Lemans and Silverstone were crazy!

Best bike in the world this week: Dyna Wide Glide

Worst Bike in the world this week: 2025 KTM RC16

Transcript

I don't why don't you want to tickle just want to just want to ride on my motor
Hey, hello everybody welcome. This is the Nakamoto podcast episode number 279
I'm your host MotoGP with me as your other host Swiggy. Yep, and we have a special guest on the line
We've got scooter Dan say hello
Live long and prosper. All right coming to you from Motowon podcast network studios
recording suite a otherwise known as the teaky room and
I think you guys are finally going to get a better view of the teaky room in the next couple of weeks
I finally figured out what the reason is that I can't get good
audio synced
videos up to YouTube
And apparently older gopros are prone especially ones that are a little bit older and age are prone to something called
time drift
So like the frame rate and the audio and everything isn't in perfect time. I mean it is on our h4
Or it's not perfect on our h4 and it's not perfect on the gopros
So one of them is recording essentially a little bit slower or faster
And so we're going to have to use more patreon money
to get
Adobe Premiere Pro which claims to have tools that can adjust the time lengths and on the fly and fix this syncing issue
Because gopros have terrible cameras and since we're using multiple cameras
We can't I don't think we would have good results running
USB into each camera from the board
It would defeat the purpose of having these cameras too. Anyway, enough about that
Well, let's get this episode on the road
We might have Dr. Mike joining us
So if there's a great big awful noise you'll know that it's him coming in and sitting down
Okay, we are going to discuss
Well, we're going to do best worst bike in the world this week and then shortly after that
We're going to get into a little bit of the state of scooters in this world with scooter Dan
And we are going to also do a rundown of the last two rounds of MotoGP because
Holy shit, they weren't like the best rounds of MotoGP I've ever seen
But a holy crap where they dramatic and Peter I'm gonna stop you
There's no crying in motorcyclists
Unless you're fad you a quarter rarer right now. I know that is the only man in all of motorcycles that is
From allowed to cry right now. It's oh, I know I know
All right, well
We have more of a time limit these days that we want to make sure we pack in a lot of great content for the non-patreon members
So let's get the show on the road
Let's get into best worst bike in the world this week guys
This is what we're going to do we
Swigs and I've each chose the motorcycle. We don't know each other have chosen. It's always a surprise if you have thoughts questions feelings concerns
Or if what we chose just makes your dick especially harder soft
Or makes you especially dry or what send your comments and questions and concerns to where Dan
Uh, you can send them to
Something no commoto.com. I don't know info or contact. I don't know Pete. Yes, Peter contact at no commoto podcast.com
Or again, if you're listing the preferred way on this the uh on just a pure audio podcast then you can just hit the
Send us a text button or leave a comment on the youtube video
I don't think wherever really going to do
YouTube comments on this show
But I mean there's a chance that will you know have a back and forth with you on what's going on
I'm sure if you leave one that both of those guys will will this will read it and whether or not they react to it
It doesn't happen. They still read it, right?
I mean it might be weeks after you leave it that we read it, but yeah
Okay, so swigs you have
Worst bike in the world this week. I do and are you ready to reveal it? I am all right
And the worst bike in the world this week is
The 2025
KTM RC 16
Otherwise known as KTM's Moto GP bike
Oh, okay, we've done a few of these. Yeah, this bike's a hot disaster
and
It's it help if you grab the TV remote and turn the TV on. I guess I could do that. Yeah
So the problem with this bike is
It's not doing especially bad
but
this bike has
probably declined in
up has declined in results
the most and
Significantly faster than the other bikes have
Um, like it's just exactly stayed still
Well, yes to a degree
It's but I mean that's the same difference in Moto GP
I mean in the same way that the way that the Honda's kind of fell off and the Yamaha's fell off
those were
pretty gradual declines
They were long and consistent declines
But they were they were they were pretty gradual
KTM went from
Maybe second best bike to the worst bike in half a season
yes
And they did it while having
Yeah, a ton of bikes on the grid between KTM and um
What's their
What's the daughter company the the other brand?
Uh gas gas yeah between the other the KTM
And the KTM satellite and gas gas they had like six bikes on the grid
And at the same time
They have veteran riders like it's weird to think of the grad vendor as a veteran rider
But it kind of is now it's been around for ages yeah
Um since 2014 2013
Oh, I thought it was in Moto 3 then, but no, that's what I'm saying yeah
He's been in Moto GP in general if for a 10 for a decade
Yeah, and they've had all this long-time
KTM talent
They've got Pedro Acosta who showed a lot of promise in his rookie year on the gas gas bike
And now it just feels like they can't get anywhere in qualifying
anywhere in a race
And now they're getting consistently passed up by Hondas and Yamaha's that
Over the last like both especially if they're a Frenchman riding those
Hondas and Yamaha's
Yeah, I'll stop you for a second the only standout moment for the KTM this year was Vinyalus at
Qatar
That's right, that's correct, but Qatar's always an upset track
For sure, yeah for sure it is um
But
This is a team that's got the Red Bull money. This is the team that made a big splash and went all out and flaunted all this money around
and now
The performance in GP is now kind of starting to match kind of all the big
You know a lot of the reliability concerns people had with KTM bikes, you know sold to the public
As well as the recent financial woes. It seems like everything's kind of come into sync
Yeah, and
It's we're kind of watching a brand just kind of fall apart on every front what just comprehensively
Uh, in a way that I don't think I've ever seen before
You know, maybe RCA had a similar decline at the end of its life. Oh
The like I don't think I've ever seen
Something like this and you know, obviously like they're not
The bikes aren't exploding
They're not coming last every time. It's not like they can't get into Q2
But it just everything has kind of simultaneously just slumped
I
Agree it's it's bad
When Honda was so far behind
We thought it was a big deal that Honda went from where they were
To just getting to the back of the grid was this monumental achievement. They were so far behind
And now KTM's basically at the back of the grid
Yeah, I mean
Pedro Acosta has gotten some top 10s
Mm-hmm, but that is it. I mean he's nothing more than that. Oh, Pedro Acosta's their top rider at this point
And even he's more talking leave the team he wants wouldn't team. Thank you. Yeah
Um, the other thing is that
Weirdly, you know, KTM's are kind of seen as this pretty up market bike in the dirt bike world
It's like oh you get it hot yanda or a Honda or Yamaha. I was like, okay, you got a solid bike
You end up going with like a Suzuki. It's our Kawasaki a lot of times we were like
Okay, you know, then you get a KTM and it's like whoa so hey big spender
but like
in the Moto GP world
the KTM
As good as the as the livery is it is kind of the most boring bike
Forever, you know, Ducati came along and just said we're gonna put ludicrous amounts of power into this bike
And we're gonna cheat. We're gonna invent the whole shot device and the ride height device and
go with illegal arrow and
Do everything we can to upset the stewards
Honda has tried all sorts of crazy shit from
Hiring all of the best ECU techs in the world so that nobody else can afford to hire them
Doing their insane, you know before the spec ECU's
They tried the reverse crank shaft engine
At one point they did the you know and for a long time the bike was basically just built for mark markets
Yamaha stood out as the company that just
insisted on the inline four and that would never move away from it and
Has stuck to it. They're still there. I know. It's changing. But they found speed with it
They found speed with it again and what have I given to them what did KTM do
um
They gave up on the trellis frame and went back to
Uh, a twin spar
And that's kind of it so they
Besides the fact that they're making their own v4
Which is not super unique
They're kind of the most generic of
The GP bikes. I don't think that the Germans and the Austrians
Have it in them to cheat like they should
That's true
You know the the Japanese have it in them to cheat because they are able to just call it something else
You know extreme innovation or whatever
Like Ducati just like straight up cheats and everybody knows it
And if they can't hide it then they just again get creative with what they call it like the Japanese, right?
But I don't know like like
I get BMW makes these bikes
Like you know these S1000 double Rs and shit that are so good out of the box
But when it comes to putting them in race trim they can never really like you know they can't
Like why isn't the S1000 double R one like a world super bike championship or even like a bsb
Championship or something yet, right?
I just don't think the Germans and the Austrians have the heart
To for like for what it takes to win at the top level of racing
Which is cheating if you're not cheating
You're not trying and cheating is its own special arts and everyone's do it's like cycle racing
We don't care about blood doping because they're all doing it so it's all an even playing field right
Yeah
But what was the last time you heard about a KTM getting like knocked grid positions for tire pressure violations, right?
Doesn't seem to happen then y'all is
On the KTM it's Crutum. It's Crutum. Yes at Qatar
Yeah, was it at Qatar really?
Yes, that he was he was out ahead and he got knocked down a couple spots out of the podium at Qatar
It's shit good memory Dan. Well, I guess my whole argument is invalid now, but
I'm willing to argue that everyone's bowing down to the KTM or the those are the
Decoding this year and there's a lot of manufacturers that are actually showing their balls this year and KTM
Might be one of them although it is the worst bike on the grid this year
Hmm. Yeah, although 100% it's the worst bike on the grid this year because it doesn't have the field it doesn't have the
Top speed, but as
vignolously shown they can go out there and give a couple good laps
Yeah, unfortunately races are a bit more than a couple laps
This is true. Well, I will say that
This is maybe a topic for later, but the
The whole tire pressure drama and rules set in this season is
Complete bullshit. It is the most infectious
No, it's stupid and the rain rules are maybe even dumber, but we'll get into that later
Yeah, they see that does not be applying them
Is
It's the classic Steven merchant going what are the rules?
Yeah, okay
Have we got
The KTMs the worst bike here or should we move on to best bike or I think we can move on
It had it has the least points in the season so we can at least look at it from that rain work
You accidentally look at all the other bikes that are are doing better because the Honda wow, let's look at the Honda Honda is doing
Excellent this season
The Yamaha show more hot is out performing their expectations this season. I wouldn't see it's true
This is true. This is true. Actually no no LCR Honda is
Exceeding our expectations the rest of Honda is still doing dog shit
They're at the second
You say that, but they are the second highest scoring manufacturer this year only because of ZARCO
Uh, no they didn't regularly some they do get pretty common like fifth to tenth-place spots
And it's the thing is that it's mostly just Quattararo
And the rest of the bikes in front of them are usually Ducati's
No, no, we're not talking about Yamaha. We're talking about LCR Honda
I just mean Honda in general right Quattararo is not on Honda
Right Yamaha
But Honda is doing better than Yamaha
Well, Yamaha hasn't won a race
In fact, they haven't even had a podium. Well, no, they had one podium
ZARCO's had three podiums one of them will win
Yeah, that it's yeah, it's all in the back of ZARCO
I think we can save this for the GP talk we can save this for GP talk all right. Let's move on to best bike in the world this week
I think you're gonna like this one
Okay
And the best bike in the world this week is
The Harley Davidson Dina wide glide
Uh, specifically if I had to pick a year I think I'd go with O8
Uh, but anywhere kind of like O2 to O8 seems to be the sweet spot
Now the Harley Davidson Dina wide glide is a
Harley Davidson
There are a couple different flavors of Harley bro, right
There's your sort of dude who's in like pirate cosplay and they tend to have the FLH bikes, right?
Your electric slides your road kings whatever
There's your
Multiple war veterans. They tend to be on the three wheelers the three wheelers and the tri glides
We've got your Harley Davidson wives. They tend to be well actually
They tend to be on sportster asses
but
They sometimes are on sportsters and
You've got
The Dina bros
Which are a very different breed than the rest of the Harley guys, right?
I'm not calling out my barbers, but my barbers might be the Dina wide glide blow
wide glide
Yes, thank you now the the the Dina bro. I like a Dina bro. Okay. They're I mean
That there's gonna be a big range in Dina bros, but uh, Swig. Do you remember Brandon that we met last summer at four corners? Yeah
Dina bro in the best way there are some douchey Dina bros, but Brandon's a Dina bro in the best way
True hog crankers
Yeah, I mean these guys they're they're always in a vest and they're always in flannel
Right they they kind of invented the flannel vest combo, right?
Especially like you know the Dina bros you you'll even cat like they're definitely the backwards hat
wherein you know like beard guys, but like you know a they're not like the
Like the crazy biker beers are kind of the more trimmed up beard guys, but
um
But it is a subculture which is a little bit more relevant to the wider culture today
But this bike isn't just about the subculture that's associated with it
It is a good bike and
specifically right now because
They're pretty cheap. There's a reason Dina bros are a thing
Right, so the wide glide this is kind of like
The biggest like baddest um
Dina that there is right now the dinas are a cheaper made Harley Davidson
Not that they were cheap when they're new and not that they're poorly made
But they don't hide the suspension you can see the rear shocks on them like you can on like a like an old gold winger CB 750
Right, it's just got the two dual mounted shocks right out in the open
Rather than a mono shock or or shocks that are hidden by the bodywork or whatever
So the suspensions all on display. They also come with the smaller front forks. They don't have the
The forks that make the FL bikes the FL bikes
And so to some people they look a little weird
Because they're like well the front's a little spindly some people like it because it looks a little bit more classic a little chopper-ish
Um
There's nothing wrong with these forks. There are Harley people that'll be like oh I couldn't ride a I couldn't ride a Dina like
The the forks will bend up and twist and whatever they're not a stable
Yeah, like whatever these bikes are fucking fine. There's absolutely nothing wrong with these forks
They are totally up to the job
You're fine
They've you know, they've got these great big front wheels and they've got um
I mean, I can't really say too much about the rest of it because people customize them to like crazy
But the big thing is the suspension the frame is different
And uh the the front suspensions very very different
But these have the Dina's always had the big twin engines at the rest of the bikes had
So you can't say that you don't have a big Harley if you've got a Dina
Because you've got the displacement that everyone else has
Yeah, I just looked up the specs real quick and it's like 80 horsepower 100 foot pounds of torque
Yeah, for these like O2-08 ones. Yeah exactly and and they're only like 650 pounds
So exactly there are 150 to 250 pounds cheaper than their electric glide cousins. You mean lighter
That's why I'm at lighter. Yeah, not cheap lighter. Oh, but they are also cheaper. But yes, they're significantly lighter
So I would probably I mean, I still I still think um heritage
The soft tails where I would go, but second choice
Uh
Like an O8 Dina wide glide for me for a Harley-Davidson. This is probably my second choice
And you can find these for
In like excellent like perfect cosmetic condition
I'd say any and you know the engines. It's really hard to kill these engines. I would say
I want to say like
Seven grand it's realistic to find them for seven and a half right now
I
Mean you'll find plenty listed from 10 to 12 as well because
Whoever built it still thinks all the extra shit they put on it is makes the bike worth more somehow
But for just a stock one
Yeah, there's people giving them up for $7,000 for a big Harley
Well, there's a really rough one on Craigslist right now. Oh, there's always gonna be a few rough ones
Yeah, yeah, yeah, but you know I
Sprinked this one
I have to put this one up. This one is great
It's put Springer forks on it and A-pangers and like sprinkly did it black. Wow, that is bad
That is real rough is fucked with the seat and oh, man
I
Like that he's put like the camera filter on it that tries to make the chrome like do the the shiny pop thing
Oh, yeah, this is rattle can sprayed. Is there duct tape on that seat? Oh, there could be
Yeah, I don't know that go for this one
It's a combination of an ugly bike that someone's also taken really bad pictures of
What's this one what's that one going for I can't see
6250 6250 yeah, you'll find them better than this for not much more money
Um, but yeah, like I said, we've just found yeah them as low as six here
I bet this bike runs
You'd have to do some shit to fix it
But again, you'll find one with original paint and not stupid A-pangers and the original front forks and fender and all that shit
For not too much money
8,000s very realistic and again for a big Harley cruiser
Right, that's cool that it's it's of all the Harleys. I think it screams old man the least
Yeah, I think what we picture Harley bro. We picture someone kind of in their early
Early third early to mid thirties is kind of the Harley bro
age
There of course there's 20 somethings and 40 somethings, but I picture most of them in their thirties
Mm-hmm
Yeah, and they're
And like you know the Harley bro is also kind of is his
He's really dine a bro not hard yeah dine a bro is really stark stoked that he's got a Harley
But he's also not like super bought in like he's he's into the he's in the Harley club and he reps it
but he's not
He doesn't quickly buy into all these really dumb fads like going with the Baja lights
um or
Thinking he asked to carry a knife with him everywhere on display
Right these
He probably maybe he's got a gremlin bell on the bike
It's maybe the least likely of the Harley's supporter it to have a get back with right yes. Yes
Yes, and then that might make that might make it the best bike in the world this week
Just that is the least likely of all the Harleys to have get back with
I agree that that that itself does it when I get
When I eventually end up with a hot with up with the Harley-Davidson
I'm gonna have to get back whips
Offie chandelbar the left and the right
Yeah
Okay, I say like let's just like for once leave best worst bike little shorter than we should because we have so
much scooter and gp to talk about
Sure, let's do uh, what do we want to do first like the state of scooters or gp or what what do you feel in Dan
Uh, whatever you ask want to do
I'm getting okay, I want to do a little bit because we haven't done like a dedicated scooter segment for months and months and months
Right now the last time we did really mention scooters at length. I was saying that
um kind of we were talking about Harley-Davidson and how the the the glory hole is being clogged right
and the market shifting to the other side
Uh, a few years after everyone expected it to right
Because everyone who's just sort of
manufacturing and designing and selling motorcycles in the United States is just stuck in the moment
They are four minutes behind whatever the latest fatted trend is and
You know, it's really like the Chinese and the Koreans and and and and the and to some extent the Japanese
Who are completely outside of the US going? Oh, we can see where this is going to go
Why haven't they gone there yet, right?
