January 27, 2020
Gokul Nair
6 minutes
Although this article is about motorcycle intercoms, this technology actually has a long, interesting history. Contrary to what a lot of people think, intercom technology didn’t start with telephones. They started with speaking tubes. With a design very similar to the “two cans joined by a string” trope you see in children’s cartoons, speaking tubes were commonplace in commercial spaces. A lot of office buildings had them installed by engineers by the late 1800s. You could connect up to 25 different offices with the most advanced of these. Speaking tubes were followed by telephones to answer phone calls as intercom technology…
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January 9, 2020
Gokul Nair
6 minutes
If you’re never ridden in a group ride before, it can seem daunting. For starters, you have no idea about whether the other guys in the group who you just met and are trying to look cool in front of think you’re weird for walking with your chest and shoulders out. Yeah, a lot of things that I don’t miss about being 19. Teenage insecurity aside, it still can be overwhelming to keep up with the dynamics of a group ride your first couple of times. In staggered formation (as all group rides are), you always have to stay in…
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December 9, 2019
Gokul Nair
6 minutes
The holidays are near. And for better or worse, ‘Tis the season. For better because you’re going to receive gifts from other people. For worse because, well, you’ll have to spend on gifts for other people. Just kidding. Jokes aside: it doesn’t matter if it’s for Secret Santa at work or your family and friends back home- gifts matter to people. Including the people giving them. I love seeing my nephew’s little face light up when he unwraps the video games I gift him that his parents didn’t. I love surprising my friends with the occasional bottle of wine and…
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November 28, 2019
Gokul Nair
9 minutes
I remember checking out the newly released 2017 Road King at the New York City Flagship store in Long Island, two years back. There were two groups of people present. Those of us who were infatuated but had financial constraints. And the rest who were infatuated without financial constraints. As the salesman conversed with those in the latter group, I started a conversation with this kid from Stony Brook. He was in group 1 too. He had been riding for two years with a hand-me-down Honda DN-01 he got from his older brother. “All I could afford after tuition was…
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