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Episode 99: Shoppin’ with The Gear Chic

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:

Feedback:

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

Opening music is No Way by Kunk

 

Episode 92: Slow down, be careful, blah blah blah

Lots of news from Milan, a little from Pennsylvania and a whole heapin’ healpin’ of e-mail.

Episode 91: Stoking the fires of motorcycle awesomeness

Episode 91 – Stoking the fires of motorcycle awesomeness
November 6, 2011
This week, The Pace Podcast discusses Mosha, the elephant with the prosthetic leg, and how Mosha’s life has changed since her unfortunate accident. After Mosha, the guys talk about… wait, no, none of that is true at all. James and Chris do, however, discuss Hong Kong’s adoption of Brammo electric bikes for urban patrol use. The news is rife with V-Strom goodness, both the newly designed 650 and the big-boy legacy 1000.

Speaking of big-boy toys, Triumph releases a new Tiger, and it’s bigger and better than ever. Honda gives us…. (insert drumroll here)… a new Crosstourer based on the concept bike shown at last year’s international motorcycle shows. Oh, and E-15 is going to end the world. Fortunately, Mosha is ready for the challenge.

Linkeedinks…

Feedback:

  • S1000RR test ride by Chris Harr
  • Chad Owen – a Canadian in Korea
  • Brett Byers – Thoughts from a returning rider
  • Justin Varner – outfitted much like James’ bike, and trip ideas

Episode 88: Here comes the sun (in a forward-thinking, synergistic Triumph top case), do do do do, do

Episode 88 – Here comes the sun (in a forward-thinking, synergistic Triumph top case), do do do do, do.
October 9, 2011
James tells us about his new top case, finally delivered and installed by Triumph, and how it brings a completeness and whole-life synergy to his commuting and luggage-using lifestyle. (don’t mind me, I’ve been in a lot of marketing meetings lately)

The guys discuss the local weather lately, and how the strange yellow ball in the sky has finally returned to rain down its lovely light upon us all (or some wacky stuff like that), infusing us all with positive energy, and bringing forth new ways of looking at the sky as a metaphor for life. (somebody stop me)

James also talks about the limits of the Teiz Commute suit in the weather, and then gives us all some information on a few of the farkles he’s added to his bike and smart phone, bringing synergy and convergence to…. ya know, I just don’t really know how to complete that sentence without it sounding like a marketing slogan from some non-descript “business consulting firm” that never really explains what they do and charges you $550 per hour for the convenience of that lack of understanding.

So we’re not going to do that.

Because we can’t charge you.

The guys also talk about the new Honda cross-genre bike being developed for the world market. Since the new machine is named after one of the Acura car models, and Honda being a division of the Honda corporation, we see that synergy taking shape in the form of… wait, sorry… I’m doing it again.

Yamaha cements their place in the 2012 US motorcycle marketplace by redefining market expectations with its strong commitment to legacy and the common paradigm, while envisioning a new tomorrow with… DAMN IT! Stop it. Yeah, Yamaha announces the 2012 models.

Links, in synergistic symbiosis with the digital… STOP IT!!!

Episode 83: The Hondacati Conspiracy

Episode 83 – The Hondacati Conspiracy.
August 21, 2011
Please note that due to technical issues, the Busa Rap from Raul Lowe is not included in the podcast, but can be found at ( http://www.busabeats.com/#trackid=10932 ). 
This week is an audio and sensory extravaganza! We’ve got feedback galore and a fantastic book review from friend of the show, Beth Clark. In addition, we have a link – sorry, no direct audio recording, sadly – of a Busa-inspired rap song from Raul Lowe. Lots of fun!

The guys talk about Aerostich’s latest product, the sized and purpose-built LokSack weather proof storage bags designed for all your common electronic gizmos, and sized to fit in the Aerostich RoadCrafter and Darien suits. Oh, and they’ll fit in your tank bag, too. Check them out. The show says goodbye to motorcycling legend, Claudio Castiglioni, discusses the newest Victory offerings, and notes that Ducati has fallen victim to the Honda 919 conspiracy – and by that they mean that 919 Ducaties were recalled for a minor defect that makes the Diavel models topple over[1].