As I always say if you want a hit
Look at what Honda was doing five years ago because Honda can afford
To be ahead of their time. They're so big. They can afford it
So they're always kind of a little bit ahead of their time, but they're always right there for when the big thing hits
Right
And I know I was banging on and on about like small displacement bikes
I know the gromm is a thing but the gromm
Uh for the first like year two was out wasn't really seen as a serious motorcycle
And there's still a lot of people with groms that are kind of obsessed with getting their gromm and kind of souping it up
You know, they're trying to put um
Like CBR 300 motors and them and stuff and it's the ruckus syndrome
Right, they're not just little Manson from right? Yeah, they haven't completely accepted the gromm for what it is
I mean don't get me wrong plenty of gromm riders have
But kind of like you know like you don't see dudes by monkey bikes and try to shoehorn larger motors into them, right?
The that crowd was
Completely happy with what the monkey bike was and is and see no need to fuck with it
But they're also
Let's face it
like half fossilized
Which is fine. I will be that old one day as well. It's fine
um
But we're talking about the future of motorcycling
and
I
The when I'm going around to like you know like
Spring hasn't just sprung. We're full on in summer right last week was memorial day
and I am seeing as many ebikes and serons
and weird things on the road as I am proper motorcycles
and
the stigma of having something small and low powered and whatever
Is almost completely gone
Right
The younger you are like you know like being made fun of for you know, oh no small pet or what like
No one yells nice mo pet at me anymore
Right, it's it's like a certain breed of old guy who's like oh my god. What year is this?
Blubble, you know all the things you hear like on from running vintage scooters or young people go in like
How many miles per gallon are you getting right?
Yeah, you know is that gas or electric what is that like you know
They want to know because they're sort of like
You know and if a young person asked me about the Vespa first question
It's not how fast it goes. How much does it cost?
That's what they ask me
every time
They're like what where are these available like is there a dealer? Can I get one? Can you finance them?
Are they less than four thousand dollars like what what's the feasibility here right
Because the general public is kind of proven that like 1.7 horse power will get you to 26 miles an hour
Which is or 22 miles an hour which is enough to get across town
And everything after that's kind of a bonus
You know at least while the weather is warm
It's it's returned to a true sort of well is this good for mobility rather than
For fun or looking cool
And we all know that the ultimate package
For mobility cost effectiveness
Comfort
Like all of that is a scooter right a vintage scooter. Yes, absolutely
What even even like a modern CVT scooter, but that sort of roughly you know, we'll say rough Vespa step through
swing arm frame motor
Is is the best package for this just time is just proven that's right
Yeah, I think we've I think certainly over like the last four years
We have firmly gotten out of this notion of oh, you know, I'm a young guy
Maybe in six months my credit's gonna be a bit better. I'm gonna have some extra down cash for a down payment
And then I'll just go finance this really cool bike that's 15,000 dollars
now it now it's like
interest rates on vehicles like kind of are starting at
12 and 13% and it's just not going to happen
This the door has been so firmly slammed shut on this idea of
Ever of a young person ever being able to feasibly finance like a hobby purchase
That now
What's feasible that I can buy outright what what can I buy used and everything's kind of in that space now
so now that you don't have all these
Super awesome bikes that kind of seem just about feasible. It's we're now in this space
Yeah, I mean and don't get me wrong like Honda will always make a gold wing
Like the day that the gold wing ceases to be for sale is the day Honda just closes up shop globally
Right just as a point of pride even if they get down to just making ten of them a year
It will theoretically always be available
Right and some sort of sport-ish race bike even if it's kind of
Really toned down, right
It will always be available from Honda as well as a shit ton of just super practical motorcycles in whatever form they take
And I think to some degree you'll get this like from all of the big four
Um, you know, Ducati is always just going to sell uncompromised ridiculous sport bikes
Because it's fine like I think hot like Ducati is absolutely fine going like if we're a company one third the size
We are now 20 years from now 10 years from now so be it this company exists to build these for the public as long as that demand is there
And we have no interest in doing anything else
And that's fine. That's great
But
There's this idea that every manufacturer right now every brand has to be all things to all riders and I think that's foolish
You know Suzuki's one of the big four that are like the first to kind of start stepping away from that a little bit
Where they're like okay in our off-road department
We haven't developed much for a long time because we kind of have some like all-time classic bangers
And we're just going to stick with those and they're like you know what our
Our street sport bikes are kind of all-time classic bangers and we're just going to stick with those and yeah, we could try
To compete with the gold wing and make another gigantic cruiser or something, but
Why that's never been a hit for us. Let's just stay in our lane
Yeah, well after the Madura, I don't think they're gonna
They're gonna make another v4 anytime soon
um
So yeah in general the scene is set it is hard to explain to people over 55
Right, I mean we happen to know a lot of people over 55. I think scooters are coolest shit
But we know a lot of fucking weirdos
right
I
I've always been willing to argue that if you have a motorcycle in your garage
There is no reason you shouldn't have a scooter in your garage right
Yeah
And you can we can list every if you have a single motorcycle in your garage right now
I can tell you the scooter you should also have in your garage, right?
So listen motorcycle that maybe someone has just that in their garage and I can list a scooter
They should also have a bigger a vmax every guy that has a vmax. It's his only bike
Okay, so vmax let's think a perfect scooter for someone with a vmax. I think the rocket is a good one
Standard or stretched or whatever the vmax owner would want to do with it
You you have to assume they probably stretch it
Because they're a vmax owner
Yeah, I mean perhaps okay then
All right, I like this game what
What is the scooter for a
a
A classic triumph Bonneville
Okay classic triumph Bonneville if you've got a classic triumph Bonneville in your garage
Are we talking a modern or a vintage vintage
Okay, so you're you're already accustomed to this vintage of vehicles
You should probably have a vintage vest in your garage as well
See I would go with the triumph Tigris
Yes, the Tigris would be a good choice to those are terrible scooter, but you know they're terrible. Yes, but it
It meets the aesthetic right
I mean if if plague mask is your aesthetic then sure but
But no, I feel like if you're able to live with a vintage
British bike like that you you're able to live with a
Vintage to best, but right like a vbb or something like that like you're able to keep a carburetor
Carverator clean enough that I think of vintage best, but with would be within the realm, right?
Okay
Well, let's do this from the reverse then
Uh, what is what is the person who has
Let's say a
Vespa premavera 150 what's the big bike that they have
Okay, so are we're talking like a modern Vespa um, I think if you're looking at a motorcycle at that point
You're thinking something with classic styling so maybe like
Um, but goosey like v-step or something like that, right? It's uh fuel injected that matches up
I think of a v7 or possibly a ducati super sport
You could kind of go that direction as well or or maybe even like a ducati uh uh the uh the smaller ones what are those the uh
The scrambleers
That's possible to yeah the the the the Vespa premavera is going to be a wide range of of stable mates for you know being parked next to a motorcycle
Probably one of the widest ranges of all scooters
um
Well, here's a good one to reverse engineer then who has only two bikes and one of them is a Yamaha
Morphus
Oh, man, that's a tough one
The Morphus is such an interesting scooter. It's it's so long
It's so wide
It's like someone took a uh a Yamaha majesty so like yeah, it's like a 250 or 300 cc single
CVT automatic scooter
But it looks like from the factory. It's been slammed low and stretched
uh
Because a lot of our listeners aren't going to know offhand what a Yamaha Morphus is it's a it's a wacky sk it's coolest shit
I have to assume that whoever is into this
Is fully bought into the aesthetic and they own a Honda NM4 as well
Oh exactly that's that's probably the good
Yeah, that's about there and this man has incredibly resentful of the fact that a fully recumbent
Motorcycle doesn't exist for them right now
Or maybe they own a gator
Yeah, if they have a third bike, it's a gator. You're right. You're right
Um, okay, this is this is fun um
Well, okay, let's let's also let's take it into the like the the tear just you know for just for me and Phil
um
What's the uh
What's the what's the the
We'll go with lamb bretta series three pairing
I mean, I know so many people that own those motorcycle are those scooters and have so many motorcycles
You could have a vintage BMW you could have vintage norton you could have a
A modern name and anything if you're into a vintage three you're very into a series three, right?
