What's in a name anyway?

I was standing at the counter of Access PEI, getting my bikes registered shortly after the move.

Velo 150

We had to be patient, as with most DMV's things certainly don't move at light speed (unless the bulb is burnt out) I had sat... number in hand, on those uncomfortable chairs for more than an hour and I knew that day the wait may be shorter than the work.

PEI is a small place, in fact the entire Maritimes barely make a 1/3 of Alberta, size or population wise.  I had several sets of paperwork and was methodically presenting each in order, slowly.

Obviously some of my motorcycle models had never before been registered on the Island, because they had to be manually entered into the database where we ran into a bit of a snag.  DMV's and even the general public know most bikes by a model number.  For example, I was registering a Yamaha DT 50W, an XT 225D and an XT 600A.  This was fairly straight forward.  The time consuming conflict began with the Tomos Velo scooter.  She wanted to know the model number.  I explained to her that there was none.  She explained it to her supervisor who came back that there must be a model number.  'How can it be known only by the name?' I pointed out the company was situated in Slovenia and the bike was manufactured in China.  She was welcome to call Tomos and ask them the question directly.  Same issue with the Triumph Thunderbird.  It too had to be manually entered in the system.

Thunderbird 900

I thought about this at the time and again this morning.

There is something more exciting and personal about a machine being named, don't you agree?

I mean would you call your children, #1, 2 and 3?!

A CBR 900RR sounds much better if referred to as a "Fireblade,"  a VTR1000 as a "Superhawk", and  the old BSA parked in my home, the Thunderbolt 650.

Can you imagine a 5L Mustang being called a Ford D 4200 X or something just as foolish.



I'm not sure why it is but a name reflects the romance and personality of the machine. Take the Honda Passport sitting in my living room.

 


Charger      
Mustang
Corvette
MGB
Mini
Boxster

Spitfire
Hurricane
Gladiator
Flying Fortress
Liberator

Hustler
Ascot
Mach III
V Max
Bonneville

Doesn't the word Intruder sound much sexier and dangerous than the C-50?