Up To Speed

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com Happy New Year! Thanks to everyone – readers, sponsors and the curious worldwide – for all the support in 2011. As the clock ticks down to midnight, RIDE-CT.com ends the year on an upbeat note having watched readership climb steadily over the past 12 months. …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com Our resident motorcycle safety expert Steve Smith keeps coming up with videos that are worth watching. He must either spend an awful lot of time at the computer or is just skillful in locating them. This next video comes from the U.K. It’s a lengthy …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com David Radford chucked his job in 2008, bought a motorcycle and went for an extended ride. The 40-year-old Canadian has visited 83 countries – so far. He has witnessed the kindness of strangers and been jailed once. “The Marlborough Express” in New Zealand has his …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com Our resident safe riding expert and CONREP instructor Steve Smith has a habit of finding neat video, and he’s passed along another one that brings a new definition to “rolling down the highway.” The animation is so good that I almost thought it was real. …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com The piggy bank may seem empty at this time of year, but J.D. Power and Associates reports that motorcycle owners seemed more willing to spend in 2011, compared with 2010. In its annual motorcycle satisfaction study, which was released Friday, the company reported that buyers …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com Massachusetts residents who live in the Berkshires or the Pioneer Valley in the western and central portions of the state are more apt to own a motorcycle than those living in more heavily populated areas, such as Boston. Using census figures, the state Department of …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com A few years ago, with the help of a few friends and acquaintances, I wrote a RIDE-CT column in “The Republican-American” on the telltale signs of “Dunkin’ Angels,” a peculiar specie of motorcyclist that is more poser than rider. As I noted at the time, …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com A motorcycle business in Gastonia, N.C. buys gently used Harley-Davidsons, adds some bling and then sells them to customers around the world. In four years, the three-man shop has sold nearly 800 Harleys via eBay. – It wasn’t mentioned in this morning’s column in “The …

Victory designers reached into the parts bin and regurgitated a new model Friday evening in Long Beach, CA with the unveiling of the 2012 Hard-Ball at the Progressive International Motorcycle Show. The Hard-Ball mixes the ape-hangers and beefy rubber of the High-Ball with the hard bags from the Cross Roads …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com Five-time Moto GP World Champion Mick Doohan makes a point about safe riding in this safety video that Steve Smith sent me. Admittedly, I had to watch it a couple of times to “get it,” but only because of Aussie Doohan’s accent when he explained …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com A motorcycle stunt rider in Brazil misjudged the paths of some oncoming cars while doing a wheelie and got catapulted roughly 80 feet through the air during a performance. The mishap involving the rider who is wearing black comes at the end of the video:

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com Some riders were standing on the sidewalk in Kent yesterday afternoon when one of them observed, “You don’t see many Harleys at this time of year.” Even though there were a couple of Harley-Davidsons parked nearby, the comment still drew chuckles because it reinforced a …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com Honda’s recalling Gold Wing/GL1800s for the model years 2001-2010 and 2012 for a possible braking system problem. The company reports that “the compensating port hole inside the secondary master cylinder can become blocked… If this occurs, the rear brake temperature and pressure progressively increase.” The …

By Bud Wilkinson By the time the Sunday motorcycle adventure ended, and riding cohort Gary Randall’s 1968 BMW R50/2 was securely strapped on a trailer, the sun was setting in the Berkshires and a bovine chorus was serenading us from beyond a barbed wire fence. Something that I feared happening …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com The revived Norton brand is having some growing pains across the pond. BBC News reports that the British biker-maker is behind on delivering models to anxious customers. One customer who paid up front even sued to get his money back. The company is hoping to …