Indian lives?!

[rando]

Got my new copy of Motorcyclist last night. In it, apparently the Indian name is being ressurected once again. This time by a group that recently revived Chris Craft boats. They have apparently hired some HD engineers and moved the "Wigwam" to King's Mountain NC.

The first bike is supposedly going to be some kinda MOET champagne bike, in some kinda "July Fools" thing apparently. :eek: All I can figure. The snippet says the bike will have an on-board champagne cooler and is still little more than a Harley clone with Indian fenders.

I would hope that for their SECOND bike, they will come up with something that is a better than the last incarnation of the Indian. As pretty as it was, it was far too long, big, etc. to be reasonable.

Just looked: www.indianmotorcycle.com

Randy

[BUGKILLER]

When I purchased my Bigdog Bulldog a few years back the the dealer V-Twin City was also an Indian dealership from the last go around that ended in 03. They are a good dealership but I did get the full court press to buy the Indian Chief. The fit and finish was not bad for the offering price but the engine not only had a "tin" look but also a hollow sound. Lots of rubber and plastic on those bikes.In 04 the guys that saved Chris Craft Steve Heese and Stephen Julius acquired the rights to the intellectual property. Hopefully with years of successful business operation they will keep this bike line alive. I hate to see any American company struggle and fail.

[rando]

Deep down , I hope they make it. But not building harley clones wiht big fenders. Yeah, keep it in the line, but make some other bikes too. The retro fad is going to falter at some point. They need to be ready.

I don;t mind plastic fenders and such. It's ironic that the m/c press always faults cruisers for having plastic fenders, but they do reduce weight and such. And who can tell from 10 feet away?

Personally, I now like the idea Victory had with the Sport Cruiser. It failed at the time, but look at the power cruisers from Japan now.

Randy

[lurch102]

I love all the old iron and was mad as hell when the Gilroy folks tried to market the Indian name on a harley clone.

Personally, I like the guys over in the UK that were resurecting the old indian inline 4.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/main.jhtml?xml=/motoring/2000/10/03/emfindi03.xml

[sctdixon]

I don;t mind plastic fenders and such. It's ironic that the m/c press always faults cruisers for having plastic fenders, but they do reduce weight and such. And who can tell from 10 feet away?

Randy

I beg to differ. I owned a 2002 Indian Chief Roadmaster and can tell to that all Indians of that era used STEEL fenders. In fact, I have a spare set, in bare metal, hanging in my garage. Loved the bike and the looks of the full skirted fenders.

Kawasuki makes a Indian clone that may use plastic fenders.

Scott

[rando]

No one said the indian had plastic fenders. Nor did anyone slur the Indian name yet. No need to slur Kawasaki's name. I simply noting that, in general, the motorcycle press likes to berate metric cruisers for using plastic. I know little about the Indians other than they had a loooong wheelbase and were powered by Harley clone engines, S&S was it?

I thought they were good looking bikes. I also like the Drifter from Kawasaki. As cheap as I am, I would go for the Kaw before the "real deal" just on price alone.

I personally don;t see the value of "american" motorcycles, other than the prestige of being able to say you own one. by that, I mean the inflated pricing. Not knocking the quality or anything else. Would like one, if they were priced reasonably (to me) and they made something that flipped my trigger. Sorry, I'm getting off track here.

Randy

[sctdixon]

were powered by Harley clone engines, S&S was it?



The Indian Spirits and Scouts did come with 88ci S&S motors.

The 2002+ Chiefs came with the PowerPlus 100 motor which was a proprietary design by Indian, but very similar to the H-D Evo design with some changes. I believe some of the parts were built for Indian by S&S.

I agree with you, I hope they make a go of it this time and stick around.