The Riding Obsession

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The Riding Obsession

The Riding Obsession is an ever developing online venue for motorcycle enthusiasts who enjoy responsibly spirited riding along routes less travelled.

https://tro.bike/?p=23

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The Riding Obsession
Phone: (224) 358-3010
872 S Milwaukee Ave
Box #200
Libertyville, IL 60048

08/25/2026

Podcast: "Putnam in Place"
Listen: https://tro.bike/podcast/2026e27/

Robin arrives at Putnam Park with Maggie's bone-stock SV650 in tow before slowly melting his knee pucks anyway. The track turns its cornfield disguise into elevation changes, blind apexes and a throttle lesson from Turn one to "Dead Bear". His verdict keeps both halves intact in that the riding is excellent, the people mostly mean well and organizers should write down the unwritten rules before shouting them across pit lane.

Brian enters novice on a tall FJ09, gets the full tech-inspection ritual and discovers he's the lone sport-tourer among numbered race bikes. He learns to plan passes two corners ahead, nearly drags the center stand and earns praise before accidentally taking an extra victory lap (the checkered flag apparently had a limited travel budget). Fresh pads, rotors and Spiegler lines are already queued.

As for the circuit, Putnam hides an immaculate ten-turn playground behind quiet Indiana farmland. Garage rentals go for $55, runoff is generous and the pavement looks freshly ironed. Intermediate makes it official by launching first, knocking off the morning dew.

Team TRO learns Putnam Park's unwritten lines, decodes blind apexes and finds out what happens when a checkered flag goes missing.

08/18/2026

Podcast: "Type Two Fun"
Listen: https://tro.bike/podcast/2026e26/

Robin turns rider suffering into a choice instead of a personality trait, from a cold memorial run toward Florida to a closed Kentucky road that accidentally ends at Maker's Mark. The carrier question gets practical with 500-to-600-pound capacity for a Honda XR650L, solid receiver hardware and lights that remain visible behind the bike. He later argues that speed belongs with sightlines, restraint and enough manners to avoid creating one more cager with a motorcycle villain origin story.

Brian admits get-there-itis dragged him through a Missouri storm for 400-ish miles when one cheap Sunday hotel night would've fixed everything. His chosen suffering runs colder, from a minus-17 commute with pensioned suspension to a snowy Cherohala retreat that stayed fun until freezing became the actual stop sign. Between war stories he tests flock-lined nitrile gloves, warns against mystery Amazon motorcycle kits and offers one clean speed policy ... "be irresistible, be gone".

Joanne brings boxing defense to The Armory and tells riders to stop treating triple-digit heat like a character test. Wicking base layers, ventilated full-face helmets, light-colored mesh, hydration packs and cooling layers make heat manageable, while naked skin gets the hair-dryer treatment with worse consequences. Her final baguette move asks riders to lend strangers one charitable thought before judging their gear, bike or bad day, then save "what a butthead" for the evidence.

Team TRO sorts useful suffering from get-there-itis, builds a triple-digit heat defense and finds a polite way to disappear down the road.

08/11/2026

Podcast: "Maps 2 Apps"
Listen: https://tro.bike/podcast/2026e25/

Robin flips last week's paper lesson into a 40-app panic spiral, then rescues it with a plan. His new Maps to Apps Testing Grounds will put one navigator at a time against GPX handoff, offline maps, rider-aware routing and whatever feature manages not to melt when the cell signal is gone. Track-day prep later turns the same appetite for options into canopies, coolant rules, taped wheel weights and a choice between Maggie's SV and the paid-down GSX-8R.

Brian separates the route planner from the screen on the bars before anyone mistakes Google, Apple or Waze for the assignment. Locus Pro remains his learned habit, north-up remains his apparently criminal preference and every contender has to preserve the shaped route instead of converting it into an interstate abomination. He also brings MotoPumps tire-inflator advice, practical sag checks and a novel track-day strategy (read every organizer's rules).

Joanne replaces hard-shell mythology with CE Level 2 impact absorption and fit that follows a rider under leathers. A full-length protector with a kidney belt is the track-ready standard, while a proper insert can still serve a casual novice if the suit has the pocket. Her bottom line is simpler than the catalog, meaning bring the protector when fitting the suit, buy known gear and don't attend a track day without spine protection.

Team TRO sorts forty motorcycle navigation apps, fits real track-day spine protection and turns organizer fine print into a safer prep list.

