The Lowdown Show - By ADVrider

Do you have 600 cans of chickpeas next to 400 tins of peaches in your bunker? Do you think fuel-injection is a government ploy to plot your every move across the landscape? If you answered yes to either of those questions (or if they gave you reason to pause) then this week's show is unmissable. The two-wheel-drive Rokon is the oddest motorcycle you've never seen in the flesh. And, at 60-plus years old, it's also the second-longest continuously-produced motorcycle brand in America. Take that Indian. The Rokon is proof that a niche within a niche is a sound business plan. Company owner Tom Blais gives The Lowdown the lowdown on staying the course. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chris Parker of Rottweiler performance joins The Lowdown Radio Show this week. From his involvement in building pikes-peak winning cars, to his gig fabricating exhaust systems for Singer—the company that builds bespoke Porsche 911s for those with far too much money to burn—to his intake systems for KTMs that put his company on the map, Parker is a man with no shortage of drive. Or is that ride? And this, too—Parker credits ADVRider for Rottweiler’s first big break, specifically the one enthusiast who started a thread on the forum touting his work. We’ve all got to start somewhere, and Rottweiler started right here. And stick around to the end of the show, where host Neil Graham reviews a product that's improved motorcycling safety as significantly as antilock brakes. And it’s cheap. And you’ll never guess what it is. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From cheap shots to well-judged commentary, ADVRider’s commentary section is interesting. To say the least. In the first of what will become a month feature, podcast host Neil Graham reviews a selection of stories from the past month along with the best comments. From travel stories to bike stories to things so odd that all you can do is scratch your head. Only on ADVRider. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on the Lowdown Radio Show Motorcycle Global’s Michael Uhlarik joins us to talk about the global motorcycle trade. Much of which is far more unexpected than you might think. For instance, Michael hunted down the most searched motorcycles online in India, Italy, and the US. Two of those countries most often searched for aspirational bikes while one country chose a sensible, economical, middle-of-the-range motorcycle. The results will surprise you. And then we discuss what’s selling in each of those three countries and what’s not, and, as a bonus, we delve into America's Motorcycle Industry Council and how its secretive sales numbers are out of sync with reality. On the show this week we show some photographs, too, so if you’re unable to imagine the splendor of Hero’s 125 cc Splendor Plus, then check us out on YouTube. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week our guest is John Bentham, who just this year published Bike Week, a collection of photographs taken over more than a decade at Daytona’s notorious spring gathering. Bentham first went to Daytona in the mid-‘90s and would return another dozen times when his career as a New York City editorial and advertising photographer allowed. It just so happened that John’s attendance at Daytona began at the event’s peak and, in part, his chronicling charts Daytona’s decline as a very peculiar cultural phenomenon. How else could you explain an event that brought tens of thousands of people and millions of dollars to a town, and yet never garnered a notice on the city’s official website. Additionally, ADVRider managing editor Zac Kurylyk pops in for a quick review of the jacket that saved his ass. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices