. We use AI as a tool, right? You're going to see a holiday video come
out with Pat McHugh and myself and our newest host, Ewan dressed as an elf for a Christmas
story remake. But like, we're not, we're not staging it in a way that's like,
supposed to feel real. We're using it to be goofy and silly and weird, which is kind of like,
you know, an acceptable use of AI as far as I'm concerned. But I think a lot of the critiques
here are you're taking jobs away from actual riders and photographers. And not only that,
like if people want to see what the bike can actually do, and that's my biggest problem,
like these are AI generated images. This doesn't actually tell me if the new F450GS can jump off
a flight of stairs in an amusement park. Yeah, there's, it's certainly been a hot
topic on common thread as people weigh in on the use of AI. And I'll be interested to see if BMW
decides to stick with it or if they're going to maybe reconsider. I don't know. It's, it's,
definitely a hot topic. Yeah, I think, I mean, I get that they're, they're probably saving a few
dollars from photo shoots and stuff. But like, it just seems like part of, part of what you need
from launch photos is legitimately showing the public what your bike can do. And by, by putting
these through AI, it just seems like it's a bit, a bit of a reach, if you will. Yeah. Well, I mean,
I was just on a BMW press intro for, you know, one of their organized events when they introduced
the R1300RT. And, you know, nothing, nothing has changed as far as that goes when it comes time
to actually provide the motorcycles for us, the motorcycle media to test. And, you know, we still
have good old human photographer like Kevin Wing out there taking pictures of us and, and doing video
and that sort of thing. So it's really these materials that are prepared in advance before
the motorcycles actually come to market that are the, are the topic. I don't think, and I do hope
that we're not going to get to the point where, I mean, I hope I'm not going to be replaced by AI
just yet, but we'll see. Well, I can promise you that as long as I am, you know, running the content
side of things here, as we go into our, as we head into our 19th year, I am not planning on
replacing you with a robot because you're just, you're too darn cute in a robot. It just doesn't
bring that kind of, you know, warm and fuzzies to our, to our weekly conversations over on Common
Tread. Speaking of warm and fuzzies Lance, what's your second pick? Well, so it's kind of a broader
topic that I've seen from the small examples of it. I think about this year that I wanted to
sort of pull together because I think it's an interesting trend. One of the things that a lot
of our readers over at Common Tread complained about now and then is that they, they may want
certain features, certain, you know, new technology or higher level of components and things like that.
And what usually happens is you don't get those if you buy a smaller or inexpensive motorcycle,
just because you want, you know, top level traction control or ABS or whatever, doesn't mean
you necessarily want to buy a big motorcycle or an expensive motorcycle. Lance, tell the, tell you,
you want cruise control on a Transalp, don't you? I, you know, I'm not, I'm not the cruise control
fanatic that a lot of our readers are. Hang on, you took, you, you were doing like 500 mile days
on a Transalp. 600 mile a day on the Transalp. Yeah. And you didn't find yourself being like, man,
I wish that I had, for those of you that are listening, I'm flopping my right, my right
wrist around. Like you don't, you didn't want cruise control at all. It would have been nice.
It would have been nice. I'm not as absolutist on the issue as some of our readers are, but anyway,
what I, what I've seen this year at ICMA that I think is really great is some of the smaller
and less expensive motorcycles are getting sort of the trickle down technology to give you a few
examples. One that I thought was really interesting is Yamaha's come out new for 2026 is a WR 125R,
which is a small lightweight dual sport motorcycle. Nothing unusual there so far,
but it actually has variable valve actuation. So I don't know. I was trying to think I'm
probably missing something, but I don't know of another motorcycle with a 125 CC engine that's small
and especially also with a 3999 MSRP that has variable valve timing. I think that's
a genuine expansion of that technology to more accessible. What's the benefit there?
Okay. So yeah, for people who are wondering what it's all about, basically what that means is
the engine has two different cam profiles for the intake valves and it can use one at low RPM
and another one at high RPM. So you don't have to choose when you're tuning an engine, you don't
have to choose, well, do we want to make it optimized for high RPM use or do we want to
make it optimized for low RPM use? You can have a little bit of both. So you get a broader spread
of power, which is obviously more important when you have a small engine like a 125, like in this
particular Yamaha. It's pretty much the same approach that was on the BMW R1300RT I just wrote
a couple thousand miles on, but that's a $31,000 motorcycle. It's not a surprise to find variable
valve timing on a $31,000 motorcycle. It's a little bit of a surprise to me to find it on a $4,000
motorcycle and I'm really happy to see that. Another example, you were talking about the
the BMW 450 F450 GS and again, having spent time recently on the G310 GS looking at this one,
it has so many more features that have trickled down from the bigger, more expensive bikes on the
in the BMW line, whereas the G310 had ABS and that's about it as far as rider aids.
It had an LCD screen, nothing fancy. This new 450 has a full color six and a half inch TFT display.
It's got ride modes. It's got traction control. It's got the centrifugal clutch,
but also the manual clutch you can use. If you don't want the centrifugal clutch, you can override
it. It's just so much more feature laden. Is the centrifugal clutch their version of the auto,
like the automatic? It's not exactly the same, but basically you can come to a stop.
It won't stall out. It's just like riding a scooter where you come to a stop and the centrifugal
clutch disengages, so you're not going to stall the engine, but you still have the clutch lever.
If you're riding off-road and you're in a situation where having some fine control with the clutch
lever is useful, you can override the automatic function and still use a clutch as normal.
Again, these are all features that aren't new to BMW or new to motorcycles, but they're
moving into new, more accessible classes. Another example, the Aprilia RS457 GP replica,
which is a new model they're coming out with. It's their RS457 sport bike, but they made it
to look like their MotoGP bike, but they fit it in standard with a quick shifter.
Quick shifters are something that we're seeing. The BMW, the F450 also has a quick shifter,
so we're seeing quick shifters drift down into these 400 class bikes.
These beginner bike classes are now getting like this high.
Yeah, they're starting to get the advantage of some of this technology that you used to have to
buy the fancy flagship sport bike to get. Yamaha also redid their R7 this year and
gave it a little bit of a freshened up look, but beyond that, they added a bunch of technology to
that one too. Let me ask you this. How are they differentiating then?
You and I had the discussion around the Africa twin and the Trans Alp.
Part of that always comes back to like, well, they've got to leave some of the technology on
the bigger ones so that people have something to bump up to more than just displacement.
I guess for me, if I'm looking at it, I don't see much of a downside here because it's already
a throttle by wire system on something like the Trans Alp. If people want the Africa twin and all
the extra size and power and prestige that comes with it, they're going to buy that.
I don't think not having a cruise control on the Trans Alp is really going to sway
people to size down. Why aren't we seeing more of this permeate in some of the middle weight
bikes that are out there? $10,000 for a Trans Alp is still $10,000.
Yeah. I mean, I think that it's obviously different companies have different philosophies
on this and some of them want to take that approach and try to upsell consumers to the
more expensive models. I think what we're seeing here though is what I'm applauding with this
is that some other manufacturers are saying, no, we're going to take this technology that we've
already developed and we're going to spread it down the model lines and give it to more people.
Yeah. I think it's probably just some companies have different approaches to that issue than others
and I'm applauding the ones that are giving those of us who aren't buying the flagship motorcycles
the opportunity to still have the advantage of some of this technology that's very proven.
That's very selfish right now because you're not the guy buying flagship motorcycles and so you
want all of the benefit of people buying flagship motorcycles in your tiny non-flagship bikes that
are lining your garage right now. I agree with people who say that you shouldn't have to buy
more motorcycle than you want just to get a feature that you want or even more importantly,
safety technology that you want. It's just not the way I want things
to be. Yeah. I'm right there with you. I think it's going to be interesting to see how this plays
out across other manufacturers and if you can get more of that high-end technology and higher.