08/04/2026

Podcast: "Apps 2 Maps"
Listen: https://tro.bike/podcast/2026e24/

Robin folds paper-map survival into sun position, town signs and trip-meter resets, then sends the route through Idaho 93 where a boring straight line somehow earns a love letter. He also weighs dealership trust against DIY limits, puts torque wrench range to work under the RV and sizes up rear-opening helmets without letting a novel latch become the next Jägermeister. The Cyborg weather voice is now free, though Indiana still answers with a yeehaw.

Brian packs a state map, grease pencil and enough orientation sense to escape the pink line when electronics quit. His route lesson covers fixed scale, road-name mismatches, missing gas stations and the awkward truth that Bo**er Hollow may be US 12 when the sign finally appears. Between turns he vets the Trail Tech Voyager Pro 4, recommends ClickSpring for civilized decompression and argues that a trustworthy shop is worth both the wait and repeat business.

Joanne refuses to let an electric bicycle cosplay as harmless once it joins traffic at traffic speed. Helmets, gloves and abrasion protection follow the risk rather than the label, with modern armored hoodies and riding shirts giving city riders fewer excuses than they had in 1996. Her Brammo year proves electrics have their own kind of fun, even when San Francisco hills can eat the battery before the return trip.

Team TRO trades pink lines for paper maps, puts e-bikes in traffic gear and asks whether volts might be motorcycling's gateway drug.

07/31/2026

"Motorcycle Tech Screens Bring It All Together"
by Robin Dean
Read: https://tro.bike/?p=33848

A motorcycle tech screen helps simplify the ever expanding collection of handlebar mounts while reducing LCD distractions.

07/28/2026

Podcast: "Rain Roulette"
Listen: https://tro.bike/podcast/2026e23/

Robin turns Midwest storm dodging into Rain Roulette, a judgment test built from tire confidence, body temperature and how much wet mesh a sane rider can tolerate. He owns one midnight floodwater run as the wrong answer, then shifts to Waze motorcycle routing, a separating tire that needs a trailer and a three-minute traffic gap for reclaiming famous roads from Jagoff Junction. Somewhere between scorched socket adapters and new torque wrenches, MotorcycleTraining.us also moves back to active project status.

Brian arrives with a Vulcan 900 charging rescue, fork service paused for fresh seals and Putnam Park plans that may start in Sport Bike Track Time's intermediate group. Rain Roulette gets practical when he argues that synthetics matter, summer showers can be harmless fun and shivering ends the debate even if the rain suit goes on after you're soaked. He also labels an Africa Twin DCT countershaft replacement an operation rather than baby's first engine teardown, with the eBay-engine escape hatch quietly waiting in the syllabus.

Joanne maps rain gear to climate and the rider's internal thermostat. Humid-weather riders may be happier in mesh plus a compact motorcycle-specific shell, while cold travelers gain more from laminated waterproof systems (anyone buying a two-grand Klim kit for July should check the mission profile before the receipt clears). She closes with fit-first two-piece advice, then helps route Jagoff Junction toward weekdays, early mornings and roads without souvenir names.

Team TRO weighs rain gear, wet-road judgment and the fine art of reclaiming famous roads from Jagoff Junction.

07/21/2026

Podcast: "Hundred Money (P3)"
Listen: https://tro.bike/podcast/2026e22/

Garmin may rescue you for free, GoPro wants another chance and a glow-in-the-dark wrench promises to survive gravel even when dignity doesn't. An LED backpack wins TRO's Dumbest New Gear Award while questionable gas-station chicken quietly withdraws from competition. Then, what sensible adults do ... spend imaginary lottery money by eliminating every inconvenience within reach (or wrench).

Robin's local riding route, dubbed the "Leavenworth Lunchbox", is fully mapped. He fields questions that favor comfort without surrender, from old-man bars on a beloved sport bike to Pirelli Angel STs that somehow vanish before 4,000 miles. Imagination points to portable floors, gravel-proof stands and an 8'x16' rolling motorcycle garage because wealth should first remove the stupid parts of wrenching.

Brian counters with a 240-mile heat-and-thunderstorm ride, brake-job procrastination and a naked-bike defense built around getting the ergonomics right. His would-be rich-guy shop gets Yamaha's expensive pixie-wrangling computer, suspension gear, metalworking machinery, 3D printers, a raised Rabaconda and Joe's Auto Electric variable-load box for hunting wires that lie to a multimeter. The fantasy stays useful by solving recurring friction, learning the machinery and saving the diamond-encrusted Snap-on nonsense for after the problem is actually fixed.

Team TRO closes the Hundred Money series with Indiana lunch routes, sport-touring tradeoffs and a dream garage full of unreasonably nice tools.

