Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Bismarck in Bergen Norway 20/5/1941

great old fotocard of the Bismarck in Bergen, its twin was the Tirpitz,

Sunday, January 21, 2007

Indian Scouts & HD 45s

Heres another Terry Krumm masterpiece, i cant believe i sold this 1928 101.. what an idiot. Z metal racing flywheels for a faster engine.this red frame was the blue frame below.
Heres the start of my 1915 HD a partial frame & a engine & tanks, quick on the phone w a committment to buy & it was mine, no bullshit answering machines,came out of Springfield Massachusetts,,,Indian country. I never got a Indiian out of Springfield surprisingly..
101 scout w 1940 barrels & heads a common modification of racers in the 1930s & 1940s, this was a loud & very fast machine, lightweight chasis w plenty of power, everything bolted up nicely. Indians were well machined. I ran a mid 1940s Chief magneto, 1 -2 kicks to start tops..
The 1940 sport scout barrels on a 101 engine fit well in a 101 chasis...I'll definately build another...

I started building a 1916 but switched to a 1915, 1916 was the first year for a kick start trans vs the peddle thru trans of 1915. 1915 & 1916 were actually pretty different bikes but w the same engines, the script of HD was raised letters, by mid 1916 the letters were embedded or not raised.

1912 belt drive,
1913 twin tank w visible script , they really were not silent grey fellows as most were ugly olive green for ww1, the earliest bikes were grey,
maybe my 1913 or 1914 twin engine in the foreground.
1913 chain drive twin, damn rare, note no footboards till 1914.
heres a 1907 HD, at a mobile HD museum,note the curved front down tube,by 1911 they are straight, historically this would be considered a motorbike vs motorcycle, but thats just nomenclature.
Heres a Spacke , early American bike , this & the 1913-14 HD single below came out of Uvalde Texas, . i used to run wanted ads & the other folks who ran wanted ads either were too busy to answer their phones or never returned calls so i got em.......
just found out in a desert field in Texas,

heres a 1914 HD twin frame, & another 1914 HD twin chasis i had got out of Cortez Colorado, amazing find, sitting in some scrap pile of metal.....
1928 era 101 scout, 45 ci, this was a wall of death carnival bike i pulled out of northern Florida, cleaned it up, readjusted the mag & came right back to life w plumes of black smoke.....the frame had been modified, amazingly fun bike, best Indian ever made, i had maybe 12 101s, one i built w 1940s sport scout barrels & heads, very loud & very fast..

1940 Sport Scout, great fun.the skirted fenders were not interchangeable w Chiefs, Scouts looked like smaller Chiefs,elegant lines, Indians designers were simply brilliant,timeless good looks.
Heres 2 Hd 45s i brought back from the dead, i probably had 15 45s oover the yrs, great reliable iron ,easiest to restore, HD built some 80,000 45s so parts are abundant but they are slow heavy bikes.
1940 Indian Sport Scout, 1 yr only rear fender & rear frame, Fun & quick. i also had a 1942 last year sport scout w plunger frame & shocks.
1942 Indian 741 30.50 cubic incher, fun trail bike, great for around town but maybe 500-600cc, so pretty small, this was the Army contracted Indian for ww2. very abundant ,cheap & very easy to restore & maintain
this 741 came out of the Carolinas, just like an Indian , throw some gas in it & a fresh battery , plumes of black smoke & there it goes back to life, very reliable.
Koko & Buddy , me & some great friends, the motorcycle King from New Jersey came out to inspect my fleet. 1969FLH "lovechild" & my 1915 HD
My beloved Koko, & bastard sport scout, built by Terry Krumm, worlds finest Indian builder, bike chasis came out of Oklahoma , engine? cant remember where i got that one, the chasis was a 1934 w a 1940-42 sport scout engine, fast & fun.Indians have a great range of interchangeable parts. I'll add more bike pictures as i find them