We've talked about this with suspension in the past too. I want a really good suspension but I
don't want to have to buy a bigger bike. I just want that really high-end suspension on something
that's a little bit more middleweight. It'll be exciting to see if this continues and speaking
about technology, my next pick goes, I know I was just poking some fingers at Honda for the
Transalp and not having cruise control, but then Honda comes out and the bike that we saw and we've
seen them tease this before but it looks like they have a little bit more of a concrete version of
this is a concept that they're calling the V3R900E compressor. We have pictures of the prototype of
this. This is a V3 engine, roughly 900cc and it's got an electric supercharger. A traditional
supercharger would run off of the crank of the engine and would actually drain a little bit of
power while producing more power. What's cool about this is that it's an electronic compressor
that basically allows a 900 triple V to act like a power of a V4. Am I pretty much explaining that
correctly Lance? Yeah, they said their goal was to take a 900cc engine and have it produce the power
of a 1200cc engine. If you want to look at it that way, a 900 triple would be producing the power of
1200cc V4. So before all of the listeners out there start heading to their keyboards to comment
about how well Spurgeon doesn't like turbo Bruce but now he's arguing for an E compressor and
Zach was right all along and we should have turbos on motorcycles. I don't like turbos because
turbo lag is still a problem and in the automotive industry we've gotten away from some turbo lag
with twin turbos where you have turbos that operate at lower RPM and higher RPM and you can
kind of tune them so that you're not getting this high end spike of a turbo but that's complicated
on a motorcycle. I like superchargers because superchargers have historically been a bit more
even in their power delivery as the engine spins up so does the supercharger and more power is
evenly spread across the rev range. This in theory would give you more power across the
entire rev range not be sucking power away from the engine and there's not much not to like here
as far as I can. Is there something I'm missing? Is there something that I shouldn't be liking about
this? No I mean I think it's uh I think it makes a way more sense than a turbo. I agree with you on
that. Thank you. So you're saying Zach was wrong all along and turbos do not belong on motorcycles.
Say it Lance, say it he's not here. He's not here Lance. I would say that I'm not interested
in turbos on motorcycles. I'm not going to say that nobody should get turbos. I want you to just
come on. Say it. No somebody out there wants a turbo on a motorcycle. You and I may not understand
that they should. I want Zach at home healing listening to this being like I can't believe I
left for an episode and now they're telling me I'm wrong. I'm not there to defend myself. Anyway
keep going. I'm sorry. But yeah the electric operating function is really good in the sense
that yeah it's just like you can make a fan run any speed you want. It just takes a small amount
of electrical controls to make this compressor blow whatever pressure you want. It doesn't it's
not related to engine speed. You know you can make it provide pressure whether the engine is an idle
or whether it's a red line or whatever or anywhere in between. It's irrelevant. So that that is a
huge advantage and I agree with you on that. Well here's what I like about it and we were talking
Lance and I were talking a little bit before the podcast. You know it's cool and concept but like
this is you know Zach and I were talking a little bit ago and it's hard because we were
doing some pre-show work before his injury and one of the things we were talking about in some
pre-show work was like Honda's show of force. When Honda wants to, Honda can do pretty much
anything they want to do because they are so big and they are so smart and they are so talented
and yet we've seen them kind of play it safe over the last few years and like I miss the 90s
Honda's right. Like I miss stuff coming out that was wacky and weird and left of center and they
were just pulling out all the stops in the R&D department and they gave us you know recently
like an NC 700 that has acclaimed like 70 miles per gallon and they've definitely you know kind of
gone in a safer direction with their designs but like a V3R like a V3 engine with a electronic
you know supercharger like this is cool. I like this because it's weird, it's wacky and it's
something that no one else is doing and that's what I like when Honda comes up with this stuff.
So like I'm excited that Honda is bringing something like this back and I hope to see it
maybe continue. So that's kind of where my pick is on this one. Would you buy one Lance?
Would you replace your VFR with a V3? No, I mean I think it's fun. I think it's interesting. I think
it's probably a good exercise maybe for the engineers and such but you know my feeling is that we don't
need to find ways to make more power for our motorcycles. We already have to have traction
control and wheelie control and everything else to keep ourselves from looping ourselves over and
smacking our heads on the ground all the time as it is. So I don't know that that we necessarily
need this but I understand that it gets people excited and it's fun and it's probably a good
exercise in engineering for the for the staff so you know I'm all for it. I just don't necessarily
feel like I need that myself. Well I know that I know that Honda released an audio
audio clip of this as well and if I was producer Chase I would have picked that for the Edge of
Sound guessing game because I think it'd be interesting to hear so we can play an audio
clip of what this V3R900 E compressor prototype sounds like because Honda did release that
with the unveiling of the prototype at Aikmah
and I think Lance this is one that we're pretty much guaranteed at this point is this one coming
I mean it's still very much in the prototype stage whether or not
what format will come out and and when I wouldn't I wouldn't bet my life on
wouldn't bet his life on it I don't know all right well what would you what would you bet
your life on Lance what else what's your what's your final little thing that stood out to you
from Aikmah before we shift gears? Yeah another thing that I think struck me a little bit looking
at new models for Aikmah is the the continued rise of the Asian manufacturers and you know
people sometimes complain that we write a lot about Chinese motorcycles or whatever people
have political reasons for feeling like I don't want to I don't want to deal with that or don't
want to even know about it but there's a lot happening in in Asia and one of the things that
was shown at Aikmah was the CF Moto V4SRR prototype. It has little wings on it that now you have wings
that are they they move they're moving. It has active aerodynamics which you which can either
be set to operate automatically or you can operate them manually. I don't know if you can
operate them manually in such a way that you can actually take off in a tame flight I don't know
about that I would not want to try it but. Is this actually going to move the needle for anyone?
No the significance the significance of this to me is again it goes back to the where you're
talking about with what you know what Honda does because they can do it. This is a show of
force this is saying look we can build a 210 horsepower V4 superbike that weighs 400 pounds or
whatever it does and we're not this backwards little Chinese company making scooters that
smoke and you know break down by the side of the road and I think it's a statement more than
more than a no it's not going to move the needle it's not going to it's not what's going to become
the mainstay of their motorcycle line or anything like that but it's a statement and and you know
it says that the company is ambitious and similarly along the lines I was looking at
what we saw for Royal Enfield at Ikeba and again totally different totally different kind of lineup
but Royal Enfield has just been charging ahead with introducing new models with updating their
models this year we saw they they upgraded they put the 650 cc twin engine in the bullet
now we haven't had the Royal Enfield bullet in the United States for about five years
traditionally that that motorcycle has been around since 1932 people now how many motorcycles
have been around since 1932 so when you change a motorcycle that's been around since 1932
it's it's news to someone out there and yeah now it's it's got the 650 they showed the prototype
of their 750 Himalayan which I think is interesting and and we haven't gotten news that that's
actually coming but we like a parallel twin Himalayan like that's a big deal yeah it's a
bigger adventure bike for the for the brand it's I expect I fully expect that you know come this
time next year it'll be out for real because that's sort of been the time timeline that we've been
seeing but help but pause pause for one second so like do you remember when the Himalayan got
updated to the 450 recently and people were really upset about it because like the Himalayan came
out originally and it was kind of like you know antiquated technology but there's a sub there's
a subgroup that like they loved it because of what it was and then they they added some you
know new technology to it for the last iteration and people were like what the hell and they didn't
want that so like do we think that traditional Himalayan owners want this bike to get bigger?
