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Learn about the legacy of America's first motorcycle company, from its origins in 1897 to its revival in 2011. Explore the historical eras, chapters and milestones of Indian Motorcycle, and visit the Spirit Lake Experience Center and Factory Tour.
- Becoming Legendary
In the company’s first reliability trial in 1903, co-founder...
- Tumultuous Times and The Fight
Indian Motorcycle’s halt in production of all models in 1953...
- Who We Are
In 1901, two fearless trailblazing innovators — George M....
- Becoming Legendary
- Early Years – Hendee and Hedstrom
- Lightweights 1916–1919
- World War I
- Inter-War Era
- World War II
- Post-War Decline and Demise
- Corporate Successors
The "Indian Motocycle Co." was founded as the Hendee Manufacturing Company by George M. Hendee in 1897 to manufacture bicycles. These were initially badged as "Silver King" and "Silver Queen" brands but the name "American Indian", quickly shortened to just "Indian", was adopted by Hendee from 1898 onwards because it gave better product recognition ...
Indian introduced the 221 cc single cylinder two-stroke Model K "Featherweight" in 1916. The Model K had an open cradle frame with the engine as a stressed memberand a pivoting front fork that had been used earlier on single-cylinder motorcycles but had mostly been replaced on other Indian motorcycles by a leaf-sprung trailing link fork. The Model ...
As the US entered World War I, Indian sold most of its Powerplus line in 1917 and 1918 to the United States government, starving its network of dealers. This blow to domestic availability of the motorcycles led to a loss of dealers from which Indian never quite recovered. While the motorcycles were popular in the military, post-war demand was then ...
The Scout and Chief V-twins, introduced in the early 1920s, became the Springfield firm's most successful models. Designed by Charles Franklin, the middleweight Scout and larger Chief shared a 42-degree V-twin enginelayout. Both models gained a reputation for strength and reliability. In 1930, Indian merged with Du Pont Motors. DuPont Motors founde...
During World War II, Chiefs, Scouts, and Junior Scouts were used in small numbers for various purposes by the United States Army and were also used extensively by British and other Commonwealth military services, under Lend Lease programs. However, none of these Indian models could unseat the Harley-Davidson WLAas the motorcycle mainly used by the ...
In 1945, a group headed by Ralph B. Rogers purchased a controlling interest of the company. On November 1, 1945, duPont formally turned the operations of Indian over to Rogers. Under Rogers' control, Indian resumed production with only one model, the Chief, for 1946 and ‘47. 1947 was also the year the Indian-head fender light, also known as the "wa...
Brockhouse Engineering
As Rogers liquidated Indian in 1953, Brockhouse Engineering acquired the rights to the Indian name. The Indian Sales Corp continued to support the rebranded Papoose Scooter (which would cease production in 1954) and the Brave, a European-styled 125 cc lightweight bike. All other models were abandoned after reducing inventory. The Brave had been designed prior to the acquisition, and produced by an English subsidiary owned by Brockhouse. Indian had imported these outsourced models since 1951,...
Associated Motor Cycles
In 1960, the Indian name was bought by AMC of the UK. Royal Enfield being their competition, they abruptly stopped all Enfield-based Indian models except the 700 cc Chief. In 1962 AMC, facing financial issues, withdrew from all marketing of the Indian Brand name, as the company chose to focus exclusively on their Norton and MatchlessBrands.
Floyd Clymer
From the 1960s, entrepreneur Floyd Clymer began using the Indian name. He attached it to imported motorcycles, commissioned to Italian ex-pilot and engineer Leopoldo Tartarini, owner of Italjet Moto, to manufacture Minarelli-engined 50 cc minibikes under the Indian Papoose name. These were successful so Clymer commissioned Tartarini to build full-size Indian motorcycles based on the Italjet Griffon design, fitted with Royal Enfield Interceptor750 cc parallel-twin engines. A further developmen...
Apr 18, 2014 · Learn about the origins, milestones and revivals of the iconic American brand that dates back to 1901. From world records and racing achievements to mergers and bankruptcies, this article covers the key events in Indian Motorcycle's history.
- Kevin Duke
Sep 16, 2016 · The first ad for Indian motor bicycles appeared in November 1901. It has been reported that only 137 motorcycles (the Smithsonian claims it was 143) were produced in 1902, yet this year’s model in the Smithsonian Institution is serial number 150.
Jan 30, 2023 · In 1905, Indian introduced the first V-Twin-engined motorcycle, for racing and breaking records. By 1907, a 633cc production road version was ready for sale, the first American production V-Twin...
