Adventure News Desk Episode 2 - Motorcycle Adventure Dirtbike TV MADTV

MOTORCYCLE ADVENTURE, DIRT BIKE TV, supported proudly by Adventure Spec in the UK, Rally Raid Products, Giant Loop in the United States, Adventure Moto in Australia, Pirelli Tyres, Motul Oils, RK Chains and Australian Adventure Bike Magazine. Mad TV viewers, welcome to Adventure News Desk, an exciting new chapter in the short but significant history of Mad TV. Headed by Andrew Clubb, editor of Australian Adventure Bike Magazine, Adventure News Desk is Clubby's take on all things motorcycle adventure. A veteran motorcycle journalist with oil running through his veins and more than 30 years in the industry, Clubby's opinion counts. So grab a coffee, have a listen and tell us what you think. G'day adventurers, it's Clubby here again and how good is this? I must have done something right, I've been invited back, episode number two of the Mad TV ADV News Desk and we've got a new setting this time around. This is it, the inner, this is not just the sanctum, it's the inner sanctum of Mad TV HQ, it's the Mad TV Man Cave and it's loaded with adventure bike riding goodness. Honda CRF300 Rally over here, Royal Enfield Himalayan right below me, the mighty Husky 701 just to the side of me there, all sorts of goodies in the background and no better place to be to bring you the latest from the big wide world of adventure bikes and this time around I'm going to kick it off with an expression from a very good friend of mine, millionaire businessman, leader of the free world at one time actually, he had an expression, he put his arm around my shoulder, he said, Clubby, you know there's three types of news in this world, there's good news, bad news, then there's fake news, right, fake news and today we're starting with some fake news, but is it fake? And that's the $64,000 question that a lot of us have got in our lips right now, the Honda Africa Twin 750, CRF750L, fact or fiction? That's a really good question, it's a bike that a lot of us are so toey about, it's been rumored for so long, Honda have got a brace of new 750 parallel twin road-oriented models coming, naked bike, sports bike, commuter type bike, why on earth would they not do an adventure bike variant with that new motor? So I hope that this so far what we've seen about this Africa Twin 750, I'm going to make the call that it's fake, all those video clips you've seen in the last couple of days, the last week or so, just not solid enough, you know, they're not published by any Honda official source, you look at the footage, you know, it's file footage from what I can tell of CRF450 rallies from Dakar preparations, Baja off-road preparations when they're racing it in the US, it just doesn't seem legit and of course what I went to do today, we've got to go to the I went to my main man at Honda and I said, hey, when are we riding new Africa Twin 750s out the back of the desert towards, let's just say Birdsville as a location for us Aussies and you know what he came back with, this is and I quote, I'm not going to quote who it's from, but I'm going to quote what they said, do you know something I don't know clubby? So yeah, that's from Honda Australia, nothing else official from any other Honda source in the world but wow, isn't there a lot of talk about this bike, I just hope it isn't fake news, I hope it's real, I'm calling it fake right now but I hope it's good news to come and not too far away that before long we're going to see an Africa Twin 750 and it's going to make some serious competition for the Tenere 700 which has just been such a massive sales success for Yamaha right around the world, fingers crossed it's real news, not fake news. Let's talk about a new bike launch, lots of that happening lately, all brands, all sorts of brands in all sorts of places all around the world and the one that we're so keen for right here in Australia right now, the new Ducati, the Desert X, we've already had a preview of the bike, a static preview of the bike where we could visit Ducati headquarters in Australia, touch, feel, hear the bike, see it running, couldn't ride it but hey America, they've just launched the bike to the media and how's this, you think a Desert X, yeah they'd take it somewhere out there, where? Death Valley, wide open spaces, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, a bike called a Desert X, you'd take it there wouldn't you? Isn't that what it's all about? No, they took the American journos, magazine staff, website editors, took them all up to the top of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado