Latest / JUSTRIDE Podcast / The UK Motorcycle Podcast We’ve Been Waiting For | JUSTRIDE Podcast Ep.1

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The UK Motorcycle Podcast We’ve Been Waiting For | JUSTRIDE Podcast Ep.1 · JUSTRIDE Podcast

• Admin: welcome to the Just Ride podcast. I'm your host Andrew. Andy is a co-host ⁓ and together Scott Martin, producer Tom in the corner. ⁓ We're five that have been riding bikes for probably several years or more and we've decided it's about time to bring you the Just Ride. podcast bring it to life. We'll explain a bit more about Just Ride in later episodes. Some of you might have seen us last year with our trip around Scotland where we went to Auburn and I could never pronounce it properly but we were on YouTube. Well I kept practicing but yeah we were on YouTube last week did some vlogs last year but we thought you know what let's do something new and Just Ride is now Live and we're hoping to bring you some exciting things in the next few months So the podcast is well be talking bikes big rides the best routes Honest product reviews and chatting with some great guests from the motorcycle world If you live bikes banter and the stories that come with the ride, you're in the right place So welcome to just ride. So we're gonna take a few moments just to introduce not all of ourselves So we'll start with the gentleman to my left. So tell us a little bit about your journey, Martin. Yeah. So I've been riding bikes now for, do you know I reckon about 25 years? Um, actually no, it'd be longer than that. So I did my big bike test about 25 years ago. Um, but I've been riding bikes since I was about 16 and, actually 15 but don't tell the police and my first bike was if you can call it a bike was a Honda Express. I shouldn't have laughed there should I? ⁓ no you need to laugh you need to laugh so yeah I read that when I was for few years ⁓ I did have a CB 100 ⁓ absolutely brilliant bike that was I the head. head on that so rebuilt that one and then took a bit of a break from biking as I say until probably about 2000, the year 2000 where I did my direct access and decided to get a bigger bike. So I a Honda, no I didn't, I got a Suzuki Bandit. Oh wow. 650. Oh 650. Yeah 650, that was a great bike. Road app for. probably about 10 years on and off, I didn't really have anybody to ride with, so I wasn't really enjoying it so much, so I actually decided to give up biking. And then the usual thing happens, you give up biking, and then six months later, you bump into some great guys. I mean, don't know who they were. I've never been called great before, but thank you for that. So I decided to get another bike, so I bought a Honda CB650R. and then rode that for probably about a year and then decided I wanted something a little bit bigger and moved up to the Kawasaki Ninja 1000 SX. Didn't you, we went to Wales didn't we? ⁓ yeah, on the Honda. Didn't you, you found it, you probably swiveled with it. It was a little bit too small and yeah, it was you guys all off in the distance and I was screaming at the back sort of trying to catch up with you but it was a good bike but it just felt a little bit too... small for what I needed. Thanks Martin and welcome to the pod. Thank you. Scott. ⁓ So I've been riding 2006. Did in November in the winter time. ⁓ a idea people, not good idea especially when raining or snowing. ⁓ And then after I done that, wasn't long, I did my advanced so I did that together because that was something that my wife... said I had to do before I could have a motorcycle. It was part of the process and the contract. But I was right. I used to ride when was a kid. had a squirt and go. Squirt and go. Do you mean a twist and go? do know what I'm saying. Squirt and go is something completely wanted the right reaction from the audience. I had a magnum X, a pooch magnum X, 50cc twist and go. ⁓ had that until I was about 12. I had a massive accident on that. My parents were like, Until you were 12. Until I 12, yeah. ⁓ wow. ⁓ And then, then, and then I never rode ⁓ until like I went for my test in 2006. And ⁓ then I got myself a nice 1500 miles on the clock 2002 Suzuki SV650. Awesome bike. was the carb carburettor version. So it didn't have as much pull as the injectors version. But I had that for about six months and then I got knocked off that by a drunk driver as I was riding through Bath in the bus lane, knocked me off. ⁓ So I that off, that was gone. And then I bought a ⁓ Suzuki SV650 but I bought the, you had the old version which was the curvy version and then you had the pointy version which was the injector version. Had that for a couple of ⁓ years until I, because I'm in the military, I got posted to Scotland so I decided to get rid of that, it was easier. And then I bought. which was my dream bike. And I could tell you the story about how I got this dream bike. But we haven't got all night. So I bought the Triumph Sprint ST 1050 and I had that from 2010 until 2024. suppose you should tell the viewers and the listeners what was the bike called? The bike was called Millie. Yeah. And we all looked at it. everybody knew her as Millie. Yeah. Why Millie? Because she was named after my dog. Yeah. Okay, that's the reason she was called nearly. ⁓ And I had like said, had it till 2024. Yeah. I did 60,000 miles on that bike. There wasn't much I didn't do on that bike ⁓ from my own service and stripping down valve clearances, everything stuff that I learned using YouTube and obviously friends and other mechanics and help me out. And then I had an accident in 24. That's when I lost the bike, wrote it off. And then I bought the Kawasaki Ninja 1000 SX. like good Martin over there. choice. Good choice. Yeah. The same color, same color, but mine's better. But I'm just going to keep quiet. Just get, quiet. We're not competitive. We're not competitive at all, but mine is better. Yeah. And ⁓ yeah, that's me. That's my, my biking journey at the moment. ⁓ brilliant. Thanks Scott. Thanks. Well, I sat over in the corner over there as we've got, ⁓ we've got Tom, haven't we? Tom, the producer, Tom, the producer. We should really get Tom to tell us a little bit about his biking history. Hello guys. Yeah. So I'm Tom. started off on a one, two, five CBT am I right that you had the, you had a Honda as well, didn't you, when you first? though, didn't you, as well? yeah, yeah, yeah. And I can't remember the 125, I don't think. was here at that No, he got it brand new when I got mine, I'll talk about, but it was the CBR125R carbon fiber black and red. And it was, was, it was great. Wasn't it, Yeah. Love that bike. I mean, my first one was, it was the 125 CBF version. So being able to upgrade to the R almost felt like that little jump of like upgrade when you go into a big bike. I mean, it was, it was plenty of power for a 125 