Advertise on podcast: The Lowdown Show - By ADVrider

On episode 135 of The Lowdown Radio Show, Motorcycle Global’s Michael Uhlarik reports live off the floor at EICMA, the mind-bendingly huge motorcycle industry show held in Milan, Italy. It’s important to understand that for Michael, EICMA is Christmas, the Easter Bunny, his birthday (at least before they began piling up) and his first kiss all rolled into one. You can tell how much it means to him by the way he dresses for it, like a middle-school vice-principal from Rhode Island. Michael gives us a perspective from a true industry insider. Meaning that he gets down on his hands and knees to let us know where the money is spent on a motorcycle and where a manufacturer tightened the purse strings. And wouldn’t you know that one of the bikes Michael scrutinizes is Harley’s new Sprint 440. And, please, please, watch the video version of the show—to listen only to the audio would be like dropping acid while blindfolded at a Phish show. So sit back and let a sleep-deprived, macchiato-fueled Michael Uhlarik take us on a trip.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Dealership Dilemma! Your local motorcycle shop is struggling because they don't understand customers Have you ever been in a motorcycle dealership and felt that your head was about to explode? Not from the prices—that’s another conversation—but because the store was jammed to the gills with so many helmets and jackets and bikes and tins of chain lube, that not only couldn’t you find what you were looking for, but you’d forgotten what you were looking for? That’s what’s in store on this, episode 134 of the Lowdown Radio Show. Our guest, Jennifer Robison, casts an unflinching eye onto motorcycle dealerships. Did you know, according to Jennifer, that customers decide in under eight seconds whether a store is worth their time. Her job, as a dealership strategist, is to make every second count. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On the Lowdown Radio Show episode 133, editor Zac Kurylyk joins Neil Graham for a preview of some of what’s in store at the upcoming EICMA show in Milan. Royal Enfield will be there with a big dirt bike, Harley-Davidson imprint Livewire will reveal the cryptically-named Dust Spur (which makes us think of good old Clint and those wonderful spaghetti westerns), and KTM returns to the show after a few tough years with a parallel-twin 990 Adventure. Yes, a parallel-twin. Ducati has a Multistrada Gran Turismo with a wet bar, BMW, with the M 1300 GS, figures out how to make an expensive bike even more expensive, and Honda makes a four-banger 500 inspired by the 1990s. But without 1990s graphics. Mercifully. This, and more, this week on the show.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Motorcycle Global’s Michael Uhlarik joins us to talk focus groups. A group of people assembled to opine on anything from snack bars to topless bars to sissy bars. In this particular case, Michael’s client wanted to find out what non-motorcycling citizens under the age of 30 in five American states thought about motorcycling. Why should we care? Well, for one, this was once motorcycling’s main demographic, and if manufacturers don’t soon learn how to engage them, it’ll be awfully hard for those companies to survive. And you’d think, given that the price of everything has skyrocketed, that inexpensive two-wheeled transportation would have a golden opportunity for growth. But if that’s to be the case, there’s work to be done. This week Michael Uhlarik on the shocking views young Americans have on motorcyclists and motorcycling.    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, dealer guru Mark Sheffield joins the show. Maybe it’s because he’s in the middle of a move, maybe it’s because his cat is driving him mad, but this time around Mark takes off the kid gloves and lays down the facts of dealership life. We ask about tariffs. He says call it what it really is: a tax. (Unbelievably, many people don’t get that.) Then we talk profits. And where they’ve gone. And did you know only one motorcycle brand plays it straight when it comes to pricing? As in the price on the website is the price you pay at the dealership. One. Every other brand is doing its best to keep the real cost hidden from consumers. It’s not the dealerships this time, either. It’s the manufacturers that make the bikes that are up to shenanigans. And Mark gives us a legal loophole where you can get the bike you want at a price the dealer doesn’t want to sell it to you for. Seriously. News you can use this week on the The Lowdown Radio Show. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On episode 130 of the Lowdown Radio Show, Motorcycle Global’s Michael Uhlarik talks Honda's greatest hits. You may not own a Honda. You may be indifferent toward Honda. You may even poke pins into a stuffed effigy of a Honda. But it doesn’t change the fact that they are the most important brand in all of motorcycling. You know the old chestnut about rising tides raising all the boats? That’s Honda. Their innovation and quality so transformed motorcycling that their arrival was the watershed moment in the history of powered two wheelers, even if, at times, they’ve exhibited the frivolity of a calculus teacher. But when Honda is on, they’re really on. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On episode 129 of The Lowdown Radio Show, Neil Graham speaks with a woman who, last year alone, won two world and three US enduro championships. Despite having manufacturer sponsorship and despite a peerless record of success, it’s still necessary for Rachel Gutish to have a part-time job. She’s not sore about it, however, it’s just her reality. And in her 23 years of racing—she just turned 30—she’s seen women’s racing come from the dark ages into the light. Rachel Gutish, this week on the Lowdown Radio Show. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On episode 128 of the Lowdown Radio Show, Neil is joined by Trevor Daley. As a former race-winning superbike rider, Trevor never met a hay bale he couldn’t explode, and now he’s moved on to a career as a master motorcycle race fabricator and crew member for leading MotoAmerica superbike teams. Recently Trevor had the opportunity to work on a team at the Classic TT at the Isle of Man, where he rubbed shoulders with John McGuiness and tweaked the bike that carried the mercurial Michael Dunlop to a record-setting lap. Want to learn what the maddest lads in racing are really like? Give it a listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