to ride the new Desert X which couldn't be further removed from a and hey the first reports I've seen are giving the thing two thumbs up, big raps about the new Ducati, it's a big departure from all Ducati's multi-strata heritage which have been more road-oriented adventure bikes with a little bit of off-road capabilities, they're all giving this one a big wrap up there on rocky off-road trails in the Colorado mountains and I'm thinking well hey if it's working there it's going to work everywhere else isn't it, off-road in technical environments like that, it's going to be a ripper and the big thing about the Ducati Desert X here in Aussie, it's priced sharp, sharp as, it's $24,700 here in Aussie and that's in our money so do the calculations for where you are in the world but just to give you an idea of how that ranks, that is so tight against bikes like the KTM 890 Adventure R and the S, the new Husqvarna Norton 901, even the Africa Twin based model, it's going to give all those bikes a real run for its money and I can't wait for that bike to get here and for us to riding it, hopefully it's within about the next four to six weeks that we'll be able to ride it here in Aussie to get a review together but yeah another bike that's been launched lately and we just can't wait to ride when it touches down here in Australia in full volume. There's two schools of thoughts about adventure bike riding, you either do it yourself with your close mates, you know sort of pack of loners, do your own thing or you can get involved in what type of riding that's becoming so popular especially here in Australia which is organized group rides but group rides where you muster together a particular breed, a particular brand of passionate adventure bike riders mate, you know Yamaha's got it with the Tenere Tragics rides, the Ride ADV rides for Yamaha only guys, they've got a Tenere 700 Rally, there's the big BMW GS Safari and Safari Enduro events as well, KTM have an adventure rally each year here in Australia and then they've also in recent times started the Husqvarna Trek which has been going for about two or three years in Aussie now, I rode it last year and it was held on the middle north coast of New South Wales and then this year's event just been staged up in southern and central Queensland and it's dubbed yeah the Husky Trek Queensland. The really cool thing about this year's Husky Trek was, well there are quite a few cool things of course, but the new, the Norton 901 was part of Husqvarna's adventure bike range so there were riders there on the new 901 twin and then again a stack of Husky 701 riders including MADtv's very own and Nugget, mate, good old Nugget made an appearance and the Dynamic Duro, well let's just say I had them working while they were there, I said boys you've got to do some content for Newsdesk, you can't just have a high old time make your normal old feature movie that's going to appear later on the channel, I want some hard-hitting news and Nugget, I reckon you're the man to get it and Nugget has delivered, not only is there some great background footage to the ride but have a look at these two interviews. Nugget sat down with legend Aussie enduro and off-road racer, female off-road racer Gemma Wilson, mate she's a dead set doll and she rides like the wind so yep have a listen to the interview with Nugget and then of course they catched up with the big international dignitary invited to this year's trek, Lyndon Poskud, he's a well-known accomplished global adventurer, Dakar racer and also worldwide northern 901 ambassador, so let's have a look at that, take it away boys and remember how good a time they had, it's pretty clear on the Husqvarna trek this year in central Queensland. Dave, look who we got here, this girl's calling me a farmer out there on the trail, how you going? You must be used to passing a lot of guys on the track, I suppose so yeah, what about your partner, what about John, how is he taking it, who's faster you or John, because he can ride, he is good, no always me, you always do, but you are an Australian champion and a world champion, yeah, so that's, see that's, I don't take it offensively, I've been beaten by many a women, so getting beaten by a world champ, I'll accept, you come past me the other day, which is pretty good, you enjoy the big bike? I do actually, I yeah, like it's first time on a big adventure bike, I've had the 701 for a bit, which is really just a big dirt bike in my mind, it's ergonomics, like you can sit right up the front of the bike and stuff like a dirt bike, whereas with