No doubt about it, the 1911 Senior TT race, held for the first time over the Isle of Man’s Snaefell mountain circuit, gave the home motor cycle industry a salutary lesson. To that point, the average British machine was belt-driven and single-geared – or, if it had gearing at all, this would be by an epicyclic rear hub of remarkable frailty. Yet here were three foreign models, Indian vee-twins from the USA, romping home in first, second and third places, and the fact that they were ridden by Britons (Oliver Godfrey, Charles B. Franklin, and Arthur Moorhouse) did little to salve the wound. The Indians employed chain drive and a countershaft gearbox, and it was the superiority of this form of transmission for hilly going that had been demonstrated so convincingly.

Indeed, Indians had been chain-driven from the start in 1901, and it was all the more surprising that in that very year, 1911, they had broken with their own tradition to introduce a 600cc single with direct flat-belt drive to the rear wheel. A free-engine clutch was incorporated in the driving pulley, and a jockey wheel, carried on a bell-crank lever, pressed against the underside of the belt. By moving the lever, the rider could increase belt tension while on the move. This, said the makers, was for hill-climbing, when a much tighter belt was needed than for level going. However, the belt-drive Indian was but a temporary lapse, and before long chain drive was again universal

Perhaps we can pin-point the start of the Indian saga as the coming together of two former racing cyclists, George Hendee and Oscar Hedstrom, at a cycle race meeting at Madison Square Garden’s, New York, in December of 1900. Each was already in a small way of business. Hendee was building bicycles in Springfield, Mass; Hedstrom, by trade a precision toolmaker, was in partnership with a man named Henshaw, building De Dion-powered tandems for motor-paced cycle racing.

But George Hendee had been mulling over the idea of making a simple, practical, everyday motor cycle for the average man, and he felt that Oscar Hedstrom was the right man to design it. They sealed the agreement, in pencil, on the back of an envelope, and Hedstrom went back to his workshop at Middletown, Connecticut. Throughout that winter he devoted his time to a prototype and, early in 1901, he took it to Springfield to show to Hendee.

Like the British Humber or P&M, it utilized the engine as an integral part of the frame, except that here it was substituted for the seat tube instead of the front down tube and, in consequence, sloped rearward slightly. That apart, the frame was of normal bicycle type, and the one and three-quarter horsepower Thor engine drove, by chain, to a sprocket on the pedal shaft. Fuel was carried in a small crescent-shaped tank on the rear mudguard. As was usual in 1901 the engine had an automatic (suction operated) inlet valve, but instead of a surface carburettor there was a spray-type carburettor designed and patented by Hedstrom himself.

George Hendee was delighted, so much so that he began to advertise the new machine immediately, even before he had settled the hire of the loft in which it was to be built. Choice of the name – Indian – took surprisingly little time; and, yes, it would have a painted red finish.

For all Hendee’s enthusiasm and optimism, putting the Indian into production was a protracted business, and only three machines were built before the close of 1901. Even so, remarkably, one of those had been shipped across to England for exhibition at the Stanley Show in London.

In the following year, production rose to 143 machines – and Hendee and Hedstrom, together with George Holden, had personally demonstrated the Indian’s capabilities by scoring a resounding one-two-three in the 280-mi1e New York to Boston endurance trial.

Wisely, Hendee and Hedstrom kept the design of the Indian unchanged for the first several years, and not until 1905 was there any major alteration. The engine was still a ‘bought out’ item produced for them by the Thor Manufacturing Company, but now the original cast-iron cylinder made way for a steel cylinder turned from a solid billet, and there was an engine-shaft shock absorber, combined with the sprocket, to give a sweeter transmission.

Also, the unsprung bicycle front fork was replaced by a sprung fork. The real novelty, however, was the adoption of the world’s first twistgrip control of the throttle and ignition. The same year saw the first Indian twin, though it must be said that it was experimental only, and didn’t go into production.

On 1906 singles, George Holden again hit the news when he and Louis Mueller established a new coast-to-coast record, but meantime the Hendee Manufacturing Company was preparing for its next major advance. This was nothing less than the building of its own engines, together with Hedstrom carburettors, and to that end much bigger premises had been erected on State Street, Springfield.

