Ride New England

Another year, another unwise tie-in between a motorcycle manufacturer and a booze producer. Indian announced Wednesday that it has “joined forces” with the Jack Daniel Distillery to create a “limited-run, collector’s-edition Jack Daniel’s-branded” 2016 Indian Chief Vintage that will celebrate

HARWINTON, CT – As we were getting ready to leave the Springfield Motorcycle Show at the Eastern States Exposition last Saturday, motorcycling friends Brian O’Neill and Roland Smith looked at the crowd of riders in the hall and observed that maybe next year we should rent a booth and hawk …

LAGRANGEVILLE, NY – Some motorcycles resemble over-the-top Christmas displays. They’re excessively adorned with chrome parts and littered with doodads that are as tacky as a blowup Santa Claus or some other inflatable holiday figure. Just as outdoor displays that stress simplicity and elegance are more tasteful, bikes that employ understatement …

NEW YORK – Has there ever been a time in motorcycling’s history when there has been such a huge variety of bikes available to riders? Sure, there were more manufacturers in

It was hours after sunset and somewhere in a remote section of Baja California that the front tire of the 2009 Honda CRF450X trail bike that 20-year-old Tanner Janesky was riding hit a rock, which instantly slammed the wheel into another rock. The impact dislodged the front brake caliper, leaving …

WATERBURY, CT – It can happen to even the best of riders, and John Purdy Jr. qualifies as an extremely skilled rider. He’s been a licensed motorcyclist for 37 years and spends upwards of 15,000 miles per year on two wheels. Purdy has also been a motorcycle instructor for 19 …

Sometimes a single week can offer a microcosm of an entire riding season – the highs and the lows, the dangerous and the ridiculous. That such a week would occur during a warm stretch in November may be uncommon but I’ll take it, rejoice and give a two-fingered acknowledgement to …

TORRINGTON, CT – Driving home this warm evening from turning in my cable box – yes, I’ve cut the cable having finally become fed up with paying so much for so many channels that never got viewed – I couldn’t help but notice the high number of motorcycles out on …

BETHLEHEM, CT – Music was coming from Joe Bordiere’s three-car garage when I rode in his driveway in Bethlehem one recent afternoon. Parked in front of the garage were three red Vespa scooters, two with sidecars attached, and one white Harley-Davidson motorcycle. “Ah, he’s got a radio on,” I thought …

PITTSFIELD, MA – As a lifelong motorcyclist, singer/songwriter Arlo Guthrie knows about the camaraderie felt by riders. Thanks to one of his best known compositions, a silly song in which he tells of riding off a cliff “doin’ 150 miles an hour, sideways, and 500 feet down at the same time,” …

SHELTON, CT – Bill Pitt isn’t an average rider. Last month, he bought a 2015 BMW F 700 GS and put 3,500 miles on the odometer in the first three weeks of ownership. “I don’t ride to see how fast I can ride, I ride to see how

  MIDDLETOWN, CT – Are you ready for a short motorcycle history lesson? Before there was Harley-Davidson, there was Indian. Harley-Davidson was founded in Milwaukee in 1903. The original Indian “motocycle” produced by Hendee Manufacturing began in 1901 in Springfield, Mass. and lasted until 1953 when it went bankrupt. The …

Time for another installment of “If you had asked, I would have told you that…” – While I’m sympathetic to his suffering, if I’d have been on the Hartford Superior Court jury, I would have voted against awarding Connecticut rider Joseph Chaplin nearly $534,000 as a result of a crash that …

HARWINTON, CT – It was during a breakfast conversation yesterday with friend and rider Neil Tolhurst of New Hartford that I became aware of a law that I subsequently discovered has apparently been in effect in Connecticut for seven years. It states that “passenger vehicles, combination vehicles and motorcycles, 20 …

Unlike many who operate a car or truck, I’ve never claimed to be a good driver. Competent? Yes. Usually safe? Yes, again. But to carry a label of “good” requires a driving record better than mine. In nearly 46 years of driving, I’ve had a few accidents. As a teen …