Oil Drippings: News and Opinion

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com

Reuters is reporting that German carmaker Audi will finally announce next week the acquisition of Italian bike-maker Ducati. The Italian newspaper “Corriere della Sera” also reports that the deal is expected to be signed next week, and pegs the purchase price at $1.1 billion. Would you call that a Diavel of a price? If you can read Italian, more info can be found here.

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Lawmakers in Finland are considering a law that would ban motorcyclists from wearing vests that show gang insignias. IceNews has the story here. When I think of the Nordic countries, biker gangs aren’t the first thing that comes to mind.

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Under the heading of “this guy’s an idiot…”

A rider in Washington was  ticketed Tuesday by state police for having a dog as a passenger as he rode for miles down a freeway. The canine was perched precariously on the seat.

KCPQ-TV in Seattle has the story here, but the picture from the Washington State Patrol is worth a thousand words.  All it would take is one pothole or one quick swerve and the pooch would be roadkill.

Here in Connecticut, it’s against the law to have an uncaged dog in the back of a pickup truck, yet it’s common to see people driving along with Fido loose in back. The purpose of the law (Sec. 14-272b) is “to prevent the dog from being thrown or falling or jumping from the pick-up truck.” Yes, people are idiots.

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Sales figures from BMW reveal that the German motorcycle manufacturer had is best first quarter ever. A total of 24,373 bikes were delivered, up 5.5 percent from the first quarter in 2011. Husqvarna sold 1,182 bikes, a 74.9 percent increase.