Columns

DEEP RIVER, CT – It was only after extracting the 1994 Moto Guzzi California 1100 from winter storage and getting it out on the road for the first time early this month – more than three months after buying it – that the question popped to

How often do we rely on the advice of others when it comes to goods and services? A friend recommends a restaurant, we try it. A total stranger suggests a scenic or curvy road to ride, we seek it out. When the automatic transmission in my pickup recently began slipping, advice …

The winter is slowly beginning to depart. You’re anxious to be able to get out for the first ride. It may have been six months since the last time you rode, so for this edition of Safe Riding let’s consider a simple, three-part preparation checklist: Bike, gear, and attitude. Some …

If the service person at your local BMW dealer is smiling just a little less these days, there’s a good reason. That’s because BMW’s recent recall announcement will likely cause a host of headaches for both dealers and riders in the weeks to come. The 43,426 bikes recalled in the …

The email from Bjorn “Bob” Bagn that arrived on Jan. 6 instantly caught my attention. The subject line revealed that he was offering two Montesa  basket cases as freebies. “Little by little, ‘galloping geriatrics’ has caught up with me,” he explained. “With two metal knees, and at 84 years, I …

(Update: Jillian B. Stickels of the FBI responded this morning (3/26), confirming that the story is a hoax and noting that the faux story is already included on the debunking website Snopes.com, which says it first appeared on a satirical site called National Report. And, also as of this morning, …

What can be said about this winter that hasn’t already been said; usually with four-letter words?  After popping the bead on one of the tires of my snow blower last weekend, I had a particularly colorful combination of bon mots running through my head. Suffice to say that winter needs …

Call me suspicious, but I just had to wonder about the press release issued Tuesday by Daytona Beach Marriott Hotels that bragged, “Bikers heading to Daytona Beach Bike Week this year will find rates worth getting revved up (emphasis added) for at Courtyard Daytona Beach Speedway/Airport and Residence Inn Daytona Speedway/Airport.” …

In hindsight, maybe it wasn’t such a good idea – mixing a staid, military-skewed vintage aircraft museum and a leather-clad motorcycle club whose violent name can be misconstrued or viewed as offensive by

In a previous column, I reviewed the various ways that dealers can grow their businesses. One way is by offering more and different products for sale, and manufacturers are starting to help in this area.

An early episode of the television series “Law & Order” had detectives Lennie Briscoe and Mike Logan tackling a heavy caseload that included five unrelated murders and a domestic quarrel in a 24-hour period. Appropriately, the episode was titled “Mayhem.” It came to mind earlier this week when contemplating today’s …

Just like any business, motorcycle dealerships are constantly looking at ways to boost sales.  New revenue can help fuel expansion or simply replace monies lost over time as customers change their buying habits.

Sipping my Sunday morning coffee a few moments ago while sitting at my laptop, I made a routine visit to the state’s Judicial Branch website to see if there was any change in the status of the case related to my riding mate and friend Gary Randall, who died from

When the best time to buy a motorcycle? The answer to that question has become something of a cliche because “when you see it” seems, at least on the surface, to be just too simple of a response. It’s a sound reason, though, that took me more than 10 years …

Motorcycle riding is mostly a solo (or solo and pillion) activity. However, when we ride in a group of two or more motorcycles, the other riders can have positive or negative effect on each other’s overall experience. Not too long ago I was reading a lengthy online discussion among touring …