The Monthly Indian News of W.Aust is in, I always look forward to what our sister affiliate club is doing over in the West, just click on the picture and you will read all the news as this is their 30th copy I think the cover is appropriate.
On odd occasions photos turn up on Facebook which are period shots of early pioneers on Indian’s the first one is in Darling Downs, the second in Tasmania this shot seems dramatic to say the least the Indian has its engine removed. Considering it would not have been to old at this stage and it appears to be on the rear carry rack I wonder what went wrong
Years ago your webmaster worked at the Jawa-CZ agency Frank Musset & Co in the 70″s at that time we stopped selling Velocette and we were the state agents for Triumph. Jawa at the time made Speedway 500 bikes and rugged reliable & cheap two-stroke road bikes & the CZ arm was the sister company that sold the world storming MX bikes that were unbeatable, all at the time were rather uninteresting (the road models) to me as I was into Vincents, Velocettes & Triumph’s. Surprisingly now I see CZ in a different light it seems Indian did also at the time years earlier, they obviously saw potential in an entry level machine they could re-badge & market with a profit, Vincent did the same with NSU around the same time in 1948. Vincent failed their NSU-Vincents were expensive but the Indian-CZ would have had fierce resistance from their dealer network, the mechanics at the time would have hated them with a passion. In 2014 things are different a Indian-CZ is desirable and cheap anybody got one here?
Should have saved this till St Patrick’s Day, six leaf clover and a PowerPlus engine suits green tyres. The next picture is even better, it gets me how many people think “Now my tractor engine has blown up, I will slip that old Indian engine laying in the back of the shed in it” I reckon that would be the last power plant one would think of to fix the problem. Anyway next Tuesday is the meeting night, the Smouldering Embers monthly e-mail magazine is out with a report coming on the recent Chief Rain in-the Face Rally to rub it in on how those that didn’t attend missed a great Rally, which brings us up to the Association Run on 06/07/14 to Yea. This month the ride day week-end does not follow in the same week as the meeting so take note.
The last month’s meeting someone mentioned to me about being in the Harley Appreciation Club, well not quite although the banter between Hog & Indian guys has been going on now for over a century now. I get a lot of photos sent to me many are unsuitable, the ones I reproduce no one was killed but many owners would have the adrenalin going, for instance how do you end up on a roof? The problem with the poster at the end is it was another two years before Harley was smoked as they did not exist till 1903.
Fantastic weather, great company, comfortable accommodation with plenty of food & a nice selection of Indians from Springfield to Polaris with no breakdowns this all adds up to a marvelous weekend away in Myrtleford thanks to the skills of Garry Hogg leading us around all the hidden areas in literally his back-yard. So a bit over the top with adjectives you think, well for those of you that mowed lawns, took kids to Jazz ballet, or football, washed the car, weeded the garden,went dirt bike riding or wimped it out in general “eat your heart out” we had a good enough time to re-book again ready for next year, there is only room for 28 people so start booking at the Railway Hotel/Motel now. Our next big Rally is the Crazy Horse Rally in Sept at Coroyong book today at the Mountain View Motel or start thinking of another weak limp-wristed excuse like “I didn’t realize it was on”
Electric start Indians the option they should have stuck with above all the others, then we would have no need for either the Timmerman(German) or the Leenes (Dutch) Kiwi (Yank) kits that are on the market. The best of the lot are the Dutch versions as the Leenes version retains a working standard kickstart which the Kiwi one doesn’t have and the Timmerman version is severly modified to the point of weakening the lever, the reason this is so bad is all the versions use a sprag clutch, which when running in the inside of a modern motorcycle engine thats fully lubricated is great, unfortunately in your old Chief they don’t, after awhile they do collapse or as I found rust out, and the sprag is over $200 not at all cheap. This was all fixed by 1999 as the first S&S engined Gilroy Indian hit the market, hard to believe Indians have been going 15 years already and 45 years (1969) since Indian Sales closed the doors and stopped selling Indian motorcycles, thats right Clive not 1953!
Kawasaki Drifter 1500. (Click on link)
A friend of mine has recently bought a Kawasaki Drifter similar to the one pictured above except the previous owner has fitted Indian Decals on the fuel tank. So is this a big issue these days if anything it is promoting the Indian brand and there are many H-Ds around in the past that tried to look like classic Indians, they say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, possibly so until recently Indians were not easy to find & were very expensive to boot, they are cheaper now than ever, even the new Polaris versions. These Kawasaki’s have charm and are doggedly reliable and reasonably cheap although not over common in Aussie, Antique Motorcycles had one for sale that had fitted Indian war bonnet, decals, air filter, footboards & tailight this was an unusual looking bike but at a distance would pass as a late 1999-2010 Chief possibly “a bit over the top”. You know what, I have a “Vincati” and its neither a Vincent or a Ducati it could be a “Ducent” but as I’m the owner I can call it what I want and at various times its been called plenty of names with swear words in the middle, so I say this to my mate, in my opinion leave Indian on the tank not many people have heard of a Kawasaki these days!
Gary Nixon was the hot-shot US Triumph mile circuit rider in the late sixties, he got the Number 1 plate and with Gene Romero wrought destruction on the Boat Anchor Brigade from Milwaukee, they were unbeatable on Triumphs, so now the Milwaukee Tractor Co are using a picture of their most hated opponent for advertising a great help for their dealers, anyone who remembered would cringe! I reckon about now there would be a vacancy in the advertising dept, the person(s) obviously never saw Gary on his leathers or the twin exhausts, but I suppose you see the people that they are appealing to does it matter such a individual is pictured, a few years ago in their museum with pictures of past models exhibited, one was of a armoured police bike with a machine gun attached that was made in the thirties, only problem was it was a Chief,the giveaway was the Leaf Spring forks
Three classic shots, Pancho Villa in fighting form ready to have war with America on an American Indian, the second photo is one we have all had at one time or another a cop doing his duty booking Indian riders. The third shot is really nice I think, as I like Triumph’s as well as Indian’s the Gyronaut X-1 was going to be the first of many versions, Bob Leppan rode it in 1966 to an incredible 245.66 mph making it the worlds fastest motorcycle for a number of years, which Triumph used in their advertising into the seventies. The shot with Burt Munro really gives a feel to great era when people did everything themselves, most of the modern jockey’s rarely leave their air-conditioned trailers till the run is due to happen
Gyronaut X-1 link