One of the first results of the move was the announcement, for 1907, of the first production Indian vee-twin. Angle between the cylinders was very narrow (only 42 degrees), and the rear cylinder, as in the single, served as the seat tube. One of the twins, nominally of four horsepower (600cc) travelled to Britain, where American rider T. K. Hastings rode it in the 1907 Thousand-mile Trial promoted by the Auto Cycle Club (fore-runner of the ACU).

An unusual 500cc overhead-valve single, with the valves operated by pull- rods instead of push-rods, appeared in 1908. One year later, Indian had abandoned the unique frame construction, and the programme included vee-twins of 5 ½ and 7 horsepower, with mechanical valve operation and an inlet-over-exhaust layout, housed in tubular loop frames. Another 1909 landmark was the coming of the Indian leaf-spring front fork, with the wheel carried on short trailing links.

Already, a London office had been established, with Billy Wells in charge (and Billy had persuaded Hendee that it was quite unnecessary to produce a special English-market version with belt instead of chain drive!). Now, with Wells as the driving force, Indians were going to launch a mass attack on the TT races, with a batch of the 5 ½ hp twins, specially reduced to 500cc. Billy Wells had included himself in the 1909 trio (the others were Guy Lee Evans and Gordon Fletcher) but had to withdraw from the actual race after hurting himse

lf during practice. Guy Evans went on to shock the crowd by holding the Indian in the lead for half the race, before finishing second behind Harry Collier’s Matchless.

Encouraged by this result, Indian tried again in 1910, the last meeting to be held on the old ‘short’ TT course based on St Johns, and this time there were four private entries (among them W. O. Bentley, later to make his name as a manufacturer of magnificent motor cars) in addition to the works team. But luck ran the other way, and there were only two survivors, both privateers; Jimmy Alexander was 14th, and Arthur Moorhouse 21st.

For the 1911 meeting Oscar Hedstrom himself came over to discover what TT racing was all about, bringing with him one Jake de Rosier, an American racer of tremendous repute in his own country. The official team this time was Franklin, Moorhouse and de Rosier (Godfrey, the eventual race winner, was a private entrant) and although de Rosier finished twelfth, he was disqualified by the organizers on technical grounds. So, too, was Matchless works man Charlie Collier, and the arguments in the press as to which was the better rider had to wait until later to be settled.

The ‘grudge match’, if it can be so termed, between Collier and de Rosier finally took place at Brooklands, as a best-of-three affair. Collier won the first leg, and de Rosier the second, so it all hung on the final leg. De Rosier won that, too – but, said Matchless fans, only because Collier had to stop while leading, to refit a loose plug lead!

Back home in Springfield, the Indian works were now on full song, and production rose sharply, to 20,000 machines in 1912, and 35,000 in 1913. But that was just chicken-feed, and for 1914 (by which time Indian had some 2000 dealers around the world) the total would rocket to 60,000.

Spearheading the 1914 range was the impressive 7hp two-speed Hendee Special, scoring another ‘world’s first’ for Indian by being equipped not only with electric lighting but with electric starting. Mounted in front of the engine and connected to the driving shaft by chain at 2 to l ratio, the generator served also as a motor, turning the engine at 500rpm.

Another 7hp twin had electric lighting but not the starting system. Contemporary advertisements claimed that there were, in all, ’38 betterments for 1914′, among them (on some models) a sophisticated swinging arm rear suspension, controlled by leaf springs, and precision Corbin speedometers driven from the rear hub.

For some little while, however, relations between Oscar Hedstrom and George Hendee had been becoming sour, and the Hendee Special was marketed against Oscar’s advice. Truth was, it was ahead of battery technology, and was destined to be dropped after only one season. It could be that this was the last straw, so far as

Hedstrom was concerned, for he now left the company, and did not return until after Hendee had retired 1916.

Riding one of the 7hp 1916 twins, electrically lit, but without starter, Erwin G. Baker set up a new coast-to-coast record of 11 days 12 hours 10 minutes, on a machine he had never even seen until three hours before the off. So rough were the tracks between towns that Baker – whose name was to live in motor cycling folklore as ‘Cannonball Baker’ – had to take to the railroad track at one stage, riding for 27 minutes on the railway sleepers.

