Oh jalopnik, how the mighty have fallen 

"bob and john" (bobandjohn) 11/03/2016 at 11:14 • Filed to: None

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2 complaints.

1: Lane splitter. Sean had built it up into this wonderful blog that had AWESOME articles, great interaction between him and the readers (even if some of them were assholes) pretty pictures, and advice on how to get started in riding (hell, a couple of MY articles were up there)

Now? out of 20 articles on the first page, SEVEN of them have something to do with crashing (one of them not even a motorcycle...and its 8 if you count the isle of man video)

8 are videos from other sites

One video about a Jet-ski

And a SINGLE bike review (of H-Ds new Milwaukee 8 engine)

How the mighty have fallen. (I did speak to them once or twice about writing for them actually. They came off very: we want you to write for free for us)


2: Their facebook. I swear, 1/2 the posts these days are reshared articles that have NOTHING to do with cars. Abandoned military bases, something about bringing off shore power to America, volcanos, and drunk people. Like come on. I get the odd piece here or there. but when the commentators are leaving comments such as: “There’s a guy who lives near me with this really cool WRX. Just thought I’d share something !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ” You have a problem.

Ebay and a ZX-10R for your time. (Spot the oppo sticker!)

TheHondaBro > bob and john 11/03/2016 at 11:16

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Jalopnik covers car crashes as well.

jimz > bob and john 11/03/2016 at 11:18

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post-Sean, after the third consecutive helmet-cam-crash video I said they should just wind down Lanesplitter. It’s become pretty much worthless and isn’t even worth keeping around.

LongbowMkII > bob and john 11/03/2016 at 11:21

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You’ll get oppositelock banned from kinja if you keep this up.

bob and john > TheHondaBro 11/03/2016 at 11:22

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on the front page there is exactly ONE accident that they report. and its the One from lanesplitter.

one VS 8. lets be real here.

bob and john > LongbowMkII 11/03/2016 at 11:23

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maybe then we can finally go to a platform that works.

TheHondaBro > bob and john 11/03/2016 at 11:23

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Okay. Write to Patrick and tell him what you’d like to see come out of Lanesplitter.

patrick@jalopnik.com

Party-vi > LongbowMkII 11/03/2016 at 11:24

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I’m loving the ever-growing myriad of bannable offences that people keep making up. Eventually we’ll put all these in a list for the Mod Hall of Fame.

bob and john > TheHondaBro 11/03/2016 at 11:25

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*How the mighty have fallen. (I did speak to them once or twice about writing for them actually. They came off very: we want you to write for free for us)*

I did. I will not be working for free.

TheHondaBro > bob and john 11/03/2016 at 11:25

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Okay.

Party-vi > bob and john 11/03/2016 at 11:25

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Letting Sean go was fucked. Lane Splitter could have been awesome, but I don’t think the overlords at GM saw it that way, and needed more content, not necessarily better content, in order to make Jalopnik and other GM entities appear more desirable for sale to Univision.

TheHondaBro > Party-vi 11/03/2016 at 11:26

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The only solution is autonomous Oppositelocks.

bob and john > Party-vi 11/03/2016 at 11:26

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can we put throwing a pie at a mod on there?

totally unrelated note, where do you live? I want to show off my baking skills to you :)

Future next gen S2000 owner > bob and john 11/03/2016 at 11:26

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Sean went to CycleWorld. It is my new spot for motorcycle news now. Lanesplitter died, to me, when Sean left.

Party-vi > bob and john 11/03/2016 at 11:28

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I live near Baltimore. I shall have a place set for you, as I do enjoy pie, whether thrown at my face from a motorcycle at-speed or served with coffee.

Also wtf I’m not even the most pie-deserving Mod. What about For Sweden? He’s terrible .

Benjamin Rolland > bob and john 11/03/2016 at 11:28

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Why’d they fire Sean?

bob and john > Party-vi 11/03/2016 at 11:28

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Lanesplitter WAS awesome up until they let him go. So glad he found the gig he has at Cycleworld

bob and john > Future next gen S2000 owner 11/03/2016 at 11:29

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Sean, Ari Henning and Zack courts are my fav motoJournos. they all seem really approachable and love bikes.

dam I need to get a job working with one of them.

Party-vi > bob and john 11/03/2016 at 11:30

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I was under the impression he was still freelancing for them. Good to hear that he’s working for them. You can tell how often I check Cycleworld (read: never).

TheHondaBro > Party-vi 11/03/2016 at 11:30

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You are best mod.

