Ridership Holding Steady In Connecticut

By Bud Wilkinson of RIDE-CT.com

Motorcycling is a passion that once discovered is hard to give up. Given the ongoing condition of the economy and the fact that some baby boomers are reaching the age where quitting riding makes sense, it might be logical to speculate that motorcycle registrations would be in sharp decline in Connecticut. That isn’t the case. As of the beginning of September, there were 93,074 registered bikes on state roadways, a drop of only 786 since the start of the year, according to the Department of Motor Vehicles.

That’s still one-third more registered bikes than a decade or so ago. While motorcycling’s recent wave of popularity may have crested, there has not been a subsequent trough of abandonment and there may not be one. One dealer that I spoke with last week noted that sales through the first eight months of the year had already topped sales for all of 2010, suggesting that interest in new bikes is there when consumers feel confident enough about the economy to open their wallets.

The state law that went into effect on Jan. 1 requiring anyone seeking an “M” endorsement on their driver’s license to take and pass a rider education course apparently hasn’t deterred newcomers from taking up the recreation, either.

“The courses have been full – maxed out, people on waiting lists wanting to get in,” said John Purdy Jr., who runs the Connecticut Rider Education Program courses at Naugatuck Valley Community College, when we happened to meet up recently. He reported that he scheduled 18 weekday Basic Rider Course classes this year and that 17 ran. “Last year, I had half that and canceled half,” he recalled.

Purdy also scheduled eight Intermediate Rider Course sessions for novices with their own bikes and all were packed. “In the past, I’d have two scheduled and they wouldn’t fill,” he said. With the spring and summer crunch over, though, enrollment has tapered off. Classes run through mid-November and space is now available. Information on about CONREP sites may be found at Ride4Ever.org.

Purdy’s strongest memory of this year’s classes is a recent one involving Bill Allread, a 79-year-old returning rider from Terryville who recently took the IRC. “The guy did great. He was probably the most receptive to training right off the bat,” said Purdy, who noted that Allread’s 1980 Suzuki developed problems during the class. “Smoke was coming off the motor like they were barbequing something,” he said.

Reached Thursday afternoon, Allread said the engine merely overheated. “It was just sitting there idling in 95 degrees. They aren’t made for that,” he said of conditions on the riding range. As for the IRC, he said, “It was very interesting. I think they had some good pointers.”

Allread recalled that while he used to race motorcycles in Baja California back in the 1950s, he hasn’t ridden since. Why go back to riding after decades away? “I’m reliving my childhood. Besides, somebody made me a good deal on a motorcycle,” he said.

Said Purdy regarding his recent pupil, “I hope to hell that I’m in that shape when I’m 80.”

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At one time, Vincent was known as “the makers of the world’s fastest motorcycles.” The British builder put out some gorgeous models from the late 1920s into the mid-1950s, including the Black Shadow, Black Lightning and Rapide. Some 50 to 75 vintage Vincents will be gathered together in upstate New York for the Vincent Owners Club International Rally from Thursday through Sept. 20 at the Kaatskill Mountain Club in Hunter. The event’s open to the public, if you feel like riding to the Catskills.

(Originally published in “The Republican-American” on September 11, 2011.)