Up To Speed

Longtime motorcycle dealership general manager Bob Rosen, who currently consults dealers as a start-up expert and sales accelerator, is joining RIDE-CT.com as the contributor of a new column devoted to bridging the gap between customers and dealers. Rosen spent seven years as general manager of Cliff’s Cycle Revolution, the former …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com New York City plans on buying at least 100 new Harley-Davidson motorcycles to replenish its police fleet in a deal that will reap the company more than $2.6 million. The police department routinely uses Road Kings and Electra Glides to keep the streets safe and …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com A Ducati enthusiast from Harwinton, CT recently clued in RIDE-CT.com to a coming new model. Nothing had been announced yet, but, as a loyal Ducati buyer, he said that he’d been tipped to a secret website for the bike where it was slowly being unveiled. …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com When the website for Burt Ives Honda in Columbia, CT shut down in April, and word circulated that a deal between owner Ken Ives Sr. and his son, Ken Ives Jr. (aka “Kenny”), to pass along the business wasn’t going to happen, it looked like …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com Coming soon to a few theaters across the U.S. but also to DVD, Blu-ray and download is a new movie that’s described as “a story about the journey, not the destination.” Titled “Why We Ride,” it explores the joys and thrills of riding. “Why We …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com Erik Buell Racing has unwrapped its EBR 1190RX sportbike. Powered by an 1,190cc V-twin, the high-performance bike weighs in at 419 pounds and boasts 185 horsepower and 102 foot-pounds of torque. With an MSRP of $18,995, the 1190RX will go into full-scale production in December …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com BMW is marking 90 years of bike building by coming out with a hot new model. Unveiled today was the R NineT, a roadster powered by a 1,170cc boxer engine that puts out 110 horsepower. Shaft driven and with a six-speed gearbox, the NineT has …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com Iron Butt legend John Ryan, whose exploits were celebrated by author and long distance rider Melissa Holbrook Pierson in her book “The Man Who Would Stop at Nothing – Long-Distance Motorcycling’s Endless Road,” died in a motorcycle crash on I-78 in New Jersey on Sunday. …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com Russian sidecar rig maker Ural is out with a limited edition model created in collaboration with Pendleton Woolen Mills. The Gaucho Rambler is blue with canvas upholstery for the sidecar and comes with a Pendleton blanket. Only 50 of the model will be made, with …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com Motus, the Alabama-based builder of sport bikes, is out with a video that shows its new MTS and MSTR models on the road for the first time. The bikes are powered by a 1,650cc V4 engine. Motus as-yet doesn’t have a dealer in New England. …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com Was it really only 18 months ago that friend and riding cohort Brian O’Neil suddenly pulled over on the berm of Route 41 near Sheffield, MA during a trip to the Berkshires and asked that I take a picture of the odometer on his 1972 …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com The New York tabloids have been going bonkers over the beat-down of an SUV driver by a swarm of bikers following a fender bender on the West Side Highway on Sunday afternoon. “The New York Post” quoted law enforcement officials in declaring that the “psycho …

00:27 Fender Bender … 5:04 Confrontation … 6:17 Land Rover Smashed By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com In a helmet-cam video recorded by a rider that’s going viral today, a group of bikers in NYC attacked a Land Rover after its driver bumped into one of the riders on the West …

Mustang Factory in Three Rivers, MA By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com Mustang Motorcycle Products, maker of the high-end aftermarket Mustang brand motorcycle seats, will this week wrap up consolidation of its operation at its factory in Three Rivers, MA after closing its corporate headquarters in Terryville, CT. The company was …

Dennis Bolduc’s 1946 Indian Chief with sidecar sits in front of a 1941 Indian Four (left rear) and a 1953 Indian Chief (right rear) inside what will eventually be the showroom of Indian Motorcycle of Westfield in Westfield, MA. By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com A sunny, crisp autumn afternoon and …