We talked to Marko Lehtimaki, co-founder of the EV startup Verge, about being inspired by Apple and Tesla, expanding interest in motorcycles and completely rethinking bike design. Plus:

• Weightlifting: But in slow motion.
• Grooming brands: These ones should be on your radar now.

Verge Built a Groundbreaking Motorcycle. Is That What Bikers Want?

Marko Lehtimaki might look like your standard biker, what with his black T-shirt, shaved head and goatee, but his background is in software. Over his lucrative career, he’s launched around 15 software companies, selling some to giants like Germany’s SAP. So perhaps it’s no surprise that when he thinks of products that are comparable to the electric motorcycles made by Verge, the Finnish-Estonian company he co-founded and which opened its first two U.S. stores this summer in California, his mind doesn’t go to Harley-Davidson, but to the iPod.

What he means is that the TS Pro and TS Ultra, the company’s first two motorcycles, are similarly self-contained and user-friendly, sleek and clean, literally and aesthetically. The novel design led one recent customer, a Silicon Valley exec, to call Verge “the Apple of motorcycles.” 

Yesterday, we asked you about your preferred watch style. You said: 

• Field watch (14%)
• Chronograph and Smartwatch (tied at 20%)
• Dress watch and Dive watch (tied at 23%)

It’s Time to Give “Slow-Motion Lifting” a Try

Michael Mason has been described (to his own delight) as “Liver King on a budget.” Daily Instagram videos feature the 59-year-old in his chilly Brighton backyard, lifting an array of junkyard gym equipment: plates, kettlebells and resistance bands that don’t have the gleam of a new set from Rogue. He puts them to good use, though, in an offbeat fashion that deserves consideration for your strength-training routine.

Mason’s a bit of a Renaissance man. He’s a Swiss-qualified ski instructor, teaches Japanese martial arts and operates survival retreats in the Scottish Highlands. These sorts of mobility multi-hyphenates tend to bring a different perspective to old-school, pick-up-and-put-down weightlifting, and Mason doesn’t disappoint. He’s been posting his “slow rep series” for years, breathing some new life into a lifting technique that has drifted in and out of vogue over the decades.

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The Best Grooming Brands to Know Now

New men’s grooming brands launch all the time. With more guys putting thought into their moisturizers, shaving creams and shampoos, it’s only natural that the market is expanding. But weeding through the elegant packaging and indecipherable ingredients can be tough, so we’re here to help.

Today, we’re highlighting a natural, unisex grooming line known for the “scent pyramids” in its deodorants and skincare, as well as the new colognes you should be adding to your medicine cabinet immediately.