at that time. And to learn on something like that, it was brilliant. yeah, really enjoyed even those years going out on the bike and learning off all of you guys as well. we're learning off you, Yeah. Some of us aren't. What you're riding now Tom know what you're riding now so the the BMW f900 XR is is the bike at the the thousand XR is my is my next sort of bike that I'd love to kind of get and we'll have to this year Tom we'll have to see we'll have to win maybe that's the journey that we can take people on definitely yeah I think I think Andy you're in the market I am in the market. Yeah. I, yeah, I've been riding for all of my adult life. Um, and I've been around about bikes all my life. Um, so dad had a dad, uh, Norton and a triumphant in the garage when I was a kid. Um, and it was one of those things that, know, you would, you would disappear to the garage to go and sit on the bikes and play around with press buttons and everything else. Um, so that was, that was my, my childhood. Um, and then, uh, I didn't pass my, didn't pass my bike test until early nineties. ⁓ and I bought a CBR 600 FN and I think I might have said, you might have some pictures of it anyway. We might be sharing pictures in the, in the edit, ⁓ about what our bikes were. yeah, I bought a, and I was living in North Yorkshire and that was part of the deal of moving to North Yorkshire. ⁓ I was driving 30 odd miles every day to come go to work, ⁓ back on T side. So I didn't want to get stuck behind farm vehicles and things like that. And having a, having a dash and in a car. So the bike was. was my only form of transport. So yeah, it was a, it was good fun. was a bit of a, it was a of an education. was, it was a, very much a learning curve when I first got that bike. ⁓ and that was, it was fabulous. ⁓ and I went through various experiences with that way the front brake, I didn't have any front brake for a couple of months. I just rode it on a back brake for a couple of months. It was brand new by the way, this bike. ⁓ but I was riding it all year round in all weathers, ⁓ in all conditions. So was, it was, yeah, it got some. it went through some abuse in that period of time I had it. We're senior riders, we know. Yeah, now like you, I'm a fellow BMW rider at this moment, but yes, hopefully you'll be able to come on a journey with me this year to purchase maybe something new. And in fact, gentlemen, I've sent you a little clip. So that might be something that you could maybe edit in. I'll leave it at that and you can maybe all have ⁓ a little, a little view that clip that I forward onto you. Okay. You like the cheese. don't. ⁓ but that, that's me. That's me. ⁓ yeah. So I've been riding many, many years, but, but I just love going out with you guys and, ⁓ riding as a group. What are you riding at the moment? So I'm riding at the moment I'm riding a 2020 BMW, ⁓ R 12 50 RS, which is an absolutely, you know, I went from a GS. which was I absolutely adored and I love adventure bikes. I think they're just a fabulous, fabulous fun and fabulous bit of kit. But I went to the, I just felt that maybe I, again, very similar to what Martin said earlier on when Martin was talking about trying to keep up. I never got lost. I never got left, but I just felt like I maybe need to be on a bit more of a sports tour again and I missed that. And also we knew what altitude we were at. We do. I still tell everybody while we're out. Yeah, we know it's really high and it's snowing. It's cold. Plus, know, we took the direct route down the road. You were down the farm tracks. Yeah, so I'm riding a BMW R1250RS at this moment in time, but I'm looking to change it. Yeah. And how about a horse? Well, so I've been around banks for probably over 20 years, but wasn't actually riding. I was involved in some some initiatives, some some projects. I think the progress, the progress one was with the Highways Agency. We made some films called Great Roads, Great Rides where to be fair, having having been involved in the scripting and working with Glenn Julian, who's a fantastic instructor, rider, crafter that believe is in red, carries his business and ⁓ learning from him and all the things about reading the road and and and you know, kind of I felt like was a biker, without being a biker, you know, so I learned a lot and people always assumed I had a motorcycle. But Tom, ⁓ who's obviously producer and my other son, ⁓ I was a single dad at the time and it was like, right, do I really want to do this? Do I want to get my bike? And I was kind of obviously been involved in safety initiatives, you know, about the risks, but it was like, right, at some point I'll do it. So it was about 2015, finally when the boys were obviously older and Tom was actually learning to ride as well. He's getting his CBT out of the way. I started to learn to ride a bike and I didn't, I mean, I didn't go to one, two, five. I basically learned on a Honda 750 SX or NX, think it was, Newcastle motorcycles put through that. And I absolutely loved it. You know, it was like, and I learned in the winter as well. And remembering Newcastle kept going to the test center and the test center was. Sorry, it's basically, we're closed today because it was frozen. It was just ridiculous. But you know, learning to ride in the winter, you really, you you pick up some skills. So I had, so I started learning on that. And at the time we were doing some work with BMW. BMW were generous enough to give me an F800GS as kind of one of their press bikes. And I had that for about six months and rode it literally everywhere. 8,000 miles or thereabouts on that bike. But what I did do, because I've been involved in obviously motorcycle training, education, that kind of thing, I straight away went and did my advanced. For me, it was like, right, OK, well, I've I've learned right now. But I need to really think about how I can put all of the knowledge and stuff from doing the films into practice. I so went to the IEM, the Durham IEM and a guy called Andrew Chatsworth, I think he's called. Architect. during the day, but just a fantastic instructor. I learned so much from him. I remember riding along and I'd go, what about the red car and the blue car? And I'm like, what the race? And what red car, what blue car? Just the kind of things that these guys were kind of observing. So that was really good. So I had that for six months, think it was, that was till the September. And I didn't have anything until... the February the following year when I went up to my good friend Steve Brown, who we may have mentioned a few times at BMW. I think at the time it was was Cooper BMW at Bolden. And ⁓ I was like, right, I need to get me my big bike now. And I didn't want to get I was like, do I get an S1000RR? Probably not because of the things that you know, I think because I