ADVrider.com managing editor Zac Kurylyk joins Neil this week for a summer summation. Zac talks about getting back on a motorcycle after a serious accident last season, Neil confesses that after years of middling feelings towards the BMW boxer flat twin grudging respect has turned into genuine fondness, and the lads address motorcycle rallies. Zac's been to a few in his time while Neil swears that gunpoint won't be enough motivation to get him to another one after a debacle this summer. The Moto Craft rally was pitched as a different kind of rally, which is noble, except the same old thugs showed up and made a mess of things. Finally, Zac talks about time on the Kawasaki KLE 500 and Neil says the BMW R 12 G/S is a bike to be taken seriously.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Numbers are down at the traditional motorcycle rallies. Way down, depending on who you talk to. And who hasn't had more than enough of fat old men on Harleys blatting about at 25 mph making enough noise to wake the dead? Perhaps it's time to stage a revolution. (Peacefully, of course!) The backbone of the cruiser movement--the baby boomers--are doing their part by dying off, but what are the rest of us doing to resurrect rallies from a slow death? Texan Robert Pandya has an idea. Why not turn Sturgis into an ADV rally? The riding is spectacular, the scenery is stunning and, once all the classic rock bands are put out to pasture, maybe even the music will be tolerable. (Daytona, however, remains hopeless. Can't think of a less interesting place to ride a motorcycle. No offence, north Floridians, but geography has not favored you.) Give the Lowdown Radio Show a listen and let us know if you'd go to an ADV-based Sturgis rally. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On Episode 125 of the Lowdown Radio Show, Motorcycle Global's Michael Uhlarik tells us about the quiet revolution taking place within Yamaha. Unlike certain American motorcycle manufacturers, Yamaha wasn’t bleeding cash or mired in a crisis of confidence. Yamaha makes money. And yet the CEO for the world’s second-largest motorcycle manufacturer envisioned a day when the wellbeing of the company could be at risk. Is this the sign of a millennial mastermind (the new CEO is in his 40s) or is it paranoia brought on by the instability of the tumultuous world in which we live? You be the judge. But remember this: American taxpayers were spared the weight of billions in dollars in loans because one domestic automotive CEO had the foresight to do exactly what Yamaha’s boss is doing right now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A motorcycle designer and a plastic surgeon walked into a bar in New Orleans. What happened next? A plan to set a world speed record on the salt flats at Bonneville. Ex-Confederate designer JT Nesbitt and LSU-based surgeon Praz Patcha fell into a fast friendship and decided to take a shot at speed record immortality. But nothing comes easy on the salt, as Nesbitt knows. For Patcha, who’d be doing the riding, this was his first go-round. How did they do? When the pair finally made it back to New Orleans after the attempt, Patcha broke into tears. But were they tears of joy or tears of sorrow? All will be revealed within. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On the Lowdown 123, Harrison Withers gives us the skinny on the aftermath of Indian Motorcycle’s Harley attack ads from a few months ago that split the punters into two camps. One side praised Indian’s guns-loaded, America-first agenda while everyone else gagged on the whole affair. According to Withers, both camps missed the story. Did Indian motorcycle lose its mind or is a plan executing on schedule? Here’s a hint. The product isn’t an Indian motorcycle. It’s the company itself.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On episode 122 of the Lowdown Radio Show the topic is the star-crossed Damon HyperSport, the motorcycle that promised 200 horsepower, 200 miles-per-hour, and a 200 mile range from its electric propulsion system. 200/200/200. Catchy and easy to remember. And, seemingly, irresistible for investors, who poured tens of millions of dollars into the Vancouver startup. A startup that has now gone bust without having produced a single motorcycle. Michael Uhlarik did two stints at Damon and he’s here to share his experiences on how, and how not, to design a motorcycle company. For more lowdown on the inside of the motorcycle business, find Michael at motorcycleinsider.substack.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On episode 121 of The Lowdown Radio Show Oregonian Brian Price joins Neil to talk all-things riding gear. Price, easily the biggest riding gear nerd we've ever met, has elevated choosing gear for motorcycling to far more than just grabbing a jacket from the closest on the way out the door. At least it should be more than that, according to Price, who has spent much of his professional life—he’s also an online gear retailer—musing about the helmets on our heads and the gloves on our hands. If you’ve ever wondered about neck braces or airbags or the boots on our feet—boots, incidentally, are Price’s obsession—it's a conversation that will, hopefully, prompt you to think far more critically about what’s saving your skin.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices