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
Group Ride Choreography: The Art of Formation
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Group riding is often sold as the ultimate communal experience, but the unpolished reality is that it requires a high level of mental fatigue and constant vigilance. Whether you’re navigating the Appalachian twisties or a local charity event, the margin for error shrinks the moment you add a second set of wheels to the formation. Richard and Jansen sit down to discuss why the "Blue Angels" feeling of riding in sync is so hard to achieve and why being the most "boring" rider in the pack is actually the highest compliment you can receive.
We sit down to analyze the logistics of moving sixty-plus motorcycles through a single intersection without losing the tail end of the group. The conversation covers tactical advice like identifying rider experience through body language and the technical differences between simple, robust overhead valve engines versus high-performance overhead cams. We also get into the specific "things" that make a ride successful, from the essential Cruise Tool Kit to the psychological comfort of a well-worn wax canvas tool roll. The secret sauce of this episode lies in the philosophy that fun doesn’t scale with horsepower; it’s about how much of the machine you’re actually using.
The unglamorous truth is that leading a ride often means sacrificing your own enjoyment for the safety of others, dealing with the stress of traffic light timing and "unpredictable" pack members. You’ll walk away from this episode with a renewed focus on riding within your personal limits and a checklist of how to build a toolkit that evolves with your riding style. It’s a reality check for anyone who thinks group riding is just a parade without consequences.
Welcome And The Weekly Ramble
SPEAKER_00Hello everyone, welcome to the Ramble Stream Podcast. I'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_02If 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.
SPEAKER_00Hello, welcome to the Ramble Stream. This is episode number 127. We got a good show for you. We do. It's a good one. I think it's going to be a good ramble.
SPEAKER_02Um you typically, when we keep have a kind of a broad topic, it's going to be exciting because we don't really know what's going to happen next. No clue where we're going. No, but yeah, I'm really uh glad to be back after a two-week uh one-week hiatus, let's say.
Travel Updates And Road Daydreams
SPEAKER_02Um minute out to Virginia last weekend and Monday. Um got back on Monday um out visiting family and seeing the beautiful uh uh Appalachian Mountains, drove through West Virginia, nice, came down into Lexington, um into the valley. Yeah, it's always nice to every time I'm out there, I'm like, if I just had more time in a motorcycle, this would be every road is every road is amazing. It's ride worthy. My gosh, yeah. Every road. My name is Richard Worsham, co-founder and head of design here at Janus Motorcycles. I'm broadcasting from the Ramble Studio at our downtown Goshen HQ. And I ramble with a sometimes running Cushman truckster, which I had left at my old house, and my the folks that bought our house were like, so um thinking about getting this thing. So uh not no not willing to worry about it starting it after all the winter, I had uh Gabe tow me with his Honda CT110. As you should, which has a low gear, so that thing can haul. What's the torque specs? I don't know, but it's impressive. Impressive. That's cool. Um so he towed the little three-wheeled truck down to yeah, so that's cool. 1980 Christman Truckster, uh 2009 Kawasaki KLR, and a 2017 Halcyon 250, number 68. What a what a lineup. And uh this evening, I'm drinking, um trying to remember the customer's um black. Um it's I don't remember. Okay.
SPEAKER_00A lovely customer. A lovely customer who sent in this very interesting.
SPEAKER_02This is called JT Mellick, and it's a Louisiana whiskey, but it's made from rice. Providence distillers. And I'm a big fan. I'm I'm very impressed. It's it's it's uh relatively high proof. It's it's like it's relevant. I mean, it's a pretty I don't know. Give us a review. What is the proof? 118 proof. So there you go. Um it's just very easy drinking. Yeah, it's just very smooth, especially with a little water.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. Uh well, my name is Jansen. I'm also coming to you live from the Ramble Stream Studio here in Goshen, Indiana at Janice Motorcycles World Headquarters. Um, I ramble in a Ford Lightning and soon to be rambling on Phoenix 450 number four, who uh I think I found my my theme. That's right. During the pre-ramble. Uh, but you guys weren't there, so I don't know if I want to share. I'm just kidding. I'm thinking like kind of some World War II era P51, just some some slight homage, like not green, red, and yellow and black. Green, red, yellow, and black. Maybe some aluminum. Some aluminum. This is getting complicated already. Some some yellow and black
Drinks And A Light Poem
SPEAKER_00checkers on the uh the cowling, maybe or something. It's gonna be sick. I am sipping on some H2O. But I'm happy to be here. Richard, how about a poem?
SPEAKER_02Yes, yes. So my wife actually recommended that I go with something like this. Um her recommendation was she didn't say what poet what poet to go to, but um It's not Dick Wilbur, is it? No, it's not. We said you should make it more lighthearted. I mean, I'm paraphrasing. Uh huh. She suggested um Shell Silverstein. I was about to say Shell Silverstein. Uh who else did she suggest? But of course, who else was it? Maybe it was like Lewis Carroll. Okay, it wasn't Lewis Carroll. But but I I I I go to when I think lighthearted, I think Mr. Edward Lear. I don't know. Are you familiar with the most famous limerist? Interesting. You know what a limerick is? He he wrote the one, the all the famous ones like um there was a old man who said, Hush, I perceive a small bird in this bush. I perceive a small bird in this, yeah. They said, I perceive a young bird in this bush. When they said, Is it small? He replied, not at all. It is four times as big as the bush. That's great.
SPEAKER_01Anyway, that's not the poem. That was a bonus poem.
SPEAKER_00This is the first time ever.
SPEAKER_02Um this is called How Pleasant to Know Mr. Lear. And it's kind of like a mock in self-introduction. Okay. How pleasant to know Mr. Lear, who has written such volumes of stuff. Some think him ill-tempered and queer, but a few think him pleasant enough. His mind is concrete and fastidious. His nose is remarkably big. His visage is more or less hideous. His beard, it resembles a wig. He has ears and two eyes and ten fingers, leastways, if you reckon two thumbs. He used to be one of the singers, but now he is one of the dumbs. He sits in a beautiful parlor with hundreds of books on the well. He drinks a great deal of Marsala, but never gets tipsy at all. He has many friends, layman and clerical, old Foss is the name of his cat. His body is perfectly spherical. He weareth a runciable hat. When he walks in a waterproof white, the children run after him so, calling out, he's gone out in his nightgown, that crazy old Englishman oh. He weeps by the side of the ocean. He weeps at the top of the hill. He purchases pancakes and lotion and chocolate shrimps from the mill. He reads, but he does not speak Spanish. He cannot abide ginger beer. Ere the days of his pilgrimage vanish. How pleasant to know Mr. Lear.
SPEAKER_00I like that one. I like the more lighthearted ones. Those are those are fun. I uh I I can understand.
SPEAKER_02It's one of my favorite poems of all time. Is it really? Yeah. It's just fantastic. It's like it's like touching. It's like it's so comical and silly, but also like it's it's very so you can tell he's actually talking about himself.
SPEAKER_00Right. It's very self-aware. And I I think that's that's why I like it so much. See, this is the the part that I was worried about here. Uh well, we're working out the kinks. We're getting a little we're getting a little crazy. We're getting a little crazy.
Builds Of The Week Spotlight
SPEAKER_00Uh welcome to Builds of the Week. I like it. Nice segue. All right, we got a black 450 Griffin. Griffin. This is Griffin number nine. This is Anthony's. Um Jensen, you go first on color. I'm gonna guess. Um uh British Facing Green.
SPEAKER_02I'm gonna regress, and I'm just doing this because I've seen so many out there.
SPEAKER_00Maybe hindi blue. Oh, I think I thought we were gonna say mace at the same time. Blue and green. Okay, here we go. See the long, the long fork legs? Those are pretty long. I also unique to the griffin. Love the uh foot pegs, more aggressive.
SPEAKER_02I personally designed those foot pegs.
SPEAKER_00Wow. Fork tie downs, let's go. Love to see it. We don't we haven't seen a lot of the Griffin 450s, the whole the whole build process. There's the swing arm? It's kind of cool.
SPEAKER_02The swing arm brace, brake stay, a little pin coming out there. Look at that oil tank. Yeah, yeah, the oil tanks. The oil tank is accessed. You you uh there's a quick release on the seat, it pops up, and then the oil tanks under the seat instead of coming out the side like on the halcyon.
SPEAKER_00Kind of see it there.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, right there with a little relief around it.
SPEAKER_00Oh, black. Black black on black. Black is gonna look sharp on a carbon 450. Very nice. What is that silver? It looks like silver, yeah. Oh man, look at that.
SPEAKER_02I just look at the finish where it's worn away. It looks like it's um, I don't know, it just like sand cast or something. I just love it.
SPEAKER_00That's pretty cool. Do they so these are laser engravings?
SPEAKER_02They're laser engraved, but it's a really nice. This this is the best laser engraving we've ever shopped. It's uh they're in um Fort Wayne.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_02Do they do they is that texture just a byproduct of the I don't know if they they they that they've they've perfected it to make it look that way, or we just order them like depends on where you go. Like some places it's kind of got this, it used to have you have this kind of rough laser, you know, like finish. You could see the lines. This one you can't see any of the lines. That's great. Maybe they do it some maybe there's like some special property, some like texturing or something. Yeah, I'm not actually sure. There's the plastic chain guard on the Griffin. Ooh. So this is uh something that we've decided to go with just because it's much more durable um and doesn't isn't so it's amazing how many issues we've had with chain guards over the years. Um, because there it's a flat panel, the vibrations just like they just we we figured it out on the um other bikes, but they it wasn't for lack of for cracks along the way. So with uh there's a reason that plastic makes a lot of sense for chain guards. Oh, this looks like a different motorcycle there.
SPEAKER_00That one's snuck in. There it is, and we're back.
SPEAKER_02One thing that's a little different on the 450, and this is maybe a little kind of in the weeds, but the side panel got a break in it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's like this contour. Yeah, it's lofty. We'll we'll see if we get a better picture of it here in the Ooh, the the brush guards, the corn D Tasslers, sorry. Man There it is.
