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Episode 95: The Gear Chic Interview. With BRAINNNSSSS!

Episode 95 for December 11, 2011
The Gear Chic Interview. With BRAINNNSSSS!


This week we interview Joanne from The Gear Chic website and blog. Joanne is your personal shopper, reviewer and gear expert. She works at a dealership, she rides – a lot – and is also an MSF instructor. When she’s not doing those things, she’s investigating, reviewing, testing and discussing riding gear. Pay attention, folks… She’s got some excellent information and advice.

Stay tuned after the interview for some feedback, and we learn that – like zombies – the C10 just won’t die, or go away. Listener Jason Farley wants some information on riding up to Alaska. Oh, and BRAINNNSSSS!!!

Check out Joanne’s site at http://gearchic.com/about/

You can also find her on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/GearChic, Twitter at http://twitter.com/GearChic or on her new Help Line at 415-857-GEAR.

Opening music No Way, by Kunk

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Episode 93: Ok, so the Connie isn’t so bad.

Episode 93: Ok, so the Connie isn’t so bad.
November 20, 2011

Chris admits that the Concours C-10 isn’t so horrible. Then the guys talk about some information regarding Ethanol. Guess what…? If engines aren’t optimized for alcohol, they’re not as efficient, so using Ethanol fuels in conventional engines just ain’t getting it. Golly… imagine that.

After that, the guys talk about some French blood in Polaris, and what it means. Technology? People? More products? Only Polaris know, and they’re not talking. Well, not to The Pace, any way. But then, we didn’t contact them at all. So yeah…

Oh, look… Bimota releases some new stuff. Ducati on ‘roids? If it’s just a Duc power plant, should we really even be making so many comparisons to Ducati at all? I don’t know. Do you? I don’t. Do you? ‘cause I don’t.

BMW gets less ugly with the newly revamped 800R. Nice(r) looking ride. I mean, it’s no Ducati Indiana, but thank goodness, whatever could be, right?

Also, I’m listening to Sarah Haze while typing this. I discovered her when looking for podsafe music last year some time. Wow, total non-sequitur… just like the story about Ross Technology’s SuperHydroPhobic compound. What in the heck does that mean, and why does it matter to riders? Well, once you see the demo, it’s way more sequitur than you might think. Or something like that. The stuff just throws water off like… uhm… something really water proof. It’s pretty amazing. Just watch the video.

Harley is still in business and shakes up the 2012 lineup a little bit. Nothing terribly startling, but there were a few mild surprises. And Yamaha jumps into the video game / anime / action tv series game with the Ryoku concept bike. Ok, none of that is true. Ruoku was a character in Dragonball-Z, or something. Now it’s a Lego/Erector Set looking concept bike. It actually looks crazy-useful.

And we show you a map of Delaware’s only twisty road, Rt. 82, aka Creek Road. Dragon, schmagon. We’ve got a road that follows a creek. For like 6 miles. It’s got some turns… ya know, there’s no way to spin this. “It’s an awesome road… for being in Delaware.” There. That’ll do.

Just enjoy the show. Remember to send us your Holiday Gift Guide ideas – feedback@thepacepodcast.com

Linkaroos:

Feedback

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 89: Reverse Entropy

We open things up with a first hand impression of Delaware’s MSF program this week. After that we talk Kawasaki, Kawasaki and more Kawasaki. Then we wrap it all up with nice little email shaped bow. Ready for delivery.

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

Episode 67: Not in the ballpark, and that’s OK!

Episode 67 for March 20, 2011
Not in the ballpark, and that’s ok!
American muscle bike, hydrogen fuel cells and Zero gets far, far more than zero! This week, after a week’s hiatus, James and Chris are back to explain exactly what the new Motus will cost, and of course to delve into all the deep and detailed tech specs. After that, we get a science lesson on hydrogen – and by science we mean the guys speculate, guess and postulate on fuel cells. Zero wows us again, this time not with a new bike or model, but with investors tossing more and more cash at Zero. Pretty soon they’re going to have to start burning the cash because it’s got to be taking up all the room. James doens’t get all wacky and political, yet utters the words “good for the fed”, as we learn that there’s a bill pending to block the use of federal funds for motorcycle-only checkpoints. Japan has more on its plate than making sure the USA gets their toys; most of Japan’s motorcycle manufacturers shut down production for the time being.

iTunes makes donating to Japan’s relief efforts easy!
https://buy.itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZFinance.woa/wa/buyCharityGiftWizard

Lots and lots of feedback!

