Red Skin Revival

Do you prefer Sinatra or Presley? Both sang a powerful version of “I Did It My Way”. Well with this bike, owner Graeme certainly did it his way!

- Doc

After viewing a 1934 bobber at a rally in Bunbury and being struck both the look and style of the bike, a fire was lit within Graeme Hammond. The bobber owner told him he knew a bloke who had a 1924 Chief frame and the remains of a Chief engine.We’ll come back to the story of this bike, but first let’s take a trip back in time to 1924, when Indian Motocycles were a pretty big deal. Their sales brochure boasted on the cover that the Indian Motocycle was the Master of the Road and, not only that, but was the Standard of the World.

Back in the day, well before ‘cultural appropriation’ was a social issue, the Indian factory in Springfield Massachusetts was called the Wigwam, and at one time was the largest motorcycle factory in the world. In fact, it was larger than all the other motorcycle companies put together.

The Hendee Manufacturing Company initially produced the motorcycles beginning in 1901, but the name was later changed to the Indian Motocycle Manufacturing Company as it’s known today.

Why ‘motocycle’ you may ask? Well when motorcycles began to appear in the late 19th century, there was some uncertainty about what to call them.

Some journalists used ‘motocycle’, and some used ‘motorcycle’. It just happened that The Hendee Manufacturing Company chose ‘motocycle’ when changing the name to Indian Motocycle Company.