A Revolution Starting At The Flying Squirrel | GTAMotorcycle.com

A Revolution Starting At The Flying Squirrel

Hey! I actually went to the FS and it was a pretty nifty space. Don't think this creator on YT does a very good job with the video and it really doesn't need to be that long. Might as well have made a documentary :ROFLMAO:
But the FS is a really great spot to hangout and ogle at some bikes as well as grab a tasty and strong coffee. Could be worth a visit.
 
A video of a podcast? How ridiculous. The FS owner is video conferencing and could have done it from with the shop/coffee shop or whatever it is in the background to give a tour instead of relying on everyone's imagination. Guess he never heard the saying "a picture is worth a thousand words". And he kept referring to "the" motorcycle culture, as if there was only one. I got the sense from his appearance that he's at least got the hipsters and their cafe racers covered. though. Maybe it was explained later, but I couldn't make it past the first few minutes without (unsuccessfully) fast forwarding to find any video of the place.
 
Relax said:
A video of a podcast? How ridiculous. The FS owner is video conferencing and could have done it from with the shop/coffee shop or whatever it is in the background to give a tour instead of relying on everyone's imagination. Guess he never heard the saying "a picture is worth a thousand words". And he kept referring to "the" motorcycle culture, as if there was only one. I got the sense from his appearance that he's at least got the hipsters and their cafe racers covered. though. Maybe it was explained later, but I couldn't make it past the first few minutes without (unsuccessfully) fast forwarding to find any video of the place.
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There's a bigger back story to all this that wasn't presented in the podcast.
I offered to fill in some of the blanks for Neil Graham but so far he doesn't seem interested.
 
Haven't listened to the whole podcast, so I don't know if they talk about the following or not.

There's a nice space that would be nice for working (I can work from home, but prefer to work somewhere like Starbucks to be out of the house), and a space where you can work on your bike.

The full membership (including storage) would check a few boxes - in that neighbourhood (as in mine, Cabbagetown), there's lots of people with only street parking, so nowhere good to park a bike securely or work on it.

It's just a little too far from me to make sense as a work place, and a little expensive. If it were very close to me, I'd consider joining and keeping my bike there.
 
NuggyBuggy said:
Haven't listened to the whole podcast, so I don't know if they talk about the following or not.

There's a nice space that would be nice for working (I can work from home, but prefer to work somewhere like Starbucks to be out of the house), and a space where you can work on your bike.

The full membership (including storage) would check a few boxes - in that neighbourhood (as in mine, Cabbagetown), there's lots of people with only street parking, so nowhere good to park a bike securely or work on it.

It's just a little too far from me to make sense as a work place, and a little expensive. If it were very close to me, I'd consider joining and keeping my bike there.
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$200 a month for storage is pretty good. It's hard to get a storage unit for that. On the downside, I assume all members can access all bikes. $200 a month for unfettered access to tons of bikes to pillage is a good deal for thieves.
 
Relax said:
A video of a podcast? How ridiculous. The FS owner is video conferencing and could have done it from with the shop/coffee shop or whatever it is in the background to give a tour instead of relying on everyone's imagination. Guess he never heard the saying "a picture is worth a thousand words". And he kept referring to "the" motorcycle culture, as if there was only one. I got the sense from his appearance that he's at least got the hipsters and their cafe racers covered. though. Maybe it was explained later, but I couldn't make it past the first few minutes without (unsuccessfully) fast forwarding to find any video of the place.
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im confused. are you not familiar with podcasts? literally EVERY major podcast has a video component to cover all the bases/sharing social media etc. they specifically dont show you anything IN the video because most people will be listening to it in their regular podcast audio feed.

as for flying squirrel, i know they split up with royal enfield and are now more of a coffee shop/moto culture/event/storage thing. cool for people who want/need it. its too far away from me though as i live on the opposite end of the city and with lakeshore/gardiner in the deplorable state that they are, its just not fun/feasible to get there ever.
 
