By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com Today’s glorious weather had the roads loaded with bikes. RIDE-CT thought it wise late this afternoon to “exercise” all three bikes in the garage – get the oil circulating and the gas tanks topped. The 1969 Triumph T100R Daytona proved to be balky, though, requiring …

By Bud Wilkinson Members of Torrington’s Reservoir Dogs Motorcycle Club hit the intersection of Route 4 (East Elm St.) and Main Street between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. today to solicit donations for Christmas Village, the Friendly Hands Food Bank and St. Jude’s, marking the ninth year the club has …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com Just in time for Thanksgiving, some riders in Walnut Creek, Calif. have been targeted in the days leading up to the holiday by a pair of wild turkeys, who want to knock the stuffing out of motorcyclists:

By Bud Wilkinson Jim Batterton has a sensible goal for his business. “I don’t have any aspirations of becoming huge, but I would like to be able to support myself doing something I enjoy,” said the 60-year-old Batterton, who gets enjoyment from converting heavyweight motorcycles into trikes. He owns Kent …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com Winter is the time when motorcycle shows draw our attention away from snow and ice and get us thinking of the spring ahead. We check out new models and load up on gear and accessories that we might need or desire for the coming riding …

By Bud Wilkinson In past years, RIDE-CT has pushed the riding season to the limit before packing it in. The routine has been to bundle up and stay on the road for as long as possible – often until mid-December. A ride on New Year’s Day has been an occasional …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com The power’s back on after eight days following the pre-Halloween snowstorm here in Connecticut, so it’s back to posting news and other interesting motorcycle info… It came out four years ago, but an overseas TV commercial for Royal Enfield certainly makes the point that the …

By Bud Wilkinson Triumph has announced that it will offer a new adventure-touring model for 2011 as well as a couple of different editions of current models, namely the Bonneville T100 and the Speed Triple. New to the lineup will be the Tiger Explorer. The Tiger Explorer is an upsized …

By Bud Wilkinson Just like with movies and TV shows, some new motorcycle models become hits with consumers while others flop and disappear quickly. Occasionally, a long-forgotten relic that was a slow seller and only had brief life on the showroom floor will develop a cult following or be sufficiently …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com R. Lee Ermey has had a successful, in-your-face second career as an actor and TV pitchman. His prior occupation was as a drill sergeant in the U.S. Marine Corps. He was in the Stanley Kubrick movie “Full Metal Jacket” and hosted the TV series “Mail …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com Not many motorcycles have songs written about them. “Little Honda” comes to mind. It was written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love of The Beach Boys, and turned into a Top 10 hit in 1964 by a grab-bag group of studio musicians that included Glen …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com Harley-Davidson CEO Keith Wandell says his company is rebounding from the economic recession, but needs new product aimed an entry-level riders and product that makes riders go “Wow!” and that gets t0 market quicker. He spoke at a business symposium at Ohio State University on …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com All bikers are mean, ornery, tattooed tough guys, right? The Carlsberg beer company has done an ad in Belgian that pokes fun at the stereotype by filling a movie theater with bikers and leaving only two empty seats in the middle of the auditorium. What …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com As promised by Jim Tabor, Willows Motorsports in Cheshire has loaned RIDE-CT.com a 2011 Victory Cross Roads to beat on, er, ride carefully five days. It’s a factory demo with a couple-hundred miles on it. Rode it home late yesterday afternoon under threatening, weepy skies …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com For the second time in less than a year, “Cycle World” magazine has been sold. Hearst Corp. yesterday announced the sale of the magazine to Bonnier Corp., which publishes “Popular Science,” “Field & Stream” and “Parenting” magazine. The two companies reported that “Cycle World’s” staff …