Ramblestream Podcast
Welcome to Ramblestream, the podcast where we share the stories behind our simple, beautiful machines and the people who craft them. Rooted in Northern Indiana’s manufacturing spirit, we explore how we blend timeless, globally sourced components with a personal, built-to-order approach that connects us directly to every rider. Join us for conversations with makers and owners alike as we dive into craftsmanship, community, and the joy of riding something truly your own.
Ramblestream Podcast
Finding Your People on Two Wheels
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Ever notice how a two‑finger wave can turn a stranger into “one of us”? We dive into the human side of motorcycling, why we start for the machine but stay for the people, and trace how tiny rituals, shared language, and archived wisdom build a lasting rider identity.
We kick off with a reading of Robert Frost that frames the distance between motion and meaning, then welcome our guest Junky from Creative Writing to unpack how communities evolve. Remember classic forums and the legendary “forum ninja” who dropped the perfect fix and vanished? That spirit lives on in Reddit, Facebook groups, and Discord channels where knowledge sticks, questions get answered, and new riders find their footing. We talk practical structure too: moving heavy chat to a pre‑show hangout and lowering membership as a way to create clearer lanes for connection and better value for listeners.
From there, we hit the real roads, rallies, gas‑station talks, and the first wave that makes you feel seen. We share stories about welcoming scooters and trikes, helping on the shoulder during big group rides, and how a few simple norms, wave, stop, share what you know, create a culture that keeps people riding. We also pull in fresh industry insight: there’s a surge of aspirational riders who love the idea of bikes but drift away without a tribe. Brands like Harley‑Davidson and Ducati offer identity scaffolding through clubs, but the real glue often comes from local crews, pinned answers, and beginner‑friendly meetups.
If you’ve ever wondered how to strengthen your scene, this is your playbook: be generous with information, make the on‑ramp obvious, and treat every quick nod as someone’s first welcome. New or seasoned, moped or V‑twin, the code is simple, the machine gets you moving, the people keep you coming back.
Enjoy the ride? Follow, share with a rider who needs a crew, and drop a quick rating or review so more folks can find the show. Then join us live on Mondays at 7 p.m. on YouTube and say hi, your first wave might make someone’s day.
From livestream #118 - 02/23/26
Welcome And How We Ramble
SPEAKER_03Hello everyone. Welcome to the Ramble Stream Podcast.
SPEAKER_02I'm Richard. And I'm Jansen. Each week we sit down for rambling conversations about motorcycles, the experience of riding, design, and whatever else catches our fancy. Bring a beverage of your choice or stories, and we'll see where this takes us.
SPEAKER_03If you're interested in thoughtful conversations, friendly and informative banter with fellow riders, and the latest dispatches from Janus Motorcycles headquarters, you're in the right place. Let's get started. Good evening, everybody, and welcome. We got a fun program. What are we on? 118? 118. Can you believe it, Richard? You say that every time. Maybe I can. I don't know. No. Welcome back to the Ramble Stream. Um, if you are new to the Ramble Stream, um the com the comment section is an awesome place to introduce yourself, tell us a little bit about yourself. Um, the format that we use is tell us who you are, where you're viewing from, and what you ramble with. That can either be, of course, in most cases, two wheels. But if it's something cool that has one hole, multiple holes, like as in a boat, or maybe I thought you said holes H U L L. Um, or maybe it has wings. Or maybe it has what we need to get some pilots in here. Yeah. Okay. Uh actually I got a guy that can tell us about that. That would be cool. Um, or uh, you know, wheels, um, cars, trucks, all those kinds of things. And then last but not least, tell us what you are sipping on this evening. I'll go ahead and get started. My name is Richard Bersham, uh, co-founder and head of design here at Janus Motorcycles. I ramble with a 2009 Kawasaki KLR and a 2017 Halcyon, Janus, Halcyon 250 number 68. Also, if you have a Janice, tell us what number it is. It's very important. If you're a returning rambler, give us some give us some more comments.
SPEAKER_02We like them. Give us some good questions. I want to see who you are. My name is Jansen. That sounded a lot creepier than I mean it to sound. My name is Jansen, also coming to you live at the Ramble Stream Studio. I am sipping on some delicious uh Journeyman Distillery Rider Dye whiskey, which is the uh uh custom rye whiskey that they made for the ride or die show, brought to you by Janice Motorcycles and Journeyman Distillery.
SPEAKER_03And I forgot to mention what I'm sipping on. I'm sipping on what is it?
