You have all heard the story about the Indian in the chook shed (Fowl yard loft for our US cousins) & thought of other Grimm’s fairy tales you heard as a kid, well this one is real.Member Warren (Wazza) found this 640 Scout in New Zealand in a Chook shed in good sound condition although it has a decent dent in the left petrol tank, who stores a motorcycle in a chicken coop, not me,my 4 chickens are complaining about space without moving a Indian in.
March was a sad month for the “Black Bastard”in one cold wet week-end it was at the Knackers Yard of it’s life, I decided to bite the bullet & emasculate it by removing the 48 Chief engine & cutting the frame, the engine was sold on to a fellow IIRA member & is close to being put back onto the road again. In the meantime you will have noticed snippets & odd photos cropping up about the conversion through Stop Press, well today it is finished, there will be a full article coming up in Smoke Signals it will also be going on the Members Area for those who wish to make another Vindian. My objective was not to make a replica of the machine that was made in Stevenage in 1949, I have made it safer & more reliable with good electrics, stronger frame modification, & practical with pillion seat & saddlebags, modern carbs with air filters, better clutch & magneto, the colour was chosen to represent the traditional black and gold of the Vincent & the blue, although not Seafoam Blue is a striking contrast of the original Indian. The Vindian decals I think give it more individuality, as do Gilroy Indian spotlights & warbonnet on the front guard, the Whitewalls also “lift” the overall package. Building this bike has been hard so I am happy its finished, it’s like the old chopper builders of yore, it is a expression of what I think looks ok & to hell whatever anyone else thinks
Without getting to Geeky I have noticed MAC owners that use Safari instead of Internet Explorer or FireFox have trouble viewing some articles or pictures on this site, the Australian Tax Office is also having problems if you have a Portal for your B.A.S statements, or so they told me today. I would suggest you change over to get better results on looking up the site, or doing your Tax.The picture above is of a 1948 Chief “The World’s Finest”, On all the roads of the world, hopefully paved one’s. The Vulcan Indian wrist watch also pictured above, was produced in the thirties & forties, only 20 years earlier people would accuse others for wearing such watches as “Fairy’s” real men only carried pocket watches, derogatory statements were made on the lines of “Oh he’s a wrist watch wearer” 90 years on we have lot’s of wrist watch wearing folks around, what can I say!
We have some great photo’s turning up on our Facebook page recently, the Indian on a Indian shots are quite symbolic of how long the Indian brand has been around, with the more general shots of when they were a tool or workhorse, not “painted ladies” as they are now. The snow plough Indian really brings home the fact, in the States these guys today drive the latest GMC & Ford trucks to do this job with heaters & all mod cons, this bloke has a snow chain for grip on the tyre & the guards removed he doesn’t look warm or happy. The ambulance rider WW1 Dough boy I reckon would have a worse job over bomb holes & rough terrain listening to the screams of the wounded men he has strapped on stretchers, the Goulding sidecar would only give limited comfort. The last shot of the Indian 4 (Four- Stroke) from the Clymer era is is bike I personally have a fetish for, just to say “I own a Indian 4”
I have put 295 photo’s of the recent Gypsie Tour 2012 in the Event Gallery this is a huge file but the pictures are stunning, well worth viewing of what Australia can be like from the Train trip to West Australia to the ride back complete with hot weather, then rain, the breakdowns & the frustrations are all on the pictures as well a the stunning scenery. These are photos well worth a view, click on the Link below & enjoy. Some of you will remember the humour surrounding Springfield Indians fuel consumption, you know ” Comparing a Indian to any other motorcycle is like comparing a Hummer to a Prius, or like a 747 on take off with the choke locked on” the petrol Bowser above shows a typical Springfield Indian re-fuel, oh you ask,Why is the litres so high? easy he forgot to turn the engine off while filling it up!
