Episodes
Wednesday Apr 27, 2022
Suzuki GSX-S1000GT + Rusty Mac of Aussie Backroads Moto Touring
Wednesday Apr 27, 2022
Wednesday Apr 27, 2022
Hello everyone and welcome once again to Motos and Friends, a weekly podcast brought to you by the editorial team at Ultimate Motorcycling.
In this week’s first segment Editor Don Williams brings us his thoughts on Suzuki’s eagerly awaited GSX-S 1000 GT… that’s the sport touring version of the company’s upright naked sport bike. Don has just returned from a successful two-day, 750-mile round trip on the GT and it seems that overall, he was quite impressed by the bike.
The second segment is the final one in our series from Brisbane, Australia. Associate Editor Teejay Adams and myself chatted with motorcycle adventurer Rusty Mac about his guided outback touring company Australian Backroads Motorcycle Touring. Rusty has been taking all-comers on day-trips for many years, and has now branched out into overnight trips as well. So if you’re perhaps interested in riding some of Australia’s roads less traveled, then Rusty is the guy to show you the best places to visit, and have the best experience.
We hope you enjoy this episode!
Check out the Suzuki GSX-S1000GT+ here
Rusty Mac and Australia Backroads Motorcycle Touring company website
Australian Backroads Motorcycle Touring Facebook page
Wednesday Apr 20, 2022
Wednesday Apr 20, 2022
Hello everyone and welcome once again to Motos and Friends—a weekly Podcast brought to you by the editorial team at Ultimate Motorcycling.
This week we go retro! We start off the first segment with Senior Editor Nic de Sena talking to us about the new Kawasaki Z650 RS. This retro-styled moto follows after the huge success of the Z900 RS, and it follows the same inspiration as its sibling. The KZ650 back I the seventies was a brilliant machine that combined relatively light weight and a motor that revved to the moon, so it quickly gained popularity and sold very very well. The new Z650 RS plays to the visual strengths of the original and certainly for me, the flawless emerald green, pinstriped paintwork, and the gold spoke-type wheels are very evocative of the original.
In the second segment, Neale Bayly continues his chat with Brian Slark—the man who helped bring Norton to the United States. Brian talks to Neale not just about his amazing career, but he also gives us some insight into the burgeoning motorcycle industry of the late sixties and early seventies in America. The rivalry between Triumph, Norton, and of course the other now extinct British brands such as BSA, AJS and Matchless was pretty fierce apparently, and Brian’s first hand witness account to the whole era is fascinating.
We hope you enjoy this episode!
Check out our review and pictures of the Kawasaki Z650RS here
Wednesday Apr 13, 2022
Tiger 1200 + ex-500cc GP racer, Aussie Paul Lewis
Wednesday Apr 13, 2022
Wednesday Apr 13, 2022
Hello friends—welcome once again to the Ultimate motorcycling podcast, Motos and er… Friends.
In the first segment this week, Editor Don Williams talks with Associate Editor Freeman Wood, who recently returned from Portugal and riding both the GT and Rally Pro versions of the all new Triumph Tiger 1200. The Gt version is more street-oriented than the Rally Pro, and if you’re in a quandary about which one interests you the most, Freeman’s comments may help clarify things.
In the second segment, I get to chat with ex-500cc Grand Prix racer, Paul Lewis. I met him once way back when—and he said to me “Arthur, you’ve got to understand, going fast on the racetrack is all about commitment.” No kidding.
In the early 80s, towards the end of Barry Sheene’s remarkable career, Paul burst on to the World Championship road race scene and caused quite the stir, setting pole position in his very first race at Donington Park.
Paul later raced at Daytona for several years running—including one year riding the John Britten Pre-cursor machine. Nowadays, Paul is a principal at Salt Motorcycles—a gorgeously retro, hand-built in Australia, café racer based on the KTM 300cc 2-stroke dirt bike motors. Fast and very light Salt Motorcycles must be an absolute blast to ride.
Paul is a real character; he’s raced against many of the absolute best from the GP heyday, and I loved catching up with him and hearing about some of the craziness of the past 500cc Grand Prix era.
