Up To Speed

SUFFIELD, CT – Motorcycle collector Paul Mancinone admits to having a problem. “I’m a junk collector. I can’t rid of anything. I get attached. It’s as simple as that,” he said. Fortunately, he has the space to indulge his addiction and the wallet to stock his collection with some sparkling …

Is this item really necessary? The Canadian website Town Moto describes its “Shifter Boot Protector” as “a simple solution to an age old problem.” It’s a leather strap with an elasticized band that “stops the toes of your boots from getting scuffed and marked up by your shifter.” For only …

Here goes with more Oil Drippings: News and Opinion as well as links to stories from elsewhere. – What gives with Hamlin Cycles in Bethel, CT? It opened last April and became a Moto Guzzi dealer more than three months ago, but its bare-bones, amateurish website gives the impression of an …

EAST WINDHAM, NY – Closed for more than two years, the hillside lodge and eatery on Route 23 that was previously known as Point Lookout Mountain Inn and Restaurant will soon reopen as Captain’s Inn Point Lookout. RIDE-CT / RIDE-New England stopped there in October 2012 (below picture) to enjoy

It’s hardly t-shirt weather in these parts, but it will be soon and Indian has a clever promotion to help push its products for the coming riding season – a t-shirt exchange. The “Switch Your Gear” trade-in offer runs through March 31. If you bring a new or gently-used t-shirt …

FORT MONTGOMERY, N.Y. – Finding a motorcycle dealer that sells electric bikes in the region isn’t easy. There are fewer than a handful in New England and eastern New York, but now there’s one more. Rockwell Cycles recently added Zero. “We’ve had them for about three weeks,” Rockwell Cycles owner …

NEW YORK – It was summer of 2012 when RIDE-CT / RIDE-New England spotted and snapped a picture of Gary Halby taking photos in Kent, CT. His expensive Canon camera with a 70-300mm telephoto lens suggested a more substantive purpose to his effort than mere snapshots, and it was quickly …

NEWBURGH, N.Y. – Pulling into a parking space outside the employees’ entrance of the Motorcyclepedia museum one recent morning, it was impossible not to notice an old Indian strapped down in the bed of a nearby pickup. The truck had an Ohio license plate, suggesting the bike had traveled

MINNEAPOLIS, MN – Indian today introduced a new, less expensive and less flashy member to its Chief line of heavyweight cruisers. Dubbed the Chief Dark Horse, the 2016 model will have a starting MSRP of $16,999, which is $2,400 less than the Chief Classic. Indian says the Chief Dark Horse “is …

FARIBAULT, MN – Classic Motorworks, the U.S. distributor of Royal Enfield motorcycles, is out with its Top 10 list of dealers in the country for 2014, and two are in New England. National Powersports Distributors in Pembroke, NH, ranked No. 5 in sales for the year, while Mark’s Motorsports in …

Talk about moving quickly. It was less than a month ago that Polaris acquired the electric motorcycle business of Brammo, Inc., and already the company has a brand and model in mind. Polaris announced the deal on Jan. 15. Only 12 days later, on Jan. 27, it filed with the …

If you ask the average rider which company sells the most motorcycles, the probable answer would be “Harley-Davidson.” It was just a week ago that Harley-Davidson reported worldwide sales of 267,999 motorcycles in 2014, a 2.7 percent increase over 2013. However,  “The Times of India” now reports that

MILWAUKEE – Harley-Davidson has announced that its current president and chief operating officer, Matthew S. “Matt” Levatich (pictured), will become the company’s next chief executive officer upon

BROOKFIELD, CT – Imagine buying a new bike, taking it home, putting it in the basement and letting it sit for more than three decades without ever riding it. That’s what the owner of a 1981 BMW R80 G/S did. Max Stratton, owner of the Max BMW dealerships, heard about …

It has become a ritual. Viewers tune in the Super Bowl to watch the commercials as much as they do to watch the big game, and a 30-second spot tomorrow in Super Bowl XLIX will cost $4 million. We’ll soon find out which ones stand out, but some from the …