An Insight Into Indian Motorcycle Company

During’20 Indian Motorcycle came out with a superb motorcycle which was called Indian Scout motorcycle and was used by everyone from police to motorcycle racer. This motorcycle which was in use till’39 had a low body and better handling. India was also producing engines for aircraft and motors for boats, air conditioner and cycles during World War II.

The Indian Scout was introduced in’20. It had a 37 cubic inch (596 cc) engine that enlarged in size to 45 cubic inches (745 cc) in’27. That increase in engine size was an answer to the popular Excelsior Super X, which was the first American 45 cubic inch motorcycle.

The 101 Scout was the second response which was being produced and some people believed that this was the highest in Indian Motorcycle technology. Another set of fans were pleased to see Indian motorcycle use the body of its other model Chief for the new Scout line which was introduced in’31.

Possibly as a conciliatory move for its supporters Scout came out with smaller models between’32 till’41with 30.50 cubic inch. These had engines which were smaller and were called Scout Pony, the Junior Scout, and the Thirty-Fifty.

In the early decades of the 20th century, the Indian Motorcycle Company and Harley Davidson were the two choices for the traditional American heavyweight cruiser. The two companies were ferocious rivals, and this rivalry is chronicled in the book called The Harley-Davidson and Indian Wars by Allan Girdler. While the Scout was a runaway bestseller, Harley-Davidson proved to be a very formidable opponent.

To give an example of speed Burt Munro, a New Zealander and a motorcycle racer set a record in land speed under-1000cc between’62 and’67 with his 47 year old’20 modified Indian Scout motor cycle. At the time he himself was 68 years old and nobody has been able to defeat this record till today. This shows the speed and stoutness of Indian Scout motor cycle. There were other achievements too and everything taken together was made into a movie in 2005 called The World’s Fastest Indian.

The company Indian Motorcycles witnessed a series of problems and was ultimately declared bankrupt in’77. In’35 controlling interest of Indian Motorcycles was sold and by’46 it stopped manufacturing any motorcycle. After that till’77 it changed hands several times. Through out’80s and1990s the company was fighting court battles over the ownership of the brand name.

Finally, in December’98, the claim was settled in Federal court in Denver. IMCOA Licensing America, Inc. was given the trademark, and the Indian Motorcycle Company of America was formed as a corporation of nine companies. Production began again in’99, and Scout models were manufactured from 2001 to 2003, until the company went bankrupt again.

The new Indian Motorcycle was set up in Kings Mountain, North Carolina in the year 2006. However they closed the production of Scout model and the Chief model was taken up for production.

The Indian scout motorcycle is an icon that has seen many other fads comes and go. If you want further detailed info about the 1927 Indian motorcycle please follow the links.