the 901 you've got that, you know, big tank and you're kind of down in it a little bit more, so this is my first real experience adventure riding on an adventure bike and it's been a really good time. You can turn the clickers back, because you'd be lucky to be 50 miles an hour. Ah no, so I've just got the standard suspension, I'm in the Norton, it's just fully standard, I haven't touched anything. That's beautiful. It's a good time, yeah. See, I'm not even going to ride the Norton, you might need to borrow some, I don't need spare tyres, you can do it man. Now we've had a cracking time there, haven't we, you've enjoyed it? Yeah, yeah, it's absolutely fantastic, the mixture of riding that we've had has just been, yeah, phenomenal from the single laney, sort of like what I would normally do on a 250 stuff, through to that really fast, you know, those big flowing red roads and it's just been so, so good. I didn't think I would enjoy stepping the back end of a big bike out, but it has just been the best couple of days. Well, Chris Watson's here, you know he is a world title, the best Australian ever slider, it's a wonder he hasn't given you any advice too, because he's given me a heap. Yeah, he doesn't mind pedalling, does he? Yeah, he doesn't mind a lot, Chris Watson, but we've got a few little secret photos of Chris, don't worry. But you're teaching now, now you're retired from racing, you're teaching, doing schools? Yeah, yeah, so I finished racing in the middle of 2018, and I run a series of ladies-only events, so my biggest one, we had 250 women at the Husqvarna Women's Trial Ride last year, which is pretty awesome. And then I run like the Fox Women's Off-Road Campouts as well, which are coaching events, and I do lots of just one-on-one and small group coaching, but then as a little bit of a side gig to get away from the business and get away from bikes, because, you know, bikes is hard work and out in the environment, and the sun and the rain and the wind and things, so I also teach at a little school just outside Gympie, Kilkeven State School. Oh, that's cool. Yeah, about one day a week. I saw you called in the Indigenous School on the way through those small towns. Yeah. That was really cool. Yeah, so my old principal from Kilkeven, he's moved on to Sherbrooke, so he's the principal there, so yeah, it was a spontaneous pull-in, and we got to meet the kids, and it was a really fun time, yeah. Yeah, I never spent much time in school, so I sort of zoomed past him as a thing of a game. But yeah, nice chatting anyway, Gemma. Yeah, you too. And we'll see you out in the trials, zooming past me. I'll make sure I get out front. All right, guys, over and out. See you, Gem. Thank you. What's he doing? Oh, he's standing on something. He wants something to stand on. You need to pan down, mate. Get him in the same shot. I love it. Have you got enough? All right, we're ready. Action. Here we are with Lyndon Foskett, the world-round traveler and Dakar racer extraordinaire, brother from another mother, I reckon, because we look so alike. How's your time been here, mate? Yeah, it's been a lot of fun. We've covered a lot of kilometers, and loads of different varied terrain. Technical stuff for those that wanted it, but those that want a bit more, you can even make more technical. Just a real good old time with good like-minded people. I've really enjoyed it. Yeah, it's the riders that make it. All the different riders, all different personalities. Yeah, of course. I mean, we've had people taking fences out. We've had people running off the site. Same guy? Because I have to do the trip on one tire. Should have got a spec saver. Nah, we've had a great time. So what's on the cards, mate? Tell me, what's on the cards for you now? Are you staying in Australia? Yeah, so I've got a week's holiday with my family, which is well-earned. I've been traveling a lot and riding a lot, so I'm looking forward to that. And then I'm straight back to Europe, but not home. I'm going to Italy, to an event called the Hard Alpi Tour, which is another adventure riding event with hundreds of riders. Should be fun. So again, on the northern there. And then rally training for the rest of the year, because it's getting close to Dakar time. So there's a lot of riders wanting to get ready and prepped for Dakar and have some good, hard experience rally racing. So we've got about 10,000 kilometers of rally training in Spain and Portugal. You reckon you could train me up? Yeah. Even an amateur like me? Sign yourself up. Nugget to Dakar 2024. Would I get everything in the milk