"After WWII Indian came out with a line of lightweight motorcycles to augment the heavyweight Chief and to compete with the British bikes that had become immensely popular and were selling in the tens-of thousands on the American market. The 220cc Arrow single and the 440cc Scout twin were introduced in 1949. The Arrow and Scout models were not designed by Indian however. The designs were bought from the Torque Engineering Company of Plainville, NJ and were the work of two Dutch engineers, the Stokvis brothers and an American engineer Briggs-Weaver. The Torque company ran out of funds before they could go into production and Indian was hurting for money to design a completely new motorcycle so the deal was attractive to both firms. The new scout and Arrow were pleasing in appearance with British style lines clean castings, nice paint and chrome and a look of precision. Bust as soon as they reached the market it became painfully apparent that the basically sound design had not been given sufficient testing. At prolonged high speeds and under hard use the main bearings self destructed, valve trains disintegrated, mags burned out and gear shift mechanisms failed. In 1950 Indian came out with an improved model, the Warrior displacing a more conventional 500cc. But the Warrior inherited a bad reputation from the Scout, didn't sell and Indian closed down in 1953. You might say that the torque design was the motorcycle that killed Indian."
Dad hole-punched star Alan Ladd's name out.....
"...the basically sound design had not been given sufficient testing." How sad. This post caused me to wonder what's happening with Harley's new smaller starter bike I heard a lot about when they ended Buell.
ReplyDelete~k
Circle Blue - Don't know about Harley's new version but I saw a recent interview with Erik Buell (EBR motorcycles) in which he hinted that there is an Indian company interested ... Buell may be coming back to the streets (just not with Harley).
DeleteI've heard neither of these things; both completely new to me. I guess I lost track of HD 'other' after their sale of MV-Augusta.
DeleteLooks like I better start paying attention...
So much history in the motorcycle industry - the good and the bad.
ReplyDeleteI thought for a moment the "American engineer Briggs-Weaver" was perhaps related to Briggs and Stratton motors. Google tells me it was a Stephen Foster Briggs that was the Briggs in Briggs and Stratton though. Wonder if they were related.
Trobairitz, I saw that "Briggs" and like you, zipped to Briggs & Stratton. Every time I was in Milwaukee, I'd go past their factory/HQ, always a reminder about their strong history.
DeleteCoop:
ReplyDeleteit's interesting to read about history, and the development of vehicles. Sometimes I wished that we grew up a Century earlier and be involved somehow in this "horseless" revolution, whether it be 2 or 4 wheels.
Like mating an engine to a bicycle. Look at all the fun we could have had. They we would build a car, with your name on it, sort of like "COOPer", Oh, I think we have a car like that already
bob
Riding the Wet Coast
Always interesting to me how "new", "modern" and "state-of-the-art" are looked at through the window we people have at the time.
Delete