Episode 99 - Shoppin’ with the gear chic! Jan 22, 2012

This week, James and Chris discuss brands... Toyota, Pepsi & Coke, IBM, Cisco... oh, and Harley-Davidson, too. What’s the value of a brand? You’re guaranteed to walk away puzzled.The guys vamp over Honda’s new offering in the US, the NC700-X. Is that ABS in your auto-tranny, or are you just happy to be shifting? Yeah, something like that. Anyway, Honda’s new machine looks like the cat’s meow and makes a lot of sense... except for the parts that don’t. Have you ever wanted to see a KLR as designed by Chuck Norris and Randy “The Macho Man” Savage (he stopped designing Suzukis, after all)...? The Husqvarna Baja (concept) might be just what Ken “The Doctor (of style) Johnson” ordered. Yeah, yeah... that was a stretch, I know. The Baja looks like a seriously badass version of what the KLR and other dirty, dirty dual-sports could be if they’re injected with testosterone and Hulk sweat. Give it a look. Oh, and speaking of manly... Judge for yourself, the new Victory. It’s lean, it’s pretty, it’s poweful. Dredd it. Ok... ok, I’ll stop now. The boys round out the show with some feedback, then turn the mics over to Joanne Donn, aka The Gear Chic, to give us some tips on how to shop for gear. These are some great tips and Joanne has a lot of information available. Check out her segment, then peruse her site for more detail. If Joanne survives the Arctic freeze in the great San Francisco tundra, look for future segments from her. The guys chipped in and bought her a kerosene heater from a second hand shop down on Hudson Street, but ya know... UPS just won’t ship kerosene in Harley-branded Coke bottles, so we hope she’ll be OK. Links:

• Harley makes Interbrand 100 list... again. But for how long...?
• http://www.asphaltandrubber.com/news/harley-davidson-interbrand-100-2011/
• Holy crap: Honda did it
• http://powersports.honda.com/street/adventure.aspx
• Husqvarna Baja Concept - KLR as designed by Spartans?
• http://www.asphaltandrubber.com/bikes/husqvarna-baja-concept/
• Victory Judge
• http://www.motorcycle-usa.com/645/12042/Motorcycle-Article/2013-Victory-Judge-First-Look-.aspx
• http://www.motorcycle.com/manufacturer/victory/2013-victory-judge-preview-91210.html
• http://www.cyrilhuzeblog.com/2012/01/20/the-judge-the-new-2013-victory-american-muscle-bike/
• VictoryJudge2.jpg (this pic makes it look more like a sport-standard than a cruiser)
• The Gear Chic’s shopping tips
• http://gearchic.com/gear-101/
• http://gearchic.com/geardirectory/
• http://gearchic.com/

Feedback:

• Paul Hempel
• Denver Conway
• Joel Cramer
• Andrew Myers

Opening music is No Way by Kunk