History of Indian® Motorcycles

The Indian Motorcycle Company was founded as the Hendee Manufacturing Company by George M. Hendee in 1897. They manufactured bicycles, such as “Silver King” and “Silver Queen,” but the name “American Indian” (later shortened to Indian) was adopted by Hendee in 1898. Hendee believed it offered superior product recognition in export markets. Hendee partnered with Oscar Hedstrom in 1900 to design three prototype motorcycles. Their eventual test model, featuring a 1.75 bhp single-cylinder engine, was a big success and dramatically increased sales for Hendee.

With over a hundred years of history, there’s a lot to cover when it comes to Indian Motorcycles. Here at Sky Powersports Lakeland, we wanted to share some Indian® history to punctuate the perseverance of this stellar brand and its iterations.

If you still have questions about Indian® Motorcycles, don’t hesitate to call or head to our location in Lakeland, Florida, near Brandon, Tampa, and Orlando.

Early Strides

Indian production models were available by 1902 with chain drives and streamlined styling. The next year, Hedstrom set the world motorcycle speed record of 56 mph, and the next year they’d introduce the deep red color now a trademark of Indian motorcycles. They found competitive success with their first V-twin factory racer, making strong showings in races and record-breaking rides. Racing success led to a V-twin for street models and roadster modeled after the factory racer. Further market changes derived from competitive success spurred technical innovations up to the beginning of World War I.

The Start of World War I

Indian sold most of of its 1917-18 Powerplus line to the United States military for wartime efforts. Of course this hurt domestic availability, and many Indian dealers simply went out of business. This led to the unfortunate lack of loyal dealerships after the war. Other manufacturers took larger shares of the market from Indian, and they lost their #1 position in the US to another American motorcycle brand.

World War II

Many Indian motorcycles, including Chiefs, Scouts, and Junior Scouts, were utilized in small numbers for a multitude of purposes by the United States Army as well as by British forces. However, none of these models could quite make the same impact as Indian had in decades before. Their war-time designs were heavy, expensive, or both. The only model that saw wide use was the 841, which was designed and built at the request of the United States Army for fighting in the deserts of North Africa. However, the 841 wasn’t adopted for wide military use.

Post-War Demise and Contemporary Resurgence

In 1945, a holding group headed by Ralph B. Rogers purchased a controlling interest in Indian and operations were turned over to Rogers soon after. Under his guidance, Indian discontinued many of its successful lines and focused on lightweight motorcycles. While several innovations made their way into production models, including the Indian-head fender light and chrome components, production of traditional Indian motorcycles was extremely limited. By 1953, all product manufacturing had ended. The Indian brand was shuffled between several interests, popping up with different names, designs, and manufacturers.

In April 2011, Polaris® Industries, the off-road vehicle maker, announced its intention to acquire Indian Motorcycle. Indian’s production facilities were moved to Spirit Lake, Iowa, where production began in August of the same year. Since 2013, Indian has expanded its lineup to ten models, seven of which feature Thunderstroke 111 1.82 liter engines, with their other models using smaller displacement, liquid-cooled Scout engines.

If you’re after the latest from Indian Motorcycle, head to Sky Powersports Lakeland located in Lakeland, Florida. We’re proud to serve the areas of Tampa, Orlando, and Brandon with our stellar service and great selection of new and used Indian motorcycles for sale. Come in today and learn the true meaning of customer satisfaction!