To replace Hedstrom in the design office, Hendee brought in Charlie Gustafson, who had worked for Reading Standard. Charlie preferred a side-valve arrangement to the more familiar Indian inlet-over-exhaust, and this was evident in his 7hp: (990cc) Powerplus twins, revealed for 1916. Rather more of a surprise was a very trim little 225cc (64 x 70mm) two-stroke, with three-speed gearbox and all-chain drive.

In American racing Indian works riders had been campaigning an eight-valve ohv twin to good effect and now a production version was introduced. It was on one of these Indian eight-valver racing twins that Reuben Harveyson was later to make Brooklands history, by flying full-pelt over the top of the concrete banking. Yet another 1916 addition was a 4hp flat twin, but this never did gain the following of the vee-twins.

The American Army, thus far, had not used motor cycles for military purposes, but now came an order for fifteen Powerplus models, for service in Mexico in the expedition against rebel leader Villa. Others were supplied to the Italian Army, but on the entry of America into World War I, in 1917, the factory was turned over almost entirely to military work.

When civilian production was resumed in 1919, Indian had just about the strongest design team possible. Not only was Oscar Hedstrom back at his desk, but Charlie Gustafson had been joined by Charles B. Franklin, the Dubliner who had taken an Indian to second place in the 1911 Isle of Man Tourist Trophy event.

In the course of time, Franklin was to become vice-president of the company. Understandably, he persuaded Indian to have another crack at the TT in 1922 and 1923, and in the latter year he took personal charge of the racing team, when the top runner was Freddie Dixon; it was a near thing, but virtually certain victory slipped from Dixon’s grasp when a stretched valve caused him to lose three minutes.

Franklin’s most celebrated design was the 500cc vee-twin Scout, one of the best loved Indians that ever left Springfield, and a bike which was to become a favorite with fairground Wall of Death showmen. On a Scout, Paul Remaley in 1925 chopped the American coast-to-coast record to 5 days 18 hours for the 3700-mile journey, although this could be taken as indicative of improving road conditions. Remaley also broke the Canada to Mexico Three Flags record, setting up a new time of 46 hours 58 minutes.

An unexpected addition to the lower end of the range was Franklin’s 348cc side-valve single, the Indian Prince; more predictable was his new range leader, the 1234cc Big Chief. The little single, rather British in appearance, was intended to appeal to European tastes, but the company’s hope were blighted in 1925 when Britain clamped down on motor cycle imports by setting up a 33.3% tariff wall. Sales slumped so dramatically that Indian’s London office was forced to close down.

At the New York Show early in 1927 Indian created a sensation by announcing the acquisition of the handsome four-inline Ace and, moreover, the services of the Ace’s designer and chief engineer, Arthur Lemon. In the course of the next few years, the Ace was gradually assimilated into the Indian programme as the 1265cc Indian Four, but its ancestry was to remain evident in the general configuration of its engine until 1936.

That year, a very different (and to many eyes, much less attractive) Indian Four took the floor. Reversing the former arrangement, ithadoverhead exhaust valves and side inlet valves, the layout necessitating some clumsy exhaust- pipe plumbing. Customers gave it the raspberry and, realising that they had gone off-beam, Indian instituted a redesign immediately.

This time they got things right, and the 1938 Indian Four emerged as a really beautiful piece of machinery, with the cylinders, and light-alloy cylinder heads, cast in pairs and topped by totally enclosed inlet-over-exhaust valve mechanism. The stylishly flared mudguards were like those fitted to the twins, which by this time embraced the 500cc Junior Scout, 750cc Sport Scout, and l200cc Chief 74.

Very deep mudguard valances, enclosing almost half the wheel area, were added for 1940. Plunger-type rear springing, too, had been adopted. But had enthusiasts only realised it, the Indian Four was nearing the end of the road. The last batch of fours – indeed, the last production fours in USA motor cycle history – left the factory early in 1942. By then World War II was raging in Europe and, following the treachery of Pearl Harbour, the Indian factory again switched to a wartime footing.

The machines were mainly 500cc side-valve twins for the Canadian and US Armies (but some were allocated to British Army use, also), although a very big departure from tradition was the production of a thousand Model 841 transverse vee-twins, with shaft final drive. Capacity was 750cc, and the cylinders were at a 90-degree angle; but at a colossal 540lb, the Model 841 was much too heavy to be successful.

