Small Bore, Big Fun: Choosing Your First Motorcycle

Join the hosts of the Throttle Stop Moto podcast—Justin Bethune, Jeff Griffith, and Matt Welch—as they explore the exciting world of motorcycles in their new studio setting. In this episode, the trio discusses the best training and bike options for new riders, including the importance of the MSF course and the considerations for choosing the right first bike. They share insights into the latest models from BMW, KTM, and Triumph, highlighting factors like horsepower, weight, and rider aids. Tune in for tips on maintenance, gear selection, and creating an enjoyable riding experience while aiming for growth in the motorcycle community. Whether you're a seasoned rider or just starting out, this episode is packed with valuable information and engaging discussions for all motorcycle enthusiasts.

https://www.pandorasmotorsports.com/

Transcript

Throttle Stop ep12 Transcipt.txt

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 Welcome to the Throttle Stop Moto Podcast. I am one of your hosts, Justin Bethune.

 Jeff Griffith.

 And Matt Welch. Welcome to the new set. Yeah, it's cool. Please let us know what you think.



 We are in a space where we can bring the bikes in. Yeah. And sit more comfortably. Yeah. This is, we're gonna see how this works. And if it works out well, we may start using this on a more regular basis. So how's it going guys? It's been a little while.

 It has been a minute. Christmas kind of slowed things down. Merry Christmas. Happy New Year everybody.

 Just gift a week. We did the presentation. We did the presentation. So that's four weeks right there. Yeah, which we really haven't been in the studio.

 Just dropping today is where, right, obviously when you see this it'll been two weeks ago.



 That was cool. Yeah, it really was cool. I like that format for a switch up on the podcast. Yeah. That was, she did a great job on that. She was making me jealous the whole time.

 Cool story and living my life.

 My best dream there. So that was cool to see. She is kind of unassuming when you meet her. If you don't know, that's what she does.

 So yeah, I mean she showed us a shop one day and she's like, I'm going to do this. And we're like, oh yeah, you are. So yeah, we, I mean, we got her headed the right direction.

 No,



 no, it's insane.



 So me as a grown man was scared to go on a bike that big. I've been riding dirt bikes.

 And she said, no one said, don't do this. I hope someone at least like was a little bit cautious. Are you sure?

 Like, I don't think anybody at the shop, I mean, we

 don't want to prevent anything like that from happening. That's awesome.

 But I mean, I've told the dad not to buy their 17 year old double R, but

 I don't can make their decisions. I guess.

 Yeah. But I mean, doing something like that. No, we're all for it. We're just jelly. That's all.

 Exactly. Right. Just send plenty of pictures. Yeah. Yeah.

 Yeah. But our 1200 GS is a first bike is a big step and she did it. And she was, she went all the way to U.S.

 But she did it right. I mean, we're kind of going to, I guess that's a good lead into what we're going to talk about today. Cause we're going to talk about MSF course and training and, and, uh, bikes for new riders, maybe not, uh, 12 hundred, 12, 50, 1300s now for, for new riders. But, um, yeah, she did all the, she did all the training. She went to the BMW performance center and, and, um, you know, got herself as well prepared as she could to start that.

 So it makes a huge difference just being willing to go through it. And I think that whenever we are going to give caution to a customer is whenever they're just kind of like, yeah, I want to start riding motorcycles. So me, that Panagoli before us. Um, I remember one day we had a customer who like, he went through everything and as he's loading up the motorcycle, he said, yeah, this is my first bike. And I'm like, no, like what have we done?

 I mean, we've, we've sold, sold, uh, customers bikes and then they go practice in the parking lot. And it's, it's never pretty now.

 Well, I mean, that's like the most common question on the internet is should you start on a 600 or something equivalent? That's the most controversial video I've ever posted.

 Well, and I mean, me and Jeff talked about it, uh, the last, over the last couple of days doing this and, and you know, what are, what is the right first bike? And I think it's relative to your, you know, if you've got a ton of dirt bike experience, um, before you buy, you know, a street bike, then maybe you can step up a few hundred CCs. Maybe.

 But also talk about like discipline, how disciplined are you as a person? And it's going to translate to how you are as a rider because, you know, it has 200 horsepower. You don't have to use 200 horsepower. You can ride it in rain mode for the first while until you're comfortable. And, uh, yeah, then, then maybe switch things up.

 But a bike, a bike like the BMW 1000, that's a smooth bike with a lot of, uh, Nanny features, uh,



 versus like an older 1000 with nothing but ABS on it. Yeah. Uh, it's going to be completely different for somebody that's never ridden a street bike before. For sure. Yeah.

 And it won't happen to me. If we didn't have all these, uh, you know, all the rider aids on the new bikes, we wouldn't have the new bikes because there'd be people getting killed left and right on them. And, and you know, somebody would man them like four wheelers or three wheelers or yeah, three wheelers.

 So one thing you'll notice about some of the bikes we'll talk about today is one of my recommendations for new riders is typically to go for something that has plastic on the sides, not a metal tank. So most of the bikes that we talk about today, we're going to have some sort of cover on the side with the exception of the scrambler. Um, even this scrambler right here has a cover right here that's replaceable. So you're not just denning a tank and having to replace the whole thing. Cause this is expensive. This is cheap.



 Relatively.

 Right.



 I shouldn't say it's still an exciting thought. Yeah.



 But yeah, I mean, yeah, I hear what you're saying. Um, yeah, I mean, that's my, or we'll talk about the, the Trump scrambler and the, it's such a pretty motorcycle that you drop it and bend that tank and you almost feel like you've got to replace the tank.

 Yeah. But they did a good job with that bike. I haven't, I should have looked at the price of that before we got on here, but it's not going to be an expensive tank because of where it's manufactured. Um, and, uh, that's something that you don't get whenever you're looking at like a scrambler 1200.

 Yeah. Don't, don't, uh, go crash your Panagale and have to replace it. Right. Yeah. Yeah. That's not, that's not a good day.

 It'll be a difference. Like you're talking about only these smaller bikes. You're like, I'm at four, 500 bucks for our tank rather than 1200 dollars. Yeah. Yeah. For 24 on some big.

 A Panagale tank will would, with the cost of a Panagale tank or a double R tank would total a, uh, scrambler 400 or a 390 Duke or something.

 So they think about these things in manufacturing. So it's good to think about your first bike that you have, you're likely going to drop. And that's my point in saying all of that. Um, and so I always like a dual sport or something that has plastic on the side rather than something you're going to spend a lot of money on whenever that happens.

 Well, that's sort of like a GS actually wouldn't be like a bad first bite in that regard because they're made to drop. Um, especially you put the right guards and stuff on them. Um, you, even the most experienced riders are going to drop them for sure. Yeah.

 And so they do crash. Well, or drop oil, maybe drop oil. Yeah. Yeah.

 Dropping and crashing are two different.

 Yeah. For sure. Um, what's that?

 I thought our slogan was ride.

 Well, sometimes it's crash. Well, okay.

 Yeah. You know, you've got to crash.

 Well, if you're going to ride, I mean, this motocross, you got to know how to crash.

 I've got the scars to prove. I don't,

 that's why I didn't last.

 Um,



 but, uh, also kind of before we get too deep into it, I want to talk about, uh, 2024 just a little bit. I mean, we had a pretty good 2024. It's not our best year that we've ever had. We, it's our second best year we've ever had as far as number of bike sales. Um, but, uh, we were able to reach the top dealer in the Southeast for KTM group, which is KTM who's foreign to gas gas, including all those brands.



 Um, and we beat up some pretty heavy hitters. Uh, we, we, you know, we have some pretty strong markets in our area that are included in that. And that covers everything from Tennessee and every other state you'd think of as a Southeast, it kind of stops at Florida, Florida is in its own category. So even if we included them, we're number one or two or number two or three, I should say.

