All that’s needed in the little cupboard

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Post war Indians are fairly reliable but when you go on a ride some tools are handy I found that the little cupboard (toolbox on the side)is neither to big or small. So what do you carry in there  personally  I carry a shifta, tyre levers, screw drivers, pliers, some harness wire and twitching wire, a small role of insulation tape ,a spare float, points, rotor button ,condenser , and a Indian head tightening socket, and the wheel nut extension bar, a couple of plugs as well , and a 1/2 x  9/16 ring spanner some fuses. If I’m on a rally a spare tube and a miniature tyre compressor but not in the “cupboard” a litre of oil and a small container of petrol in the saddle bags, this doesn’t leave much room  for waterproofs, and spare gloves it’s  always  a problem finding enough room  for your toiletries and underwear, but now the diagram above should save all the problems the cupboard will be bare! A number of years ago I was in the Velocette Club a a member was riding a 1938 MSS  which has a large toolbox fitted standard, anyway this chap “ground to a Halt” the problem being the magneto points had closed, I stopped to help and asked him for pliers etc from his expansive toolbox, he remarked that he never carried any with him and his wife used the area for lunch sandwiches, well at least he never starved to death.

Old will never be new again

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Rose tinted glasses, everything was much better back then, well at our last Gypsy Tour earlier this year we never had a Bathing Beauty Pageant seeing it was all blokes I”m happy about that, but it is food for thought maybe at our next one in 2016. The other picture of the model in practical riding gear of the 50’s is more risqué most ( should I say some) modern women wouldn’t be caught dead in that costume or on an old Indian, maybe a new Indian and completely naked but that’s all, so were things better back then? I lived from 1952 so I will comment from that time on Polio or T.B injections BEX & Vincent’s headache powders Dr Mackenzie Mentoid tablets for fat people, cigarettes everyone smoked even the cat, corrugated toilet paper, no air-con, Briquette heaters, sunburn rubbed with olive oil, valve radios and TVs, corner phone boxes, no seat belts or collapsible steering columns, the Vietnam War and National Service conscription, these are delightful things that were around. Cars were 6 cylinder and “three on the tree” (column shift) and no synchro on first, rusting from the day they left the factory and vacuum wipers, or worst still Pommie 4 cylinders with bad electrics and always boiling, motorcycles were equally dubious, kickstart, Lucas electrics, felt oil seals and tin chaincases, average brakes to make it better. Policeman were shocking & unforgiving and if you were a L or P plater even worse, my mate had his Learner Permit torn up like confetti and sprinkled on the ground and told to walk home, pushbike riders were fined as another friend who rode at 65 klm over a amphometer down a hill, he was flagged down had his tyre pump removed and his valves and told to walk to work. GST at 10% is tame next to 22% sales tax we had then and I wont mention the pill or anything else such as death sentences or 80% of people have a firearm in their house in this era, heart bypass surgery was not great earlier on with most not surviving or if they did only a few years. So some things were good then as well as now things have improved for the better overall, as have our favorite brand Indian I’m glad to have ordered a Scout and ride older Chiefs I know there limitations unfortunately many people don’t “Old will never be new again”

Yet another Scout Review with sex appeal

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John Munro

“The Indian Scout is a good value, has great sex appeal and, most importantly, it’s easy to ride.”

Read more: http://www.automobilemag.com/reviews/driven/1412-2015-indian-scout-review/#ixzz3M2WC67Lg

I have read quite a number of these reviews but this one is about the best, Burts lad John pictured above obviously enjoys this one

 

New Harley outfit released & 600,000 hits

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New 2015 Harley outfit just released for the Aussie market with the sidecar fitted to the left, should be an instant seller and very up to the minute specs as usual for the Motor Co. Six hundred thousand hits in four and a half years well half a million was slow but 1 million is achievable I reckon but my feeble memories are all but run-out so how about something from somebody else to lighten it up with more variety a few Harley jokes and photos would be good if nothing else.

RACV were there for who?

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The RACV in their wisdom have decided to forget their roots and support bicyclists, as they don’t pay registration costs or support the RACV unless there wife and kids are in the family sedan. What stuffs me is a hell of a lot of motorcyclists are in their Club and guess what, they like our money but obviously not us, if they look back in history to times when there were nine times more motorcycles on the roads than cars & they even ran outfits (pictured above) as breakdown vehicles they may realize that we have fought very hard for our rights yet they seem happy to promote pedal power, doesn’t this idiot realize motorcycles solve congestion problems in large cities more than bicycles or cars, methinks the President Ross Herron needs to pull his head out of his arse and start thinking of his members like the medallion says “Service to Members” 
FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE RACV:

“Why have the city’s footpaths become parking bays for Motorcycles? They hinder traffic. Would a better use of this space be cycling lanes similar to many European cities? (Ref. RACV Magazine Dec 14/Jan 15 P.11).

Further points to consider:

RACV do not want us on the footpath

RACV do not want us in bus lanes

RACV do not want us in push bike lanes

RACV do not include us in their monthly magazine (not for a long time.)

RACV do not want us using up road space. “Would a better use of this space be cycling lanes”.

The RACV has a representative on the Motorcycle Advisory Group (MAG).
Motorcycle Advisory Group

The Motorcycle Advisory Group (MAG) was established in mid-2011 to provide VicRoads with strategic advice on issues relating to the management and development of motorcycling in Victoria.

All riders and pillions need to keep a close eye on the RACV regarding their bias motorcycle and scooter policies.

 

 

Proof about Indian 4’s

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Not long ago I mentioned about Indian 4″s not being used and having almost reached mythical status seems the recent collection of them pictured above bears out my point. The problem is in Australia we would never hope to  find a machine as pictured above with so few arriving during the Great Depression.

A Century later is the rock firm? Well the firm is

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Polaris-Indian look like they are on track to break 4 Billion dollars turnover this year, Indian in 1915 were selling lots of machines more than they could produce, this sounds familiar if you order a Scout today its April if your lucky to see it. Production is full-bore and for the first time in over a century Indian is selling all it can produce, history repeats

I just Love it!

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The new Smoke Signals is out and Acessories from Zorro’s

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So beside Smoke Signals being a “Bumper Xmas Edition” and being out today Mark at Zorro’s has a couple of things out for the new Scout, the rack is familiar to all Springfield owners but the war bonnet isn’t, they were on Springfield Chiefs from post 1953. For those of you who didn’t realize the factory stopped in 1969 not 1953 as many believe and more bikes were sold in this period than all of post war 1945/53 models, the thing is this war bonnet looks very much at home on the new naked 2015 Scout, it will have a rubber backing and no they don’t and never did have a light on this version of war bonnet, Mark’s taking orders now

The fastest Indian in Riddel’s Creek!

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Who’s going to argue, not me how many Indian’s are in Riddel’s Creek, it may be dozens, shame the picture of the other side is missing it looks like the sidecar has been sliced in half. The thing is this bike looks loved and I reckon it could tell a few stories.The other picture is a good shot of Indian owners going to the trouble of telling people it’s not a H-D a few decades ago I worked at a bike wreckers young guys would come in and look at the other brands and were  fascinated that there was a motorcycle made before the Honda Four, it seemed that the public were completely “hoodwinked” by the propaganda of the time, now your average Joe Public thinks all cruisers are H-D’S