Up To Speed

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com Friend, rider and RIDE-CT.com reader Bob Rosen went into the city yesterday to witness Kawasaki’s “Times Square Takeover” and the brand’s unveiling of its 2013 models. He also shared some photos, including one of the new Ninja 300.

Baggers are big, right? Both in terms of popularity and size. Just look at the heavyweights with hard bags and front fairings from Harley-Davidson and Victory. Yamaha’s Star motorcycle line is betting that there’s room for a mid-sized full dresser. It has just unveiled the all-new 2013 V Star

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com Rice-O-Rama, the annual New England show devoted to motorcycles made in Japan, was successfully staged Sunday at a new location in Oxford, MA at the Singletary Rod & Gun Club. Honda expert Neil Tolhurst of New Hartford went to pick up some side covers for …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com Doc’s Motorcycle Parts in Waterbury held its 43rd annual Customer Appreciation Day & Bike Show on Sunday, and the sunny skies brought out a good crowd. It’s always a treat to see one-off choppers and paint schemes. Is green the theme this year? It appears …

Buzz Kanter, left, with Jeff Alperin and Dan Emerson By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com Newburgh, N.Y. – There were cheers and shouts of encouragement from the sizable crowd of spectators outside of the Motorcyclepedia museum this morning as more than 70 motorcyclists set off on the Motorcycle Cannonball Endurance Run. …

Husqvarna is targeting a late September release in dealerships – finally – of two new dual purpose bikes. The street-oriented TR650 Strada will have an MSRP of $7,499, while the more dirt-friendly TR650 Terra will go for $6,999. Both are powered by a 652cc, single-cylinder engine. Both boast 58 horsepower …

Pictured from left, Tim Raindle, George Yarocki and Jeff Alperin By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com With only days remaining until the start of the Motorcycle Cannonball endurance run, vintage Indian expert George Yarocki was in his Torrington workshop last week attacking a checklist of tasks that needed to be completed …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com A holiday weekend trip to D.C. for a wedding enabled RIDE-CT.com to check out the motorcycles and cars this morning at a well-attended event known as Katie’s Cars & Coffee in the Village Center in Great Falls, VA. Every Saturday morning, hundreds of car and …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com Only 10 days until the Motorcycle Cannonball II endurance run starts in Newburgh, N.Y. and participants are fine-tuning their rides. Jeff Alperin, who resides in Florida after living most of his life in Connecticut, is spending the days leading up to the run getting his …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com Matt Klebe and Kelley Babbin of Winsted were pooped but pleased after having successfully competed in the 3rd annual Hoka Hey Motorcycle Challenge earlier this month. It’s an endurance event that this year had riders going from Las Vegas to Gowanda, N.Y., mostly on secondary …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com The official video of the Aug. 9 flash mob in downtown Torrington to promote Torrington Thunder is now out. Here it is, courtesy of Whitney Productions:  

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com About a month ago, Will Paley of Cornwall took his 1906 Griffon out of mothballs and put it back on the road. This afternoon, he took it for a spin on Route 43 near his Cornwall home and he invited RIDE-CT.com along. The 493cc French-made …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com Harley-Davidson has released its 2013 model year lineup that includes 10 bikes with 110th Anniversary badging, a restyled Street Bob and two new CVO models – a high-performance Softail called

As is the case every August, lovers of vintage British bikes turned out for the annual Brit Jam meet, held Sunday in East Haddam at the Haddam Neck Fairgrounds. RIDE-CT.com was unable to attend this year due to a sick pooch, but friend Ken Engelman, associate publisher of “RoadRUNNER” magazine, …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com It’s a rarity to see a motorcycle on the track at Lime Rock Park in Salisbury. In fact, except for a corporate BMW Motorrad outing, bikes have been absent from the track for a half-dozen years. In the 50 years before that, motorcycles only got …