crate? Yeah, I think you would. Malle Moto, you wouldn't even need a Malle Moto box. You could just put it all in the crate on the back. Yeah, yeah. And how's the northern gone? Yeah, the northern's been great. It's stock standard, they tell me, except for the suspension, which is an option. Exactly. And you know, there's a lot of people talking about it on social media, but the bike that I'm riding, the bike that I rode in Iceland, the bike that I'm riding here, it's completely standard northern 901. It's got an Akopovic exhaust silencer on it, and it's got the Pro Component suspension, which is available to anybody. So it's a bike that you can go into the shop, buy, upgrade the suspension, and ride it however you want to ride it. You know, the suspension's not needed for everybody. If you want really good suspension, you want to ride hard and you want to do big jumps and stuff like that and enjoy it, then it's really a real positive upgrade. But if you just like cruising gravel roads and using the bike on the road and stuff the standard suspension will do. And let's face it, there's some bikes with standard suspension that have done exactly the same as what I've done here. You can do it, you just have to back off a bit in certain situations. But honestly, I rode the bike completely standard for a year, and it didn't stop me doing anything. I just had to slow down a little bit for some situations where you don't want to go into it too much. I saw you turn back yesterday, we were in that paddock, and you turned around. Were you fearing that I might tell you off? Yeah, to be honest, that was a bit worried that you'd show me off. Do you know what I thought? I thought, this bloody pommy twat won't open the gate, because you were in front, you got to the gate and done a u-ey. So I went through the gate, and then you did, you got to the gate. I can kind of understand what it looked like, but let me confirm it wasn't like that. I wanted to do some mile laps of the track, but we've gone the wrong way. And when I saw the gate, I thought, well, I'm not opening the gate and carrying on the wrong way, so I turned around. Just when I turned around, you popped up. So it looked like I turned around, so you would open the gate. I'd been chasing you for 15 minutes. I was on the limiter. And then when I went through, I held it for five minutes, you never showed up. So then when I closed it, I tied a little wire up. Well, you won't be able to undo this. It was another couple of hours before I got there. What do you think to my new necklace today? I think it's a good idea to carry this. You've gone through a few tires, haven't you, this trip? You've been ripping them. Tires and tubes. So I've had a bit of a rough time, but we've always managed to get through, and loads of helpful assistance on the trail. Helpful ones, not like Nugget. Nugget just roosted me and carried on. That's a lie. I don't think I've been in front of you once. We did have a good race there through the mud, though. But no, it's been a crackin' trip. Oh, well. Cheers, mate. I've got one more. It was a pleasure riding with you guys. It was fun. There's one more. There's one more. Now, Nugget, you were a fanboy of Lyndon from way back, weren't you? Mate, I first contacted Lyndon, I think it was late 2012, when he was- Before Ducker. Right when he was going up to do Ducker. I read it on the media, and then I said in February 2013 after the race, come over and do Fink, and I'll sort it. So I was one of the first. So you probably planted the seed of me doing the Fink thing. Yeah, I don't think you'd heard about it when I first approached you about it. I've got the railway spike now somewhere in the collection. I've got a couple there, like $10,000 spikes, but yours is probably $200 all that way around the world. All right, mate, take care. Have a good one. Thanks, mate. Thanks. Now, how much time do we spend, a lot of us, dreaming? Mate, I already covered this subject, in episode number one of the Newsdesk, but the unicorn. We're still all just drooling, wishing, dreaming that we had the mighty unicorn adventure bike that we're all waiting for. I found out about another one this week. It came out of left field, but I reckon it's got some creds as a possibility. I was doing some research actually on scramblers of all things, mate. Now, scramblers, are they adventure bikes? Are they not? Well, they're pretty much out there on the periphery, but I was actually looking up some info on a Fantic. That's an Italian boutique off-road brand from Europe out of Italy, yep, Fantic. Now, they've had a real