Jay Leno's Garage - 1931 Indian 101 Scout

[kscarbel2]

 

[Mike]

 Thanks for sharing. I learned something from this video.I like old bikes, especially the fender skirted Indians. Seems like the British leaned more on the Triumph Bonneville. I still see new ones occasionally that look the same as the 50"s version. You would think Indian would reproduce the Scout again. I would probably buy one, if they kept the quality. 

[41chevy]

4 hours ago, Mike said:

 Thanks for sharing. I learned something from this video.I like old bikes, especially the fender skirted Indians. Seems like the British leaned more on the Triumph Bonneville. I still see new ones occasionally that look the same as the 50"s version. You would think Indian would reproduce the Scout again. I would probably buy one, if they kept the quality. 

Having owned 6 or 7 real Indians starting with a 1940 Scout and the last  was a 1953 Chief, I went and looked at the reborn indian Chief and the Scout. Pretty nice, Scout is water cooled, flat torque curve from 2000 rpm to 8000 rpm and pretty nice. The Chief is nice but when I looked at them there was a silent recall for oil pump failures and top end oil starvation. But that's all fixed. Nice but can't justified one more I will hardly use. Got 3 that only get a few miles a year.    Paul

[kscarbel2]

9 hours ago, Mike said:

 Thanks for sharing. I learned something from this video.I like old bikes, especially the fender skirted Indians. Seems like the British leaned more on the Triumph Bonneville. I still see new ones occasionally that look the same as the 50"s version. You would think Indian would reproduce the Scout again. I would probably buy one, if they kept the quality. 

 

 

[41chevy]

My 1947 and my 1953

Edited March 29, 2016 by 41chevy

[Mike]

Very nice Paul. Still don't see how Harley pulled it off and stayed around.

[Mike Blais]

Funny you posted that, I was just checking it out on Sunday. I really enjoy listening to Jay talk about his collection.

[41chevy]

13 hours ago, Mike said:

Very nice Paul. Still don't see how Harley pulled it off and stayed around.

Quite a few things worked against Indian. One was H.D was family owned and run and Indian had stock holders with E. Dupont up to 1941 owning 34 plus %.  Dismal War production of 20,000 of their 648cc  bikes because of worn machinery,  inept management and a poor engineering dept  (The Scout was discontinued in 1941 and the tooling destroyed so it couldn't be build for the military when it was needed) as opposed to Harleys 80,000 WLA and ULA models. After WWII they attempted to market a small 175, 250, 350 and 440 cc bikes for the world market . The premier of them coincided the British devaluing the Pound by 25%, which meant every Indian sold lost money. Why buy an American bike when a British bike was cheaper  by a 3 to 4  rate.   After WWII, Indian was cash poor with worn out equipment and borrowed money to buy new machines, while Harley in the same financial boat, bought war surplus machinery.

In 1946 the only Indian offered was the Chief with only 3000 built in 1948. None built in 1949  because the CEO was pushing for a new factory. From 1950 to 1953 500 or less Chiefs were built before they folded up operations. 

Another contributing factor was the refusal to go OHV on the Big Twin for a few reasons. Engineering staff was mostly gone and the CEO liked the  "pleasing looks of the finned heads". 

 Lastly the refusal to set the bike up as a conventional  unit. with a right hand throttle and left hand shift. The stuck with the left hand throttle, right hand shifter to the end. That set up was originally made for law enforcement and military use. Most all shooters are right handed and  you could stay on the throttle and fire your weapon at the same time.

Makes an interesting ride. My 1950 Hydraglide.  H.D. Right hand Throttle, left hand spark retard, left hand shifter (4 speed trans) and right hand front brake lever. Indian Chief . left hand throttle, left hand front brake lever, right hand spark retard, right hand shifter (3 speed). And carry an extra belt for the Generator drive too.

That said put the H.D. up against the Chief and the chief will out run it, one less gear and 5 c.i. more engine.   

Edited March 30, 2016 by 41chevy

[Mcrafty1]

Interesting, Indian was destined to fold from the start though. No matter how well the bikes were built, had the survived till now they would have had to change their name....and it is made obvious in this clip that Indian didn't take too change, Calling it the Indian just wouldn't have cut it in our insanely PC society. As a matter of fact I'm truly surprised Leno is still able to own this bike let alone actually display it in public in Commimixefornia.

[Mike]

How do we reply to a persons comments under that comment? I thought I was doing ok with the new format.

[41chevy]

2 hours ago, Mike said:

How do we reply to a persons comments under that comment? I thought I was doing ok with the new format.

I use the quote thingie.

[HeavyGunner]

On March 29, 2016 at 6:31 PM, 41chevy said:

My 1947 and my 1953

Beautiful bikes Paul.  I'm very envious, always like the classic lines and colors of the older bikes.  I'll have to see if I can find my pic of my grandpa and his '54 or '55 Harley.  He said when he finished up with the navy right after Korea he and a buddy each bought a HD and road them back to Montana. I believe they were both suicide shifts as well. 

[41chevy]

1 hour ago, HeavyGunner said:

Beautiful bikes Paul.  I'm very envious, always like the classic lines and colors of the older bikes.  I'll have to see if I can find my pic of my grandpa and his '54 or '55 Harley.  He said when he finished up with the navy right after Korea he and a buddy each bought a HD and road them back to Montana. I believe they were both suicide shifts as well. 

This is my 1950 Hydra Glide. my dad bought it new and parked it in 1953 when I was born. It had 1400 miles on it. I re did the entire bike in 1982 when he gave it to me. I went a bit over board as everything was polished, chromed and painted (to match my Indian) and all the hardware is gold plated. All I left untouched was the leather buddy seat. 34 years later it has 3100 miles on it. Last real run was for my dads funeral in 2010.  Foot Clutch is not healthy on Long Island.  

 

Edited March 30, 2016 by 41chevy

[1977vega]

[41chevy]

Nice! How long you had it? See it's got the Steele conversion to conventional throttle and shifter. 

[Mike]

Don't know how you guys do it but, I cannot leave a new bike sitting, I got to (RIDE). I used to come in from work each day (yes it is true) even if it was raining across town, I would have to go ride. Used to live close to Opryland and would call my uncle across town and ask if he wanted to get out for a little while and ride even if ice was on the ground in some areas. After getting the Mack toy and flying,etc, etc, I don't go as often.   

[41chevy]

I used to ride every day to work and just around as long as it wasn't snowing. Left the job friday, grab the wife and go to New Hampshire. Twenty years of Laconia and Daytona (still never saw the races)

Between the traffic, drivers and the "new" bred of bike owners. . . the ones that buy a bike, $5,000 of clothes and crap and immediately think their bad a$$es hard core bikers. I got out a few times a week on my old faithful '71 Sporty or my '76 Electra Gilde. The antiques are just not enjoyable for me on Long Island plus I don't like riding with with other bikes, it's my quiet times alone. Down in Fork Union it's an entirely different thing, more like when I got my first bike in 1970.

[1977vega]