New Dealer In Bethel Targets March 1 Opening

By Bud Wilkinson

Jim Hamlin is targeting a March 1 opening for his new Hamlin Cycles dealership in Bethel, CT. Pending zoning approval that will allow a service department, Hamlin plans to open the new store in a building that formerly housed a power equipment business. “We’re working on the inside of the building right now. The building is ideally suited for what I’m going to be doing,” he said.

Hamlin expects to sell Triumph and Moto Guzzi motorcycles. A dealership application has already been submitted to Triumph and another is being prepared for Moto Guzzi. “I don’t think I want more than that. If I take those two and get good at those, I won’t need any others. Trying to be be Walmart doesn’t work that well,” Hamlin said.

Hamlin previously worked for Branchville Motors, the Triumph-Moto Guzzi-Vespa dealer in Ridgefield that went out of business last year.

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Harley-Davidson’s darkest days were unarguably from 1969 through 1981 when AMF owned the company. Here’s a TV commercial from that era touting the SS 250 model:

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After setting a record in 2013 for annual readership, RIDE-CT.com/Ride-NewEngland.com notched another milestone yesterday with the highest number of readers checking out the site simultaneously. There were 133 visitors at 12:03 p.m., according to Google Analytics, which eclipsed the previous record of 114 readers at one time back in August.