iblastoff said:
im confused. are you not familiar with podcasts? literally EVERY major podcast has a video component to cover all the bases/sharing social media etc. they specifically dont show you anything IN the video because most people will be listening to it in their regular podcast audio feed.

as for flying squirrel, i know they split up with royal enfield and are now more of a coffee shop/moto culture/event/storage thing. cool for people who want/need it. its too far away from me though as i live on the opposite end of the city and with lakeshore/gardiner in the deplorable state that they are, its just not fun/feasible to get there ever.
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I'm only familiar with the audible aspect of podcasts from when they first started, which I have zero interest in. So a youtube video of a podcast is even more useless to me than a youtube video of a bunch of still photos.
 
I've watched a couple episodes of Neil's El Camino and thought they were good. Well shot and produced and nicely presented.

I tried to listen to another of his ADV rider interview podcast and it just didn't do it for me so I didn't get far into this one either. Interviewing is a tough thing to do well in my opinion, in terms of keeping the conversation interesting and lively. I still enjoy his writing a great deal, and thought he was really good at cycle canada.
 
xrljoel said:
I've watched a couple episodes of Neil's El Camino and thought they were good. Well shot and produced and nicely presented.

I tried to listen to another of his ADV rider interview podcast and it just didn't do it for me so I didn't get far into this one either. Interviewing is a tough thing to do well in my opinion, in terms of keeping the conversation interesting and lively. I still enjoy his writing a great deal, and thought he was really good at cycle canada.
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With some judicious editing, this could have easily been chopped in half, but I'm guessing that's not how it works.
 
TK4 said:
With some judicious editing, this could have easily been chopped in half, but I'm guessing that's not how it works.
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Editing takes a lot of time and effort. One take videos are the simplest and most time-efficient. There are also tons of engagement stats to try to game. Longer videos may get you more watched minutes or it may ding you because too many quit long before the end. Tbh, I saw how long it was and the topic and haven't watched even a second of the video. If it was 10 minutes, I might have given it a chance.
 
Hipster sales checklist:

- Artisanal coffee ...Check
- DIY retrofit projects ...Check
- Beard stuff ...Check
- Plaid flannel shirts ...Check

Only things missing off the how-to-hipster checklist are:
- Craft beer
- Trucker hats (maybe they sell these already?)
- Single-speed bicycles
- Vinyl albums

Give them time to continue to grow and develop their business and you'll soon be able to go there to pick up some craft beer, get your fixie bike fixed up, and listen to some albums while you buy a stupid hat lol

Props to these guys for being nothing but stubborn. They seem friendly and have decidedly found their stereotype and chosen to lean into it 1000%. That takes a certain kind of balls, I guess(?), so there's that...

I dropped by some time last year for a Ducati event held there. If you go there and you don't own any of the above items, you'll probably look around and feel like everyone is cosplaying as the same character, and you'll find it weird.

But if you do own the above items, you'll feel right at home. It's hipster heaven. To each their own.
 
adri said:
Give them time to continue to grow and develop their business and you'll soon be able to go there to pick up some craft beer, get your fixie bike fixed up, and listen to some albums while you buy a stupid hat lol.
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adri said:
But if you do own the above items, you'll feel right at home. It's hipster heaven. To each their own.
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I think they have 0% beer now, does that count ?
No worse that dressing up like a pirate I suppose...
 
TK4 said:
No worse that dressing up like a pirate I suppose...
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Perfect analogy. If you've ever walked into a Harley dealer in the last ten years and looked at the people who work there, the people who shop there, and the bikes in there, and to you they all just look like different variations of the exact same thing over and over... that's the feeling I got at the Ducati event at Flying Squirrel last year.

That feeling of, "if I didn't know this was real, I'd think it was a parody." Skinny jeans, plaid shirt, beards, and bikes that seldom run right for a full season, everywhere. That is their creed.

But that reflects the wants of a significant portion of the riding community, just like the Harley dealers do, so, yeah, let 'em have their safe space to stand in a circle and stroke their beards. They're helping the overall riding community far more than they're hurting it so all the power to em.
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