Radio TRO

Radio TRO is brought to you in part by:
Twisted Road - Motorcycle Rental in the USA
Visit Twisted.TRO.bike to get a FREE riding day!


Brian prepares for winter by rationing garage projects instead of staring at the wallpaper until March. His FJ09 gets a brake overhaul on the calendar while a clattering GS850 tempts him toward an optional engine swap with absolutely non-optional weight. Spiegler lines, swingarm bearings and a protected tire budget give the seasonal gloom something useful to chew on.

Robin's chain replacement recruits a remote advisory committee, a borrowed Motion Pro PBR and one involuntary blood donation. New Mexico still offers riding weather but Maggie's SV650 has electrical upgrades waiting while his own bike gets an Android Auto experiment. Between a crooked master link and cows charging down a mountain road, the winter workbench starts looking suspiciously peaceful.

Joanne meets a rider's twenty pages of gear research with a radical proposal ... try something on. The Armory checks fit in the riding position before matching colors get mistaken for comfort, then revisits her move from Sena to Cardo. Buy what makes you happy, just don't sell somebody else the fiction that their Vans have motorcycle protection built in.


Speaker Entry:

Brian Wringer - 00:02:00
Robin Dean - 00:02:05
Joanne Donn - 00:44:02

Episode Page: https://tro.bike/?p=37069
Music by Rabid Neon and Otis McDonald

Radio TRO is brought to you in part by:
Twisted Road - Motorcycle Rental in the USA
Visit Twisted.TRO.bike to get a FREE riding day!


Kurtis Minder returns with Cyber Recon and a less comforting view of the computers we ride. The ransomware negotiator joins Robin to test ugly possibilities for ECU firmware, vehicle records and the trusted forum regular offering a download. Riding boots helped Kurtis open boardroom doors but his cybersecurity work shows how easily trust can let the wrong person in.

Robin wants heated gear adjusted with a knob rather than a touchscreen scavenger hunt. TOPDON's OneMoto raises a related garage question ... can a costly diagnostic tablet actually finish the job that otherwise requires a dealer? Between model-specific coverage and software that might age badly, the useful feature is still getting on with the ride.

Brian gives Berea's four-digit roads the scouting they deserve after an allegedly unplanned rally acquires a route sheet. Kentucky delivers narrow pavement, blind encounters with oversized pickups and gas stations that require more planning than the curves. Pee Weasel's Grub earns a lunch endorsement while the road beside Squabble Creek earns a warning, proving that a promising map line isn't automatically a recommendation.

Joanne sorts helmet shopping by the model inside the paint job, from Alpinestars options to Kabuto's return. Her Armory checks regional head shapes, overseas purchases and warranty support before a bargain becomes expensive return postage. A familiar logo and an irresistible graphic still can't promise that the helmet fits or that the local distributor owes it a rescue.


Speaker Entry:

Robin Dean - 00:02:00
Brian Wringer - 00:02:53
Kurtis Minder - 00:34:42
Joanne Donn - 00:57:01

Episode Page: https://tro.bike/?p=37060
Music by Rabid Neon and Otis McDonald

Radio TRO is brought to you in part by:
Twisted Road - Motorcycle Rental in the USA
Visit Twisted.TRO.bike to get a FREE riding day!


Brian gives the route line a day off, instead following terrain, weather and whatever looks promising over the next hill. Kentucky still has to wait for a KLR petcock, clogged idle jet and fuel line that dissolves under one finger. His camping advice packs lighter by practicing first rather than discovering after dark that the sleeping bag's temperature rating is creative writing.

Robin finally gets Maggie's SV650 luggage rack and turn signals to coexist through grinding, improvised brackets and bed liner. New Mexico scouting feeds a Berea daydream where Kentucky has apparently paved every cow's commute. Deer then ruin the romance and put delayed apexes back on the agenda.

Joanne likes a flashy helmet but won't let good looks settle the riding-shoe question. Her Armory checks crush resistance via heel, toe and ankle reinforcement before sorting low adventure boots from sport-bike footwear. More money can buy longer life without much more protection while Brian's BOA boots owe their place in the closet to deep clearance.


Speaker Entry:

Brian Wringer - 00:02:00
Robin Dean - 00:02:20
Joanne Donn - 00:37:11

Episode Page: https://tro.bike/?p=37040
Music by Rabid Neon and Otis McDonald

Radio TRO is brought to you in part by:
Twisted Road - Motorcycle Rental in the USA
Visit Twisted.TRO.bike to get a FREE riding day!


Bill Hawkins rode a 250cc Honda from Ajijic, Mexico to his daughter's wedding in Washington state with no phone and a deadline worth keeping. A roadside mechanic, desert silence and a hammock between redwoods give The Burrito something no touring catalog can sell. The Grand Canyon rearranges his sense of scale while the wedding defeats an ambitious agreement not to cry.

