Indian motorcycles again ends production

Las Vegas Sun ^ | 23Sep03 | Edward Wong

[muslims=borg]

What a shame. Are people really that Harley obsessed that Indian couldn't stay afloat? I figured if anyone could have competed with H-D it would have been Indian.

[Peace will be here soon]

"Are people really that Harley obsessed that Indian couldn't stay afloat?"

---

Yes ! They are !

[JoeSixPack1]

They were competing just fine. Dealers were opening all across the country with gusto.

The problem was financial mismanagement from the top. Not competition.

IOW they just blew it.

[Argus]

If California's casino tribes are smart, they'll buy the company.

[Revolting cat!]

So all those Indians on H1B visas are going home to Bombay?

[Hilltop]

Free motor with purchase of Slushee and on your next visit a six hour tumbled hot dog with your choice of chutney, curry paste or pomodroms.

Ooops, wrong continent.

FTW

[Bonaparte]

"...if anyone could have competed with H-D it would have been..."

The Vincent

[stop_fascism]

Don't know anything about motorcycles, but I really like Del McCoury's version of that Richard Thompson song.

[RJL]

IOW

What is IOW?

Thanks

[JoeSixPack1]

IOW = In Other Words

[RJL]

IOW = In Other Words

Thanks

[hdrider]

My wife and I went to Gilroy a couple of years ago to "Look" at the new (then) Indians. We've ridden bikes for years. And my wife, (fxrdeb) is quite the wingman. Anyway, we looked at all the models Indian had to offer and, even though the cosmetics were top notch the mechanical and electrics were dismal. The ignition was cheap, electric wires not really hidden and the sound...guess I'm just use to the potato,potato harley. We came away with the impression that you get alot more for the buck buying a HARLEY-DAVIDSON.
Sorry to hear they are folding...again.
My $.02

[hdrider]

Hey Joe, when the HECK are you gonna post those motorcycle pic's in your profile....been waiting YEARS!!!!!!!!!!!!

[JoeSixPack1]

Well, my scanner broke, my left foot hurts, my camera girl is prego, and I keep gettin' the bike dirty! :-)

I put the light package on the tour pak, I took the tour pak off, put chrome covers on the lights that I put on the tour pak that I took off. I put the luggage rack with the backrest on where the tour pak was and replaced it with the backrest which is 2'' further forward. All my fat girlfriends tell me there's no room, but my shoulders feel good, so, thhhppppt.

I put the riders backrest in and shoved everything back a little creating a slight hump on the front of the rider-seat. I added the chrome inner primary cover but I didn't buy the Cobra billet floorboards I wanted.

I changed back to 6212 kuryakyn grips and took off the passenger adjustable extention pegs (kuryakyn also). I didn't add the bullet lights in front and didn't put the new style taillamp bracket in back cause it doesn't come for my year bike.

I put the entire fringe package HD makes for FLHTC on it, floor boards, bag guards, and tour pak. The saddle bags didn't open properly because the fringe got in the way and my mechanic called me gay. SO I took all that crap off.

I hope that clears it up for ya.

Did I mention the EV-51 cam, hooker headers, SE heads, etc..??? And the Sunoco 110 octane gas I found? And better yet, I got a local dancer to come over and help me keep it clean.

But we never get around to cleaning the bike????

Vrooom.. Vrooom.... :-)~~

[Bonaparte]

here

[RJL]

Bonaparte, Thanks for the link to the High Tech Dictionary. It's hard to imagine something that is not already listed there.

[Hildy]

You're right about that...My friend JUST (I mean in the last three weeks) opened three Indian dealerships in Southern California and I can tell you that this was so not expected.

[CheneyChick]

Sad ping.

Didn't they (Indian) purchase California Motorcycle and put the Indian name on it? Also, there were some Canada connections, if I remember correctly.

[r9etb]

Are people really that Harley obsessed that Indian couldn't stay afloat?

Well, they sold 3500 bikes to dealers last year. If you figure they got about $10k per bike, that works out to earnings of about $100k per each of the 380 employees they laid off. Considering salaries, floor space, equipment, etc., they were clearly losing money.

[Duke809]

Before it was Indian, it was Calfornia Motorcycle Company

My bud owns one of the first Indian dealers in the PA/NJ/DE area. According to him, one of the main problems with the Iron Redskin is that you can't use HD/HD Clone aftermarket parts, even though the original bikes had 88 cube S&S motors and Andrews tranny's

Stuff like brackets, seats, pegs, floorbards and that stuff was drilled a quarter inch off standard, so you had to go through a Indian dealer to get any kind of stuff like that. That turned a lot of would be buyers off.

The new Chief, with the 100 cube proprietary motor is a piece of junk. The motor itself doesn't have the power of a 88 cube Twinkie motor, and it isn't even as reliable as a well built Shovelhead. I've rode the Chief and it is uncomfortable, handles like crap and sounds like it is going to blow up at any minute, kinda like a Iron Sporty. Your're looking at 25 grand plus for a Chief. If you really wanted one, for that kind of money, you could get a real Indian, one with a flathead, 3 speed, left hand throttle and right hand spark advance. Matter of fact, my bud has a 47 Chief in the showroom, semi-restored and running. The owner will take 20 grand for it. He still has a 2001 Chief with 40 miles or so on it and he can't give it away.

Fortunately for him, he is the third largest Big Dog dealer in the US and he can't keep the bikes on the floor.

His shop is the Chrome Palace in Cherry Hill NJ, and his website is The Chrome Palace