 Yeah. I mean, the, the motorcycle industry definitely took a, you know, a reset in 24, um, you know, falling up COVID and we were only 6% off in, in total sales, cumulative sales with all the brands, we were 6% off. Uh, we match what we did last year with the Pierre group with KTM was foreign gas gas, um, Ducati trough. Those guys, you know, were great to us this year. The, the manufacturers helped us out, um, you know, cleaning up some, some used or some, some excess inventory, uh, that ever, ever either ended up with. So, um, no, I mean, thanks, thanks to everybody. Thanks to all the guys, the shop did a great job. You know,



 this stuff helps, uh, just, just getting our name out there and we'll, we'll keep doing it and next drill be even better. So yeah.

 And we have some goals for 2025 going forward. I mean, we're hoping to grow the, the tri-up Ducati and, uh, BOW brands where we have been seeing consistent growth with the Pierre group, uh, the KTM brands. Um, we want to continue that obviously and not lose any ground, but, uh, we kind of need to change our focus a little bit so that we, uh, um, are able to help those brands grow as well.

 Yeah. I mean, we obviously the, the point is to grow all the brands. We, we like having all the brands as partners and we, we, um, we expect a lot out of them and, and you know, I want them to expect a lot out of us.

 So we got to, what are these goals for 2025?



 Put them in the universe. I mean, if, if you're allowed to,

 we're just wanting to see growth with those brands. Um, we need to maintain what we have with Pierre and we need to grow those brands. I think we can say it. I mean, hopefully by 10% as far as number of units. Yeah.

 And we want to do it in our backyard, right? So, uh, some of the things that we're, we're looking at is, is our clubs, um, you know, uh, riding group, uh, that Pandora's sponsors, uh, will, will continue to do things like this. We're going to continue to do some training. We've got Nemo,



 outdoor equipment now. So, um, the, in this area, the dual sports and the adventure riding, camping, that kind of stuff are, are really big. Obviously the dirt bike stuff, the, the, the race and the hair scramble is racing. The motocross is big. Uh, we proved that, you know, year over year over year. Um, so I just want to, we want to focus on doing some track days. Uh, we've, we've not done a track day in a couple of years, probably, uh, we've done one since I've been there. Yeah. So, uh, do some track days. We just want to share the love with some stuff that, uh, that we haven't been doing. So we want to make the dealership more of a destination than just somewhere to come buy stuff.

 So, yeah, which it already kind of seems like it is. I mean, it's like every time I'm in there, there's somebody passing through that's, that's came in. Right. And, um, there's always a, it's usually a couple, which is cool.

 Yeah.

 And getting to talk to those people, uh, is, is pretty awesome. So I mean, people all over the country already, already know the name and they know where it's at.

 And we, and I, the internet helps. I think we do a great job, but I think you and ask Jeff or anybody else to shop. I'm like, we're never happy. I'm never happy with, yeah, always want more. I always want to be better. Um, so yeah,

 we're the same way. Yeah.



 Constantly improving.

 Right. I mean, but it's, it's, I won't say it's a high pressure environment. It's just a highly motivated environment at Pandora's, but we're always just trying to find a way to do things better. And usually that translates to a better experience for the customer. And we're always trying to reach out for those guys, because we talked about it where Ducati is, is a brand. We don't have the clientele here in Chattanooga alone to do what we want to do with Ducati, like to, to make it a, um, a good profitable high, I won't say high volume, but higher selling market. We can't do that with just Chattanooga. We have to reach out to some markets that are outside. And when that customer makes the travel to come down here, to buy a bike from us, uh, whether it be from, you know, Atlanta, Nashville, wherever, um, we have to give them an experience that's worthwhile and make it smooth and make it easy. Um, we don't want customers waiting around for hours to buy a bike. I mean, I've been in dealerships where that was the case and man, that gives you some bad reviews.

 And you know, we, yeah, I mean, the demographics in Chattanooga don't necessarily justify our shop and the amount of product that we have in the store all the time. And there's that fine line between like wanting it all, you know, wanting all the bike sales in Knoxville, Nashville, Atlanta, um, and then not stepping on the other dealers toes because we want good relationship with other dealers. You know, there's times when we lean on them and there's times when they lean on us. So there's that, there's that balance of, of, you know, operating out of your own backyard and then pulling from, you know, other markets that, um, that you need to. So that, you know, so that the revenue is there, we're not going

 to put a billboard up in Atlanta. Right. Like that's not what we're after.

 Yeah. And there's, I mean, a brand like Ducati, I mean, it's, it's like comparing it to like Porsche or, you know, uh, Lamborghini or something like that in the car world. Like there's only so many people that are going to buy that brand until they continue to grow, which they're doing a great job of, uh, you know, they, they just came out with the, the motocross bike. They've got the scrambler that they've got cheaper options. They've got more diverse options than they had before. Uh, but still like that's only going to grow so rapidly. So like you're, you're, you're fishing in a, in a small pond, right? For sure. And everybody's kind of sharing, cause that is, that is a brand that you're going to travel for. Right. Yep. Cause unless you're in a really big city, like you're probably not going to have a dealership to where the Japanese brands are going to have multiple in each city, even small towns. Yeah. You know, so it's, yeah, you're, you're, you're pulling from a, a smaller group of people.

 Yeah. I mean, major, major metros, uh, are going to have, you know, if you got a Ferrari dealership in town, you're probably going to have a Ducati dealership in town, right? Um, we don't, we don't have a Ferrari dealership in town, but we do have a Ducati dealership and, and that's an indicator, and that kind of leads back to what I was getting at is we, we do need that bigger, we need a bigger pond. Yes. Um, it's not always in our, in our backyard. Yeah.

 Well, I think Ducati is doing a good job themselves, um, to expand that pond. Right. Just with their, with their offerings.



 And all the brands are, I mean, um, you know, we're talking about Ducati, but ever brand we've got to premium. So, um, it's, it's, I think, uh, 3% of the population by its motorcycles.

 Yeah. So, yeah.

 I mean, what are we getting out of that?



 And obviously we've, we've got to have enough to, to make it make sense. Right. And, and we do, and obviously we, we appreciate all our customers for supporting us.

 Yeah. Because BMW is kind of the same way, but there are, uh, you're going to see more BMWs on the road.

 They are a little more mainstream. Um, but it wasn't always that way. And it took the dealer network to get it to where it is now. And Ducati's headed that direction for sure. Yeah. Triumph same, same thing.

 Yeah. They're killing it too.

 Yeah.

 We're talking, we want to talk about like one thing that's pushing triumph right now is the 400 that just came out. So we wanted to look at that today and kind of compare it to what else is out there. Cause we have a lot of different things in our showroom. Like if you're looking for small bore, there's hardly a better place to look. And we've got the 400 scrambler, the speed 400. And then we have the, um, the 390 Duke and the 390 Adventure. And then you've got the G three 10 R and the G three 10 GS. So we have three different brands on the showroom floor that have come out with something. And one thing we didn't actually talk about was like the, who's far in a spark pill in, um, that, uh, is a 401 and the VIT pill. And that's a 401 those all kind of fit into this category of small bore. But, uh, you know, there's some differences and there's going to be reasons why a customer chooses one over the other. Um, be that what price features the horsepower you think is necessary. So we want to talk about a little bit of that today.

 And sometimes it's just, it just comes down to looks. Yeah. Cause at the end of the day, if it does, like, if, if it doesn't look good, it's effort to ride a motorcycle, I can fork to work every day or whatever. Right. I mean, you gotta get geared up. You gotta get a helmet on jacket on gloves down. It's, it's harder than just going out in the garage and lighting your car off and driving work. So it's gotta look good, especially the first go around. I think like as you get, um, more into it and educated, like a lot of people say a GS or a GSA is not a pretty motorcycle. All right. Well you, you kind of learn to love it because of what it'll do.



 Um, you know, multi strata will do the same thing. It's a gorgeous motorcycle. Like nobody ever says that's, you know, it's not really pretty motorcycle because it is. Um, but yeah, I mean, so kind of that the Trump gets everybody's attention.