I series three guys are rider die series three
You know, I like
I'm a weirdo because not only am I a lambretta guy which is a very special flavor of scooter guy
But I'm a series one guy which is
Like the the fucking
Well, no LD is the bottom of the barrel for for lambretta guys
Although I'm I mean after I get this
Finished I would probably go for an LD actually um, I'm that fucking weird, but um
You know what LD stands for less desirable. Yeah
Hey, man, there's a 150 GT kit that'll get him right up to you know
Uh
PX 150 performance, you know, that's not nothing
Uh, so anyway um
So it in talk I want to get back to kind of where we started here
Uh, I think in the next five years like I said
We're gonna see a number of people graduate from these like two like sub one thousand because right now all the like
There's a whole generation of people who are addicted to sub one thousand dollar mobility
And pretty soon they're gonna want something with a leg shield and a windshield
That can do 40 miles an hour, right?
Mm-hmm because what like you know
Okay, there's nothing wrong with like your three hundred dollar e-bike or or four five hundred dollar e-bike or whatever
But you're really maxing out at 16 to 21 miles an hour, right?
And on surface streets and things that's fine, but like when you want to be in traffic downtown, right
35 is really kind of that magic number where all of a sudden it's just fine, right?
You know if you're on your honor, which 50 which 50 CC does
Phenomenal Lee as you know with your 50 CC two stroke does phenomenally the gyro
That's true. The gyro will do 31 32 comfortably
On dead flat perfect circumstances it will hit 35
Yeah, the gyro
Yeah, the gyro leaves a sliver of desirability
You know, and as soon as there are hills it leaves a lot more to be desired
I'm just stubborn enough that I make it work
You know, yeah, I now
You know 50 CC really is perfected. I think in the buddy 50 and the Vino
And the zoom I'm sorry the zoom at 50 so fucking perfect name
Yeah, that that's 50 CC's or 49 or whatever that gets you a real 40 miles an hour
And tunable to get to 50 55
With an 80 CC kit and the right stuff in your CBT again, you might have problem with hills, but whatever, right?
Um, and you can get these things used all day for like two grand
2200 dollars
Right brand new around 36
So what are the economic factors if any just other than just getting a little bit older and being able to save a little bit more money
um, I mean do we feel like 3600 dollars on
You know or uh
13 dollars an hour at Burger King
Is like kind of moving into
attainability for some people
We're going to start seeing a little bit more financing options
This is where we need to have Phil on the show, but um
Like what's what's sort of the package that gets people to really make that jump?
I mean, I think they're going to make the jump inevitably
But what could the industry do to make that jump happen a little quicker
You see you're asking how do we make scooters more attractive to the general public?
Uh, I well, no, I think that part will do itself, right? Just just protect
I really do I really do um again like because I used to look at
You know, not e-bikes, but especially like these like you know razor style like you know bird scooter things and whatever
Or lime scooters or whatever come insert whatever company
And that kind of stuff and these like cargo bikes and shit and be like
I used to look at them five years ago like people used to look at
You know bucket what they call mopeds, right not actual mopeds, but like scooters and be like
That's not a good look
Can't you at least get a scooter the way that people would look you know old guys look at scooters and go
That's not a good look you can't at least get a motorcycle, right?
Um, but the younger generation just doesn't think that way, right?
Like let's not forget recently it was semi fashionable
Like there are people who like there are plenty of people who got them because this is how they were born and they needed it
But let's not forget that some people did get full on sex change operations because it was fashionable
Right
It's a small number of people, but it did happen
So
Right I thought you were going to say something about the one wheel, but that was
No, no one wheels will never be cool one wheels would never be cool
You know
Like I work with people like who are trans or whatever. It's fucking fine. I don't give a shit. It's fine
But let's not like kid ourselves some people did it just because it was sort of fashionable, right?
That it's like what yeah, what people like under 25 think about mobility
Is a completely different planet than what we think about mobility
Oh completely you're you're absolutely correct, but it their minds are completely set different on life in general
So mobility for them like
The freedom we saw in not just like cars, but in two wheels, they don't see that
They see a
Restriction of something that's going to bind them more
You know the idea of insurance the idea of I could get in an accident
There's there's so many young people that are just absolutely afraid of that and there's so much cheaper options right now like a
A bird scooter or a lime scooter where they can just stop on it. They don't need a license
They they can go wherever they want and it doesn't matter to them
Right, but it does it is a little it is a little bit of a thing of like okay. I'm on like my
At a certain point it's like well, I'm on my fifth bird scooter because the four before it got stolen
and I you know like going
A max speed of 16 miles an hour is great and all
But I'd kind of like to be able to do 36 and keep up with traffic downtown
And literally get somewhere three times as fast
And have a windshield and get half as much road grime and rain and bullshit on me
And you know at a certain point I mean yeah, they think of the the younger generations think a completely different way than us
but
They're still going to want a little bit more speed if they can get it's
And
And you know 49 cc's like like we said especially in a two-stroke package
Gets them a lot of that without the motorcycle license without the insurance without a lot of things
I mean laws very place to place, but pretty much everywhere you could just buy a
50 cc scooter and just fucking ride it right
Yeah, I think um
I
Think what people generally need is I think the way to get there is you need something with that minimum power that can kind of get you that 30 miles an hour
but
It needs to be something that you can that the average you know 20 something person
Without a college degree who's working full-time can buy outright
Without finance
It needs to come in at that like
1500 to 2000 dollars and it needs to be
Like two-stroke levels of simplicity
So basically we're waiting for something like
An ice bear that doesn't fall apart like in six months
For me with the ice bear is
Uh, well ice bears a brand that sells a lot of shit, but what they move the most of is a ruckus knockoff
They even sell a stretched ruckus that's still just a 49 cc cc
Like
You know totally fake g-y-6
Sort of thing
But but the problem is the bearings are shits the problems is that they fucking rust their problems are the plastics like
The worst plastic effort like they just
Discent Peter the Peter the problem is that um
90% of the people under the age 30 just kind of stuck bud
But but
There are 10% there that are diamonds in the rough that are people out there learning
How to work on things?
Yeah, they're they're they're taking all these tools that uh that are right at hand, right?
They've got youtube they've got google
You know, they they've got a world of knowledge and there's 10% maybe
Of all these people under 30 that are actually using this knowledge
To take all things and make them run again
Which is really
Fucking invigorating like it it it's amazing to see because you know for for me
I'm a 40-year-old man and
Most people younger than me
Don't know how any of the things that get them around work at all
So to meet these young people these couple random young people that are
Invigorating and not just like old motor cycles but old scooters and old cars and all this other stuff
And it honestly has
With a fire on my under my own ass of going you know what?
I've always had more
Uh
Ability than I'd had confidence
And my confidence has been increasing
towards my ability
Yeah, I the the youngest the young people that I want to hang out with the most are
the scooter gangs
Like in southern california that are that are just pulling scooters out of the garbage
And removing every piece of weights that they can from them just everything that's going to fail
Just getting rid of it
And replacing just everything the bare minimum to get it on the road
And just turning these scooters into absolute wheelie machines
And just riding them into the ground and then picking more scooters out of the garbage and doing it again and again and again
And there's this whole weird like Chinese scooter fling poo like scooter street fighter style that's evolving
And it's great
And you know like today I was looking at the smart carb websites, right
and
If you click on the smart carbs website the category for scooters
Smart carb right makes like the most expensive carburetors out there they their cheapest carburetor is 500 dollars
And it is specifically designed for a Honda elite
Deo
That's stupid
But those bikes are so tunable like go on there's so many kits for them
The scooter don't get me wrong. I have a ride the fuck out of a Honda Dio
But 500 dollars for a carburetor for a Honda Dio is kind of stupid
Oh, it totally is, but that just tells you like where this like this tuning culture fucking exists
Right, so maybe that's it like maybe it's a it's releasing more 50 cc scooters
That for a basic price, but are tunable, right
Like I don't know like they're still selling buddy 50s brand new in the states
You can still sell a 49 cc two-stroke scooter you can still buy a Yamaha Vino, right? You can still
Actually, I don't know if they're still selling Vino's new. Are they?
Have they all gone for stroke?
All right, I think they have all gone for stroke. Let's have a look
Are they just doing the 125 now?
So I don't even think the zoom is a 50 cc two-stroke anymore. No, no, it's uh, yeah, which I picked up a couple months ago
I know 2008
Zuma two stroke 50 cc. Oh, and I forgot to tell you this you
You asked me what you would call a group of Zuma and yes, I forgot to tell you the plural of Zuma is Zuma
That's perfect. That's perfect
Well, we've got a club going on to the XYZs
It's the 10 years of Zuma's and when we see each other, we we drop our flies
Welcome to each other
Well, hey, there's a great angle is what's going to get people to make that sort of electric
micromobility to scooter jump
Just the scooter culture itself, right? Not just tuner culture, but the general scooter culture, right?
