by Bret Tkacs
Discussions and interviews between Bret Tkacs and ADV riders, travelers, Patreon fans, and industry experts.
Language
🇺🇲
Publishing Since
3/3/2022
Email Addresses
1 available
Phone Numbers
0 available
January 12, 2025
Motorcycle expert Bret Tkacs and guest Bill explore the pros and cons of 19" versus 21" wheels for off-road riding, revealing how tire size impacts performance and handling for riders of different physiques.
July 16, 2024
TRAIL BRAKING: Expert Tips for Mastering Throttle and Brake Control Guest: Peter Shimm Episode Summary: Join us for an engaging and informative discussion with Peter Shimm, an experienced rider, as we explore the intricate world of trail braking techniques for street riders. In this episode, we emphasize the importance of blending throttle and brake controls to smooth transitions and stabilize suspension, showcasing the critical role trail braking plays with enhancing safety and handling in unpredictable street riding scenarios. Trail braking isn't just for the racetrack—it's a vital safety tool that every rider should have in their toolkit. Whether you’re navigating winding roads of the mountains or the open stretches of the plains, introducing trail braking early on can be a game-changer. Peter and I dive into real-life examples and discuss how this technique can transform your approach to turns, ensuring you're always in control and never caught off guard. Full Transcript: 0:00:15 - Bret Tkacs Welcome to Around the Wheel with Bret Tkacs. This time we're talking with Peter Shimm, a 13-year veteran of riding and a relatively new adventure rider at two and a half years in the adventure world. He rides a 1200 GS from 2017. And we have a fantastic topic coming up today. And, Peter, why don't I let you introduce how we got to this topic? 0:00:40 - Peter Shimm Well, Bret, thanks for doing this. I am a huge fan boy of your videos and I am particularly very, very happy that you branched out with your new venture on YouTube. One of your recent topics was trail braking. I think it was a taped segment that you made in New Zealand or somewhere down under. It was really really good and got a very, very positive response in the comment section. One of the things you touched on in that talk really resonated with me. You talked a little bit about blending the throttle and the brake. Blending the brake, but blending the controls, which is something that I learned from Lee Parks and his Total Control course, and it's a technique that I just completely buy into. It's just it's made a huge difference in my riding. But yet, besides Lee Parks, you never, ever hear anybody talk or advocate that technique, and when you brought it up in your trail braking talk it really got my interest. It apparently also got the interest of a lot of people who watched that video because in the comments section it just set off a firestorm of controversy. It was really really interesting some of the discussion that took place below in the comments section. I really would love to go into that specific topic deeper with you because I've just found it to be such a fantastic way to smooth the transition from deceleration to acceleration and the way it just smooths out your suspension and it doesn't upset the suspension, so I'd really love for you to go into that in a deeper way. 0:02:35 - Bret Tkacs Let's definitely dive into that. I taught the Total Control stuff. Lee and I have known each other since before his book ever came out initially, and I also know Nick Ienatsch, and both those guys take a position on either side of me. Nick Ienatsch is far more into the separation of the braking and the throttle, which is a great way to trail brake. However, it requires a level of smoothness that often riders lack. And Lee Parks takes the other side of that. He likes very significant overlap of that braking and that blending, both that throttle and that braking. And again, also, that is a you know if you've done the course. I'm guessing you've done his level two if you've gotten into that. That it's also a fairly high skillset. But one of the things both of these guys have is a background in racing. They both spend a lot of time on the racetrack and although both of them advocate street riding and they use their trail braking methods to the street, they weren't developed from and for specifically street riders,
May 12, 2024
TALKING SUSPENSION: AN IN-DEPTH DISCUSSION OF MAKING YOUR MOTORCYCLE RIGHT FOR YOU Guest: Hal Massey, an engineer and ADV rider. Episode Summary: Join us as we unravel the complexities of electronic suspension systems in modern adventure motorcycles with our guest, engineer and rider Hal, who brings his fresh experience with a Triumph Tiger 900 into the mix. We will explore how the evolution of suspension technology has led us from traditional manual setups to sophisticated computer-controlled systems that offer a variety of settings, even through intuitive pictorial interfaces. We examine how these advancements have impacted both novice and seasoned riders, and I share my own transition from manual to electronic suspension, including insights into aftermarket versus factory-installed options. Full Transcript: 0:00:15 - Bret Tkacs Welcome back to Around the Wheel podcast. My name is Bret Tkacs. Today is one of my passion subjects. We're going to be talking about suspension, and not just suspension. We're going to be talking about electronic suspension and how that interacts, whether it's better or worse, and I'm going to let the details of that be left to Hal, who is our guest today talking about that. With that said, if you've never listened to one of these podcasts, this podcast is about riders who have questions. That's it. I don't try to bring on a bunch of experts. I'm not trying to bring anybody on that is really over the top. I just want regular riders, and occasionally I get emails that I just find fascinating and I'm very interested in responding. But rather than responding to that email and only having that person get the answer or go through the discussion to find a solution or an understanding, instead we record it right here on Around the Wheel. With that said, this is a non-funded podcast. The only thing that Christina and I do is we use funding from Patreon, those that support us on Patreon, to host this podcast. We do no advertising. We do nothing else on it, so that you can just take in the content that we're offering here today and, with that said, I want to introduce Hal. Hal sent me an email asking about some suspension questions, and that's what we're going to be talking about. So, Hal, why don't you pose that question to our listeners and let's have a talk! 0:01:44 - Hal Massey Yeah, so thanks, Bret. I have been watching as much adventure videos that I could possibly get my hands on and I gravitated towards Bret's material because he tends to have a scientific bent to the things he does. He's likely to pull out charts and graphs and justify things. That appeals to me. I have an engineering background. My particular questions started when I bought a new Triumph Tiger 900. And it has - I'm not even sure exactly what to call it, but it has - to me, my mind - it's got computer controlled rear suspension and that was my first run in with anything like that. I am suddenly presented with pictures. I'm setting up my suspension by selecting pictures on a screen. I started riding when I was 12 years old. I was blessed to grow up in the Southern California dirt bike scene in the decade of the seventies, which was awesome, and of course you know we were introduced to things like preload and compression and spring rates and you know it really threw me and to this day, right up to this current minute, I am still trying to figure out how the settings on my screens, you know, relate to something that's quantifiable and measurable on the suspension on my bike. That's how I got here and I figured you were a great resource, because I'm never going to own five different adventure bikes. I'm retired now. Yeah, I could use some help figuring this out. 0:03:20 - Bret Tkacs I think this is becoming more and more a topic for riders. Electronic suspension used to be just for high-end brands, expensive brands. I think BMW may have been the first for adventure bikes with their ESA they called it,...
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