How fast does it go mister, Now who cares?
Remember back in the old days when you were young and nieve and you looked at the speedo on a bunch of parked motorcycles with your mates to see which one went the fastest, easy you just looked at the speedo.
Well yes I did and 60 mph BSA Bantams were scourned nearly as much as 80mph B31 and M20’s but the 120 mph’s Velocette or 1000 Ariel’s had the awe and respect, occasionally the odd 150 mph Bonnevilles or Lightning or Atlas had us smitten 150 mph of course was fitted by overzealous manufacturers incase you over ran the the speedo limit which in the real world never happened! I never saw a Vincent 5” Black Shadow 150 mph speedo in that era but that would have blown my tiny mind.
Of course this wasn’t only confined to motorcycles, cars were judged the same way although peering in through a car window wasn’t always as easy the best way was ask the owner “ How fast does it go mister” and everyone those days had flattened it on the non regulated road as there wasn’t a copper waiting to fill a quota, of course the reality to such a question was wide and varied not to be believed.
Transferring this to modern day would be unrealistic as it would be rare that you could find someone that could flatten the throttle for a sustainable time without being booked or jailed and peering in a car would have you footed up the arse or being accused of causing mischief! Motorcycles with digital instruments are now impossible to read without the key being inserted so you my find the odd naked bike with analog instruments but not common anymore, kids these days rarely look at motorcycles or there speedos for that matter so another child’s innocent game and dreams vanished, now it’s screen time that’s common.
I find it hard to believe things that innocent things we did are now gone, building bonfires and cracker night, football and cricket games played in the streets, riding a bicycle everywhere, playing in the local creek, raising pigeons or rabbits, keeping ferrets as pets, digging for fat worms in the backyard are now all memories, glad I was a kid when I was!
What has changed is all that was considered important ie: quarter mile figures, top speed figures are now replaced by litres per 100 k (mpg) and servicing intervals, go faster stripes, lowering blocks, side pipes, Klaxon horns, extractors, Tasman chrome wide wheels, twin Strombergs, Isky or Crow cams, solid lifters, alloy timing gears, heavy duty clutch pressure plates, power brakes, finned alloy rocker covers or even de mister stripes and heaters once de rigour of the Saturday morning greaser blowing all of his weeks wages at Brian’s Speed Shop all prehistoric, EV owners are completely ignorant of the terminology more or less the passion or skill to fit these components. Wheather any of these modifications did anything at all to the car they were fitted to is speculation and only in the myths of story telling like the fish that was caught are these days mainly here-say.
Motorcyclists are a gullible and tormented lot, even to this day, unlike their four wheeled brethren naked bikes “ape” motorcycles that were popular 50-60 years ago and they consider speed and acceleration absolutely imperative, they abhor quite motorcycles and if the small sector that likes such things they are looked at as some kind of a weirdo! The off road sector are nearly as bad as a Toyota Landfill owner all about being pumped up and alloy boxes and thinking their really Charley Boorman and Ewan Mc Gregor as they ride into their local Coles or Woolworths car park! Yes ego plays out as a major factor in buying a motorcycle the reason why the most impractical motorcycles like Harley-Ferguson are so popular, or I should I say WERE as sales are plummeting on them, and more practical bikes like Royal Enfield are gaining sales and popularity BSA are also making products again because of this and Triumph are producing a 400cc a once Asian popular capacity because the market is turning.
The young and new riders only want cheap practical and serviceable bikes which are lightweight and predictably these are popular with older baby boomers, figures and specifications with top speed or quarter mile acceleration are irrelevant, weight and handlebar height with the ability to carry a little luggage are, there are so many heavy penalties and fines or regulations the government have in place that how fast is a sign of the past. The world changed maybe for the better.
Phil Pilgrim 2026