2021 Motorcycles That Disappointed? What’s next for 2022? | HSLS S05E01 

Don’t forget to check out Motul here! rvz.la/3tpQ3Bp

I love it when you have Lance on! As a 53 year old rider, I appreciate the wisdom and context he offers.

I watch zach and his daily rider which is one of my favourite RU-vid series (love to see KTM 1290 adv s on the daily rider). Really enjoyed this to👌

Wow, the Honda Navi conversation was sooooo heated and such an amazing Rabi hole. The Honda Navi was my first bike and helped me pass my motorcycle intermediate riding course and get my license. I loved that bike. I commend Lance for knowing his comment was going to be a lightning rod. I hope he gets a chance to ride one for a day and go pick up a pizza and some sides ....which I've done and loved how much for on that bike. I have a scram 411 now but I wish I could have kept the Navi too. Lance "lightning, puppy kicker" Oliver is still an amazing journalist and wealth of knowledge in my mind but... I'll be giving him the side eye in the future

What I love about the really early motorcycles (and cars) are all the different technical solutions manufacturer came up with in a time when they still hadn't figured out what works best.

Finally back! Felt like forever here during the winter!

Frankly, I’m just glad the Meteor 350 got a shoutout. Is my tiny first-time bike fast? Nope. Loud? Nope. Impressive to third parties? Unlikely. But it is fun, easy to handle, inexpensive, great to learn on for mods and basic maintenance, and pretty to boot. I love it, and I’m OK with that.

I want to chime in about the Navi. I have an e-bike that hits over 30 mph but I still bought a Navi for urban transport. The problem with e-bikes including the super73 is the anxiety of leaving it anywhere, even when it’s locked up. With the Navi you can park it and not worry as much when it comes to theft.

Love this podcast. I'm a new listener but long time watcher of the channel. I'm glad there's a quality motorcycle oriented show out there. Sorry I can't leave a review on the Apple podcast section. Apple is the devil.

I have owned a bike with a scrub (drum) brake in front. I bought a basket case chopper triumph that was based on a 59 triumph twin with a welded rigid frame. I had a machinist bring the front end back to stock length though it held no oil. Locating original body parts was out of the question so it wore Harley style hinged fender and fat bob gas tank with long fishtail pipes and it ran on a magneto. It was dangerous at any speed but lots of fun when it wasn't blowing pistons. It had a bright metallic metallic yellow /pearlescent paint on the body and frame. I guess I'm that old. This happened in 2002 or so in San Diego.

Kept jumping forward 5 min at a time, and halfway through gave up that this will ever address the actual title of the episode... and signing out.

I am so excited for Season 5 - I love this show/podcast both on my daily drive to/from work and when I’m in the garage staring at my bike wishing I was out riding. Thank you Zach and Spurgeon for making life better with this show! And thank you, Motul, for keeping my life lubricated

absolutely agree about triumph needing a 400cc-500cc bike that looks like a classic british twin. my cousin wants to get a bike someday and she loves my t169 tridebt and that vintage look but the pow3er scares her a bit not to mention the cist. i bought a 2000 legend tt last year and she was drooling over the street twin but the price was just way too much for her to get started on. she wants a bike she can ride to work with and take moderate highway speends and would go nuts for a vespa if it was affordable at the larger highway able displacement but a cheap little bonnie would change her mind.

I'm glad you brought up MotoAmarica, Josh Herrin is the Valentino of American road racing with his personality. He just picked up a Ducati ride for 2022 for Daytona and MotoAmarica.

Happy to see Lance being expert not only in bikes - the only one here with decent webcam resolution 😂👍

I know it's not necessarily a subject for your core listenership, but as long as you mention MotoAmerica, King of the Baggers deserves a nod if for no other reason that it brings in additional viewers/demographics.

you guys crack me up!! :)) great podcast, great conversation, awesome insights, tips and stories... I'm watching older episodes, hoping to one day have them all crossed... and YES Spurgeon, Triumph listened! ahahah

I love that the thumbnail is the now-infamous Panigale test.

I loved the IMS format this year. I rode five bikes in a day! The parking lot, with all the riders, riding everything, was great

Season 5 episode 1 went as smoothly as expected. 🤣😅🤣😅🤣😅 Keep up the great work

OMG! Kudos to you guys for mentioning the horrible Cat bike. I was there, at the Clayton, NC facility walking thru the parking lot to the stands when Mikey backed the bike out of the trailer, leaky brake lines and all. UGH!!!

