The Welbike and the Corgi The Indian Papoose is a small folding motorcycle based on the Welbike, which had been developed during WWII for use by commandos who were parachuting behind enemy lines and needed a way to quickly get around. The original Welbike was designed at Station IX, or the “Inter Services Research Bureau”…
The Royal Enfield Himalayan was released in 2015 by the Indian company (formerly British) as the company’s new flagship model. It was penned by iconic motorcycle designer Pierre Terblanche, and fitted with an all-new engine designed for simplicity and repairability. The upper end of the adventure touring genre is hotly contested by the likes of…
A Short History of Board Track Racing Board track racing was one of the first mass-spectator forms of motor sport, it rapidly rose to popularity in the 1910s and peaked in the 1920s, before quickly disappearing forever during the difficult years of the Great Depression. The first board track was the Los Angeles Motordrome (pictured below) built…
The Royal Enfield Bullet is the longest running production motorcycle in the world, the first Bullet was fired up in 1931 and the evolved Bullet design that was released in 1948 has remained largely unchanged ever since. In more recent years the carburettor was ditched in favour of an electronic fuel injection system, disc brakes replaced…
The Indian Scout was born in October 1919 and is generally known as the model of 1920. The 627th Indian Scout to emerge from the production line was exported “down south” to New Zealand where it was purchased by a man named Burt Munro. A man who would one day make that Indian Scout a…
The new Indian FTR 750 is a race-only motorcycle developed in collaboration with Polaris-SwissAuto with a single goal in mind – the annihilation of the currently dominant Harley-Davidson flat track racers. It’s been decades since Indian Motorcycle and Harley went head to head on the flat track circuits of the USA, and the return of…
The Indian Chief Roadmaster was the top of the model line for the Springfield, Massachusetts, based motorcycle manufacturer in the post WWII period. It offered a fully sprung frame with both front and rear suspension, a springer front end and plunger-type rear, at a time when its main rival only offered a hard tail frame –…
These two Indian board track motorcycle sculptures were developed by Serge Bueno of Heroes Motorcycles and Xavier Parent – they’re made to 1:2 scale from steel, aluminum and bronze. Each sculpture weighs in at 190 lbs and does a remarkable job of capturing the look of a board tracker at full throttle, the choice to…
The Indian Chieftain isn’t a motorcycle that many associate with going sideways on dirt. Fresh from the factory the Chieftain has a wet / dry weight of 821 lbs / 855 lbs and is designed as a highway cruiser – developed with the American open road in mind. Roland Sands made the unusual decision of…
Burt Munro: Offerings To The God Of Speed is a documentary that was made many years before Munro became an international icon thanks to the Anthony Hopkins film The World’s Fastest Indian. Burt was born in New Zealand in 1899, he’s most famous for his incredible exploits at Bonneville but in his earlier life he was a professional speedway rider, a…
The Indian 101 Scout is remembered by many as the greatest motorcycle that Indian ever made. It was developed by Charles B. Franklin – an Irish-born American immigrant who had also designed the previous Scout, and who earlier in his career had been part of the Indian Motorcycle racing team that won 1st, 2nd, and…
This is 1 of just 18 hillclimbers produced by Indian for racing purposes in 1938/39, it’s tuned to run on pure alcohol through its Linkert carburettor that has a rear facing air-intake to avoid having it ingest sand, mud, plants and whatever else the front tire might kick up. This bike was ordered from the factory by Ken…
