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Bronson's Garage

344chief

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 13, 2009
Messages
118
Location
Norway
Yes the Indians are smoother than one would expect, even without the torque evener. Mostly because the 60-64% balancefactor of the crank I guess.

I've ridden over 60k miles on footclutch indians, so I'm actually more used to the footclutch than the modern handclutch thing..:)

The '47 is not much to look at yet.. missing quite a few parts. I bought a chassis with sheetmetal on ebay(USA), but most of the sheetmetal was in such bad condition that we didn't bother to ship it to Norway. I got the engine elsewhere, and I already had quite a number of parts for it in my spare parts shelves.
The plan is to have a rolling chassis and rebuilt engine sometime next year, and then have the bike ready for the 2013 riding season. We want to ride to the International Indian rally in Italy in 2014, so I better put enough miles on the '47 chief before that. The ride to Italy is 1300 miles each way...

Here's the '47 project after I got it home last winter (my '44 in the back):
5664474262_9fc952bb41_z.jpg


I also have a '39/'40 sportscout racer which my girlfriend just started riding (she likes this low bike better than the very tall KTM 950 Adventure..:) )
6536545119_5a63e8a4fe_z.jpg


And I also have some parts stored for a late '30s (or chout) chief bobber, if a reasonably priced frame/ chassis shows up..
 
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Bronson

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 2, 2011
Messages
12,657
Location
Texas panhandle
Cool, chief! Looks like You are an Indian expert. I am pretty new to the Indian scene. I have had mine for about 5 years, but have only ridden it a few times. A Friend of Mine, Daniel Pierce, is a professional photog, and was the photographer for the last big Indian rally. You may have seen His book, THE FINE ART OF THE MOTORCYCLE ENGINE. Are those Indian saddlebags in the background? I am starting a very special project bike and I need a set of brown Indian saddlebags to be historically correct. BTW, I have a cousin in Oslo!
 

344chief

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 13, 2009
Messages
118
Location
Norway
Cool, chief! Looks like You are an Indian expert. I am pretty new to the Indian scene. I have had mine for about 5 years, but have only ridden it a few times. A Friend of Mine, Daniel Pierce, is a professional photog, and was the photographer for the last big Indian rally. You may have seen His book, THE FINE ART OF THE MOTORCYCLE ENGINE. Are those Indian saddlebags in the background? I am starting a very special project bike and I need a set of brown Indian saddlebags to be historically correct. BTW, I have a cousin in Oslo!

I will check out the book you mention, I don't think I have seen it.

The saddlebags are WW2 bags, used for indian and harley military bikes.
I believe the set I have came from a vendor in Poland. They are smaller and doesn't fit as well as the '40-'53 civilian type saddlebags, but are more correct (and a lot cheaper) for the '44 chief.
I live about 1.5 hours south of Oslo, but I have a lot of family in Oslo.


The Indian motorcycle community is really good.. I've had visitors from Europe, USA and Australia to my house, and I have brought a few of them over to the westcoast and the mountains of Norway. Riding the old Indians off course. I also try to visit new and old Indian friends while out travelling, and often we managed to do a ride as well.

This is from my US trip in february, in Florida and California..
Borrowed the '38 chief for a ride in the Santa Cruz/SF area.
6011224386_15e78ca681_z.jpg
 
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Bronson

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 2, 2011
Messages
12,657
Location
Texas panhandle
I just went back and read Your entire house/shop build thread. Wow! I dont think I could handle the cold/dark winters there! You are doing a great job, keep it up. When You come back over to the states, let Me know. I will get My 46 Chief out and show My part of Texas.:beer:
 
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344chief

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 13, 2009
Messages
118
Location
Norway
The weather is weird over here.. last year the winter was very cold, but now it's 35-40 degrees fahrenheit outside..
The forecast for monday is 50 degrees..

I pulled the '44 chief out of the garage today.. finally able to open the garage door after 2 months of building supplies and scaffolds blocking the door. The chief (84" stroker with modern carb and racing cams..) fired up, nice to hear the flathead twin roaring again..
I usually ride a short trip around town on december 24th..just to get away from the endof year work stress.. and to really get into the christmas mood..
I doubt there will be any iced roads tomorrow.. or I may use the sidecar bike instead..:)
 
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