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By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com A motorcyle mag that I subscribe to arrived the other day and contained a column by the editor in which he lamented having sold numerous bikes over the years. It seemed to be the right decision at various times, but now he now regretted selling them …
Read More »Out of Gas … But Worth It to See GS1000E
By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com It’s possible to outsmart oneself. Like this afternoon. Planned to meet a friend for lunch at 2 p.m. at Toymaker’s Cafe in Falls Village. Because I had time to kill while riding out Route 44 to Canaan, I decided to bolt up Route 7 and get some …
Read More »It’s A Miracle That He Survived…
By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com If you haven’t seen the video yet, you haven’t been paying attention. Texas rider Zacharie Perez survived being rear-ended on a freeway. He suffered a ruptured spleen, four broken vertebrae, a broken rib, a lumbar hernia and road rash. He was wearing a helmet. If …
Read More »Motorcycle Is Chicken Flingin’ Good
By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com Suffice to say that it has been a slow news day, the kind of day where a little entertainment is in order. Check out what artist Sean Pace came up with as a senior project when he attended the University of North Carolina – Ashville. …
Read More »Winsted Loses A Landmark Motorcycle
By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com For eight years, it has sat atop the roof of the building in Winsted that formerly housed Canton Cycles. From street level, it looked to be a vintage BMW. On Tuesday afternoon, however, a couple of motorcycle enthusiasts went up on the roof and disassembled …
Read More »Indians Will be Built in Iowa
By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com Info on the future of the Indian brand has been dribbling out since Polaris bought the company last week. “The Des Moines Register” has a few more details on plans by Polaris to build Indian along Victory models in Iowa. The story can be found here.
Read More »Reader Feedback: Video and Question
By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com Reader feedback from over the weekend in this post: Bill Kerber emailed with a link to some neat video of a 1913 Indian motorcycle in action: Jerry Miller wanted to know how to log in to post a comment. I explained that a few days ago …
Read More »Impact of Polaris on Indian Dissected
By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com Polaris Industries, maker of Victory motorcycles, purchased Indian this past week. What will the impact be? Will it bring new life to a brand that started in 1901, died in the 1950s and has been revived twice since? Rick Barrett of “The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel” has an overview …
Read More »Sunday Music Video: The Hondells
By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com On this Easter, it’s a song that’s cheery and upbeat – “Little Honda” by The Hondells. It was written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love of The Beach Boys, who also released it as a single. However, The Hondells version had greater chart success in …
Read More »Website Recalls Famous Riders
By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com Got two surprises when I got up before the roosters this morning. It was snowing in the Litchfield Hills at 5 a.m. and an email had arrived overnight from Bob Rosen of Fairfield, who had a website tip. He provided a link – and I am, …
Read More »Gas Prices Rise, So Do Scooter Sales
By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com How’s that for a predictable headline? Scooter sales always go up when the price of gasoline spikes, and the spring of 2011 is no exception. The Motorcycle Industry Council reported today that scooters sales for the first three months of the year are up 49.6 …
Read More »Victory Owner Polaris Buys Indian
By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com When it launched the Victory brand, Polaris Industries set out to take on Harley-Davidson with a high-quality line of cruisers. When the Indian brand was revived a few years ago, the goal was to revive a legendary nameplate and make it a high-end product. In a …
Read More »Max Upgrades, Neat Old Yamaha
By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com Max BMW in Brookfield has undergone a makeover since Max Stratton bought what was Cliff’s Cycle Revolution. The customer lounge and conference room has been eliminated. That area is now parts storage, while the area that formerly housed the parts bins and shelves is now …
Read More »Indian Expert, Diavel, New Museum
By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com When RIDE-CT needs info on old Indians, George Yarocki of Torrington is always the first person called, but the “Daily Hampshire Gazette” in Easthampton, Mass. reports that a guy up there named Michael Baer knows a good deal about the motorcycles that were made in Springfield …
Read More »Bookshelf: Did Beverly Cleary Inspire Kids to Ride?
By Bud Wilkinson Children’s author Beverly Cleary, who turned 95 yesterday, has written 42 books and sold more than 75 million copies of them. She’s introduced generations of youngsters to the joy of reading through the characters of Henry Huggins, Ralph the Mouse, and Beezus and Ramona. As a kid, I read about Henry, Beezus …
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