The Indian Motorcycle Company

by John Stumpner

Various companies have been making motorcycles since the late 1800’s. Since early automobiles were expensive, a motorcycle was seen as the self-propelled vehicle that the working man could afford. And, since the number of working-class people always is far greater than the number of wealthy people, many companies wanted to sell motorcycles to this group. The first company to make motorcycles in the United States was a buggy and bicycle maker, the Waltham Manufacturing Company in 1898. Companies as varied as the Iver Johnson Company, primarily a gun maker, were making motorcycles in the early days.

While companies like Waltham Manufacturing and Iver Johnson were making and selling motorcycles, they were not dedicated solely to motorcycle manufacturing. The first company formed to make and sell motorcycles was not Harley Davidson but was the Indian Motorcycle Company. The Indian Motorcycle Company was started in 1901, Harley Davidson did not start until 1903. Also, for the first 20 years the two companies competed, Indian sold far more motorcycles than Harley Davidson. In fact, during the 1910’s, Indian was the largest manufacturer of motorcycles in the world.

Indian manufactured excellent quality and durable motorcycles in the first half of the 1900’s. The Van Buren sisters in 1916, became the second and third women to motorcycle across the continental United States riding top of the line Indian Power Plus motorcycles. The Indian Scout is considered by many to be the best mid-size motorcycle made in the first half of the 20th century. Bessie Stringfield, the first African American woman to ride across the continental United States, did so on a 1928 Indian Scout. Burt Munro, a motorcycle racer from New Zealand, set several land speed records in the 1960’s on a highly modified 1920 Indian Scout. In fact, some of these records still stand today.

Unfortunately, the Indian Motorcycle company went through ownership and design changes in the late 1940’s. Some of the new designs were not up to the quality standards of early Indians and sold poorly. As a result, in 1953 the original Indian Motorcycle Company went out of business. The rights to use the Indian Motorcycles name and logos have been purchased by several different groups which tried to bring the brand back with both imported and U.S. manufactured motorcycles. The most successful of those is the current manufacturer, Polaris Industries. Polaris, which started making Indians in 2011, also manufactures snowmobiles, ATVs and UTVs, and has brought back the quality and iconic styling of the original Indian motorcycles. The Indian motorcycles have become so popular for Polaris that they wound down production of their own Victory Motorcycle brand in 2017.

ABATE of Wisconsin, of course, supports freedom of the road for all bikers, whether they ride Harleys, Indians or some other brand. At the September ABATE Board of Directors meeting, members rode in on 6 different brands of motorcycles from 5 different countries. As long as we, and that includes the Junior Patriots, work to keep our freedom of the road, we will always have a variety of styles and types of motorcycles to choose from.

John