Up To Speed

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com It’s no secret that Billy Joel is a motorcycle enthusiast. He’s an avid rider and collector, who has been known to show up at vintage meets and blend in with the crowd. Last weekend, Joel rode into the Dania Beach Vintage Motorcycle Show in Florida. …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com January’s poll question(s) got a divided response from RIDE-CT.com voters, with only half of those casting ballots liking the idea of Harley-Davidson building a model smaller than the Sportster. A total of 50 percent approved the idea of Harley building something sporty like an XR750, …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com The deal’s done. In what it described as a “strategic realignment” of its business, BMW Motorrad today announced the sale of the Husqvarna motorcycle brand to Pierer Industrie AG, a company owned by KTM chief executive officer Stefan Pierer. The price of the purchase was …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com It’s an alphabet soup of bike builders. The British website MCN is quoting “high-placed motorcycle industry sources” as saying that BMW is negotiating the sale of Husqvarna to Austrian bike-maker KTM. The German giant BMW bought Husky from MV Agusta in 2008 and has put …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com Motorcycles don’t come to mind when I think of France. Wine comes first, then Paris, followed by memories of exploring the French countryside on separate trips with my dearly departed parents back in the 1980s. There was the girl behind the desk at a hotel …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com Here’s a definite “find” on eBay. Up for grabs today is a 1976 Suzuki RE5 rotary motorcycle. What makes it special is that it has 0 miles on the odometer. It’s brand new. Never been ridden. With less than 14 hours remaining (as this is …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com The cost of riding in Connecticut – whether on a street motorcycle, an off-road bike, a quad or even a snowmobile – will increase if several bills proposed by legislators in the past couple of weeks or so get passed into law by the General …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com No word of whether we’ll be seeing it here, but London-based Gaucho Productions has produced an eight-part documentary on the Honda TT Legends’ 2012 road racing season, which takes in the Isle of Man TT. The first episode premieres Feb. 4 on ITV4 in the …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com A bill in the Maine legislature that would require all riders to wear helmets has been referred to committee. Proposed by Rep. Paulette Beaudoin, a Democrat from Biddeford, the bill was sent Tuesday to the Transportation Committee. A similar bill introduced by Beaudoin in 2009 …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com He doesn’t own a computer, and consequently doesn’t have an email address, but friend William “Wild Bill” Eggers of Goshen, CT now has a website to show off his limited-edition, custom creations. Bill’s built wooden replicas of the 1867 Roper steam-driven motorcycle (pictured) and the …

 By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com It belched a flame or two from its exhaust pipes and was so loud that some observers covered their ears, but to hear the road of Burt Munro’s 1920 Indian Scout at the Progressive International Motorcycle Show in New York over the weekend was a …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com NEW YORK – The end result of a long ride is often a sore butt. The end result of hours spent pounding the floor of the Progressive International Motorcycle Show is sore feet, and this year’s event this weekend was no exception. While no manufacturer …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com It’s the winter ice-breaker, the cold season refresher, the chance to see motorcycles and talk motorcycles with friends during the down time when it’s often impossible to ride. The Progressive International Motor Show at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York opens its …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com As part of its 110th anniversary celebration, Harley-Davidson has enlisted riders from all over the globe to take a single black jacket – the “Freedom Jacket” – on a worldwide adventure. The jacket is passing from rider to rider and the riders are sharing their …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com The Connecticut General Assembly is in session and among the proposed bills getting a look-see in Hartford are: H.B. 5181, proposed by Republican Rep. DebraLee Hovey, would “require any person in the state who owns an all-terrain vehicle to register such vehicle.” A fine would …