Because right now is a it feels like a pretty good time for it's
Right? I wasn't really aware of vintage scooter clubs as a thing until like
eight nine years ago
Right, it was probably when we were hanging out in like 2019
Well, I mean, I was aware of it before then, but like it really wasn't I didn't know that that was a thing
I was like, you know, I was like, okay, scooters are things that lots of people in Asia ride and people in the Midwest who have DUIs and that was pretty much it's
I was unaware that there was a larger culture of people who
ride and restore vintage scooters and the even that people with modern scooters
Get together and do shit and not only do they get together and do shit they get together and do weird shit
Right
However wild and crazy you think your motorcycle club is or your riding group
It is nowhere near what scooter people get up to it just isn't
I
mean like
Just describe a random game that you got like what's the fucking potato shit that you guys do at Bangcam
Well, you know, I don't like to kiss and tell but
So yes, the potato game and listen anyone listening you can do this with
scooters or motorcycles or anything so you get a big pile of hay
And you count how many people you got right if there's five participants you throw four potatoes into that pile of hay
and it's uh, you know
Let the music go and once it stops
The passenger on the back of the scooter or motorcycle jumps in and they they all try to find potatoes
That's the potato game. It's nothing special, but once you see it happen
It's just like poached real emotion
Wasn't it what were you like launch of like a red hot potato into the air or something
uh
That there's the one where they launched the gummy bears into the air red hot
But but the potato games great and because it gets so
competitive yeah, you wouldn't expect to be so competitive
um
And really it's the Jim Connick kind of games to it like a good like the ditch scooter rally
It's how well how well can you ride a vintage scooter slow racers are hilarious to
Oh
Last year i took the gyro to the slow races and there were people like boo it no last two years ago
I took the gyro to the slow races at mile high mayhem and everyone's like booing like you're cheating
You're cheating and i'm like no you don't understand this thing is harder to ride slow
I don't have a clutch right and it's top heavy and it will fall over just like a regular fucking bike
But yeah slow at uh it's great uh when they do the slow races in denver
The parking lot to sports e scooters has the perfect incline into the parking lot
So everyone basically starts like on the sidewalk and goes ever just gently up into
And it just that slight incline is enough to make the slow race really fucking hard
I i these are people who could slow race you know a big motorcycle up this thing
You know for forever
But because of the stupid steering geometry of most scooters and the short wheelbase and everything
they're making it like
Nine feet and and fallen over and everything and um and they have them ride through sandbags
You have to go under like a limbo bar
Going over sea saws
um
I've seen videos at bank camp you have people going through like waiting pools and shit
Yeah, there's all sorts of stuff
We we had a giant ramp a couple of years ago um it depends on what the the the rally theme is like last year was
Blazing saddles so we had a like an entire like elaborate thing you had to do you had to punch a a cow
We had to rob the bank, you know you had to do a lap
um
You know it changes every year and as we get older I feel like it gets like a little bit easier and the little bit less like
uh
The organizers could be pseudo for it
So everyone needs to join the scooter club and do one of these stupid things now
Yes before it yes exactly do it now before we are all super old and you're really worried about you
Do you have a spur of houses?
Yeah, like when I go to mile i mayhem um
It's not that there aren't any young people but like you know
I'm 41 and I'm on the young gish side of it
Like yeah, there's some the a lot of dudes in their thirties and a few 20-year-olds hanging around
But it is mostly kind of like 50 something-year-old guys sure
But it's definitely not it's definitely
Demographically like a full decade younger than motorcycles in general
And here's what's a great thing about scooters. It's it's very the field of dreams idea
If you build it they will come right so we've just kind of been doing our thing
And since nanny for quite a while and just you know
Working on a vintage that's good and stuff like that and that's now evolved into working on vintage
The umbrellas and at this point there's probably about nine or ten people and since nanny with vintage bland brettas
And we're building upon all that and on top of that like you know
As like people get modern stuff. We're just like let's work on this modern thing and hey, let's get a no more tire change or you know
Why not we can work on all sorts of stuff like we want to work on motorcycles
We want to work on everything and it's it becomes all encompassing and it all starts from
Scooters because we love the scooter so much and it becomes this motor sexual thing
You know god love the the missfits for coined that term. I will tell anyone to the day. I don't I'm a god damn motor sexual
If it's got two wheels and a motor and revs my engine, but I'm in
Yeah, hold it. Did I hear you just admit there that you're now willing to touch a wrench to a lambretta
We have been known to touch wrenches to the umbrellas and the more I sit there and watch and learn the more I'm just like
It's really not that hard guys
Oh
For me the whole genius of the lambretta is the the chain drive and transmission
It's I think it's vast that part of it is I think vastly superior to Vespa
Vespa is vastly superior to
Lambretta in just the frame itself
But the motor I got it I got to go lambretta for the motors myself
And again, I have to say personally for me. It's always been an issue of my
aspirations feel like they outweigh my abilities, right?
But I'm finally at the time in my life where I'm just like my abilities outweigh my aspirations
I don't long stop right like let's start throwing my hands on whatever because
It's not as hard as you think, right?
Yeah, at the end of the day a a Vespa motor or a
A lambretta motor they're kind of like old Moto Gootsie kind of like
80s Harley Davidson Davidson levels of complicated
Which is to say not at all
Not at all not at all
Not at all the more you break them down and just look at them
You're just like wow, this is really easy because you understand the basics of how it all should work
And that's kind of one of the beauties of
Students they're they're just so simple
That they make sense to work on them yourself
Yeah, I've kind of had the same
Experience with uh with the Corvette so far
Where it's I thought you were going to say the dragster and I was going to be like fuck no that is not true swigs
But yeah, okay the dragster is everything is one off and insane
But um on the Corvette it's kind of great because whenever there's a problem with something and everything that I you look at it's like
There's no going over traces on circuit boards or digging through and trying to find like weird codes and
Or anything like that like everything that fucks up is either a piece of rubber or a relay and
There's something great about the fact that like you're never looking for fault codes or things
It's like everything that can go wrong is just sort of a parent
When you're working on older stuff
Yeah
Okay, so I got I got a little thing to sum this up here. I think we've hit upon it like without trying to which is
The the the tuner culture the the camaraderie the the shops that are popping up it just sort of
On top of being more affordable. I think what's going to push people there is that
scooters are
I think a much more approachable and friendly
Sort of thing to break into because let's face it
We all know a bunch of salt of the earth everyone's your best friend
motorcycle guys and motorcycle groups
But motorcycles always have a tint of wool my bikes cooler than yours or look how cool my bike is or whatever
and
scooters aren't completely without ego, but it's largely without ego right
Everyone by the way mic is here. Hey guys, and again, Mike put the mic closer to your face. Hey guys. No
Angle it the mic eat the mic. Hey guys. There you go. There we go
um
So yeah, uh, Mike as a scooter guy. Can you tell me real quick what how much time it says on that recorder
One hour 28 minutes, which means we're probably closer to one hour, which is great
Um, here's what I think we should do we should just say sort of like the scooter culture is what's going to get people to cross that like
$2,000 gap or one to $2,000 gap from micro mobility to
scooters
We should talk about GP and then we can circle back to this for more bonus stuff
If we just don't get into something else completely stupid
That works for me
All right, so um, we've got to talk about the last two rounds of Moto GP
So sorry, we just cut off the scooter talk there, Mike
It gets into not your
expertise area, but if anything is ever going to convince you to actually take me up
on um, using my
Moto GP login or getting it yourself. It's what we're about to fucking talk about
Because holding the last two races. Yes, the last two races. Are you kidding me?
There is any two races for someone that's a non-than to watch
It's the last two races. If they get you excited, right?