didn't have massive amount of experience and having read written a GS I was like, right, I want something that I can commute with, I can go out and have some fun with. And Stephen Davison, one of my mates, had said, what about the RS? Never even heard about the RS. So I literally test rode it. I did about half an hour on the R1200 RS at the time. This was 2016. Fell in love with it. I thought, yeah, great. Perfect bike for me. Because something like six foot two as well, was like it was just an all around good sports too, the way that they positioned it. So I bought that in the February and literally went everywhere. And I followed you guys. yourself and Jamie learned loads of them as well. Passed me IEM as well, which was great. Got a lot of skills from that. And then in the summer I did Lanzin to John O'Groats. I just threw myself into it, you know, and I thought, well, if I'm going to learn, I would have really ride the bike, then do a trip like that, which was just, yeah, never do it again. But I wouldn't have done it in the first place. Well, I didn't realize that. I didn't realize you have to ride down to Lanzin, obviously, and ride up and then ride back home. And I was like, well, you've got to do it twice. So that was, I mean, it was 1700 miles, or was it 1600 miles, but it was a fantastic experience. And then literally fast forward, I mean, I had that until 2023, 79,000 miles, I think I put onto that bike. It kind of went in a ditch. It wasn't my fault, probably was my fault. I avoided the car and landed in a ditch, of which you knew the guy. I did, did. My mate texted me and said, Does your mate ride a BMW? it was a bright orange BMW as well, looked like a KTM which we'll put some pictures of later on. yeah, I mean, you know, hit the ditch and I was a bit dazed. It was all right. And really the only damage was the wing mirror that came off. anyway, so I ordered a new one. Goes into the dealership. And your pride. I find that. Went into the dealership, which I think by then was Virtue. motor ride up at Baldwin and I went to see Steve Brown again and just to pick up the ringman he goes, hey, how does a new 1250 RS sound? He's very good at very good. And my wife was with me at the time and literally we were just on the way home, picked up the mirror, he goes, go and have a sit on it. okay. I walked around. Step into my chamber. Literally, was like looking to the eyes, not around, looking to the eyes. I was like, right. And I went around and sat and the thing about the the 2023 version, you you talk about years, about seven years or whatever it was of development and everything else. And I looked at thought, wow. I looked at Lisa and she went, yeah, it's about time, isn't it? Literally. Everybody wants your wife. Picked up a blimmin' wing mirror and then I took it in on the Monday and they actually give me a crack in trading. Thanks guys. And I got the 2023, the motorsport blue and white color R12 50 RS, which absolutely loved it when I picked it up. was absolutely fantastic bike. Put about 19,000 miles on that and then decided I knew that the R1300 RS was coming out. And I thought, I think it's probably because I've put quite a bit of miles on it and you're always getting quite close to, you know, with being a piece of big. So I went back to see Steve. I went again, sorry Stephen, I shouldn't say sorry. And he says, yeah, we can get you into that. that point, there hadn't been any reviews because it hadn't even come out. And I just thought, I'm gonna do it. And so I literally bought the bike without a test ride before even the press were doing anything. And I picked it up before the launch on the Friday and... We were off somewhere, weren't we, on the bikes and I was 50 miles in, I absolutely hated it. The seat was, was such a different bike, a completely different bike, which we'll talk about a bit more. But I liked it. Yeah. A lot. So I think for me, just to kind of run up before we talk other things, but I think for me, you know, having, having been around bikes for a long time, I was really wanting to get one. I literally threw myself into it. and I've put on like what, 120 or 1,000 miles I've done in probably a short space of time. For me, I was kind of catching up and I just loved everything about biking. mean, going out with you guys, I I remember you walking past, weren't you, that time? you were like, yeah, and I had the bike and you're like, oh, didn't realize you rode a bike. And then didn't realize Andy rode a bike. Scott was on the RF base at the time and then was just literally we just came together. Which is like a community. But yeah, so in terms of my sort of very short, if you like, live the biking sort of timing, 10 or 11 years or so. I literally feel like I've done so much and been so many places and I do absolutely love it, you know, but. Yes, so that's me. That's me. It's a huge amount of miles to have done issues as short a space of time. I'd just like to say when he got the R1250RS, he had an allowance of something like 4,000 miles. No, 6,000. All right, let's go 6,000. It didn't really matter whether it's four or six because he did all of them within like four months. Well, I was involved in something at the time that meant I was riding a lot. yeah, just I mean, look, we know. With the tours that we've done, certainly Wales, we've done, which I absolutely love Wales. know, did it. We've done a couple of years, haven't we? And we certainly want to know kind of the tours that you guys have done. Where's your favorite places? Is it Scotland? Is it Wales? Is it the lakes? Do you go further afield? I think we've got some fantastic plans this year in terms of where we're going to go and where we're going to take you with us as well. Certainly we're thinking about going to Malaga, which will become apparent in later episodes because we might be doing some. some interesting things on bikes in the desert. So stay tuned for that. That'll be fun. And the good thing about that, we can fly out of T side with some kind of luggage, whatever we take with cameras, drones and helmets. So we're to be doing that. And I think certainly we're going to try and do a Scotland trip if we get chance. I'm not sure we'll get back to Wales. Wales, absolutely brilliant. I think we know. And we've, it's a shame actually, didn't, we filmed it last year, didn't we, as part of the vlog, were, we had, how many gigabytes of? It was actually, think in total, I think we had close to something like 20 terabytes. And then we always take cameras with us. So we've, know, we've got the latest Insta's and the, you know, and you know, when you've got that many cameras running, it's just. Yeah, it's a lot isn't a lot of batteries, a lot of data. But certainly I'd love to go back and do certainly Scotland if we can go there again, maybe this year, but