Episode 123, in which we get into some movie magic with Justin Kell of Glory Motorworks

Welcome to Episode 123 of Chasing the Horizon, the podcast by, for and about motorcyclists that takes an in-depth look into the motorcycle industry in a way few other outlets bother to explore.

If you’ve ever wondered where the motorcycles in movies and TV shows come from, you can wonder no longer. It’s folks like Justin Kell and companies like his Glory Motorworks who supply the bikes for Hollywood.

Plus also Progressive commercials. This may be the thing I’m most jealous about – Justin met Flo! THE REAL FLO! Plus also Flo’s stunt rider, which is who you see here in the photo.

Anyway – Justin and his team have worked on a slew of movies you’ve probably seen, including the Tom Cruise sci-fi epic Oblivion, and I’ll let you hear Justin tell the story of the bikes they built for that film. They’ve also provided bikes for an Indiana Jones movie – fun story there, by the way – Free Guy, The Highwaymen, Marvel movies, and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (the US remake). When it comes to TV shows, we’re talking the WestWorld revival and The Mandalorian, so they’ve got that going for them. Two films they worked on we couldn’t chat about are Top Gun: Maverick and The Matrix Resurrections.

Get the details and check out the photos as well as connect with Glory Motorworks on the GMW website, Facebook or Instagram. You can also check out a video interview with Justin by Down the Highway.

In the news for this episode is a looming shortage of magnesium, the vast majority of which is produced in China. This doesn’t sound like it should be a big deal, but it is. We also get into what we all hope will be a permanent pause in the ongoing trade war affecting the US and the European Union with a definite positive effect for Harley-Davidson In case you’re wondering, the steel and aluminum (aluminium for our European friends) tariffs are at the root of things here.

For what it’s worth, Indian Motorcycles was never worried about the possible jump to a 56% import tariff on motorcycles over 800cc scheduled to take effect on December 1, 2021 but now “on pause” according to regulators.

In new bike news, we’ve got -finally- Husqvarna’s Norden 901 and an interesting and possibly subscription-based development from Zero along with their new-for-2022 SR model. CORRECTION: In this news item, I say Triumph manufactures their motorcycles in India. The bulk (about 90%) of Triumph’s manufacturing is now done in THAILAND, not India. My apologies for this geographical error.

Ducati is releasing a new electric scooter, but it’s not what you think. No, instead of a motorcycle-like scooter, which they will definitely need to move through on their way to providing electric race bikes for MotoE, it’s one of those urban-mobility stand-up scooters you find lying on the sidewalks in many cities. Not at all where I thought they’d be going with less than two years to produce a pile of electric superbikes. At least we now know why Energica bowed out of MotoE, so that’s something. (Hint: They’ve moved on.)

Thanks to webBikeWorld for funneling news our way, and be sure to check out their website for the latest motorcycle news and in-depth product reviews.

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