I know you’ll absolutely love this episode.
Triumph Tiger 1200 Rally Pro Fast Facts Review
Salt Motorcycles, Brisbane, Australia
YouTube: Paul Lewis in 1983 Bathurst Western Underwriters 1000
Wednesday Apr 06, 2022
Ducati Streetfighter V2 + Brough Superior and Fred Drake
Wednesday Apr 06, 2022
Wednesday Apr 06, 2022
This week brings you a V-twin extravaganza! Well… that’s a bit of an exaggeration of course, but suffice it to say that in the first segment Nic de Sena talks to us about Ducati’s new Streetfighter V2—the one based on the Panigale V-Twin, not the V4. The twin cylinder motor is to some people the very essence of Ducati, and the Streetfighter with the latest generation V-twin motor proves that Ducati is still very much committed to it.
I recorded the second segment on our recent trip to Queensland, Australia. As you may know, the original Brough Superior motorcycles were first manufactured in England in the 15 years or so before the outbreak of the second World War. At the time, the Brough was so exquisitely made that George Brough claimed them to be “the Rolls-Royce of motorcycles” and indeed, they really were. The Brough Superior name was purchased a few years ago, and a French design company developed a new version of the Brough based on the original ethos of innovation and spectacular quality. Serial production in very limited quantities started in 2016.
Fred Drake is the importer and distributor of Brough motorcycles in Australia, and I was fascinated to visit the Brisbane showroom and chat with him about the motorcycles that he has such passion for. I urge you to visit Fred’s website and take a look, you’ll find it at Brough Superior Australia. I promise you won’t be disappointed!
Wednesday Mar 30, 2022
Suzuki GSX-S1000 + Brian Slark with Neale Bayly
Wednesday Mar 30, 2022
Wednesday Mar 30, 2022
Hello listeners and welcome once again to Motos and Friends, a weekly Podcast brought to you by Ultimate Motorcycling.
This week we bring you the newly updated Suzuki GSX-S1000. Suzuki has updated their naked liter-bike upright with several fairly significant upgrades, and Senior Editor Nic de Sena tells us all about it.
In the second segment, Editor at Large Neale Bayly sits down at the Barber Advanced Design Center at the Barber museum in Birmingham Alabama, and chats with Brian Slark, the gentleman who – among other things – brought Norton motorcycles to America. This is the first part of three, and gives and introduction to Brian and how he got started in motorcycling.
We hope you enjoy this episode!
Wednesday Mar 23, 2022
Enfield Interceptor 650 + Robert Pandya of the Buffalo Chip at Sturgis
Wednesday Mar 23, 2022
Wednesday Mar 23, 2022
This week, Associate Editor Teejay Adams and I get to ride a Royal Enfield Interceptor 650 for our travels around Brisbane, Australia, thanks to the team at Motorcycle Holdings who arranged it.
In Royal Enfield tradition, the Interceptor 650 features the larger twin-cylinder engine in a retro styled package with a ton of charisma. It turned out to be really fun ride—we were pleasantly surprised by how it performed.
In the second segment, I get to chat with one of my longest-standing industry buddies, Robert Pandya.
Robert was recently named CEO of the Buffalo Chip Campground in Sturgis, South Dakota. The legendary Chip is the central part of the Sturgis rally every year, and with the redoubtable energy of Robert Pandya, I expect to see the attendance grow exponentially. We’ll see. Robert’s a fun guy to talk to; I’m pretty sure you’ll enjoy this episode!
Thursday Mar 17, 2022
Harley Bagger Race Bike with Nic de Sena
Thursday Mar 17, 2022
Thursday Mar 17, 2022
It’s been quite a while since Harley-Davidson was involved in road racing, but thanks to the newly conceived King of the Baggers class, The Motor Company is back on paved circuits.
Last year the series had less than a handful of rounds, and to their credit, the Harley bagger, piloted by the very capable Kyle Wyman, took the Championship win.
Needless to say, turning a bagger into a real race machine wasn’t easy. The Harley-Davidson effort consisted of a group of volunteers at the factory who pooled a considerable amount of their time and knowledge in a combined effort to create, develop, and prepare a motorcycle that could race with real credibility.