SPEAKER_02In all its glory, a sharp number plate, bark busters or hand guards, mirrors, headlight visor, single pinstripe, fork tie downs. That's pretty cool. Just the the the leading link just makes a really fun looking like a little more beefy up front, yeah. Um then we got uh we got a cargo rack on the back and black vinyl seat. Very nice.
SPEAKER_00Low key there. Great, great looking motorcycle. Uh up next we have Jared. This is like uh Phoenix or Griffith. Phoenix 250. This is Phoenix number 1009, I believe. Sorry guys, we can't check our notes right now. It's gonna disrupt the show. I'm gonna guess. Well, you I guess for his last time.
SPEAKER_02Okay, I'm gonna guess. Um I'm gonna go with British fishing green.
SPEAKER_00I'm gonna go with cream. That's a bad guess. Can't take it back. We got M bars. Those are our lowest bars. The sporty ones. Sporty. Makes you lean over a little bit. Some fork tie downs. Love to see it. Come on, I'm ready.
SPEAKER_02What do we got here?
SPEAKER_00Oh, satin black with gold. Very nice. It feels like an homage to what is that, Phoenix number 33? The most most ridden phoenix. Oh, do we have do we have a matte black one? That it wasn't matte black, it was sat. It was uh gloss black. It was gloss black.
SPEAKER_01Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_00Oh yeah, that one that one got a lot of use. That was a shot bike for a little bit. Yeah, like oh nine. That looks exactly like it, minus the satin. It's like an ice cream.
SPEAKER_02Gold pinstripe brown vinyl seat. Very nice with the slotted side covers. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Looky there. I love the the brown on the black.
SPEAKER_02These are very, very nice, especially with gold. Especially with gold.
SPEAKER_00Very sharp. Ooh, and the wheel pin stripe. These are great pictures. Phenomenal pictures. And these are like the photo quality got like a lot better. I don't know what happened. I mean, it might it's definitely not the monitor anymore. Some highlights.
SPEAKER_02Look at that hand pinstripe. That is just so good looking.
SPEAKER_00Shoo doggy. Great looking motorcycle, great looking Phoenix. Up next, we've got Mike's Housey on 450. I'm not sure what number. I can't remember. Okay. We'll find out though. Got our oil cap.
SPEAKER_02This is coming, of course, coming out the side, not under the seat. This one's gonna be vintage red. That's what you think? Um I'm going to say. Ooh, that's that's a good jack. That's a good guess. Um I'm gonna say I keep going back to vintage red.
SPEAKER_00Um probably not gonna be vintage red.
SPEAKER_02Hold on. Sure. I'm gonna go with indie racing green.
SPEAKER_00Any time now. Any second. Green would be good too. There you see it. Oh. Is that OD? OD. Another classic.
SPEAKER_02So we got olive drab green with a red primary and a copper secondary pinstripe. Beautiful. Ducktail fenders.
SPEAKER_00423. Beautiful looking motorcycle. Copper feather.
SPEAKER_02So this is this is like kind of g it's so interesting how maybe somebody who doesn't know the bikes very well, they all look the same, maybe. I'm I guess, but to me, this is like channeling. Like, are you familiar with Sunbeam, the motor motorcycle brand? No. They're like early 20th century um British motorcycle brand. And they had these bikes and they were all like well, but by a certain point, they got kind of this like apogee of like kind of thick and sturdy, uh like big wheels, and this kind of has that vibe. Uh yeah, that it does look it's beachy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh so we got a we got a um rubber uh Halcyon 450 with duck tail fenders, olive drab, green, oxblood leather. Look at that. These pictures are really nice. They got really good. Brushed exhaust, cargo rack, fishtail exhausts.
SPEAKER_00I mean, this is it's kind of loaded. That's the last picture. Really nice. That's a great looking motorcycle. Uh, builds of the week are it's it's always been my favorite segment, you know, just so much to see. There are so many different color combos. Uh, and I just like this, everyone's personality kind of sticks out. Sticks out. It's also just interesting how different each bike is. Right. Right. Even though I've seen thousands. Every every single one ever. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02We'll be right back after
Overhead Valve Vs Overhead Cam
SPEAKER_02this. What is the difference between overhead valve and overhead cam in one minute? Right here we have an overhead valve engine. This is our 250. Any four-stroke engine has to have two valves at the at a minimum, intake and exhaust. The overhead valve engine uses a single camshaft located down in the engine, which pushes both on the one cam, both the intake and the exhaust. The valve is located, the cam is down here, it pushes these push rods up, which in turn open and close the intake and the exhaust valve at the right sequence floating. On the overhead cam engine, it's a little different. You have a chain coming up from the engine, which spins your camshaft right here. That camshaft has individual cams for each valve. This is a four-valve engine, so two intake and two exhaust. And that provides the ability to have much more control over the valve timing compared to the very simple, robust, and uh extremely durable little overhead valve engine. A little bit uh less lower performance uh design here, a little bit higher performance and more complex design with the overhead cam.