certainly wheels, think we'll have to wheels a miss this year because as you'll see later on in some episodes, we've got a lot coming some very exciting things. Just Ride, it's a channel, it's a podcast, but it's something really pretty spectacular. We're all very, very excited. This literally is the Just Ride team. One of our other team members is in Spain. We're just waiting for her to invite us out to go and ride around Spain up in the mountains. That will come apparently. But I mean, for you guys, mean, you you love Wales, you're from Wales. I don't know if you noticed, we might have some subtitles on for him when he gets really into it. do mean subtitles for us? mean? But for you, Scott, mean, you know, coming up to the northeast from riding and enjoying Wales so much. Do miss kind of? ⁓ riding in Wales? None really, because obviously when I started riding, I was in like I was in the South, I was down like Wiltshire area. So that's when I really started riding. So and then obviously I moved to Scotland, a man to go up in the Cairngorms and do that. Took my wife out on a ride one day and up into the Cairngorms. She loved it. And then the next thing I know, I think she's really quiet on the comms. She'd fallen asleep. She'd fallen asleep on the back. then, but to be perfectly honest, when I When I went up to Scotland, I didn't do that much riding. I was riding on my own and so I didn't really have any groups to ride with. So I used to go out for like a couple of hours, but it wasn't really until I came down to North Yorkshire and I was posted down to RA Fleming that I got involved with one of our mates, Jamie. And then we rode, we were doing thousands and thousands of miles a year. And then obviously I met you guys and now it's like tens of thousands of miles. But yeah. Wales is like the first time I went to Wales properly was with you guys. Well, me and you, Andrew, that was your first first time. And yes, just an experience. The road, the road quality as in the. It's amazing. It's unbelievable. Yeah. And you can do some nice figure bends. But yeah, it is one of those places where it just puts a smile on your face. So we definitely. there 2027 if we don't go back. We'll try and normally go for about a week. Don't we? What is that road that we always get to? Cause we, you you come into Wales and we stop off the morrisons. road. It's the Newtown road. I always get the numbers wrong. So, but I'm almost 90 % sure I'm right. It's eight four five three. Oh, well, you got a free. I'm Jamie will be watching. Jamie will probably go, he always gets it wrong. Yeah, Jamie will get it wrong. Every number bar the one that's supposed to be in there. It's only the last digit I get wrong. Yeah, it's one of those roads and I tend to ride a bit slower than these guys, a little bit behind. And all I can hear in the comms is them going off and going, weeee! We stick to the speed limit. Of course, of course. But it is one of the roads that it's got everything, hasn't it? It's got hairpins. It's got, mean, the cost of the tarmac is absolutely brilliant. It's what you can probably appreciate, not like what we've got here at the moment. You just know, and because we've done it so many times now, we pull over doing the lay-by and we get the cameras rolling, we get ourselves all like, and we've probably had some red bull by then, which probably doesn't help. And and we just go and you immerse yourself in, you know, perfect tarmac. perfect bends and just the bikes particularly, and it's a shame because last time we went, I was on the 1250 and haven't got used to what is technically now more of a sports bike than 1300, which I've had some fun up in open hard side. mean, we'll talk about that maybe later, but I think I would have loved to have taken the 1300 and done that route because we've done it that many times. Even coming back, well, obviously when we go and we come back, we're full of luggage, you what I And the bikes just grip and it's amazing. I mean, Tom, I think for you, that's this year, sorry, last year, you were on the F900XR, I think previous to that, weren't you on this? No, he was on the F9. ⁓ was it? Yeah, right. And see you just literally go, because I was thinking, hang on a minute, I'm dad, I've been riding a lot, and he was gone. was absolutely gone. You're right. All you can hear is like, what? No, this is absolutely, and he's away. But, but I think, so that was great road. I mean, absolutely fantastic about that. But isn't there a particular one in Wales that you like? Cause there's lots in Wales. But you often think, should I just take the GS and go? Yeah. The GS can I go there? Yeah. want a few, a few little things. Yeah. So yeah, the GS was great because, yes, I was able to tell everybody the altitude that we were traveling that day. But equally, yeah. I think it's for me, the GS is gives you that ability to maybe go and do a bit of green learning and stuff like that. And I think, you know, for as much as we probably all got sports tourism, things like that, we're very, very interested in, you know, the adventure bike market. We're very, interested in. We've never experienced green trails really. So I think it's probably something we would, we really want to bring through this podcast as well. We want to give it a go. So hopefully we might get an opportunity to do a few of those things. Yamaha Tenere, one of my favorite things. I just a great I fell in love with our bike when we got the test ride it was unbelievable I'd never ridden ⁓ that type of bike before mine have always been sports to us yeah just in context Luke Davis and again a big thank you to you last year over at whatever wheels Yamaha in Bolton Bolton and the direction yeah that's a reaction so it's all you can look it up but he was absolutely fantastic and I really hope we can do some work with there with it again but you guys when I was I was I think I was at hardwood live with with with a wife and my sister and our grandkids. Yeah, we were having fun and you And I was just looking at my phone and I was thinking, oh, you absolutely, because you did some great stuff that day, didn't you? We made sure we shaded, that's what I Yeah, we were very, just wheels, isn't it? Just wheels. Whatever wheels, yeah. Whatever, yeah, it's a dealership, isn't it? They were very, very kind to us. And it was an open day for the dealership and there was various different places you could actually take out on test rides. So there was the Tracer GT, the nine GTs, GT nine? Yeah, the MT07. You had the Tracer nine. Yeah, I've forgotten about those because you're about to the best one. And then you had the Tenere, which was for me when I got on it, I was like, where's the quickshifter? It doesn't have one. It's very much designed for off-road, which obviously it is. And a friend of ours, Tolasso's