rich enduro and off-road heritage, and they've come back from the brink. They went bankrupt. They'd been reinstated for about 10 years ago, reinvigorated. They've now got another full range of motocross enduro bikes. They've got mopeds and scooter-type bikes for the local domestic Italian market. They've even got e-bike bicycles, but now I also found that not only do they have this Caballero scrambler that I was looking for information on, but they also had a one-off 450 rally bike. Okay, and the thing looks mint, and you know why? It's because underneath all the dreamy rally bodywork and the big tower, the screen, everything else, it's actually all Yamaha hierarchy because Fantic has an arrangement with Yamaha in Europe to do some model sharing, and they have access to Yamaha's four-stroke dirt bikes to help in the production and design of their enduro motocross and this rally bike. So this 450 Fantic Rally, it looks awesome. And how about this? It was raced in this year's Dakar Rally by a dead-set legend of the Italian off-road scene, a guy called Franco Pico. Now if you google up his name, man, be ready for some solid reading. He's been going forever, right? He's raced bikes, he's won everything, he rode Dakar on this experimental prototype 450 rally bike Fantic this year, and he dead-set finished it again, and it was his 28th finish in the Dakar Rally. And he's, yeah, 66 years of age. He's finished it on dirt bikes, he's finished it on ATVs, he's finished it in trucks, he's finished it in cars, and he finished it again this year. And the big quote there from it was, it was a development bike for a future production model, this Fantic 450 Rally. Have a look at it, a couple of images here playing beside me. It's a really toey-looking thing. I just again hope that it becomes real news in the not-too-distant future and that it might also come into production as another option of the kind of unicorn so many of us are dreaming of. Okay, so from the crazy but true department, let's just have a look at another, well, adventure, and I'd say that in inverted commas, offering that really is from left field. And we go back to, again, the American manufacturer, a Canadian manufacturer, I should say, Can-Am. And this information came to light, again, while I was looking up those electric bikes that we talked about Can-Am having in the episode number one. They also do these three-wheelers. Now, here in Australia, we get this three-wheeler called the Spyder. Two wheels at the front, one wheel at the back, a real road-oriented hybrid between a sidecar, a motorbike, a car, a buggy, whatever you want to call it. But they're really road-oriented. But then I discovered that in the U.S., they also offer a smaller capacity Ryker version of the Spyder. Same design, same concept, three wheels, engine in the center. You sit on it kind of like a motorbike, kind of like a PWC positioning. But they have a Ryker Rally variant. No, no way. And it's actually got chunkier sort of off-road bias tires, a little bit more beefed-up suspension. But, like, I'm going to show it to you. We'll throw it up here at the news desk, have a gander at it, have a laugh at it. And then I want you to think about one thing. Imagine riding this, driving this, sitting on this, being aboard this on anything more than a smooth gravel road. Imagine punting it down a twin track. It'd be unreal if the twin tracks were perfectly formed, the perfect width for the front wheel track. But what are you going to do with that rear wheel? It's just going to hit everything. And the first decent hit at cops, I predict a trip over the hangers in a big fashion and a write-off of your brand new Rally Ryker. So, anyway, it's something different. Let's call it crazy, but it's true. And this one is actually real news. It's actually on showroom floors right now. Can-Am Rally Ryker. I don't think many of us adventure riders are going to get very toey about it. But, hey, got to have a laugh now and then, don't we? And pity the poor guys that actually do take it off gravel roads. Everybody loves a good rumor. Mate, the world revolves around rumors, doesn't it? Hearsay, gossip, innuendo, all of the above. So let's run through a few rumors that are ripe right now in the adventure bike world. What about this one? Ducati. We've been talking about them a lot lately with that Desert X adventure bike. What about the word that they're coming back into motocross? Well, no, not back in... Well, they were in motocross and pure off-road bikes many, many moons ago. Now the talk is they're going to line up for a big tilt, possibly