Test Rides

MANCHESTER, NH – Having been “disappointed to be disappointed” upon taking a first test ride of a new Harley Davidson Pan America 1250 on Friday at a dealership that I dubbed “Dealer A,” I nonetheless kept my appointment for the second ride on Saturday at a different dealership. Everyone else …

NORTH HAMPTON, NH – Harley-Davidson’s new 2021 Pan America 1250 and Pan America 1250 Special seem to be all anyone in the ADV community can talk about these days – and for good reason. The Motor Company has broken new ground with this ground-up model.  Spoiler alert: Harley-Davidson has done …

BROOKFIELD, CT – Cruisers are not my preferred style of motorcycle. A vintage standard or a sport/sport touring model better suits my tastes and ergonomic needs. But when the editor heard I had just attended a BMW demo day at MAX BMW in South Windsor, CT last week, he quickly …

By Paul Siciliano/Always Riding columnist THOMASTON, CT – Anyone who has taken a Basic Rider Course can recall an instructor demonstrating proper motorcycle operation, explaining inputs and showing off drills. Call it habit, but anyone who has taught the BRC inevitably runs through some of the course’s exercises upon getting …

SAN DIEGO – When GP Motorcycles held a grand reopening party last week having added Ural to its brand lineup, they invited Ural to bring demo bikes to create some buzz. In addition to a gas-powered Gear Up sidecar rig, Ural brought its prototype electric model with sidecar – and …

KENT, CT – Making a good first impression can set the tone for a relationship, and a recent introduction to a 2018 Royal Enfield Himalayan courtesy of Iron Horse Customs/Royal Enfield of Kent began positively. Having thrown my right leg over the 31.5-inch seat, I instantly discovered that I could …

BRIDGEWATER, CT – Motorcycle manufacturers are re-thinking their go to market strategy for the United States. The fresh targets? New entrants into the sport, along with cost-conscious commuters. With that said, small is now BIG and BMW has delved into the fray with two exciting new entries – the G …

HARWINTON, CT – Motorcycle models have sorts of aggressive, imaginative and even derogatory names. Some suggest action or attitude, such as Triumph’s Explorer, Suzuki’s Gladiator and Honda’s Fury, while others are more mundane like Ducati’s Multistrada (Italian for “many roads”) or playful like Harley-Davidson’s Sportster. Some make no sense at …

Cops waved. Pedestrians stared. Other drivers did double-takes. Some folks whipped out phones to take pictures. Others gave the thumbs-up sign. All it took to get such intense attention was to drive around parts of New Haven and West Haven for an hour or so Thursday afternoon in a Polaris …

NEW HAVEN, CT – There are things we do when riding that we don’t even think about. Pulling in the clutch and downshifting when approaching a stoplight comes to mind. So does upshifting when the engine’s sound indicates that it’s time to do so. The hands-on nature of motorcycling, and …

It’s been a little more than a year since BMW took the wraps off its eye-catching R Nine T roadster. Getting to ride one was problematic initially because the units shipped to dealers back in the spring were already promised. Demand remained high, so it wasn’t until, well, yesterday, that I …

Motorcycle manufacturers love to embellish when describing their offerings, so it’s only natural to skim over some of the descriptions used by Triumph regarding its Thunderbird LT model – lines such as “premium class touring cruiser” and “world’s largest parallel twin motorcycle engine.” More to the point is how does …

There’s a tendency after you’ve been riding for a few years to look down on – or simply overlook – motorcycles that aren’t “big boy toys.” If it’s not a heavyweight cruiser, a one-liter sport bike or a large adventure touring machine, it ain’t worth a gander.  Right? Honda, however, …

The image of an ostrich running at full speed somehow popped into my mind as I was riding by a horse farm in Bethany, CT. With their long legs and long necks, ostriches look comical at full run, and I couldn’t help but wonder if the motorcycle that I was testing looked

By Steve Smith The venerable Kawasaki KLR650 dual-sport has been around since 1987 and has been very popular model. It remained relatively unchanged from its introduction until a major redesign in 2008 that included a more powerful engine, new bodywork with dual headlight, new gauges, bigger fork tubes, and upgraded …