 Yeah. Uh, it's

 so pretty. Yeah. Um, and it's, it probably, and I've got some specs here that I'm sitting here looking at, but, um,



 horsepower numbers on the Trump, um, 39 horsepower at 8,000 RPM. And I say at 8,000 RPM, because as we go through these, like it's important where they make power. Cause when you get to like the KTM it's 44 horsepower, but it's another 500 RPM higher.

 Right.

 Um, and the KTM is the three 90 Duke KTM is definitely more aggressive, like all the way around the senior positions, more aggressive, the, the rides more aggressive. It's harsher. Um, and none of these are bad things. It's just what, you know, what are you looking for out of the bike?

 Yeah. And they're, they're appealing to that type of rider.

 Right. Um, rated race. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's right there on the name. You key on, it says it on the dash, right? So the, uh, the BMW 33 horsepower at 9,500 RPM. Um, so less horsepower, um, less CCs, a higher RPM. I think the arguably the BMW is the most approachable one for like the, like very, very, very newest beginner has never ridden a motorcycle. It's lowest seat height. It's the lowest horsepower. Um, and it makes pretty good torque for lower RPM. The Trump makes a little better torque, like the mid range on the tranche really good. The motor in the top is dead smooth.

 Yeah. I would argue the tripe probably makes more power at a lower RPM than any of the others we've mentioned. Right. For sure. Yeah.

 Um, but the BMW is 349 pounds wet. Yeah. Uh, so, and then the, the Trump's 375 pounds of the KTM is 364 pounds. So power to weight ratio is arguably, you know, it's not, it's not even, it's not back to square, but it's closer, even though the, uh, the horsepower is a little, uh, misleading on the BMW because of the weight of the bike.

 And I've always compared it to like, uh, some other brands that we don't sell. I mean, you look at the, um, like the CBR 300 and you've got, you know, comparable to the G, uh, for the, to the BMW, as far as, um, power is concerned, but it weighs a lot more. Um, so you'd see these, um, like can't always just look at horsepower numbers. You have to compare horsepower numbers and the weight to really see where you're going to be. And think about the type of engine that it has because a single cylinder is going to perform differently than a parallel twin. And I think every one of them that we've mentioned here so far as the ones we sell have all been single cylinders.



 Um, and then we'll talk, well, this was kind of an outlier here. We'll kind of get to it at the end, but, um, the single cylinder produces power in a very linear way. It produces power that is very 30 from the bottom. And that's one thing that a lot of these entry level bikes are missing where it just feels dead on the bottom whenever you get a multi-cylinder in it. And then it eventually builds up power once you get RPMs up.

 And that's always the tough part for a new rider is if you,



 most of the time they're not super comfortable with clutch with close control, right? Um, and, and we'll talk about the MSF course, but that's, I mean, I think that's like, less, less down low. You're more likely to install it. Yeah. Yeah. Step one at the MSF course is, is put your feet on the ground so you don't fall over step two is, is finding that the friction zone in the clutch, um, and kind of figuring out how to apply power at throttle at the same time as the clutch is coming out because they're not on all switches. They're, they're not either zero or a hundred.

 Yeah.

 It's, it's, you know, it's, it's almost infinite in between the two and depending on the situation that you're in, you're on, you know, if you're on dead flat ground, then, you know, it's pretty easy. Um, yeah. Learning clutch control is critical. You stick somebody newer on the side of a hill and now it's a whole different conversation.

 Yeah. I remember we had a test ride, not a test ride, a ride that we did one of these months and, um, had someone on a, uh, a larger bike that was, uh, stalling at stoplights and things like that. And like, it's fine. It's, it's something that happens with new riders. It's inevitable. Um, but that was her primary thing that she was failing at once she's going, it's fine. Like you, you, you learn how to turn. If you've ever written a bicycle, you kind of have that. Um, so the clutch control becomes the most critical thing in the very beginning.

 Well, and I think clutch control is, is important, you know, 10 years into riding and you roll through a parking lot at the grocery store. And if you don't have good clutch control, like it's going to catch up with you sooner or later. Yeah. Um, you know, so that's why training is important. Um, and we'll talk about that a little more, um, in a few minutes, but back to the motorcycles. I mean, the, the KTM is definitely the most aggressive. Yeah. Um, it is the most expensive, right?

 It is the most expensive, most expensive. And, uh, what's the MSRP on the three 90 adventure?



 Uh, I, I didn't write down three nine adventure. I wrote the three 90 Duke down. Okay. Uh, 58, 99, $5900 on the Duke. I think it's 62 on the adventure on the three 90 venture.

 So you said 59, 59,

 uh, in order the,



 um, and it's a little misleading because of freight and prep, but the, the scrambler, I'm sorry, the, the speed, the Trump speed, uh, 400 is 51, $5,200 conversation. The, uh, BMW is $5,800. The KTM is $5,900.

 So if you look at that 58, 59, it sounds like they're really, really close. And that's one thing I wanted to bring up in this is that the cool thing about BMW is that they include your freight and prep in the Monroone. So you'll see the destination fee on the Monroone, but you won't see the prep. The prep is paid in the backend. Um, but we are paid prep from the manufacturer. So if you are at a dealer and they have freight and prep on top of a BMW price, it's not how we're supposed to do it. It's according to our dealer agreements and the way that we're supposed to advertise things, we're supposed to advertise as close to an outdoor price as we can. So if you're seeing those things, they're trying to pull the wool over your eyes. So always ask to see the Monroone. It'll tell you not only how things are priced, but also the build out of the motorcycle, because you want to make sure you're getting exactly what you want. And with BMW, there's a lot of different options, not so much on the G three 10. Like there's hardly anything that you can change is what it is. Yeah. Um, it's about it. Yeah. So, but if you're looking at something like, you know, especially like one of the 1300 GS is right now, there are so many options and you'll see a price anywhere from 16 to 35. I mean, you can get a price anywhere you like.

 And if you go on BMW's website, you know, they show a base price that I doubt that motorcycles ever been built. Right. Because it's what a, uh, I think you, you double R that's normally 25 grand on average, probably in, in any BMW dealership, I think what, 16 or $17,000.

 I don't ever pay attention to those prices because they're completely irrelevant. Like look at, I encourage people look at, I hope it's us, but if it's not us, look at the dealership's website and ask to see the Veneroni on that bike.

 For sure. Make sure what, make sure you know what you're buying and BMW is probably, uh, the, and it's good to have those options, right? It also makes it terribly confusing sometimes. And just make sure that it's apples to apples and it, and you're getting the specs that you want.

 And on the KTM on that three 90, you're going to see 575 on freight and you're going to see 400 on prep and 575 just what they charge us.



 And we have to pay our guys to build the bike and we want to take our time. We don't want to make it not worth it. So we, um, so we have that and we just pass that along. We're not trying to upcharge on that at all. Um, with tri-op it's 625 and two 49 on freight and prep. Um, so add those to the MSRPs you see on the KTM and the tri-op, but with BMW, you know, that's a close to out the door numbers you could get. You got to account for dock fees at whatever dealership you're dealing with. Um, and then your taxes are going to depend on your state. So compare out the door numbers. Right. Yeah. And at the end of the day, that's the number that matters.

 Well, I think at the end of the day, they're so close. Like the outdoor number is so close on the three by what's, what's comfortable by what you think looks good. Yeah. Like don't,

 I mean, you're buying a toy, like what's a few hundred bucks difference. I mean, I hear the one you really want.

 So many people justify these with, with fuel economy.

 Yeah. No,



 if you sat down and look, because before you can ride it, you've got to spend $1,200 on gear. Right.

 But if you sat down and looked at what tires cost, it negates any fuel economy savings.

 Anyway, cause you're not getting 40,000 miles out of tires on a bike. Like you're on a car.

 And maybe, you know, you think you can come to the better. I do.

 If you're, if you're, unless you're one of these guys putting a car tire on the back,



 that's, that's, that's a trend. That's a trend that made me very angry for a while.