I am so glad that
Like the core at the very core of the difference between Moto GP and Formula 1
And what makes Moto GP better than Formula 1 is Moto GP races in the god damn rain
Right? I mean not it the most extreme rain, but pretty hard rain for the most parts
Like it's got to be dumping
Blockets to stop the race. Well, I think the last time Moto GP cancelled a race
was a silver stone in like
2019 or something something like that because like and it wasn't just because it was raining
It was because they had refinished the track and fucked up the drainage
So they were like puddles on the track
And
Which is so crazy because there's one track that should be able to handle rain
So it's over so actually not been way early. I mean, I've been like 2017 or 2018 here. It was something like that like
Yeah, Moto GP doesn't cancel races for rain. So so we so uh
Two races ago was Le Mans right historic historic track historic. Yeah, Le Mans it did like
Le Mans been running for like a hundred years almost
Probably longer 110 I would guess
I think I think Le Mans has been running longer than the TT
Um, obviously like not continuously. It took breaks for two world wars, but like you know
If you don't count that which you shouldn't it's like the longest like continuously running like
Track I think it's undergone a lot of changes, but like you know the current track that they race mode of GP on includes like part of the original mulls on straight right it
It's as historic as you as you like so um
It was raining
Uh, was it raining how much was it raining during practice? I don't remember
I don't think it was raining much during practice um
But I think this race was uh
This is one of those great races. I mean, it's not great great in terms of oh my god. It was neck and neck and you know fighting
Every bit of the way and lots of passing. It was more like
You know in the same way that you know, you know your friend, you know, somebody's a legend
When a sign gets put up because of them right
I um, it was that kind of race um, so the big it the big drama of this race
uh, was uh
Kind of but not quite similar to last week, which is
We had people who had to pick which taught it was a question of is it wet enough and is it gonna stay wet enough
To use rain top setup was very important that ended up
Note that that ended up being the drama of the race with the ring drama of the weekend from both weekends was that
Ducati got knocked off of pole position. Yeah, so I was just about to say oh
drama started in qualifying because
Yamaha and Honda both made it to q2 which we were not emotionally ready for
But now it was it was two two races a row
Quateraro was cool man exactly
Mark Marquez. Yes, Quateraro in the dry
No
No, um, asterix whatsoever put in the hot laps on a Yamaha
To beat mark has on the factory Honda which
That said that to me
Not on the Honda on the Ducati not just one mark is on the Ducati true
Marquez is on the Ducati. Yes, both Marquez brothers, which if you had said to me was gonna happen
A few months ago. I'd have been like I'll bet you my children's health. That doesn't happen
Right, but just no fucking way like I'll believe that uh in some weird circumstances
Quateraro will win a win a race
But not put it on pole ahead of both Marquez brothers in the dry
Yeah, there was not gonna happen. Yeah, no sketchy situation no asterix whatsoever
just straight up
beat him and
So it comes to the sprints and
Quateraro crashes early and it's Le Mans and it's
The mom he crashed early. Yes, he crashed early, but then Zarko
Gets it on the fuck. Do you get it fourth place in the sprints? I think
I believe so I think mark mark has kept his record on
The sprint podiums or for the sprint wins and yeah, I
Zarko was on the podium. No, so Quateraro didn't crash out of this race. He came fourth in the sprints. Oh, that's right
Where did Zarko finish in the sprints six six? Okay, strong showings for you know what we thought would happen
But then
Race day comes and there is a whole flurry of quick changing weather conditions
And it kind of looks like kota all over again, right?
And it's like who's gonna get the set-up right and I think
Mark has personally fucked over all of Ducati
Because mark has the points winner, right? So anyone who's the mark mark has
Continues to fuck over the entire grid with his decisions, but I think there's a bigger problem in the rules
But that's a bigger
Oh for sure for sure, but but Mark has got the set-up wrong and almost every Ducati
copied his set-up the problem is that every it on mark has is not fucking over Ducati
The problem is that every Ducati rob writer is copying mark mark has his homework
rights like yeah
Not even every Ducati a large amount of the writers and it doesn't matter if he got his homework right or wrong
He knows if he runs off that track and enough people run off with him
It doesn't matter if he got it wrong or right exactly. Yes. He all he cares about yeah
There's there's a certain number of people who aren't rate like Alex Marquez and Mark Marquez
Aren't racing the grid. They're just racing each other right now
So they can afford to be in a completely different place than the rest of the grid
But their whole thing is they kind of have to just do what the other is doing and race each other
And this is what was happening for basically all the Ducati's now so we get to the Lamont race
and
Holy shit
It's like big expectations
Everything's going right
And then the weather changes again suddenly and everyone's got to come back in
And some weird shit goes down
We've got Quattararo leading early on
Because he got a decent setup and whatever
At a nowhere
Zarko goes no rain tires. I'm just going
Race tires. I'm just taking the big gamble
Was one of like five writers including Jack Miller who didn't have to go in and pits
But Quattararo is leading the race
Crashes out and then there's like this whole thing of basically every bike on the grid
At different points is coming in to change bikes change tires do whatever come out of it
And there's this big like looney tunes cloud of smoke
And the French crowd is
Dejected the French crowd is like holy shit all of our hopes and dreams are gone
And then out of the cloud rides a hero
And here comes Zarko
Just
With the setup perfect, but it's still a no asterisk win
Because even when Marquez got the perfect setup and got heat in his tire
I think there was only one lap where Marquez had a better it was way too late at that point
Zarko
Zarko won the the French Grand Prix which hasn't happened for like a Frenchman winning the French Grand Prix
70 something fucking years
Everyone went fucking
bananas, but here's the thing
Zarko was so fast on that LCR Honda
That if he and Marquez had started with Marquez in first position and him second on the grid
Zarko and you took out like Marquez's laps
To come in if you just took their average race pace
Zarko still would have won he was so fast on that set. I mean is a no
It is rare that we say there's a no asterisk rain win. This is absolutely zero asterisk
Let's not deny the Zarko has been crushing it on the Honda this year
I would say this fucking Honda has done this year
Yes, he has in the corners miracles he is minced so damn fast in the corners
And if right out the Honda cannot keep up, but goddamn if you can keep up in those in those corners
Obviously
You can maybe put together a win
Yeah, I mean I think the chaos of that race cannot be understated though because like we started off with all the jacadis
Basically switching tires at the beginning of the race
Yeah, and then invoking the new rule where they now had to start from pit lane
Are they they go into pit lane so they start from their original grid positions and then too long and they get too long that penalties
Oh, I forgot about the long lap
So they all had to do too long lap penalties
But with 90% of the the the greatest during the long lap and the
Right, so something like nine out of ten riders had to do too long lap penalties and still had to come in for a bike change
Yeah, and then they had the and then they were on the wrong tires by the end of the race anyway and they had to come in which added even more time on
Um, I think my favorite part of the race was Alex Marquez
Forgetting how many laps how many pen how many um penalties he'd done and did an extra one
But yeah, I think it was only when there is like
Maybe eight laps to go we kind of finally had a picture of what the race really looked like
Where everyone was actually like in the correct position with all penalties accounted for
Oh, it was nuts, but like I said yeah, just out of the smoke rode a hero alone hero and
Oh, it felt so good. You had to feel so good for Zarko because again it what he was so fast
It was a no-astrix win. It was just absolute extra gravy that he nailed the setup
It was just his day and there wasn't fucking anything that was gonna stop it
And so now Zarko is a
A
Multiple Moto GP race winner on two different manufacturer
satellite teams as that ever happened before
It's rare to win for two factories to win for two separate manufacturers satellite teams
Uh
If Zarko isn't the highest paid development writer of all time in a few years I
Like has Jack Miller? I think I was going to say Miller Miller be the only person I can think of
Race wins on non-factory race factory
Not no for satellite teams. I don't think Miller has any
Uh satellite team wins
Yeah, maybe not. I thought he's I thought on the decad he was he believes podiumed
Yeah, I think he did, but I don't think he has a win that was non-factory
Maybe not for not for two different non-factory teams. I think you might be right now. Yeah, you might be right
Like satellite wins are rare in general and
Two different ones like not just two different satellite teams that were the same manufacturer
But two a Ducati satellite team and a Honda satellite team like how do you fucking holy shit?
That this is rare rare stuff that basically just doesn't happen right
Uh, like it obviously I'm not I can't back this up
But part of me wants to lead a boycott
That we will all stop watching Moto GP until ZARCO gets on the factory Honda right
I cuz he's the best Honda writer by far. It's not even course
Yeah, he is the best have any other Honda's even pulled off a top five little owned consistently being in the top five
I'd have to check, but it doesn't seem I can't think of anyone off hand who's
No, I mean there have been some top 10
I mean he's going wheel-to-wheel with the best on an LCR Honda
And you might say okay, it was a fluke because it was like cold and blah blah blah and setup and and home track and all that shit
But didn't he get like another podium or fourth place in uh fucking um
Silverstone he came second second exactly like when and ZARCO is sitting fifth right now in the points. Yeah
I yeah, he's fit he's fifth and he's one point off of fourth. Yeah
It and what motorcycle is ahead of him?