New drinking rule: Every time you wish Spurg would STFU and let other people talk, do a shot. Made this episode much more bearable. ;)

I got a BMW R18 Classic in 2021 (test rider, got it for $16,500). I think yall maybe were too harsh on it, love the bike. I've maintained the bike is great for a lower price, they simply priced it too high

I trump all these guys with hours watched. I binged listened/watched on here at work 10hrs+ a day until caught up to here and the past few new episodes… where’s my shirt?😂

Really glad Zack brought up the R7. That was easily my biggest disappointment of 2021. Based on my experience with the MT07 and my desire to build an FZ07r from scratch, I thought the R7 would be perfect and was ready to put a deposit down. Then I rode one. The ergos spoil the bike and I rode an RS660 right after wondered why Yamaha couldn't have done that. I loved my R3 and wanted one with more power. Instead, I got an R6 with no power.

I’m probably close to Lance’s age and I agree that the Navi is the dumbest thing I’ve seen since the R18. Both bikes answer questions that nobody asked.

Always excited to listen to your podcast!

Hey Guys, I was bored and decided to re-visit this episode.... It is even better (as in "even greater") the second time around! What a chemistry you bring to motorcycle journalism: entertaining, informative, provocative, fun - in short: brilliant. "Grouplets" ...."Life is a podcast".... Honda Navi tattoo...! Looking forward to the next time you guys get together and discuss 2022 to 2023. Thank you.

Hey guys!! Great first episode and really appreciated the in-depth conversation even if it took 2 hours to reach no conclusion hahaha Question for both: Track, daily, crash. For Zack; the dumb and dumber hog, the Cake kalk, or Battle toad. For Spurg; dad's Vstrom (+ subsequent voice messages / calls), the 1901 triumph, or the Honda Navi... Have fun!! =D

At my age, I appreciate Mr Oliver's description...superzooter. Awesome!

Another great podcast. For me the death of the winter motorcycle show is sad. It got me thru the winter. And even worse, you can't go into the dealership and look at bikes because they are empty. It would be nice to buy a T7, but you can't find them, and fortunately I at least got to sit on one before the pandemic at IMS. When they moved outside, they moved two states away. There was more competition this summer. If like for both seasons to be covered. Summer and Winter I also fell in love with the Africa Twin, HD Bronx, and 3 different Husqvarna 701s.

Great show can't wait for the next one

Yeeeeeah! New episode! Woooooop woooooooooooop!!!!

Genuinely so happy to see this in my sub box

About damn time!

As I watch you on RU-vid only I have no measure but I am up there, great stuff

They don't actually start talking about motorcycles of 21 and 22 until 43 minutes in. The first 43 minutes are just chit chat about things that really have nothing to do with the headlined subject. I found that to be a waste of time. All of it. It is just people I don't know talking about things I have no reason to care about. At 43 minutes when they actually start talking about the subject, it is very good.

The tiny dog got the upvote by itself

So happy to see season 5 kick off!!! You guys rock! 🤙🏼😎. Thanks for the entertainment and knowledge on my long commute home in the middle of the night during the cold NY winters. Currently ride a Harley road glide all set up for aggressive riding but, have me Jonesin for something completely new. Ninja 1000sx? Ducati multi? Tracer gt? So many options and love all of your knowledge on these machines. I like to tour but also rip on back roads. Hard to find the perfect balance without making sacrifices. Any recommendations?

A great start for the year. You make it so much fun to learn more about a great sport. What is the difference between a dual sport and an ADV?

I'm a motogp fan and it might be interesting if yall did do an episode about it, maybe at the end of the season this year and you could run down the year across the episode. Very excited for this season, Quat is a great rider but Pecco was comin into his own at the end of 21 season so it feels like this season will really be a battle

I live in Massachusetts and that 50cc scooter law is all of Mass. When I would come home on college break I would hop around town on one for my summer job it was great !!

Good show im looking forward to riding my Tenere come summer as i finally got it in December and its been -20 f here in minnesota

Great shows and good to see you all back. KTM motorcycle are awesome

I got my motorcycle license on a GN 125 about 3 years ago. Sweet little bike. A little underpowered compared to my 2022 KTM 1290 SAS though which is the best bike that came out this year by the way 🙂

Love this podcast; been watching and listening since the beginning, talking around the coffee table. I ride a '95 honda magna that I got as my first bike back in 2016, and I've been searching for an upgrade to something different for a while nowin the middle weight adv segment, but recently I discovered the existence (though not in the US market) of a honda x-adv, 750cc adventure scooter which I think could do better in the US than their nc750x dct model. What are your thoughts? Could we ask honda of the potential for this?