 We can tell you're mad now. Oh man.



 Yeah. By what makes sense to you. It

 doesn't even make sense.



 You'll be on a track one day. Don't worry. I can't wait.

 Oh man. I hope you'll ride me around in it. Maybe one of those Volkswagen ones with the big handlebar. As you can. Sorry.

 There you go.

 There's a big Volkswagen motor trikes. This one, my dad walks with the front, with the front wheel, 10 feet out in front of it.

 And so, sorry, you can pull trailer. You said track and I was confused this whole time. Okay.



 Old man. Track. We're in the South. Track and track is like, there's, there's a very thin line there.

 You're having trouble hearing with the headphones.

 Yeah. That's what it is.

 See, he's already halfway to the trike. Yeah.

 Getting old. That's what motorcycle duty. Yeah.



 But no, I mean,



 the, the, I think most people, I said it earlier, I think, but I think most people that come in the dealership are drawn to the Trump because it's so pretty, right? Yeah.



 The KTM is really, really angular, really aggressive looking like all the dukes look the same. I mean,



 you could, you could, from a hundred feet away, I don't know that you can tell the difference between a 250 Duke and a 13 90 Duke. Yeah. Because they all got the really sharp shroud.

 They look the same. They just get a little bigger.

 I mean, they've done a really good job of making them all look the same. And then somewhere in the middle of the kind of classic look of the Trump and the really aggressive look of the KTM is, is the BMW, which is very BMW to be like right down the middle, right?

 Yeah. Very BMW. Yeah.



 But I love, I love the look of the three 10. I think they look great. I mean, for the, for the price point, I mean, it looks like a much more expensive bike.

 They do. And they're great bikes.



 And if, if you don't ride one back to back with the KTM, like it's not, it's not drastic on the horsepower on the output.



 On paper it is, but like your, your butt dyno doesn't have the case.

 I think that's one of the things also, like, if you're looking to buy bikes, only test ride within your price range.

 Yeah. Oh man. Yes.

 Cause especially like when, when I have the tiger 900, it was like, don't ride the 1200. Right. Like don't don't because you will trade it in. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Like you hear that a lot. It's like stick within your price range.

 Not only that, but like we've had situations where customers have come in and they've, they've just tried to motorcycle and they've let it down. Like if you can't afford to buy the bike, you probably shouldn't be riding it because letting it down is always a risk. Right. And so, you know, we try to have this conversation beforehand where like, Hey, if you, if you crash it, you're either going to help her, you're going to pay for the repairs or you're going to pay for the bike. Like you have a choice there. So if, uh, and I think that's fair. I mean, I don't think anybody would argue that that's not fair. We have insurance, but you don't want to pay our deductible.

 Yeah.

 Um,

 and you should probably have insurance that follows you before you can test ride some motorcycle.

 That's the expectation expectation. Right. Yeah. Yeah.

 So anyway, so yeah, we just want to make sure that you're going to be able to go through the purchase if that does come down to it. I mean, and if you're a month out from purchasing, that's no big deal. Like we'll let you test ride and we'll let people test ride some things just because we want to get the word out about bikes. Like we want you to come test ride bikes, be excited about riding the new R1300GS and GSA that have the automatic shift assistant. We have two of those bikes right now come in and test ride them. Um, it's just an experience that, uh, you're going to go out and you're going to tell your friends and hopefully we'll sell some bikes at the end of the day. Um, test rides are important,

 but if you're six months out, go to a ride day, for like at barber.

 Well, I know if we're talking about new riders, I mean, obviously we don't want to put a new rider on a, on a 1300 GS, but, um, no, I mean, go, go to do the MSF course, go to the BMW, um, training in Spartanburg.

 Like, so speaking of which where like say somebody's in a position where they want to get a bike and they've never ridden before. What's the best course of action for them to do a course, uh, learn how to ride before they actually buy a bike?

 So, I mean, I think stuff one is, is chat state for us, you know, locally, uh, but an MSF course, um, which is motorcycle safety foundation, uh, do they have bikes that you can, they do so, and they're, they're low CC, they're really approachable. They've been dropped. They are pre-crashed a hundred times. Yeah. I mean, they are used up, but that's perfect because you get to drop somebody else's stuff and not your new motorcycle that you just bought, right? Yeah. Um, and then, took

 my courses on this thing.

 Yeah. Um, MSF offers a advanced course. So, and I think, uh, I think they say do the basic course, get your license, get a thousand miles, uh, on, on your bike and come back and take the, uh, the advanced course, the, the basic course I'm kind of getting ahead of myself. The basic courses is $350. I think here locally, I don't know what it is nationally, but locally at Chattanooga state is 315. Um, there always is a way list it's on Chattanooga state's website. You, uh, and like you're looking at, at a month, month and a half,



 between when you sign up and before you can get a date before you get in on the class.

 Right. It was in Georgia,

 but once you go through the basic course, you, you come out of it with a Tennessee motorcycle license.

 You just have to take their certificate to the DMV. You get to skip all the testing and just go straight to getting your picture and all that

 about useless. The test they put you through proves nothing.

 Right.

 For sure. Yeah.

 What is the blood alcohol? Is it 0.08?

 Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, it is a lot of alcohol. That's a visual.

 I'm allowed to say that.

 Um, I got a breathalyzer. Let's be doing this time to take a drink.



 Could you imagine seeing a guy with one of those, uh, state installed on his, on his Harley. It won't start until

 it's out there. I guarantee you. Yeah. I haven't seen it, but I guarantee it.

 Surprised we haven't seen one.



 Goodness. The, um, yeah, so I think it's five hours of online training before the classes. It's, it's a two day class. I think 10 hours total ride time. Uh, all the bikes are, are, I don't know, they're like rebel two fifties. Some of them use the three 10 GS that we're talking about.

 BMW has like a lot just as you're rattling it off, but it's, it's good training. Like it, it'll actually get you

 equipped to 10 hours to a new rider. Like they're, they're always done. I mean, I always, we hear it all the time when they come in, especially when they've done it in the summer, because you know, you're in the middle of parking lot, full exposure in the sun, black, you know, pavement and, and you're not going anywhere. You're, you know, you're going 10 mile an hour at the most, but yeah, I mean, they're going to go over things like clutch control, avoidance techniques, threshold breaking, um, this stuff that we should all practice on a, on a regular basis that we really don't, but we should

 to the cruiser guys actually using the front brake front brakes are important. Yeah.

 And they do that. I mean, I think they, uh, I don't know if those bikes have got ABS the, oh, I doubt it, but they do, uh, do an exercise where, you know, you use rear brake only, uh, you know, you get on the brakes at a cone running 15 miles an hour or whatever. And, and you get on the rear brakes only. And, uh, they, they put another cone up or somehow mark where the bike stops. And then you do it again, uh, on the front brake. And, and it just, um, it demonstrates, it just proves the point that front brakes are a lot better, a lot more effective than rear brakes.

 We can argue about something, but until we show it, you know, we could still have that argument.

 That's usually when you have more brake on the front.

 Right. Yeah.

 Yeah, exactly. The expectation is, is you use it more, a lot of bikes. There's, there's two gargantuan now they're huge. Yeah.

 But speaking of that, you were talking about, uh, BMW before we started doing this, uh, BMW does repay some of that

 BMW does repay some of that. Um, so they will cover up to, I think 350, they'll, they'll reimburse up to $350 of your MSF. Um,



 of course. Um, and then they will, I think it's $500 towards gear when you purchase a new motorcycle.

 And that's awesome because as you're buying a new bike, you're going to need some gear.

 Um, and I guess that's important when you purchase a new BMW motorcycle, right? Right. You can't roll in the BMW dealership with your MSF completion certificate and like, I want my reimbursement in my gear, please.

 That takes that bike. That was already the least expensive in the market and just plunges it down even further. Cause if you add all that up, you're paying five grand close to out the door for a bike. Right. Um, that's insane. Like that's a really, really good deal.