next year, if not in 2024, in the World MXGP Championships aboard a brand new 450cc motocross bike. Big call, isn't it? Big call. But Ducati, all these European brands that are obviously finding market reception to their new products, if they're going to expand their model lineups to increase business, the only way to do it is to go into new areas of the sport, isn't it? So stay tuned on this one. A Ducati 450cc motocross bike allegedly in the works. Let's see if this rumor proves to be fact or fiction. And speaking of rumors of new motocross bikes, what about the Triumph? Where is it? Again, the sound of crickets. There it is again. We're still waiting to hear. Ricky Carmichael, Ivan Cervantes, they've been doing the development work, so they say, but we're still yet to hear or see anything of actual fact about these new motocross and off-road bikes from Triumph. Again, let's see what we get, fact or fiction, in the near future, hopefully sooner rather than later. Now, another rumor, this one's pretty toey, as I like to say. Yeah, more toey than a Roman sandal when I hear this news. Comes again from our Austrian friends, the Pira Mobility Group, i.e. KTM, Husqvarna and Gas-Gas. Now, this one's been brewing up for a long, long while. The 390 Adventure, mythical. 490 Adventure, equally mythical. Yeah, but there's a few more legs starting to come under this story. If it's proving it might be a 490 Adventure, possibly released in 2023, so let's hope it's not too far away. I mean, if it's going to be released in 23, they'll be wanting to preview it in late 22, which is where we're getting to now. The big question is, how will it appear first? In what color? KTM, Husqvarna or Gas-Gas? A little bit of gossip around the traps that it might be in the gasser colors. So, let's see what happens there. Can't wait for that one. There's been a few sort of spy photos shown of that one. Hard to tell if they're legit. Hard to tell if they're artist impressions again with action shots. But hey, a 490 Adventure, wouldn't that be toey? And let's just hope it's an Adventure R model. That's the one we all want, an Adventure R version of a 490 Single. And speaking of 450 Singles, finally in this issue's rumor mill, what about this from Royal Enfield? No, not this Royal Enfield. This is the standard old Himalayan. It's been, what can we say? It's been the vehicle by which a million Adventures have been kicked off all around the world. Well, look forward to an even better, newer, bolder, brighter, brassier, bigger, more confident and more off-roadable Himalayan in the not-too-distant future. Word is that there's a new 450 Himalayan coming, longer travel suspension, new chassis, obviously a new engine, a whole lot more off-road bias than the current one that's right here in the shed right now that we've got. Really looking forward to that one. A lot of news has broken about it in the UK in the last couple of weeks. They've even been a teaser video from Royal Enfield, the factory, the company, not again by someone purporting to be the manufacturer. Let's just hope it all comes true again. A Royal Enfield has got a ripper name as a brand. The Himalayan, it's just legendary. And a new, more off-road focused, higher performance model will only just win more friends right around the world for the Indian brand. Again, I'm crossing my fingers that that one is fact, not fiction, and it comes sooner rather than later. Now if there's something that I really like to do each time we get done with the news desk, it's to sneak off over into the kitchen, isn't it? For a feed of rotisserie chicken. Don't I love my rotisserie chicken? And you know what? I don't even ask where that rotisserie chicken came from. I don't even ask if it's actually a chicken or a clone chicken. How would you tell? This is what they're getting to these days. They're cloning anything, cloning everything. Chicken, wheat, sorghum, all sorts of things. You just don't even know what you... I mean, what's this plant-based sausage roll for goodness sakes? What's that all about? Anyway, I don't worry about that. So long as it tastes good and is bad for you, it's probably going to end up on my dinner plate, isn't it? Which is all about talking about cloning in the adventure bike industry. And if there's anyone, any company, any firm that is a dead-set masters of cloning, step on down to Madighofen, Austria, put your lederhosen on, do your Chevy Chase impersonation, and let's talk the Pura Mobility Group again. KTM, Husqvarna, GasGas. Now there's a company that is dead-set on the main jet when it comes to