Indian Motorcycles

About Indian

Indian is an American brand of motorcycles.

The "Indian Motocycle Co." was originally 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", very quickly reduced to simply "Indian", was adopted by Hendee from 1898 onwards because it gave better product recognition in export markets.

Indian motorcycles were manufactured from 1901 to 1953 by a company in Springfield, Massachusetts, USA, initially known as the Hendee Manufacturing Company but which was renamed the Indian Motocycle Manufacturing Company in 1928.

In 1901, a prototype and two production units of the diamond framed Indian Single were successfully designed, built and tested. The first Indian motorcycles, featuring chain drives and streamlined styling, were sold to the public in 1902. In 1903, Indian's co-founder and chief engineer Oscar Hedstrom set the world motorcycle speed record (56 mph).

The Indian factory team took the first three places in the 1911 Isle of Man Tourist Trophy. During the 1910s Indian became the largest manufacturer of motorcycles in the world.

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 member and 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 K was manufactured for one year and was replaced in 1917 by the Model O. The Model O had a four-stroke flat-twin engine and a new frame, but retained the pivoting fork at the front. The Model O was manufactured until 1919.

Indian's most popular models were the Scout, made from 1920 to 1946, and the Chief, made from 1922 to 1953.

The Indian Motocycle Manufacturing Company went bankrupt in 1953. A number of successor organizations have perpetuated the name in subsequent years, with limited success. In 2011 Polaris Industries purchased Indian Motorcycles and relocated operations from North Carolina, merging them into existing facilities in Minnesota and Iowa. Since August of 2013, three motorcycle models that capitalize on Indian's traditional styling have been built under the Indian name.

Moto blog

The darker the better: Indian unveils Scout Rogue

The American motorcycle manufacturer has officially announced a new member of the Scout line. The main differences between Rogue and other motorcycles in the Scout family are stylistic. First of all, of course, no chrome: everything that could be made black is made black.

2022 Indian Scout Rogue Confirmed by NHTSA

New Scout Bobber variant on the way VIN information submitted by Indian Motorcycle confirm it is set to add a new Scout Rogue model to its 2022 lineup. The Scout Rogue will be based on the Scout Bobber and will be available with either with the larger 1133cc engine or the 1000cc “Sixty” engine. We first reported that Indian filed trademarks for the Scout Rogue name last April, but we had few firm details about what to expect, or when it will be revealed.

The Indian Scout Rogue should appear as a 2022 model

Indian Motorcycle has provided the NHTSA with a 2022 VIN list of motorcycles, which includes two new models: the Scout Rogue and the Scout Rogue Sixty. The motorcycle will be based on the Scout Bobber platform and will be equipped with either a 1133cc engine or the "Sixty" liter engine and will be available with or without anti-lock brakes. Information about the imminent appearance of "Scoundrel" (this is one of the meanings of the word "Rogue") in the Scout line appeared in April 2021, when Indian applied for the Scout Rogue trademark.

2022 Indian Model Updates Announced

New colors and accessories for returning 2022 models Indian announced new colors and other updates to the cruiser, bagger and touring models returning for 2022. The Indian Scout range returns with all five models coming back for 2022. This includes the 1133cc Scout, Scout Bobber and Scout Bobber Twenty, as well as the 999cc Scout Sixty and Scout Bobber Sixty.

New Indian Pursuit With PowerPlus Engine for 2022

New Elite and Jack Daniel's variants for the Challenger Indian Motorcycle is preparing to launch a new touring model for 2022 powered by the same liquid-cooled PowerPlus engine introduced on the Challenger. The new model will be called the Pursuit and will be offered in Limited and Dark Horse variants, with an optional Premium Package. We first broke the news when Indian filed a trademark application for the name Pursuit last year.

Indian Files Trademarks for "Scout Rogue"

Indian Motorcycle has filed trademark applications in multiple markets for “Scout Rogue,” suggesting a new Scout variant is in the works. The trademark was first filed April 1 with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, with subsequent filings made today with trademark offices in Australia and the European Union.

2022 Indian Chief Review - First Ride

Chief, Chief Bobber, and Super Chief It’s all about the SPT says Brandon Kraemer, who’s spent the last three years of his life working on the new 2022 Indian Chiefs as Senior Product Director. People want Style, they want Performance, and they want Technology (even if many of them don’t quite realize they want that last one). 2022 Indian Chiefs Editor Score: 84% Engine 18.0/20 Suspension/Handling 12.0/15 Transmission/Clutch 8.0/10 Brakes 8.0/10 Instruments/Controls 4.5/5 Ergonomics/Comfort 8.5/10 Appearance/Quality 8.5/10 Desirability 8.5/10 Value 8.0/10 Overall Score 84/100 2022 Indian Chief Line First Look And in this case, Indian’s gambling many of them just want less.

2022 Indian FTR 1200 Review – First Ride

Minneapolis brings the corn fed, 'Merican bred muscle Credit: Photos by Jordan Pay Different is good. Change is good. Not fitting precisely into a predetermined category is good.

2022 Indian Chief Line First Look

You look good for 100 One hundred years ago, in 1921, Indian Motorcycle launched the Indian Chief. At the time, nobody could have imagined what a cultural – and motoring – icon that bike would turn out to be. A century on and a lot has changed since then, including the rise and fall and rise again of the Indian Motorcycle company.

Indian Motorcycle has unveiled the 2022 FTR lineup

That's right - now it's quite possible to talk about the family of "flat tracker" models, because from now on there are four models in it: FTR, FTR S, FTR R Carbon and FTR Rally. The FTR engine is unchanged, and even the 1203cc V-twin is still at 123bhp, but the engineers have tweaked the settings to make it Euro 5 compliant. Other than that, there are quite a few changes.