 If you buy good gear, what you're going to spend at least a grand, if you buy good gear, like, you know, the gear you should be buying.

 And that's, that's a cost that everyone who's getting into motorcycling should think of before they get into it. Like it's not, especially if you're going to do like off-road stuff, it's not a cheap sport to get into.

 No, it's not.

 Um, but, uh, you know, you can make it affordable by buying these bikes, but, um, it gets more expensive as you get more expensive bikes.

 And the gears a whole lot cheaper than the copay at the hospital.

 Yeah.

 A whole lot cheaper.

 But the gears, this, it's the same gear regardless of whether you're on a $5,000 bike or a $30,000 bike.

 For sure. I mean, yeah. And that's a good point is, you know, if, if you're buying a lower CC bike and you feel like you're going to outgrow it in six months, you trade it in, you get something like the scrambler or, or, you know, something bigger, CC, um, you, you can wear the same gear.

 And I'll tell you like a lot of people yeah, that's kind of what I was getting. A lot of people like they'll buy an entry level bike and they want to buy a hundred dollar jacket, a hundred dollar helmet. Like I wouldn't be caught dead in a hundred dollar jacket and a hundred dollar helmet. Yeah,



 exactly. You wouldn't be but it's more than just, uh, more than just the protective aspect. It's also how comfortable are you all wearing it? Is it even like so uncomfortable and so cheap that it's a distraction while you're riding, uh, where you're just not going to wear it and I've worn gear like that. That is a distraction and we, yeah, you're not going to wear it.

 You're not going to wear it. You're like, Oh, it's hot today. This jacket is not vented enough because it's cheap.

 Yeah. You're not going to wear it. I rode over here today and all I had at the store was a vented jacket.

 I know you were wearing the same climb jacket that I have, but I was like, Oh man, I know you were cold today is a really good example of how well it is. That hoodie doesn't do a whole lot.

 Not at all. Luckily it's not too far over here.

 He had not planned

 on riding today. I had not planned on riding over here today.

 So yeah, sorry, Jeff and I had a phone call. I was no

 coffee needed.

 So yeah, yeah.

 But yeah. So invest in gear while you're doing it. BMW makes that a lot easier. Yeah.

 And you know, the, the, you talked about the, the gear being a distraction. Um, I tell people all the time, you've heard me say it is



 riding the motorcycle should not use up your bandwidth. Yeah. Like you, you should have some, some, uh, ability in storage to, to dodge the car or, you know, uh, fix the, the gravel that you just ran over mid-corner or whatever. If you're, if all of your concentration, all of your bandwidth is, is used up just operating the clutch or the throttle of the brakes or, or whatever, then you know, you're going to be in trouble. And that's, that's why training and practice and, and riding around your neighborhood or riding, you know, um, in parking lots or, or whatever, like phone a friend, get them to come get your motorcycle and take it to, you know, to a parking lot on a, on a Sunday when they're closed and just practice.

 Don't, it should become muscle memory second nature. Um, and I've argued before, like I am way more aware of my surroundings when I'm on a motorcycle than I am when I'm in a car. Right. Um, just cause, you know, there's no crumple zone there. Uh, and so your gear that you get becomes that crumple zone. So it's important that it's going to be able to protect you. Um, but, uh, thinking about the BMW, we, it is the least expensive on there, especially if you're taking advantage of the MSF stuff. Um, it's also, it's also going to be the least featured out of all of them.



 Talking about the, the GS it's, it's still a very off-road capable bike because it's a light bike. It has a 19 inch front 18 inch rear. Um, so they're big enough to get over obstacles. It's still a cast wheel. Um, the suspension is not adjustable. Um, but it's a good smooth bike that's inexpensive to get into and it's quality bike that's backed with BMW's warranty. Um, and then the, um, it doesn't have ride modes. So going from that, when you pay more for the triumph or the KTM, there's some of that stuff that you get, um, whenever you're talking about, uh, with the triumph, if we want to move over to that conversation, um, you get into, you have an off-road mode that lets you turn off ABS or go to an off-road mode on ABS and turn off trash control. So you can actually spin the tire a little bit and actually get out there and ride off-road. Um, so you're getting a little bit more into the fun you want to have rather than just transportation on the road.

 Right. Yeah. Um, the, I think you can turn ABS off on the GS. I wasn't a hundred percent on the ink. We'll, we'll double down on that and maybe put in the comments or something, but, um, it is important to be able to turn the ABS off on these bikes riding off-road. And, and if you ever go to the, any off-road school where there's street bikes involved, not dirt bikes, but street bikes involved, you're most likely going to do an ABS drill. Yeah. And with ABS own,



 you pile up on the brakes and growl and it does exactly what it's supposed to, which is not lock up the tire. And the thing will, it'll go forever. You won't think it's ever going to stop. End up in a ravine. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, you might as well just use all the rear brake because that's, uh, it feels like it speeds up as soon as you get on the brakes. Um, but then you turn the ABS off, uh, especially, you know, rear ABS off completely and limited ABS on the front. So it doesn't like tuck the wheel on you.

 And that's what we're talking about when we say an off-road mode on ABS.

 Um, I even liked the, the, the big bikes. I don't think you can turn ABS off completely anymore.

 I think you, there's on the KTM. Yeah. Um, there's some, you can, some, you can't, I think the BMW,

 if you can, it's not easy.

 Right.

 Yeah.

 Yeah. You got to do a ranked. Yeah.

 Press four different. But yeah, I mean, the, the BMW is great off-road when they, when they first came out, I built one because I kept hearing everybody talking about it's, it's not enough. It's not big enough. It's, it's too small. It doesn't have enough horsepower. Uh, it's not, it's great. It's awesome. And then when you get in the woods, um, you can fly on the thing. Yeah. And it, and it just gets better arguably with the KTM off-road because you got the ride mode. You got a little better suspension. It's, it's adjustable.

 Um, and that's what I want to bring up. The, the KTM is the first one you get into that has a, a quality screen, a nice large TFT screen. And that screen lets you have menus that get you in ABS settings and it lets you get into different ride modes rather than just having an off-road and a road. Right. Um, so you actually have a street and an off-road. Um, and you also have a setting for a, um, as far as like fueling street and off-road, you also have a setting for, um, your Bluetooth connectivity. So we know all of our BMW guys who are on the GSs and everything, they all have a headset. So KTM is trying to get the, the, you know, entry-level riders with a headset to have that communicator and be able to see who's calling them decide whether or not to reject it. I'm not telling everybody to be plugged in while you're riding, but, uh, you know, if you see the same phone call repeatedly from your wife, you know, she's probably worried. So you need to answer the phone.



 Um, but, uh, anyway, it's kind of, you got some of those nicer features and you were talking about the adjustability on suspension and that translates pretty well off-road. You can look at our last episode with Rob where we kind of talked about all that, the, having that adjustability makes a difference when you get out in the dirt.

 And I think on the KTM you've got rebound and compression on the front. What's it got on the rear? I can't remember. Does it think it has any adjustment on the rear? Preload, preload only. Okay. Yeah. Um, yeah. So no preload on the front, rebound and compression on the front though. Right. And then preload only on the rear.

 Yeah. Yeah. Um, and that helps if you, it actually is one of the first bikes too, that you can pack on a little bit and actually add some luggage too. You could do that on the GS, absolutely. Um, but the suspension is a little bit higher quality on the KTM. So you're able to load up a little bit more. Yeah. Um, and that, you know, that's another thing to think about what are you going to be doing with the bike? Are you buying this bike to learn to ride and then travel on or, you know, go camping on whatever, or are you just going to buy the bike and ride it and have fun? Right. Right. Yeah. Um, and I would say if you're going to just buy the bike ride and have fun, I'd point you towards the scrambler because it looks good. It's a fun bike to ride and it's, it doesn't have all the luggage options. Like it has like a side bag you can get and things like that. It has a lot of protective gear that's, you know, available for it for like the headlights, skid plate, crash bars.