Well there's a lot of different owners out there in a lot of different countries and
you know the the reason that they kept selling 500 cc single cylinder bullets for you know
almost a century was because people kept buying them in India but they stopped buying them elsewhere
so I'm sure the 750 Himalayan is going to be you know not it's not going to be a big seller in
the home market but it's going to be something that's going to interest a lot of people
in other in other markets and yeah I there's always there's always that subset that says yeah I
want to be able to fix my motorcycle on the side of the road with you know an adjustable Swiss Army
knife a pen spring and yeah you're going to MacGyver the hell out of it. Yeah and and those people
are out there but I don't think they're the hugest demographic. All right well I want to
we'll circle back around a little bit to to some of the foreign market stuff here in a minute I really
think you know Zach and I produced the episode last I believe it was last season about you know
some of the the different Chinese manufacturers and it was really impressive to realize like
CF Moto has just been you know a brand for so long and while they've you know it's been slow to bring
the the motorcycle market to North America I think they've been a brand in North America for like
25 years if my my vague memory is correct but like to be able to see them bring a 210 horsepower V4
motorcycle to market when it was less than five years ago that they were bumping up into
you know the middleweight segment in general with you know with with some of the bikes that
they were displaying like it really is impressive from from that standpoint and I'll be really
excited to see exactly how CF Moto continues to evolve as a company we've been we've been really
impressed with a lot of what they're doing and it's a it's a great brand to kind of watch and
keep a pulse on Royal Enfield as as well. My last pick before we take a quick break Roof.
So Roof is a motorcycle helmet manufacturer out of France and there was a little video clip
that got released so I think it's important to note that while Lance and I are sitting here waxing
poetic about all the motorcycles and motorcycle specific technology Eichma is also a place where
a lot of our RevZilla merchandising team is in Italy right now talking to other people about
like what are the new products coming out because it's a great place where new products get released
and they're all the different apparel manufacturers are there and I had a kid last weekend we were
doing trick-or-treat at my house for Halloween and I was dressed as a giant chicken my my little
son was a was a chick and I was the rooster my wife was the chicken and then we had an egg
so maybe I'll throw a Halloween costume up there but I'm getting distracted aside from a loving
photo of our family dressed up as chickens we had a kid come to the door dressed as Ironman
and he was really excited to like show us his costume and he had this helmet on and he's like
can we can I if I show you my costume you know can I get a piece of candy I was like I'll give you
two pieces of candy go ahead show me your costume and he pushed a button on his helmet
and the Ironman helmet like flipped up and retracted and did all the crazy
Ironman helmet in the actual movie did and it was cool I was like that's a that's a really cool
toy toys have come a long way since I was a kid and I have a kid now so I'm excited about toys all
over again right and I was like this is this helmet's cool and the fact that like it's affordable
enough that you can you know get it for a Halloween costume is even more so
and then at Eichmann Roof Helmets has a helmet on display and whether or not this goes into
production is another story but it's a helmet where you like you push a button and the whole helmet
like transforms around your head so in theory you could put the helmet on and push a button and it
wraps itself around your noodle and I thought that was a pretty cool piece of technology we're
living in a world we're like every now and then there's a new piece of gear that comes out Alpine
Stars has been doing it with airbags we've seen some interesting takes on rotational impact protection
for helmets but nobody's really changed the way a helmet works in the fact that like in theory
you push a button and the whole thing like just wraps itself around you I thought it was pretty cool
yeah I would like to see that
I had my doubts about how much it weighs yeah I mean that's the other thing too right like
but it's interesting I was doing a little bit a little bit of research and like
Roof has got you know a couple I don't personally love the aesthetics of the helmets I will say
that out loud I think they look kind of kind of goofy but I'm sure there's people out there that
like the way that they look and some of the stuff that they're touting is like lightest full face
helmet in the world lightest you know modular in the world so like you know maybe maybe they'll
they figure out a way to you know use modern technology and make this thing you know be
lightweight and kind of a groundbreaker in how it works but we'll have to wait and see and
it's a it was just an interesting concept and that's kind of what Eichmas is cool is every now
and then you see something that gets dropped or announced there and you're like oh wow yeah the
motorcycle is always you know get get the attention in the headlines but it's a much bigger it's
bigger than that you know it's it's the industry not just there's all this other stuff we need
to be able to ride our motorcycles and we got to have it so speaking of that we were going to take
a quick break but we will be back with what we would have liked to see to see that maybe we
didn't see um what we would have liked to have learned uh heard you know some of the things we
we didn't get from Eichma that we were expecting but quick word from our sponsor Motul before we
get into any of that Midori sour Tokyo tea the hammered Hulk what do these cocktails have in
common well they're on the list of officially banned libations in the high side low side garage
don't get me wrong we love a good fruity neon green fuzzy leprechaun as much as the next
mechanic out there but these drinks are too darn similar in color and smell to Motul's 300v full
synthetic race oil i mean who among us hasn't had won too many japanese slippers lost performing
an oil change on our beloved machine only to find ourselves accidentally topping off our high ball
glass with a little 300v by mistake we can't help it if Motul's top of the line race oil features
a bright green color and sweet fruity scent but we can help prevent you from drinking it by mistake
so keep melon balls out of the garage and Motul out of your martini glass and in your engine case
where it belongs if your bike is overdue for an oil change check out Motul's full line of synthetic
oils it may taste like but it's the best-selling oil at RevZilla.com
We are back thank you as always to our our lovely sponsors that allow us to do the podcast
Lance we left off with you know kind of a look at what we were excited to learn about for Mike Ma
you know one of the things that we're always kind of left with is like a little bit of
disappointment you know we hoped that we were gonna get that specific bike and we didn't get it so
what was you know let's do like two each you know and I think it bears mention
as we're as we're saying this that like this is not meant to be a holistic list of every single
thing that was released at Ikema right like if you're sitting here screaming at your radio
dials being like you didn't talk about the zero XB XE no we didn't there's a common tread article
there's lots of common tread articles you can check out common tread for
all the Ikema coverage but this is more of just like a holistic look at things that we
liked and some things that we felt were missing so I think it's probably good to say that right
up front right like this is not sure everything that Ikema was announced that would be an eight
hour podcast and we don't have time for that you're you're barely poor poor Lance all over
Zach Cortes is at home with broken bones recovering from surgeries and and screaming at
his radio dials he listens to Lance sub-inform and talking about how Lance hates turbos too and
that Zach was wrong I'm just paraphrasing Zach but Lance is sick if you can't hear in his voice
the poor the poor man is barely hanging on he's over there coughing and sneezing and wheezing
and he's doing his best to get through this podcast and I just want to say thank you uh on
behalf of Zach uh who's who's really excited that you were able to fill in for him and we could
keep the podcast moving for our audience you're a trooper Lance and I really really appreciate
you sticking with it it's not the healthiest that the common tread team has ever been I will say that
we're we're hanging on by a thread man hanging on by a thread um Lance what did you want to
see at Ikema that you didn't see well I'm probably going to set myself up to look silly for this one
because uh by the time this podcast comes out we may have the answer to this but as of this moment
we do not have the answer to this and the question on my mind is are we it meaning the US market
going to get the Honda CB1000F and the CB1000 GT now if you're not familiar with those motorcycles
we did have an article on common tread about the CB1000F the GT was shown also at at Ikema
the F is a retro model it's based on the Honda CB1000 Hornet which I got a chance to
ride earlier this summer and but it's it's it's a definite retro a couple years ago I had a chance
to ride a 1983 CB1100F that's owned by our friend Ken Condon who lives not too far from me and
that was this this bike is a spitting image of that it's it looks exactly like that if think back
if you if you're old enough to remember Freddie Spencer in the 1980s winning AMA superbike on a
CB750 that's the look in fact they even have the one of the color options is the silver with the
blue stripe just like good old fast freddy so it's a it's a bike that when they showed it at the
eight hours of Suzuka got a lot of attention we had an article in common tread about it a lot of
our readers think it's a handsome piece and so you know the question is we have an article about
you riding the 83 CB1000. Yes I did an article about the chance to ride I got to ride he has an
83 CB1100F but he also has the 83 Eddie Lawson replica the Kawasaki okay so we rode the back
to back which was quite instructive but yeah that's another I misspoke I said CB1000 or CB1100 back
yeah so that was 1100 but this was the CB1000 but
the interesting part of that is another story we had recently on common tread was
our colleague Dustin who was spending some time in Japan got to ride the Yamaha XSR 900 GP
which is you know another bike that has a livery paying honor to a famous U.S.
