Up To Speed

Indian Sales Boost Polaris in 2013

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 …

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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 …

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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 …

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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 …

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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 …

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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

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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 …

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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 …

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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 …

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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 …

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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 …

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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 …

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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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