How An Industrial Design Firm Shaped KTM's Motorcycles

How An Industrial Design Firm Shaped KTM's Motorcycles

From irrelevance in the mid-'90s to Europe's best-selling brand to near collapse--KTM surfed high on the waves yet nearly succumbed to the troughs. But there's far more to the story than COVID-era overproduction and camshafts with substandard metallurgy. Industry watcher Michael Uhlarik takes us through KTM's backstory with a special emphasis on its unusually intimate relationship with Kiska, the industrial design firm who shaped the motorcycles, the messaging, and the meaning of the brand. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

Here's The Story Behind Motorcycle Dealership Fees

Many things in life are perplexing, but none more than this: buy a pack of Sweet Caporal cigarettes from old Mrs. Harrison down at the general store, and she doesn’t charge a separate fee for handing them to you or for having them shipped to her store. And yet, when you buy a motorcycle, the price on the manufacturer’s website isn’t what we pay at a dealership, because it's subject to shipping fees and setup charges as separate line items. Why isn’t there just one price? The National Powersports Dealers Association is lobbying for just this. But, alas, it’s not as simple as it sounds. Longtime dealership man and NPDA board member Mark Sheffield joins us to untangle the bizarre and byzantine pricing practices of the motorcycle industry. All this on The Lowdown Radio Show. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

Forget Round The World—Ride To Work Instead

Have you noticed the price of fuel lately? Unless you’re living like the Unabomber, of course you have. And since most of you have a motorcycle or two in the shed, that most likely gets far better mileage than your car or truck, the time has come to save a little money and have a little fun. Just yesterday I took a 100-mile round trip to a car dealership for a new coolant reservoir. I stuffed it into my backpack like a high-schooler their homework, then wobbled off to a coffee shop to warm my numb hands. Did I mention it was 39 degrees? Our first guest this week knows all about pain. Duluth Minnesota’s Andy Goldfine, despite living farther north than even foolish Canadians, rides as much as he can, as often as he can. And it’s not just because he’s cheap. Frugal is a kinder word. Andy knows the benefits of riding and is loathe to abandon them the eight months of the year when his homeland turns to barren, hostile, sinister tundra. Our second guest is ADVRider helmsman Zac Kurylyk who reminisces about dodging moose and deer on the way home from his turn-of-the-century gig as a newspaperman. And then Neil Graham, never to be outdone, shares his stories of riding to a horrible summer job on an XT500 long before the turn of the last century. Add this week’s episode up and what do you get? The annual Ride to Work day, which happens the second Tuesday in June and which is spearheaded by Andy Goldfine himself, who, incidentally, has a designated winter commuting motorcycle. All this, on this week’s Lowdown Radio Show. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

From A Dating App To Riding The Death Road

Would you travel round-the-world with someone who showed up at your house in the early days of dating with their own pillow? I like my pillow as much as the next man, but bringing one to an overnighter with your new lover is as sexy as bringing you own slippers. But wait, Heather Lea’s story gets even odder. Twenty-seven days after meeting the pillow-man, she decides to ride around the world with him. This from an independent woman who ran her own arts and culture magazine and who had a history of short relationships. But this man—Dave—was, in Heather’s words, “handsome, adventurous, smart and employed.” Here’s a tip for young men everywhere: “employed” is the key word there. Predictably, they had challenges, which included getting out of the driveway on day one and a bad crash not long after. But because bad things make for good stories, Heather wrote about the experience in in the book Riding Full Circle, and it’s on deck this week on The Lowdown Radio show. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

A Straight-Talking Harley-Davidson Dealer

Everybody—everybody—has an opinion on Harley-Davidson. The company, who’s stock, not so many years ago, was a safer bet than gold, has fallen upon challenging times. This from a company—according to analyst Michael Uhlarik—that in its heyday turned a profit of nearly 30 percent on each motorcycle sold, when the industry average is nearer the mid-single digits. In the fat years, Harley-Davidson was indeed a license to print money. But no more. Past Harley CEO’s have tried seemingly everything the right the ship. There’s been the re-wire, the hardwire and the cut-the-wire-in-two. As much fun as speculating on the future of Harley is, this week on the show we speak to someone with skin in the game. A Harley Dealer. George Gatto owns Three Rivers Harley-Davidson near Pittsburgh. Gatto also runs Gatto Cycle, a Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, Kawasaki, CF Moto and Royal Enfield dealership. On top of all this, Gotto chairs the National Powersports Dealers Association Harley-Davidson dealer council. He’s a busy man. With a bad back. But he made time for us—and we’re chuffed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]