Oh, there are four decotties all four or two companies. Thank you. Thank you
It's it's absolutely incredible what he's doing. I he needs to be he needs to be getting a Honda factory fucking paycheck
Absolutely
Now I believe the bike he has is probably very close to a Honda factory bike because why would Honda be giving any of its writers anything
But the latest shit right now it makes absolutely no sense
But on LCR he is not getting that factory fucking paycheck, which he really should be
Yeah, I mean at number five the closest Honda writer to him would be number 13 eluca Marie on the actual at HRC
Yeah
So anyway, um, let's yeah, let's get into Silverstone now because this is really heartbreaking
Oh, and to answer your question that Le Mans has been has been a venue since 1923
Oh, only just over a hundred years though there yeah 101 years that's for the race itself
But there's been a race at that location of some sort like auto races since 1906. Yeah, yeah
That's what I was saying. Yeah, Le Mans has been yeah, the 24 hours of Le Mans like
Before the track was like a real track. They were just doing like a dirt circle
It's a different track that the motorcycle's ride to compared to the
24 hours of Le Mans all that it's a much shorter track
It's a shortened version of the Le Mans track though
Like it shares like the straight and then yeah
It shares pieces of it. Yes. Yes. Yeah. Yeah, though a lot of tracks work that way. Yeah
Yeah, like in like Indianapolis when they used to race the Indian
Yeah, they don't do it. Go around the oval. There was like a weird track that had like part of a straight and then like
They went around the infield and shit like yeah, right it's similar to tone on now
Motegi is that way there's a big oval track at Motegi, but the bikes race like this weird thing that goes in and out of it
Yeah, a lot of tracks are set up to do multiple different things. Yeah, they're not all like Silverstone or Coda where the F1 track is literally the same as the bike track
But so anyway, uh, fucking Silverstone was crazy too
Um again, so again on a rock or a rock puts it on pole
Whoa, it's like oh, this isn't a fluke. This is like three races in a row now. I do want to also. I do want to point out um
This uh the sprint race
was the first time
That Alex Marquez straight up beat Mark Marquez. I still want to see Alex do it at and a full Sunday distance, but yes, this was
Total shootout Alex Marquez shut down Mark Marquez
So and they're only they're still only like what three four points apart
You know, and we're also starting to see a little bit of a Mark Marquez implosion
Not full on. I'm not calling it an implosion yet, but
They're 24 points apart
Yeah, well, they're 24 after the crowd. Yeah, but they're but it's yeah, they're still less than one Sunday race apart
Yeah, but Mark is not being anywhere near as consistent as he should be
Yeah, he's mr. Saturday. He is mr. Saturday so far this year
That guy's got two wrists full of fucking t-so watches at this point, right?
He's also going to yeah
Well, he's he's much as much titanium as he's one in t-so watches is also
Keeping his bones together right now. So well, I'll say what he's on is the ragged edge
Which is what I would like to call the Jorge Martín strategy of winning championships, right?
He is for everything that he absolutely dominates
He kind of gives up something else to like Jorge Martín won a whole season essentially by
winning Saturdays and coming second place on Sundays with like what was it for
Five wins on Sunday
It shows you the power of being mr. Saturday now. It's a sprint race. Fucking matters
It's not that it doesn't matter at all. It matters a ton
It does show them be mr. Saturday. You don't have to be
Necessarily first place on Sundays, right, but you still need to be getting podiums on Sunday. Oh, yeah
You need to be mr. Saturday
Um, yeah, you what you got to be both, but yes, but yeah
If you if you sweep Saturdays if you master Saturdays then yeah, you don't have to win as many Sundays
This is true and this yeah, this is the Jorge Martín like championship model, right
Because even though this was totally possible for bagnaia bagnaia did it by just crushing Sundays
And he didn't really give a flying fuck. Well, I don't know if you didn't give a flying fuck, but he was never he's never been successful in the sprint races
He he he's always felt like he's used the Saturday race to find the edge
And he pushed it over the edge on Saturdays and on Sunday nowhere that edge was to make an actual win
Which isn't happening this year, but before it was happening
Right, so I'm trying to remember the sprint on um
sad uh uh the sprint on Saturdays so
Really here's what I remember from uh fucking silverstone is going
Holy shits
Like the markis brothers are touched by god
like
When was the last time
a
F.I.M. Ruling
counted against someone named markis
Um
It was probably like 2018 when mark markis
um
Turned argentina into a clown show
Okay, that might have been the only time
Uh, so uh what were the sprint results again swigs for for silverstone?
Uh Alex markis and first then mark markis
Then de gen Antonio then biseki
Then zarko then bagnaio
Okay, that's also de gen Antonio and biseki
de gen Antonio in particular is like
uh
Kind of like the the the middle child who got who's been completely forgotten
Like he's forth in the points and he's consistently like getting into podium places
And he's always like in camera shot
And he said that like hi vis Rossi yellow and it's like
Oh, yeah, there he is. Okay
Next what's going on with markis?
What's going on with bagnaio?
What's going on with zarko? What's going on with corner?
I sadly sadly next season if uh
Acosta gets his way he'll be outshining
De gen Antonio, right? Yeah. Digia. I like digia a lot. I remember it was at three years ago
But it was three years ago he had been like yeah constantly getting towards the sharper end of the pack
And it wasn't and he had no contract like with like four races left to go in the suit in the season
And then he won like two of the last four races
And someone high up at ducati just said it's unacceptable that we don't have a place for him at ducati next year
And they had to like really do some crazy like electoral math kind of shit to like make a space for him like
Well, let's let's be honest if you had to pick between him and fast Frankie
For pager Acosta coming under that team who you gonna cut
I'd cut Frankie
He's a lot better this year, but Frankie always falls off
I mean I was I was remarking like when I was at when I was at coda this year walking around looking at all the merch shops. It's like
Everything here, you know all like the track
Um
All the track merchandise, you know, they always do like all the top riders and everything had
Mark Marquez
Bagnaia and Jorge Martín on it
Because that's you know four months ago. It's like well, obviously these are gonna be the top riders battling it out for the championship this year
It's like you could not find a single piece of Alex Marquez merchandise at coda
trackside
Ridiculous tragic. So, so anyway, um anybody left. They're winning the trip ahead in the championship
We've got to get to the fucking clown show that was the beginning
That's right. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. So the British Grand Prix starts
And by all accounts looks totally fucking normal. Oh was it anything but so in the first turn
Heavy race favorite Alex Marquez goes down
hard hard
Well, and now he's in the front too. It's a great launch. He had a great fucking launch in
You got Quattro on such a pulled position. He had a good launch too. And you're just like
Oh, this shit. He's like going like a fucking rocket and you just watch the front and
Well, he went straight from a wheelie into hard braking for the first turn on cold tires
The pre-race had like eight solid minutes of talking to his crew talking about how important it was gonna be to get temperature
Into his front tire
Because he was running the medium and he had to get he and his crew she said again and again this isn't
This is a race that's gonna take patience. You cannot just blast out of the gates on this one
and
I don't know. Yeah, he got a lot of wheelie time
He didn't get the heat in that time and it wasn't like he got over like heavy and then put it down
He barely began to tip in and just boom went down
It just dumped it dumped it just a he insure it was like watching the second grader eat it on ice skates
One second he was up one the next moment. He's down, right
And so and then you know everyone thought oh, it's Quattararo's race to win
It was Quattararo's race to win because even without the shenanigans that ended up happening
He had the race pace to win that race. Oh, so then he was like five the other mark head
Uh a mark wiped out a couple turns later, right? He wiped out the maggots and back. It's my favorite corner of all
Right motor GP, right? Yeah, so so so Quattararo starts like launch in ahead. It's looking great
Then out of nowhere mark has crashes
um
And maggots and beckons slides all the way like it then it looks like he like goes into a safety barrier or something whatever
But it turns out at the same time
At the same time Morbidelli went down and somehow got oil on the track at like the exact no
I think the oil was from
Uh out in that first term. Oh really
I think that's where the oil came from was out showing down. Oh well anyway like moments after mark has goes down
They read flag red flag and mark has is like holy shit. I can salvage it
So somehow because there's a weird
If you could get your bike back to the pits in five minutes after a red flag is called you can restart the race no
So this I don't even think you need the bike back you need to get yourself back
So okay, so you actually do have to get the bike back but um this is actually a sec a separate rule
Because um they
Because Alex mark has wouldn't have been able to rejoin the race
If it was the normal rule because when you throw a red flag
It's whatever the last lap completed was
It's restarted from there. No, that's not true
If more if it's under five laps, it's the starting grid after so knife laps have been completed then it's the last one there but you're all wrong
No, so i'm not wrong. No, if you're in the middle of a race. If you're in the middle of a race then it's um it's
The basically the positions from the last recorded lap is where is it
We release that the kind that you're from yes um but if you
If you're under three laps
Then you just restart on the original grid now it's four laps
It's three
I will fight you in a dark alley with no shoes on it's it's four
They'll take it they'll take off however many laps plus another lap because of the fuel consumption on that
Siding lap it doesn't matter what the number of laps is there's a certain there's a short number of last words
It just resets the original
Yeah, so yeah, so yeah, so because they did but basically because they didn't finish the third lap
Alex Marquez who crashed on the first turn got to rejoin the race
Yeah, so everyone everyone everyone the
Do over all yeah all the underdogs got to the front of the pack and got to ride their race
The two big bikes that they wanted right and so they went out on their
B-bikes mark mark has one owner's B-bikes and uh how's mark has one out his B-bikes
But I mean they were both clearly rattled and
That and that's starting their b-bikes which is their fault for fucking going down on the first and second lap of the god damn race
Oh Alex Marquez and Mark Marquez have never suffered a crash. They didn't deserve yeah
Yeah, and I dearly love them both they're fantastic racers and they're gonna go down in history as great racers
And they make the sport more exciting, but
I feel like these poor lucky sons of bitches when it comes to the rules
An important thing to remember at at the point the red flag was going out
Quartarara was probably about three seconds out of every one
Because he got past all the pandemonium that happened and was just free and clear. Yes
Yeah, and then we thought oh but because this is the thing like it happens again and again
Like we'll not again again, but usually when these restarts happen
Whoever had like a really great lead like that
Their advantage isn't somehow quite the same on the restarts
It was even better for Quartarara on the restarts
The Quartarara took the lead early and just started
fucking
flying
Well, and even watching him going through that sliding lap before they launched he was trying to put so much heat into those tires
Yeah, just to get them like real good hot because it was cold at silverstone
um
And you know on the launch he was just gone and
It's maybe the most heartbreaking moment I've ever seen and right because he starts he starts going and
uh
Alex Marquez crashed out again, right?
