The Lowdown Show - By ADVRider Neil Graham

Andy Goldfine is a rebel with a cause. When he saw manufacturing disappearing from America in the 1980s, he decided to do something about it. Working out of an old factory in Duluth, Minnesota, Goldfine founded Aerostich, bought industrial sewing machines, and began crafting his legendary Roadcrafter riding suits. More than just a garment for motorcycling, the Roadcrafter—and everything else in Aerostich’s quirky catalogue—is a middle-finger aimed at offshore manufacturing and the style-conscious imperative of modern motorcycle gear.

Nick Ienatsch is a big deal in the world of motorcycle coaching. He runs/owns the Yamaha Champions roadrace school. 

And when Nick isn’t working, he continues to enjoy his two-wheeled passion, but off the beaten path. 

On today’s episode of The Lowdown Show, host Neil Graham sits down with Nick to discuss his passion and adventure and impart some of his expert off-road riding wisdom.

You won’t want to miss it.

What do Jay Leno, Giacomo Agostini, and the first woman to ride her motorcycle around the world have in common? They’ve been photographed by David Goldman, a rock-and-roll and documentary photographer who abandoned LA to pursue a two-wheeled passion project. Goldman is also a hardcore rider, racking up 50,000 miles in the past three years alone. He’s the real deal.
This week he joins Neil Graham to talk about his latest project, why he left the music biz and what life on the road has been like.

Rene Cormier, by his own admission, is an all-in kind of guy. A chance encounter with a group of globetrotting motorcyclists when he was a biology student led to a decision to sell everything he owned, and, with a budget of $25 a day, set out to ride around the world. Five years and 95,000 miles later, Cormier has some surprising views on the truths and misconceptions of giving it all up for the road.

Wes Siler turned a contempt for US motorcycle media circa 2010 into the highly influential website Hell for Leather. Believing rigorous journalism was compromised because of too-cozy relationships between media and manufacturers, Wes became the most disliked man in the business—a role he relished. But then he sold HFL and it because a very watered-down property that eventually died. Wes currently is a contributor for Outside magazine and lives in the wilds of Montana. Remarkable for his ability to reinvent himself, Wes solders on with his sandpaper-like personally always at the ready to offend a new subset of the population. 

If you've been paying attention for the past decade, you know that India's motorcycle industry is booming. But what's it like to ride there? And why does it matter to North American riders? In this episode of The Lowdown Podcast, Neil returns from riding India, where his eyes were opened.

Neil's no stranger to challenging riding; he's a racer (including years in flat track, speedway and roadracing). He's ridden bikes as a magazine writer and editor in locations all over the world. But India was a whole new level of difficulty, with traffic—including a gas tanker—liable to be coming at you the wrong way, down the opposite shoulder of the road where it belongs.

And yet, the country is moto-mad. People are buying bikes in a scale we just cannot appreciate here in North America. This week, motorcycle designer/industry analyst Michael Uhlarik returns to give us a rundown of the players on that scene, companies that you might have never heard of, but companies that are making motorcycles in a scale that far eclipses familiar North American players like Indian and Harley-Davidson. And you might not think that will matter in North America or Europe, but that's not the case. Historically, western countries extracted resources and financial wealth from India. Now, money is still flowing out of India, but it's returning as companies like Bajaj, Mahindra or TVS buy ownership in brands like KTM, BSA or Norton.

The made-in-India revolution has already hit the world of motorcycles, but Uhlarik suggests it might go even further—with the most American brand of all a potential target of Indian capital…