Gypsie Tour 2012 Link
These photos the first of 350 that were taken earlier this month on the Famous Gypsie Tour 2012 Perth to Melbourne, Murray Morell the president of the Indian Club of WA sent these & I will reproduce these on the Victoria Section News in the next few weeks. Phillip White is due to do a article on riding a Chief mile after mile at 70MPH + across the Nullarbor Plains soon dogging roadkill & road trains. The good news is I’m just about finished the Vindian, just stick the top-ends on & assemble the Timing case, then on with the exhaust system, hopefully it will be on the road next week. I reckon I have broken the record on the time to build one privately, although the factory did the original under 2 months, mine has taken 5 months
Years ago I used to own a Velocette Thruxton with the Avon Avonaire full fairing, the bike was a knockout, looked horny & rode extremely well, although not very comfortable, my 6ft frame didn’t agree with the Velo’s sleek, svelte looks, so what’s all this to do with Indian’s you ask, lots of parallels actually. The most annoying thing about this Silver & Blue beauty was the old Farts that would come up to me and say” I used to own one of those” then these O.F’s would tell me it was a 350 MAC model, this was very frustrating, the difference is like comparing a Chev Truck to a Corvette, I notice most 741 owners have the same problem, when people say “Is that there Indian a Chief sonny”? The difficulty here is do you say yes, or “No it’s only a Scout”, well I have just bought a 741 today & am practicing saying ” This is the bike that held back the dreaded Yellow peril”, & if it wasn’t for 741 Scouts we would all be speaking Japanese today, fellow 741 owners its time to come out of the closet & be proud, no more excuses or apologising, Scouts have a prouder heritage than Chiefs anyway. My 741 is in parts, ar’nt they all, & Im getting it delivered to the Crazy Horse Rally in 3.1/2 weeks thats when I will have the Vindian out for it’s first run hopefully, Garry Hogg sent me the Maps today of the planned runs & they are great riding nothing like a local to find the best in a area, we might have to change the name to the International Crazy Horse Rally as we have guests attending from overseas. Chris Knoop rang me tonight about his Cannonball attempt he will be home in 3 weeks, with plenty to tell about his adventurer, Wille G Davidson reckons it was one of the coolest bike on the Rally apparently, pretty high praise I think.Your favourite editor Guido Allan has returned from riding motorcycles around Indo-China (Vietnam) he will be writing this up in the next Smoke Signals, which will be a bumper issue as Phillip White has finished a article on “Topping your Chief” & a article on the Gypsie Tour 2012, I aim trying to finish the Vindian this week & that article as well, hopefully will appear. Just in case you think the 741 pictured above is my recent purchase, sadly no it’s a fairway of going, anyone got a speedo & a generator for a start?
Chris Knoop is really enjoying himself with Christine on the Cannonball Run, they have a YouTube Trailer that I have posted below,latest is a cracked rear cylinder but I believe thats it has been repaired overnight. The Gypsie Tour is also continuing from West Australia but information is scant I contacted Murray Morell today & he tells me the lads are at Albany so a fairway to go yet, but I believe no problems
Most people think of Indians as slow old bikes that are heavy & usually have full guards as well, the two machines above are the opposite, the double engine model pulled 148 M.PH at Bonneville this year, & the Hendee- Devian looks to me great cut-down sports bike, lean & mean with the advantage of decent stopping power.I really like some of the stuff that appears on our Facebook page, & also the material that other supporters of our website send me to share, thanks again
Steve & Chrissie are married at last & congrats from all of the IIRA to a perfect couple I particularly like the motorcycle on the cake, nice touch. Meanwhile Victory has had a re-think on Indian warranties in Australia the fact that Victory would handle the warranty here has been changed, they will still do the warranty and provide the parts but they will be chargeable for both parts & labour. This is something the parent company Polaris in USA have revised their policy on fully imported machines, of course it will have no affect on new the Indian’s that will be imported into Australia hopefully later next year by Polaris-Indian.