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

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.

Indian FTR1200, FTR S and FTR R Carbon Get 17-inch Wheels and Sportbike Cred for 2022

Lower seats, lower prices, less confusion The FTR seems to be one of those love-it or hate-it polarizing kinds of motorcycles. With this trio of 2022 Indian FTR1200s, Polaris wants more love and less hate. When loosed upon the public in 2019, a large part of the confusion had to do with its 19-/18-inch wheel combo, complete with flat-track inspired Dunlop tires.

2020 Indian FTR1200 Rally Vs. Triumph Scrambler 1200 XC

Twin Sons of Different Mudders Credit: Photos by Evans Brasfield | Videos by Sean Matic When you’re not scrambling to make ends meet or get ahead, it seems like you’re constantly rallying the troops, possibly ’round the flag but usually just trying to instill pep. It’s always something, and both of those things are so ingrained in my psyche that I barely even miss roosting on the track or burning up the backroads. We were less impressed with the all-new Triumph Speed Twin than we expected to be a couple weeks ago, but when SoCal Motorcycles let us swap it out for a new Scrambler 1200 XC, it was love at first ride.

2021 Indian Models Announced Including Roadmaster Limited and Vintage Dark Horse

Indian announced it initial batch of 2021 models including its touring, bagger and Scout models. Along with new color options for several motorcycles, the 2021 model year includes a new Roadmaster Limited, a new Vintage Dark Horse and a restyled Roadmaster Dark Horse. Not included in the announcement were the FTR 1200 and the Chief cruiser, but we expect further news from Indian in the weeks ahead.

Indian FTR750 is Going Hill-Climbing

Indian is returning to its hill-climbing roots entering the 2020 AMA Pro Hillclimb Racing series with a modified FTR750. This marks the first Indian factory hillclimb racer since 1939. The Indian FTR750 will be racing in the series’ new Twins class, which includes overhead cam Twins displacing 650cc to 1203cc or push-rod Twins from 650cc to 1800cc.