Just read your article about the gn125 loved it

Great start to the new season. I can not wait for that new Tiger 1200. High Hopes.

I think the Navi has a chance because it looks like a smaller cheaper grom. I owned a grom and I got more attention on that than any other bike I own. And young people who know nothing about bikes happen to know what a grom is. Car people seem to know what a grom is when they think all sport bikes are a ninja. Women think the grom is cute. There's two big aspects of it. It's small and not scarry, non bike people had no interest in my bigger bikes because the power and weight of it. And second it's the on the cheaper side, often 1 to 2 k cheaper than a normal 300. E bikes are cool and I do think I will see a lot of them. Small bikes do have more range and power and you don't have to wait to recharge them. So it's a mix of what you want and need. Also once you invest in one bike it's easier to upgrade, so if you have a small interest in bikes you may want a gas bike over a e bike.

Best podcast there is !!

It's good to see a bike that will bring new riders to our sport.

1.23 - The Side-by-Side market has no doubt dipped into the two wheel market. Most smaller Midwest towns in my area have made the side-by-side street legal.

The Honda NT1100 may be an interesting development for 2022. Good for Honda to getting back in the sport touring game since nobody really takes the NC750 seriously.

I’d like to see smaller displacement HD revolution motors but not in a sportster, in the Bronx and a reimagined cost reduced new version of a mini-road king

I'll admit I saw the length of the podcase (2:15:17) and thought "WHAT? TWO PLUS FRIGGIN' HOURS?" but fortunately since the Tampa Bay Philly football game was such a joke, I figured what the heck, I'll listen to them and am glad I did.

Hi, love this channel from Cape Town, South Africa. Please have a segment or episode on moto camping. There was only one posted with Lemmy and Spurge. Appeciated.

I agree with Lance regarding the Honda Navi, I think most young people understand that motorcycles are dangerous and having to go get a license just to operate it is a major barrier to entry. Electric bicycles are seen as significantly safer (even though the statistics don't necessarily support that assumption); if motorcycling is really going to make a comeback in the US it will have to disguise itself as "super" cycling with electric motors or other powertrains disguising itself as the greener, safer way to commute. As soon as it's seen as a motorcycle by the US public it will not be viewed as "safe"

Question for Zack - While you are looking into the Honda hybrid scooter, could you look into the Yamaha Fazzio hybrid as well? The Fazzio competes with Vespa for good looks but it doesn’t seem like we’ll ever see it in North America.

This is likely a better topic for Ari’s Shop Manual segment, but I would be curious to see a discussion on BMW’s recent decision to apparently discourage owner performed maintenance and repair by deciding to no longer sell service information to nondealers? As a 15 year BMW owner, I have now removed BMW from my short list for a replacement for my 2007 K1200LT. I was leaning towards a K1600GA, but with my nearest dealer being 148 miles away, having to return to a dealer for service is simply not tenable.

I have watched every episode of Highside/Lowside since the very beginning. So add up all the episodes and their lengths, then you will have the amount of time I have watched/listened.

Just here to add a shout out to Rich Oliver's Mystery School. I've been a couple times now attending the class with riders of all skill levels. I may not subscribe to Rich's political views, but the school is a great experience whether you're a complete novice or advanced off road rider (and there are different levels of classes offered for those that have advanced beyond the basic course.) I've attended with people that haven't been on bikes for a decade and just want to get back in the sport and learning levels of control you wouldn't at the typical street course to riders that have been riding off road for decades. Besides getting personalized instruction throughout the days, you also get to have a lot of fun whether you're crashing every corner, or leading out front (until Rich or one of the instructors drifts past looking like they're out for a relaxing Sunday ride.) It's even better if you can bring some friends, and leave your ego at home.

Pretty sure that the 50cc scooter regulations apply to all Massachusetts. Whenever you see someone riding one, you can pretty much safely bet that they have lost their license for “some reason”. I’m keeping my eyes on the scooter marker, “just in case”.

Honda Navi🤔❓ It's a step up from a traditional scooter🛵 but if you have to go through the same cycle as getting a traditional motorcycle like taking the MSF COURSE. I'm thinking of 💰 wasted. I went through the journey of wanting a scooter🛵 but I also wanted to travel on the freeway as well then finding out that I had to get a different class added to my regular drivers license. I realized if I was going to spend all that, that I might as well get a traditional motorcycle. The DesertX is surely pretty without a doubt‼️

Thai company GPX makes a small displacement retro bike, the Legend 250 Twin. No idea about the quality, but they do sell them in Japan. Cost is US$2500

You should do the top listeners also for youtube. I bingged all episodes in the last 3 months😁 so, i listened it all😂😂

The primary limiting factor on Honda's minimoto sales out where I live is availability. If they produced more and sent them out they would sell like CRAZY. Western Washington for reference.