part of the team, she has one. Yeah, it was, I only ever sat on it when we went to the event. Um, and I absolutely loved it. think there might be a little clip somewhere, Tommy. You might want to stick that in there of me like nearly falling off it. Come out of a car park. You'll definitely need the beeper button. But, um, I'm fine. I'm five 10 and I know that I was very much, uh, like tip toes on it. Uh, I tried to find it. So when I was coming out of that thing and there was a pothole there, Very similar to where you put a clip on the other week about turning the bike around and there being nothing there. We might have a clip of that as well. dollar on the ground. Where's my foot gone? They were great. the Tracer and also the MT were both the automatic gearboxes, they? Which I found really, I mean, I know that there's a huge thing in the market at the moment. So BMW doing the ESA gearbox, well all the manufacturers are doing these automatic gearboxes and it obviously suits many, many people. It was good fun. It wasn't a huge difference, but I kept reaching for a clutch lever. So I think it's just my preference. That's just my preference. I think because it's clutchless. think it would be like it's like any other bit of machinery or equipment or ⁓ like motorcycle out there. It's the more you ride it, the more you get used to it. It's due because obviously when you reach the clutch, it's muscle memory. That's what it is. It's natural if you do. Because I did exactly the same as you guys. reached for the clutch and was like, ⁓ no, no, no. And that was the other thing as well on the switch gear for the, for the Yamaha. When you were turning either left or right, I have a bit of a OCD thing where I'm always pressing that button to cancel that, you know, your left or right indicator, but there's nothing to press on the Yamaha. is interesting. It's all a slide. So if you turn it left, you press, you flick it to the left, but then when you want to cancel it, you flick it to the left again and then it's not a push. ⁓ on the traditional bikes, you flick it to the left and then when you wanna cancel, you push the button in. It doesn't have that functionality. And I think I'd get away with it on an R9 by the way. I'd be very happy with it Yeah, Luke, I think we might be coming back and I'm definitely coming back. But I think for me, when I first got, well, the 1250 had the shift cam. So BMW did introduce their shift cam technology for, like, a quick shifter. And I found it really, it was unusual because when you're, going up the gauge, you've really got to wind the power. And I remember Steve Brown saying, like, you've got to wind it on and it'll be smoother. Cause sometimes you've had this as well on yours is that you'd miss it and the, gear would be in the middle of nowhere. You're going around and going, know, what's, what's going on. And you'd, ended up you and your revs would go and you'd end up clicking. And I found that a little bit unnerving to be honest. So it wasn't probably wasn't using on the 1250 as much. And then the 1300 came along. which I don't know whether it seemed like there was improved. mean, the whole bike was, it was completely new bike anyway. And you know, getting used to it was, was, one thing, but I felt that the shift cam on the 1300 was actually smoother. And now I literally use that all of the time and you scream it. And it's just like your Cooper. Do you remember you used like a pop when it went through the gears in the automatic, the, the C-Hat Cooper and it It feels like that. It's just great. And then you can click down. You click down. It's just certainly when you go around corners and stuff, you know, doesn't sound like that. Oh, no. Well, in my head, was. But I do. I'm the third. I'm loving it. I it's fantastic. tell you what, Scott, do you ever get a full sneaker on your Kawasaki? I've never had a full. Must be a BMW. But you've got chains. We don't have to. Yeah. And you're keyless. And gentlemen, you're going to hear about this. Yeah. They're all BMWs. They're all BMW riders. This isn't a BMW podcast. This is basically just everyone. But do know what? Great thing happened this weekend. We got out on a hike. Hasn't it been a horrible start to the year? Yeah. There's plenty of people being out, I don't know. I mean, we're normally, guys, for you, where we're all year round riders. not the... You know, we make the choice to get wrapped up in just about everything to go out and enjoy the bikes. And we've traditionally every new year we've gone down. We haven't reached the spoons, have a breakfast and the last few years, two years in the trot. we haven't because the weather's been absolutely poor. And look, it's not about, well, we're going out because we ride all year round. It's just not fun when it's that cold. And I don't like cleaning my bike. Well, so we decided we knew the forecast was going to be like 12 degrees. Right. Let's go. Let's go. Fantastic. And, uh, and it was wet. And it was very wet. And there's a local road for us. I don't know whether you guys want to share with what your favorite local road is, but we, we kind of, we, we know the TT doing with the Helmsley TT, like the back of our hands, we've done it thousands and thousands of times and still don't get bored of that road. It's absolutely fantastic. It was pitted. There was actually more gravel I've ever seen Newgate Bank all the way up Newgate Bank. was gravel. We'd never see gravel. It was awful. And we actually went down to the, we saw the girls at the Beadle and Grange, just outside of Helmsley on the way to Scarborough. It's about a mile and a half, isn't it, outside of Helmsley. It's like a farm shop and stuff and they do the most amazing breakfast. And the girls, thanks again, they're looking after us, but there was so much food. did we not tell you that Andy? I didn't go, no. Well, there might be a reason why I didn't go. That might be in the clip. Oh, such a tease. a tease. But I have to say we turned up, didn't We got off the bikes and we've got a picture. We'll share that later. But it was the bikes were disgusting. And we had planned. We had planned on my well, they'll go at the course. We'll have an ice cream at Saltburn. We'll go over the top of the moose. We were called. It was Mookie. Oh, visors. lifted. Oh, you could. lifted the visor. Oh, it's daylight. It was so filthy. We literally filled ourselves full of light. I mean, it was. Big Pharma's breakfast, wasn't it? was massive. And I think we're all feeling a bit too full and we'll just, we'll tell you what we'll do. We'll go up Thirsk and we'll do Busby Stoop and come back. We got as far down, we, at Thirsk in 19-0, quick. And I spent about what, an hour and a half? I don't know where you went, but you left your bike on the driveway. Well, actually, the deal