Blood Brother Octane, a new Sports Scout?

Yesterday I had to take my Scout to Rick Thomas at All American Motorcycles in Ringwood for a fault code since I fitted a EJK kit and S&S airfiter this gives a 12 hp boost so well worth doing but brought up the engine management light. The ever obliging Rick is very professional and treats his customers like they are all mates, I had to wait some time as he is very busy on Saturday and generally doesn’t do service work on Saturday, I wasn’t in a hurry and didn’t mind the wait at all the good thing though was he offered me a ride on the Victory Octane, which I jumped at the chance to make the comparison to my 2015 Scout. They look similar at a casual glance but the ride and seating position are markedly different, the first thing I checked was the digital display and I reckon it’s better than the Scout as its coloured darker and also it has two trip meters, sadly no gear indicator or fuel gauge but neither has the Scout, the foot peg position is further back which is good and the different front wheel size makes it sharper on the steering. On the road the handlebar position is not comfortable as my machine and its small handlebar fairing is inadequate, but like the Scout it’s low and remarkably even more power on tap even know capacity is virtually the same, the stock Octane is on par with my Scout with the mods that I have fitted I think. Now the thing is that everybody wants to know is how comfortable is the Octane next to the Scout as it has a reputation for a uncomfortable seat and inadequate shocks well laid forward that can be replaced, mine has a Corbin seat and Fournales rear shocks fitted now, well the Octane seems to have a more comfortable seat and yes the rear suspension I think is much better although I never rode it a great distance so the jury is out on that. With Polaris shutting Victory this week all this brand is now on run out sale price they are about $3,000 less now than they were released at and except for the name Indian better value than a Scout Sixty at around $16,000 ride away. The Octane would make a perfect Sports Scout, Polaris please note it would be a shame to dump this bike and I believe if you are looking for a nice bike put the Octane on your shopping list and ring All American Motorcycle 03 98793322 and ask for Rick times running out on these versions

Scrap metal price for Harley this week

Seven cents a kilo seems about right to me!

 

Production Numbers Gilroy/KM

John Smith send this through, interesting how few there are

When The V-Rod stopped did people say Harley is going bad?

No but in truth they are feeling it with Indian sales taking some of their market growth with these sales, Harley sales are well down on compared when they were guaranteeing a buy back of new price a few years back. So Victory is ceasing to be marketed by Polaris as of this week so they can concentrate on the more profitable prestige brand Indian, thats good for a more extensive range of Indian”s and with all the development on one brand you don’t end up with a Triumph-BSA situation that happened in the seventies in that case BSA went broke, it cost tons of money to keep two separate brands, dealer networks and race teams going. The beauty of Polaris is its huge about ten times larger than Harley and not totally reliant on motorcycles to survive so if one thing good out of the Victory announcement of ceasing production it means only better things are coming.

http://hdhistory.com/v-rod-discontinued/

I’ve said this from day one!

 

PRESS RELEASE
Monday 9th January 2017
Victory Motorcycles Media

Polaris Industries to wind down Victory Motorcycles operations strengthening its position in the powersports industry

Victory Motorcycles announcement press release Word

MINNEAPOLIS (January 9, 2017) — Polaris Industries, Inc. (NYSE: PII) today announced it will immediately begin winding down its Victory Motorcycles brand and related operations.

Polaris will assist dealers in liquidating existing inventories while continuing to supply parts for a period of 10 years, along with providing service and warranty coverage to Victory dealers and owners. Today’s announcement does not affect any other Polaris business units.

“This was an incredibly difficult decision for me, my team and the Polaris Board of Directors,” said Polaris Industries Chairman and CEO Scott Wine. “Over the past 18 years, we have invested not only resources, but our hearts and souls, into forging the Victory Motorcycles brand, and we are exceptionally proud of what our team has accomplished. Since inception, our teams have designed and produced nearly 60 Victory models that have been honoured with 25 of the industry’s top awards. The experience, knowledge, infrastructure and capability we’ve built in those 18 years gave us the confidence to acquire and develop the Indian Motorcycle brand, so I would like to express my gratitude to everyone associated with Victory Motorcycles and celebrate your many contributions.”

