George Hendee’s anniversary is very important to all Indian owners, he’s the same as Walter Harley, or William Davidson is to Harley enthusiasts, George was the a founder of Indian and a prominent bicycle rider of his era before motor bicycles were manufactured.
This story is fairly graphic from a period magazine but Jake De Rosier was a factory works rider and in his time unbeatable. It makes me happy that medicine has come such a long way in the last 100 years
Apparently the Rain in the Face Rally this weekend was a great success at Walwa run by the estimable Gary Hogg, two years ago it was held on the following long weekend and at Myrtleford, and it was running out of steam the committee thought of disbanding it which was a shame. Gary Hogg and Noel Thornby wouldn’t have that and decided to give it a final go and change the venue and to a 2 day weekend, it’s back again revived and seems to be well supported 10-12 and 4 regulars overseas means normally we would have 16 in the winter season, that’s very good, a report will follow
The amazing thing about Polaris Indian was bringing out the new 1160cc Scout in 2015 and then the 1000cc model 16 months later, quickly followed by the sister companies Victory Octane which was in my opinion even better. The killer was the poor Octane was virtually still born and Polaris shut Victory down with only handfuls of this brilliant machine hitting the market, I’ve ridden it and own a Scout and it was a better all rounder being cheaper, larger in capacity and nicer suspension, so why Polaris never seized the opportunity to convert this model into a Sport Scout never ceases to amaze me it could have been another winner. Take no notice of US prices
Recently my son (and IIRA member Heath) got his Learners Permit and it may be a surprise to you but beside some riding on a Honda Z50 when he was 8-10 that’s all the riding solo he had ever done with the exception of pillion riding with me. So I had to teach him as a 25 year old from scratch as he even drives a auto car, riding doesn’t come natural he has never had a problem holding or balancing a bike so that was natural, the rest was a serious attempt to orientate him in riding skills, road craft would be taught by the excellent HART ( Honda Australia Rider Training) recognised by Vic Roads. The riding skill is difficult a a Catch 22 problem arises with no permit I had to take him to La Trobe University car park on a Sunday as there are little other areas to train a new rider. Several hours were required successfully and he then was taught the road craft skills at HART enabling him to get a Learners Permit for a maximum of 12 months or a minimum of 3 weeks, which he can then sit for a P plate licence that lasts another 3 years! That means no pillion or a bike over 670 cc no drinking or phones or GPS and a Fluro jacket for some time while on L plates, so fairly restricted and $600 to boot for the test fortunately he had the jacket and helmet and owns a 1974 Triumph 650 Bonneville you have seen me on occasionally which is red plated and LAMS approved the bonus in Shannon’s insurance at $155 and the club permit scheme at $ 73 a year. For someone with absolutely nothing it’s very expensive to start riding bikes in 2018. So how is he going well, and is going to come on some rides with us so give him a chance please and he has got used to right hand gearchange (actually hated the Honda with L/hand change on his test) eventually he will progress to hand change and foot clutch with your encouragement so please do that as we need lots of young riders to appreciate our older bikes otherwise they will become worthless museum pieces.
Back when the IIRA started 2010 we used to struggle to get enough people to come to meetings, rides, or rallies and people grew complacent by booking for events virtually a week or less out, those days, 10 at a meeting, 6 on a ride, or 8-12 on a rally was easy to work around but now times change. Last weekends Association monthly ride was double the booked number, the meetings are well attended with 20+ regularly and the rallies are all booked out early some within days, for instance the Rain-in-the Face rally at Walwa on 1st & 2nd June was fully booked in a weekend so even know its listed in the calendar accommodation is non-existent there at Walwa so I hav”nt even listed it on the Stop Press page, eg: some members have asked to pay for the next Gypsy Tour in 2020 straight after the last one last month to Sydney and back! The Crazy Horse notice has been listed today so keep your eyes peeled as it will be fully booked in days so don’t just expect to turn up like years ago or you may be caught with your pants down.
Association ride to Moto-Bean Cafe, brilliant day and over 15 people out, well done
Funny how people think Indian’s have an Indian sidecar fitted, as a matter of fact hardly any except the 750 Army Chiefs that came here did. The reasoning was Indian made sidecars on the R/hand side and they were illegal here the other problem was they were very expensive as local taxes protected our local sidecar manufacturers, Dusting, Goulding, Murphy, Tilbrook, to name a few the Indian pictured above has a Dusting and quite a handsome combination I think. A good Dusting is about $4,000 s/hand and an Indian sidecar double that if you can find one off an Army bike or imported close to $10,000 (click on link below) so if you want a period “chair” at a reasonable price buy a local variant.
One person that sent his apology for not getting to the meeting is The President Pete Kime pictured above in Burt’s record breaker in NZ. Meanwhile the All British Rally was on over the last week-end and there was a “Bindian” there a Chief in a 1957 BSA swing arm frame and very nicely fitted as well particularly the generator area, this bike attracted plenty of spectators and was’nt a bad mod if no Indian frame was available, the weather held out and 1000 motorcycles were out on display.