 Um, so, and that's one thing I've been really impressed with with that bike is just the quality of build and the quality of components that are available from, for that bike.

 For the, for the price, for the price too. Yeah. 100%. It's, I mean, it's a beautiful motorcycle. The fit and finish is great. The paint is really good. Um, my only gripe and it, and it's, it started way back on the 1200 scramblers is if you throw that thing away off road, which you're going to sooner or later, the metal tank, right. And I get the metal tank kind of makes those bikes what they are.

 Right.

 Um, yeah. But at the same time, if you're going to ride it off road, um,



 that tank's going to get bent sooner or later. Um, and, and for me, I would have to replace the tank because the thing's so pretty. Yeah. I could put up with skint panels on the GS or replace the panels and it's much cheaper than, than the tank, even though that tank's not terribly expensive, you know, relative to, to the cost of tanks in general, but it's still, it's so pretty

 that I don't, I don't know if you got to pay something to do it. Yeah. I didn't labor than just plastic panel with a few screws.

 And it's good. It's good off road. I mean, uh, we, I've ridden the 1200 scrambler off road quite a bit in the 400 and a little bit now. Um, and it does a great job.

 You know, Matt, another Matt who did, um, the, um, sandblast rally with that 1200. And he did really well on it. And they did whenever it was first being, uh, developed, it was, uh, entered into the Baja 1000. Right. I think they ended up with a third, like, which I think they ended up podiuming as soon as they, and

 some lucky magnifiers, some, I don't know what the class was, but yeah. Um, that was Nick and one of the two stunt riders. I don't know. I think it was the two Trump's factory stunt riders that took those bikes to, and, and raced on my bomb.

 Obviously skilled riders, but to take something that's, well, all the driving, you're skilled. Yeah.

 I mean, you're racing through the desert at 100 miles an hour. Yeah.



 But back to the 400, um, you know, full disclosure, every single one of the bikes that we've talked about is built in India. Right. Um, BMW is built by TVS and the KTM and the Triumph are both built in the same factory unit for by Bajaj or Bajaj. I can never figure out how to pronounce it. Um, but, uh, yeah, so you see the same quality build between the Triumph and the KTM and you see a high quality build with the BMW as well. Um, but, uh, I'm really impressed with the Triumph's fit and finish for sure. And it is the best looking of the three. Um, if you're just looking for the visual and it's less of an adventure bike, right? Like it doesn't look like an adventure bike. It doesn't have that look, but it's still capable of the same things. It's plenty capable. Yeah. Yeah. From a riding perspective.

 Right. Any bike is an adventure bike if you're brave enough.

 That's right. Yeah. I mean, the whole thing is bringing inappropriate equipment out and riding in the dirt.

 I mean, there's people, there's people traveling around the world on 50, 60 scooters. I mean, yeah, you can do it. It's just, you know, what, what tool do you want to take to the job site? Right.

 And if you're a beginner and it's going to be your only bike, you're going to be on the street most of the time.

 Yeah.

 Like even to do some adventure riding, you're going to ride there, right? You're not going to load it up on a trailer and take it there. Yeah. Like, so the majority of your riding is going to be on the street.

 You're probably going to start with the gravel roads at Prentice Cooper and then, you know, go to start hitting some of the back trails. The second time you're out, I mean, definitely take it easy. Don't start and just, you know, hammer up Taylor's Ridge.

 But, and I would argue that the adventures and the scramblers and like the GS are great second bikes



 for people that want to go ride off road. Yeah. Because we have a lot of people that buy GSAs, you know, they, they've watched you and Gregor and yeah, early, whatever it's named, you know, long way up, long way around,



 and you know, they're going to go around the world.

 And that's probably how Catherine ended up. Yeah. I don't know. Same bike. I don't know. I don't know.

 I don't know if that was Charlie's fault or not. Yeah. But I think it was Brandon's fault. Yeah. Yeah. But we, you know, we sell those bikes to these guys and they come back, you know, later and they're like, man, it's a lot of motorcycle, a lot of motorcycle off road. And it's like, yeah. And if that's the first step, it is a lot of motorcycle off road. So, so I would argue that maybe the first step, um, even if it's not your first bike, the first step to getting into off road riding own street legal motorcycles should, if you're not going to go to the dual sport, you know, the 500 CC route, um, then go with a, with a 310, 390, 400 and, and kind of learn, you know, what's where I'm at. What? Because like, 200 pounds feels like off road in a smaller package before you have to figure out what 600 multi-strata rally.

 Yeah. It's like, it's too much off road. And so like here locally, we said going to like Prentice Cooper and Taylor's Ridge and stuff like that, I'm not taking that bike up there. Right. And I had a dual sport and conversion it to a super minute handle it. So like now I want the, the 390, right? You know, like I want something that's lighter weight to wear. Cause cause if I'm riding off road like that, I'm going to be by myself. Well, I'm not going to have a passion.

 No matter what you have, if you're going to ride it off road, you have to be willing to crash it.

 Exactly. I'm not willing to crash.

 So consider the cost of repairs. And that's why we have customers who have the, have the larger bikes that they ride on the street and they'll buy this as a second bike to ride off road. And we're talking about Susan before that. What does she has a GS or GSA?

 She had a GSA. She had the, um, 390, um, 390 adventure now. Yeah.

 And, and the RT now. Yeah. An RT. So she has her street going bike. She had a GSA, but she split that into an RT and the 390. And I encourage people who have like larger bikes that they want to ride all the time. You're multi strata. If you wanted to get into off-road riding and you haven't got any, uh, you know, experience, uh, off-road start with something small and cheap and, you know, build your way up. Like you don't have to start with a 1290 super adventure R, which if I was going for that big displacement category, that's the off-road bike to have. You can ride it like a dirt bike, but, um, you start with these smaller bikes and you're going to be a lot more realistic about what you can do and you're going to let it down. You're going to crash it. And it's a lot cheaper to repair that bike.

 Yeah. And you want something that like, like for me, I don't have a ton of time to ride. So like when I do have time to ride, it's like an hour here, a couple of hours there. And so I don't want to spend all day loading up a dirt bike onto a trailer in the back of the truck and then driving somewhere to ride. So it's a lot nicer when you can just hop on something that's relatively the same size, just a little bit heavier and ride to the trail, right around for an hour.

 And how far are you riding to the trail is always a question that I ask whenever someone's considering a dual sport of any variety. And you may be a person that I'm going to recommend like an ES 350 gas gas to, or maybe a seven Oh one, or maybe, you know, you kind of go through all of these from

 the trail. Yeah. Get something that's a little more hardcore.

 Right. Just bought a full on dirt bike. All you're doing is connecting the trails. Um, if you wanted the best tool for that specific job, you're going to buy a dirt bike, but you're wanting something that's a little more versatile. And that's one thing that I think has been so attractive about adventure bikes, you know, in the last five years is that they are, they are the Swiss army knife. They could do everything, especially the GS and GSA. They're the Swiss army knife of motorcycles. They're not the fastest thing out there.

 No, they don't do anything the best, but they do a lot of stuff. Well, pretty dang good.

 Yeah. I mean, and they're, they're the overlaying vehicles, you're going to pay for arms, right. But you pay for it because it's versatile. Right.

 And sometimes it'll replace two or three bikes.

 Yeah. Yeah.



 Um, no, they're, they're great bikes. The little bikes are a ton of fun and there's, there's something to be said about going out and using up a small bike. Yeah. You know, like an RC 390, the, the, the full faring sport bike version of the, the KTM 390. Um, it's a lot of fun. Like a track day bike.

 Yeah. Just get out there and just wing it out, ride it to the limit.

 Right. Because you, you can't really go ride most people. I can't, uh, go ride a, uh, Panagale, a double R to its limits.

 Like we can't use those 600 to its right.

 You can't use those bikes up, but there's a lot of people that can use up a 390 and it's a lot of fun to do.