Robin survives an MSF RiderCoach gathering where a suspiciously tight U-turn box gives Captain Sport Touring a public humility demonstration. Back home, Maggie's SV650 gets a luggage-rack fitment fight and enough coolant to require a turkey baster. Divisive Dogmas then finds the quickest way to start a motorcycle argument: ask about oil and leave.

Brian continues The Thread Files with rivet nuts for thin metal and wire inserts for threads that have left the building. He sorts installation tools, loose inserts and metric pitch traps before returning to the KLR doohickey's apparently permanent argument. Somewhere between a hot charging fault and a GSX-8R fork cartridge, the service manual still owes him an explanation.


Speaker Entry:

Brian Wringer - 00:02:00
Robin Dean - 00:02:24
Bill Hawkins - 00:32:23

Episode Page: https://tro.bike/?p=37034
Music by Rabid Neon and Otis McDonald

Radio TRO is brought to you in part by:
Twisted Road - Motorcycle Rental in the USA
Visit Twisted.TRO.bike to get a FREE riding day!


The LiveWire's fall from $29,799 to $13,999 makes its launch price look stranger than ever. Norman Hyde clears the screens entirely with an 81-mile navigation-free ride for dementia fundraising. Listener questions weigh fresh tires, a 50-hour coast-to-coast run and the long-term anxiety of electronic suspension.

Robin gives the riding calendar permission to breathe (a string of track days, tours and rallies can turn excellent riding into homework). He trades "two-wheel therapy" for practice and resolve, says a skipped ride is fine if you're still happy and proposes blowing up Berea's tidy route sheet in favor of scouting whatever lies east. Kurviger earns 4.25 stars for quick curves, GPX exports and one gravelly lie while its microscopic stop button sends interface design into solar orbit.

Brian returns from Missouri having witnessed a mint Suzuki 1100GK, refreshed track-day reflexes and one ugly lesson about overriding sight distance. The brake save worked but the "Fe" truck proves that knowing a motorcycle's limits doesn't cancel streetcraft or surprise. He finishes by rehabilitating an old Honda wheel with external and internal thread files, explaining when damaged metal can be massaged back into service and when the correct tool is a replacement part.


Speaker Entry:

Brian Wringer - 00:02:00
Robin Dean - 00:02:18

Episode Page: https://tro.bike/?p=37023
Music by Rabid Neon and Otis McDonald

Radio TRO is brought to you in part by:
Twisted Road - Motorcycle Rental in the USA
Visit Twisted.TRO.bike to get a FREE riding day!


Robin approaches the squid parking lot without dressing young or handing out a Jehovah's Witness guide to motorcycle safety. He wants seasoned riders to earn relevance with smooth control, track-day credibility and an ability to listen three times before talking once. The younger rider controls what sticks, so the old hand had better bring interesting adhesive and stay with the horse.

Brian treats wrenching as a side door into trust, because a fixed bike makes room for one useful sentence about earplugs, helmet fit or threading the clean line through gravel. He separates quick shifters from Honda's e-clutch, tests whether a top case can moonlight as a Barcalounger and keeps chin-mounted cameras safer by blaming the real hazard (fiddling with them). Missouri roads, aging FJ09 hoses and the retiring-friend population keep the practical complaints well fed.

Joanne turns gear evangelism into consequences and actual shopping, starting with Brittany Morrow's recovery story and the fact that protection no longer requires a stormtrooper shell. For riders without money or mentors, she points toward used gear, local groups, eBay and Facebook Marketplace before Brian builds a complete new Cycle Gear kit for roughly $430. She closes the passport window on West Africa, provided everybody agrees to visit after the mud has left.


Speaker Entry:

Robin Dean - 00:02:00
Brian Wringer - 00:02:41
Joanne Donn - 00:36:32

Episode Page: https://tro.bike/?p=37017
Music by Rabid Neon and Otis McDonald

Radio TRO is brought to you in part by:
Twisted Road - Motorcycle Rental in the USA
Visit Twisted.TRO.bike to get a FREE riding day!


Robin arrives at Putnam Park with Maggie's bone-stock SV650 in tow before slowly melting his knee pucks anyway. The track turns its cornfield disguise into elevation changes, blind apexes and a throttle lesson from Turn one to "Dead Bear". His verdict keeps both halves intact in that the riding is excellent, the people mostly mean well and organizers should write down the unwritten rules before shouting them across pit lane.

Brian enters novice on a tall FJ09, gets the full tech-inspection ritual and discovers he's the lone sport-tourer among numbered race bikes. He learns to plan passes two corners ahead, nearly drags the center stand and earns praise before accidentally taking an extra victory lap (the checkered flag apparently had a limited travel budget). Fresh pads, rotors and Spiegler lines are already queued.

As for the circuit, Putnam hides an immaculate ten-turn playground behind quiet Indiana farmland. Garage rentals go for $55, runoff is generous and the pavement looks freshly ironed. Intermediate makes it official by launching first, knocking off the morning dew.


