PowerPlus the Master of Steep Hills, would this work today?

 

In 1917 this was an advert from Milledge Bros in Australia for the Indian PowerPlus they were a huge family business that ran up to 1980s in later years BSA & Yamaha distributors, the remainder of the script reads “Swift as a bird without protest clean as whistle you take on high gear the high hill ahead when you ride 1917 Indian Motocycles with PowerPlus Motor”  Well no mention of horsepower here or even engine capacity, gears, brakes, but plenty about the Cradle spring frame and being the “Master of Steep Hills” also ” The worlds greatest shock absorber”  “Hammock like comfort” and “travelling at low-cost”. In the 21st Century comfort seems irrelevant or climbing hills, even traveling at low-cost other things are boasted on spec sheets, B.H.P, torque, gears, brakes, advances in engine vibration elimination, lean angles, wheel sizes, weight and even seats, what has changed is do potential owners now want more than their great-grandfathers maybe, but they want reliability & practicality. Old timers will tell you fantastic stories of riding to Sydney or Bathurst with no lights, plenty of tools & spare oil, performance really counts for nought when your machine has broken down even a 125 cc looks good if your on the side of the road, motorcycles still get flat tyres to name one problem