Episode 117 is the first of a two-parter featuring Mario Winkelman, the founder of LDComfort. People in the long distance riding community have known about Mario and his underwear for a long time, and now you’ll get to know more that you ever thought you needed to know about what comes between your butt and the seat – or what should, at any rate. Full disclosure: I’m a firm believer in Mario’s products and own several pairs of his butt-based base layers.
Mario’s episode is a bit old, and it’s totally my fault. During the MOA Rally in Lebanon, Tennessee, in June 2019, I had digital files coming at me from a number of sources – audio, video and photo. I diligently backed everything up as quickly as I could in case of computer-based disaster, but unfortunately I wasn’t as organized as I could have been. Mario’s episode ended up on the wrong drive and I only recently found it when trying to restore data from another failed external hard drive.
Episode 117 features a touching motorcycle story Mario told, one spanning generations of riders as well as the Atlantic Ocean. It’s such a good story we decided to feature it separately from the rest of our discussion. You’ll be able to learn about LDComfort and their products in Episode 118.
Because Mario’s story is only about 15 minutes long, there’s more news in 117 than usual. We hope you feel that makes up for the shortened news segment in Episode 116! 118 has a normal news segment.
While a lot has happened in the last two weeks, the biggest news in the motorcycle industry right now is the retirement of Valentino Rossi, arguably the biggest star in MotoGP. We predicted this move back in Episode 112, but it’s still a little sad to see it come true. Have no fear, though, The Doctor will be back in 2022 as the shotcaller for his own MotoGP racing team, which apparently will feature his younger brother as one of its riders. From this day forward, we will no longer wish people Godspeed, we will wish them Valespeed. Valespeed to you all!
Do you remember Ryan Fortnine from Episode 66? They’ve got a new video out discussing the Snell “double standard” for 2020 and really, the validity of the Snell certification in general. You get a bit of our analysis of helmet standards as well, but be sure to check out previous news items about helmet certification standards in Episode 52 and webBikeWorld’s complete guide to Snell 2020. Now watch the Fortnine video right here!
BMW Motorrad also made the news with the release of two full-on baggers based on the R 18 platform. The R 18 B (for Bagger) and Transcontinental are clearly and obviously aimed at the US cruiser-buying public, but done in a way only BMW can do. The bikes are practically bursting with technology – but only time will tell if it will be enough to convert any riders.
Both Triumph and Aprilia are coming out with new bikes; Triumph is getting into off-road motorcycles in a big way and Aprilia has resurrected the Tuareg with a new model built around its 660cc parallel twin engine.
The Jetsons may have failed to deliver on the flying car concept, but that doesn’t mean nobody is working on a flying motorcycle. Yeah. A FLYING MOTORCYCLE!!
With the US seemingly headed towards a huge bump in its EV fleet by 2050, you might be seeing electric motorcycle popping up in all sorts of places – like the new movie Snake Eyes, in which what appears to be an Energica electric motorcycle has a starring role. You can also find out about new EVs from Davinci Tech (China) and BREKR (Netherlands).
Thanks to webBikeWorld for funneling news our way; be sure to check out their website for the latest motorcycle news and in-depth product reviews!
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