Marquez though no Alex didn't crash out. No, you're right. No, you're right
Both are Marquez brothers fell back to like 9th and 10th or 8th and 9th something like that. They feel pretty far back
Agnaya crashed out bag Naya crash out that sort of was
But Marquez I think finally got up to 3rd or 4th Alex may have gotten as far as like 6 or 7th
Um, but Quartarara's race pace was just absolutely
He was on a different he was riding a completely different race anyone else and even at one point was in the worst bike
One of the worst bikes on the grid
You know, one point Boseki
Was like three tenths faster than him and then the next lap
Quartarara just picks up his pace three tenths of a second
But he was like five seconds ahead
It got like taken down to like 4.7 and he just responded
And even if he hadn't responded he's still at that point had enough of a lead
That he didn't even have to respond
But he was just in the zone had the pace and had pace to spare
Absolutely his race he was controlling it from the front
No problem and then all of a sudden
Fucking rear ride height device of all fucking things to take someone out of a race with like what was it like three laps to go?
I think maybe four laps something like that. It wasn't a lot of laps left
and when
The so the way the rear ride highs divide the rear ride height device works
is
There's essentially something the rider hits when the suspension is fully compressed in a corner when they're about to hit a straight
And it stops the suspension from like going back up to full heights
and
I thought the rear room was electronic and it was the front the front
I don't think the rear is electronic. I don't think either one can be electron. Yeah, they can't it's a mechanical device
but
Anyway
So you want to keep the suspension compressed down for those straights and then
Like hitting the brakes like releases it or something or can release. I don't know whatever his rear height
I thought the rear ride height device stuck I thought it was just like a little ball valve kind of like you have an electronic
suspension where the only thing is like a little ball that just moves and like
blocks the flow of oil
I don't think so. I think it like just holds the back of the bike down
Anyway, it doesn't matter
It malfunctioned and made the bikes all the bikes are allowed
Of a rear suspension device which allows you to lower the ass and so you can get more speed on the straightaway
It's done and this is a device. They're going to get rid of yeah, and what 2027
Uh, it was definitely with it definitely by 2027, but it might have even been by next year
I believe it's the last year. I believe they're just keeping the rules the same until the new bikes
It could be
Anyway, um, well, I'll be happy to see the rear ride height go away honestly
Um, but yeah, it just makes the bike unrightable when it's stuck down
So I mean he just had to just put his hand up in the air
And just ride off the track and just collapse on the ground crying basically because
Yamaha hasn't won a race since
Was it been like five years?
It doesn't mean that long but it's been like a full two years or more
Without when it's just your weekend and it's just your race like that
Like to give it up over something dumb mechanical because it's a dumb mechanical advice. It's not electronic
Like it's something that hung up on him
You know
It was just heartbreaking and just watching him just absolutely
How could you not break down? You you had it you were the fastest you were the best
Oh, I know why I think it's been five years because they said it's been like a hundred races or something, but they were including
The sprint races and spread shit. Yeah. Yeah. It's been like three years or something since they've had and and
Quattararo I think was the last Yamaha winner
um
But yeah, you know, he because he won those two back-to-back championships and then it just dried up for at Yamaha
At but no
Quattararo only won one championship
uh
Really 2021 I believe
I
Because uh 2022 no 2022 would have been echo 2023 was back out 2024 was uh
Mark martine
I thought he won twice in a row before mere
Nope mere won the the weird gear of 2020 and then after that the Quattararo one 2021
Now he gave a damn good fight in 2022 against peco but peco irked it out right at the end
Huh, I thought I thought Quattararo run two championships. Whatever. Doesn't matter
Um, he definitely came close one year um oh
Yeah 2022 he was real close
I think it was the difference of like crashing out of one like one race
I do remember the one that he won though because he had the
one of the worst
championship victory celebrations of all time
where he just
stood there dancing
And they had a CG like a hundred-foot tall CG giant devil dancing next to him on the track
I don't know if anyone has the most horrible moments in
Like
They definitely should have brought out the sexy none that is tattooed on him right? Yes
You should have been or the devil should have at least had his fucking like one z unzipped impossible low
Right, but anyway, it was it was Quattararo's
fucking weekend and it got taken away from him now
I can't I can't necessarily put like a huge asterix on biseki because you know a mechanical failure is the team's faults
And it is at the end of the day weirdly still a team sports right
We forget it all the time
But that's the team's fucking problem that the rear ride high device failed
It's true and it kind of it kind of made for a little bit of an off track drama
That the aprilio won this weekend too and in hindsight of Jorge Martin kind of talking shit about his own team while he's on the sidelines, right?
Yeah, this is like this. I mean unfortunately for biseki whether he likes it or not
This is gonna be kind of like
Rinses or Amir's
2020
championship
Where it's just going to get in memory hold
Right is just too much other weird shit happens
Yeah, but I highly encourage anyone to
To start watching now and go back and watch these two races because
there are
Plenty of classic races that you can watch where
Just a story unfolds throughout the race, but these last two races the whole weekend's have just been filled with so many
Crazy twists and turns
And not just that it blew up the entire
Idea of what we thought was happening this season because we were looking at what was happening this season and we were just like well
Mm-hmm the mark mark his brothers the mark his brothers are just going to do really fucking good this year
And we have found the chink in the armor
And it has just been
It's too weird to watch the mighty fall right the watching the mighty fall. It's so good
Yeah, I mean there's enough time that if
Quaterarro theorist I mean he's pretty far behind, but I mean if he kept putting in weekends like this
It's not impossible for him
But really all we need like I don't need any particular person or team or manufacturer or whatever to win every year
I just need the season to be exciting and I would like it to not be a foregone conclusion with seven races to go
Right
That's what I want
and and so
Quaterarro showing up like this and Zarko proving that the Honda is capable of great things
Is like oh okay
It's it's not impossible. It's not a foregone conclusion. There is a reason to keep watching and even if
Mark Mark has sosed it up with six races to go or something
Those last five after that there's still a lot of interesting things that can happen
Everything is still possible
That's what we need to know is race fans is that we can do anything still possible and it was also look like it wasn't
There's also the likelihood that mark Mike has might have the mark mark has effect again
But it instead of happening in
Honda it's going to happen to
Right
We're already kind of seeing it because we've watched
DuCottie's talk writer
Uh
Peco just absolutely not be able to ride the bike anymore. Well Mark Mark has is just like
Oh, well, I can write it
Well, he's the only one
Him and you know
An Alex are the only two that can really like write it to that level
That are they are they creating a situation again where they're going to you know create a bike that's only writeable by those two people
So
How much time we got Mike on the recorder two hours 12 minutes
Okay, we should definitely just let me just let me just wrap this up with a little with a thought which is yes
We were kind to going into the season
Knowing that you know in 2027 the bikes are changing completely the rules are changing completely and it's kind of like a big reset
and we kind of started the season off thinking
That well, it's just a foregone conclusion that the top five places at the end of the season is going to be five DuCotties
probably six
and
Now we're in this place where
Rather than have DuCottie having simply mastered this
This iteration this generation of Moto GP bikes
We're now looking at things getting shaken up in the final era and the final
And like in the final hour and we're going to get to watch a
Conclusion to this entire generation of Moto GP bikes
And it's kind of up in the air who's going to come out on top at the end of 2026
And that's really kind of what everything's kind of battling towards right now
And now with this little bit of a shakeup that's kind of happened in the last three four races
Like that's turning into a far more exciting proposition than kind of what we were staring down at the beginning of the season
I
Well said all right here. Let's put in a little outro and then
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And I
I just want to ride on my motor side
I love it when it's out of time