Wooo! Dakar is back. The antidote to grey winter days is here. For the next three weeks I'm gonna spend a lot of time with my laptop open on the tracking page whilst I work, refreshing like crazy and crossing my fingers for our main man Si Hewitt!

In the podcast we talk about all the ket talking points about the 2022 edition of the Dakar, and cover some of Ray's questions on the previous post about the T7 project. Over the next few weeks we'll be doing a fiar bit of Dakar related chat on the Discord server so if you're keen to ask question or send us stuff see please don't hesitate.

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Photography and capturing memories is a huge part of modern existence. We all do it, nearly daily for most of us. There is a huge difference between a snapshot and an image that takes you back to a moment, that evokes a memory and a feeling.

Photography can also be an incredibly rewarding part of the process too, It complex, engrossing and the end product lasts a lifetime. In this podcast, our guest is Isaac Johnston, a professional outdoor, adventure and lifestyle photographer.  His work is simple, clean and feels incredibly real. 

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Designing, developing and improving motorbike kit must be a thankless task. The kit I want vs what is possible often seems a million miles apart and the process of trying to get to where we as end users want our kit to be, must be tricky.

This weeks guest is Rod Macintyre, a Senior Apparel Product Designer at REV'IT. Over the last few years we've seen some increasingly progressive designs and ideas coming from the Dutch brand, from award winning protection to the wild but incredibly functional Expedition H20 boot. I've been fortunate enough to use some of those products and fall in love with their approach.

It's also sparked a conversation with REV'IT that led to this podcast, where we talk about how and why REV'IT approach product design, where the ideas come from and how they tackle the endless challenges from material science to sizing for a global market.

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For a really long time I've been lucky enough ride with people who are great at making and planning rides. While I spend most of my time worrying about the riding, the shots we're getting and how the bike I'm riding is working, planning the route hasn't been a priority.

As I'm starting to explore the new area that I'm based in, I've realised I don't know anything. I'm a complete novice and it's tricky.  In this episode we're breaking down all the elements of finding, prepping and planning your routes for your rides.

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Right back at the beginning of season one of the podcast, before Covid and all the other jazz, I did a podcast about the choices motorcycle brands make and why they make them, with my  friend Chris Northover. It was fascinating and allowed us to tackle some really tricky questions, the type of questions we've all sat around wondering.

This podcast is a direct follow on from that, tackling the hurdles and challenges of producing a motorcycle from scratch. Our guest is Uli Ast, a member of the Product Design team at BMW Motorrad. In this episode we cover the who, what and why of the production process from developing the idea to arriving at an end product.

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I'm a self-confessed suspension obsessive. I recognised my issue a few years back and have since learnt to ride around the problem but I'm a fettler at heart. I like understanding it and I like making my bike handle as best as it can.

However, when it comes diving inside suspension, I'm no more clued up that the next person. Like most complex skills with layers to understand, suspension takes years of dedication and skill to develop an understanding of. The dozens of variables are overwhelming.

Chris Hockey is one of those expert level suspension tuners. He's rare. With skill on the tools and skill on the bike, Chris has created a unique position where he can feel what the bike is doing and understand how that translates into the suspension. Over the years I've ridden dozens of his bikes and it has consistently impressed me that he he take something so mediocre and make it work so damn well.

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Throughout the last 20 years Iraq and Afghanistan have had a rough time. War torn, broken and painted into our memories as places not to go. This week's guest, Billy Ward, decided that's exactly where he should go.

Billy is a character full of larger than life stories that are not larger than his life. With his intrepid friend and filmmaker Claudio Von Planta of Long Way Up fame, the pair documented their trips into the war zone of Northern Iraq and Afghanistan. The podcast touches on that experience, on how a project like that comes together and why Billy chooses to go to extremes with his holiday choices.

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The internet is full of wisdom. As a Youtube channel, I get literally thousands of comments a month asking for advice, feedback and telling me I'm wrong. Those topics vary massively but throughout some themes rise to to the top.

In this episode we break down the regularly asked points, such as "What about bar risers?" and "That GS is a pig". It makes for interesting conversation and was mildly cathartic. 

This series is something I'd love to add in as a more regular feature so if you've got any questions and suggestions I'd love to hear them!

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Whenever you sit down with a real engineer, I find you quickly realise just how little you know. This stands for most professions but in some areas these things stand out as a little more obvious but what catches me off guard about motorcycles is that quite often simple parts take a substantial amount of thought.

To some degree, adventure bike protection is quite simple. You can make rudimental parts of out bent pipe and stick them together. However, the bigger your company gets, the more complex the process of both design and manufacturing gets.  For me this has always been a fascinating conversation. A few years back I did an interview with part of the Ducati design team and this follows on from that. It's all about asking why and how!

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