Motorcyclist Archives 1966: Indian Motorcycles Golden Anniversary, Kawasaki Road Test, 250 SG

The Story of Indian - 1901 thru 1925
Originally published in May of 1951 (50th Anniversary) by J. J. O'Connor who worked at Indian in Advertising and Promotions which covers the years of 1901 through 1915

This is the first of three articles from the September 1951 issue of Motorcyclist Magazine covering the first fifteen years of Indian Motorcycles and was written by a member of first Advertising and Promotions team - J. J. O'Connor. Mister O'connor chronicled each model year and the innovations of one of America's earliest and most celebrated motorcycle marquees with some detail after explaining the genesis of the Indian brand.

The two founders of Indian motorcycles were George Hendee and Oscar Hedstrom. Hendee was building bicycles after a career as a bicycle racer and was interested in building a simple, practical, every-day motorcycle for the average man. While visiting Madison Square Garden Hendee happened upon a pacing machine built by Connecticut native, Hedstrom. Hendee and Hedstrom met and discussed the possibility of combining their efforts to build this practical motorcycle. Oscar assured George that this was possible and a partnership was formed on the back of an envelope that became (according to the author) the Magna Carta of Indian Motorcycles of Springfield, Ma.

Oscar Hedstrom retired to his Middleton, CT workshop where he went about developing the first motor which was shown off in an Indian bicycle frame on Cross Street Hill in Springfield (with a daunting 19% grade) to a field of amazed onlookers. The first motor was a high compression single with a concentric float on the automatic carburetor, wide speed range and “instant response to spark and throttle”. The entire machine weighed 98 pounds! Another thing we would find funny today is that it was considered a high horsepower machine at 1 ¾ ponies.

The demonstration took place in the Spring of 1901 and in 1902 the Indian motorcycle company had produced 143 machines. A figure that continued to grow as the years rolled on. Some of the early challenges included financing. There were no VCs to get the production underway and the team worked hard to increase efficiency and streamline production & resources.

Production in the early years:

In those early years production was never hampered by sales it was infact, hard to fulfil all of the orders and the Massachusetts-based Marquee became a coveted motorcycle to own - if you could buy one.

A Racing Heritage
Oscar Hendee was a professional bicycle racer in the 1880's and saw the value of being "First on Race Day". As early as 1902 Indian lead by Hendee was involved in racing; and winning, all over the United States and by 19XX overseas. Wherever an Indian was entered it took the top honors and was common to take all three podium positions. This helped increase orders and encourage innovation within Indian.

By 1910 Indian Motorcycles an excellent reputation in Europe (most notably in Great Britain) but it’s American victories were of little consequence to the European public. Hedstrom decided to change that by building a team and a bike to race the Isle of Mann TT and cherry picking TT veterans to pilot these new machines. Rules required that the bike raced had to be a production model so the Indian TT was born. In 1911 at the TT, Indian came in First, Second, and Third while also setting a new course record in the Senior division!

In 1912 the race-inspired T.T. was produced in two models. A 7hp twin and a 4 hp single. The “7” as it was known came with two speed gears, disc clutch with foot control, and new in 1911 - the famous cradle-spring fork. Also new to the T.T. models were floorboards and a ratchet type kickstarter.

Production Growth
As 1914 came, the Indian twin which had been added to the line in 1907 had reached a production level of 75,000 units and encourage India to name the "twin the thing". In 1913 alone they had produced close to 40,000 indian motorcycles and set a production goal of 60,000 machines. The Hendee Special dominated the production line in 1914 and was the most thrilling and advanced motorcycle ever offered in America. The features that made it stand out were the electric starter coupled by a chain and free wheeling clutch, to the motor shaft and energized through high capacity special batteries. In addition, it had electric lights front and rear, electric horn, and speedometer."

By the end of 1915 there were over 100,000 Indian big twins on the road and it was hard to deny the public. Indian introduced the 1915 model line which was stacked exclusively with twin lungers. The most popular machine in the line was 42 cubic inch medium “job” with a 10 hp rating.

As the years went on, innovation abounded. By 1917 there was a three speed light twin in the line and signaled a new approach to motorcycle sales. Build a lightweight four stroke machine to replace the two stroke featherweight machines. This new direction had to be put on hold when WWI finally reached the homefront. Most production in the end of 1917 and all of 1918 through January of 1919 was focused on output for the US Government.

Post War (WWI) Indian Models
With the war coming to a close and a new head of the engineering was chosen to fill the void of Oscar Hedstrom retirement shortly before the war. The former Indian T.T. racer Charlie Franklin took over design duties. When not racing, Franklin had trained in college to be an engineer. Combining his technical background with his racing heritage was the right direction for the Indian brand and produced many fine motorcycles including a medium sized machine called the Scout. The Scout is a name that was recently (and seemingly successfully) resurrected by Polaris; the owner of the Indian name and heritage.

The 1920 Indian Scout “It was a winner from the start, and an avalanche of orders flooded the wigwam”

To complement the 61 inch motor in 1920 a 74 inch big valve twin was added. The intention of the big valve was to offer sidecar rigs similar power to the 61 inch for club outings.

As the first twenty five years came to a close, Indian had produced a huge slew of models and firsts. The Scout was a real boon for the brand and the newly introduced Prince which was targeted towards new riders, was the new kid on the block.

Kawasaki Road Test
Quality and unusual features packed into Kawasaki's 250cc OHV (overhead valve) single Model 250 SG

Joining the Honda Dream and the BMW shaft-drive singles in the lightweight touring range is the 250 SG from Kawasaki. What impressed the author (Frank Millis, Sr.) was the quality fit and finish that rivalled its competitors. Remember, this article was written shortly after Kawasaki entered the American market and would be as suspect as would any new motorcycle brand today.

Why was Millis impressed? * Ease of maintenance * Simplicity * Ruggedness * Economy * A high degree of rider comfort * Best overall finish to be found on any Japanese available at the time The finish was so fine that the reviewer went on to compare the finish to the workmanship of any motorcycle in the marketplace at that time!

Getting 85-90 mpg with a heavy throttle hand and over 100 mpg when taking it easy made this a fantastic bargain to ride. The electric starter not seen on many bikes in this class was a desirable feature, the dual seat was quite comfortable and had an excellent seating position. The stopping power is suitable for the 250cc single but the autor was having a ahrd time figuring out why they had such a narrow fender on the front. I suppose if you’re going to have a problem with a bike, this would be one you might manage to live with.

Thoughts on Power
"Although it is no great fireball, the machine accelerates well enough to keep itself ahead of traffic rather than under it, and is much smoother at cruising speeds than one would expect…… Nonetheless, the SG would accelerate to 70 mph and beyond, although we didn't push it hard. Kawasaki's claim of 78 mph is no doubt conservative; at sea level it will quite probably go 85 mph when properly broken in."

Final thoughts are as follows: Wanna go 80 mph everywhere, look elsewhere but if 60-65 mph is your sweet spot this is the ride for you.