The Lowdown Show - By ADVRider

It's the most wonderful time of the year for motorcyclists. This week, in Milan, Italy, the EICMA motorcycle show ran, with manufacturers from around the world showing off their new bikes. Podcast host Neil Graham and guests Zac Kurylyk (ADVrider managing editor) and Michael Uhlarik (veteran motorcycle designer) all have some thoughts on the show's good, bad and ugly machines.

Bike shows are dying. And bike shows are thriving. Thor and Tori Drake of Portland’s The One Motorcycle Show give The Lowdown the lowdown on making a bike show succeed amid the ashes.

Ryan Egusquiza from Bend, Oregon’s Giant Loop is our guest this week and we talk hard cases (not head cases) vs. soft bags and the art of leaving LA.

A half-dozen years ago flat track racing was having the most unusual resurgence. The most American—and the most cultish—of all motorcycle sport had superstars like Marc Marquez and Valentino Rossi under its spell. But then something happened. The grids shrunk, the riders began to feud with management, and the spectators stayed away. This week Cory Texter, a former champion in the sport and a long-time critic, is our guest as we try to unpack how something with so much momentum hit the skids with such ferocity.

As the 2024 riding season winds down, Neil and ADVrider managing editor Zac Kurylyk meet up to talk about the different bikes they rode this summer (new and old), including Zac's time on the new Royal Enfield Himalyan 450. He thinks it's stiff competition for the KLR650 and DR650.

Who built the first ADV bike? Was it the BMW R80 G/S, or was there another dual sport/travel bike hybrid before that machine? This week, designer/industry insider Michael Uhlarik returns to The Lowdown Podcast to talk about another brand that has a solid claim to the title of first to the ADV segment.

Motorcycling’s most happening man. Paul d’Orleans is a historian, curator, author, and founder of The Vintagent, the go-to for motorcycle culture online. He’s also funny, shrewd, a keen lover of all things obscure, and a natty dresser. 

From building choppers in the decadent 1990s to amassing more than a million kilometres in the past 15 years, Paul Stewart doesn’t hang about. But Stewart’s more than just about hammering his way across continents. For his latest expedition, he pottered across America on a Honda 125 retracing the steps of a man who, 120 years ago, headed into the wilds on a bicycle with a clip-on motor as the very first ADV rider. Add to this a passion for helping stray dogs and perpetual struggles with his vision—he’s had multiple eye surgeries—Stewart is not a man to be held back.

Eric Hougen has a lifetime in the ADV riding aftermarket scene, founding Wolfman Luggage from nothing and equipping thousands of riders for adventures around the world. Today, he talks with host Neil Graham about the challenges of the business and what he's up to now, with his new Threadworks project.

In the early 2000s, Royal Enfield was a niche company, an India-based oddity building crude bikes that were basically unchanged since the mid-20th century. Now, they're a fully up-to-date manufacturer, with ABS, traction control and other modern electronics, and they have a wide range of products from cruisers to retros to scramblers to adventure bikes. How did they make this all happen? Mark Wells, the company's UK-based head of design, is here to tell us how Royal Enfield transformed themselves into the mid-sized motorcycle market leader.