Is 80 KPH fast enough, no its not

Back in the days of yor when meeting another vehicle on the road was a big deal and the chances of that vehicle being horse drawn were 50-50 are well gone, these days such speeds of 80kph are posted on freeways under repair and that can cause huge “tailbacks” on those roads during peak hours, if you don’t believe me its time for you to drive down the Tullmarine freeway soon at those peak times. Recently we tried this 80kph on the Calder Freeway and in some areas this can be 110 kph and riding 30kph under the posted limit is dangerous, causing mayhem and many irate motorists, I made a executive decision that for safety reasons we would sit 10 kph under the posted limit which made everybody on this ride happy. So why did we try this in the first place, mainly because of members at the last meeting complaining that the rides were to fast and that limited the older Springfield models, strangely the people that commented were not on the ride anyway, I rode my Vindian and until Daylesford was the oldest bike on the ride till a new member on a 1944 Chief joined us, the other old bike was a 1949 Ariel 350cc which was comfortable at between 90-100 kph. So whats this all mean to you on a old PowerPlus, Prince, 741 Scout or 1944 Chief with sidecar, lots the first two machines in 2017 are probably more at home with Vintage Club rallies or parades as they have little or no brakes and can be dangerous in some circumstances, the others are capable of being ridden up to 100 kph’s if not geared for convoy use I know having ridden a 1944 Chief outfit to Sydney and back fully loaded with my 12 yo daughter in the chair, I follow Ric at the Crazy Horse Rally every year on his stock 741 at 90-100 kph so they can do it. The thing that is limiting is riding an old machine with inferior brakes ok in the country but scary in the city, if you intend to ride a really old Indian to a rally that cant keep around 10kph of the posted speed limit it might pay to take your later model.