was you would clean the bikes and he would make you a coffee and then come and help you. But obviously that coffee there wasn't a come and help you after that. It was just the coffee you were getting. you know what, I cleaned my bike yesterday, got back, spent probably good hour on cleaning it, dried it all down, got it in the garage, popped my head into the garage this afternoon and I thought, do you know what? it still needs another. You will miss because when it snow formed the bike and you will miss but it was like, ⁓ my, like it was probably the filthiest it's ever been. I think what's sorry, the thing that was good. It was good for us to get out. I mean, it was brilliant. We have a laugh as always, but we actually were testing our ultimate hearing because I've just got a new helmet, which we're going to we're going to do next episode. We're going to talk about helmets. So it was a good opportunity to actually for the first time, try the ultimate hearing. systems and we actually went to motorcycle live last year and the guys were absolutely brilliant. We have got some content from that as well and I think it was great seeing how they mould, put the stuff in your ears and actually it takes quite a long time for them to make these because they're all actually handmade as well aren't And the guy ⁓ suggested we go for the, was the special audio? So we went for, so obviously within the ultimate ears they had, they got two range, they've got the single speaker and then the dual speaker. And then, so we all went, yeah, we'll go for the single speaker, which ⁓ they reasonably priced. So we went for the single speaker. And then when I went up to actually pay, I said to the guy, said, ⁓ so if we're doing comms, the single speaker's okay. said, but what if we're doing comms on music? And he went, you need the both speakers. So it was a good salesman. So we had to add an extra like, we doubled that money. But it was, I gotta be honest. It was definitely worth the money. quality, ⁓ just the, wind noise, because the wind noise is the biggest factor when you're riding, especially on the A19 when we were doing 70 mile an hour. was perfect. I was sitting there this afternoon, and I do struggle from tinnitus if I've been out on the bike, and just from wind noise, and I sat there this afternoon and I thought, I haven't got ringing in my ears today. and it's made a real difference. it was a really good investment. Yeah, I think we'll do a proper review on them because then we'll use the interviews, the guys were brilliant at the show, but I think that to be able to put them in and have the clarity and I think the only problem when we first tested them, if you don't, we rerun Cardos. ⁓ And if you don't go into the settings and adjust them, it is so loud. Definitely. Compared to anything I've used before. And the clarity, being able to have those conversations because obviously when we've done the tours, what I've had the normally about the loops in and they always come, they come out or whatever. And I get a lot of wind noise. And I think when you have the cardo unit on as well, sometimes you get some wind noise and that. And I always struggled, to be fair, to have them have a proper conversation, whether you just ignore him or not. But it's the first. But I think Saturday for me, it was the clarity was unbelievable. And you're right, not having that, that wind noise. Yeah. You've got all this commanding. Exactly. So I've not tried mine yet. They're in my helmet, but I've not tried them. So I know that yesterday Scott, you just checked my settings for me, didn't you? So I don't have to experience what you guys have all experienced and then putting them in and turning them on. ⁓ but so I'm looking forward to that. So I've not tried them yet. Yeah. And I mean, if, know, if you guys have managed to try them or buy them and, know, let us know what you think of them as well, because, you know, will we write going for the dual audio ones? mean, 100 % how we should know for the Bluetooth version. I think we'll probably go back to motorcycle lines. Now there was a reason why we couldn't have the Bluetooth ones if I remember rightly. couldn't pair it to the card unit. That's correct. That's right. Directly to your phone. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. So I think, you know, what's really important to say as well is probably from our accents, they can probably say that we're from the northeast of of England. Yes. Oh, sorry. and I'm not. No, I'm definitely not. So as a subtitles can tell you what I should say is the BMW riders are often in the northeast of England. Martin's from Norfolk. We don't talk about that. All right. OK. And Scott, obviously from Wales, but we're all based up in the north. We are. are. And we're blessed by having some fabulous roads really, really close in our doorstep. And we get out into under in very short distances. We're in this lovely countryside. It's not very too far to go into Durham and the Thumbelin. to Scotland, over into Cumbria and then our playground most weekends would be North Yorkshire. North Yorkshire is just the best. It's absolutely fabulous, know, and great people and never had any real problems in North Yorkshire with the police or anybody, have we? They've been... you've said it now, haven't you? ⁓ I have said it, I? But they have been very good to us, you know, they've been very kind to us, so we've been very blessed in that way. So that's good. And the other thing I wanted to say as well is... We've all had, got various different bikes, we've experienced various different bikes and put lots of miles on those bikes, which also means that we've used lots of kit. There's been lots of lots of helmets, gloves, jackets, trousers, thermals, leathers, airbags, you name it. One of us or all of us have got those bits of kits, so we'll. we'll be able to talk about them things as well. Yeah, absolutely. And when we have to try to get my levers on Saturday, I did straw got the one piece set at the it was a couple years ago. The bike show, motorcycle life ⁓ and did a cracking deal into my RST letters. But I mean, they're always going to be a bit tight getting them on. I remember that day, that first day I went out was in November, because he got back from the show and I thought I'm going to go out and it was still like quite sunny. And I got back, we'd gone out together and got back and I got stuck. I was trying to get the levers off. I was like that. And I got my phone and I said, Andy, you need to come and give us a hand. And you had to come and help me get out. My wife said to me, not going out on your bike and those levers alone, unless you can prove to me you can get them on and off. And she's there sitting and watching me. I'm like, contorting my body trying to get them on and off. But I think I wore them. I think I wore them, didn't I, for a couple of days in the house. didn't sleep in them, but just to kind of get them. But I think once they do wear a bit, ⁓ it's how it makes you feel wearing levers. Because I've never worn levers, you you had. And it don't know whether it's the mindset or whatever, but I just felt ⁓ really quite safe ⁓ with levers. Not the point I was thinking I might fall off, but I don't know. You've got to a whole leather suit on. I don't know whether that's for saying for yourself, but. ⁓ bought one side it's chocolate into them but yeah did anybody else struggle again to theirs I'm looking at you yeah maybe maybe I mean just water retention it's the typical thing there isn't it you've you know a lot of people okay I do over the winter put on a few extra pounds and you go to get your levers on you think that's a little bit too snug so Yeah, I went for my textiles yesterday. It happens to the best of us. Not me, but it happens to the best of We are going to be going down to SportsBank shop in a couple of weeks. I think we're going to... You're in the... Obviously, have a new helmet to talk about. We've got an episode coming up next and we're going to talk about helmets. But I think I might be trying maybe a two piece because one of the things when we've been away... I guess you say guys don't you where the roller letters down the walking around if I've rolled my letters down They've literally come off and I'm exposing myself later Boxes on board I can't roll them down because they literally fall down off here and that's probably the thing that It's been a bit, you know, I wish I'd got and got it to to and to peace particularly when we're going on to us and So I think when it's been very very warm when it's being as well. Well, guys are certainly ready when to open. Yeah Yeah, not not all ban. It was like the it was like the river. Yeah, it wasn't the French River. Yeah, it was like 27 degrees or something. It was a spell for me when it was absolutely incredible. And obviously, I just I didn't bring anything else other than letters. And it got particularly very hot. So of course, it's all right when you're riding. Yeah, as you know. But when you stop to have some food or some drink, it was just and you literally open them up. But you want to take So I think that's a mistake I probably made back then was I'll go for the one piece. And I like the one piece. But good for a track day though, if we do a track Yeah, yeah, absolutely. But you can do that with two piece. Yes. didn't know what I thought you to No, no, you can't do it in textiles. I'm almost sure I'm right. You can do it in two piece, but it got to able to zip them together. And obviously a one piece, a one piece. And Tom, I think you're quite keen to... get yourself a pair of levers at some point on yet. Particularly if you do go and change your bike and go up to the 1000 XR. I think you've just learned So we're going on that at the minute then. So we're talking about the XR. So I have a question for you. And I've probably asked this, I know I've asked this question to Andy. So if you could have any other bike apart from the bikes you have now, or bike you have now, what would you have? Okay. And I'm probably wearing a T-shirt for it as well. So I'm probably, I would probably say, um, yeah, fire blade, but I'll be a bit more specific. Probably one of the analog fire blades. So one of the early ones. I think, yeah, an early fire blade. Um, yeah, from, from the nineties, I think I'd love one of them. I never, never had one, never rode one, but I just think, yeah, they've been great or an SP two. Okay, so just to carry on the question, to add to the question, this will go to all the guys and you the viewers. If money was no object, what bike would you get as well? ⁓ that ⁓ is really, really tough. That is really tough. I've never owned a Ducati. ⁓ and I think I never wrote a Ducati either. think that would be really, really nice or an Aprilia, something Italian. I've never wrote anything Italian. I think I'd be really nice to experience. that's a really tough one. ⁓ do you go and I love, I love my sports tours. I love, and I love sports bikes. So our eyes and pangalies and stuff like that. Absolutely. So no object or Scott, you're to have to come back. I'm just a meltdown in that one. That question. I'll make it really easy. Um, when we went to the motorcycle live again last year and we were on the Jucati stand and a guy of bright. was part of wood, wood gate. No, wood coat. Yeah. He was managing the education and then the bull, the strata. I looked at that and thought I would actually Definitely. Cause I haven't ridden Tom's bike, which is quite upright, know, I just looked at it I thought if money was no object, cause obviously from the service perspective, it's quite expensive, but I just thought it was absolutely beautiful. And I think I would definitely have that one. I would definitely go for the V. V4. absolutely. Yeah. V4. Yeah. So that's the money's no object. What would be the, if obviously what other bike would you have? What would be the other obviously, you know, and he's the CBR 1000. I once test BMW loan me the X 1000 XR. I think I probably have one of those because I do. And I've had yours. So we've swapped bikes. The motorsport one. Yeah. I just really, I mean, you enjoyed I enjoyed riding it. It was only for a weekend. I didn't do a lot of miles in it, but I think something like that. because you can have a lot of fun with Tom's and I think I'd probably go for something like that. Although I'd have to get used to having to clean a chain. But you would be Kiela so you'd be fine. I'm going to pass that question over to Tom now because he's the youngest of the group. he's probably got more time. He's probably get through more bikes than we will by the time we die. I think, I mean, my answer will probably change every time you ask me because there's just that many different styles and... types of bikes I would probably even go for. But I think at this current point in time, mean, when Andy's talking about the Fireblade and stuff, remember being a young rider and my eyes were always on the 600 RR. That was kind of the bike that I was like, I'm going for that. ⁓ until I realised how much the insurance would be when I got my full licence and then that dream slowly faded away. £36,000 a month. But I think when we were chatting actually the other week, think the speed triple, the Triumph Speed Triple 1200 is it? That's it, 200 I think something like that I'd probably go for to be honest. But to be honest, I think we're all the same in the sense that we would have multiple bikes. If money was an object. That's a good shout. For every different occasion. That's a good shout. So if you can go back to your question, then I'll go, I'll get