Membership Perks And Format Change
SPEAKER_02It's it's just some throat coat. Throat coat tea. I don't actually have a cold right now, but the flavor's good. I'm drinking tea for a while. Some people dog, some people dog the flavor of throat coat. I love it. It was purbels. Very purbels. Uh I ramble in Ford Lightning and soon to be rambling on a Phoenix 450. The day cannot come soon enough, but I'm wasting waiting patiently. Wait. Waitly painting painting. We've got some news for you, real quick, before we get into the show. Um, as some of you know, we have a membership program.
SPEAKER_03We do.
SPEAKER_02Um, and there are a couple perks that you guys get with that membership program. Uh, you get access to the pre-ramble, which is about 30 minutes, give or take, of us just kind of figuring out technical difficulties like it was today. Uh, but normally it's us uh reading uh the chat and talking to people. It's always us reading the chat.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, we won't that's one a place where we address every single comment.
SPEAKER_02So um you get access to the the pre-ramble, you get uh a week early access, seven whole days uh of early access to the videos that we post, and then you get members only shorts. Um it's$5.99 or was$4.99, sorry. It was five bucks a month. Um and we're gonna we're gonna change some things for this show in particular, and that information is important. Richard, do you want to talk a little bit about?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so this is kind of our um as you if you followed the ramble stream for long enough, which what how what what how many how long have you been doing this? Almost a year. No, I mean total, totally uh two, two plus two years. Um, you know that it started off with very humble beginnings. Very uh not even a microphone, just earbuds and uh computer. And you look back those days with fond. And yeah, and uh it's it's improved, and uh well, we think it's it's a change, um, but we're always making modifications. It's a change. And so tonight we have some new ones. Um the main one, well, no, not the main one. One of them is that we are uh going to be focusing on uh well, what am I what am I even saying? We're we're doing comments a little differently.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so uh there's been in the past a big emphasis on comments, uh, as I think there needs to be. Uh we would go through and we would read every single comment and and uh go through everyone's uh list of bikes and uh and and kind of go through that way. Uh we're changing things a little bit. Um so if you want your comments read in that kind of way, which is like every single comment we try to grab a hold of and try to highlight it um and and talk uh directly to every single person in the show, um, we're we're kind of transitioning that from from this this show uh to the pre-ramble. Um there's a couple reasons for that. Uh A, I think we want to focus a little bit more on the show uh so that you guys can can kind of soak more value out of it rather than us talking to Joe Blow on um you know on Massachusetts. We see you up. We see you, Joe Blow. Um so uh yeah, yeah, we're gonna we're gonna be moving a lot of our chat focused conversations to the pre-ramble. And because of that, uh, we're also lowering uh the membership cost from five bucks a month to two dollars a month.
Why Comments Move To Pre‑Ramble
SPEAKER_03Yeah. And the goal here, of course, is not to, we're not making um the big bucks with this. That's not the goal. It's just to provide a a space for people for for people to actually have their questions answered directly. Um it's kind of a barrier, like a or not a barrier, it's like a a fence for that around that. Now, does that mean, Richard, that we're not gonna read no at all? No, we want to go we're gonna be diving into the chat as much as we can so long as it serves the programming of the ramble stream. Right. So um I see you, Josh Snyder. Where's Josh Snyder at? Sna Snater, sorry. If I invest enough to receive a 10% discount on a motorcycle, how long does that coupon last? Do I need to buy a motorcycle with one week one year, or can I buy one 20 years from now and get I think I'm not sure what the actual terms are, but we would hope it's within a year. Yeah, we would hope that you buy one within a year. So that'd be great. We will be answering comments, yes, and jumping in.
SPEAKER_02So and of course, we got to get our first comment. Our first commenter. I almost knocked glassover. John Gover. Housey on 415, number 119 with coffee this morning. No snow in North Carolina. I heard you're getting a lot of rain though, John. Uh, glad to see you on. Chris, we see you. Uh Jason 412, we see you on as well. Glad you're here. Who else is in?
SPEAKER_03Oh, lots of Jason comments. Kelly. Kelly. Hey, Kelly, we got your your care package. Thank you. We think these are keychains.
SPEAKER_02We that's what we're thinking. Yes. If they have another purpose, let us know. I think I could put this on one of my knives, maybe. Oh. Ooh, I like that. Extra well, extra grip. Extra grip. I don't know. So thank you. Thank you so much for these. These are these are awesome. With a nice with a nice handmade with a nice little handwritten note along with it. Love it. Live for it. It's great. Uh Janus Wig Ryder, how you doing? Janus MC Reiner. I don't know if that's you know, if we want to check that. Thank you. Um, Gary's good to see you. Arlesburg Clipper, it's good to see you. Speed Racer, how you doing? We're glad you're here. A lot of familiar names. I love seeing the familiar names. It's it's great.
