I always arrive at Highside/Lowside expecting to learn something about motorcycles and depart a couple of hours later having learned that friendship, digression, and the inevitable mention of a Triumph Bonneville are among life’s highest virtues.
The arrangement is simplicity itself. Zach appears to have accepted, with the calm resignation of a seasoned butler, that his principal occupation is gently shepherding Spurgeon back toward the topic originally under discussion. One can almost hear him, with infinite patience, saying, “Yes, Spurg, fascinating… but perhaps we should return to carburetors before the audience qualifies for Social Security.”
Spurgeon, meanwhile, possesses the conversational instincts of a cheerful Labrador that has caught sight of seventeen squirrels simultaneously. Every road leads to another anecdote, every anecdote to another motorcycle, and every motorcycle through some mysterious gravitational law of the universe eventually orbits his beloved Bonneville.
Loooove the engine-sound guessing game! Zach and Spurgeon identify obscure engines from a few seconds of exhaust notes with the effortless confidence of birdwatchers distinguishing warblers by the angle of an eyebrow. It’s all a mystery to me.
I, on the other hand, hear what can only be described as “definitely… motorcycle.”
“Oh,” says Zach, “that’s very clearly a late-1983 278.45-degree parallel twin with 46 philanges.”
“Obviously, I could tell from the third note that the fuel pump made,” says Spurgeon.
Ummm.. okay.
And yet I find myself cheering along every time. I just love these guys.
The greatest compliment I can pay the show is this: I began listening for motorcycles and stayed for the companionship. Becoming a motorcyclist can feel rather like joining a peculiar secret society. For those of us starting later in life, there is comfort in spending a couple of hours each week with two fellows who remind you that motorcycles are supposed to be fun first and technical second.
Some podcasts make you feel like you’re attending a lecture.
This one makes you feel as though you’ve wandered into the garage where two friends are tinkering with bikes, gently teasing one another, disappearing down conversational rabbit holes, arguing cheerfully about utterly inconsequential matters, and somehow making the entire experience feel wonderfully worthwhile.
Five stars, guys. And I’d give you 50 if I could.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I believe I hear a motorcycle approaching.
Or possibly a lawnmower. Or maybe a food processor.
I shall wait for Zach and Spurgeon to tell me which.
