Motos and Friends from Ultimate Motorcycle magazine

Well, ‘tis the season to be jolly and all that, so in the first segment this week, we bring you a brief Gift Guide. Associate Editor Teejay Adams and I discuss several suggestions for that hard-to-buy-for motorcycle enthusiast you care for. Alternatively, if you hear of something you fancy and you figure you’re on Santa’s nice list—then maybe drop a little hint in the right place and make his job slightly easier.

The second segment is just plain cool. Well, to be more specific, Jeff Buchanan chats with Mert Lawwill about the King of Cool—Steve McQueen. That’s a little cryptic, so, to be more specific, it was 50 years ago this year that the most enduring motorcycle movie ever made was released: On Any Sunday. If you haven’t seen it, the documentary featured Mert Lawwill, Malcolm Smith, and Steve McQueen as the individual subjects.

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McQueen's Motorcycles: Racing and Riding with the King of Cool

The Harley-Davidson Source Book

SportBike Chic Tank Purse™

Fanttik X8 Apex TIre Inflator

Backmate from Eric Bostrom

Badass Moto Gear Motorcycle Cover

Miss Moto MotoGirl Dungri Overalls: Ladies Riding Pants US$198

Sena +Mesh Review: Mesh Intercom Adapter for Legacy Sena Units

Dainese Men and Women D-Air® Smart Jacket

The Bad Editor by Peter Jones: Rider's Library Review

Kisan Electronics PathBlazer [Project Bike Headlight Modulator]

Joe Rocket Heartbreaker Boots: Women's Motorcycle Boots Review

Gary's 2021 Holiday Gift Guide for Ultimate Motorcyclists

50th-anniversary celebration release of "On Any Sunday"

Triumph with Steve McQueen connection sells at Bonhams Auction

Hey everyone and welcome to our Motos and Friends Podcast, brought to you by the Editors at Ultimate Motorcycling. I’m Arthur Coldwells.

This week we feature two premium quality, flagship-level motorcycles. We’re coming into launch season and that means we ride the latest and greatest motorcycles for the coming year.

Senior Editor Nic de Sena has just returned from a week in southern Spain where he put two exceptional motorcycles to the test.

The first was the 2022 Triumph Speed Triple 1200 RR—that’s the one with the gorgeous Café Racer styling—on both road and on track. 

Days later, Nic made his way to MotoGP’s Circuito de Jerez—Angel Nieto, where he spent a day riding Ducati’s jaw-dropping new Panigale V4 S, with two riders whose names you might recognize if you follow Grand Prix racing.

Nic’s insight into both these machines is fascinating to hear—I really hope you enjoy this episode! 

2022 Triumph Speed Triple 1200 RR Review [13 Fast Facts]

2022 Ducati Panigale V4 Lineup

First Look [22 Fast Facts + Photos]

This week we bring you something a little different. In the first segment, Senior Editor Nic de Sena talks to us briefly about the new Honda Navi. At just over $1800, this little runabout is crazy good value for money and perfect for those students needing easy transport around campus, or perhaps for city folks looking for an easy, urban traffic-beater.

In the second segment, Editor Don Williams gives us a roundup of the various Italian machines announced at the recent EICMA motorcycle show in Milan. These include Moto Guzzi, Ducati, Aprilia, Benelli, Italjet, and Bimota. There are some mouth-watering motorcycles coming down the pike in 2022, and we are looking forward to riding and reviewing these new arrivals!

2022 Honda Navi Review (10 Fast Facts For Urban Motorcycle Riders)

2022 Honda Navi First Look (13 Fast Facts - $1807 Motorcycle)

Motos and Friends this week brings you Senior Editor Nic de Sena’s perspective on the newly launched Aprilia 660 Tuareg ADV bike. Nic rode the bike in Sardinia and was impressed with Aprilia’s take on the middleweight section of the adventure-bike market. It’s not exotically priced, so if you’re looking for this type of machine, the Tuareg is definitely worthy of your attention.

The second segment is brought to you by Editor-at-Large Neale Bayly. It’s the story of the sadly defunct Motus motorcycles, and he interviews Brian Case, who designed the well-engineered V-4 engine, as well as the entire motorcycle chassis to wrap around it. 200 Motus motorcycles were made, and Brian tells us the story of how it all played out.

From us all here at Ultimate Motorcycling, we hope you enjoy this episode.  

2022 Aprilia Tuareg 660 Review 17 Fast Facts from Sardinia

2022 Aprilia Tuareg 660 First Look (8 Fast Facts for Adventure)

This week we come to you straight from the launch of Husqvarna’s all new Norden 901 adventure bike. Jess McKinley was fortunate enough to try out the new beast—although he had to travel all the way to Azores to do it.

The new Husqvarna middleweight is high powered, light, and it contains a couple of very nice surprises—not least how competitively priced it is. 

We hope you enjoy this episode!    

This week’s Podcast starts off with a comparison between two ADV class bikes, the 2021 BMW F 900 XR, and Triumph's Tiger 850 Sport. On the face of it, these two machines are very similar, yet as we discovered, they’re really very different. Nic de Sena takes us through them and the surprising differences. If you’re in the market for this style of machine, we’ll be interested to hear which one you end up with, and why. Our contact information is below, so please let us know what you think!

