Time for another installment of “If You Had Asked Me, I Would Have Told You,” the column that updates recent stories and contains fresh ones (items that maybe aren’t sufficient to justify a full post), along with a smattering of opinion. Before getting to the news, though, a question: Why …

It’s another installment of “If You Had Asked Me, I Would Have Told You…,” a column that updates recent stories as well as contains fresh items that didn’t warrant a full post or slipped through the cracks. Here goes: “If You Had Asked Me, I Would Have Told You…” That …

(Editor’s Note: “Messenger” is an occasional column by RIDE-CT & RIDE-New England editor and publisher Bud Wilkinson on subjects and issues that don’t involve motorcycles.) HARWINTON, CT – After 10 months of the COVID-19 pandemic and four years of extreme political polarization, I’m convinced that most of us are on …

Lots has been happening lately, so let’s get right to the news items with a fresh installment of “If You Had Asked Me, I Would Have Told You…” It’s a column that passes along stories that didn’t warrant a full post or somehow slipped through the cracks. It also occasionally …

SANTA MONICA, CA – In a surprising reveal that instantly seems destined to have motorcyclists in southern New England, the Hudson Valley and even New Jersey declaring “Fuhgeddaboudit,” the organizers of next year’s Progressive IMS Outdoors tour announced this morning that Brooklyn will be one of nine host locations across …

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 …

Introduced in 1946, it wasn’t until 1953 that the Vespa scooter became instantly recognized worldwide thanks to the intuition of a Hollywood movie director. William Wyler was “looking for a means of transportation that the entire world could identify as typically Italian” for his movie “Roman Holiday.”  Wyler made his …

Has it really been nearly two years since the last installment of “If You Had Asked Me, I Would Have Told You…” appeared? It had been a somewhat regular feature of light-hearted comment, predictions, and more serious opinion. Somehow, though, it got set aside in the day-to-day crush to cover …

HARWINTON, CT – Are you a good rider? A motorcycle mishap may prove you’re not as good as you think… Motorcycle instructor and “Riding in the Zone” author Ken Condon shared an old magazine column of his on social media yesterday in which he opined that most riders delude themselves …

There’s nothing new on television, and the new reality special “Kaplan America” that is set in Connecticut is the latest example to confirm this thesis. It premieres at 10 tonight on The Discovery Channel and unabashedly cribs elements from “American Pickers,” “American Chopper” and even “Counting Cars” with self-imposed deadline …

FALLS VILLAGE, CT – The colorful, eccentric and British-themed breakfast and lunch spot started by Annie and Greg Bidou in 2002 has been a gathering spot for motorcyclists, especially on Sunday mornings. It has also catered to thru-hikers on the nearby Appalachian Trail. The Bidous labors will appropriately come to …

It’s all my mother’s fault. So what if she’s been dead for 38 years. She passed along her sports car-loving genes, and that’s undoubtably the reason why a used, two-seater Mazda in eye-catching burgundy ended up in my garage late last week, forcing the shifting of my motorcycles into tight …

SPRINGFIELD, MA – The images of classic and modern motorcycles and cars are so vivid, so colorful and so detailed that it’s possible to imagine the roar of their engines and the smell of exhaust fumes inside an upstairs gallery at the Michele and Donald D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts …

MILWAUKEE – Harley-Davidson shoppers will have far fewer model choices in the months and years to come; a message that got muddled earlier this week when the company announced its earnings for the second quarter of 2020. While most news outlets played up the company’s 27 percent drop in sales …

WALLINGFORD, CT – It’s looks like something from a movie set in the old West, but with a modern twist. It’s a new (albeit used) hearse just acquired by B.C. Bailey Funeral Home and parked at the end of a driveway at its 273 South Elm St. location.   “Every …