SPEAKER_00Wow, thanks, Richard, for that wonderful explanation of overhead cam versus pushrod engines. So, so so nice, so so informative, so informative. I would say that uh uh uh a pushrod engine is a thing. Speaking of things.
A Toolkit Worth Carrying
SPEAKER_02Yeah, speaking of things, um our thing for this evening, which I think I have featured already, but we're gonna we're gonna do some redo. A version of. A version of. Um, this is our cruise tool toolkit, which we sell. These are $75. And most a lot of times with with toolkits is really a challenge because when you when you Kelly says rally, we're not giving this away. Um uh the cost of getting really good tools, it just makes it like really hard to sell like a bag for what it costs us to make a tool roll or a bag. Then you still have to get the tools. Um, but for $75, this is a really I mean they've they that their whole job, Cruise Tool, who we worked with to develop this specifically for our bikes. Uh-huh. Um, that's what they do is they just source really great tools. That's cool. Um, so they can get really good deals on.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Um give it away to Jansen. Come friend Yank says, no, thank you, Richard.
SPEAKER_02It's just packed chock full of little things like a tiny little um multi multi-uh screwdriver. Like let me let me see this thing. And everything is uh, I think they have guarantees on everything. Cool. Um this is all your standard um wrenches that you need. Um not all of them, but all the ones you need for a halcyon or uh or a 250 or 450 GMS tiny little um uh uh driver that is it's not ratcheting, but you can use it as a T-bar or as a nice.
SPEAKER_00This is a very satisfying crescent range.
SPEAKER_02Anyway, it has everything you need, and not everything, but like everything you need for most conditions. Um, maybe if you're going on a long adventure, you might want to take some extra um tools along. Yeah, and then to go along with it, we have our JNS Deluxe tool roll in wax canvas for if you want to pack more tools and have your own tools that you typically ride with. That's what I recommend this for. Yeah. Um you can base it's designed. I have a specific layout in here that is shown on the website what what fits, and it's and it's relatively general. Most tools of that kind will fit in there. Um, but this is uh this you can carry all the tools you need for uh basically whatever you need. Anything. Yeah, minus you know, a uh brake bleeder.
SPEAKER_00Well, you wanna you don't want a back tire tire stand. Um now what um so you said you've got a speci specific layout for your tool role. Yeah. Do you want to go over that at all? Yeah. And also like what makes these specific things like oh things?
SPEAKER_02Oh. Well, I mean, for one, the tools in them. I mean, that's one of the reasons. I mean, it's challenging, okay? I I mentioned how it's challenging to sell tool kits for us because what what what at one point we were partnered with um Write tools and I think they're in Ohio and they're all American tools, but the tools themselves cost like $350. And we weren't making a whole lot of money on it. Right. So we it's just challenging, you know. But I really feel like when I'm being honest with myself, and and I think I've said this on some videos, the kind of tools that you value and that become things part of a kit like this, they're what you use. Right. And a lot some I have a lot of Harbor Freight, you know, sockets and stuff. But uh okay, I got this Harbor Freight tool like back when we started Janus. I still have the kit, and they're all like like the anodizing is like worn off. I think that's
Patina Memories And Favorite Tools
SPEAKER_02anodizing, there's paint, whatever is on steel. Um, but they're they have like so much character, and I've done a lot with them. So they've kind of definitely, I would say, achieved that thing level. And another thing is the thing about this is that my toolkit, it's always funny when you see this like this is what's in my toolkit. Well, that's what's in my toolkit this year, right? Like it changes, it changes and you can develop a toolkit. Maybe you're riding a different bike or whatever, but like even if you just ride a specific motorcycle, how you decide to equip yourself for that bike improves. You learn new new tip, you know, tips from people that like, oh, this is what I use. And like, oh, well, that's cool. I should, I should add that. I feel like constantly evolving is part of that aspect of a of a of a thing like that, is you're you're constantly like you know, adjusting how you engage with it. Right.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's it's an interesting thing to uh to think about how a thing almost gives you permission to uh to change it.
SPEAKER_02And and that's really where it get it it I mean, we said this in many different ways, but it that's how it gains its thingness is through the either the Mars you put on it or the chain the customizations you make on it.
SPEAKER_00If you had to pick your and the patina that it gets along the way. Yeah, because I feel like with patinas as well, before I asked the question, uh you you get to you can it almost signifies like, oh, I remember that trip when you know this happened and I got this mark on this thing. That's kind of why I like tattoos in a way, because it it's almost like a bookmark of like I can look at a tattoo and be like, oh, this is what I was doing and this is what I was thinking in this time. And yeah, some of them are bad, but I don't like regret that. I just remember thinking that at the time I wanted this, so this means something to me. It meant something to pass Jansen, and because it meant something to Past Jansen, it means something to today, Jansen. So it's it's interesting. But what do you think your fate like if you could pin down your favorite tool in your toolkit, what would it be?
