Up To Speed

By Bud Wilkinson A story in today’s “Mirror” newspaper in the U.K. tells of a company called Shaw Speed and Custom, which specializes in customizing Harley-Davidsons, including the one pictured below. It begins: “CUSTOMISING has always been a big part of the Harley-Davidson experience. There is an old joke which says that the …

With the 84th International Motor Show of Geneva only days away (March 6-16), Ducati today unveiled a freshened Diavel as a preview for the 2015 model year. The new Diavel sport cruiser will begin arriving in dealerships worldwide in April. The accompanying press release was filled with extravagant phraseology but …

By Bud Wilkinson Police in New Haven, CT have charged 90-year-old Nancy Cassella of Bethany with negligent homicide and improper turning for a Sept. 7 car-motorcycle accident that resulted in the death of 34-year-old rider Brian McCarthy of North Haven. Cassella was arrested on a warrant Tuesday and will be …

By Bud Wilkinson The American Motorcyclist Association revealed today that Indian Motorcycle will be celebrated as the 2014 AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days Marque of the Year. The annual event will be staged July 11-13 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, OH. Indians will be featured in displays and race …

By Bud Wilkinson The province of Manitoba in Canada in now formally listing the Hells Angels motorcycle club as criminal organization, the first government entity in North America to make that designation. The largely procedural moves means that “police will no longer have to prove the motorcycle gang is a criminal …

What’s your image of those who attend the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota? If you pegged them as being older, more proper than hard-core bikers, affluent and educated, well, you’d be right. You’d also be on target if you said rally-goers were mostly Harley-Davidson riders. The results of …

By Bud Wilkinson It can be extremely painful stopping at the gas pump no matter where you live these days, but that’s especially true in Connecticut. Three bills just introduced in the General Assembly would trim the gas tax in Connecticut, while other bills would add advertising to Connecticut River …

By Bud Wilkinson Back in August, RIDE-CT offered up reviews of the new Indian motorcycles by staffer Tim Aloisio and reader Dick Clukey of Torrington, CT, who was the owner of a 2003 Harley-Davidson Ultra Glide. In that assessment, Clukey predicted after riding an Indian Chief Vintage, “This is going to …

By Bud Wilkinson In an effort to “reposition the brand,” Royal Enfield has dramatically dropped the MSRPs of its line of  mid-sized motorcycles. The most expensive 2014 model is the new 535cc Continental GT cafe racer  (pictured above). It will sell for $5,999, “much lower than industry observers expected,” the …

By Bud Wilkinson Details are sketchy, but a web domain for GG Taurus of New England has been acquired with a static page enabling those who stumble upon it to go to another page (apparently owned by the brand’s U.S. importer) that has a digital clock counting down to “the exclusive …

Victory used the Chicago stop on the Progressive International Motorcycle Show tour to unveil its new 2015 Gunner bobber today. With an MSRP starting at $12,999, the Gunner has a six-speed gearbox and is powered by the brand’s standard 106 cubic inch V-twin motor. With a suede titanium metallic and …

With a crowd of hundreds watching, Pope Francis’ signed Harley-Davidson Dyna Super Glide sold for $328,169 at auction in Paris on Thursday. The bidding lasted six minutes and onlookers applauded when the gavel came down. A Harley jacket also sold for $78,135 as the part of Bonham’s Les Grandes Marques …

Honda is out with some more new models for 2014, including the CBR650F, the Interceptor (pictured above) and an updated version of the CB1100. Here are some details: – CBR650F is a new middleweight sport bike with an inline four engine that, Honda says, “strikes a terrific balance between full-on …

By Bud Wilkinson A Mechanicsburg, OH man was buried today along with his 1967 Harley-Davidson Electra Glide, and WBNS-TV in Columbus was there as evidenced by the above video and accompanying picture (below). In also reporting on the funeral of 82-year-old Billie L. Standley, the “Dayton Daily News” reported that …

Harley-Davidson sold more than a quarter-million motorcycles in 2013 with sales in the U.S. and worldwide rising 4.4 percent each. The company reported today that it sold 260,839 new bikes last year, up from 249,849 in 2012, and that it expects to ship between 279,000 and 284,000 motorcycles in 2014, …