The Gear Dude

“My road to becoming a moto ‘journo’ was a clumsy one, filled with more than one lucky break and riddled with mistakes. I had written about my travels in the past and had started writing short gear reviews on my blog, but I was flying by the seat of my pants. I really got started after seeing a post on Facebook looking for people interested in submitting product reviews, and I responded immediately. I wrote reviews for some of my favorite products that I was already using, and they started appearing on the magazine’s website. Eventually, the magazine would send me things to review and slowly my reviews started showing up in print.” – Spencer Hill

“Around this same time, the dual-sport scene on Instagram was exploding, and I somehow got in on the tidal wave of popularity cresting through that channel. Notoriety on social media opened up opportunities with other outlets like ADVpulse and early partnerships with brands like Klim and Mosko Moto. Getting my foot in the door with product reviews gave me the chance to write things I was more interested in like company profiles and trip reports. As I became more well known in this segment, brand collaborations and writing opportunities became more plentiful until my plate was overflowing.”

“Somewhere in there, I picked up my camera because I got tired of relying on other people for images to accompany my writing and wanted to take my social media to the next level. Using that camera made me fall in love with photography again after growing up the son of a professional photographer. As I relearned the craft and became more technically savvy, I upgraded my equipment and was able to shoot in many different circumstances accelerating my learning curve. Now taking photos is one of the most rewarding things in my life, with motorcycles or without. Now I pick and choose assignments while still striving to improve and open other doors of opportunity.”

Spencer Hill, better know as The Gear Dude, hails from Seattle in the USA. “I started riding motorcycles when I was twenty-three after a friend bought a new Triumph Bonneville. I fell in love with that bike, but I wanted to learn how to ride before I purchased a nice bike, so I started on a 1969 Honda 175 Scrambler. After a winter of rebuilding the Honda and zipping around town, I sold it and got a Triumph Bonneville T100. Right after I purchased the T100, I took my first MSF class, and I learned how to ride correctly. I love motorcycles because they offer a much more visceral experience than sitting in a car. The elements, smells, and sensations make me feel very connected with the journey.” A Marine Engineer by trade Spencer worked on oil tankers while also cataloging his motorcycle adventures. “It was soon after that when I began writing little product reviews for Adventure Motorcycle Magazine. After about a year of small-time product reviews and blog posts, I gained a lot of traction from social media and my elevated profile afforded me some exciting new opportunities.”

That being said, it hasn’t all been smooth roads for dirt-minded Spencer. “Social media, marketing, writing and shooting photos in the adventure motorcycle segment has been a wild ride the last few years. The most difficult times have been failed projects like First Ride Up The Divide and negative interactions within the industry. On the CDT trip, for instance, I was wound tight as a mandolin after months of preparation and aggravation. Then on the very first day, I had a high-speed low side mere miles after we’d hit the dirt. At the same time, my good friend Josh had a bad get-off causing the day to come to a screeching halt. I was furious at myself for wrecking, even more so because I had elected not to wear my jacket due to the heat. The bone in my elbow was fractured, I had to get a dozen or more stitches, and we hadn’t even covered half the miles I had planned for that day. Josh was also banged up pretty bad with a shoulder injury that would not heal until long after the trip.”

“So there I was in charge of this multi-week adventure with four other people looking to me for answers, and I wasn’t sure if we were even going to continue after the first day. I was sitting in a Holiday Inn Express parking lot after getting stitches, feeling responsible for Josh’s injury, feeling the weight of this trip when I concluded that I was just going to roll with the punches. Nothing was going to stop us from getting to the Canadian border so I might as well loosen up and take in the experience. After I let go of that anxiety and embraced the unexpected, it was the trip of a lifetime.”

Spencer came to be the owner of his KTM 1090 in partnership with KTMTwins in 2017. “I chose it since it was a new model and I wanted something bigger than the single cylinder 690’s I’d had previously.” As with all successfully modified KTM’s Spencer installed a Rottweiler Performance Stage 4 Intake along with a DynoJet Power Commander V. The custom mapping was done by 2 Wheel Dynoworks in Kirkland, Washington. The heavy stock exhaust was swapped for an Akrapovic end can, and the clutch changed out for a TorqDrive clutch and Slave cylinder by Rekluse. Since only the best would do the suspension was handled by Konflict Motorsports while the new seat is by Seat Concepts. FasstCo Flexx Bars and Impact foot-pegs supply a superior connection to the machine. Lighting is handled by a Cyclops Adventure Sports LED headlight conversion along with their Evolution Safety LED turn signal inserts. Spencer also installed a Tire Pressure Monitoring System for peace of mind.

Increasing the fuel capacity is a Camel ADV Camel Tank side mounted behind the left luggage rack. A Touratech RallyeForm skid plate and front fender riser help with off-road riding while a Rumbux crash bar set takes care of drops. The Perun tail rack along with a set of KTM Power Parts luggage racks carry the Wolfman Luggage system. “I prefer soft luggage, and these Wolfman Rocky Mountain Panniers have been great on all my recent adventures.” Rounding out spencer’s personal upgrade preferences is a GPS and Phone mount for navigations. “I usually use both maps and GPS when planning and then a Trail Tech Voyager Pro when I am riding.” Future planned upgrades include a set of aftermarket wheels. “The stock rims have been an issue from the get-go because of how soft they are. A set of Woody’s Wheels would have been the smart move.”

Life changing events are a common part of spending time on the road. Altering ones perceptive on the cards dealt can lead to unexpected destinations. It was one of these moments that Spencer experienced in 2017 during the LA Barstow to Vegas ride; “I remember a black screen, and then my brain rebooting, after that a light switch came on, and I was riding an Africa Twin alone through the desert. Where am I? What am I doing? OK, I’m riding a motorcycle, and I’m in California. That’s right, LAB2V, but how long have I been riding like this? I could hear someone asking me if I was alright from far off in the distance, then I was deadlifting the Africa Twin, and then all of a sudden I was here. I didn’t feel right and thought something was wrong. All this desert looks the same, is this the first or second day of this shit show? That’s when I reached down to feel for my packet of cigarettes in my left leg pocket… There was nothing there, so I thought about getting some at the next fuel stop. ‘Wait, I haven’t smoked in years!’ That was the red flag; now I was pretty sure I had a concussion.”

“After a subsequent cat scan, I was ordered by doctors to avoid any activities with the risk of head trauma for at least six months. This explicitly included all motorcycle riding. The first ride I did after that was in the Nevada desert with Jimmy Lewis not even three months later. I was on a KTM 500, hardly a colossal bike but trying to keep up with Jimmy stoked the flames of doubt swirling in my helmet. I was ‘trigger shy’ to push my limits, and I didn’t know if I would ever be able to enjoy off-road riding in the same way I once had. I knew I wasn’t supposed to be riding but how could I pass up an opportunity like this? However, on the second day of the trip, we were shooting photos on a dry lake bed near Jimmy’s place, when Eric Hougen of Wolfman Luggage seemingly appeared out of nowhere on the cleanest DRZ I had ever seen. I don’t know how but we got to talking about concussions, and he told me about a rather serious one he had sustained in a motorcycle accident less than a year prior. He shared some reassuring words and then he was on his way. As I watched him ride off I knew I could get back to 100%.”

For those who are not yet following Spencer’s story check out his Instagram page and Facebook account.

All images Spencer Hill.