Overhead Valve 1946 Indian Chief from Australia. I always look forward to the first Sunday in May. The annual “Great Race” a time trial challenge between Indian and Harley held in Melbourne Australia. This years event has brought out a development project “THE INDIAN TOMAHAWK” from a new source. WIGWAM ENGINEERING. Peter Arundel’s love of the Indian Marquis combined with engineering expertise of well known motor engineer Lindsay Urquhart have release to the public their first prototype ever of a RUNNING Overhead valve modern combustion chamber enclosed rocker box Indian. What they have created is fantastic. Not just a wooden prototype or a S & S replica Harley. I have heard it running and all I can say is WOW where do I place my order. It Revs like a Ducati but sounds like a fire breathing Indian. 90 Hp has been mentioned as not unreasonable.

What is standard Indian 1946 Chief from the outside

* All the bottom end including Crankcases, Gearbox, Primary

* Exhaust system (That’s correct a standard 46 exhaust will plug straight in)

What they have added.

* Barrels, modern cylindrical design to eliminate traditional side valve distortion problems.

* Heads based on a late model combustion chamber design complete with a finned exhaust header to simulate a standard Indian sidevalve barrel exhaust port

* Rocker covers designed to simulate the appearance of a standard Indian side valve head.

* The Spark plugs are on the opposite side near the 42mm Mikuni carby.

* Lower frame tube under the gas tanks has had to be made removable to allow in the frame valve adjustments.

* To allow for the extra height of the overhead valves they have had to add one or two fins to the standard Indian configuration but they have

maintained the same fin spacing as the original design. (Thanks to Gary Stark from Starklite Cycles)

 

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If you have a bike on Club Plates and have not paid your Association subscription by June 30 YOU maybe responsible for a few people being Red Faced. First, your Association secretary is required BY LAW to advise VicRoads of any member who ceases to remain financial, who has a Red plate issued thru your Association. Irrespective of the status of your payments to VicRoads – once this happens your bike is legally UNREGISTERED. So let’s try to avoid Peter Kime being Red Faced by paying your club dues TODAY. Second, if you are stopped by the Police or a VicRoads officer, while riding your Association Registered bike but without being a current financial member of our Association, the police office may well be Red Faced as he issues you with a $706 fine plus 4 points off your licence for operating an unregistered vehicle. And finally, you may well be Red Faced when you are prevented by the same officer from riding away from the scene, being forced to leave the bike where it is till you can arrange to have it transported  (in the hope you can do so before it’s damaged or stolen). So, please help all retain their composure by ensuring you get your membership renewal form (below) and payment to Pete now.Those paid up before the end of July get a free Indian 16 month calendar produced by IIRA worth $30.00

New member Harald Schaaf’s 1944 Chief  he’s all paid up

2013 Membership Application form (download)

 

 

VINTAGE 1917 COLOUR PHOTOGRAPH: motorcycle excursion to Ross, Tasmania. This very early and faded “PAGET COLOUR” photograph is by H J King, and that’s him riding the motorcycle. Lucy King (in the sidecar in these pictures) told me that these were taken ‘in her courting days’ when H J’s family owned the cycle shop in Launceston. They had the Tasmanian agency for ‘Indian’ Motorcycles. The image is from a glass lantern slide transparency, 3 1/4 inches square, which I copied to Kodachrome with Lucy’s permission in 1982. Paget colour was a fore-runner of the Finlay colour process, though its colours were not so true, and the fine primary colour dot-mosaic through which the emulsion was exposed, and later projected, used fugitive dyes which faded badly. I have tried every software manipulation known to recover what little colour remains in these Paget plates after 96 years, and this is the best that I can do with this and its companion slide. The Paget colour photography process was most notably used by Frank Hurley on the famous Shackleton Antarctic expedition of 1914-16. Hurley also subsequently used the Paget Process to take official Australian army photos of battles in the latter part of World War One. Thanks member Rodger Beimers for this interesting bit of Australian History & to all involved to give a us a little more appreciation of past times

 

 

It’s that time of the year for renewing your Association membership. Midnight on June 30 is the crunch time on which your Iron Indian Riders, Victoria Section membership expires, provided you have not already completed and sent off the renewal included in your current edition of Smoke Signals which you will receive within the next 10 days.

Not all that important?  Well blow me down, if you have a vehicle on club (red) plates it just might be. When you have a vehicle on Victorian club plates, in order for the club registration to be valid you MUST be a financial member of the club that the rego was arranged through.  If you are NOT financial then your vehicle club registration is INVALID – as far as the cops are concerned it’s no ifs and no buts.   In Victoria this means you would be charged with operating an unregistered vehicle – penalty is a whopping $706 PLUS 4 demerit points.  To add to the ignominy – the cops will NOT let you drive/ride away plus they will not be responsible for your vehicle if you leave it unattended where it is.

So – if you have not done it already – you may just want to send your membership renewal off to our secretary Peter Kime any day now. By the way, failing to have a valid and correct log book with you when operating your club registered vehicle attracts EXACTLY the same penalty.

2013 Membership Application form (download)