Up To Speed

It was arguably the worst period in Harley-Davidson’s history. Decades later, the “AMF years” between 1969 and 1981 are remembered not-so-fondly by many of the brand’s loyalists as a time when build quality and reliability deteriorated. Buy it new, fix it immediately was the routine for

STONY BROOK, NY – Fans of vintage motorcycles will find a visit to the “Motorcycles and the Open Road” exhibition at the Ward Melville Heritage Organization here to be a worthwhile way to spend an hour or two. And you can’t beat the $5 admission for providing a fun glimpse …

HARWINTON, CT – Interstate highways didn’t exist in October 1947. ABS wasn’t available on automobiles and motorcycles. Neither cars nor bikes were as safe or as sound nearly 70 years ago as they are today. There was less traffic, too, but possibly more risky behavior. And there was certainly a …

HARWINTON, CT – The content found on RIDE-CT & RIDE-NewEngland keeps evolving. The website has grown dramatically in terms of content and readership over the past five years. Today, a new page under the “Events” tab devoted to “Charity Rides” gets added.

Harley-Davidson is recalling 27,232 heavy cruisers from the 2016 model year to fix a problem with the clutch master cylinder. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports “the clutch master cylinder may lose the ability to generate enough lift to disengage the clutch, especially if the motorcycle has been parked …

STAMFORD – The death of a close friend in a motorcycle accident last week has prompted a Connecticut rider to launch a petition drive to pass a helmet law in the state. Dante Ibanez is seeking a “No Helmet, No Ride” policy in Connecticut.

SPRINGFIELD – The Indian “motocycle” brand dates back 115 years to the company’s founding here in 1901. Dana Faucher can connect the dots on history’s timeless back much earlier – centuries, in fact, to the 1600s – when talking about his 1936 Indian Chief that he’s named

SUFFIELD, CT – It was hot on the hilltop today as Hilltop Farm revived its vintage motorcycle show after a four-year sabbatical, and one old bike stood out in particular and required sunglasses to squint at. It was a brilliant all-chrome 1947 Indian Chief police edition with

Summer’s here, those days of soda and ice cream and chip-sealing. Before getting to two of those three items, a quick reminder that this monthly “If You Had Asked Me, I Would Have Told You…” column is a catch-all for news items, rumors, odd stuff that I’ve stumbled across as …

LOS ANGELES – The founding of Harley-Davidson in Milwaukee gets recalled in a new three-part miniseries from Discovery Channel titled “Harley and The Davidsons,” which will premiere at 9 p.m. ET on Monday, Sept. 5 and air on

A Yamaha recall of 11,280 of its YZF-R3 sport bikes from the 2015 and 2016 model years for power train and engine/engine cooling issues is underway. All were manufactured between

MINNEAPOLIS – Indian is recalling more than 18,000 motorcycles from the 2014 through 2016 model years due to a fire risk potentially caused by elevated exhaust temperatures. A total of 18,367 of the

SANTA MONICA, CA – A shrinking list of cities will participate in the 36th annual Progressive International Motorcycle Shows (IMS) tour for 2016-17. There will only be seven stops. That’s down from

DRACUT, MA – Corey Bourassa is a Honda collector. “I keep them original. Have a lot of fun with them. I own 29 Hondas right now,” he said when we met recently at the Falls Village Car & Motorcycle Show in Connecticut. A chef by profession, Bourassa has a sideline, …

It looks like a pint-sized scrambler and now Suzuki is bringing the VanVan 200 to the U.S. for 2017. With a 199cc, one-cylinder engine and a weight of only 282 pounds, the VanVan 200 is