07/14/2026

Podcast: "Hundred Money (P2)"
Listen: https://tro.bike/podcast/2026e21/

Joanne turns the second half of Hundred Money into a rich-person fitting appointment with actual consequences. Robin gets steered toward Shoei, Revit, Dainese and Alpinestars plus gloves that don't punish his hands for existing. He and Joanne agree that fitment, rider posture and seasonal tradeoffs matter more than whatever price tag makes Brian laugh.

Brian gets an FJ09 prescription next, Joanne keeping it upright for touring without pretending a mild forward lean is a La-Z-Boy. Arai Regent and XD5 helmets, Revit Echelon and Tornado suits, Expedition/SMX boots and Held short-finger gloves are all mapped for body shape instead of hope. Kangaroo palms, two chamber Gore Tex gloves and hot wet weather choices make the wallet nervous for all the right reasons.

As for history, Robin sits down with Mr. Nevin Ledford to hear the tale of a two-wheeled heirloom. His 1971 BSA Thunderbolt 650 has "Uncle Eddie memories", four decades under garage junk, a terrible drum brake and a son who once lived deep in the BSA/Triumph world. The bike more than matters because the story stayed in the family, a rare restoration spec no parts fiche can fake.

Team TRO spends Hundred Money on expert-fit riding gear, then meets Nevin Ledford and a family-heirloom BSA Thunderbolt 650.

07/07/2026

Podcast: "Hundred Money (P1)"
Listen: https://tro.bike/podcast/2026e20/

Robin starts riverside in Leavenworth, Indiana, where the RV ramp becomes a patio over the Ohio and Highways 62/66 wait outside like an accidental welcome mat. Brown County rally stories follow him home with a tired rear tire, baby bottle beer jab, Craftsman warranty that aged into "craps, man" and enough tire-plug calm to keep the ride from turning theatrical. Cue the heatwave and humidity.

Brian keeps the rally loose by design (set the date, manage beds, let capable riders solve the rest). Two punctures give him room to praise sticky strings, portable pumps and the quiet satisfaction of a group that can fix a tire before the panic committee finishes unpacking. His concert detour adds Doobie Brothers and Santana before the show swerves into a fuel-capacity question no rider should answer with tools.

This first money segment turns the dream garage into a personality test. Robin would chase every bike he ever owned, then add track weapons, oddballs and a Honda Pacific Coast fit for a white-suit fever dream. Brian protects his proven Suzuki GS850G, KLR650 and FJ09 before buying carefully targeted ridiculousness, from a Rocket 3 Storm R to a Yamaha R9, Ténéré 700, Norton Manx R and Motus MSTR.

Team TRO dreams of southern Indiana rally roads, lottery garages and what it really means to "ride rich".

06/24/2026

Podcast: "Heat & Hairpins"
Listen: https://tro.bike/?p=36793

Travis gets the featured-special chair after flying into New Mexico in moto boots, turning a helmet bag into a hard-shell purse and borrowing Maggie's bike for the Truth or Consequences tour. His ride report moves from Winston, Alpine and the Devil's Highway to blacktop that changes color, gravel that waits mid-corner and rain that dumps once then vanishes. By the end, the verdict is simple enough for a dehydrated punk-rock tourist: New Mexico is worth it ... but not for beginners.

Robin runs the same trip with moving-house panic, rig repairs, reversed leaf springs and family gravity blinking red behind the visor. The ride becomes his season reboot, with the road-that-shall-not-be-named turning stress management into delayed-apex therapy. His lesson is consistency, less to prove than skill and a Japanese horn sharp enough to discourage every animal except javelinas.

Brian keeps the grab bag from flying apart with Brown County rally logistics, bad superbike shopping advice and the old truth that you cannot plan every inch of a corner. A Ducati Panigale V4S, BMW S1000RR, Norton Manx and a Miata-plus-track-bike answer all get dragged into the same smiles-per-dollar courtroom. When the talk turns serious, he recommends doing the homework, trusting the skills and committing before the baby heads decide for you.

Jordan Liebman returns to Joey Dunlop's 1977 with Mick Grant skepticism, Formula-class growing pains and the Silver Jubilee TT that made Joey impossible to ignore. Joey wins on a TZ750 he barely trusts, worries about opening the champagne, stops at Parliament Square on the last lap and still beats George Fogarty by 51.66 seconds. The rope-held exhaust, 110.93 mph lap and Barry Sheene horizon all say Joey's anonymity was no more.

Team TRO rambles about New Mexico tour recovery, superbike shopping, rally brain and Joey Dunlop’s 1977 breakthrough.

Address

101 Rainbow Drive (Box #8084)
Livingston, TX
77399

Telephone

+12243583010

Website

https://tro.bike/

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