Up To Speed

Attendance Dipped At New York IMS Due To Snow

By Bud Wilkinson Attendance figures are out for the Progressive International Motorcycle Show in New York last month and the crowd size plummeted 19.4 percent from the previous show due largely to a winter storm on Saturday, the main day of the three-day event. Attendance was pegged at 58,811, a …

Read More »

BMW Recalling More Than 50,000 Bikes

By Bud Wilkinson The potential for a leak involving the fuel pump has prompted BMW to recall more than 50,000 motorcycles covering 18 models over a seven-year period. Affected are 2005-2011 “R” models, 2005-2012 “K” models, the S 1000 RR from 2010 and 2011, and 2006-2010 HP2 motorcycles. The National …

Read More »

Oil Drippings: News and Opinion

By Bud Wilkinson When the PSA came out in August 2009, it was credited with getting teens to stop texting while driving and with saving lives. Shot in South Wales and funded by the Gwent police department, it graphically showed the potential consequences of texting when behind the wheel. If …

Read More »

New Dealer In Bethel Targets March 1 Opening

By Bud Wilkinson Jim Hamlin is targeting a March 1 opening for his new Hamlin Cycles dealership in Bethel, CT. Pending zoning approval that will allow a service department, Hamlin plans to open the new store in a building that formerly housed a power equipment business. “We’re working on the inside …

Read More »

2020 Event Calendar

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a huge impact motorcycle rallies, shows and other events scheduled for 2020. Most have been canceled. Immediately below are events still scheduled to take place: Aug. 8 – Rotary Club of Mansfield (MA) Vintage Motorcycle Show, British Car Show and Aircraft Fly-in from 10 a.m. …

Read More »

Website Sets Readership Record in 2013

Happy New Year and Thank You! RIDE-CT.com/Ride-NewEngland.com set a readership record in 2013 with the number of unique visitors to the website increasing nearly 58 percent  (57.95 percent to be precise) and the number of page views rising nearly 30 percent (29.9 percent) over 2012. According to Google Analytics, RIDE-CT.com/Ride-NewEngland …

Read More »

Just Asking, But Why Isn’t the Bellagio Sold Here?

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com Given the popularity of Harley-Davidson’s Sportster variants, you’d think that any company making a similar mid-sized cruiser model would want to sell it in North America. That isn’t the case, though. While Triumph has the America and Speedmaster models and Yamaha has several V-Star 950 …

Read More »

Five Rider Resolutions for 2014

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com Eat less. Exercise more. No matter how hard we try, these two traditional New Year’s resolutions usually fall by the wayside before January has expired. Good intentions often don’t translate into action because lasting results are just too difficult to obtain. Marie Osmond may be …

Read More »

“Link of the Week” and Show Dates

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com There are countless motorcycle shops around the world that customize bikes. For his “Link of the Week,” Bob Rosen has found one in Copenhagen, Denmark that does superlative work whether the machine being modified comes from Japan, Europe or the U.S., such as the pictured …

Read More »

Women Riders Are Happier Than Non-Riders

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com It’s question men have been pondering for centuries: How do you make a woman happy? The answer may be to buy her a motorcycle. A new study commissioned by Harley-Davidson and conducted by the Kelton research company determined that women who ride their own motorcycles …

Read More »

Memorable Pictures Provide 2013 Review

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com The process of writing is work for anyone who does it for a living. That doesn’t mean that stringing words together, rearranging them or pinpointing the most precise word can’t be enjoyable. It often is. It’s just that whenever you sit down at a keyboard, …

Read More »

Max BMW Expanding to Northern NJ

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com Max BMW owner Max Stratton has been mum on the matter, but a letter to customers posted on the website of Bergen County BMW Motorcycles in Rochelle Park, NJ and on its Facebook page reveals that Bergen County BMW is going away and that Stratton …

Read More »

The Top 10 Posts of 2013

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com Sure, there are few days left in the year, but the odds are pretty good that with all of the holiday distractions there probably won’t be any motorcycle news of significant value before year’s end to displace any of the posts that currently rank as …

Read More »

Sale of Burt Ives Honda Completed

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com The dealership’s website hasn’t been reactivated yet but the sale of Burt Ives Honda in Columbia, CT by Ken Ives Sr. to his son Kenny has finally closed, meaning presumably that new Honda motorcycles will once again be available. The younger Ives already owns Chaplin …

Read More »