the, like a Tenere or a CRF, just somewhere maybe, or KTM, something like that. More of a, a green lane, a enduro sort of bike. God, you're greedy in here. Just go for the whole lot. Or even one of the CF model. Oh yeah, or one of the CF model ones. I really fancy a Royal Enfield Himalayan. Just as a bit of a in the garage as well. Just for doing sort of some weekend green lining, that sort of thing. But I'd have to get a sports naked as well. whether I triumph, I think the same as you, I think, yeah, that would be spot on. The engines in those are fantastic. So, yeah. What about you then Scott? For me, it is very difficult. And I've had my eye on this bike, this model of bike for years. I'd probably go for the BMW S 1000 XR like Tom, just because it's just the type. I've ridden Tom's bike. So I think one letter's about to change here. Still got a chain, but like one other key would be the XR. Obviously, I've written Tom's so I know the power in Tom's he's got a top end of 105 brake horsepower and that with like, I think it's something like 93 newton meters of torque and it it shifts. But if you push that into the XR range, you're talking 170 brake horsepower and the top end of like 100 and I think it's 114 newton meters of torque. It's got I think I said, I'm not 100 percent. So, yeah, it be the XR. the triumph because I used to have a triumphant I love triumphs I would go with the speed triple 1200 RS I think that's an awesome bike that's three choices for for triumphs isn't it? Let's stop being greedy and my ultimate one because I've asked we spoke about this and I've asked answer the question before and I used to say the H2SX but if the money was no object it would just be the H2R ⁓ wow. Okay. Which is a very sexy. ⁓ that would be my, that would be my choice. It's interesting for me. It's interesting. How's the Zuki hasn't got a dimension. know, the, jixers or the, the higher boost and stuff. are, those are awesome bikes as well. they? They are. are. But, ⁓ I mean, we'd love to know what the view is. bikes you're riding and what your thoughts are as well on, ⁓ you know, What would you have if had, if money was no object, what would you have? That'd be really interesting to learn. But I think it's probably come around, we've probably come and exceeded our time. really we've already said. is the problem when we go out and we just talk about. Well, some people talk more than others. What, what? Don't look at me. So what's coming up? Tell us what's coming up. So yeah, on the next episode, we're going to be talking helmets. We're going to talk about like, why do you buy a particular brand? Is it comfort? Is it style? Is it price? Are you bothered about, would you buy secondhand? Interestingly, you know, do you clean your helmet? Do you take all the pad? Now, come on. Do you take the pad? Because I didn't realize we were talking about this the other day, weren't we? Do you your pad now? literally, I couldn't get my pad back in, which is why I've just bought a new helmet, which we'll talk about. So, yeah, we're going to talk about helmets. You know, I mean, we could probably do a whole show on that. We'll be showing you some of our helmets. I've got one down here, which I'll get out. So we're be doing that. And I believe we've got a guy called Robbie Wallace. Do you wanna tell the viewers a bit about? So Robbie Wallace is ⁓ a young man that I met a couple of years ago and he's recently completed the Dakar on a KTM. Robbie's done it a couple of years now. He's done the Dakar in the last two years. But he was really keen on going back this year and I'm sure we'll let Robbie share his story when he comes on. But that's going to be really interesting just to hear and learn about, you know, what it takes to get to the Dakar, how, you know, the actual, I don't think people really understand and appreciate the level and the commitment that you've got to do to raise in the Dakar. So that's going to be interesting. So we've got Robbie's coming in and that's going to be really interesting to have a lovely conversation with Robbie. Yeah. Yeah. And again, if there's something you want us to cover. in one of the podcasts, let us know. But we've got a probably the next six months worth of different topics that we're going to be covering off. Probably a lot of going out there and finding something like some routes to ride as well. You know, we're going to take on a journey to the roads and the routes that we go. Some of the things we get up to as well, because we do bring the cameras with us and we do tend to have a bit of fun. So really, it's about kind of looking, you know, where do you go in the UK? Do you want to recommend some routes that we could maybe want to look at? And also maybe like going into Europe because I'm actually came to Europe last year. I was supposed to be going up to the Alps, got as far as Germany. And then even though it wasn't the right time of year for it, snow came just literally. There was bikers stranded up in the Alps and I was gutted that I couldn't go and do and have an experience that have you been? Is there certain passes that you would recommend? Where do you stay? I certainly stayed in, I think it was Reims. I went across to Reims then I went to Breden. Here go again. And did the shuttle, which I thought was fantastic. But my first experience of riding in Europe was a nightmare because I didn't get one of those dongles for the and I didn't think there's going to be that many. It sounds like you're going to. is a whole other episode. What a nightmare. And I went out with a good friend of ours and a good friend of the show, Andy Frishburn, he took me. He's always he's always riding around Europe and he's. goes to weekly on his bike and he's just getting so frustrated when I was like trying to get my glove off and get my wallet out and those cars all be our nightmare. But we will definitely talk about that on another show as to prepare for a trip. well, yeah. And I had this top box on me, was a 1250 and he kept calling it like a Nebelin Paris man bag. I didn't realise I watched that show actually. So I had this little top box, which actually now I can't use. And again, we're going to talk about top boxes and the price of the BMW ones, which is incredible. So yes, we're going to be doing we're doing that and we're going to be taking it out with us on the road. And there's anything else that you want us to say to cover off then, you know, dropping in the comments, like and subscribe. Yeah, that's what was about to say. That's what we'd really like people to do, isn't it? This has been the first one. Yes. And so please be kind in any comments. Things will get a bit smoother, I'm sure, as we're going along. Please like, please subscribe. and come and join us on our on our journey of just ride. Absolutely. See you next time.