SPEAKER_02Favorite tool. There is something pretty fascinating about um soccer drivers, rationing soccer drivers. I have small collections, and just the the fidgety nature of them and the like really high quality ones, like if you get like German um I have a uh a small little kit, I've actually got it with me. Um I carry it every day. A little um Vira is a German I've done it as a thing. Yeah, I have used, I have shown the Vera kit. Um, but it's a German, like compact everything kit. And the the the socket driver is like this big, but it's designed to fit into your fingers. That's like the the it's like ergonomic. It's like well thought, but it also is beautiful, yeah. And the cli the the it has like you know 60 detents, so it's just like that's so cool. So that's a probably good one. But I mean one one one extra thought I had to spell like indelible memories, like you're saying, indelible ink in your arm. I mean, there's for me, the most is not like if I write it on my skin, you know, it it's more like what where you get your memories from. Yeah. And to me, there's certain things like smells or sounds that kind of like bring you back. That that take you back. And if you can combine two things, like drawing and smelling, or writing and you know, hearing, right. When those two things kind of recombine, then you you get this like flash amazing remember memories that way.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. It's very weird how our senses work together with our brain. Yeah. Cause I have this a very specific smell of my uh grandma and grandpa's house in Kentucky. And then a wood fire stove. Uh so now every time like I smell the wood fire stove mixed with like a little bit of dirt and like a little bit of tobacco leaf, I just like it all comes together. I'm like, oh I'm again throwing rocks at the chicken house. We'll be right back after this. What if the motorcycle industry accidentally ruined motorcycles? Our 250s make 14 full horsepower, which according to the internet means that they're basically lawnmowers. Fun doesn't scale with horsepower. On a 150 horsepower superbike, you use maybe 20 of them, and the rest are just sitting there, waiting, and probably judging. With 14 horsepower, you use all of it, which means you're not hanging off, you're participating. More power makes you faster. Less power makes you better. And better is a lot more fun. Wow, thank you, Jansen. Such good words. Such wisdom, such wisdom.
DGR And Moto Makers Market
SPEAKER_00We've got some stuff going on, guys. We're gonna blow through these kind of quick because some of them are repeats. Uh, but the the most uh the one, the closest one is DGR.
SPEAKER_02DGR is happening in a little less than two weeks. Um Distinguished Gentleman's ride, for those of you who haven't been following along, it's uh uh just a really fun event where you get to dress up in your finest, maybe even something you don't get to wear very often. Um sometimes people go a little over the top. It's okay. You want to. I mean, I just like to look dapper, uh, which takes a certain level of restraint. Yeah. But um, that's okay if you want to go all out. But yeah, you get to dress up, ride, and raise funds for uh a really awesome uh purpose. Um, men's health and uh a lot of other great things. So um we have already got a lot of great people on our team. And we I think we have over 40 riders. I could be wrong on that, signed up for our ride. I think that's what the last update I had. 36% percent participants, and we've raised $2.4,000 out of our $10,000 goal. Nice. Um, so that's uh we're really excited about that. If you're not local, you should come here and ride. If you can't do that, yeah. You should participate in your own hometown. Most within a reasonable distance, you can find a place where they're hosting a DGR.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Up next, we have the uh Motoy. Do I always forget the name of it? The Maker's Market, the Moto Maker's Market. What is that?
SPEAKER_02That's right. That's coming up at the end of the month in Detroit, uh, in Ferndale. Uh Modo, Michigan is a uh really cool venue. They do they do all the cool things. Music, coffee, name it, uh lounging, art, food, uh, you name it, movies. They have pool. Uh it was a massive old warehouse uh manufacturing plant, and they're gonna do an artisan makers market. We're gonna be there, a lot of other motorcycle uh adjacent um people. So everybody gets together and rides a J-Nath motorcycle. Darn, seems like a big group. Terrible time and does a bunch of fun things that surround that. Um, we're really excited about it. We got uh a lot of we're putting a lot of thought into our um interactive um sessions that you can sign up for. We're really pushing the VIP package, which gets you access to all uh events, dinner, hangouts, everything. Everything and first dibs on those workshops when they come out because they're gonna be limited to probably around 15 people per um group. So not everyone is gonna be able to. So yeah, get on that.
SPEAKER_00It's gonna be a great time. We are looking forward to it. Um, it's gonna be a little more, a little more of a packed weekend, and I don't know how you can do that, but um, it's gonna be a great time. Uh last year was my first my first one that I've ever been to, and it was a lot of fun, and we're excited to see you guys. Uh, do we still need help like with uh ride leads and uh people involve more owners?
SPEAKER_02Oh, we got we've had a lot of requests for that. I know Kelly is gonna be helping out with some food. Um and so if you're interested in any help with that, send us a shoot us an email and we will let you know how you can help.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Uh what's the date? The date is 17th, September. Yep. September 17th through the 20th of this year.
SPEAKER_01Yep.
SPEAKER_00September 17th. We're looking forward to that. Uh and speaking of group rides that you do on, you know, the uh the the owner's rally or the rambler's roundup, what or DGR?
Group Ride Or Solo Ride
SPEAKER_00Or DGR, lots of group ride stuff, yeah, which I think is what influenced this topic. But um, if you had to pick one, Richard, would you rather ride by yourself? You have to pick. Would you rather ride by yourself or in a group?