racer in that case Wayne Rainey back in you know the early 90s and they don't sell it in the United
States so Lance you're stealing you're stealing mine now stick to your damn Honda's Lance stick to
him so my question is now are we going to have another my talking points here is that course
would never do that how dare you I know well you know actually better you better get him back as
soon as you can but yeah are we going to have a repeat of that with the CB1000 that's my question
and then the the other model is interesting too the CB1000 GT that's so that's more of a sport touring
type of upright bike again based on the same platform as the Hornet but it has the
you know half fairing and and it's got the electronic suspension so it's you know it's more
more fully equipped with the bells and whistles and more very very modern so
the both of those are we got to see them in Aikma but the question is are we going to actually get
them here so that's that's the unanswered question at the moment recording this maybe by the time this
is out we'll already know well I hope that it I hope that it's it's it comes out because I you
mentioned in the beginning like you might look silly and I like it when you look silly but
this is also a podcast there's magical ways that we could punch in and change everything
we're talking about if we wanted to but we won't we'll we'll let this one ride and I think mine
again jokingly I was I was stopping you because my my thing that I would have liked to have seen
learn heard um and I didn't was the same thing from Yamaha right like you mentioned the the
XSR 900 GP are we getting that in the United States doesn't doesn't seem like it why are we not
getting that bike I want that bike in the United States and and and I also am looking at all these
new 10 array 700 variants like I think they just came out with a new world raid version
and I was really hoping that Aikma this year they're going to say hey guess what
we're bringing these bikes to the United States and I don't know why they're not I don't know why
Yamaha specifically is just leaving some of these bikes out of the US market and it's and it's
frustrating especially around like those two particular models the XSR 900 GP and then the
different variants of the 10 array because there's like multiple variations of the 10 array at this
point and with the US market we're really just getting you know the one which seems kind of
like short-sighted well I mean I think what we have to remember and what we don't automatically
think of is that we're kind of small potatoes in the global motorcycle market no I think about
that all the time I'm I'm aware you know yeah we we're used to being the the oh the United States
is the global dominant superpower the biggest economy in the world and blah blah blah but in
motorcycle terms we're not buying motorcycles not by we're just small and and if you look at the
percentages of uh some of these you know multi-national corporations uh revenues that
come from the United States the percentage that comes from here is pretty small so at some point
you say yeah we could we could bring four versions of the 10 array to the United States but it's
going to cost us X and we're going to gain Y is it is it worth our while and yeah I don't know
I agree with you it still seems a little strange to have a Wayne Rainey replica not sold in the
country that Wayne Rainey is you know the a national motorcycling hero but uh whatever
I think I guess I could understand you know Triumph recently and this was pre Eichman news
like they discontinued the screw triple R which bummed me out because it was a great motorcycle for
like 10,600 but they're saying you know what we're going to we're going to bring in this new Trident
800 this is going to replace it we're going to leave the RS and I'm guessing that a lot of
that had to do with sales too they were importing both bikes but most people were probably sitting
there on the showroom floor bumping up to the RS because it looks a little bit cooler I mean
we're we're guilty of it uh you know during the high settlers I break uh we went out and bought a
screw triple RS in uh in cosmic yellow because I really like that color as a
bike to have here uh in the high side low side studios um but like I just feel like with the
10 array specifically bringing in like the top of the lion version of that bike to the US
where the US is if they are going to buy bikes you know we're going to buy adventure bikes we're
going to buy the bigger one we're going to spend a little bit more money and get the one that we
want like I just can't imagine that like that is a bad option to import you know sure that's I guess
that's where I'm leaning there so make sense but we don't need to so the bikes that we're not getting
in the US aside uh Honda Yamaha you know what what's going to happen here I think Honda we
probably have a better chance of getting those bikes I don't see I don't see any late breaking
surprise announcements that Yamaha is bringing their models in so all right Lance outside of that
you get one more pick what's one other thing that you would have liked to have seen at Aikma
that you did not see well this is a little bit cheating because I didn't expect to see this at
Aikma but we certainly most certainly didn't um I was I have been watching closely on the
it's really interesting times over there if you haven't been reading our stories on comment
tread and you you know maybe check out the story about how you know we have a new the company has
a new CEO coming in from outside the industry and on Tuesday I this week so it'll be a little bit
later than that one when you actually listen to this they had their first quarterly conference
called financial results with the new CEO talking and he said some interesting stuff one of the things
that we've been waiting for was when is Harley Davidson going to come out with their new sprint
model which is going to be their new accessible affordable motorcycle which according to what
we were told earlier this year would would be in the six thousand dollar range we don't know what
it's going to be but it's going to be called the sprint uh during this week's conference call the
new CEO already stars said that uh it was going to be out in the second half of next year now I
didn't really expect to get more information on that at Aikma usually Harley doesn't you know
focus on Aikma as a way to introduce their their new stuff but they did come out with uh what they
called chapter one of their reveal of their 2026 model line and basically chapter one was uh you
the less interesting stuff the stuff that pretty much carries over from before
and they say chapter two is not going to come out to January 14th so apparently we've got a long
wait before we find out the really interesting stuff about what's coming next year so uh I didn't
necessarily expect to see it but I was kind of hoping we might get some new information but
we got very little new information like that well uh you know I don't want to get too much away
but I know that we are aiming for a podcast dedicated a little bit more towards Harley Davidson
all the changes that we're seeing there um I would have the only reason I would have maybe
suspected that they were going to address it at Aikma is like a small displacement affordable
Harley Davidson manufactured outside of the US presumably where it could be sold outside the
US for a more affordable price um would have been more world news than just you know US news and
like you said you know the motorcycle market is much bigger as a global market than it is
just within the US so that's where I would agree with you I was expecting if we were going to hear
something maybe a prototype or something shown at Aikma would have been appropriate and you
know my my pick my second pick actually is kind of along the lines of Harley Davidson mine's more
about Indian um and I know that we saw Indian announce um a sport scout RT which is like kind
of like a baby bagger um but I was expecting to hear more from Indian about like what are their
plans moving forward um you know I was having a conversation uh with a colleague Sean around the
water cooler this afternoon around like you know what is Indian going to do now that they're not
owned by Polaris for those of you who missed the news there is an article up on Common Tread
that uh Indian has split with its ownership group Polaris Polaris has owned Indian for like
I think 12 years Lance does that sound right oh Polaris is on Indian for 12 13 years it's
give or take about about that yeah so they're no longer the the primary owner and and I think
there's just a lot up in the air and you know some of the questions that you know Sean was was
discussing when I was talking to him this afternoon um you know and I agree with it it's like I would
expect them to see I would expect to see maybe a small displacement bike you know something
manufactured over overseas that could be sold easily overseas you know when Lance you and I
were talking about sales numbers um from Indian not too long ago and like sales outside the United
States are actually doing really well for them and so I'm surprised that we haven't seen them kind of
double down on that at all um with some smaller more world focused models well I mean honestly I
don't think we can predict much of anything that's going to happen with Indian right now because we
with with new ownership coming in just to be technically clear the the the deal is supposed
to close in the first quarter of next year so uh you know they still have to do all the paperwork
and everything but the new ownership is uh supposedly a private equity firm that does not