I’d give the name of the most pie-deserving mod, but I don’t wanna get banned.

SkyNet > bob and john 11/03/2016 at 11:30

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Let’s not forget how far Foxtrot Alpha has fallen

bob and john > Benjamin Rolland 11/03/2016 at 11:31

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No one knows for sure. it was pretty much totally out of the blue. Because whoever was running the place wasnt the brightest bulb in the shed. and the poor guy had JUST taken delivery of a new truck too :(.

bob and john > Party-vi 11/03/2016 at 11:31

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he did a little bit of freelancing, but they scooped him pretty quick

Party-vi > TheHondaBro 11/03/2016 at 11:32

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You shall in-fact refrain from doing such.

Also adding “name dropping worst Mod” to our list of bannable offences.

TheHondaBro > Party-vi 11/03/2016 at 11:35

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Worst mod is HID headlights.

THERE.

Party-vi > TheHondaBro 11/03/2016 at 11:36

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Best mod is HID headlights. Worst mod is no re-aiming them like some criminal

bob and john > SkyNet 11/03/2016 at 11:39

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Man, I’m not even going to go there. I though Lanesplitter fell...FTA hit rock bottom and then pulled out the pick axe to go even deeper.

DanimalHouse > SkyNet 11/03/2016 at 11:41

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Satisfy your thirst, my son.

http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone

SkyNet > DanimalHouse 11/03/2016 at 11:44

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I have...but it’s just not the same due to the comments. The best part of Jalop is the comments!

Nonster > bob and john 11/03/2016 at 11:45

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Yep, after Sean left and I saw that they’d really only occasionally put up crash videos I quit going to lanesplitter. It’s fallen back to its pre-Sean condition.

He’s putting out good stuff at Cycle World but there’s still a void that I think needs to be filled

bob and john > Nonster 11/03/2016 at 11:46

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I know. I really would like to write for Lanesplitter. really. but limited time as a uni student plus who they tried to con me into doing it for free left a bad taste in my mouth.

Sovereign, Purveyor of Coupes > bob and john 11/03/2016 at 11:52

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I don’t usually like to hop on the Jalopnik bashing but the FB page is oh so bad.

bob and john > Sovereign, Purveyor of Coupes 11/03/2016 at 11:53

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I’m not usually one to do so either.

guess I’m feeling extra asshole today

Sovereign, Purveyor of Coupes > bob and john 11/03/2016 at 11:57

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We all have our days.

Justin Hughes > bob and john 11/03/2016 at 11:57

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I have to agree. Shortly after Sean was let go I was told they planned to have several contributors for LaneSplitter in addition to contributions from their regular staff, but that never seems to have happened. That was also around the time they were out of money and staff was dropping like flies before the Univision buyout. I would’ve loved to be one of those contributors. You’d be a great one too.

They’re adding staff now, but in other areas - I’m guessing under the direction of our new Univision overlords.

I’ve tried to build something similar at Right Wrist Twist , but I’ve had a hard time getting regular content over there to keep people coming back for more. It’s hard to build a staff of contributors when you have no budget and no connections with manufacturers or press fleets.

bob and john > Justin Hughes 11/03/2016 at 11:58

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BTW, did you get my email about RWT?

Justin Hughes > bob and john 11/03/2016 at 12:00

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No, I didn’t. Try jhughes@rightfootdown.com ?

LongbowMkII > TheHondaBro 11/03/2016 at 12:02

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Patrick totally listens.

bob and john > Justin Hughes 11/03/2016 at 12:03

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sent. I sent it to jhughes@rightwristtwist.com first.

LongbowMkII > SkyNet 11/03/2016 at 12:04

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There was almost always a great first hand account in the comments. Handful of racist trolls, but mostly good.

Benjamin Rolland > LongbowMkII 11/03/2016 at 12:05

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Lol

LongbowMkII > bob and john 11/03/2016 at 12:06

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All of their ads have been disconcertingly vague.

Pickup_man > bob and john 11/03/2016 at 12:22

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Sean was Lanesplitter, and it was really sad to see him go. I still read everything he writes on CW, but the commenting system isn’t nearly as good or interactive which is a shame. I really should pick up the mag as well and read some of his work in there because I feel like some of the online content is shortened up or watered down and put online just for the sake of having it, in the hopes that people buy the magazine.

bob and john > Party-vi 11/03/2016 at 12:24

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*raises hands* i’ll admit to not re-aiming them.

Counter point: black motorcycle. ppl already bitch that they cant see me. no excuses with that stuff.