SPEAKER_03What are there any other changes to the program that we should cover? Um, I I don't think so. Okay. Well, the then the other one is the big one is we're gonna be trying to bring on some more guests. Yes. And we have a guest tonight.
SPEAKER_02We just so happen. Just so happened.
SPEAKER_03It's great. I don't out of nowhere. We have a guest tonight. Um and let's just bring him on and you can make introductions from there.
SPEAKER_02Hey guys, no promises. This might work, this might not work. Just sit down. There he is. There he is.
SPEAKER_01At least he's got the beard. My stun beard made it.
SPEAKER_03That's great. So, everybody, um, I'm really excited to um have Junkie uh on the Ramble stream. Junkie's been on the podcast when we had a podcast um for a while. We did a podcast. It was an incredible experience. I want to do it more and I want to integrate it into the Ramble stream. But hey, Junkie, we don't have a formulaic uh how did you start writing? What you know, right? So tell us a little bit about yourself.
SPEAKER_02Well, first he's got a you got John, you got to introduce yourself like you would on the format stream in the format.
SPEAKER_01I my name is Junkie. I ramble around on a SCR950 from Yamaha and also a SR250 from Yamaha. Nice. I'm drinking a simpler times uh beverage because it is hot here. I'm sorry to complain about it being hot, but it's like, you know, if I didn't have this thing, I'd be melting in here.
SPEAKER_03So especially with the beard.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I know. This stunt beard is really warm, and you have to feel comfortable in the setup.
SPEAKER_02So let's do a let's do a little poem. Okay. Now, Dunky, it's our responsibility to say something super insightful after the poem. So great. So we're gonna hear the poem, we're gonna listen to it, we're gonna soak it in, and then we have to say something really insightful. I think uh Janice McRyder will agree that everything that I say after the poem is very insightful.
SPEAKER_03And the a word of wisdom that I heard this week is about like when you're reading something, read it at the most basic level. It's okay to just read something for what it says, not for what it means. I think that was one of the most profound things I've heard in a long time. Yeah. So you can just listen to it. I'm ready. And uh just absorb it.
Shoutouts, Gifts, And Community Vibes
SPEAKER_02Absorb it. Okay, I'm ready.
SPEAKER_03Okay. Um, as as Jansen wrote in our notes, because he always records what poem we read, he put this down as from the great Bobby Frost.
SPEAKER_02The great author, the great poet Bobby Frost.
SPEAKER_03This is called The Middleness of the Road by Robert Frost, also known as Bobby. The road at the top of the rise seems to come to an end and take off into the skies. So at the distant bend it seems to go into a wood, the place of standing still as long the trees have stood. But say what fancy will, the mineral drops that explode to drive my ton of car are limited to the road. They deal with near and far, but have almost nothing to do with the absolute flight and rest the universal blue and local green suggest. So that's actually kind of the inspiration for Heaven Junkie on was we were talking, we were thinking about well the this the the the theme for the this week and last week's was um why we ride. And I wanted to end it on community because the reason if I I go back to why I'm still interested in motorcycles, and what really what did get me interested in them in the first place, it was people. And I will the more the longer we we build motorcycles and have customers, the more that just is solidified in my in my mind that the the the high point of our year here is the our annual owners rally when we get owners in and you get to meet all these people. And let me just say, I mean, you know, we this is a running joke, but you meet the nicest people on Honda, you meet the most interesting people on a Janus. Uh so I have been able to meet a lot of wonderful people um in the process of doing this, um, whether they're customers or just people you meet through the industry, um, and uh you get to ride with them or just talk motorcycles with them. And junkie's one of those people. Um junkie's also uh I we talked a little bit about forums in the past. Yeah. Even on the ramble stream, we've talked about it, but Junkie, you and I have talked about it, and you have some experience with forums, and I wanted to talk about because I think forums are it's an it's a weird thing, right?
