False Neutral

Eric and Garrett welcome part-time bike tester, full-time motorcyclist, professional musician, and all-around cool guy Thai Long Ly to the podcast. Thai is not only a recurring member of the Motorcycle.com's bike video crew but an accomplished bass player, songwriter, recording engineer and music producer. He eloquently speaks about the similarities between making music and riding a motorcycle. Garrett had some bandwidth issues that makes him sound like a cyborg in a few spots, but it doesn't last long.

The last couple of episodes have focused exclusively on motorcycles. But the machine is only half of the magic of riding, the other part is the perfect road. Is there someplace you dream of riding to, or through, or around? Regardless if it's the curves, the scenery or the destination, we all dream of that ride we're going to do "someday." Eric and Pete share theirs, and Garrett's, too, even though he was not able to be with us.

As promised, we took reader suggestions and talk about which bikes we believe will — and won't — appreciate in value over the next five to ten years. Our suggestions may surprise you; we surprised each other with a couple of them. We also discuss what respectable 50cc options there are for a middle aged man to commute on. Don't forget that photos of all the bikes we discuss can be found at Hooniverse.com.

Pete, Eric and Garrett get technical, discussing alternative motorcycle suspension and steering technology. From springer and girder front ends to leading link forks to anti-dive devices, we talk about what worked, what didn't work, and what the motorcycle industry has abandoned and come back to later.

We didn't have a defined theme or subject for this week's episode, so the topic is either nothing or everything. We re-examine what reliable bikes can be had for $2000 or so that are suitable for occasional two-up riding. Then Garrett confesses the lust he has in his heart for the Aprilia Tuono V4, which leads us to wonder about evolution of the term "naked bike." We go on to opine that the adventure bike segment is oversaturated. In between all this, we invite you to tell us what bikes you think are poised to skyrocket in value. Reach out to us via Facebook, Twitter, or by replying at our weekly post on Hooniverse.com, and we might discuss your investment bike suggestion in a couple of weeks.As with every episode, photos of nearly all the bikes we talk about are at this week's podcast post on the Hooniverse website, too.

After taking a week off due to travel, the flashy new models shown at the recent Intermot motorcycle show caught our attention this week. Garrett and Eric and Pete review what's new for 2017, and of course how we personally feel about the many new and tweaked models. We also discuss Garrett's TX750 (it's good news this time!) and Ford Escape shock towers (not-so good news for Eric). We wrap up with a review of the book Save The Triumph Bonneville by John Rosamond and a bit of background on the Meriden Workers' Cooperative.

This week we're doing something different. Rather than just let you listen to Garrett talk about his YZ450F supermoto conversion, he's created a helmet-cam video. After he gives us a quick walk-around of the bike, he shares the experience of riding across town and gives us the lowdown on how he converted the bike and what it's like to own and ride. We're providing this audio-only version those of you who listen to the False Neutral in your car or while mowing your yard. If you're riding the bus or near your computer, go to Hooniverse.com to watch the video in 1080p HD and leave your comments.

This week's episode has no special guest, just your three regular hosts. We talk about our own bikes and bikes we've recently seen for sale, both online and in person, and bikes we'd LIKE to see for sale. The discussion wraps up with Pete's reactions to his visit to the Harper classic bike auction.

This week, Hooniverse regular Jeepjeff joins us to share his crazy (and fairly unwise) adventure, crossing Death Valley on his Yamaha TW200 during the recent LeMons Hell On Wheels Rally. We also find out how and why Garrett got a painful case of roadrash on his new Supermoto conversion.

This week Pete's old friend and long-time riding buddy Rusty Spokes joins the crew. We discuss his new Africa Twin, Honda's DCT with somebody who actually rides one this time, and talk about his past bikes and riding experiences. Meanwhile, Eric rode a BMW C650GT scooter in Canada.

So much of our recent conversation has been about bikes — colors, prices, configuration, wrenching — that we decided it was time to talk about, you know, actually riding the dang things. After the usual "old business" segment, Eric, Garrett, and Pete talk about the risks, rewards, and hassles of riding motorcycles, from commuting (and why none of us does it too regularly) to day trips to multi-day tours.

In part two of our discussion about color schemes, graphics, and racing team liveries, we look at Italian bikes and cruisers, before things go further afield (as usual). The merits of gold paint and Buells are pondered. Eric goes down a disturbing Japanese Internet hole, and Garrett follows him.As always, visit hooniverse.com/tag/falseneutral to check out pictures of all the bikes we discuss. WARNING: some of this week's images cannot be unseen.

Pete, Eric and Garrett are all in attendance this week. After we discuss our current (and prospective) contents of our garages, we explore motorcycle graphics in response to a listener suggestion: production paint schemes, factory race liveries, and various motorcycle makers' iconic graphic signatures. Especially due of this week's highly visual subject, definitely go to Hooniverse.com and check out photos of all (or nearly all) of the bikes we discuss. This episode is on the shorter side for us, but with the overwhelming number of motorcycles we talk about, we thought it best to split it. This week we concentrate on Japanese sports bikes, before moving to European bikes and cruisers next week.

Surprise! All three hosts are on the podcast together this week, even if Pete shows up a tiny bit late. We discuss the recent Gear Patrol article on "The Best Vintage Superbikes Under $10,000," and share our own point/counterpoint about the bikes they picked. While our views differed, we all agreed that there are plenty of cool deals to be found from the late '80s through the late '90s.

Pete is on his own this week. In this abbreviated solo episode, he tells a sad account of finding a certain Japanese bike he'd always wanted on Craigslist, and then discovered that the unavailability of parts is hastening this model's doom. On a brighter note, he also went new bike shopping with his wife, and found some new tech and new styling that just might suit him.

This week, it's all about the machines. After catching up on some of our project bikes, we get technical, discussing v-four motors. From pre-war British bikes to Grand Prix Hondas, we explore what makes v-fours so attractive from an engineering point of view, why they don't always work so well aesthetically, and why we don't see more of them on the market.

In our conclusion to Cam Vanderhorst's visit, he claims to go "FULL LIBERTARIAN" over the Kymco K-pipe recall (although he doesn't, really—you never go full libertarian). We wade ankle-deep into the world of cyclecars for a bit, then veer into Suzuki cars, and why they didn't make it in the U.S., and finally offer our opinions on which of the Japanese manufacturers are the least reliable. Somehow, we end up talking about the sounds sea mammals make.

When we were joined by Cam Vanderhorst, one of the hosts of our Hooniverse sister podcast Cammed & Tubbed, our conversation spilled over into two weeks worth of material. In this first of two episodes, we discuss helmets and hearing protection, scooters, and tweaking Cam's Sportster. A little later on, Eric joins us for the tragic truth about barn finds, and whether there are still truly bad motorcycles on the market. Rest assured, like nearly every episode, we manage to mention the Yamaha TW200 and Suzuki GT750.

This week, it’s only Garrett and Pete, as “Eric T” (if that’s even his real name) is busy moving into a new home. We discuss last weekend's the Art of the Car Concours, which led to a couple of uncommonly coincidental connections. We go on to discuss some of Honda’s late ’80s flops-turned-cult-bikes, and wonder about what future cult favorites we’re ignoring now.

This week's episode is all about catching up. We update each other on lots of topics we've discussed in the past. Eric and Garrett catch up on project bike maintenance. Pete has to catch up on the conversation when he drops into the conversation about ten minutes late, after having worked late to catch up on office tasks that piled up while he was vacationing. Fortunately, he showed up just as Garrett was wanting to taunt him about the FZ-10. And his leathers. Yes, again.