 Well, it's like these type of bikes. I mean, even on the street, like you're not going to go to jail riding it at the limit. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.



 We're, we're on a sport bike.

 Your first gear, your break all kinds of laws in first gear. Yeah.

 And obviously we all like these different bikes for different reasons. If I'm going off road and that's my focus and that's why I'm buying the bike, I'm going 390 adventure all day. Um, it has the most suspension travel. It has the, it's the tallest seat height. So if you're, you know, challenged in that area, that's probably not the best choice. Even if you're going off road, I might go for the GS in that, in that case. Um, if, uh, but it's got the adjustable suspension, more travel, uh, more ground clearance and it's got spoke wheels, um, which is an underrated feature on that. It definitely gives you a little more cushion off road. Um, and they're less likely to bend that way. So that's people, if people who are new to this don't know, um, that, you know, your typical cast wheels, you hit something that's hard edge, you're more likely to have a bend. And usually it's not a big deal. I mean, you can still ride it. Well, yeah, if you're getting real extreme, making crack, um, it's usually not a big deal though. You can usually ride a bike with a bent rim. It's just once it gets so bad, you're going to stop holding air.

 And the, I would agree that in the past, that was a pretty big issue. Like I said, I've, I've beaten a GS on cast wheels through the, through the woods and is a, is a spoke wheel better? Is it more forgiving? Absolutely. Um, it always will be, but the new cast wheel, like don't let it stop you from buying. Well, also on like the cast wheels, right?



 Yeah.

 Um, cast is just not the ideal scenario. So if I'm going for, you know, no expense spared, you know, obviously we're talking about small boy here, so it's not going to be too expensive, even if it is no expense spared, but I'm going to go for the KTM for offered setting. Now, if you're seat, if you're height challenged and that's going to be an issue for you, go for the G three 10 GS, um, absolutely going to be an awesome offered option for you. And of course the costs, I mean, the price differences, you know, we talked about it. If you're doing the MSF course, you're getting close to the $5,000 price point where if you're on the KTM, you're already at 59 MSRP, you're going to end up at, you know, $7,000 price point by the time you're said and done. Um, so that spread does become pretty significant. Um, so it's definitely a valid option. Um, either one, depending on what your focus is.

 And I don't want to be confusing. Is the three 10 GS is the seat height lower than, than like the KTM. I know, I know it is in the, in the R versus the Duke. And yeah, I think we keep bouncing back and forth. So yeah, if you got any questions,

 focus on the adventure side, I think you've been talking about the street side. So it's got to, yeah, we do get a little confusing with the, um, if I'm going to street though, that triumph all, all the way, like whether you're talking about the speed 400 or you're talking about the Scrambler 400X, if I'm going to do some light off road, gravel roads, things like that, the Scrambler 400X can handle all of that. It doesn't have the adjustable suspension, which I really want. Um, I'm a heavier rider, so it matters a little more to me. Um, but, uh, because they don't set it up for my weight ever,

 even springs, but it's fine for me when you're light and fast.

 Yeah. Yeah. Light and fast. Yeah. You got one of those. You got one of those.



 But, uh, yeah, if you're doing gravel roads and stuff, it'll handle all that. You can still go to adventure riding with your friends. It's just not something that you're going to be carrying the amount of speed you can on a three 90 adventure. Yeah.

 Yeah. Well, I think really when it comes down to it out of all those options, you can't really go wrong. And with the price being so similar, just go with the one you like.

 Yeah. You buy the one that you're going to jump on and ride and have fun and enjoy. That's, I mean, that's the thing.

 That's the nuances are like so close to it. Doesn't really matter. Like you're going to be happy with any of those bikes.

 And if you're truly a beginner, I would argue that you're not going to know the differences anyway, even if you did go back to back. So, um, you know, maybe, you know, in a year, you know, you can tell the different after you're riding, you can tell all the differences in these bikes. And, um, you know, we just, we're sitting here rallying all specs, which a lot of people do. But at the end of the day, like a lot of times it doesn't matter by, by what you like to look at, by what you're going to

 at the end of the day, it's a motorcycle. Right. It's fun. Yeah. Regardless. I've never ridden a motorcycle that I didn't enjoy for sure.

 Yeah. Yeah. We've, we never have anybody come back and after riding something, they may say one's better than the other in their opinion, but nobody ever comes back and was there like, I hated that. That was terrible. Don't ever.

 And I've even ridden Harley's right.



 I mean, it's still a motorcycle. Yeah. You know, you're, you're out there. You're, you're having fun, uh, going fast, looking cool.

 Yeah.

 That's what it's all about. I mean, it's, uh, you can't go right. And all the manufacturers have come so far now. It's like, you can't buy like a bad bike from what they're all over, you know, the top brands, like you're not going to get a bad bike. And so like, yeah, don't worry so much about quick compared specs so much.

 Oh man. And people always are like, you know,



 that bike's going to break down that bike's high maintenance. Like all of them, everything breaks, but all of them are pretty good. There's not a bike that's out on the market right now. That is just, you're going to buy it. You're going to have to spend a thousand dollars of repair on.

 Is there a bike that you can go brand and buy brand new that doesn't have a warranty? Exactly.

 Not a street bike. Yeah. Yes, absolutely. But not a street bike.

 No. Yeah. People are racing right now. But yeah, as far as street legal bias, like they give a warranty for a reason. Yeah. Like they expect them to last for a while. Yeah. So you're going to be good either way. So just go out and have fun.

 Yeah, for sure. That's what it's about. Nobody needs anything at the, at our dealership. Like, yeah, we don't need it. Nothing. It's all for there. That is, that is a necessity.

 So that being said, I mean, you got to consider maintenance and most of these, you're going to be doing old changes around every 5,000 miles.



 Once you get to some bigger items, you're stretching those to 7,500 or 9,000 miles. I know the BMW, like the big boxer engines are 6,000 miles. So I mean, consider maintenance and what you're looking at. It's not that any of them are super high maintenance though. And that's one thing that is a little bit of a misnomer, especially when you're talking about Ducati.



 We haven't talked about Ducati at all yet, but it's maintenance is just a reality of it. And it's not just old changes. It's not just valve adjustments. It's, you know, check checking over everything and tires. What are you going to wear out tires more on? What tire selection do you have? And what I've discovered is that people don't worry about that as much because they, they, they cite it whenever they're buying a bike. Like, yeah, that one's going to be higher maintenance than this bike, but whenever they cut down to it, they're putting, you know, pretty offered oriented tires on some of these bikes. And I'm like, well, you know, that's going to wear out quicker. Oh yeah, I know. Like it's not as big of a deal when it comes to that. Right.

 Again, it's a toy. People don't mind spending money on their toy.

 Well, and, and, but as a, as a new rider, I think it's an important point. I mean, you think about your car and you ride it, it goes down the road at say two to 2,500 RPM, right? So spark plugs are firing every 2,500 RPM or ever. Yeah. So, and then you take a motorcycle and it's, it's rolling down the road at, well, I mean, like peak horsepower was at 9,500 RPM. It's not going to, it's not, you're not rolling down the road at 9,500 RPM,

 but you are five or 6,000.

 Yeah. You're double what you are in a car. So, and you're, you know, it might have a court and a half hole in it and, and the bikes that we're talking about. So yeah, the maintenance is going to be more than maybe what your expectation is. If you're, if you're basing on what, what you've dealt with on your cars, you know, the spark plugs are, are firing at twice.

 But 5,000 miles to an oil change interval is not harsh. No, that's pretty much where a lot of cars are now.

 Right.

 Yeah. Most cars are trying to push toward that $10,000, sorry, 10,000 mile mark.



 But, and you actually see that a lot with the triumph stuff too. A lot of the triumphs, even some of the smaller bore stuff are pushing the 10,000 miles, not in the case of this 400, but if you're looking at like the 660s and up, they're really pushing those maintenance intervals out. And I would argue if you're doing some off-road, you probably need to, you know, take that into account whenever you're looking at this and not go the full 10,000.

