Thursday, May 19, 2011

1936 Indian Sport Scout as-is

Note no pogo spring plunger, using the old style seat springs for suspension.

the complete rear fender is hinged.







This Scout would also have a rear stand.not just the sidestand here, The Chief sidestand would have "Indian" cast into it.

Narrow spokes vs the very thick spokes found on the 1935 and 1936 Chiefs.



One single spring for front suspension.

The early style oil pump w distributor.


1934 is the beginning of the 2 piece keystone frames for scout models ,continued thru the last scouts of 1942. 45 cubic incher, one could bring the engine up to 60 cubic inch OR one could buy a Chief. Yes plenty of aftermarket parts available to make this a daily rider. very kool indeed! My Indian experience started w Scouts, faster than HD 45s . This is why i started this blog, to share w readers these very kool historical fun motorcycles as found...

Friday, May 06, 2011

1918 Indian model o opposed twin





Harry Sucher's book The Iron Redskin mentions the light twin model o , introduced in 1917 as the replacement for the underpowered model K. The model o above was only produced in 1917 and 1918. Another great reference book ;Jerry Hatfield's Indian Motorcycle Photographic History mentions non-Indian riders calling it the model nothing, Interesting how one motorcyle maker can generate a failure w a design and another motorcycle maker like BMW could turn the opposed twin into a hugely successful design.

Tuesday, May 03, 2011

1913 Harley Davidson Twin Cylinders discovered



Matched serial numbered set of rough 1913 HD twin cylinders. On the back side ,at the base of the cylinders are the serial numbers ,then on the cases below one would see the same numbers, After 1914, HD ceases numbering the cylinders.One can see the exposed valve spring, one per cylinder, Starting in 1914 all engines would be fitted w valve covers, note 1 valve cover per cylinder vs the 2 valve covers in later bikes. the fins are busted off but the cylinder base corners are all intact.amazing!
No primers on the backside of the cylinders either, One would open the primer and inject fuel,my guess is that after HD experimented w "atmospheric valves" someone engineered the early primers to the cylinders to inject/deliver fuel directly into the combustion chambers for easier starting. My guess is the "fuel vacum" of the early carbs just wasn't enough to get fuel into the combustion chamber.The primers ,one per cylinder start in 1915. the cylinders on the early engines are the hardest to find, So one could use 1913 Twin cylinders on 1911 thru 1914 models only.No one as far as I know is reproducing early twin cylinders, and NO ..one cannot interchange Single cylinder barrels on Twin cylinder barrels.. next to get the rest of the engine ,...the old foto is a 1912 or 1913, cannot be a 1914 because?
No valve covers, No footboards, No 2 speed shifter on the gas tanker.