We only have one award in the IIRA, The Clubman of the Year, it was presented last night to Ian (Reg) Rhook. Ian deserves this highly regarded award for all the effort in attending nearly all our Association Runs & organizing some of them as well as marshalling quite a few, congratulations Ian & thanks for your effort
A bit of interesting reading from the Durango Herald, Colorado, in the USA.
“Nestled in the Pine River Valley north of Bayfield, Jeff Grigsby bends metal and sculpts frames, restoring historic Indian motorcycles to their original condition.
“From the outside, this 9,500-square-foot red barn is an unassuming place to find a full-fledged machine shop dedicated exclusively to the restoration and refurbishment of Indian motorcycles. No signs advertise the business, and Grigsby does little to draw attention to his unique craft – relying instead on word of mouth.”
Not much about Indians in Paris but very few H-Ferguson’s to be seen, so the French are known for their taste, meanwhile they are in love with Stupid (Smart)cars which they park in-between normal cars rear bumper into the gutter & partially onto the footpath or 1/2″ between each other so I fail to see how you can get out. Scooter riders are everywhere particularly the new 3 wheel types that are appearing at home by Piaggeo, no one wears any form of protective clothing, & pedestrians take there luck at crossing the road as there are very few crossings. I reckon the hospitals are full with people hit by scooter riders riding occasionally down footpaths, seems to be no by-laws officers booking any illegally parked vehicles anywhere. Anyway off to Hong Kong today & Bonnie and I are not looking forward to the plane flight
I dropped in to see Alan Forbes of Indian Motorcycle UK today, a true enthusiest, with a great collection of Springfield Indians & also Edinborough Indians namely the 4 Cylinder model the 2011 model is truely inspiring beautifully finished, fuel injected & Alan has at last eliminated the BMW gearbox on the current version with his own type. He is also making a 2.2 litre version to order not that the old version he made was all that slow, the new rear guard & one-piece fuel tank topped off with a leaner, lower dash consul adds up to a nice package.If you wish to order this model ring Indian Motorcycle Imports (John Smith) will be the guy to ask by the way he is our President. I will put some photo’s up in the next few days
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Dakota website
The National Motorcycle Museum in Birmingham U.K is well worth a visit with many hundreds of British motorcycles on display. But one well worth looking at is the N.Y.P.D Police Chief. This machine is very unique and I have taken many pictures that show the differences from a standard civilian model. This will help Stevie Higginbottom with his seat problems. I have also taken quite a few photos for Associate member Paul Taylor in his pursuit to build a works replica Daytona Triumph.
The World’s Fastest Indian is available on iTunes at around $17, which makes it one of the more expensive old movie releases. Still, it’s a great feel-good flick that’s rare in being fun for motorcyclists and non-riders alike. A great thing to have on your laptop and iPod.
The Indian name has spawned a range of bikes over the years, not least of which is the Enfield-derived series. The history of these machines is fascinating and members of the Iron Indian group are starting to pay attention to these important models.
I can only hope the Association Run Sunday was not as wet or cold as it is here in summer, strange as yesterday was 26c that didn’t really matter as after the A380 Quantas Airbus having a fuel pump failure in Singapore and waiting 3 hours for the continuation of the journey that added up to over 26 hours Bonnie & I were “stuffed”.I remember thinking I wish I was on the Run on my Indian, tommorow looks like rain again there is a saving grace to all of this as I’m in a Vauxhall with A.I.F rear doors, anybody remember what that was, Arse-in-first I thought they were banned in old Morris’s years ago but this is a brand new vehicle, gutless litle car it is as well, thats all from the Old Dart
Just a reminder…May 22, 1901, was the day the first Indian prototype was taken out for a gallop. So, 110 years later, where were you?
A local newspaper in Springfield celebrated the day with this story.
No this is not for secret men’s/women’s business it will be up & going July it will be a password entry that will be renewed in your monthly posted Smouldering Embers so what will be in it, plenty a lot of Technical details & articles eg: the modification on the Timmerman electric starter with all the sprag & machining details,Twin leading shoe conversion details,articles that we will have first hand information on particularly with Victory-Indian details & personal things that members may not want or like on the public arena, special deals & prices on trips,parts,clothing & possibly motorcycles etc.Importantly the current Smoke Signals (quarterly magazine) will be posted on the web with the previous version put on the public area.Members who are not on the internet will have their magazine posted as usual. Hopefully this will encourage some of the nearly 20,000 people viewing the site in the last 9 months that have been tempted to join our Association to actually put their money down to be in the best Indian Association in Australia covering all models & era’s, & not being humble, possibly the world!