Always seems to me a good point campaigning about top speed and horsepower figures, Mike Hailwood MBE winner of all those Isle of Man TT’s in the 50’s, 60’s, 70’s and 15 world championships quoted you only needed 75 horsepower to achieve victory! These days manufacturer’s quote torque figures which are irrelevant unless you have something to compare them to, eg: is Indians figure of 119 ft lbs of torque seems impressive but how much is that compared to say a Hybusa or Dodge Viper. Undoubtedly it is miles ahead of my Vindian, and for that matter my 2002 Gilroy, but what about a old fashioned quarter mile figure this gets things into prospective along with fuel consumption figures which are important on a touring bike, weight is a necessary factor these figures are generally always on the spec sheet 835 lbs wet weight with 4.5 gallons of fuel in the new Indian’s case. Capacity figure on the new model at 1811cc is huge so is the “stroker” engine at Bore of 3.96 inch and stroke of a massive 4.449 inch, still in all a top speed figure although generally never quoted or obtained by more mortals like myself certainly help in ascertaining a purchase. In some areas road tests from a nearby dealer are not possible as literally the closest dealer is thousands of miles away.

Indian & the mythical Harley-Ferguson
The mythical Bunyip, Big Foot, Abominable Snowman, and even the even rarer Harley-Ferguson, here we have a exclusive photo of a Indian Chief and a Harley-Ferguson Harvest Glide model together found from the late forties with its owner, previously only artists impressions of it are known to exist and have appeared on this website. One of the many interesting things on our Facebook page
Unfortunately not those types of bikes “Sweat Wheels” or bicycles in Amsterdam, they have bike paths for the 900,000 bikes here and now scooters use them as well. If you step off the footpath they do a” Horner” on you as our latest Clubman Chris Horner knows all about after being hit by a cyclist over 3 years ago, and to add insult to injury, he was “hit & run” so the bugger did not even leave his details. I gave up cycling the day I got a motorcycle licence at 17 years and 9 months and do you know what,I have never ever missed it, you never see a cyclist smiling they always have a look on their face as if they have just inserted a suppository.
Thought this shot would break the monotony, I recognise Ian Rhook’s Blackhawk forked 344 on the end, and this was probably over 2 years ago at the Sandhurst Rally I would say. This year at the Great Race 2013 I asked organisers Dave Reedy(Harley City) and Peter Arundle about a next generation version that is Indian vs Harley except unlike the current version that stops at 1953 Indian’s and 1958 H-D’s it could start at these dates and finish at 2013 plus, both gentlemen were flabbergasted, not that they were against it but they did not want to organise it, can’t blame them as the original takes a ton of time. This has got me thinking lately with the new Indian and basically there is only a gap between 1973-99 but there is a ton of Indians between 1953-73 then over 300 Gilroy and Kings Mountain versions been imported into Aussie that’s about 34 years of bike production all up, potentially you could limit the Harley’s on the number of Indians entered. The Triumph Club in Australia( RAT) run a huge rally once a year surely the HOG owners and the new 111 Indian Club could do the same, this needs our friends at Victory-Indian to think about, how about it chaps?

2013 Clubman of the Year
Chris Horner is our new Clubman of the Year, this is the only award we give out so it is as special as the people that receive it. Chris has done more than most for the Association, he is a personal friend and I expect to most in our Association, he never hesitates with his time or generosity with any thing to help others and has often sacrificed a rally to give others his own Indian for their enjoyment, well done Chris
Indian Enfield, 111 Indian, in less than 6 days we will know what the factory will turn out, it will not be anything like this artists concept above, notice the belt drive has been “trashed” already and a chain fitted.
We have all seen the Vindian photos, the ones that were made in UK by the Vincent works in Stevenage, the story about how the machine was dismantled and sent back to the USA has been extensively retold in Indian History in our website. But a new twist what happened to this machine, well it exists in America in the DuPont museum after Indian Sales fitted another powerplant this wasn’t the end of the story Indian Sales built a second version, much different to the Stevenage variant the machine still exists in USA, note the 1949 Scout oil tank also the Vincent type gear change also the standard generator not the remote Indian Autolite generator, also the Vincent front wheel, this machine is more Vincent than the one that Vincent made, still even after all this it never happened as it like the others were still born
Our current President Mark recently wrote a article in Smoke Signals about our “Nanny State” that is how we are so precious about speed limits in Australia and the penalties from exceeding the speed limit on our Billion dollar freeways, by sometimes a mere 3 KPH”s the penalties can be several hundreds of dollars and several de-merit points from your licence. I am driving currently on the motorways of the “old country” he is right I’m feeling guilty about exceeding 60mph most are travelling at well over 80mph, surely with our late vehicles and great highways this should be the same in Aussie, but no the bureaucrats will loose revenue, so it looks like those 1960s speed limits will stay, yesterday a article was reproduced in the Age newspaper about testing the GT Ford Falcon at 141 MPH in 1971 the picture of it on the Hume Highway was taken over the drivers shoulder showing the dash speedo “off the dial” and tachometer on redline, the engine limiter cuts in at 145 MPH this made the hair on the back of my neck stand up,I’m glad I lived in that era we were much more “easy going ” then
Imagine my shock recently visiting my mate Guido (Guy Allen) when he admitted to me about buying a H-D, well I nearly had a stroke, Guy our esteemed editor on a tractor? Well kind of, a 350 H-D Sprint I felt myself nearly saying out loud ” Thats not a real H-D” but this is where it “cuts the mustard” it is a real Harley as much as any other Boat Anchor in their range, so I will not the getting a T-shirt made “H-D 1903-1968 to 1978-2013 end of story” A.M.F was another part of Harley’s History, the same as Clymer,Indian Motorcycle Co (Gilroy), Stellican (Kings Mountain) or presently Polaris-Indian are all part of Indian’s history, time to accept it chaps. I have a interesting article below on the head honcho at Indian thanks to Cycle News for this, it’s by Alan Cathcart who seems to ask all the right questions
Interview with Steve Menneto CEO of Indian ( Thanks Cycle News)
Indian Motorcycle, America’s first motorcycle company, continues its trip toward the historic unveiling of the completely new Indian Motorcycle. Burt Munro made history by setting a land speed record on the world’s fastest Indian®, a 1920 Indian® Scout®. To salute his passion for performance, we created The Spirit of Munro, a tribute streamliner powered by the new Thunder Stroke™ 111.Watch The Spirit of Munro turn back the clock and speed into the future of Indian Motorcycle with high-speed runs across a California dry lake bed. Then, take a look at the inspired handcrafting and dedicated teamwork that went into bringing the streamliner to life. We hope this short movie stirs something in you as much as it has us. This one’s for you, Burt. Play Video: TRIBUTE: THE SPIRIT OF MUNRO AT SPEED
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Iron Indian Riders Australia Inc.
Meetings: Grandview Hotel
03 9489 8061
429 Heidleberg Rd Fairfield 3078
When: Last Tuesday of the month (except December), 7.30pm
Postal: Secretary – Phil Pilgrim
P/o Box 1064
Ivanhoe Vic 3079