Indian Motorcycles

The Indian motorcycle was the first American
made motorcycle, having gone into production in
1901. It would be two years later for Harley-
Davidson. The two companies would be heavy
rivals for the next five decades. George Hendee
was the founder of the Indian and built them
from his plant in Springfield, Massachusetts. The
early models went by the name of Hendee and
by 1910 they were the largest manufacturer of
motorcycles in the world. In 1903 an Indian set
the world speed record for a motorcycle by posting
a speed of 56 mph over the one mile course. By the
1920's Indian was ready to branch out from their
single model. The most popular Indian was the
Scout, made from 1920 through 1946, and the
Chief, offered from 1922 through 1953. All during
the years Indian and Harley-Davidson battled to
be the number one producer of American-made
motorcycles. From 1928 to 1943 the two companies
battled it out on race tracks across the country. Board
tracks, dirt tracks, or anywhere they could meet, the
two heavyweights would do battle. 1953 saw the
original company fall on hard times and Indian was
forced into bankruptcy. Between 1953 and 1970 several
organizations imported foreign bikes into the United States
and labeled them as Indians before the patent office stopped
them. A new company in Gilroy, California began making
Indian motorcycles in 1999 under the name of "Indian
Motorcycle Company of America", but they too declared
bankruptcy in 2003. In 2006 another company acquired
the name and began manufacturing motorcycles in Kings
Mountain, North Carolina. As of this writing they are still
in business, but do a fraction of the business compared to
Harley-Davidson.