Stylish Indian Motorcycles Are Back for Another Spin
The beloved Indian motorcycle--once the best-selling brand in the United States--is back. Sort of.
This month, Indian Motorcycle Co.--formed by a partnership of U.S. and Canadian firms--began shipping the first official Indian bikes to be manufactured since 1953, when the original company folded.
The new company, headquartered in the Central California town of Gilroy (best-known for its annual garlic festival), is by no means the first to try to revive the Indian, with its trademark flowing, skirted fenders, which made its wheels look swathed in bell-bottoms.
Through the years, a steady stream of entrepreneurs and swindlers have claimed to be bringing back the Indian. In 1997, an Orange County businessman was charged with bilking more than $800,000 from investors, doing little more than turning out Indian logo T-shirts.
At his trial, at which he represented himself, Philip S. Zanghi II mounted a nostalgia defense. “Maybe I’m a con man,” he told the jury in his closing argument. “But I brought the Indian trademark back.”
The approach didn’t work. He was convicted on 12 counts of fraud and sent to jail.
In the meantime, other companies have turned out motorcycles that have been highly influenced by the classic Indian. The Kawasaki Vulcan 1500 Drifter, which debuted last year, copied the fender style so closely that the Japanese maker was sued by a group that claimed to own the Indian trademark. The case was settled out of court.
Indian Motorcycle Co. won the rights to the trademark--and to put the name and Indian-chief logo on a new bike--in December after a long legal battle. Its version of the Indian Chief cruiser is being manufactured at California Motorcycle Co., a partner in the venture. For almost 20 years, CMC has been turning out large, flashy Harley-type bikes, custom built for riders who are willing to pay a price usually in excess of $20,000.
The new Indian does not stray far from this formula. Some detractors have said that, judging from its pictures and specs, it’s simply a Harley-Davidson clone with big fenders. The public will soon have a chance to decide for itself--5,000 of them have been sent to a handful of dealerships across the country (the only one in California is in Santa Rosa).
One will be on display Sunday at the annual antique motorcycle show at the county fairgrounds in Ventura. The price of the new Indian: $24,000.
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The company plans to eventually build new bikes that are closer in look and feel to their predecessors. But no matter how true to form the clones get, there will always be riders for whom nothing will do but the original.
Most of them, at least on this side of the country, will eventually end up paying a visit to the Shop, a crowded shrine to Indian motorcycles in Ventura.
Owner David Hansen renovates and sells parts for other antique motorcycles, but it is the stylish Indian that long ago won his heart.
“I tell people, ‘When you get an Indian, you are getting an icon,’ ” said Hansen, a big, friendly bear of a guy who is in almost perpetual motion--examining parts under repair, looking through paperwork, showing off a gleaming, renovated bike at the front of his shop.
He has a veritable museum of Indians, beginning with a primitive model from 1902, just a year after the company’s founding in Springfield, Mass.
“Basically a bicycle with an engine,” he said, commencing a tour.
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In the ‘30s, the Indians began taking on their characteristic sleek look. Hansen has a spectacular dark-blue, single-seat 1934 Chief with a teardrop-shaped gas tank that subtly suggests lightness and speed. (In truth, even the smaller Indians are heavy bikes, manufactured long before the advent of high-tech lightweight materials.)
A white two-seat 1933 Chief parked nearby is one Hansen often rides around town and at rallies.
Circa 1940, the Indians got their big, skirted fenders.
“This is the Art Deco look everyone thinks of when they think of an Indian,” Hansen said, pointing to a 1940 Chief. This bike really does look heavy--it’s laden with chrome and bigger parts than earlier models had.
Maybe too big. The older, simpler Indian motorcycles have a grace that perhaps has never been seen again in a cruiser.
“I think so too,” said Hansen, who has operated the shop since 1972. “They don’t assault your senses.”
His love of these motorcycles doesn’t keep him from appreciating modern motorcycles. He stepped outside to look over a Drifter I borrowed from Kawasaki to ride up to his shop. “They did a nice job on this,” he said of the retro styling, before taking the bike for a quick spin.
The Drifter is unlikely to find a spot in the garage of motorcyclists who favor sportbikes and tourers. Although equipped with a modern engine, the heavyweight, unfaired Drifter is for bopping around town and being seen.
“This is sweet,” Hansen declared, arriving back at the shop, and then immediately getting down on hands and knees to check out the details of how it was built. The list price of a new Drifter, $11,499, is less than half what the new Indian costs.
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Don’t expect to save money by buying an old Indian, however, even if you do much of your own restoration. Restoring a bike--as related charmingly in the true-life book “Rebuilding the Indian” by Fred Haefele (Putnam, 1998)--is a love affair complete with heartbreaks, moments of joy, unwelcome surprises and, one hopes, a happy ending.
“Two things I tell people: Do not set a time limit. Do not set a dollar limit,” Hansen said.
Restoring a bike can cost $20,000 to $50,000, he said, but the exact amount cannot be calculated until you really get into the project, which normally begins with picking up a “basket” (short for “basket case”) from Hansen or another source.
“All the time,” he said, “a customer comes in here forlorn, standing at the counter with an unexpected complication.
“We’re not just mechanics here. Sometimes we have to be counselors.”
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Two-Wheel Ride surveys the motorcycle scene in Southern California.
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Times staff writer David Colker can be reached at david.colker@latimes.com.
Indian Motorcycle Co. won the rights to the trademark-- and to put the name and Indian chief logo on a new bike--after a lengthy legal battle.
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Indian Territory
A quick guide to Southern California venues for viewing classic Indian motorcycles:
The Shop, 6541 Ventura Blvd., Ventura, (805) 650-6777. https://www.cycleshop.com.
Petersen Automotive Museum, 6060 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, (323) 930-2277.
Antique & Classic Motorcycle Show, Ventura County Fairgrounds, Harbor Boulevard and Figueroa Street, Ventura. Sunday only,
8 a.m. to 3 p.m. $5. (805) 650-6777.
The new Indian motorcycle is being sold at seven shops around the country, only one of which is in California:
Santa Rosa Vee-Twin, 1240 Petaluma Hill Road, Santa Rosa, (707) 523-9696.