Links…

The Yamaha Morphous as discovered by Scott Lewis

Episode 61: If I can make it there, I’ll make it anywhere!

Episode 61 – January 30, 2011

We open up the show with some email feedback about recent topics. We discuss what we saw at the NYC IMS and field a question from voice mail about the show, then wrap up with some news and information. Oh, and my computer lost power early in the recording session. A brief public service tech note: when the power cord comes out and your battery is 6 years old, you’ll lose power pretty quickly.

Frankie boy sang about it. Its skyline is magnificent. Millions of people live, work and flock there all the year through. It’s New York, my friends. And we were there again this year to immerse ourselves in the motorcycle awesomeness that is the International Motorcycle Show.

We saw lots of interesting accessories and gear choices, including new additions to the textile riding suit market, a cool Schuberth comms system, and the newer models of helmets. Oh and polishing compounds. Lots and lots of polishing compounds. Everyone wants to be shiny, right?

Kawasaki seems to really have a hit on their hands with the Ninja 1000. People seem to love the bike, and also seem to like its versatility. Time will tell, but so far it’s gaining attention.

Triumph has hit it so far out of the park with the Tiger 800 family, that even the view from high above The Big Apple isn’t enough to see it.  Their Sprint GT seems to be a great freshening of a beloved sport-tourer. The Tiger’s torque curve is nothing short of amazing!

BMW’s R1000 is STILL drawing dense crowds and lots of attention. They really seem to have gotten it right.

When talking about the Yamaha Super Tenere we looked at, we also discuss an email from Ryan with his impressions of the bike as seen at another show. I also give my impressions of the FZ8, completely from an aesthetic point of view. James won this round. I fully agree; the looks are… interesting.

The Shoei Qwest seems to be a great entry in the street helmet market and we look forward to hearing more about it. Anyone have on yet?

James buys some gear and gives us his impression of the CBR250R, and ROK Straps helps us get into the show.

After the IMS discussion, we talk about a news item or two, including the fact that electric motorcycle manufacturer, Zero Motors, is building a new assembly plant.

Scott Bolton takes us out with a preview of the upcoming MotoGP racing season. Thanks, Scott!

Opening music, No Way by Kunk.

Episode 60: That groundhog better not F with me this year!

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We’re planning our trip to the New York International Motorcycle Show! We talk about tiny little bikes and a great big bike. Harley starts “building” bikes in India. BMW is ready to take your money for a new K1600 and the S1000RR beats out the GS for the best selling BMW title. The Mission-R gets naked, Maximum Bob does the Electric Boogaloo and Can-Am gets all hybridy. We also respond to some more feedback from you guys.

Mission-R

Episode 53: Daylight Target Acquired

Episode 53 – November 14, 2010

What happens when you’ve got 6 people in a mini van, a rider behind them and 10 miles of road on which to drive and ponder? Well, obviously, you discuss how best to take the rider out using a paintball gun. Poor James.

If you’re reading our show ‘blog, you’ve no doubt seen some of Denise Dickenson’s ride reports. This week we invite Denise on the show to discuss her impressions after riding the VFR1200, and Denise’s history in riding in general. 180,000 miles on her FZ1. Let that sink in.

After our discussions, we run through a few news items, including a big tire comparison article in Motorcycle USA, a Ninja 1000 review including pricing and some technical information, and the Tiger 800 gets priced (in Europe). If the pricing goes as expected, this will be a VERY competitively-priced product.

Aerostich say Thank You to the vets with a 10% discount for active service members, and our “Genius or Madness” pick of the week falls a little on the “huh…?” side of things; The StreetRyder passenger grab handle. Just click and see.

Inforoonies and linkydinks.

Episode 52: Mostly V4s

This week we talk about a bunch of V4s and some other stuff.

We want send special thanks out to Dan Klapman for his review of Scorpion’s EXO 1000.