Up To Speed

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com Received an email yesterday evening from Cliff LaMotta, former of owner of Cliff’s Cycle Revolution (now MAX BMW) in Brookfield, on behalf of the Motomarathon Association. He extended an early invitation to RIDE-CT to participate in next year’s Motomarathon. It’s a four-day endurance tour that …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com Today’s glorious weather had the roads loaded with bikes. RIDE-CT thought it wise late this afternoon to “exercise” all three bikes in the garage – get the oil circulating and the gas tanks topped. The 1969 Triumph T100R Daytona proved to be balky, though, requiring …

By Bud Wilkinson Members of Torrington’s Reservoir Dogs Motorcycle Club hit the intersection of Route 4 (East Elm St.) and Main Street between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. today to solicit donations for Christmas Village, the Friendly Hands Food Bank and St. Jude’s, marking the ninth year the club has …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com Just in time for Thanksgiving, some riders in Walnut Creek, Calif. have been targeted in the days leading up to the holiday by a pair of wild turkeys, who want to knock the stuffing out of motorcyclists:

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com Winter is the time when motorcycle shows draw our attention away from snow and ice and get us thinking of the spring ahead. We check out new models and load up on gear and accessories that we might need or desire for the coming riding …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com The power’s back on after eight days following the pre-Halloween snowstorm here in Connecticut, so it’s back to posting news and other interesting motorcycle info… It came out four years ago, but an overseas TV commercial for Royal Enfield certainly makes the point that the …

By Bud Wilkinson Triumph has announced that it will offer a new adventure-touring model for 2011 as well as a couple of different editions of current models, namely the Bonneville T100 and the Speed Triple. New to the lineup will be the Tiger Explorer. The Tiger Explorer is an upsized …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com Not many motorcycles have songs written about them. “Little Honda” comes to mind. It was written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love of The Beach Boys, and turned into a Top 10 hit in 1964 by a grab-bag group of studio musicians that included Glen …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com Harley-Davidson CEO Keith Wandell says his company is rebounding from the economic recession, but needs new product aimed an entry-level riders and product that makes riders go “Wow!” and that gets t0 market quicker. He spoke at a business symposium at Ohio State University on …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com All bikers are mean, ornery, tattooed tough guys, right? The Carlsberg beer company has done an ad in Belgian that pokes fun at the stereotype by filling a movie theater with bikers and leaving only two empty seats in the middle of the auditorium. What …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com For the second time in less than a year, “Cycle World” magazine has been sold. Hearst Corp. yesterday announced the sale of the magazine to Bonnier Corp., which publishes “Popular Science,” “Field & Stream” and “Parenting” magazine. The two companies reported that “Cycle World’s” staff …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com A little more than five years after acquiring them, Gengras motorcycles in East Hartford is dropping the BMW and Triumph motorcycle lines and will sell only the Harley-Davidson brand. RIDE-CT.com has learned that Gengras, which previously jettisoned Ducati, will eliminate its two remaining Euro brands …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com You’d think that Harley-Davidson would be the brand preferred by thieves, if only because of the popularity and market share. But, no, Honda was the most-stolen brand of motorcycle in 2010 with 12,260 bikes taken, followed by Yamaha (9,853), Suzuki (7,869), Kawasaki (5,470) and Harley …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com Are motorcycles cleaner and “greener” than cars? The gang at “Mythbusters” try and answer this question on the season premiere of the Discovery Channel series at 9 p.m. Wednesday.  Adam and Jamie will drive and ride vehicles from various decades. The guess here is that …

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com Honda’s out today with some more new and/or revised models for 2012. While there’s nothing totally new for the U.S. market – like a CB1100, for instance, that’s available in other parts of the world – there is stuff worth talking about. Let’s start with …