Several factors influenced today’s announcement. Victory has struggled to establish the market share needed to succeed and be profitable. The competitive pressures of a challenging motorcycle market have increased the headwinds for the brand. Given the significant additional investments required for Victory to launch new global platforms that meet changing consumer preferences, and considering the strong performance and growth potential of Indian Motorcycle, the decision to more narrowly focus Polaris’ energy and investments became quite clear.

“This decision will improve the profitability of Polaris and our global motorcycle business, and will materially improve our competitive stance in the industry,” said Scott Wine. “Our focus is on profitable growth, and in an environment of finite resources, this move allows us to optimize and align our resources behind both our premium, high performing Indian Motorcycle brand and our innovative Slingshot brand, enhancing our focus on accelerating the success of those brands. Ultimately this decision will propel the industry-leading product innovation that is core to our strategy while fostering long-term growth and increased shareholder value.”

Any one-time costs associated with supporting Victory dealers in selling their remaining inventory, the disposal of factory inventory, tooling, and other physical assets, and the cancellation of various supplier arrangements will be recorded in the 2017 income statement in respective sales, gross profit and operation expense. These costs will be excluded from Polaris’ provided 2017 sales and earnings guidance on a non-GAAP basis.

Polaris will release its fourth quarter and full-year 2016 financial results and provide 2017 guidance on Tuesday, January 24, 2017. A webcast and conference call will be held at 9:00 a.m. Central Time on January 24, 2017 to discuss the results. A slide presentation and link to the webcast will be posted on the Polaris Investor Relations website at ir.polaris.com. To listen to the conference call by phone, dial 877-706-7543 in the U.S. and Canada, or 478-219-0273 Internationally. The Conference ID is #45015597.

So whats all this mean for Indian, plenty a bit like Harley when they dumped Buell and sold MV Agusta (for $2) and stopped the V-Rod (http://hdhistory.com/v-rod-discontinued/) it allows concentration on one brand and seeing profit from the motorcycle divisions is 4% that doesnt affect Polaris at all. What it means is all development on one single brand and more model Indian’s and as I have forecast probably a new Indian Four, if I was Harley I would be worried even more now. The bloke above is Arlen Ness taken a few years ago with his son Arlen they were responsible for Victory’s styling which I  and many others never cared much for, looks like this guy is now out of a job.

 

 

 

Floyd Clymer friend or foe of Indian?

Personally I would say a friend although his business ethics could be questionable he managed to produce some really good Indian’s in the seventies and it kept the brand name alive for a number of years. Let’s face it after Indian Sales stopped trading and the last hurrah was Matchless motorcycles with Indian badges it was the last link with the old Springfield machines, the fact that Harley considered buying the name and locking it away forever in a safe would have meant the end of the famous marque, fortunately that never happened even know in the 21st Century they must have regretted that decision. Clymer owed the fledging Cycle magazine and sold it in the mid sixties to Pederson Publishing for $300,000 to become extremely wealthy and being a motorcycle buff and ex Indian rider he initially contacted Sam Pierce the one man in the states that never gave up on Indian produced his own even when the Springfield factory existed for them to evaluate and produce. Clymer produced but one Scout in a Munch frame, but what he did do was produce a whole range of motorcycles from mini bikes up to 750’s all badged Indian and some very,very nice machines such as Indian Velocette 500 and the Indian-Enfield 750 all with Italian rolling chassis there were other prototypes with a Ducati, Norton, pictures of Triumph engined versions exist and everybody has seen pictures of the Volvo car engine Munch version, these were all only stop gaps to eventually reproduce complete USA Indians but unfortunately Clymer passed away and all of these steps came to nothing till 1998 when CMC bought the name Indian to produce the first Gilroy versions which would eventually be bought after a hiccup by Polaris, in my mind he could have been the saviour but in the end loathed by some of not reincarnating Chiefs and Scouts that were dated by WW11

Floyd Clymer (link)

 

Yeats Sidecars 1919

Yeats sidecars were nearly as large as Goulding Sidecars that eventually packed up trading in Australia and moved to USA. The original building still exists and with what is written on Google about them they patented this chassis in the twenties, quite a innovating and progressive design especially the twin leaf spring axle arrangement.