sell its purchases whereas you know we know there's some private equity firms who
they buy a company and they strip it for parts and they sell the steaming hawk that's left for
whatever they can get and that's how they make their money and then there are others who buy
companies that they actually want to run and supposedly this is the latter but to be honest
we don't know what uh a private equity firm ownership is going to be for Indian and I think
it's it's you know it's it's really anything's possible and we'll have to see which which direction
they go but uh they've already uh you know gone more into the middle sort of the middle category
of motorcycles much more so than Harley-Davidson has and now Harley's kind of changing tack a
little bit and trying to get some affordable options in its lineup but Indian's already there
Indian's got you know so many different scout models I can't remember exactly how many they have
anymore but they've got they've got something for everybody do you think well no so you say they got
something for everybody but like they've also gotten rid of the FTR 1200 which was something
that was maybe a little bit less cruiser focused trying to branch out of that segment do you see
do you see Indian moving in a direction where maybe they are getting maybe they're not going to
just be chasing Harley-Davidson do you see Indian going you know strategically after outside segments
or do you see them primarily sticking with the the cruiser and the big touring segment
I mean again it's impossible for me to say I would just be I might as well throw darts at the wall
because I don't know what the thinking is inside the you know the new ownership who knows what they're
thinking I could I could see them coming up with either decision and you know I mean it would be
interesting if you if you those those people who know Indian history when the original company
shut down in the 1950s ever since then the name has been passed around by so many ownerships and
the brand has been passed around and you know people were selling little scooters and all kinds
of stuff and just slapping the Indian name on it and who knows we can have a repeat of that history
you know they like you say they could decide oh we're going to do cheap imported motorcycles and
just slap the Indian name on maybe history will repeat itself I don't know it was interesting
when we did an episode a couple seasons ago where Spencer Robert came on with Zach Quartz and I
and we we did a trivia episode with Mark Gardner's book Mark Gardner is a was a long time contributor
for Common Thread and he wrote a trivia book and one of the questions was how many times
has the Indian name changed and I'm pretty sure Zach and I both got it wrong because we were way
too conservative and our guesses so many I think it's like 26 it's something where I think Zach
and I both were like there's no way it was more than eight times or 11 times and I think it was
like 26 times or something like that so it's pretty insane yeah the the the recent history
with Polaris' ownership has been the most stability that the Indian brand has had since the original
company went out of business in the 1950s but now we're back in totally totally uncharted waters
again so Lance we're wrapping up Ikema coverage you know we're talking about uncharted waters it's
a great you're setting me up for perfect segways man I wish Zach I wish Zach set me up for segways
the way that you did our uncharted waters you know the last five years in the motorcycle industry
we had COVID hit we had you know different approaches taken by manufacturers for launching
new models because you know big international shows like Ikema weren't necessarily available
and slowly they've come back to these traditional methods of launching new motorcycles and I think
you know where I want to kind of leave the audience and maybe the audience would weigh in and some
comments and some emails you know are these big motorcycle shows like Ikema still wanted or needed
in in the motorcycle industry and you know or you know we're seeing all these manufacturers
launch models outside of Ikema so like is it just the fact that you know people can still go and
physically see these bikes in person and and how important are these shows for OEMs you know moving
forward well what we've seen particularly in the United States is is a huge decrease in shows
aimed at the consumers and open to the consumers I mean we used to have the the motorcycle expos
across the country and that was a consumer show you go in and you walk in you sit down on the
sit on the bikes and you you know touch the new jackets and you try on a new helmet or whatever
yeah you're talking about the IMS shows yeah IMS shows and then we had Amexpo also sort of did
this hybrid version where they would have industry days and then consumer days so they have a couple
days for just industry people to network and so forth and then they would have it open to
consumers for a couple days and they eventually just made now we're just going to make it an
industry show so what we've seen is that apparently it doesn't pay to put on consumer motorcycle
shows because nobody wants to do it anymore and I think there are just so many other ways
for us to learn about new products that the idea of having to you know go to some huge
exhibit hall and walk around and and look at stuff I think it's I guess it's just antiquated
now we still have these shows that are like I say aimed at the industry where the people who are
you know the dealers are going to these shows they're deciding well what do I want to stock you
know do I want to stock this these accessories these this clothing this you know these helmets
whatever I want to talk to the people who are representing these brands and you have that that
sort of thing going on that's basically what Amexpo is now and it's very much directed at dealers
so I just don't think there's a whole lot of future for consumer directed shows.
It's interesting man like I remember one of the conversations I had with my dad
around IMS going away and for those of you that aren't familiar IMS was a show in the US
in Canada where you know it traveled and so you had you know a night in Manhattan
and you know our weekend in Manhattan a weekend in California a weekend in the Midwest weekend in
the southeast like and it just gave you an opportunity to do something and and traditionally
the shows happened in the wintertime and my dad and I always liked it because
in in Allentown Pennsylvania or you know New York you're not riding motorcycles in January
presumably because there's snow on the ground and so it was a way for us to like hop in the car
you know with a couple of friends that rode motorcycles we drove up to Manhattan
we sat on a bunch of new bikes we got dinner and then you know we came home and it was like
there was a camaraderie aspect to it that we liked and it was fun and there was energy to it
and then they moved the shows to the summer because they were trying to incorporate test rides
which I don't think was a bad idea but in the summertime people have other things to do they're
already on vacation they're out riding their own motorcycles maybe they're not inclined to
ride up to Manhattan and sit in Manhattan traffic when it's 85 degrees outside on a motorcycle or
95 degrees in humid like it just didn't seem like it was like it just seemed like there was too
much else it was competing with for our attention with with the shift and so you know I don't know
if there's not a place for consumer motorcycle shows I just don't know I don't know how to
crack that nut you know yeah and and how do you make it where they're profitable and there's enough
interest that you know that can draw people in especially like you said in the U.S. you know
we're we're trying to we're trying to get more riders into the sport and you know you have to
have something tangible for them to experience you can't just be like oh well just go to the
website and look at pictures or go down to the dealership and hope that they have one in stock
that you can sit on you know yeah so I don't know I definitely feel like you know as we saw this
year with Eichma it's it's always interesting when you have like Triumph launching you know
Triumph making all these announcements before the show Kawasaki made all their announcements before
the show I'm sure that in the coming weeks we'll have additional motorcycles that we're learning
about coming outside the show it'll it'll be interesting to see whether or not some of these
brands are you know going to come back to the mentality of just waiting and launching at Eichma
and doing the whole you know sheet over a motorcycle on veil or if they're just going to say you know
what it's not worth our our investment dollars and we're going to we're going to look at it elsewhere
and that's where I think a lot of this is going to be determined is whether or not the motorcycle
manufacturers are going to continue to see the value in something like Eichma to bring about
exactly and you have to you have they have to ask themselves the question if we decide we're going
to unveil new new models specifically the show we're competing with everybody else who's doing
the same for the same attention whereas if we space it out maybe we can get ours I don't know
these are questions that that that they're going to have to have to answer but I can certainly see
why you might not want to try to compete with every other manufacturer with everybody unveiling
their stuff at the same time well if it's a cost concern you know hopefully BMW is saving enough
