“I have a 1927 Sunbeam motorcycle. The steering is done by means of a horizontal bar with padded grips at either end. It’s exactly the same as the system employed on my brand new ZZR1400, a motorcycle so powerful and modern that I am required to warn NASA and wear breathing equipment before opening the throttle further than 1mm.
Yes, there are a few differences but those little niceties were soon ironed out in subsequent generations of bikes, and we arrive at roughly the current set-up about 75 years ago. A motorcycle, like a car and a camera, is required to do only certain things. The manner of achieving those things might change, but the interface between the machine and the human operating it was generally worked out and honed many decades ago and is best not buggered about with.” —Richard Hammond on: retro styling - BBC Top Gear
Yes, there are a few differences but those little niceties were soon ironed out in subsequent generations of bikes, and we arrive at roughly the current set-up about 75 years ago. A motorcycle, like a car and a camera, is required to do only certain things. The manner of achieving those things might change, but the interface between the machine and the human operating it was generally worked out and honed many decades ago and is best not buggered about with.” —Richard Hammond on: retro styling - BBC Top Gear