Perhaps this is the right point at which to turn aside from the main stream of Indian history to examine a small tributary. This was the Torque Manufacturing Company, of Plainville, Connecticut, founded by the Stokvis brothers. It was the Torque concern’s intention to break into motor cycle production with a range of machines based on European practice, and to that end they engaged designer Briggs Weaver. He drew up a ‘modular’ series of engines – 220ce single, 440cc vertica1 twin, and 880cc in-line four – all employing the same cylinder, cylinder head, and overhead valve gear mechanism.

Layout of the 220cc single looked a little odd, with a separate exhaust camshaft at the front and inlet camshaft at the rear (it didn’t seem so odd on the 440cc twin, because this was what Triumph had been using) but the explanation was that in the in-line four, with four of the independent 220cc cylinders sitting on a common crankcase, the camshafts were at each side of the unit. Very much lighter than anything yet to emerge from an American factory, the Torque Manufacturing models featured telescopic front forks and plunger type rear suspension.

However, the Torque range was destined never to go into production under that name. Manufacturing rights were bought by Indian, and when the single and twin did appear (the four existed as a prototype only) they were the 1948 220cc Arrow and 440cc Scout. By the following year there were three versions of each 220cc Arrow, Silver Arrow and Gold Arrow, and 440cc Scout, Sport Scout and Super Scout – differing in the lavishness of their equipment.

Engine sizes were raised for 1950, the single now being 250cc and the twin (renamed Warrior) of 500cc. Indians were reported to be tooling-up for mass production, and with this in mind they had acquired the Springfield factory at one time used by Rolls- Royce of America.

Unhappily, the new machines proved to be a fatal investment. In appearance they compared reasonably with the British and European motor cycles now beginning to gain a foothold in the USA market, even if they did embody some very peculiar idiosyncrasies like widely splayed pushrods, each in its tube, and rockers that worked inside-out. There seemed no good reason, either, why the chain drive was on the right and the kick-starter and foot gear change on the left. But there were endless teething troubles, and production never even approached the target that had been set.

Another of Briggs Weaver’s designs was a gutless little unit-construction side valve 250cc named the Indian Brave, again with left-side kick-starter and gear change. This one was built, not at Springfield, but in Southport, England, by Brockhouse (the company which had manufactured the paratrooper’s folding Welbike scooter).

By, the early 1950s, it seemed as though Indian were threshing wildly in an attempt to keep afloat. Trying to salvage something from the impending calamity, they approached Britain’s Vincent-HRD company, who evolved for them two prototypes; the first was a most attractive model with 998cc Vincent engine in a typically Indian frame (unofficially, it was called the Vindian) but the other, less happy, married a vee-twin Indian engine with a Vincent frame (see History below)

Neither went into production, Indian preferring to sell, instead, the pure and unadulterated Vincent. Nor was it only the Vincent, because the Indian Sales Corporation was soon handling AJS, Excelsior, Matchless, Norton, and Royal Enfield, too. Their own production dwindled away to nil. By 1953 it had ceased entirely, and American dealers were selling a very mixed bag of so-called ‘Indians’, comprising Matchlesses and Royal Enfield Bullets with Indian transfers on the tanks. From the 1960s entrepreneur Floyd Clymer began using the Indian name, apparently without purchasing it from the last known legitimate trademark holder. He attached it to imported motorcycles, commissioned to Italian ex-pilot and engineer Leopoldo Tartarini, owner of Italjet Moto, to manufacture Minarelli-engined 50 cc minibikes under the Indian Papoose name. These were so successful that Clymer also commissioned Tartarini to build full-size Indian motorcycles based on the Italjet Grifon design, but fitted firstly with Royal Enfield Interceptor 750 cc parallel-twin engines,then with Velocette 500 cc single-cylinder engines.

After Clymer’s death in 1970 his widow sold the alleged Indian trademark to Los Angeles attorney Alan Newman, who continued to import minicycles made by ItalJet, and later manufactured in a wholly owned assembly plant located in Taipei (Taiwan). Several models with engine displacement between 50 cc and 175 cc were produced, mostly fitted with Italian two-stroke engines made either by Italjet or Franco Morini, but the fortunes of this venture didn’t last long. By 1975 sales were dwindling, and in January 1977 the company was declared bankrupt. The right to the brand name passed through a succession of owners and became a subject of competing claims in the 1980s, finally decided in December 1998 by a Federal bankruptcy court in Denver, Colorado.