money with all those AI generated images that they can you know pay for their their Eichma booth
all right so Lance any final thoughts on Eichma before we move on to the engine sound guessing
game let's go for it all right well I you didn't you didn't you're supposed to throw it back to me
and you're supposed to say Spurgeon I don't have any do you have any final thoughts on
Eichma oh Spurgeon what are your final thoughts thank you Lance I appreciate that so one of the
things I was thinking about was uh the 18th birthday of Revzella right and I was thinking about all
the crazy shenanigans in my head as we were talking about this episode and like um one of the things
that I really liked back when Eichma was maybe a little bit uh when there were more you know
breaking news stories happening was um it was really an exciting time for Common Trek because
Lemmy was still working here and we'd we'd drive into the office and we'd get here at like
4 30 in the morning to start covering the news coming out of Europe and you had a thermos of
coffee and the lights were out there was nobody else in the office and it just had like a real
newsroom feel to it and so like I think if I'm waxing poetic about some of my favorite times
at Revzella it was you know you remotely cracking the whip on on Lemmy and I as we were sitting in
an empty office in South Philly just typing away at our keyboards and we got to block off the entire
week where like all we were doing for the week was just writing articles and it really felt
special and it felt big and it felt cool and I miss it I that's I miss the energy even remotely of
like just waiting for the next unveil and like I'm gonna grab this article and Lance is gonna grab
this one and Lemmy's gonna grab this one it was just uh it was a fun time and I just wanted to
throw that out it's like you know as I'm thinking about the 18 years and I'm thinking about the
you know going on 12 years of common tread um it was cool that was a yeah and and we and I think
it's uh I don't know I think it's a sign of how the shows in general like but specifically has
evolved that we don't don't have that same sort of rush today you know it's yeah it's it's more
like we uh well here's the system things are going on which ones are you gonna write about which
ones are we gonna maybe leave for later yeah it's it's definitely it's definitely changed the times
have changed even as we were preparing for this episode it wasn't like definitive it wasn't like
dude did you see this you know it was like yeah I mean like the Honda v3 prototype is cool but it
wasn't like we're getting that and we're gonna go out and buy it you know like um and even with like
the BMW f450gs it's like oh it's coming in 2027 it's not like there's not this sense of urgency
and like this is really cool and like we're gonna get to ride it in like two months and like whoa
so anyway enough of enough about looking back let's look forward into what engine sound we think
producer chase has picked for you and I to compete against for those of you that are not
familiar this is the engine sound guessing game america's favorite engine sound guessing game if not
the only engine sound guessing game out there thank you to akrapovic for sponsoring the engine
sound guessing game if you would like your engine on your motorcycle to sound a little
less anemic then maybe you need an akrapovic exhaust so uh I will say this uh lance you've
played the game before so I probably shouldn't have to you know give you any of the the rules
about how this works but we're going to get uh an engine sound that we'll listen to together
we'll get two hints the audience should be playing along at home uh shout it out to your stereo
speakers lance start your engine all right
I gotta guess what do you but be a guest honors lance
how many uh how many cylinders do you hear there buddy uh multiple uh huh uh huh yeah multiple yep
I'm with you uh two three four six eight four you hear four well yeah you know I'm not very good
this game so hang on you have owned a v4 you currently own a speed triple so you have a
boxer yeah I I don't hear four I hear I hear a triumph that you don't think that sounds like a
triumph to me to you yeah maybe um it it I'm trying to place it that that's that that whirring
in the beginning is familiar but I'm trying to place it I know I always do this and I know
producer chase tells us not to do it because he's never gonna try to stop the guest but
it just I can't help but sound like it just sounds like a triumph triple to me and I know that we just
I know that we were just talking about
yeah I don't know that's that that's where my head is at yeah I mean I would say I I kind of thought
it was a four but it could be a triple but it could be uh something like the you know like a street
triple all right well let's do this so let's do this um uh I will say before we go to the hint
let's listen one more time and just see if we can figure out if we think it's a four or a triple
audience you get another listen as well
um
would you like a hint or would you like to take a stab in the dark I would love a hint
all right let me see the more helpful the hint the better all right first hint
three cylinders uh huh so here's a deal I don't think uh I know that I said if producer chase
were to play us the Honda sound that would be super smart of him to do
and it's three cylinders so that is a possibility
but I I it just sounds like a triumph to me like my gut reaction as soon as that thing fired up
was that it was a triumph yeah I I'm I'm leaning towards the street triple some variation of a
street triple the 675 or the new 765 uh what about a Daytona you used to own a 675 Daytona what
if you think what if what if what if he went back and found your old motorcycle
don't think it's my old motorcycle because my old motorcycle was turned into a track bike
he probably has a much louder exhaust I don't think it was specifically your old motorcycle
Lance that that was a sad story I don't know we maybe should do a podcast episode about uh
the the the history of Lance's motorcycles but that poor one
Lance had a had a small tip over it it just broke his heart and he had to get rid of it
it was it was sad was it a low side or a high side Lance do you want to tell the audience what
happened no no we'll save that for a whole other podcast all right um let's do one final hint
and then we will see if either of us can figure it out I I think it's a I think it's a triumph
triple uh the year make model had a first ride review on common tread the reviewer stated
this bike is not really an all new bike it's a rename bringing the USA the name the rest of the
world has had for a little while now oh which one of us wrote this article because this is where
Lance is trying or this is where Chase is trying to get us this so the the reviewer for common tread
stated this bike is not really an all new bike it's a rename bringing the USA the name the rest of
the world has had for a little while now so it's a Yamaha MT-09 so I was wrong it's not a triumph
it's an MT-09 I think it's a Yamaha MT-09 because that was originally the FZ-09
United States it was an MT-09 everywhere else and they eventually changed to make the name
uniform globally so that's what I'm going with uh that's a hell of a guess because I I even as I
was reading this I was like what about the trident did we have it some but it wasn't called something
different here first we got it later but it wasn't all right without any further ado let's see if
Lance is right oh Lance you were so close all right I'm gonna nope all right I looked I I look
so I know what it is Lance what was one other Yamaha that was a triple that had a different name
in the United States first you had the end you have the engine right what engine was that also
used in uh the tracer the MT-09 and the tracer the tracer 900 GT which is originally called
I think it was an FGA-09 I did a review on the FGA-09 so I'm pretty sure that was the FGA-09
first and they switched it to the tracer so no okay yep so that was close the the Yamaha
triple line got some different names in the United States an FZ-09 first uh for for what became the
MT-09 uh which was their naked sport bike utilizing a 900 uh triple and then the FGA-09 was like uh
upright sport touring motorcycle um like an adventure style sport touring motorcycle but with
like 17 inch sport bike rims um and that got renamed the tracer 900 GT uh thank you to Chewie
Chewie sent in an audio clip of a 2019 uh tracer said that uh the GT is an upmarket version of the
bike it has a enough has changed uh that I think it's it's fair for the the tuning fork people
to refer to it as a different model but thank you Chewie uh make sure you send us an email over
to highsidelowsideatrevzilla.com with your per-ferred high side low side t-shirt uh design
and size as well as your address and we will get one mail that for you if you would like to send us
your engine sound for my future co-host and I whether that's Lance or Spencer or Airy or Zach
or maybe or say maybe Zach's can be back uh and we'll play the engine sound guessing game with your
engine sound send a an email with the year make model and any mods that you made to the bike
as well as an audio clip of the bike starting up letting it idle a few good revs and then
letting it idle again and we might pick your motorcycle for our engine sound guessing game
it was a good great job Lance I was still trying to figure out a triumph I totally was like heads
down thinking it was a triumph but you nailed it come on give yourself a round of applause Lance
you're always talking about how you don't feel like the you do well with the engine sound