SPEAKER_02Well, I mean, I'll just answer the question. It's a hard question. But I I think riding with a group is really fun. I was gonna say by myself.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02I mean, I really like riding with myself. Yeah. But in general, riding with other people was probably why I got into my riding motorcycles in the first place. So I can't give up on that. There's something absolutely amazing about the kind of like coordination. It's kind of this like dance you're doing. You say like the blue angels. A little bit, a little bit, yeah. I mean, it makes you how about this? It makes sense. I always think about the cafe, the original cafe racers of 1950s England, and the many of them were ex-pilots, and they were looking for something to do with dangerous they're trying to achieve dangerous mechanical objects and um and then they would they would ride together, and then and a lot of the the the uniform that let's say they wore came from that. Uh it's just really the I mean aviator goggles, the whole nine yards, and you're you're able to ride in formation, you know.
SPEAKER_00It's all the same. It's practically like it's like flying a plane. Yeah. It's funny we were just talking about that. We were just talking about that. Yeah, I think group riding is fun. Um, but it also brings uh a level of anxiety a little bit. Well, it brings a level of anxiety for a good reason.
SPEAKER_02Um, and no conversation about group writing would be complete without that sort of like I so this is my take on group or like the the the sort of approach to group writing that I hear from a lot of people when they talk about group riding is just like, oh, you gotta watch out for other people. Like that's like the first thing, and uh and my experience, maybe it's in naivety or the kinds of people that I started riding with, but was that was just what we did. Right. And you had a like a mutual level of respect and and knowledge of the people you were riding with. Right. Probably the the situations where I've witnessed or been near um accidents, which do happen on group rides, is is um when I'm in like a much larger ride and I have no idea who these people are.
Group Ride Safety And Pack Mentality
SPEAKER_02Right. And that's when yeah, you have to we can we we we can do a little section on on safety like that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. I was gonna ask like I don't want to make the whole thing about safety, but right. We can but we can talk about like we can give tips. I mean, if you have like what are what are some tips?
SPEAKER_02I mean, one one would be that the downside, what do they say, you know, and when they're two motorcycles, it's a race, you know, like that's not true. That's not true. Um typically when I'm riding with my buddies, it's never a race, honestly. Yeah. I mean, we're we're enjoying the experience of riding together. Um, but I think the reason that a lot of people have had that experience is they've been in these big rides with just about anybody. And there are some people that on their own maybe ride a little more recklessly, or maybe they aren't as good a rider. So you yeah, there's two different factors. One is experience level and one is level of um safety, like willingness to do dangerous things. And and then you could that when those two things are on top of each other, it makes it even worse. Yeah. So I would say when you're riding, one thing would be riding with people you know.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_02Uh, even if it's in a larger ride, and um just basic, you know, it's like treat you don't know how good the rider is, so do not ride on their tail, do not like the things you do with your buddies that you know how to ride with, don't do that. Yeah. Like you want to give everybody a lot of extra room because they could slam their brakes on or do something really stupid, and you don't know because you have you have no idea if they've just gotten on the bike or if they are really experienced. I mean, as you get better at riding, one of the things you'll get the ability to do is watch someone ride and determine if they're a good rider. Oh, this guy gets it. Like what the best example is about to say, what's an example? An example recently was um Gabe, who's our new service engineer, um, came up like the day before he signed, signed on. He's like, he wanted to test ride at 250. So he took, he he took as a I kind of like knew his background, so I was like, I just gave him the keys and said, you know, let's see how you do. Right. And he like slid the rear wheel out of the parking lot. And on some people that would make you very nervous. And I was like, oh, he he gets it.
SPEAKER_01He's behind. I was like, oh, that guy knows how to ride. I bet you he knows how to ride better than that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, uh the one thing that uh I was told, I can't remember who told it to me. Uh it's probably my dad. Uh be as predictable as humanly possible. I mean, that's kind of boring. I think that yeah, yeah. But like, I would rather not die in a group.
SPEAKER_02No, there's a there's a good um sometimes I I've got I've had that experience when I'm driving, like a really long trip, especially like I hate to say this, but like even like interstate driving, you get in the zone and you're with like a pack, yeah, and you have no idea who these people are, but you realize, okay, this guy knows what he's doing. He like gets back in the right lane, even if there's not by somebody running his tail, uses his blinker. Wow, it's crazy. Like, but he's me, he's keeping pace. Yeah. Like he knows what he's doing.
SPEAKER_01Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_02He's he drives. And then this you get like a group, and then like you can like, I don't know, uh, or with truckers, you can like flash when they need to get over. And you just there's like a camaraderie, and you have no idea who these people are. Right. And uh you get in this kind of like, yeah, very like be very predictable. Yeah. And the and the predictability is also like it's good because you're if you're if you are moving at a decent clip and you do these things, the likelihood of getting pulled over for speeding is much lower, even if you are because you're together. Well, or any because you're in the right lane, or you're just acting very responsive.