 Well, and I mean, you know, those engineers are a lot at drop and any of the brands are a lot smarter than I am, but I would argue that you should not be going 10,000 miles on, you know, two and a half quarts of oil with a, with a filter that's, you know, three inch in diameter.

 Yeah. And I don't worry about the oil itself. I know that the oil itself doesn't break down. It's about the particulates that get in it and whether or not the oil filter could handle that.



 And, um, also you talk about like normally people are going to be doing annual maintenance rather than mileage based maintenance.

 And that's kind of the saving grace on these things. Most people aren't putting 10,000 miles on them a year. So they're, they're getting all changes at 3000 miles.

 Which Ficati says every two years, most of our brands say annually. Um, and that's because as you change temperature, especially if you're keeping in a garage, it's not temperature controlled, you're eventually going to get some condensation in there. And if the oil filter we're worried about, not the engine, it's not all the oil that's elsewhere in the engine.

 Yeah. In most cases, any condensation that happens inside the engine from, from ambient temperature swings is going to get burned off. Uh, as soon as the engine gets up to temperature, right? That's why it's important. Like in, like now when it's winter, when it's cold outside and people say, well, you know, backed it out of the garage and started it and let it run for a couple of minutes. No, it needs to like get up to full temperature. Um, or you just need to leave it alone and change the oil in the spring. If, if you're not going to ride it, don't keep the battery hot. Don't start it.

 Yeah. Most people aren't going to do the proper maintenance before they put it up for the winter. And so most people end up doing that spring maintenance anyway. So it's a good, it's a good time to just do it all.

 That oil filters paper and we all know what happens when moisture hits paper. Uh, as long as oil flowing through there, it's not a problem. Um,



 wanted to mention this.

 Yeah. So we're about out of time, but, um, yeah, maybe step two, or maybe like, if you've got a, a lot of experience on a dirt bike,



 then something like the scrambler behind us is, is a great bike. It's, it's bigger proportionally, generally speaking, it's bigger proportionally than, than all the bikes that we've been talking about.

 We're bigger rider like me.

 Right. More. Yeah. Um, yeah, it's normally sprung a little heavier, uh, has a little more horsepower. It's, you know, sometimes new riders are all about the sound like it's just another option. Uh, that's, that's not a bad option. We sell the, not necessarily that are urban motor, but the icon to a lot of first time riders, because it is the lowest seat height. Um, and they're pretty narrow in, in like a full, full size of motorcycle. And I hate to say that like a three 90 Duke is not a full size motorcycle, but it's what seven, eight scale, like it's not quite there. Um, but that's a great option.

 They have different options within it too. So you have like, this is the urban motor. It's got 17s front and rear. If I'm doing off road, I don't want that. Right. Um, if I'm riding on the street, I really like it because it turns a little bit easier. It's, uh, it, it just feels better on the street. It's got a corner better. Um, if you're, if you want that scrambler look, but not the off road capability of most of the scramblers get this, like it's, uh, it's, it's going to be a better handling bike.

 And it looks sick. It does. And like, that's kind of why I wanted to bring it over here and, and, uh, get it in the shot today, but the, it looks really good. But then most of those bikes,



 we can get payments at like $200 a month. Yeah. Yeah.



 So on that, on the Ducati scrambler line.

 Yeah. In, in closing on that, like



 the, the point that I want to like kind of make is guys closer to our age compared to new riders. Now, how lucky are they with their options for beginner bikes? Oh yeah. I did. Like when we were, when, when we were kids or 17, 18, 19 years old, if you wanted a beginner bike, you were on an ugly XR, some kind of weird dual sport or a Ninja two 50, which is not least bike and

 not even a ninja. I had a GZ two 50. That thing was like, no, we

 had no cool beginner bikes. And I think that goes back a lot to safety because when we were teenagers, it's like, I want the 600 because nobody makes a cool looking entry level sport.

 And everything now has ABS. Yeah. Like I had to learn the hard way, like, uh, having ABS is something that, uh, you know, we're going to take for granted going into the future. Cause everything's got it now. Yeah.

 So along Justin, what you just said, I think it's important. Like back then you, you didn't have any options. Now you've got tons of beginner.

 Yeah. Yeah. And now you ride down the road as a brand new rider on some of these cool and the paper plate

 on the back of the two 50 was said that

 the, you know, so it's like, you can ride a really cool looking bike.

 But there's so many options that I think sometimes it gets overwhelming. And then I think for somebody who's not comfortable in this arena, it's, it's overwhelming. And sometimes they're hesitant to come in at either ship.

 And which is the best place they could actually be for sure. Come because like, come ask us that want a new bike that they've never ridden before. They're watching videos like this all day long.

 Come ask us questions. Like, don't, don't be afraid to come in and go, you know, go and see the guys next door at, at Southern. Um, you know, there, there's a ton of information over there. Um, don't, yeah, don't be hesitant to walk in a motorcycle shop and, and ask questions. If, if, if they laugh at you, if you don't feel welcome, you're in the wrong motorcycle shop. And it's not, it's not

 like Bob can ask questions at where like you go to a dealership and the majority of the guys, they're just there to sell you a car. They probably don't even ride or drive the car that they're selling you. Yeah. Especially if you go into like a higher end, something premium. Yeah. They can't even afford the, the cars that they're selling, but you go into a motorcycle dealership, especially like you guys, y'all are all enthusiasts. Right. And like, you're there to make sure, and this is something that can get somebody hurt. So y'all want to make sure that people doing it the right way. So you're going to lead them in the right direction. You're going to give them the right information and you are actually living this thing that they're wanting to learn. And we want to buy motorcycles like forever. Yeah. You don't want them to get out of the road.

 That's the thing. Like I always tell parents, especially on the dirt bike side, like don't get your kid on something they're going to be afraid of. Cause they're going to stop riding. I don't want to do that with a customer on the street bike either. And I see like, we have a pretty good crew of the sales department right now that really takes her job seriously and looks at it. They're not going to try to hard sell you. They're not going to try to be the higher pressure salesman. And if they are, let us know, but I definitely trust them not to be that guy.



 Our job primarily is to educate the customer and make sure that they make the right decision for them. That's not our decision. That's your decision. But we have to give you the information you need to make that decision.

 We are pretty opinionated bunch. I'll say that. Absolutely. But it's always in people's best interest, right? Or like we're trying to look out for their best interest.

 So yeah, yeah, come see us. Yep. Go see them as just a representative of the show, not affiliated with the store as a customer. Originally, I can say that all of that is true. And that's why I've always recommended people to you guys. And I said, if, if you're wanting to learn more and you haven't written before, go to a dealership

 and real quick, you're not wasting our time. No, this is what we do now. If you sit there and you're talking and we're not talking about motorcycles for an hour, that's, that's wasting our time, but you're not taking wasting our time before talking about motorcycles.



 Awesome. All right, guys. Well, maybe on the next show, we can cover the new Ducati dirt bike that everybody's talking about.

 And the trailer and the hauler. Yes. Y'all have one? No, no, I'm talking about the product. The hauler is amazing. Oh, the transporter, the trailer. Yeah, the race, race thing.

 So when are we all going to get real quick before we go

 to Elias first availability on those? And those are the ones that are going to be preordered.



 Get on their web, get on their website. They have like a little place where you could put your information in and kind of put your name in it. So like we as a dealer know to give you a call as soon as we can preorder.

 We got deposits on two of them. I'm sorry.

 I said July, July, August, but anyway,

 we'll do some videos on those coming because that's, that's going to be a big deal. That is what we're going to set it. Yep. Definitely. Yeah, we'll do it. Like what we'll set it in front and do a full review. We don't hear. Yeah. Awesome. All right, guys. Well, thanks for joining us again. We'll see you on the next one for the throttle stop. Moto podcast. I'm Justin Jeff, Matt.

 So you thanks.

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