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Story from today's Murky News:

Indian Motorcycle fans await bid results
By Matt Nauman
Mercury News

The fate of Indian Motorcycle could be determined next week.

Bidders had until 5 p.m. Friday to submit proposals for the assets of the Gilroy company that closed unexpectedly last month.

A winning bid will be selected or, perhaps, another round of bidding could be staged between the top bidders, said Mike Joncich, estates manager of CMA Business Credit Services in Burbank.

Indian Motorcycle's management turned its assets over to CMA after shutting down in late September rather than put the company into bankruptcy.

Joncich said he expects multiple bids for Indian and hasn't set a minimum price.

And, while ``everybody has a common interest in a new entity resuming operation as soon as possible,'' Joncich said buying Indian in bulk and resurrecting the company for a third time was not a condition of the bidding process.

Joncich said he expects to announce the results late next week.

Meanwhile, Indian's chairman said Friday that he'll personally pay for a Nov. 1 riding event designed ``as a show of force, to show how much passion there is among riders and dealers to see this great brand go forward.''

Frank O'Connell said he and his wife, Barbara, will finance Indian Ride On, which will feature rides and activities at various Indian dealerships around the country. It'll include a major event in Los Angeles, although no specific details were available.

O'Connell wouldn't say how much he would spend staging Indian Ride On.

``I'm trying not to go bankrupt,'' he said, laughing. He said others were volunteering their time, dealers will contribute money and he'd underwrite the main event in Los Angeles.

``I've been very close to the riders and the dealers,'' he said. ``I thought, we could really do something here.''

As far as the future of Indian, O'Connell said the ``best-case scenario'' would be a well-financed individual or group that would buy the entire company and restart the factory in Gilroy. But, he said, ``this process is very hard to predict.''

In a news release Friday, a group fronted by Bill Melvin, chief executive of National Retail Equipment Liquidators of Grand Rapids, Mich., said it was among the bidders and that it would ``return Indian Motorcycle to its top position in the industry'' if it is successful.

O'Connell said he is not bidding for the company's assets, is not a part of any group doing so and that he has no ``real expectations'' that he'll continue with the company if it is revived.

Indian, once a rival to Harley-Davidson, was in business from 1901 to 1953. It was reborn in Gilroy in 1998, and sold several thousand bikes in five years through about 200 U.S. dealers until last month. That's when the company closed, saying it didn't have enough cash and couldn't get financing to continue. Its 380 employees were terminated.

The closing surprised employees, dealers and city leaders in Gilroy.