SPEAKER_00Uh-huh. You can be do a stupid. Be smart when you're being stupid, is my favorite saying.
SPEAKER_02But no, I I But in terms of motorcycling, I mean, there's a certain I mean, be if you're going to be unpredictable, signal it. Like, you know what I mean? Like, don't just randomly like swerve, right? Like, be moving, you know, like show people that you're somebody who can might do something unpredictable. That's okay.
SPEAKER_00Just so you know. I might be unpredictable. Just just so you know. That's okay. Well, you you mentioned like herd like pack mentality. Is can that be seen as a negative as well?
SPEAKER_02So that's where I was kind of going with that idea of like whenever there's two motorcycles. And what will what I've seen this happen many, many times is you get people in a group and you have somebody who, for whatever reason, I would say nine times out of ten in experience, thinks that it's a race and they're gonna like ride hard in a group, or like, yeah, like to take things more aggressively, let's just say. And there's just they're like out of sync with everybody else. And that's when you're just like, okay, we're gonna give this guy a lot of room because he's liable to, and then and then they push themselves because of that like group mentality, and you're all riding together, they push themselves out of their own comfort zone, and they just and then they'll like miss misjudge speed or right corner or whatever, or you can get you're breaking, and you can get, and I've literally seen this happen numerous times, somebody off in a ditch, and because they're they're going to be outside of their their and because they're they feel like I've got the thrill of riding with and there's people, and I can like and we're all together, and you know the same things that make it fun also can make it dangerous.
SPEAKER_00Right. Everything in moderation is good. Right. I do like riding in a group. Um, I can't say that I have an extreme amount of experience riding in a group. I know, shocker. Yes, I do ride a motorcycle every once in a while, guys. Um, but when I do, it's usually with people I know already. Um, but there's still like this level of I can't see, like if it's a big group, I can't see an accident that happens like way up front. So how behind you or yeah, or a behind. So it's like, how am I supposed to react to those moments?
SPEAKER_02Well, I mean, if you're riding within your limits, that's the best thing I can say. Yeah. There's no like there are plenty of rules you could list off, but if you're riding within your limits, so that meaning that you're keeping enough distance between you and the bikes around you that if you have to, if something happens, like you were riding by yourself, if you keep that same amount of distance, then you're gonna be fine. Right. And you know, don't overestimate, you know, you're you know, don't get swept away by the moment and take it easy, and and then you can even have fun. And you can you can you can do what zip around a little bit, you know, do what you can have fun, and and and it isn't all about just like holding this formation,
Formation Flow And Best Ride Position
SPEAKER_02right? Although that is also another aspect of riding together that's really fun is riding in in sort of an order, yeah. And I always I always one of the things the things that it's odd with our group of ride, the guys that I ride with the most are about two two other guys that I ride with probably the most in town, Doug and Jesse. Yeah. Um, and we'll ride Januses, but we'll also ride like dual sports a lot of times, um, depending on what bike Doug is riding that, what bike he's rebuilding. Um sometimes it's a gold wing. Um but uh it's like no, you lead this one. Right. No, it's your turn, your turn. And and then you get to like for me, I often end up leading a ride. Just speaking with a rally or whatever. Uh and it's honestly it's fun to be in the front, but you don't get the whole experience. Like my favorite place in a in a ride is like three quarters of the way back because you're not stuck with the people that are going slow, right? You hope. Right. And and you get to experience, you get to see all the bikes. So if you're on a ride with like 60 plus bikes, uh, it's stretching a mile out, you know, right. And it's you just get to experience and you get to like see the people's reactions when you it's fun, you know. There is an example, the reason that people get carried away, do stupid things is that it is an exhilarating experience to be riding this big group of, even if they're Janice, it's loud, right? They're making a lot of noise together, they're all riding together, and they're, you know, it's a scene. It's kind of like a parade, right? And you're part of it. Right. That's kind of cool. And you get to wave it when you get to wave. Totally different than than your typical rambling, yeah, which is best done with one or two riders, I think. And if I was gonna say my favorite kind of riding, it's it's definitely max, like half a dozen riders. I mean, half a dozen riders if they're in sync and they they know how to ride is a really great group. Because you can just like figure out who's good at leading that, you know, if they want to lead, and then you know you you can know everybody's riding style and just fit right in. And then you're then you're like, then you get into the dance. Uh because when you really know, I mean my experience with this mostly is just riding with one other rider. Um, but like we we've done two saddles 1000s and a lot of riding in addition to that. But by the when you're doing a saddle saw with another rider, you get into this like total like sync. Yeah. Uh the funny story on that was we did Lake Michigan and we were riding together. And I mean, just like it was a dream. Like we're just making, you know, you just like feel what the other rider was doing. Uh huh. But at one point, I like. Literally, I had a second thought about whether I was going to turn or not. And man, the Jesse thought the same thing and then he turned and I wasn't expecting it. And so we almost like almost T-bone down. But it was like our we literally were like internally confused, and that's when we almost crashed.
SPEAKER_00That's funny. What is that like? Do you have any other what what has been some of your favorite moments in riding in a group?
