Here we go again

I really have to stop doing this.

I have deleted this site what 3, 4 times now, Jesus I’ve lost count. The last time I did it in 2021 I was absolutely certain I won’t get it back up again ever. But here we are.

There are a number of reasons why I have repeatedly tried to erase this thing off the internet. Partly it’s because some of my old articles embarrass me. They are cringe, there’s no other way to describe them. Partly it’s because I could never successfully monetize my writing, so lost motivation to keep going. And partly it’s because I believed, and still do, that writing as a medium is pretty much dead.

I have repeatedly tried to make videos, and failed miserably. The whole process of scripting, shooting, editing, each and every part of the video creation process annoys me. But that is where the future is, so fuck me I guess.

I have considered starting over, deleting all my old content and building it all up again, but the fact is that the old stuff is me. Yes it’s cringe and stupid and embarrassing, but that’s just a normal part of being a jackass on the internet without supervision.

I am still convinced that writing is dead, but what else am I going to do. I can’t make videos for shit, and photography alone is boring. That’s leaves writing, that’s all I know how to do.

There’s no non-braggy way of saying this, but over the years a large number of people contacted me and asked me to bring RiderZone back. I don’t think that has anything to do with the quality of this site, it’s more to do with the lack of quality of automotive sites in general, which makes this shitshow look like a concert.

But this return wouldn’t have been possible if not for one guy, Harshad Shaikh. Barely anybody in the Indian motorcycle community knows who he is, but if you’ve ever used moto luggage, you have witnessed his talent. He used to be the master tailor at Viaterra, and the only way to describe him is as a human 3D printer. You describe to him any piece of motorcycle luggage you can imagine, and he will have it sitting in your hands in a few hours.

We have known each other for many many years, and he contacted me when he decided to start his own moto luggage and gear company. After experimenting and prototyping for a few months under a different brand name, Khumbu, we soft launched on Amazon and Flipkart and are already selling surprisingly well. Once this proof of concept was finished, we decided to take our final form, and rebrand to RiderZone. We are only making luggage for now, but there are bigger plans for the future.

The rebrand process is still ongoing, I am building our online store too, but I couldn’t wait anymore. The reason this is important is because now I have found a way to monetize my writing, RiderZone won’t just be one dude’s psychotic ramblings no more.

I have the business skills of a week old kitten, so my intentions with RiderZone as a gear manufacturer are pretty simple. There are a number of good manufacturers already in the market, Rynox and Carbonado for example are two brands I really respect, especially since I’ve started to understand the complexity of the business and how difficult it is to maintain your quality and vision.

All I want to do is create gear that I want to use.

That’s it, that’s the whole business plan. It may be naive of me to believe that stuff I want to use would actually sell, but I’m going to give it a go. The advantage of this approach is that I can quickly gather feedback, not just my own but from riding friends, and make changes in a flash. We are a super lean operation, pivoting from one idea from another takes seconds. The disadvantage of this approach is that I have repeatedly been proven to be an idiot over my lifespan, so that could be a slight problem.

But I am excited, and this is fun. I get to write again, we will make some cool shit, and most importantly enjoy the process. If this is a mistake, it’s going to be glorious as fuck.