Why does Zach have to do this podcast from his coat room?

So happy you are back!!! I am the pine barrens guy who lived in sweden. I moved to Austria! Want to meet up at the ktm factory? Also KTMs are the best. I need a revzilla t-shirt to show my pride on my superduke!!!

I always think it's funny when people think bikes like the Navi won't do well when you look how well things like the Groms and Zs have done. I think they will sell well considering that price point.

And how about youtube??? I spent 12 hours of my shift at work listing to you guys??.

If you had no idea of today’s motorcycles I think starting from the beginning was just as thrilling if not more thrilling than today because you were doing things that you could never do before

If y’all have not done an episode on best motorcycle (in every class/style) for your buck, i think that would be a good topic.

Am I the only one who thinks a hybrid drivetrain would be a total gamechanger for the lightweight adventure space? The battery wouldn't have to be large or heavy because the engine would be constantly charging it. Imagine a Kawasaki Versys-X 400 hybrid. Parallel twin capable of highway speeds and then some at the expense of some down low torque.... enter the electric motor. Torque to climb at low speeds or steer with the back wheel, and 80 all day on the highway with very little vibration. Keep the wet weight under 400 lbs. and they'd never sell another KLR ever again. Which is exactly why we may never see it.

People, you do not have to have an iPhone to have an iTunes account, so I’m calling it BS.

Good show.... a little meandering.... Motorcycle industry in the USA needs to rethink how they reach out to new riders, or convert non-riders to riders. They need to find the activities that young people participate in and market the fun/joy/coolness/ etc of motorcycle riding there. The existing rider pool is going to maintain the current (last 10 years as Lance pointed out) level of motorcycle purchasing. Converting non-riders to new riders is what is needed.

Challenge. Ride the Navi, 900 miles, 6 states

Started listening last week but had to do somerhig else 1 week later i'm finishing up & yeah harley did drop those "sport touring" bikes u mentioned but not that sporty !

Lance, what are your reservations about the Moto Guzzi Mandello V100?

The navi is kinda goofy but not as goofy as the ruckus!

I think lance is failing to think of the college students looking for a cheap way to commute to campus. I know many people who have bought mopeds in college to commute with. Often the guys will worry mopeds are girly and if they get one anyway they’ll look for one that appears cooler or goes fast enough to require a moto license. These students would probably love the Navi as a cooler option to a moped. On the other hand, many of the girls I know are often intimidated by the size of motorcycles and don’t want to bother learning to shift, so they happily get a moped, but tend to leave them behind after college. If they had an option like the Navi, they might get a foot in the door with an entry level bake that’s small and doesn’t need to be shifted. But now they’re a motorcycle rider and perhaps they’ll stick around and get a full sized bike.

It would be cool to see you guys go over adds of people trying to sell bikes. Like what ever people send in on the bike they wana sell.

Honda Navi. If it was the last bike on Earth I'd rather walk. Be careful what you wish for. In your motorcycle fantasy where the Navi will get everybody riding bikes it will become a place like where I'm stuck now, Cambodia. Here the streets are awash with motorcycles but nobody cares about bikes, they're just passionless transport. When I sort out my Djokovic-like visa situation I will return to Australia and joyously throw a leg over my glorious R9T. Love your show, I've been missing real bikes and English bike banter for weeks.

I notice a big push on the Navi, but a Monkey or Grom makes more sense to me. Not a fan of a 10 inch wheel. Great show.

The bike I have now is the first bike without a drum break.

108.7 See BLooper....Lol. iT Was Funny & Lovely.

Hi am haven't ride for 20 years, and i wan to go back to it. I like the adventure bikes, can you recommended a good adventure bike to be good for commuting us well Many thanks

Put that Navi engine in the Ruckus, Honda!!! Bring us a larger displacement "standard" Ruckus. That's what we really want.

That’s not fair I’ve watched every pod cast on RU-vid since the first 1

How about Husqvarna Svartpilen/Vitpilen 401 when talking about beginner bikes? Will we ever get some Husqvarna love on RevZilla? :) Would have loved to hear your view of the Svartpilen 701 as a Daily Rider, but too late for that now I guess :/

03:00 unprecedented Motorcycling journalism and figure heads for the sport. Stay gangster.