commercial success. And they're all making that success out of cloning, aren't they? Model platform sharing. That's the term in the automotive industry. So in the old days, KTM's been around forever, had a big revitalization in about 1992 after the company had gone bankrupt when a guy called Stefan Pira got involved with it. Super successful businessman, industrialist in Austria. And mate, that company is now just going gangbusters. He resurrected KTM from the dead, turned it around on its ear, and then just went looking for more opportunities. Husqvarna was first back in about 2013. He actually bought Husqvarna off BMW. Now BMW had bought Husqvarna when Husqvarna went near bankrupt. They had a six-year stab at it. They had all sorts of weird and oddball technology that they introduced into the Husqvarna dirt bikes, which just plain did not work. And mate, they were wrapped to get out of the brand. So along comes Stefan Pira, yep, I'll take that, let's do a deal. And look at Husqvarna now. It's nearly 10 years later since it's been under control of the Pira Group. Mate, that brand is just going gangbusters. We've got the new Norton 901, you've got a fleet of Husqvarna motocross and enduro bikes, they've got motard bikes, they've got e-bicycles coming under the Husqvarna brand, like just everything. And yes, the bikes, the Husqvarnas are based on the KTMs, but with just enough difference to give them differentiation in the marketplace, put them at slightly different price points on the showroom floor. And of course, you're always going to have people that are KTM disciples, they're Husqvarna disciples, all about heritage. Heritage is massive in the motorcycle industry and certainly in the adventure bike industry. So now they've also acquired GasGas, Spanish brand. They picked that up in about what, 29 I think it was, so three or four years ago. And now hasn't, GasGas just turned around as well. And at the time you're thinking, oh wow, what do they need another brand for? How are they going to play this? And at the time when they picked up GasGas, it was rumored about a couple of reasons. One, to get into the trials market, because hey, that's part of GasGas' heritage. They're just world leaders in trials bikes and the trials competition. And the other point was that GasGas could offer the Pira Group a more entry-level fun in inverted commerce type brand to just bring people into the fold. And all the synergies that come with having three motorcycle brands, all based off the same model sharing platform, like I said, but with just enough difference to set them apart in the marketplace. Now you think, okay, how can this all possibly work? And I guess the clearest example is look at it right now in the single cylinder adventure bike corner of the world. They've had the KTM 690 Enduro forever, just forever that's been going, over a decade. Now they've also then had the Husqvarna 701 in the last few years, which was a spinoff from the 690. And kaboom, now we're all about to climb aboard a GasGas ES700 adventure bike, big capacity trial adventure bike, which again, it's just, it's like it's close to a red version of the orange KTM and the white Husqvarna. So how does it all work? How do they make that work? Well, it is, it's, it's just, it's marketing, isn't it? Modern day marketing and commercial, commercial acumen is what it comes right back to. It's all about profit sharing to shareholders, but also maximizing sales and where they can take these different brands. And here's my tip. You know, you think, you kind of thought when GasGas said, oh, it'll be an entry level, it'll be a fun type brand for the, for the, for the group. I reckon that's going to change. I reckon that's going to ramp up and you've seen GasGas already. They're already so successful in trials. Since in the last few years, since Pira's got hold of them, they've also much increased their profile in motocross and enduro competition, world championship competition. They're in hard enduro, of course, no questions about that. Dakar, man, Sam Sunderland, he won Dakar this year on a GasGas 450 bike. And then now, not only has GasGas been sticking their toes in the water in the support classes of MotoGP, but bang, next year, how's this? They're diving right in at the deep end of MotoGP racing. And mate, that does not come cheap. That's a big buck arena, that one. And okay, sure, the GasGas MotoGP bike, it's just a flame red version of the KTM MotoGP bike. But look, it's just, it's all good promotion for the brand. And what it tells me is they're prepared to spend money to really