Guest Arrival: Meet Junkie
SPEAKER_01And then are we even are we past the era of forums? You know, I feel like we started to be um well I yeah, I feel like when you say forums, uh it's kind of like redefining something that existed in a different way because now you just go like on Reddit or you know, I'm trying to think of other places that have not as many people use Facebook, but it's the same sort of thing. You have this community that used to be segmented, you know, and only talk about that. And now you have like groups on Facebook or Reddit, sub, you know, subreddits and places like that. Even even like Twitch and stuff, people look at the code. I mean a Facebook group really operates like a forum. Yeah, yeah. And all the Discord, like like it, no matter what platform, it's basically like a forum. And Discord actually segments stuff out a lot more like a forum because you can head to one Discord and they can have like a lot of different channels in there, and and it's basically forums, you know what I'm saying? And I used to have this person, not not myself, not personally, but the person I would seek out whenever I had a question about something I didn't know about, I'd seek out the forum ninja. There was always that one person that you'd blast out a question, and out of the darkness, out of all the stupid comments, yeah, it's just you know, scroll down 42, you know, times till you get to like the 3,000th comment, and this out of the darkness, this the ninja, the forum ninja would appear and give you the wisdom and then just disappear back into the shadows, and that's what they're great for. But then you get to also see, you get to also experience all the other hazing and stupidities, and you're like, hey, this is people are responding because they like this, and maybe they think they know something, like no matter what it is, it's no different than talking. And uh, I used to go on huge group rides, and it was the same sort of thing. Everyone's you some somebody's bikes leaking gas. 82 people come over to try and fix it, and then secretly here comes Steve out of the bushes, and he's just like, baby. Uh, on these models, the petcock would come unscrewed and he'd just disappear back, you know. And you're like, You're like, Who said that? You know, he's the campfire smoke blows through and he's gone, you know. And that was the that was the thing. Yeah, everyone else is telling you, Oh, you're gonna have to rebuild your crankshaft. And meanwhile, you go under there, and oh, this is threaded. How weird that they make a threaded pet cock, and it's what it was, you know. So 100% the forums um was like the primitive form of community, you know what I'm saying? Uh other than doing that sitting around a campfire, you know, trying to help your friends in person. Yeah, it's great, though. It's it's it's awesome, and and it still is alive in different forms today. Like I there's still a lot of forums out there, but I think that they've taken on a different form online for sure.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I feel like like there's a lot of terror that the internet has brought to humanity. But and and some of that horror is in the form of forums, but but I'm gonna say my website, not to say this. But it's also I feel like the forum is really like I don't know if I'm willing to make the claim, but it might be like the uh apogee of internet. Like the the the the there's been I've experienced some really amazing community.
Poem Break: Robert Frost On Roads
SPEAKER_02It's the pure it can be. I I think this is this goes for all the internet, but I think that's a different conversation. But like, yeah, people genuinely, it seems like they genuinely want to help on forums.
SPEAKER_03Well, like it wasn't like, and this is where I don't know the history of the internet, but wasn't like early on, like listservs were pretty like that concept of some sort of like email list chain that would go on, and that that was one of the earlier forms of how it developed. Right.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and I think that that was yeah, before they had the structure in place to really make, you know, before when online was just becoming online as we know it, you know, but back when it was still DARPANET, the public just got a hold of it and they're trying to figure out how to make stuff work. I remember chatrooms being a big thing, but they weren't they weren't logged, you know what I mean? Like you couldn't go back and reference, hey, what did somebody say as soon as they closed closing the bar for the night?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, right. That there is something to be said for live, but like the fact that you can go back and find this wisdom. Like I think about like KLR.net or whatever. Like if you want to know something about it's it's you can go back and find it. Yeah. Um and it and it's that aspect of it that is is really, really cool. Yeah, I don't know. It's it's it's like a way I think that's a lot of a lot of really good knowledge can be shared that way. There's a comment here. Barney Boy says, Barney Boyle says, did the internet um bring horror to humanity or did it bring humanity to humanity?
SPEAKER_02I don't think we want to go there. That's a terrifying thing to think about.
SPEAKER_00Exactly.
SPEAKER_01No, I mean I think go ahead, junkie. It it allowed everybody to, yeah, display display their truth online. Right.
SPEAKER_03Exactly. Yeah, without any without any like um like feel no repercussions. Repercussions that you would get if you said something like that to uh in a group of people. But well, I don't want to get too sidetracked on forums, but I I know that that was something that I mean didn't in your experience, do you work with like don't I I'm trying to remember, junkie, if you work with like auto parts, is there any crossover with forums on that that you're experienced with?
SPEAKER_01Uh no.
SPEAKER_03No, yeah.
Why We Ride: People And Belonging
SPEAKER_01The community, however, I mean, when you get into any industry, the community that sets itself up to support that industry is massive, no matter what it is. I mean, I live in LA. I'm assuming there's an adult actors, you know, guild that gets together. I'm assuming, you know, there's uh aeronautical space, there's watches. There's probably people that have, you know, watch, make watches or enjoy watches, and secretly they, you know, gather in the basement of Denny's or whatever and and talk about this stuff. But definitely there is a huge community. And I'm gonna I wouldn't say how would I say like aftermarket community because that's not a real thing. But I but yeah, the the industry in general doesn't have it, has like, I don't know, SEMA is something, but that's not that's not the community coming together. That's no, you know, so there are definitely like little publications that are that are out there and little trade groups and and even local, you know, local, whether it's repair shops, dealerships, things like that, that yeah, they have their own little associations. And that's actually how our company started, um, like 80 80 years ago, I guess, is that there wasn't that. And you know, you think about back to the 40s across the US, there wasn't uh you can't even call, you know, you had a call and somebody would physically pick you up and plug you into a board to somebody across the country, like an operator, right? So our company started like that, where we were collecting a community and are collecting information and then spreading it out through through the community. So yeah, it's um it's really interesting how that sort of stuff manifests in different ways uh over the years and turns into something uh on the side. I don't know. Nice ramble, by the way. Sorry, no, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_03No, I just I I am fascinated with forums, but but welcome to the ramble. Yeah, welcome to the ramble. Um did my job. But it get I think it's maybe uh it's an offshoot of community, the real, the real deal. And the real deal happens when you whether you're meeting someone at a gas station for the first time and they're just they want to talk about something or they have something in common with you. Um, and they say, Oh, that's a cool bike, you know, tell me about it, and then you instantly have something in common.
SPEAKER_02Right.
SPEAKER_03And the same thing happens if you go to like a rally, a motorcycle rally, where let's talk about the Janice Owners rally. You, you, you're you're here, you might have very, very few things in common with another person, and yet you can spend an entire weekend riding, hanging out, drinking, listening to music, whatever you're you know, and you you can the the limits of the conversation are almost infinite because you have that in common. And then you end up making friends that you would never have otherwise. I I think for me, like um the uh I sail in small boat sailing and the rallies you can get together and meet. One I went to was the kind of the class of boat I have has a what they call it a rendezvous. And there were probably 40 boats there, maybe less. And I still correspond with multiple people that I met for a weekend. Isn't that incredible? It's super cool. And one of them is an organist, the other one's like a you know, like just these weirdest things. And and we just had such a wonderful time. My girls still talk about how much fun they had. Um, so the more it that to me, that community, well, it's let's go back to how you know how we got into riding, uh at least in my case. I fell in love with an idea. And that was these vintage mopeds. And there was, well, I was first fascinated with the things themselves. I saw them riding around. I'm like, this vintage mopeds are so cool. Um, they have little top tank motor, they look like tiny little motorcycles. I just thought it was really neat. And then I realized that there was a club, and they they called themselves gangs. So there was a national organization of these clubs. And then when I moved out to Indiana, I realized that there was a chapter, a gang locally, and I made friends there. And and the idea of being able to participate with other people in an activity was really what sold me on buying something with two wheels. Because it was, it wasn't the fact like I had this dream of like being the like lone wolf on my, you know, whatever, riding across the country. Riding my steed across the country. Right. It was that wasn't what and of course I do enjoy that. I do enjoy riding my bike by myself. Um, but even the even the iron bike guys that ride by themselves countless thousands of miles, they get together and have a party and they talk to each other. And it's that's part of the the iron butt rally is it's a it's a communal thing that you're sharing with other people. Yeah. And I just, yeah, that that to me is is um it's why I got into it. It's why I stayed doing it.