The machine itself is amazing, as you might imagine. And for this week’s Podcast, Senior Editor Nic de Sena chats to us about some of the race bike secrets, and of course his ride on Wyman’s actual factory race bike at Inde Motorsports Ranch in Arizona.
This year, the Moto America King of the Baggers Championship has been extended to seven rounds. They’ve already raced at Daytona Speed Week for the first round, and it’s going to be REAL interesting to see how the remaining rounds shake out.
We hope you enjoy this episode!
Thursday Mar 10, 2022
KTM SD Evo + Herrera Racing Nitrous Hayabusa
Thursday Mar 10, 2022
Thursday Mar 10, 2022
We’ve got a high performance episode coming to you this week on Motos and Friends!
My name is Arthur Coldwells, and in the first segment Nic de Sena tells us about KTM’s new Super Duke Evo. There’s a big upgrade in the suspension and electronics departments, and Nic had a chance to ride the bike on the street and on track at Buttowillow Raceway in California.
In the second segment, I chat with tuner and drag racer Augustine Herrera of Herrera Racing. Suzuki has just launched the 3rd generation Hayabusa, and although Herrera hasn’t yet had a chance to work with the new bike, his results with the first two generations of the model are astonishing. His son currently has the fastest Hayabusa in the country. It puts out around 600 horsepower and ran a 6.6 seconds standing quarter at 210 MPH. Holy moly.
I hope you enjoy this episode!
Check out Herrera Racing on Facebook
Wednesday Mar 02, 2022
BMW G310R + Why We Ride’s Bryan Carroll
Wednesday Mar 02, 2022
Wednesday Mar 02, 2022
Hello everyone and welcome to this week’s Motos and Friends—a weekly podcast from Ultimate Motorcycling and brought to you by the all new Suzuki Hayabusa. Widely regarded as the Ultimate Sportbike, the third-generation Hayabusa by Suzuki melds two generations of refinement, resulting in the quickest, most technologically advanced and aerodynamic Hayabusa yet. Head into your local Suzuki dealer now, or visit suzukicycles.com to learn more.
My name is Arthur Coldwells.
This week Associate Editor Kelly Callan talks to Teejay and myself about the brilliant BMW G 310 R. Kelly was commuting on it recently, but found she so enjoyed riding the BMW that she ended up taking it on some fun rides at the weekend too.
In the second segment I chat with Bryan Carroll, the idea and producer of the hit documentary Why We Ride from a few years back. Bryan is a successful TV and film producer, and not surprisingly, he has evolved his much acclaimed Why We Ride project into a much bigger idea—visit it at Motovational.org and you’ll see The annual Ride to the Quail, plus a whole lot more. Motovational recently raised over $20,000 for the Ride for Kids pediatric brain tumor foundation, and as you might assume, Bryan hasn’t stopped there.
I hope you enjoy this episode!
Wednesday Feb 23, 2022
Harley Road/Street Glide STs + Classic Avenue and Nick Smith
Wednesday Feb 23, 2022
Wednesday Feb 23, 2022
Welcome once again to Motos and Friends, a Podcast by the editorial team at Ultimate Motorcycling, and brought to you by the all-new Suzuki Hayabusa. Your ultimate ride awaits—check out the exciting new Hayabusa at Suzukicycles.com, or of course go see it in person at your local Suzuki dealer.
This week, our featured moto is from The Motor Company—Harley-Davidson. Nice de Sena gives us his thoughts on the new, slightly sportier ST models of the Street and Road Glide touring machines. These are directly influenced by west coast custom culture, and offer a really cool departure from the typical touring bikes.
In the second segment, I chat with Nick Smith of Classic Avenue, a California-based auctioneer of some really nice motorcycles and cars. Nick originally came from over the pond and worked for some years with Bonham’s auctions, so his standards are extremely high. Looking over the website there are some truly drool-worthy bikes up for auction. Nick gives us his thoughts on the market in general, and why he believes his way of doing things makes all the difference.
We hope you enjoy this episode!