Up To Speed

VERNON, CT – With only a week to go until Rockville Motorcycle Mania, Ken Kaplan (aka “Kaplan America”) took to Facebook on Saturday night for a more than five-minute live promo on the event that’s set for this coming weekend at his New England Motorcycle Museum.  Nearly one-fifth of his …

BRISTOL, CT – Harley-Davidson dealers in the northeast are powering up for LiveWire. Yankee Harley-Davidson here got its charging station installed and operational early this month, while Empire Harley-Davidson in New Rochelle, NY got its online this week. LiveWire is Harley-Davidson’s new high-priced electric model that is now expected to …

CHESTER, VT – I haven’t ridden any of my motorcycles much in the past couple of years. Maybe two or three thousand miles. The downside is that being a competent motorcyclist requires that you keep your skills sharp. The only way you can do that is by riding a motorcycle. …

It’s an ambitious plan. Build an uninterrupted 44-mile “greenway” alongside the Naugatuck River from Torrington to Derby for use by walkers, joggers, bicyclists and their pets. A few segments have been completed, while work and planning continues on the remainder, according to a status report on the project’s website. Of …

NEW HAVEN, CT – With only a month to go until showtime, Elm City Motorcycle Mania has been abruptly canceled. Organizer Rich Greco said today that he received a phone call Thursday night telling him that a revised requirement by New Haven that 60 officers be on hand for the …

POUGHKEEPSIE, NY – The Walkway Over the Hudson plans a limited-availability treat for motorcyclists on Aug. 24. The span will open for a one-time-only “SkyRide.” The Walkway is the longest elevated pedestrian bridge in the world. It will be closed to the general public until noon that Saturday to allow …

MANCHESTER, NH – National Powersports Distributors, the used bike seller in Pembroke and Merrimack, has been fined $22,000 and has paid $22,165 to 59 employees and former employees for failing to pay overtime during an unspecific period. The resolution to violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) was announced …

NAUGATUCK, CT – Riding a motorcycle isn’t for everyone. While an estimated 85 percent of students taking the Motorcycle Safety Foundation-designed Basic Rider Course are successful, passing the course doesn’t make one a skilled rider or even road-ready. That only comes with seat time and a willingness to constantly work …

Like every longtime motorcyclist, Nigel M. Sainsbury has memories of the bikes that have come and gone and, in his particular case, the riding adventures around the world over the years.  Unlike others, though, he has written about his life on bikes in the recently released book “One Down, Four …

POOLESVILLE, MD – Some Sunday morning rituals cannot be abandoned just because one’s on a short vacation. For worshippers of the Church of Two Wheels that means riding a motorcycle or at least mingling with those who are. A trip to visit friends near Washington D.C. last month had me …

WOODBRIDGE, CT – Depending on one’s viewpoint on whether tattoos are unequivocally linked to motorcyclists, it was either 23 years ago or merely two years ago that Jim LoPresti found a way to mesh his love of art and motorcycles. It was in 1996 that he began his career as …

SANTA MONICA, CA – The Progressive International Motorcycle Shows tour will expand by one city in 2019-2020, with Denver joining the schedule that includes a New York stop Dec. 6-8 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, it was announced this morning. The eight-city tour kicks off Nov. 22-24 in …

BOSTON – The head of the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles resigned Tuesday after her agency failed to terminate the commercial driver’s license of the man whose collision with a group of motorcyclists in New Hampshire left seven riders dead on Friday evening. In a statement announcing that she had …

LANCASTER, NH – The driver of the pickup truck accused of killing seven motorcyclists on Friday evening in northern New Hampshire has pleaded not guilty on seven counts of negligent homicide. A jury trial has been set for November. The plea was entered today for Volodymyr Zhukovskyy, 23, by his …

NORTH GRANBY, CT – It was when approaching a left-hand turn this past weekend that I noticed two motorcycles coming at me. I put on my turn signal well in advance and not only scanned the road in front of me but, using my mirrors, scanned the road behind me. …