promote those brands, to gain those commercial returns that are just so vital to making the whole enterprise viable. So I'm making the call now, Gasser is a brand that's going to be going places. It's not just going to be number three on the ladder there no way. I hope actually to be selfish for a moment, there's a little bit of talk around that there's a Gasser 450 Rally bike coming. Okay, now I'm guessing that's probably just going to be another limited volume replica of the KTM 450 RR Rally bike that they only make about 70 of a year to sell to Dakar racers. Let's just hope the coming GasGas is maybe a little bit more cheaper, production-oriented bike for mainstream release. Fingers crossed on that one. If it isn't, and if it is just limited volume for next year for racers, okay, so be it. But surely that's got to be telling them that there's a space there for that 450 Rally bike that we all dream of, all the time while Gasser is just going bigger than three Ben Hurs with a new profile led by their MotoGP activities, and of course being the reigning champions at Dakar as well. So yep, that's my call. GasGas is going places and it won't just be number three in the hierarchy there at the Austrian KTM group owned by Stefan Pyrrha. Okay adventurers, time to start wrapping up this show. And all I can say is how much is going on right now. It's just like, it's just wide open, which is just, how good is it? It's so good actually. We're going to be riding the Triumph Tiger 1200s, the big mighty 30 liter tanked Explorer. That's going to be absolutely awesome. We can't wait to do that and that'll be covered again on MADtv in a film real soon. I'm also jetting off down to Victoria, far Western Victoria in about two weeks time to ride the new Aprilia Touareg. Now that's going to be a trick bike to ride. I'm really looking forward to that because as you know, I've done a stack of miles on the mighty Tenere 700 and this is like a dead set head-to-head competitor for the T7. So I can't wait to wait to ride the Touareg and that's such a cool name. I love that name. Go and look it up. If you don't know what the heck it's all about, go and look up Touareg. It's got a lot of history with, again, the mighty Dakar Rally and Rally and Off-Road Racing in Europe. We've also got the feature film coming up real soon from the Husky Trek, as I mentioned earlier, that the boys did recently. That'll be a full-on nugget special, heavily supported by the Dysonator, of course. I look forward to that one really soon. I'm still working up a test ride of the Himalayan, so look out for that one coming up as well on MADtv. Oh, we've still got so much more work to do on the 300 Rally. Little Red Rooster. Speaking of which, look at this muffler goodness from our very good friends at Arrow. Look at that tip there. Carbon fiber. Feel the lightness in that. Mate, what do you want? What do you want out of an exhaust tip? You want less weight, more power and tow-y exhaust note. I reckon that'll give us all three on the Little Red Rooster, so we've got more miles to do on that and I think that'll keep us busy for about the next four or five weeks or so. So anyway, it's all going on. Thanks again for all your support and I really do want to say that because on episode one, that was just awesome. It's like, you know, the thing that Dave always says to me, it's the internet clubby. There's no rules, mate. Just do what you want to do and we'll make it work. And hey, it seemed to work, episode number one. Thanks for all your comments. Thanks for reading AAB magazine. I'm going to give that a shameless plug. And here, if you're overseas, as I say, all our viewers in Albania, we've got a big following in Albania. I know you can't go down to a local news agent. Do they have news agents in Albania? Anyway, you can get the magazine digitally. Here's the website. Just remember this. It's real easy. I, with an I, letter I, subscribe, all one word, isubscribe.com.au, put into the Search Motor Australian Adventure Bike magazine. It'll come straight up and you can buy it. It's cheap as chips as a digital edition. It's a really trick hardcover magazine. It's super expensive to buy here in Aussie, but if you get a digital edition, way, way cheaper and yeah, you can get it from anywhere in the world. So isubscribe.com.au for the mag. And otherwise, I better get out of Dave's shed, let him do some more work back there in the studio, get this piece together, get it on the internet. And hey, let's hope, fingers crossed, we're back for episode number three before too long. Thanks for watching everybody.