Is Gore-Text worth it? The ultimate adventure bike! WD-40 good or bad? The best tool ever! Motorcycle sales drop! Elevation in Scenic! Motorcycle Friendships.

March 1, 2019

INTRODUCTION

With the winter in Europe and North America slowly coming to an end, some of you will have had the chance to take out your motorcycle and put some miles on the clock.

For the ones of us living further south, these last couple of months have been incredible in terms of riding weather.

Guido, Jasper and I went on a roughly 600 km (375mi) trip through the Mexican Bajio. We departed from Guido’s house in Queretaro, drove through the semi-desert via San Miguel de Allende to the Sierra de los Lobos. We couldn’t get too far off the beaten track as the locals warned us of narco presence deep in the mountains… But we got lucky and hit a patch of beautiful dirt.

Dusty and thirsty, we finished the day in Lagos de Moreno:

In this week’s Moto Intel Report Guido gives an update on the facelift of Scenic, Jasper reviews an absolute classic and I’ll look at some of the most versatile must-have gadgets. We also take a look at motorcycle sales, Gore-Tex, WD-40 and motorcycle friendships.

Now, without further ado, let’s get rolling.

Tom

MOTORCYCLES

The Ultimate Adventure Bike – a History Lesson

If you think of the ultimate adventure bike, not very many people will think of this old-timer; the Zundapp KS750. This beast, commissioned by the German Wehrmacht in 1937, is capable of carrying 500kg (1,102.3lb) and still go 95km/h (59mph) and handle almost any terrain.

Many Zundapps survived the war and a lot of the survivors are still running which says something about the awesome workmanship. Nowadays they go for up to 40 thousand euros (US$45,500). Read more about this excellent machine here.

Jasper


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MOTORCYCLE NEWS

Motorcycle sales drop!

This table originates from a BMW presentation. I saw it in Revzilla’s “The best in Moto 2018” video. It shows an overall drop of almost almost 5% in new motorcycle sales in 2018 (US market). When I showed this to Tom, who, if you didn’t know yet, is somewhat of a KTM fanboy, he was very happy to see this.

But honestly, this arbitrary ‘first place’ for KTM is quite earned. Since a few years now they have been putting some amazing ‘lots of bike for your money’ models on the market, like the 1090 and the 1290. This year the 790 is promising to continue that line.

Remarkable is also the below industry average for HD. They are still market leader in the US by far though. If you want to know a bit more about this, and hear about Lemmy, Joe, and Spurgeon’s 2019 predictions, watch the video.

Guido

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BIG SCENIC UPDATE

Highly requested features – part 2

Work on Scenic’s big update is progressing as planned. If you followed the journey you know it’s going to have a completely new design and loads of new features. In MIR I report on the progress and show you some of those new features.

This time: Elevation! It’s one of the most requested features, and the big update will add it. Not only will you be able to see the elevation of a trip or route in a graph, but you’ll also see it on the map, color coded. Have a look at the screenshots above. The sharp observer will also notice a placeholder for some other, new, trip data in there 😉

Lastly I want to get ahead of you and answer a few questions that I get a lot:
Q: When is the big update ready? A: Early Spring!

Q: When Android? A: After the big iOS update is out!

Q: Will I keep my purchases? A: Yes, you’ll only get more for them. Never less!

Guido

MOTORCYCLE GEAR

Is Gore-Tex worth it?

We link to FortNine’s videos a lot… because they are good! Ever wondered what the real difference is between a $500+ jacket and a $200 one? And what all that terminology means and all those layers do? Well, Ryan explains it. Not only does he explain it, he also puts to the test why Gore-Tex is well worth the money. Or is it?

Guido

MOTORCYCLE GADGET

Leatherman

One of the best and most lauded gadgets of our time is perhaps the Leatherman multitool. I used to bring my Victorinox swiss army knife on trips, but the leatherman has all those functionalities, and more. Cutting a tie-wrap, tighten screws and bolts, or peeling an apple – a must-have for all outdoor people, hunters and handymen. The 18-tool Wave+ is probably the most popular option – here’s a decent review.

Tom

MAINTENANCE

Will WD-40 destroy your O-Rings?

Is using WD-40 as a motorcycle chain cleaner a great budget solution or a really terrible idea? Here at Moto Intel Report the opinions were divided so I set out to investigate what the experts say. As discussed in previous editions of the MIR, the cleaning of you chain is an essential part of all chain-driven bikes. So, will WD-40 destroy your o-rings or not? If you prefer a video, check out Ari Henning here.

Jasper

STORY OF THE WEEK

Motorcycle Friendships

We all know that Motorcycling riding creates and strengthens friendships everywhere around the globe. Every now and then, we at MotoMappers get the opportunity to hear such stories from our users. This time Mark sent in some nice pictures of him and his best friend Bill during a recent Motorcycle adventure. When I asked a bit further, there was an amazing background story, and this is just one of the pics that followed. Read about their amazing story here.

What’s your most beautiful / funny / crazy motorcycle shot? Share your story with us and we might just put it in the next Moto Intel Report.