Up To Speed

MAHWAH, NJ – Having lost the Victory line of motorcycles a year ago when Polaris announced it was folding the brand, Locomotion Powersports here is restocking its showroom in 2018 by adding Royal Enfield. Paperwork was signed Thursday, according to Royal Enfield’s regional manager for the northeast, Omar Buker. The …

WESTFIELD, MA – American Flat Track doesn’t have an event in New England, but the region will be represented in 2018. The Indian Motorcycle of Springfield dealership has purchased a pricey, limited-edition Indian Scout FTR750 racer and will sponsor rider Jay Maloney (#12) in the AFT Twins competition in the …

EAST HARTFORD, CT – Motorcycles and music are Joe Barone’s passions. He rides a 2012 Harley-Davidson CVO Road Glide Custom. It’s dubbed “The Skunk” because of its stark black and white color scheme and it even has a personalized Connecticut license plate on the rear fender that reads “SKUNKD.” He’s also …

LITTLE NECK, NY – How well a sales person handles a showroom visitor can make all the difference between an excited new bike owner and a disgruntled shopper leaving a dealership in a huff. A well-trained, skillful sales person understands how important it is to follow an organized sales process that …

BRISTOL, CT – New ownership at Yankee Harley-Davidson has been busy making changes since taking over on Dec. 8. General manager and co-owner Mike Keehan reports that needed equipment has been purchased for the service and parts departments and that service technicians will be sent out for training this month and …

The website Sunday Morning Rides is an interesting way to discover new rides anywhere in the country.  There is an especially heavy content of rides in the northeast.  It is searchable by state and uses zoomable Google Maps to zero in on fine detail.  It appears that some rides have …

Thousands of photos get taken by RIDE-CT & RIDE-NewEngland over the course of a year. Some are “run and gun” snapshots, while others are more artistically composed. Most are taken merely to illustrate a story or capture an event. But every year there are a few standouts, whether due to …

The arrest of a southern New England motorcycle dealer on charges involving a sex trafficking ring that prostituted mentally-disabled young men was the most read story on RIDE-CT & RIDE-NewEngland in 2017, and led the list of Top 5 regional stories for the year by a wide margin. It had …

It was probably a dozen years ago that a friend urged me to take his worn-orange 1970 Triumph Bonneville for a ride. Having never ridden an old British bike up until that time, I had to quickly adjust to the right-side shifter and left-side brake pedal. What I recall most …

LITTLE NECK, NY – If you blinked, you missed them. Missed the new 2018 Ducati models, that is. With Ducati noticeably absent from the recent Progressive International Motorcycle Show in New York, the best hope Ducatisti in the northeast had of getting a jump on seeing the new 2018 models was …

LITTLE NECK, NY – In my multiple roles as general manager, sales manager, consultant and even customer, I’ve experienced motorcycle dealerships from many different points of view. More than once, I’ve been asked,  “What does it take to be a successful dealership?” and I’ve long believed that small things matter. …

BRISTOL, CT – The new owners of Yankee Harley-Davidson have been identified. A partnership of three men – two businessmen from Avon, CT and a longtime Harley-Davidson dealer manager in Connecticut  – have purchased the store on Route 6 under the name of Iron Horse Road Group of CT. The …

DAYTONA BEACH, FL – Flat track enthusiasts in the northeast who had to journey to Weedsport, NY on the far side of Syracuse to catch racing action this past season won’t have to travel so far next year. The 18-race American Flat Track schedule for 2018 released recently has the …

NEW YORK – Three examples of the redesigned 2018 Honda Gold Wing were displayed at the Progressive International Motorcycle Show this past weekend. RIDE-CT & RIDE-NewEngland talked with Bill Savino, manager of product planning for Honda, about the new Gold Wing: Here are the specs for the Gold Wing:  

SCHENECTADY, NY – Precision Volvo Sales & Service, which sells and repairs used Volvos at 99 Cordell Road here, is expanding beyond cars into motorcycles. It has quietly become a dealer of Royal Enfield motorcycles. “We haven’t even really officially opened,” co-owner Sean Nava said this afternoon. While six new …