Up To Speed

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com In an effort to tout its riding apparel, Harley-Davidson has created a series of three videos titled “Made of a lot More Than Just Leather,” the first of which is posted below. When Harley tipped me to the videos yesterday afternoon, I chuckled upon seeing …

Read an article over the weekend by Ted Reed of The Street on the “10 Worst Cars of All Time.” Having owned a couple of them – a 1973 Chevrolet Vega GT and a 1976 Ford Mustang II, but not a

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com It’s great to be getting all the regular April yard work – the raking, the mulching of flower beds, the fertilizing of the lawn – done in March. It means that when the weather does warm up for good, most every task of consequence will …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com A British minister riding a Suzuki Hayabusa with a sidecar hearse has broken a land speed record by going 117.6 miles per hours. The Rev. Paul Sinclair, 46, of Heather in northwest Leicestershire accomplished the feat last week at Elvington Airfield near York. The “Leicester …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com Unable to find an investor to buy the company, Lehman Trikes has suspended operations and let go an unspecified number of workers. The “Rapid City Journal” reports that the Spearfish, S.D.-based company is still looking for an infusion of cash but quotes President and CEO …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com The showroom floor looked suspiciously empty of new motorcycles when RIDE-CT stopped in New Milford Cycles a few weeks ago, but owner Carl Kaffeman was too busy to talk. Now comes confirmation this morning from Kaffeman that the Honda-Kawasaki dealership at 571 Danbury Road (Route …

Willie G. Davidson, the grandson of one of the founders of Harley-Davidson, announced his retirement today as the company’s senior vice president and chief styling officer. The 78-year-old Davidson, known to countless Harley riders as simply “Willie G.,” will leave his position after

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com A downward trend in rider deaths in North Yorkshire, England has prompted those involved in road safety to work even harder to reduce the death and injury rates. A series of videos shot along the most popular motorcycle routes highlights the dangers to riders. “The …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com The sign for The Shop in Winsted only went up by the roadside about two weeks ago, but Keith Bruno has been working since August to transform the building at 920 Main Street into a suitable facility for his three-year-old motorcycle service and repair business. …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com Is Audi on the way to becoming the owner of Ducati? “Car” magazine reported Monday that the German carmaker has an exclusive deal to buy the Italian superbike builder. The story is posted here. There are certainly two ways of looking at this arrangement: Skeptics …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com It has long been said that there are those that have “gone down” and those who will “go down.” It includes most of us. A patch of sand on the roadway, a smudge of oil and black ice can lead to a mishap. So can …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com If you’re a rider who always wears a helmet, have you ever stopped for gas and gone inside to give the cashier money without removing it? A 26-year-old rider in Scotland has been banned from a Tesco gas station for doing just that. All Leanne …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com It was the brand name that attracted my attention – Garelli. I’d never heard of it before today. It was while riding into the pizza joint where I meet the guys for lunch every day that I noticed a smallish bike parked outside a house …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com It has often been said that you only have one chance to make a good impression. These days, for dealerships, that first impression is often via the Internet. An inadequate or hard-to-maneuver  website can make a bad first impression. So can outdated information and hyperbole. …

Maybe I’m showing my age – that’s why I have two vintage bikes in the garage as well as one that’s borderline vintage – but in a world of website comments, Facebook posts and Tweets, it’s nice to receive something as old-fashioned as an email (or two): Bud, I read …