guessing game and I'm I'm really impressed this is my best effort yet I will I gotta say is that
I still didn't get it exactly right but get excited give yourselves some credit I I'm proud of you
I'm proud of you someday I'll be a a shed a fraction of the shadow of a man like Zach Courts
who can the dude is an enigma when it comes to engine sound guessing games and uh it's it's
definitely a hard torch to carry without him here to move it along yep all right so Lance I'm
going to read the comment uh that came in today and then I'm going to let you take the first
stab at it so uh we are moving on to the final segment of the podcast this is the high side
low side comment slash review where we go through Apple reviews we go through Spotify comments we
go through YouTube comments we look at emails sent into high side low side at revzilla.com
and we pick one of our favorites to read out loud and the winner gets a t-shirt so first
and foremost thank you to everyone that has left us a review left a comment or sent an email
we very much value it and if we can ask a favor if you do have a little bit of time and you can
leave us a review over an Apple podcast we do appreciate that um but the email that came in
today is from Angelo um from Italy and Lance should I do this in Italian and you know that I'm
really good at accents so I could be like hello I'm Angelo from Italy it's Virginia terrible
in accents I the problem is like halfway through it's going to go from like my half ass attempt at
Italian accent to like a Mexican accent to like a Scottish accent and somehow you you end up in
Jamaica this terrible Jamaican accent sometimes so I don't know how you've wandered down that that
horrible how you're doing today yes see what I mean see folks did I tell you oh my god you're
sick and I'm losing my mind um all right this was actually someone that sent me a message on
Instagram and while I'm not trying to encourage people to blow up my uh my personal Instagram
message box I thought this was a good one so Angelo sent me a message and said hello
I am Angelo from Italy and I'm writing this because I desperately need a piece of advice
I have been writing for a year now I'm 29 years old and I've been on a 125 cc motorcycle I'm currently
taking uh my license course uh I'm planning to get a scrambler 400x I saw the ctxp episode
that you made in India with Zach and now all of a sudden thank you for watching the ctxp episode
for that but he said now all of my friends and colleagues are telling me that I'd better get
a scrambler 900 if I'm going to get into the genre because I like I'm likely going to get bored
with the 400 in like a year or so um I wouldn't want to buy a bike uh that I'm only going to
sell again a year later and I don't want to get bored of it and since I'm you know on a bit of a
budget I'd like to put my money where it's gonna you know make the most value um and I wanted to
ask your opinion since you are a seasoned rider as well as a triumph lover so Lance I want to
I want to start by throwing this to you you are a seasoned rider you are also a triumph lover
if if Angelo came to you and said Lance this is my conundrum I want to get a scrambler 400x
but my friends are telling me no no go buy the bigger bike uh what would you tell young Angelo
well let me let me throw one question to you first because I don't know anybody
who has more intense experience on a triumph 400 scrambler than you do so
in a brief summation how would you describe the capability of that bike well Lance I'll
tell you I'll tell you that the the person that has more experience on the scrambler 400 than I
do is Zach Quartz because he rode the scrambler 400 I rode you clearly aren't watching my videos
that hurts my feelings I was on this I was on the the speed 400 um they were great bikes
they were great bikes I think I think you know we went into that episode um and I really felt
jealous of Zach because he got to ride the scrambler which was a little bit bigger um and and I'm
a little bit of a bigger person and it was a little bit more aimed at what we were trying
to do in India which is a little bit on road and off road and you know taking this big adventure
but even on the speed 400 it was a great bike I thought it was awesome I really was impressed
with what Triumph did with those motorcycles um they look great the fit and finish is awesome on them
and I weigh uh right now currently heading into the holiday season about 220 pounds I am
six foot three as I often talk about in my reviews where I tell people how big I am so
that they can relate to that and I didn't feel like I didn't feel like I was too big on it I
felt like it was appropriate I felt like I was having a blast I was ringing its neck I was having
a good time I had a great time on those those motorcycles thank you for asking Lance yeah
and I think that and I I wanted that context because here's the thing I the only thing that
would keep me from being 100 confidence in answering Angela's question is I don't know
what kind of riding he wants to do I don't know his riding profile and that obviously is critical
information but as and I I risk getting into some old guy rant here but I I really get annoyed
with these kind of comments from people that oh you can't do that on a little bike you'll just
get bored you'll outgrow it you can't do that you can't travel on the on a 650 you can't do this
or whatever and that's that's just so generally not true and I I I hear it a lot here in the
United States and not to get into a polemical debate here but I hear mostly from men I don't
hear from any women saying oh you need to buy at least a 900 or else you know you're not a real
man it's not a real man's bike but now I'm saddened to learn that this is the same in Italy too
but these yeah this idea that you somehow have to aim make the jump from a 125 to a 900 or else
it's not worth your time to me is just not just doesn't hold up I mean maybe a 400 is exactly
what he needs for the kind of riding he wants to do preach and then and then the other aspect of
this is I understand that he's trying to keep to a budget and I understand that buying you know
if you go out and you buy a new motorcycle every two years you're going to spend a lot on motorcycle
because you're taking the brunt of the depreciation but I don't get this idea that the goal is somehow
to buy your dream bike and never buy another motorcycle you know never have to change it for
something else all of us start out we don't know anything we don't we think we know what our dream
bike is but after we've been riding for a few years we find out that what we thought we liked maybe
is not really what we like as much as something else and we like to try it changes our desire for
the kind of riding we want to do changes so this whole idea of well you know you want to buy the
one bike that's your dream bike so you never ever have to change motorcycles if you're really into
motorcycles don't you want to experience a whole bunch of them you know um so here's what I would
say to actually try to be helpful for a change to angelo I would say buy the 400 look for a used one
look for one that's a couple years old it's going to be same as a new one if you do ride it for a
year and you find out oh gee yeah I should have got a bigger bike either because I'm a big guy and
I'm uncomfortable on it or you know I want to do a different kind of riding I want to do longer just
whatever then you aren't taking that big of a depreciation hit and you get the joy of having
ridden a 400 for a year or two and then you get the joy of trying something new and that way you're
not falling into that situation of well I can't really afford to go out and buy a new 400 this
year and then find out that I made a mistake and I have to buy another new bike next year that would
be what I would recommend go find a used 400 I don't have anything to add that was great advice
it's like it's like we we should we should start a whole segment called deer lance and much like
deer abbey where people write in for relationship advice you know they could write in and say deer
lance and they could ask for you know motorcycle advice on on you know which bike is right for
them and why and I thought that was that was great man because it's true like and let me let me ask
you this for the audience that doesn't know maybe they're not as familiar with you as I am and I
think it bears mentioned that I'm pretty familiar with you lance has woken up to realize in his old
age that you know I'm his best friend we talk every day sometimes we talk more than he has wife
talk and that probably you know was a surprise for you lance and you know I'm not going to ask you
to tell me how much you love me on the air while we're recording this because I know you like to
keep those emotions deep down inside but you can't argue how well we know each other um
what's what's the brand new motorcycle that you have sitting in your garage right now
you mean the most recent purchase because none of them are brand new that's the new
used motorcycle that you have in your garage right now I went out this summer I went out
this summer and bought the 2021 Kawasaki KLX 300 SM and I just wanted you know if I'm riding down
to the hardware store riding around just for my local transportation you know I got tired of taking
a full-size motorcycle I want something light and agile and easy to ride and fun to get on and
I you know I I just finished putting 2000 miles on the BMW R1300 RT which is a fantastic motorcycle
has every feature you could pretty much ever hope for comfortable you know it'll it'll