In the second segment, Neale Bayly introduces us to his Laverda project. Laverda is one of the storied Italian brands that sadly disappeared some time ago. But in the 1970s Laverda was alive and well, and some iconic motorcycles came out of the factory. Neale chats with me about resurrecting one of the first motorcycles he acquired and the stories that are woven into the fabric of that machine.

Enjoy! Arthur Coldwells 

To contact us email [email protected] 

BMW F 900 XR vs. Triumph Tiger Sport Comparison

Neale Bayly Rides YouTube

Wellspring International Outreach 

On this week’s Motos & Friends we explore the theme of travel and touring. Our ‘Moto’ is Honda’s NC750X… a super user-friendly and incredibly versatile middleweight that won’t break the bank. Interestingly, with the addition of Honda’s luggage system, NC750X has a downright amazing amount of carrying capacity. The bike comes in both standard shift and DCT flavors, and Don Williams gives us his thoughts on the DCT—Dual Clutch Transmission—version.  

Our chat this week comes from long-time friend Neale Bayly. Neale and I have been fellow moto-journalists for approaching two decades, generally roaring around the globe testing the latest and greatest. All very cool and all that, but for those of you who have not heard of Neale, nor did you catch his TV show Neale Bayly Rides on either Speed when it was around, or on YouTube now, then hopefully you’ll find this conversation quite interesting. For those of you that have heard of this self-styled 'philanthropic adventurer', you’ll hear the genesis behind Neale’s true passion in life, raising money for his Wellspring Foundation, a charity based around motorcycling that raises money for both an orphanage in Peru, and subsequently for another in Africa.

If the mood takes you, you can contact Neale in one of several different ways below, and he’d love to hear from you. If you feel like taking a Neale Bayly Ride, or you just want to feed your soul a little and donate to Wellspring, then please check out the links below

Wellspring

Nealebaylyrides

2021 Honda NC750X DCT review

Yamaha have now brought to the USA the SP version of their mighty MT-09. Although Yamaha has had SP versions of some of its models for a while now, this is the first time we’ve had the SP version of this model.  Nic de Sena had a chance to ride it and tells us about the changes to the MT-09 SP and why it’s worth the extra coin.

Regular listeners and readers of our various publications know our Editor Don Williams, however it is less likely that you know he is a major fan of independent live music, especially around the Los Angeles area. This week Don chats with Mike Magrann, lead singer of the punk band, Channel 3. Mike is a musician and a motorcycle guy too.

Please visit Channel 3 on Spotify and other major music platforms.

To view the song Manzanar on YouTube click here

We hope you enjoy this episode!  

This week we have a couple of unusual chats for you. In the first segment, Senior Editor Nic de Sena talks to Arthur Coldwells about the new Ohvale GP2 mini bike. This is a full race machine that is scaled down to work on kart tracks, and yet it is designed to give a rider the full racebike experience. The Ohvale is not a toy and many, many professional racers use one to enhance their skillset and help with their training.

The second segment comes to you from the recent Barber Vintage Festival, held annually at Barber Motorsports Park in Leeds Alabama. George Barber himself was kind enough to spare a few minutes to chat about the new Advanced Design Center project that has been created on the top floor of the museum. Ably headed up by Brian Case of Motus Motorcycles fame, George Barber’s Design Center is there to encourage and explore design. He has generously outfitted the center with every type of creative and production tool you can imagine, including a couple of high end 3D printing machines, and full clay-modelling capability. Brian Case has already collaborated with ex-Ducati designer Pierre Terblanche and their first project—done remotely with Pierre residing at home in South Africa I might add—is a modern take on the exquisite early 90s Ducati Super Mono, designed at the time by Pierre. The Advanced Design Center is a heck of a project and George Barber is justifiably proud of it. It is there to encourage and explore design, especially with young people who perhaps do not have the means to really explore their ideas or turn them into reality.  If you’re a designer with some ideas, please feel free to contact Brian Case at the Barber Advanced Design Center and talk to him about perhaps starting you off, or taking you to the next step in your career. His contact information is below.

[email protected] 

2021 Ohvale GP-2 190 Review

To start this week off we’ve chosen to highlight some of the new machines announced in the past week. We’re coming up to new motorcycle season when the manufacturers roll out their new models and so Editor Don Williams takes us through the newly announced Suzuki GSX-S1000GT; the Yamaha YZF R6-GYTR; Triumph’s new Speed Triple 1200 RR; the Moto Guzzi V1000 Mandello, and last but not least, the new retro-styled Kawasaki Z650 RS.

In the second segment, Associate Editor Teejay Adams follows up with bike builder and long distance rider John Tagley, who recently completed his 24-hour endurance run as he promised. John takes us through his various preparations and the effort it took to complete his personal mileage best. I won’t spoil the surprise, but I can tell you he managed to put on more miles in 24 hours than a lot of people do in one year.

We hope you enjoy the show!     

John Tagley j.e.t.film Instagram