If you're anywhere near as old as I am (somewhere between early retirement and keeling over while shoveling snow), you might actually remember a time when nostalgia for bygone designs was pretty much the province of steam locomotive buffs and guys like my Uncle Walter, who missed his pre-war Hudson because the sheet metal was so thick. Almost no one else in America wanted anything that looked dated or old-fashioned. Newer was always better. Give us tailfins! Now take them away! In the world of machinery, only Morgan cars and Velocette motorcycles were able to get away with designs that were frozen in time, but they seemed to be playing to an ever-shrinking audience. You had to have a strong sense of classicism to prefer a Velo Venom to a new Honda 750 Four in 1969. Progress was the thing, and bikes just got faster and more reliable every year.
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