Word leaked out this month that the parent company for Cycle World—formerly the magazine and latterly the website—has pulled the plug on the publication. Not so many years ago this would have been unimaginable. At its height, Cycle World had 300,000 subscribers and was the main conduit for OEMs to reach enthusiasts in the most lucrative motorcycle market in the world. And now, seemingly, it’s all come to an end. Joining Neil to talk magazines and shifting markets are Motorcycle Global’s Michael Uhlarik and ADVRider.com managing editor Zac Kurylyk. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Some brands of motorcycle--we know who you are--can't stop going on (and on) about their past. Kind of like the neighbor who can't believe a gallon of gas isn't 35 cents anymore. But is clinging to the mythology of past successes healthy for the future of a brand, as marketers would lead you to believe? Or is a backward view unhealthy for both the manufacturer and its true believers. Think of it this way: the brand with the greatest legacy of all, be it Grand Prix wins or iconic models or the way it revolutionized motorcycling itself is a brand we don’t think of as having any legacy at all: Honda. Manufacturers who can’t seem to address modernity lean on legacy like it’s a walker to keep them from falling over. Motorcycle Global’s Michael Uhlarik weighs in on the perils of clinging too tightly to what once was. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On The Lowdown Radio Show episode 117 managing editor Zac Kurylyk joins Neil Graham to talk about the ins and outs of motorcycle reviewing. We want to know what matters to you. Do reviews influence your decisions? If so, how and why? What’s important to you? Range? Seat height? Tread depth? And what is it that reviewers always miss? Vibration? Buffeting? Engine sound quality? Or do you just think that we constantly suck up to manufacturers for the chance to ride the latest and greatest? Let us know what you want to know Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Two things you’re likely to find at a motorcycle event are bad food and bad music--is it really necessary in this short life to hear another cover of Highway to Hell? There’s a man up here in the northeast who’s attempting to change all that. The Moto Craft fest has morphed from a big city event to a country shindig. Think Born Free with fewer choppers and Panheads Forever tattoos. Alex de Cartier joins the show to talk about the shortcomings of traditional shows, the pitfalls of staging an in-the-flesh event in a virtual world, and why live music at a motorcycle event doesn’t have to suck. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Do you have 600 cans of chickpeas next to 400 tins of peaches in your bunker? Do you think fuel-injection is a government ploy to plot your every move across the landscape? If you answered yes to either of those questions (or if they gave you reason to pause) then this week's show is unmissable. The two-wheel-drive Rokon is the oddest motorcycle you've never seen in the flesh. And, at 60-plus years old, it's also the second-longest continuously-produced motorcycle brand in America. Take that Indian. The Rokon is proof that a niche within a niche is a sound business plan. Company owner Tom Blais gives The Lowdown the lowdown on staying the course. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Indian motorcycle have a new owner and a new CEO and they're gunning for Harley-Davidson. As the cruiser market shrinks, the competition between America's two brands, in the wake of unconfirmed reports of Indian's controversial and inflammatory new initiative, becomes personal. New Harley CEO Artie Starrs is mocked for his pizza and golf past, while Indian boss Mike Kennedy (ex of Harley-Davidson) is held up as the real-deal rider. But beyond the hyperbole, we delve into the effectiveness of political-style attack ads. Is taking down your competition a way to gain market share, or do you risk alienating the exact same people you're attempting to lure into your camp? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From irrelevance in the mid-'90s to Europe's best-selling brand to near collapse--KTM surfed high on the waves yet nearly succumbed to the troughs. But there's far more to the story than COVID-era overproduction and camshafts with substandard metallurgy. Industry watcher Michael Uhlarik takes us through KTM's backstory with a special emphasis on its unusually intimate relationship with Kiska, the industrial design firm who shaped the motorcycles, the messaging, and the meaning of the brand. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Many things in life are perplexing, but none more than this: buy a pack of Sweet Caporal cigarettes from old Mrs. Harrison down at the general store, and she doesn’t charge a separate fee for handing them to you or for having them shipped to her store. And yet, when you buy a motorcycle, the price on the manufacturer’s website isn’t what we pay at a dealership, because it's subject to shipping fees and setup charges as separate line items. Why isn’t there just one price? The National Powersports Dealers Association is lobbying for just this. But, alas, it’s not as simple as it sounds. Longtime dealership man and NPDA board member Mark Sheffield joins us to untangle the bizarre and byzantine pricing practices of the motorcycle industry. All this on The Lowdown Radio Show. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Have you noticed the price of fuel lately? Unless you’re living like the Unabomber, of course you have. And since most of you have a motorcycle or two in the shed, that most likely gets far better mileage than your car or truck, the time has come to save a little money and have a little fun. Just yesterday I took a 100-mile round trip to a car dealership for a new coolant reservoir. I stuffed it into my backpack like a high-schooler their homework, then wobbled off to a coffee shop to warm my numb hands. Did I mention it was 39 degrees? Our first guest this week knows all about pain. Duluth Minnesota’s Andy Goldfine, despite living farther north than even foolish Canadians, rides as much as he can, as often as he can. And it’s not just because he’s cheap. Frugal is a kinder word. Andy knows the benefits of riding and is loathe to abandon them the eight months of the year when his homeland turns to barren, hostile, sinister tundra. Our second guest is ADVRider helmsman Zac Kurylyk who reminisces about dodging moose and deer on the way home from his turn-of-the-century gig as a newspaperman. And then Neil Graham, never to be outdone, shares his stories of riding to a horrible summer job on an XT500 long before the turn of the last century. Add this week’s episode up and what do you get? The annual Ride to Work day, which happens the second Tuesday in June and which is spearheaded by Andy Goldfine himself, who, incidentally, has a designated winter commuting motorcycle. All this, on this week’s Lowdown Radio Show. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Would you travel round-the-world with someone who showed up at your house in the early days of dating with their own pillow? I like my pillow as much as the next man, but bringing one to an overnighter with your new lover is as sexy as bringing you own slippers. But wait, Heather Lea’s story gets even odder. Twenty-seven days after meeting the pillow-man, she decides to ride around the world with him. This from an independent woman who ran her own arts and culture magazine and who had a history of short relationships. But this man—Dave—was, in Heather’s words, “handsome, adventurous, smart and employed.” Here’s a tip for young men everywhere: “employed” is the key word there. Predictably, they had challenges, which included getting out of the driveway on day one and a bad crash not long after. But because bad things make for good stories, Heather wrote about the experience in in the book Riding Full Circle, and it’s on deck this week on The Lowdown Radio show. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices