Up To Speed

LACONIA, NH – It won’t be business as usual, but Laconia Motorcycle Week will be a bit closer to normal in 2021. City Council voted Monday night to allow the event to proceed with restrictions that include a limit on commercial vendors. Beer tents and outside entertainment not associated with …

Of all the books ever written about or involving motorcycles, Beverly Cleary’s “The Mouse and the Motorcycle” could well be the top seller of all time. After all, in a writing career that lasted decades, Cleary sold more than 85 million books. And who knows how many riders can trace …

LONG ISLAND CITY, NY – More than two months after he acquired the dealership, Paul Veracka was officially revealed this week to be the new owner of New York City Harley-Davidson. Veracka owns eight other Harley-Davidson stores on the East Coast, including Manchester Harley-Davidson in New Hampshire and High Octane …

MILWAUKEE – Harley-Davidson has announced plans for an eight-month demo tour of its new Pan America 1250 adventure model that includes five stops in the Northeast. The 25-stop tour kicks off in mid-April in Dallas, but makes its way to New England in June when it visits Laconia Motorcycle Week …

HINCKLEY, Leicestershire – Touting its prototype design as “significantly more compact and lighter than anything currently available on the market,” Triumph today provided a peek at its “Project TE-1” electric model that has been in development for nearly two years. Featuring sport bike/roadster styling, the TE-1 is a collaboration of …

It’s a fascinating video that contains some surprising and not-so-surprising conclusions on the build practices of various motorcycle brands. It’s perhaps predictable that the Chinese brand Yin Xiang gets labeled as “atrocious but cheap” and Italian makes Aprilia and Ducati get written off as “shoddy.” However, Royal Enfield from India …

There were some open spaces on showroom floors last year caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Customers who were anxious to buy motorcycles and escape were a big part of the reason for the gaps, but factory shutdowns also presumably played a role. If dealerships did well in 2020, they may …

NEW HAVEN, CT – For the first time in the more than two decades, Connecticut is without an Aprilia dealer. New Haven Powersports in the Elm City is no longer selling the niche Italian line of sport bikes after having carried Aprilia since 1999.  Demands by Aprilia played into the …

In a normal year, most decisions would have been made by now. Dates would have already been selected by dozens of organizers of motorcycle events throughout the Northeast. CHECK OUT 2021 EVENT CALENDAR Last year certainly wasn’t a normal year. The spread of COVID-19 forced the cancelation of nearly all …

HARWINTON, CT – It sounds ridiculous given the model’s shoddy reputation. Of all the vehicles that have come and gone over the years, close to 30 if motorcycles are included, it’s a limited edition 1973 Chevrolet Vega GT that I wish was still in the garage. No, it wasn’t as …

Moto Guzzi marks a milestone on Monday – exactly 100 years since the Italian marque launched in Mandello del Lario. Currently owned by Piaggio, Moto Guzzi was conceived during World War I by two Italian Air Force pilots and their gifted mechanic, Carlo Guzzi. It was Guzzi who supplied the …

At this stage, it’s still anyone’s guess when the riding landscape will significantly shift to electric motorcycles from those that are powered by gas. However, just-released results from a survey done by the BikeSure insurance company suggest a rapid switch may happen fairly soon, at least across the pond. More …

Six weeks have passed, so it’s definitely time for a fresh helping of “If You Had Asked Me, I Would Have Told You…” It’s the column that updates recent stories, adds some items that didn’t get a full post, and tosses in a bit of opinion. Here goes: “If You …

SAINT-JEAN, FRANCE – It’s named in memory of legendary British archaeologist, army officer, diplomat and writer T.E. Lawrence (aka “Lawrence of Arabia”) who died in a motorcycle crash in 1935 while riding an original Brough Superior SS100. Unveiled Monday by the revived Brough Superior brand in France, the Lawrence model …

GARDNER, MA – A former Motus dealer in this north-central Massachusetts town is now selling sporty Energica electric motorcycles. Rob’s Dyno Service at 45 Fredette St. here quietly added Energica of New England signage to the shop early this year. And owner Rob Swartz has continued what has now become …