False Neutral

This week we're joined by Abhi Eswarappa, the founder of Bike-urious.com, adventure biker, and all-around righteous dude. We talk with Abhi about his favorite bikes and favorite riding experiences, which include Mexico, Alaska, crossing the desert terrain of California and Nevada (in a Ural sidecar rig, no less), Ironbutt rides, and drafting behind an SUV aboard a Honda Grom. After a bit where Pete rudely hogs the mike to blather on some more about the Smackdab Run, we get back to Abhi and learn about how Bike-urious.com came to be.

Sometimes little details make or break a bike. This week we delve into the multitude of minor changes that Harley made to change the existing 750 Street into the new Street Rod (spoiler, we like them). That prompts us to pay way too much attention to rear fenders of various bikes, including Ducatis and Can-Am Spyders. Finally, we look at all the details of the Yamaha XSR900, and why they drive us batty.

This week Garrett gives us a ride report on the Aprilia Tuono V4 and Pete describes the EF1 tornado that skirted his yard this past week. After that, we discuss deals Eric found on Craigslist, including a BMW cop bike with 74,000 miles on it. We wrap up discussing a few bits from the motorcycling press, including a big-box mega-dealership in Michigan and a new taxi bike designed for African markets. Along the way, Pete puts Bulgaria on his bucket list.

In the second part of our discussion of online motorcycle resources, we detour from where to get parts and riding gear into talking about what riding gear we have and why we like it. We go on to examine our favorite Facebook pages and groups, along with a couple of pages we're involved with personally. Links to all the sites we discuss are included in our Hoooniverse post.

After a quick catch-up on Eric's Mustang and Garrett's new son, we mark the one-year anniversary of our first episode. Eric would like to add a new daily rider this season, and we discuss the possible candidates, then delve into our topic for this week, This week's topic is motorcycling on the Internet. How we get motorcycle-oriented content (professional and amateur) has changed greatly over the past couple of years; we share our current favorite and less-than-favorite motorcycle-oriented websites, vlogs, and forums.

We're returning to our original 30 minute format, so this conversation is a two-parter.

Be sure to visit our accompanying post on Hooniverse.com to access a list of all the websites and YouTube channels we mention in this week's show.

Mark Atkinson is back as our guest this week, at his suggestion. We delve into the dying star that is the two-stroke motorcycle world, discussing everything from porting specs to our favorite two-stroke manufacturers. This episode a 100% raw, unedited track, so you get what you get this week. Fortunately, Mark is a fantastic guest who keeps things interesting.

Several things happened in our workshops this week, so we update each other on our project bikes. Garrett delt with Nighthawk wiring issues and missing pieces inside the engine. Thanks to Garrett's help, Bultakenstein might get some new parts fast-tracked. Things remain too cold in Eric's Michigan garage, so he's working on vintage audio equipment instead. We preview the topic for next week's show, which brings us back around to two-strokes, tiny Wankel engines, fantasy engine layouts, and finally updating the formula for our faux-Italian tiddler to include the engine out of the Yamaha Blaster ATV.

Our question for you this week: Do you do your own work, pay to have your bikes maintained and repaired, or divide those tactics somewhere in between? Where you do draw the line?

This week's "exhausting" episode is all about the sounds motorcycles make. After Pete reveals the mystery bikes you hear in our intro and outro bumpers, we briefly talk about books and old magazines before Eric and Pete move on to what bikes we think sound the best. This week, it's especially imperative that you visit our accompanying Hooniverse post, since all the YouTube videos we discuss are included there.

http://hooniverse.com/2017/02/07/false-neutral-45-glorious-noise/

Since our last episode, Garrett has a new son in the nursery and a new Nighthawk 650 beater in the garage. The latter prompts us to enthuse for Honda's 1980s Nighthawk range. Turning to new bikes, we discuss the proposed U.S. tariff on European small displacement bikes. I recall my encounter with a tiny, very fake Italian "classic," which leads the three of us to all get excited about building 60cc roadrace bikes in the classic Italian tiddler style.

Be sure to visit the post for this episode at Hooniverse.com for links and photos.

Our guest this week is Mark Atkinson, the man behind the Alpha BMW that recently won the 2016 Hooniversal Car Of The Year (HCOTY) award. Mark is not only a highly skilled machinist, fabricator, and tinker, but also an accomplished two-stroke tuner and longtime veteran of the Bonneville Salt Flats. We discussed his past endeavors, what is ahead for him and Alpha, and his views on engineering, aesthetics, and perfectionism.