Patent US1388387 – Chassis for side cars of motorcycles – Google …

 

 

WHAT TOTAL CARE MEANS TO YOU

RACV Total Care / Roadside Assist is a reasonably cheap form of peace of mind cover if your on the side of the road and at a little over $200 a year it covers all your motorcycles, cars, and a allocated second vehicle which in my case is my wife’s that’s around 12 vehicles in all plus if say I’m in your/on someone else’s car/motorcycle as a passenger that’s covered as well, also they will get you home in a 50 klm radius or get you to a workshop, garage, or dealer to get it fixed and or provide a vehicle and accommodation if your on holidays! Pretty impressive you say, an example of this was the manufacturers  roadside cover on my wife’s car was $185 annually and it only covered that car, you can see why RACV Total Care was on my agenda, recently it “lunched” a ESL (electronic steering lock) at 4.30pm on a Friday night so the “stealer” (dealer) was shut till Monday a the flat-bed truck delivered my car home for the week-end then on Monday delivered it to a repairer at Bayswater for nothing and because I have 3 breakdown covers a year and because it was that late in the afternoon they charged it out as only one pick-up so I still have two up my sleeve for the future all this for zilch! So ex-member Martyn Goodwyn decided to draft this list below to show what “bang for your buck” you get  and as you know this works in all states of Australia so the question is here why havent you joined , by the way they send out their excellent magazine each month and as a “member you has access to all the things sold to members only at their depots, just to good not to take advantage of

(click on the link below)

IMG_racv

Happy New Year 2017

Who needs a party, we have one going all year one event after another “chock a block” what with 5 Rallies and 6 Sunday Rides, not counting 16 raffles, 11 General Meetings, 4 Magazines, 12 e-news and also SMS messaging monthly, and a regularly updated website to keep your Indian Year eventful, chuck in a free Xmas Party and a few free breakfasts and I reckon damn great value for $50 a year, any other party costs lots more than that. So to all our financial members have a safe and Happy New Year and may all your coming miles be trouble free.

What’s the right colour for a Indian?

38 from above DSCN3927

That’s a hard question with Indians being painted any colour you like from the 1930’s & for an extra $5 over a thousand extra colour combinations became available, being owned by DuPont one of the largest paint suppliers to Detroit this all made sense. All H-D’S were drab and horrible colours some would say the wartime WLA’s were the best painted versions, Indian only had flash styling and good paint in the end, technology wise after the war they never got a countershaft 4 speed gearbox or a OHV engine but they still had rear suspension, if you wanted your Chief to stand out a stunning paint job with the right colours would do it, sure Indian listed a core 3 or 4 colours a year and there was always a red colour to be had most years which had been around since the early teens and before. I have seen plenty of Indian’s not painted solid colours and in seventies candy or metalflake they stand out like “a rat eating a watermelon” and don”t do much for me, two-tone I like the outfit above proves a point, solid black or the traditional red are striking as well  but all black contrasting against the black frame makes a Indian look to heavy I think, and the red well that varies from letter box to claret when the original late Indian Red is almost a rust brown shade which people don’t like! Early twenties Chiefs were a brighter red the later forties versions not so, awhile ago someone in the States re-produced a paint sample sign taken from original codes and a lot of people were really surprised how unoriginal their machine was painted, so why not pick your own, well that to can cause odd colours such as chocolate, purple and green or even mixture of these three or more, I can tell you one thing though never paint a Indian green (unless military) as they look like something a cat vomited up!