The Lowdown Show - By ADVrider

Everybody—everybody—has an opinion on Harley-Davidson. The company, who’s stock, not so many years ago, was a safer bet than gold, has fallen upon challenging times. This from a company—according to analyst Michael Uhlarik—that in its heyday turned a profit of nearly 30 percent on each motorcycle sold, when the industry average is nearer the mid-single digits. In the fat years, Harley-Davidson was indeed a license to print money. But no more. Past Harley CEO’s have tried seemingly everything the right the ship. There’s been the re-wire, the hardwire and the cut-the-wire-in-two. As much fun as speculating on the future of Harley is, this week on the show we speak to someone with skin in the game. A Harley Dealer. George Gatto owns Three Rivers Harley-Davidson near Pittsburgh. Gatto also runs Gatto Cycle, a Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, Kawasaki, CF Moto and Royal Enfield dealership. On top of all this, Gotto chairs the National Powersports Dealers Association Harley-Davidson dealer council. He’s a busy man. With a bad back. But he made time for us—and we’re chuffed.
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On Episode 108 of the Lowdown Radio Show, Michael Uhlarik pedals his fixed gear bicycle into town to talk about the most unhip motorcycle this side of the Bajaj Pulsar. It’s motorcycling’s equivalent to sensible shoes, and you and I know it as Suzuki's V-Strom. It’s not pretty, it won’t brighten the corner of your garage in wintertime and it’s clearly built to a price. And yet—as its adherents never fail to tell you—it’ll do everything a BMW or KTM can do for half the cost. But while the V-Strom is moderation personified, its development history is anything but dull—it may have ended up as everyman’s motorcycle, but at its heart, it was a machine built to conquer the racetracks of the world.
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On Episode 107 of The Lowdown Radio Show we speak to Michael Hopkins, president of an industrial design firm with longstanding ties to Harley-Davidson in the brand’s formative years. Hopkins also worked at the Motor Company for nearly 16 years, and our conversation stretches from the design of the Coke bottle to Willie G. Davidson’s Hail Mary play that dragged Harley-Davidson out of the doldrums 50 years ago.

Well, couldn’t they use another miracle right about now. Like a lightweight introductory machine to bring new blood into the brand. Like the Street was supposed to do, but failed. And wouldn’t you know it, Hopkins worked on the Street when he was at Harley-Davidson. Why was it a flop? What did he learn from the experience? We also talk planned obsolescence—the founder of his company is heavily associated with the term, speaking of which, did you know that rival manufacturers colluded to ensure that lightbulbs died an early death? This and more on The Lowdown Radio Show.
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This week on the Lowdown Radio Show managing editor Zac Kurylyk chews the fat with Neil Graham about the ritual of the first spring ride. For Zac, it's often a miserable ride in gruesome weather, while Neil focused on his travails with gusty winds and frigid girlfriends. Rarely did the trips—or relationships—go well, though both confess that early season jaunts were not without merit, proving the old dictum correct: Why did the man beat his head against the wall? Because it felt so good when he stopped. Then Zac recounts a harrowing tale of attempting to fix the heated grips on his WR250 and Neil looks forlornly to the heavens and asks why, despite having cleaned the carburetors on his Ducati, it remains a cantankerous cold starter. All this, and Zac’s mindset in anticipating his first ride after a serious crash late last season.
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This week something a little different. US 129 just may be the most famous motorcycle road in the world. We know it as the Tail of the Dragon. Three-hundred-something curves in 11 miles. Today we talk to Darryl Cannon, the photographer behind Killboy.com, the company who takes all those roadside photos that you can buy once you get back home, to prove that you rode the road. Darryl’s the first to admit it’s an odd business. But think of this, for 25 years thousands of motorcyclists have ridden by his lens. Is anyone better equipped to discuss everything from riding technique to the trends and fads we motorcyclists follow more than Darryl? And if you’re planning to ride the Dragon this season, we get his tips on when to go and how best to give ourselves a fighting chance of coming out the other end. This and more on the Lowdown Radio Show.
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