Up To Speed

BROOKFIELD, CT – More brand movement in the Danbury, CT market. Danbury Powersports has taken on Kawasaki and Brookfield Indian Motorcycle is adding the Vespa and Piaggio scooter lines. The addition of Kawasaki gives Danbury Powersports all four of the major Japanese brands as it already sells Honda, Suzuki and …

ROCKY HILL, CT – Give real estate agent Mike Samulenas points for persistence. He’s been doing what he can to quickly get rid of a rather nice 1981 Honda CM400 Custom motorcycle that sits in the garage of a condo that he’s selling. The closing is set for Monday and …

ROCKINGHAM, VT – To my newcomer eyes, mud season in Vermont is nearly over, although If you ask a native Vermonter when mud season truly ends it’s likely the reply will be “mid-May.” My road, for example, appears to already be dry, but it has two areas where you can …

What was introduced as a first-time invitational event last October at Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey, CA returns in 2021 with more races, more corporate backing and certainly increased chatter as street riders become aware that professional motorcycle racers are now going at it on behemoth baggers. Yes, the cruiser …

ROCKY HILL, CT – Real estate agent Mike Samulenas of Berlin, CT has a motorcycle problem, and he contacted RIDE-CT & RIDE-New England on Friday seeking assistance. He’s selling a condo in Rocky Hill. The hitch is there’s a long dormant 1981 Honda CM400 Custom motorcycle parked in the garage. …

HARWINTON, CT – Even now, 41 years after trading it, it’s still the best car that I’ve ever owned. Were it not for the fact it lacked one important option, the 1979 Honda Accord hatchback would have stuck around much, much longer. The reason why it got unloaded will come …

MILWAUKEE – Royal Enfield’s strategy is to be an “accessible, affordable and authentic brand,” according to Krishnan Ramaswamy, president of Royal Enfield Americas. The India-based company brought the Himalayan adventure model to the U.S. in 2018 and followed up with the INT 650 and Continental GT twin models a year …

WARWICK, MA – An Easter crash involving a member of small group of riders just south of the Massachusetts/New Hampshire border provides of a reminder for motorcyclists to always be on the lookout for road hazards. More importantly, it rams home the need for everyone else to be vigilant in …

SANTA MONICA, CA – The location for this year’s New York stop on the more festival-like Progressive IMS Outdoors tour has finally been announced. The Brooklyn Army Terminal on the waterfront in the Sunset Park section of Brooklyn will be the site from Sept. 3 through 5. The IMS Outdoors …

LACONIA, NH – It won’t be business as usual, but Laconia Motorcycle Week will be a bit closer to normal in 2021. City Council voted Monday night to allow the event to proceed with restrictions that include a limit on commercial vendors. Beer tents and outside entertainment not associated with …

Of all the books ever written about or involving motorcycles, Beverly Cleary’s “The Mouse and the Motorcycle” could well be the top seller of all time. After all, in a writing career that lasted decades, Cleary sold more than 85 million books. And who knows how many riders can trace …

LONG ISLAND CITY, NY – More than two months after he acquired the dealership, Paul Veracka was officially revealed this week to be the new owner of New York City Harley-Davidson. Veracka owns eight other Harley-Davidson stores on the East Coast, including Manchester Harley-Davidson in New Hampshire and High Octane …

MILWAUKEE – Harley-Davidson has announced plans for an eight-month demo tour of its new Pan America 1250 adventure model that includes five stops in the Northeast. The 25-stop tour kicks off in mid-April in Dallas, but makes its way to New England in June when it visits Laconia Motorcycle Week …

HINCKLEY, Leicestershire – Touting its prototype design as “significantly more compact and lighter than anything currently available on the market,” Triumph today provided a peek at its “Project TE-1” electric model that has been in development for nearly two years. Featuring sport bike/roadster styling, the TE-1 is a collaboration of …

It’s a fascinating video that contains some surprising and not-so-surprising conclusions on the build practices of various motorcycle brands. It’s perhaps predictable that the Chinese brand Yin Xiang gets labeled as “atrocious but cheap” and Italian makes Aprilia and Ducati get written off as “shoddy.” However, Royal Enfield from India …