LOUD3R Founder Talks Motorcylces
Loud3r is all about the things you're passionate about. For Lowell Goss, Loud3r's founder, it's motorcycles. The biker rag, Mid-Life Rider, interviewed Lowell about how his passion led to the creation of FAST3R, our motorcycle site. Here's an excerpt. The complete interview can be found on Mid-Life Rider.When did you first ride a motorcycle?
I guess there are really two stories here. When I was about 12 my uncle bought a 50cc moped. I think it was a Puch. When I would go to visit him all I wanted to do was ride the moped. I rode it flat out all the time.
My re-introduction to bikes was in 1997. My friend Jerry had just started
riding and purchased a Yamaha Seca II. We went together to the Rose Bowl
parking lot in
Now on the old moped you had to give it a handful to get going. This is not
the case on a 900cc motorcycle. I gave it a handful of gas, let out the clutch
and pulled a huge wheelie. I managed to not fall off, but scared myself silly.
I was hooked. Now I don't even really know how to wheelie.
How many bikes have you owned?
Ten, including Ducati, KTM, BMW & Yamaha
What do you own now?
Right now I own a KTM 950 Supermoto. It is a fantastic bike. I think KTM
makes the coolest, sexiest, most fun motorcycles on the market.
How many miles do you expect to ride this year?
Not that many. Probably about 10,000.
You are the moving force behind FAST3R. What inspired you to start it? Was it an extension of your
interest in motorcycles, or did it just seem like a logical market?
I started Loud3r Inc. in June of 2007. Our aim is to build a network of
enthusiast content sites for many topics. When it came time to pick topics to
test the software, motorcycles were an obvious choice. There is a great
passionate community of people involved with motorcycling. The content and
interest areas are very diverse. To be successful we needed to be able to find
and publish the best content about everything from Sturgis to World Superbike to
Stunt riding.
Because motorcycles are a huge passion for me I knew that I could provide a
good eye in judging whether the product was really working. When I started
finding cool articles every day that I couldn't easily find elsewhere, I knew we
were on to something.
Motorcycling isn't a singular thing. There is a real difference between the person interested in sport bikes, the person interested in
heavy cruisers, and the dirt bike rider (just to name three). How do you see
bridging those diverse interests? Few traditional media companies even try.
I think you're right that motorcycling is incredibly diverse. Riders have much more diverse personal tastes than traditional magazines and sites seem to understand. How many riders have a dirt bike and a sport bike?
The idea with FAST3R is to let the individual user pick the content they
think is cool. The product helps you find just Honda content if that's your
thing or you can choose to read about Motocross or Adventure Touring. I think
that's much closer to the reality of people's interests.
What attracted you to motorcycling? Why do you ride?
My dad rode bikes when he was younger, but motorcycles were forbidden when I
was growing up. I guess that was part of the initial interest. Once I started
to ride I got swept away by it.
With all of the intrusions of work, life and technology, riding is one of
the few things that requires my full concentration: 100%. There an incredible
satisfaction in riding and controlling the bike. There's also a paradox of
being in greater touch with the world around you. Let's face it, a motorcycle
is an artificial intrusion into the world. It's loud. It pollutes. But, when I
ride I do feel more in touch with the world around me. The smells. The changing
light. The surface of the road.
What's the coolest thing you've done on a motorcycle?
I went with a group of friends on a trip riding across part of