Im going to have to rewatch all the old episodes and give you guys a list of everything you said could be be its own podcast. Lance is back, noice! Spurge looking rather gaunt this season, everything ok? Spurg always remember that Lance is silently correcting your grammar in his head. I think Triumph is skipping the entry level retro because of R.E.. Let's be honest the R.E.'s look like the Triumphs, offer smaller CC engines and affordable prices. Why go up against an established brand? If you want the Triumph name buy the Enfield and change the name tags unless someone sees the registration they'll never know. I want your lives for a day where I get paid to go to exotic locales to ride and review motorcycles. I think the Sportster S could still be a success. People don't buy HD's for the performance and ride quality. They buy an HD for the name and the look and the Sportster S has both. IMO the jury is still out on the Sportster S. Could be the Bronx isn't gone for good either maybe HD will do the Sportster BX. Yeah we definitely need a Dirt Glide - RR edition lol. See ya in 2 weeks!

Kawasaki Versys full coverage from progressive is only $200/year for me, paid yearly up front. (Was definitely a factor in choosing the bike. Some others, even older cheaper bikes, were greater than $200 per month, which makes little sense to me.)

I normally watch HSLS while riding on my exercise bike. Let me tell you, this episode took a lot out of me! I was 2kgs lighter at the end of the episode than at the start of the podcast. You're bang on about the current generation of bikes being so super capable. I took my commuter R3 for an extended run on Saturday due to not using it much for commuting as I'm working from home. For what is considered by most to be an entry level machine, it doesn't half handle well and delivers what power it has in a fun and enjoyable way. We're so blessed these days that such a basic bike can deliver such an enjoyable riding experience. At no stage in the journey did I wish that I was on my Street Triple. Speaking of Triumph, I also wish they'd delivered a Daytona 300/400. In my mind, there's still room for another bike in that segment to rival the pure sportsbike end where the RC390 kind of stands alone in my opinion. Over here (NZ), Triumph do have a learner-legal 55hp Street Triple, but I'm personally not a fan of the power delivery of a bigger engine that's been restricted to fit the allowable power limits. I much prefer the character of a smaller engine that naturally makes that sort of power without having its top end artificially restricted. Thanks for the great content and keep up the good work!

you didnot say anything about the honda rebel?

1:33:00 This sentiment is the theme for modern motorcycles. As good as modern motorcycles are, most of them have completely missed the mark for what street riding, "normal" people need and want. The 2" of suspension travel on the Sportster isn't acceptable, no matter what the reason was for justifying it. And the lack of a proper windscreen on almost all the new motorcycles. As well as the lack of an overdrive gear on all the new motorcycles. Tight ratio 6 speed transmissions are not useful on the street for normal driving, and are only good on a race track or in high speed testing. 5th and 6th gear should be tall overdrive gears for all street legal motorcycles. And the tiny seats, and horrific ergonomics on sportbikes makes no sense, because most of these bikes are aimed at people riding primarily on the street. As well as the "Flat Plane" crankshafts that nobody ever wanted, which they decided to start installing, effectively ruining some of the best engines, like the Tiger 800 and the Speed Triple, which had perfect engines. And then you have the new Adventure Bikes with no overdrive gear, and a tiny windscreen, and most are really not very pleasant at 75mph due to horrific wind buffeting. There seems to be a major disconnect between what the engineers think people want, and what people actually want on the street. And people might not even know what they want, because they have never actually had a good motorcycle with the proper "street" features. I blame the big bike reviews, for constantly trying to reward the manufacturers for installing smaller and smaller parts, worse windshields, tighter gear ratios, higher revving engines, and other AWFUL design changes that lead to an extremely uncomfortable "street" riding experience. They need to start going in the opposite direction. More suspension travel, taller gear ratios, an overdrive gear, no more flat plane crankshaft, no more "race" ergonomics. No more horrific "alien spacecraft" body styling. No more slash cut side exit mufflers (See: Tracer, Yamaha). And no more tiny fuel tanks. Simple design changes could make much better "street" motorcycles.

Oh Gd this hurts. 1997 was yesterday. How about a ‘65 Super 90?

I'm kind of surprised nobody mentioned Triumph's intention to venture into the dirt bike market!

Do a review on yezdi 350....

I would have liked to hear Lance be able to finish his sentences without being screamed at by spurg...

I agree with Lance, the Navi is ridiculous.