Speaker Entry:

Brian Wringer - 00:02:00
Robin Dean - 00:02:03

Episode Page: https://tro.bike/?p=36990
Music by Rabid Neon and Otis McDonald

Radio TRO is brought to you in part by:
Twisted Road - Motorcycle Rental in the USA
Visit Twisted.TRO.bike to get a FREE riding day!


Robin turns rider suffering into a choice instead of a personality trait, from a cold memorial run toward Florida to a closed Kentucky road that accidentally ends at Maker's Mark. The carrier question gets practical with 500-to-600-pound capacity for a Honda XR650L, solid receiver hardware and lights that remain visible behind the bike. He later argues that speed belongs with sightlines, restraint and enough manners to avoid creating one more cager with a motorcycle villain origin story.

Brian admits get-there-itis dragged him through a Missouri storm for 400-ish miles when one cheap Sunday hotel night would've fixed everything. His chosen suffering runs colder, from a minus-17 commute with pensioned suspension to a snowy Cherohala retreat that stayed fun until freezing became the actual stop sign. Between war stories he tests flock-lined nitrile gloves, warns against mystery Amazon motorcycle kits and offers one clean speed policy ... "be irresistible, be gone".

Joanne brings boxing defense to The Armory and tells riders to stop treating triple-digit heat like a character test. Wicking base layers, ventilated full-face helmets, light-colored mesh, hydration packs and cooling layers make heat manageable, while naked skin gets the hair-dryer treatment with worse consequences. Her final baguette move asks riders to lend strangers one charitable thought before judging their gear, bike or bad day, then save "what a butthead" for the evidence.


Speaker Entry:

Brian Wringer - 00:02:00
Robin Dean - 00:02:52
Joanne Donn - 00:29:13

Episode Page: https://tro.bike/?p=36978
Music by Rabid Neon and Otis McDonald

Radio TRO is brought to you in part by:
Twisted Road - Motorcycle Rental in the USA
Visit Twisted.TRO.bike to get a FREE riding day!


Robin flips last week's paper lesson into a 40-app panic spiral, then rescues it with a plan. His new Maps to Apps Testing Grounds will put one navigator at a time against GPX handoff, offline maps, rider-aware routing and whatever feature manages not to melt when the cell signal is gone. Track-day prep later turns the same appetite for options into canopies, coolant rules, taped wheel weights and a choice between Maggie's SV and the paid-down GSX-8R.

Brian separates the route planner from the screen on the bars before anyone mistakes Google, Apple or Waze for the assignment. Locus Pro remains his learned habit, north-up remains his apparently criminal preference and every contender has to preserve the shaped route instead of converting it into an interstate abomination. He also brings MotoPumps tire-inflator advice, practical sag checks and a novel track-day strategy (read every organizer's rules).

Joanne replaces hard-shell mythology with CE Level 2 impact absorption and fit that follows a rider under leathers. A full-length protector with a kidney belt is the track-ready standard, while a proper insert can still serve a casual novice if the suit has the pocket. Her bottom line is simpler than the catalog, meaning bring the protector when fitting the suit, buy known gear and don't attend a track day without spine protection.


Speaker Entry:

Robin Dean - 00:02:00
Brian Wringer - 00:02:39
Joanne Donn - 00:32:59

Episode Page: https://tro.bike/?p=36974
Music by Rabid Neon and Otis McDonald

Radio TRO is brought to you in part by:
Twisted Road - Motorcycle Rental in the USA
Visit Twisted.TRO.bike to get a FREE riding day!


Robin folds paper-map survival into sun position, town signs and trip-meter resets, then sends the route through Idaho 93 where a boring straight line somehow earns a love letter. He also weighs dealership trust against DIY limits, puts torque wrench range to work under the RV and sizes up rear-opening helmets without letting a novel latch become the next Jägermeister. The Cyborg weather voice is now free, though Indiana still answers with a yeehaw.

Brian packs a state map, grease pencil and enough orientation sense to escape the pink line when electronics quit. His route lesson covers fixed scale, road-name mismatches, missing gas stations and the awkward truth that Booger Hollow may be US 12 when the sign finally appears. Between turns he vets the Trail Tech Voyager Pro 4, recommends ClickSpring for civilized decompression and argues that a trustworthy shop is worth both the wait and repeat business.

Joanne refuses to let an electric bicycle cosplay as harmless once it joins traffic at traffic speed. Helmets, gloves and abrasion protection follow the risk rather than the label, with modern armored hoodies and riding shirts giving city riders fewer excuses than they had in 1996. Her Brammo year proves electrics have their own kind of fun, even when San Francisco hills can eat the battery before the return trip.


Speaker Entry:

Brian Wringer - 00:02:00
Robin Dean - 00:02:02
Joanne Donn - 00:44:12

Episode Page: https://tro.bike/?p=36954
Music by Rabid Neon and Otis McDonald