Forums, Reddit, Discord: Old To New
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And the like you, like you mentioned, you you see, I I was wearing a shirt the other day that said, get out and ride. I was wearing a hoodie, I'll admit it was 52 degrees here. I had a hoodie on. Freezing for California. Oh my gosh. And uh it said, Go ride a motorcycle. And I go into uh this SIE bar, and a gentleman is clapping away on his computer. And before he leaves, he gets up and he comes over to me. And I'm with my kids, you know, we're just laughing, screwing around, being dummies, and he says, Hey, I like your motor, I like your shirt. And I said, Cool. And then I look and he's got a cut on, and he's, you know, when he was over there in his doing his uh laptop stuff, he it was behind him, so I didn't see it. So when he leaves, he has it on, and I'm like, Yes, you know, like it like you're saying, it just takes that we didn't, and and then he points to his bike outside, you know, so we didn't even meet up at a at a ride or anything, just having the apparel. And I've seen people on um trips before. I think I was on a, I think my wife and I were on a train or on a bus somewhere, and he I saw I looked out at this guy's shoes and I saw right over the toes, it had the tailtail extra leather for the shift lever. And I just looked at him and I said, Hey, what do you ride? And my wife's like, Oh, here we go. You know, like, how did you even know? And I said, I, you know, look at the look at the boots, those are riding boots, you know, like nobody would notice that, but some good rides. And it's just something as simple as that. And then, yeah, the next time I see this guy uh in the in the SIBR, we could just start talking. We he he showed me his bike. Obviously, he took time out to tell me a couple of things, and now that opened the door for you, and that's just how motorcycling is it opens the door and it lets you in. And now, if you were to pursue that, and I go outside and eight of his friends are there, well, now I'm part of their group, you know, or at least welcomed into it. It's so welcoming, you know what I'm saying? Despite what some of the rumors are, despite what some people's um, you know, Harley guys never wave at me and stuff like that. Hey, it I I've I found that like it's just it's you might be the day you're having, it might be how you're feeling at the time, but everybody is is usually into it, no matter no matter what. And uh always welcome you could write up to you know blow past a group of Harley guys on your moped, you know, and maybe the you know, just they might give them the fingers, not not the middle finger, the the the the feet finger. Like, hey, yeah, yeah. And do you guys remember your first motorcycle wave? I don't think I do. Yeah, I don't think I do.
SPEAKER_02I do. You do, yeah. It was like such a good moment. It's like I like there's someone I was just riding, and and there's a guy on a street glide, and uh gave him a little wave. What were you riding? I was riding my XSR900. Oh, nice. Um, gave him a little wave, wave right back, and that was interaction. But like he he doesn't have a single clue that that was that was my first wave. I don't know why I I love that moment so much. I think about it often.
SPEAKER_03I always try and give like people on scooters like the wave, and and and they're always like you can see them like doing like yeah, yeah, whoa, whoa, whoa.
SPEAKER_01That's not the same Jansen. Do you remember your first regretful wave? Did you ever I remember uh a Suzuki had to be a Bergman? It looked like a GSXR coming toward me. Those fronts of those Bergmanns are very deceptive. Yeah, I gave him threw the fingers out, and yeah, like you said, he kind of just looked at me like what's that guy doing? Like I'm a scooter, doesn't he understand? And then I saw he was a scooter and I was like, What am I doing? And then I was like, Well, why not? You know, yeah, exactly. I throw the fingers out to kids on serrons and stuff, you know what I'm saying? Like, I just whatever. If you're on two wheels, yeah, you're part of the club. I will do it to uh uh Can Ams too, you know what I'm saying? So yeah, I don't know.
SPEAKER_03I missed a moment with me.
SPEAKER_01I'm like, I know, I know, and that's what I'm saying. I'm trying to be I'm trying to like be a better partner, I guess. I respect the can M.
SPEAKER_03I'm not quite there yet.
SPEAKER_01So what an open mind you have. And then after they pass, I'm not gonna do it on camera, but I drop one finger, you know, I know what finger I drop back. I'm like, all right. It's all part of the plan. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, but yeah, out here in California too, sometimes you'll come across groups of riders. And so I'll just ride with my hand out for like, you know, 15 minutes. You're going through a curve and you're like, you know, there's too many guys, yeah, too many people to wave at. So you do it the first few, and then everybody gets it. Everybody behind them is like, yeah, we we don't want to wait.
SPEAKER_03You got it, you got it.
SPEAKER_01But yeah, it's it's a it's a powerful moment. And I was thinking about this the other day. Um, with the Volkswagen, I used to have a ton of Volkswagen Beatles, and Volkswagen people see each other, and it's like, oh my gosh, you know, and I felt the same way. Jeep people probably do it to each other. And they do, yeah. It it's this power, it's a powerful feeling when you're being invited into the community just through a simple gesture, uh, like a hand wave or something like that. It's really cool. And and I always, you know, I'm gonna quit doing it to Can Dams now that we brought it up. No, no, no, no. I like I respect your your open-mindedness. But now I gotta do it to snowmobiles and anything that's in that giving, you know. No, I'm I'm opening a dangerous can of worms here, you know, ski dudes. What about a Niken? Yeah, yeah. Nikon?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, Nikon counts. A Niken counts. It I in my mind, it counts. It's the most bizarre thing I've ever seen, and I would love to ride one.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I was just talking about how much I want to ride one. I'd never I'd never gotten to ride one. Somebody was telling me that they're bougie man's Piaggio MP3, really, is what they are. I forget who is telling me this. Uh anyways, maybe it's Neil. They were saying that uh in the Tour de France, the video guys often use the Nikens because they're so stable at slow speeds that the guy on the back can film and they're going like, you know, 18 miles an hour. Right. Normally you'd be maybe weaving a little bit.
