INDIAN Bicycles are designed by the same engineers who are responsible for the world-famous INDIAN motorcycle. They are built with the same painstaking care and are backed by the same enviable reputation of the vast INDIAN factory.
Every piece of material used in construction of INDIAN bicycles is minutely examined and tested – every operation is watched by our engineers.
Every finished INDIAN Bicycle is a masterpiece of skilled mechanics, made possible by the best skill and knowledge of bicycle engineering.
INDIAN riders are proud in the possession of their INDIAN bicycles – proud in the knowledge that they are riding the finest that can be made.
INDIAN construction embodies many salient characteristics that are found only in INDIAN bicycles – features that are too costly to incorporate into inferior makes.
The INDIAN line of Bicycles embraces suitable models for everyone.
INDIAN dealers will gladly assist in selecting the model most adaptable to the rider’s build.
In the 1910s, American motorcycles were built for long-distance touring, and Harley Davidson and Indian captured the public imagination.
As the motorcycle industry established itself, bicycle sales suffered, and the bicycle manufacturers now had to aim their products at young teenagers.
Hendee Manufacturing Company, makers of Indian, designed a range of bicycles that looked like motorcycles. Now younger brothers could ride an Indian too!
For kids around the world, promotional images of that time illustrated the ultimate in personal transportation. They could only dream of sitting in that saddle. Welcome to my ‘dream’ bicycle.
1924 Indian Motocycle Co – Motobike Model 151
Tank Model
22” frame.
28″ Wheels
(Now sold)
I sold this Indian to my friend Alan in 2011. He recently moved house and was short of space so I re-advertised it for him. The first half of this museum page shows it before and after it was restored by us in 2010/2011.
The final photos are from Alan. He is a longtime collector of interesting bicycles and motorcycles and very good at preservation work, so he toned down the paintwork on the newly painted tank.
You can clearly see how the tank was fabricated by Barry in 2010, but when you see the new photos I think you’ll agree that it now looks completely original. Alan rode the bike frequently so he also added an extra brake (which could easily be removed if required).
INDIAN MOTOCYCLE COMPANY
Springfield, Mass, USA
1924 INDIAN CATALOGUE
2010: THE INDIAN PROJECT
A 1920s Indian ‘Motobike’ is not an easy bicycle to find. On the odd occasion you do spot them for sale, they’re invariably expensive and (even worse) they’ve had one of those atrocious American shiny restorations. So when I found this project bike I snapped it up. I spent most of 2010 finding parts to build it. Here are photos of its progress.
Above, you can see the bike when it arrived, in January 2010.
SEPTEMBER, 2010
First the paint was rubbed back to original. Though it had been over-painted sometime during its life, the artist had used household paint, so it was possible to remove it.
As you can see in the 1924 Indian catalogue, the only difference between the Model 151 and Model 151T is the tank and lighting set. When I looked closely at tanks on other Indian bicycles, I realized that the majority of tanks had been fabricated. So Barry made one from a car exhaust pipe! This provided a pleasant curve towards the front of the tank. In fact, it’s an improvement on the original …I think they call it customizing 🙂
OCTOBER, 2010
In the photo below it now sports (very expensive) white solid tyres; I bought them from Memory Lane three years ago, but didn’t have an ‘exclusive’ enough wood-wheel bike to put them on. This difficulty in fitting tubular tyres to the wooden wheels of pre-1932 American bicycles is the reason I prefer to replace them with British steel wheels (though period British wheels with coaster hub are also a challenge to locate).
The tank will now be resprayed, then rubbed back to blend in with the rest of the bike. Finally, the ‘Indian’ logo will be applied by hand onto the tank.
MAY,2011: AMBERLEY MUSEUM VETERAN CYCLE DAY
Here’s the Indian at last, its restoration complete and making its debut…
1930 HENDEE CATALOGUE
UPDATE: NOVEMBER, 2022
These are Alan’s photos taken last week.
The MOTO-BIKE:
WHY A RIDICULOUS AMERICAN MACHINE IS MARKETED
Those who join our ranks simply because cycling is a convenient method of locomotion to prepare themselves for motorcycling are entirely useless from the cycling point of view. They are not cyclists in the real sense of the word. They merely ‘have a bicycle.’