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Well, I mean, like with mopeds, I've had some really amazing moped rides, and you're going like 35, 40 miles an hour. So you can get really close. Right. And you can do that on a motorcycle too. But like we're talking like, you know, you can touch the other rider in your draft. And like that's the other thing about riding slow, is that on a lower power bike is that when you're riding with another rider, you get advantage. And so, like, with me on a 250 and I was weighed significantly more at that point, and it had a lot of gear, and then I had Jesse, who did not weigh as much, much less gear. I had all the tools. Um he could go like three miles an hour faster than me. He's just draft drafting off of you. So I would just like get in behind him and it would pull up our average speed. Uh but we're talking like a couple of inches. That's and we're we were cool with it, you know, like that's fun. That's really fun. That's insane. That makes me probably not something you should be we should be advocating. But it does. I mean, it's like that's part of riding is riding really close to like sometimes, especially when you have a really good riding buddy. How long do you think I think I would recommend everybody has?
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Yeah. How long do you think it takes to um like get in sync with a a person?
SPEAKER_02Well, I mean, it could take years if you're just riding, you know, quick rides. But the really good way would be to do a sales for 1000.
SPEAKER_00Let's test it.
SPEAKER_01A couple hours. Yeah. Because you have to.
SPEAKER_00It's like you have to learn. That's funny. Yeah, I I uh I don't I don't have much experience group riding. I really like riding by myself. Oh, me too. Because I can just like I don't have to worry about anybody else, you know what I mean?
SPEAKER_02That is a that's the for me, and this is again because I've I often am leading a ride, the mental stress of being responsible, because like you have to time traffic lights if possible. You have to and then like just oh, do we need do we need to get over and wait? Do we need to like did I get everybody through that intersection?
SPEAKER_00Oh crap, should I turn should I turn now or should I wait until that car comes through and then we can all get through?
SPEAKER_02Um, is like when I get back from a group ride, I'm like just ready to have some more bourbon.
Hand Signals And Being The Tool Hero
SPEAKER_00Richard, what are some mystery hand signals that people think like I know one where you like put your foot off of wherever the day like the pothole is? I know the debris or yeah, that's a good one.
SPEAKER_02Are there any other like must know signals when in the I mean I probably should know my all my fancy signals, but the most important one is um motion left, which is the name of our old meap and gang. Motion left. Uh obviously turning right, it's like this. Um everybody knows what this one is? Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Um uh then put your feet out for debris. Yeah. And then oh yeah. So slow down. Well, one one that I always enjoy if I'm prepared, is if somebody has an issue, having the tools to fix the problem. Yeah, that's always enjoyable.
SPEAKER_00It's like having I like goodness. It's like having a pocket knife.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00When someone needs a knife.
SPEAKER_02What did Junkie say about like the the um the group ride guru guy who pops out of the bushes and like, oh, oh, oh, you need a you need a oh, you need the super sword things that I have that you go.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. It would be fun to be that guy.
SPEAKER_02No, it is it it's nice to have the tool, like, especially in a group ride, there's there is sort of maybe a if you do have an issue, you want to be able to take care of it. Um yeah, because you're riding with a bunch of people that also theoretically know how to fix their own problems. Um or you would hope. You would hope. Depending on who's riding. You can count that most of them all, but yeah.
SPEAKER_00I do think that group rides get a bad rep sometimes. Um and I'm always down. Unnecessarily.
SPEAKER_02Don't be dumb and you're have a great time. Yeah. Even with people you you don't know. I mean, I mean, don't I mean, like if you're hey, there's a bunch of uh guys on ATVs in New York that want me to ride with them.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, none of them sound like a great idea. None of them have helmets on, should be fine, right? We'll be fine. You should be fine. It's probably not fine. Don't do wheelies unless you do. You do just be tell people that you're gonna be unpredictable. That's less a number of signal your unpredictability. Anything else on group rides, Richard?
SPEAKER_02No, I think that's that does it just about right.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, great. Uh, we've got a lot of group rides coming up uh this summer, this writing season, and we're excited to uh participate and uh lead some of those DGR uh Ramblers Roundup, two of the big ones that we're gonna be involved in, and we are excited about that, as well as maybe some Saddle Swords coming down the line. Who knows? I think so. Who knows?
SPEAKER_02I'm I'm contemplating uh Four Corners of Indiana on a Halcyon or 450.
SPEAKER_00That could be cool. Document the whole thing so you guys can watch it in one cool video.
Summer Rides And Sign Off
SPEAKER_00Well, that was episode 127. Thank you all so much for tuning in and checking out and being a part of the uh the the group chat here. Uh we're so glad that you guys are here. We will see you next week for episode 128. We're gonna be doing a little DGR or no, it's not next week, right? It's the week after the DGR recap the week. Recap the week after.
SPEAKER_02But that's also is that also the week of No, that's not the same week as the Komoto Market.
SPEAKER_00There's so much stuff going on. Uh anyway, we'll tell you what next week's show is gonna be about. We'll see you then.
SPEAKER_02Bye-bye. That wraps up this episode of the Ramblestream 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.