SPEAKER_00Right, right. That makes sense. Yeah. Unfortunately.
SPEAKER_01What a goopy looks like. Listen, when are you gonna make a three-wheel Janice? You're gonna, I mean, and I'm not talking sidecars. You're gonna know how easy it'll be to throw a wheel up there.
The Forum Ninja And Group Wisdom
SPEAKER_03If I did it, I think I would really just screw with people and do it. Like, you ever seen those Bruff Superiors they made in like the 30s? Bruff Superior made motorcycles. I don't know if it was like a production thing, I think it was, but they had two rear wheels next to each other. Oh, wait, I saw that's like going dark side, but uh on another level. Wow, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Oh, I never saw I'm gonna have to look that up.
SPEAKER_03That's yeah, look up the two-wheeled bruffs.
SPEAKER_02I I don't know the actual story on that. Those are bizarre. No, but it is weird how like a single little wave it's just like that makes you feel so included in in a group in a group, huge group of people. It's like I know that if I give this wave and someone gives it back, like if we stopped at a gas station, like we to we talk. Yeah. It's it's bizarre.
SPEAKER_03I think that's true of of everyone. That there is an there is this where we're we're our DNA, our biology teaches us to either have a sort of sense of standoffishness, or even you could even say fear, or just like of the other. Yeah. And so other people, if you don't know them, so often I think we just don't want to interact because either it's too much trouble, or there's this like just uncomfortableness with it. But it takes just one commonality, one thing that you can recognize about that person to kind of make them part of your your people. And um, and so it's not this is not something that's limited to motorcycles. Like I've already talked about we've talked about watches, we've talked about boats. Um, I think that we could talk about like just so many different things that that uh are the entry points to not just friendship, because I friendship is it takes time, right? But but to community. In community, you don't have to be friends with everybody, but but you but sometimes in the most unusual people you find yeah, like you're you're writing emails back and forth for a decade after or something like that. It's really cool.
SPEAKER_01Um and and to that point too, you I've gone on a few group rides and huge, you know, hundreds of people. And when one person breaks down, I you I pull over. I don't know this person from you know, from you know, the next guy. And I you just you just pull over and help, you know, you want to see if it can help. And that's something that like I see stranded cars on the side of the freeway all the time, and it's like nobody's pulling over for them, and there's more cars in this country than you know, any other type of vehicle, probably. And yeah, it's just something about it, and and it's something that's much bigger. Being part of a community transcends some things, friendship, you know, all that stuff too. Like you're saying, it does you're not necessarily friends with them, it's just being part of that community and in that moment. If I saw this person not on a motorcycle or a scooter or whatever on the street, I wouldn't even recognize them and wouldn't even, you know, right, you know, maybe uh stuff may help.
SPEAKER_03It just is like uh uh an entry point that identifies one person from a from a crowd, you know. There you go. And that's like enough. Here's here's what I think.
SPEAKER_02Here's my take. And this is fresh off the dome. Uh so I I feel like community, uh, when you are introed into a community, it gives you a list of expectations and rules. So you know that uh when oh that's I like that. When I when I ride my motorcycle, I am included in this community. And because I ride a motorcycle, I know that the expectation is that I wave. The expectation and the rule is that I stop and say hello. And I think or or I I stop and help someone on the side of the road. And I think that's what a lot of relationship is, is knowing what another expects of you. So when you're just floating out in the ether, you don't know what the expectations are because you're you're just doing whatever you do. But maybe there's a common language. Yeah, you're part of like a like, oh, I like I ride a motorcycle or oh, I like collect watches. Like there are there are rules around these things, and not like rules in the negative sense, because I know that sometimes Right. No, I know exactly what you mean. But but like rules that like this is how you operate within this community, and it makes you feel like you're it makes you feel rooted a little bit.
