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By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com An unexpected effort in the General Assembly to crack down on noisy motorcycles is being met by immediate opposition by the motorcycle industry. Under language added last week to a bill involving off-road ATVs, the sale, registration or operation of a street motorcycle having most …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com Motorcyclists operating with exhaust pipes that don’t have E.P.A. approval – and dealers and shops selling them – would be open to fines under an amendment attached this week to an ATV bill that is moving forward in the General Assembly. While targeted at loud …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com Despite a drop in sales during the first quarter of 2013 when compared to a year ago, both in the U.S. and worldwide, Harley-Davidson today reported a 33.8 increase in earnings per share. First quarter net income was 224.1 million on consolidated revenue of $1.57 …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com There hasn’t been a press release from Harley-Davidson. Dealerships haven’t been emailing customers about the debut, either. In fact, the word is that the “soft launch” of a new online store by Harley is on purpose, presumably to make sure everything is working correctly. RIDE-CT.com’s …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com With Baby Boomers aging and even giving up riding, Harley-Davidson needs replacements, and new data from the research firm R.L. Polk & Co. reveals that for the fifth straight year Harley is the top seller of street motorcycles to U.S. adults between the ages of …

By Bud Wilkinson Not unlike dandelions in a manicured lawn, they pop up unexpectedly. One moment there’s little-noticed guard rail alongside the highway and the next there’s a floral display that pulls your eyes from the road ahead. Roadside memorials, colorful tributes to people killed when traveling, have seemingly become …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com Connecticut has a new, and second, Ducati dealer. New Haven Powersports, which already carries the Italian-made Aprilia and Moto Guzzi lines, has now added Ducati and is in the process of remodeling. “We’ve had it exactly one month today,” said Chris Green late Friday afternoon. …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com The thought that “we are what we ride” popped into my head when coming home from picking up some English muffins while on a 40-mile evening ride. Why go to the Daily Mart at the end of the road, just one mile away, when an …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com If you’re headed to Harley-Davidson’s 110th anniversary celebration, haven’t booked a room yet and have deep pockets, The Iron Horse Hotel in Milwaukee is offering a VIP, seven-night stay for $9,900. That’s for double occupancy. Rick Barrett of the “Journal Sentinel” has details here on what …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com A little more movement to report today in the bill moving through the General Assembly in Connecticut that would establish an all-terrain vehicle division within the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection to create and maintain ATV trails in the state. It has now been voted …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com ATV owners in Connecticut can stop worrying about a bill that would have required the registration of all off-road vehicles, including quads, dirt bikes and snowmobiles. As originally introduced by state Rep. Debralee Hovey, a Republican whose district includes Newtown and Monroe, proposed H.B. 5183 …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com Dr. Mike Maroon, a scooter-loving dentist who has worked at Advanced Dental in Berlin, CT for the past 25 years, is the new owner of Scooter Centrale/Vespa Hartford in Plainville. He bought the business from Doug and Sue Day. In a Facebook post yesterday, Maroon …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com Which is quicker – a 162-horsepower Ducati Diavel or a 542-horsepower Audi R8 V10? Autocar in the U.K. recently put them in head to head test: zero to 150 miles per hour. Which do you think won? — It was Jay Leno to the rescue …

 It’s a bike brand that most riders probably don’t recognize – Brough Superior. Only 3,000 or so were ever built, fewer than 1,100 exist today worldwide and there may only be 175 in the entire United States.

As an avid reader, I sometimes wish that I kept a yellow felt-tipped pen on the nightstand beside my bed.  That way I could highlight catchy phrases and memorable passages in the books that I read. This would make it easy to locate them at a later time because you never …