640B, 741 vs 841?

 

WWII Indian is punting the 741 as the bike to tour Europe on, 500 cc of performance and a shovel to either dig it out of a hole, hit it or bury it. The interest in these models now is different from the forties, this model was mainly used for despatch riders or convoy duty escorting trucks usually slow work and restricted top-end performance 50 M.P.H, today they are preened,pampered & polished and ridden at 60 MPH on highways so gearing the carb venturis are altered for more performance this machine in todays world is very utilitarian. The 841 on the other hand must have cost a bomb to make with a shaft drive and improved girder forks two carbs as well a much more advanced machine, but only 1000 were made and the only thing used after the war was the forks WHY? Personally after the war I would have ordered a civilian 841 people today modify the differential with BMW (the enemy) internals to get the gearing higher  which was a problem with under-gearing on this model but this machine looks heaps better than the Scout & the Moto-Gutless (Guzzi) that was produced 20 + years later and much,much better than the XA H-Davidson boxer twin that was produced at the same time as 841 but somehow this was “still born” and never made as a civilian version which happened to the Scout as well what were they thinking.