The President signs into law the lead-ban exception for childrens’ motorcycles and ATVs, and we get some pictures of the 2012 CBR1000RR from Honda.

Stick around for feedback.

Feedback

  • Steve Hanning opines on lane sharing and relates a story or two

[1] – (please note – Honda really had nothing to do with the Ducati recalls, and there is no known Honda Conspiracy)

Episode 81: A showroom full of Little Monsters

Episode 81
July 31, 2011 – A showroom full of little monsters.

If it could go wrong getting this show out on time this week, it did. So… without preamble and grumbling on, we present to you, Episode 81. Enjoy!

This week the guys speculate on the future of Ducati’s 2-engine line-up. Then they spend some time in the shade thanks to the new e-Tint electronic helmet visor inserts. Erik Buell teases us further with another of the EBR Nation videos. Erik seems to be moving full bore; exciting stuff ahead, to be sure. The CBR250R from Honda gains some major after market support. And continuing our trend of Feedback-a-palooza, we have emails and audio clips galore. This week’s audio clip takes an excellent look at helmet laws from the pro- stance, and is certainly thought provoking. Jon also gives us some PDFs to read on the matter. Take a look!
Links!
Feedback:

  • From Roland Cannon – on Nitrogen in tires
  • From Brad Kaplan – on the NT700 Deauville
  • From Zack Skogsberg – on the venerable Ninja 250 touring mount
  • Excellent audio clip from Jon DelVecchio – on the helmet law debate from another perspective
See the show blog for Ep81 addendum with the PDFs from Jon!

Episode 79: Feedback Extravaganza

We have lots and lots of feedback this week including electronic controls on bikes, Chris’s scooter, my Teiz suit and an electric concept from BMW. We wonder if two discs are better then one and slide down the slippery slope that leads to helmet laws.

Oh, there’s some news too.

Episode 77: It’s the Eastern Pennsylvania Way

Why, exactly would you put nitrogen in your tires? We don’t know but we do know how to zip a zipper. J.D. Power tells us that Icon helmets are just as good as Arai. There may be a new VStrom, there may be a new sporting V4 from Honda and we definitely have a load of feedback.

 

Episode 76: Damn it’s Wednesday, need a new engine

The on-going saga of the SV’s self consuming engine comes to a favorable end and the Sprint gets a grip. It’s not all rainbows and unicorns though, Chris has his own tale of motorcycling woe to impart this week.

It looks like Husqvarna has a promising new street bike in the pipe and Honda may have a new middleweight nudie bike (we hope!). Canada gets serious about noise, Aerostich wants to let use your smartphone with gloves on and we have lots of good stuff from listeners like you. There’s a gear review from Josh Davis, a video from Paul Jones, an audio sample from Jeff Gilbert and recommendations from Todd Lampone and Matt.

Episode 70: The One Glaring Design Flaw

Episode 70: The One Glaring Design Flaw

This week James and Chris discuss “the one glaring design flaw” with James’ new Teiz Commute suit. Turns out, zippers don’t stop water. James has some ideas on a fix. Will he Betsy Ross it into submission and stop the water? Time will tell. Chris also tells us about *gasp* a new jacket. Go figure. This time it’s the Roadgear XTreme 4-season adventure-touring style ¾ jacket. He gives it two thumbs up, so far. Will rain and the coming Summer heat keep the jacket in favor? Time will tell.

It’s Ducati, folks… do they really need to justify a 68% jump in sales? Do they? The guys don’t think so. Sales are up, sales are down. On the down side, Big Dog cycles seems to be riding the falling tide of Custom bike sales. Do all (Big) Dogs really go to Heaven? Time will tell. The town of Sturgis apparently has to pay a nickel every time someone says its name. Federal trademark for the organization that manages the famous bike rally. Will this hold up? Time will te… oh never mind.

Jeff Gilbert lets us know about the “small sport bike” comparison found on SportRider.com. Thomas Hunt talks to us about riding in California, and Jamie Perkins wants to discuss riding in the “danger zone” between newbie and veteran. Where do we all fall in that range? Time will… really, I’ll stop now.

The Pace has a Flickr group and again, we want to send a huge THANK YOU out to the community. You guys rock!

Opening music is No Way by Kunk

The Ducati Diavel