The reborn Indian brand is turning into a winner for parent company Polaris in a very short time. Having only introduced three Indian models in August – the Chief Classic, the Chief Vintage and the Chieftain – Polaris saw year-to-year motorcycles sales rise 94 percent in the fourth quarter of …
Read More »Oil Drippings: News on H-D, Suzuki and BMW
By Bud Wilkinson But, first, let’s go to the video… It wasn’t a bull in a china shop, rather a bull in China that charged a motorcyclist and knocked him to the ground in Suining, in the southwest part of the country. The “Daily Mail” reports that the angry animal …
Read More »Never Too Cold For Riding On Ice
By Bud Wilkinson Winchester Lake in Winchester, CT was the place to be today for riding on ice. At the invitation of friend David Gelerter, RIDE-CT.com/Ride-NewEngland.com played spectator while a group of guys did some. The temperature was probably in the ’20s but the breeze made it feel colder. Despite …
Read More »Oil Drippings: Some Laws Are Just Idiotic
By Bud Wilkinson Scanning the globe (or, at least, websites around the world) to bring you a constant variety of motorcycle news: We all do it when riding. That is, occasionally lift a leg off of the foot peg and stretch it. For a rider in Queensland, Australia doing just …
Read More »Harley Puts Street 750 On Ice For X Games
It wasn’t on display at the Progressive International Motorcycle Show in New York last month, and hasn’t even been seen publicly in the U.S. since its unveiling in Milan, Italy in November, but today Harley-Davidson finally took the wraps off of its new Street 750 stateside by announcing the model …
Read More »Ural of New England Top-Selling Dealer
By Bud Wilkinson In the world of motorcycles, Ural isn’t huge. The Russian company only built 1,206 bikes in 2013, which is probably one-quarter of what Harley-Davidson produced in a single week. Of that total, 98 percent were shipped with sidecars, leaving a mere
Read More »Oil Drippings: News and Opinion
By Bud Wilkinson Oil drippings: The Greater Hartford Motorcycle Enthusiasts are hosting a showing of the motorcycle documentary “Why We Ride” at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 6 at AMC Loews Danbury 16 theaters in Danbury, CT and needs 77 reservations for the screening to come off. A total of 11 tickets …
Read More »Forty Years Since “Fonzie” First Roared
Ron Howard as Richie Cunningham and Henry Winkler as “Fonzie” Time flies. It was 40 years ago yesterday – Jan. 15, 1974 – that the ABC sitcom “Happy Days” premiered. Among the many cast members were Ron Howard as Richie Cunningham and Henry Winkler as Arthur “Fonzie”/”The Fonz” Fonzarelli, a …
Read More »New Indian Dealer Changes Name, Adds EBR
It hadn’t even officially opened yet but Indian Motorcycle of Westfield in Massachusetts is no more. Its name has changed and it has added a second line of motorcycles. The new name is Indian Motorcycle of Springfield, which makes sense because it serves the Springfield market and because Springfield is …
Read More »Another Incident Involving Riders In NYC
By Bud Wilkinson Some more motorcyclists in New York have been acting like jerks. A group of more than a dozen riders on bikes and ATVs blocked a congested stretch of Broadway near 190th St. in Washington Heights on Sunday afternoon, doing burnouts and wheelies. Irate motorists can be heard …
Read More »The Nastiest Column About Motorcycles Ever Written?
By Bud Wilkinson While checking out the website Sports on Earth earlier this week, I came across a very funny story written by Alan Siegel about the some stunts staged by the Buffalo Sabres back in the 1970s and 1980s that were thought up by the hockey team’s “public relations czar” …
Read More »Remembering A Friend With “Numb Nutz Ride”
By Bob Rosen New Year’s Day is often a time for new beginnings and renewed commitments to an improved life. The passing of the previous year also creates the urge to review and reflect. In the case of a hardy group of riders in Fairfield County, CT, they use Jan. …
Read More »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 …
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