Saracen > bob and john 11/03/2016 at 12:46

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Watch out, criticizing Jalopnik on Oppo does not please the moderator overlords (speaking from experience).

Blunion05 drives a pink S2000 (USER WAS BANNED FOR THIS POST) > bob and john 11/03/2016 at 12:57

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Letting go of Sean, Tyler Rogoway, Doug, Steve Lehto, all the folks who’ve gone off to R&T, it sucks. It’s likely all these folks found higher paying gigs at their new places, but I read Doug’s articles on autotrader and they’re short and shitty and just don’t feel the same. I read Steve Lehtos articles on R&T and those are even shorter and you can’t even comment on R&T articles.

I guess when you aren’t bound to the norms of Journalism at Jalopnik.com and its sister sites the pay isn’t as great as it could be in comparison to these other sites who follow the norms.

DanimalHouse > SkyNet 11/03/2016 at 12:59

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100% agree, sir.

CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist) > bob and john 11/03/2016 at 14:30

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Jalopnik should stay Jalopnik. The Sploidification of Jalopnik ruins it. Gizmodo has been ruined. Why don’t they learn? This is not fucking Buzzfeed dammnit

S65 > bob and john 11/03/2016 at 16:33

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Quick question, What motorcycles do you own again?

S65 > Party-vi 11/03/2016 at 16:35

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Holy shit I did not think you were so close

Party-vi > S65 11/03/2016 at 16:41

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Close as balls, son. I work in freaking Pig Town (for the time being).

LongbowMkII > Party-vi 11/03/2016 at 17:28

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This goes beyond mods. Oppositelock exists at the whim of Patrick George, he makes that clear every time he comments here.

Party-vi > LongbowMkII 11/03/2016 at 17:48

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He does? I hadn’t seen that. I thought the HDIC was Alissa Walker.

bob and john > Blunion05 drives a pink S2000 (USER WAS BANNED FOR THIS POST) 11/03/2016 at 20:05

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I hadnt realized that Lehto left. Dam.

bob and john > S65 11/03/2016 at 20:07

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09 Suzuki SV650S with ABS and GSX-R suspension
00 Suzuki SV650S
92 Suzuki DR650
09 Kawasaki Versys 650
02 Honda Shadow 750
11 BMW F800R
02 Kawasaki Vulcan 1500

and #8 is getting added soon

Blunion05 drives a pink S2000 (USER WAS BANNED FOR THIS POST) > bob and john 11/03/2016 at 20:49

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It fucking sucks, man.

sn4cktimes > bob and john 11/03/2016 at 21:51

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I loved LS, now I don’t ever even check it. It’s gone the direction of 2WheelsBad for almost every article. It’s worse than Ride Apart, which became a joke before LS ever showed up.

Alex Zapata > bob and john 11/03/2016 at 21:59

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I’ve been thinking about making an ongoing series about the World Championships, SBK and GP, but I don’t know if many people would be interested in that, give the turn of MotOPPO Fantasy game. And it would take a lot of time and investigation and I’m not sure very many people would read it, but I’d be down to make a pilot post and see how it goes, it couldn’t take over a day.

bob and john > Alex Zapata 11/04/2016 at 03:29

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There was a MotOPPO that me and wheelerguy guy did, but we stopped after one of the riders in moto2 crashed as an honor thing for one race. never picked it up again.

bob and john > sn4cktimes 11/04/2016 at 03:30

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Funny enough, I think Sean used to work for rideapart too.

Alex Zapata > bob and john 11/04/2016 at 12:17

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Yeah I do remember that you stopped after Salom’s crash, but also I remember in the beginning not a lot of people signed up so I thought that maybe that had something to do with the more permanent stoppage.

Also basically if I post anything bike related pretty much I get responses from you and Wheeler and a couple more occasional Oppos, maybe there isn’t as much interest or maybe I need more clickbait-y titles like the magazines use lol.

bob and john > Alex Zapata 11/04/2016 at 12:32

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I always get replies from that honda asshole constantly implying: twowheelsbad.

We think it just because not a lot of ppl watch motorGP even among riders. I never really watched it at all until this year

Alex Zapata > bob and john 11/04/2016 at 14:58

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I don’t even bother with that people, but it’s like here in terms of cars, there are tons of different kinds of riders and lots of different tastes, there are people who follow racing and people who don’t and while I think there are tons of riders who don’t follow GP and SBK I also find you don’t have to ride to like motorcycle racing.