The Automotive Society Podcast · Suraj Makkar

The Automotive Society Podcast Ep.39 Motorbike Enthusiasts

·1 hr 19 min·5 clips

The BYD Yang Wang U9 is described as a Ferrari competitor with 1,290 horsepower and a 2.36-second 0–100 time.

Siraj opens the show with Alex and first-time guest Simon. The tone stays loose from the start, with the group treating it like a year review that keeps circling back to bikes. Simon says university has taken over enough of his life that motorbike riding has mostly dropped away. Alex and Simon both sound like people who have had to trade enthusiasm for practicality. Alex jokes that his Kia Cerato is the best car you can ever buy. He says he does not need fast cars because they are a money pit and unreliable. The Cerato’s paddle shifters get a mention and a laugh, and nobody can quite explain why the car has them. The Ducati Monster is the main bike under the microscope. Simon describes it as wildly impractical in all the familiar ways. The seat pushes him forward. His body meets the tank in places a rider would rather not think about. The bike gets hot enough to make riding in shorts to work a bad idea. By the time he arrives, his left leg has already taken the abuse. The Monster’s stock exhaust is quiet rather than loud, and that quietness does not make it any easier to love. The group jokes about fitting an acro or something to wake it up. They also talk through lane splitting and the way Simon’s aftermarket bars make the whole thing feel even wider. The Grom comes up as the smaller, funnier problem child, and they note that neutral can be oddly hard to find. The episode wraps with email jokes, an improvised outro, and the sense that Simon has earned a return visit.

As heard by us

A year review that turns into a lively bike gripe session, with enough detail to keep the banter moving.

This year-in-review chat reads as a bike-riding catch-up, and its appeal is how fast it moves from nostalgia into the small frustrations of actually living with a bike.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

Bike chat that starts with uni and ends with a Ducati Monster cooking your legs.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from The Automotive Society Podcast