Rallies, Shared Hobbies, Lasting Bonds
SPEAKER_03And but it also gives you like a uh a container to exist. Yeah. Um well I this this were we're gonna have to like make these two hours, but we are getting close to the end. And one one idea I wanted to um talk about. We did not talk about our our news item or our current events in motorcycle, which we were gonna talk about the um Indian chief vintage. Um, but we ran out of time. That's just fine. But I did want to mention um we did a re we did a um webinar with uh motorcycle industry council. Um actually my wife stood in for me, but she had some great notes on it. And one of the things that they talked about was the motorcycle community and or or motorcycling, the industry in general currently. And just the the takeaway that I had from it was that the motorcycle world is actually seeing a lot of aspirational riders right now. There's a lot of interest in motorcycling, but and this may be true of every endeavor, there's a the the where we lose people is they get into the idea, but they don't find if they if they don't find a community, oftentimes they'll stop riding or they'll or they'll drop off from it. And I think that that was just it was such a profound kind of realization when I was thinking about like it it kind of underlines the fact that community is oftentimes such a big part of anything. And if we if we fail as a group to get these people that are interested in what we're doing to like participate, then maybe that's not they don't they're not gonna find fulfillment in it.
SPEAKER_02Right, right. Maybe the intention is behind a lot of hobbies is community, is community. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Um so I don't know, it's just something um I think it just underlines the fact that when you are out riding and you see somebody on a bike, go say hi.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Like go, go say hi, see what they're up to. Uh, and you you will never you'll you might be very, very, very surprised with the where that goes. Yeah, and you'll never know what's gonna happen. So yeah, um, in a in a in a good sense, yeah. Right.
SPEAKER_01And um they they've been in the new in the news a lot this year, but Harley Davidson and Ducati, to be fair, both welcome you in with those colors. The hog, you know, they encourage you to join the hog group. Ducati writers, they get called Ducatisti, and you're invited to everything from there. They as a brand, they they try to create this community and uh sure it makes money for them on some level, but at the same time, they're not ignoring the fact that you need to be then welcome. You know, yeah, if it was just get this bike and beat it, it'd be different. But they're yeah, they're welcoming. That's one thing that they do that's it's really good is they they acknowledge that and they welcome you in, and that's what's gonna make the industry um stronger, you know what I'm saying? Yeah, yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER_03And that's I think the the point of the ramble stream is to try and create a place for all of us to hang out and share things and have a community. Um, I see a comment right now. I'm rambling on a Honda. Uh my friend Dubbin says, I'm rambling on a Honda Helix. What type of expectations does that assume about me? And then down below, Arlsberg says helix is rock. And do and dudes who ride them are always the almost always the chillest guys around. I mean, I have no problem with a Honda Helix.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, usually the usually scooter rallies are the craziest guys, too. Like those scooter rallies, 10 times crazier than any anything you'll ever go to. Everyone else just trying to be too cool. Scooter rallies, they're just going nuts. Just go to a moped rally. The smaller the displacement, the crazier they get. So it's it's awesome. So yeah, that's that's community in a nutshell for sure. That's absolutely well.
SPEAKER_02Thank you so much for hopping on, Jucky. We appreciate it. Where where can uh the the people find you? Where what what what are some like some socials, some links? Give us some information.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you know what? Just just head over to the podcast Creative Writing um on wherever you get your podcasts. You could hear me say the dumbest stuff uh in the universe, but that's great because all the other podcasts have taken all the good stuff like yours. Um and then we're pretty active on Instagram, uh, post and repost a lot of stuff there, uh specifically community related. We I do repost a lot of events that are happening there. Um just to keep people in the loop.
SPEAKER_03So yeah, nice, great. Well, um, next time I'm out in your neck of the woods, I'm gonna say hi. We we can go ride. And if you're ever in the frozen Middle West, uh give you a tour and go ride.
SPEAKER_01I'd I do it's not always frozen. I know. I do want to, I do want to come back when it's not frozen. It has to be between 74 and uh 83. There's a window. We'll see you in June then. Yeah, there you go. Or maybe like September.
The Motorcycle Wave And Inclusion
SPEAKER_02Yeah, there you go. Come to the owners rally, that's a good time. Oh, that would be fun. Yeah, right. Cool. Awesome. Well, thank you all so much for uh tuning in to episode 118. Uh, we'll see you next week for episode 119. We're gonna be kicking it off. There we are. Because in March, Richard.
SPEAKER_03Janice goes to war. Janice goes to war. We'll see you next week. Bye-bye. See you later, junkie. That wraps up this episode of the Ramble Stream Podcast. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed the show, subscribe wherever you listen, share it with a fellow rambler, and please consider leaving a rating. And join us live every Monday at 7 p.m. on YouTube for our weekly ramble stream. You can also find us at ramblestreampod.com and on social at ramblestream. We'll be back next week with more conversations, more stories, and of course, more rambling. And remember, many of those who ramble may very well be lost, but that's probably the point.