Nearly two months have passed since the last installment of “If You Had Asked Me, I Would Have Told You…” The column serves to pass along stories that didn’t receive a full post, update previous stories, leak stuff not publicly announced, and provide some opinion. Here goes: If You Had …

WEST SPRINGFIELD, MA – A month after saying that the odds were slim for staging a show in January, Springfield Motorcycle Show promoter Doug Sousa has now pulled the plug on what would have been the 16th annual show. “A simple virus that we can’t even see took down the …

Never a company prone to leaking new model info prior to an actual announcement, Harley-Davidson’s plans have become even more open to speculation since the appointment of Jochen Zeitz as president and CEO back in May (after being given the posts on an “acting” basis in February). Zeitz has slashed …

TORRANCE, CA – Honda has announced an all-new brawnier sibling to go with its entry-level Rebel 300 and Rebel 500 cruiser models – the mid-sized 2021 Rebel 1100. The Rebel 1100 is powered by a 1,084cc parallel twin, a repurposed version of the engine found in its Africa Twin adventure …

RIDE-CT & RIDE-New England readers are a hardy and determined bunch, not deterred from riding their motorcycles by the cold weather that comes in late autumn and continues through winter, results of the website’s latest poll reveal. The poll, which ran from Oct. 17 through Nov. 24, showed that 40 …

What’s the difference between “new” and “all-new?” That’s the first question that came to mind upon gazing at Kawasaki’s press release issued this morning that announced five fresh models for 2021. Three are described as “all-new” while two get a “new” label, suggesting the latter are simply models that have …

TRUMBULL. CT – Funny how one discovers local destinations they never knew existed. When strolling through social media the other day, I stumbled across a creamery in my hometown – Plasko’s Farm Creamery & Café.  Formerly a Christmas tree and corn farm during my youth, Plasko’s Farm was founded in …

The 10-day Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, held in August in South Dakota, helped fuel the spread of the coronavirus, according to a new study by health officials in Minnesota released Friday. The study, published Friday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, revealed that 86 cases of …

LAKEVILLE, CT – After weeks of encouraging discussions, Lime Rock Park racetrack has been told it’s out of the running as a host site for next year’s Progressive IMS Outdoors tour. IMS opted out of selecting Lime Rock Park as a Northeast tour site because critical elements in IMS’s requirements …

MEDINA, MN – After 12 years at the helm as CEO and chairman of Indian Motorcycle’s parent company, Polaris Inc., Scott Wine is leaving at year’s end to become CEO of London-based CNH Industrial, N.V. CNH Industrial is the maker of Case and New Holland agricultural equipment. Scott Wine In …

It was done successfully with Triumph, and while the jury is still out on whether a revived Norton brand will ultimately succeed, plans are underway to begin building BSA models again. Possibly as soon as mid-2021. Billionaire Anand Mahindra, chairman of the India-based Mahindra Group, tells “The Guardian” newspaper in …

BMW has issued a “stop sales order” for five popular models due to a “compliance issue” involving the brakes. Dealers have been prohibited for the past 11 days from selling the impacted models that represent nearly one-half of their sales. How long the sales ban lasts is uncertain.  The sales …

MILWAUKEE – Harley-Davidson’s ongoing “rewire” effort to bolster its sagging fortunes continues, albeit in ways not as widely visible to street riders across the country as trimming its model lineup, postponing the release of new models or reducing the number of dealerships. It was revealed Wednesday that the company has …

MILWAUKEE, WI – Royal Enfield is expanding the lineup of motorcycles that it sells in the United States by going smaller with the new Meteor 350 model. The cruiser model, which will be available in the spring, will be offered in three trim versions known as the Fireball, the Stellar …

NAUGATUCK, CT – Getting a motorcycle endorsement in Connecticut (or anywhere) is always a challenging endeavor, but never more so than in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic wiped out Connecticut Rider Education Program (CONREP) classes in the spring and forced safety-related changes for the remainder of the year at teaching sites that …