toaster buns it'll do everything except brew your coffee for you and but it's but you have
to really be thinking constantly to ride it you know you you can't just take off on it you can't
just throw it through the corners you know without realizing hey I've got you know close to 700
and some pounds between me and this motorcycle you know close to 800 pounds here to to to navigate
down the road and the the joy of lightweight bikes and and smaller motorcycles is that you
to me you just feel a lot more free to just go ride them did you have any more fun on your big
fancy expensive BMW than you did on the little BMW 310 GS you rode all summer long I wouldn't
say I had more fun I was more comfortable admittedly but you know we're talking about a $31,000
motorcycle and a $6,000 motorcycle so you know it's the obviously one is much nicer than the other
one is much smoother more powerful has many more features I went places on both of them
and got there happy so yeah I just feel like we we in especially in our culture and now I
apparently I learned it's Italy too that we just focus too much on you gotta go big you gotta get
bigger it's more more more and I just don't feel this is my rant you know but I don't feel that's
necessarily the way to go for everybody I agree with you Lance and Angelo if you're listening
you know don't be in such a hurry to climb the displacement ladder enjoy the different rungs
along the way you can have a lot of fun with the scrambler 400x it's going to be really manageable
for you and you're going to get to a point where you're going to feel more comfortable ringing
that's neck and using all that power versus jumping to a 900 and and maybe feeling like it's a little
bit too big too intimidating and and you're you're just you know not able to really get the most
enjoyment out of it and I rode those bikes with with Zach up to the highest road in the world and
we had an absolute hoot on them so hopefully that helps with your decision and we are happy
to send you a high side low side t-shirt all the way to Italy we will we will send that over
and if you want to you can send us your address and your preferred shirt style and size to
high side lowside at Revzola.com and you heard it here folks even if you are one of our international
listeners we are doing our best to get high side low side t-shirts all around the globe
much to the chagrin of my boss who is like what are these shipping charges to Italy for
t-shirts and I'm just like it's the cost of marketing a podcast man a podcast that reaches
around the globe and I want to thank you for all the listeners out there whether you are listening
on YouTube and leaving us comments there you're listening on Spotify and leaving us comments
there or you are taking the time to shoot us an email to highside lowside at Revzola.com and
giving us all of your feedback or you're leaving us that Apple podcast review we appreciate the time
that you take with us both in engaging in the the community aspect of the the discussion and the
comments or just spending an hour and a half two hours listening to Lance and I wax poetic about
what we're learning from Eichma. I am sorry to let you know that the Zach course has been injured
but I am happy to report that he is on the mend and recovering and hopefully we'll have some wacky
co-hosts here for the next couple of episodes as we give Zach the time that he needs to recover
but Lance I want to leave it with you any standout moments from today anything that struck your fancy
that you're leaving with you know on a on a high note. I just want to know if Angel is at Eichma.
Oh that's a good question that's a good question. Maybe we should be there on motorcycles.
He could he maybe he could have been we I just feel like we missed an opportunity here to have
our man on the scene you know what I'm saying. Hey but Triumph isn't at Eichma this year right
so he wouldn't he wouldn't be able to go to Eichma and sit on any Triumph motorcycles wouldn't
yeah but I mean you know maybe he wants to check on some of the other stuff. That's a good point.
Miss missed opportunities Spurge missed opportunities. Well I will say that
um if I had to think about anything I am probably still thinking like it's been hard not
reminiscing on the past uh you know 11 12 years right like and I know 18 year it's Revzil is 18th
birthday um and unfortunately you can't do a lot of fun things at 18. Used to be able to go out and
buy a pack of cigarettes when you turned 18. Now it's 21 because we're you know cigarettes are bad
for you and they are kids don't go smoke um you know so it's like pornography is already on the
internet so it's not like you know you're 18 you can go buy a bunch of pornography so like what
does 18 really give you these days? Like you can vote you can join what you can vote you can go you
can vote uh you can join the army um yeah you're gonna get to wait for 21 now so I guess we're
gonna have to wait for Revzil is 21st birthday before things really start to kick off and get
wild around here. We had a uh if anybody's really interested uh we had a commentary article several
years ago I think it was the 15th anniversary and I talked to some of the very early employees who
were still around and they had some great memories I mean talking about the early days when it was
just a couple of people sitting in this drafty little storefront in South Philly where they
would take their lunch to work and they have to keep it locked away because the rats would
steal their sandwiches for they brought for lunch and you know it was a total shoestring
operation and and and you know there were a lot of great stories uh that people had and
um you know if anybody's interested in getting revved up for the the upcoming future milestones
of Revzil and that would be a good story to look up. It's funny you mentioned the uh you mentioned
the I'll leave the audience with this but like even in the shoestring budget that we had for
Common Tremblin started like we didn't have like OEMs did not take us seriously. We were we were
borrowing motorcycles to review to prove that we could do motorcycle reviews. We were buying uh I
did a I did a review on a KTM 390 Duke when it first came out and it was because um a co-worker
bought the first one that was released in the area and we got it we gave him like 500 bucks
to like let us borrow his bike for his brand new motorcycle for like two weeks um and that was
how we reviewed motorcycles until we finally started getting some momentum and even then
there were other people out there running news outlets I'm not going to name any names Jensen
Beeler um who like basically sat us down and were like you'll never cut it no one's ever
going to take you seriously you know you're not gonna you're not going to succeed in this in this
industry and um and you really believed in what we were doing you spent a lot of time tutoring
myself and and lemmy and you've been a real mentor for a lot of people that have come and and and
worked under the the Common Tread umbrella ever since from from you know new authors like Andy
Greaser and and you know even some of the development of our newest co our newest author Dustin um to
you know be in there to work with established you know people that we've brought on as the
publication is developed with Ari Henning and Zach Quartz who have been you know longtime
motorcycle journalists and I think it's been really cool to see you know at your side uh
Lance the evolution of what we've done with Common Tread so that's my that's my takeaway here
thank you for all the work that you've put into all of your co-workers and you know helping us
develop into the fine-tuned you know media hosts that we are today because we couldn't have done it
without you oh that's great we're just been a fun ride and uh it's been fun working with the like
you said working with names that I knew from the industry but just people I sort of do their names
but now I'm actually get to work with them and call them call them colleagues and that's uh it's a
lot of fun well uh fortunately for you and me we'll get to work together on a few more of these
episodes as Zach Quartz recovers but for now uh we will let the audience go back to their
regularly scheduled day hopefully you enjoyed some of the news popping out of Aikma and until
next time thank you so much for joining us here on House Out of the Seine
you
About this episode
Season 11 kicks off with a discussion about the latest from EICMA 2025, featuring guest Lance Oliver. The hosts cover exciting new models like the Suzuki SV7 GX and BMW F450 GS, while also addressing the impact of AI in marketing. They reflect on the significance of motorcycle shows and the evolving landscape of the industry, including the challenges faced by brands like Harley-Davidson and Indian. The episode wraps up with a fun engine sound guessing game and advice for a listener contemplating their first motorcycle purchase.
Original notes
Fan-favorite Lance Oliver joins HSLS to break down the biggest news from EICMA 2025: The surprising new Suzuki SV-7GX, BMW's controversial F 450 GS (and its AI photos), Honda's wild V3R 900 E-Compressor concept, and the rise of brands like CFMOTO and Royal Enfield. Plus, they debate the "trickle-down" tech trend and ask: are big motorcycle shows like EICMA even relevant anymore?
But where is Zack Courts? Spurgeon Dunbar explains Zack's absence (get well soon!) as well as the engine-sound guessing game, whether or not you should get a bigger bike, and much more!
Check out more from RevZilla:
- Common Tread: News, opinions, and written reviews
- RevZillaTV: Bike reviews, How-To's, and product videos
0:00
107:31