Presenting Partner:

November 2018 - Issue #34

The Art of Listening

For 12 years I was on a localcommunity advisory council, havingbeen selected by our countysupervisor. I didn’t have any votingpower but myself and 4 others were putin place to advise on the wants andneeds for our small community. Man,we got some big things done, too: afire station and library near the school,and a main thoroughfare median toreduce head-on accidents, to name afew.We held meetings once a month andone thing I learned is you can’t pleaseeveryone. More importantly, one mustrespect others’ views. Open discussionis healthy and so is respecting oneanother’s opinion, whether it becontrary to your own or aligned. I alsolearned that I never want to be apolitician.Now that was some years ago but itstill holds true today. However, now thatanyone can have a say via the Internet,people make some pretty bold andnasty statements about others,something that’s easier to do if theynever have to face that person. Me?

I like the person-to-personcommunication and dialogue, andabove all, I show respect.That’s another reason I like riding bikesbecause when we’re on ourmotorcycles all of my fellow brothersand sisters are equal. We enjoy a goodconversation when we meet, and whenwe depart, we depart happy.

Sincerely,Mike Tomas, PresidentKiwi Indian Motorcycles Inc.

Sign up for the most informative IndianMotoCycle Newsletter on the planet forboth vintage and new Indian owners!http://www.kiwiindian.com/sign-up-form

Keeping up WithKiwi Mike

Kiwi Mike is traveling with a bunch ofne’er-do-wells in the HimalayaMountains, an adventure that’s beingwell documented on social media.We’ll put a few pictures here but watchfor Mike’s personal words about theexperience staring next issue.

2018 MotorcycleCannonball:That's a wrap!

After starting out in Portland, ME, onSeptember 6th, the last rider crossedthe finish line in Portland, OR, onSeptember 23rd, closing out the 2018Cannonball. A field of 107 riders onmotorcycles built before 1929 traveledabout 3,750 miles. Forty-five ridersscored top points including thefollowing riders on Indians: FredWacker on a Twin; Ryan Allen, JaredRinker and Ziggy on Indian Powerplusmachines; Jason Wadzinski, PeteArundel and Shane Masters on Chiefs;Rick Salisbury on an Ace; and BartekMizerski, Doug Wothke, Steve Rinkerand Jon Turney on Scouts.Team #80, comprised of ShinyaKimura and Niimi Yoshimasa, wasvoted “Best Cannonball Team” of therun. They’re the only team that’scompeted in every Cannonball eventso far and that’s been on the same1915 Indian. Shinya’s grandfather wasone of the first citizens in Japan to havean Indian in the 1920’s and that’s thesource of his family Indian heritage.See more details of the event and finalresults atwww.motorcyclecannonball.com

First the FTR1200,Now the Accessories

At the EICMA show in Milan, Italy inearly November, Indian Motorcycleintroduced its lineup of accessories forthe FTR 1200. Four distinct stylingcollections were named:Tracker, Rally, Sport and Tour. Theyallow FTR1200 owners to completelyrestyle the look of their bikes torepresent their own riding style.The Tracker line is just what it says:ready for the racetrack. Rallycomponents are geared towardadventure touring. Sport stylingemphasizes the FTR1200’sperformance heritage, and the Tourcollection offers luggage and windprotection for longer distances.See the images shown here and checkout this video:https://youtu.be/VphTk3J8bGU

The Rally Collection

The Tracker Collection

The Sport Collection

The Touring Collection

2018 AFT Race Final

Riders on FTR750 Indians finished top5 at Canterbury Park near Minneapolisand in the American Flat Track seasonfinale at Meadowlands Mile in NewJersey in October. Indian WreckingCrew rider Bryan Smith took the win inthe season final Twins race. Followingthe Meadowlands Mile, 2018Champion Jared Mees rode into theAFT Awards Banquet on an IndianFTR1200 production bike!The final race also marked a milestonefor Kenny Coolbeth, Jr., who wrappedup a 25-year career as an Indianprivateer on the FTR750. Three GrandNational Titles and 36 victories placehim fifth all time in total wins.The top nine in the 2018 final standingsinclude two Indian MotorcycleWrecking Crew factory riders andseven Indian Motorcycle privateers:Mees, Henry Wiles, Briar Bauman,Jeffrey Carver, Jr., Bryan Smith, ChadCose, Coolbeth, Jake Johnson andDavis Fisher.Watch for the competition landscape tochange in 2019 as Wrecking Crewmember Bryan Smith goes back toKawasaki and Estenson Racingbolsters their team with J.D. Beach andRyan Wells. At press time Indianannounced the 2019 Wrecking Crew:Jared Mees is joined by brothers Briarand Bronson Bauman. One thing thatwon’t change: the excitement andengagement of American Flat TrackRacing!

Jared Mees and the 2018Championship team

The Meadowlands Mile

Kenny Coolbeth, Jr. wrapped up a 25-year career

Bryan Smith took first in the seasonfinale

See you next year! Coolbeth was “roasted” at the annualbanquet

2019 Indian Wrecking Crew: Meesand the Bauman Brothers

A Favorite Event:Chopperfest!

Kiwi Mike is one of a select group offeatured builders at SoCal’s 15th

Annual ChopperFest, on December 9th

at Ventura County Fairgrounds inVentura, CA. But that’s not the onlyreason we love this event. It’s a full dayof moto mayhem not to be missed witha swap meet, all-brands antique &custom show, art & culture exhibit,vendors, live music and tons of specialguests. Your $15 ticket comes with afree limited edition poster featuring aDavid Mann illustration that was firstpublished in Easyriders magazine inAugust 1972. There are militarydiscounts and kids 12 & under enterfree.Get details about bike showregistration and tickets here:http://www.chopperfestival.com

1940 Chief Revival

We’re always asking readers of thisnewsletter to reach out to us so we weredelighted when Mike Tolj sent Kiwi Mikethis note from Perth, Western Australia:Mike,Just wanted to share with you a picture ofmy finished bike. You supplied the frontand rear guards as well as a few otherparts.Bike is from Hollister in CA and waspurchased in 1971 from CHP auctionbefore being purchased by me in 2010through eBay. It arrived in Australia in2011 and has been under restorationsince then. Thought you may like to seethe outcome.Thanks for assistance over the years withthe build of this bike and others that I havebeen involved in.Regards,Mike Tolj

We were intrigued so we asked Mike Toljto tell us more. Here’s his story: The bike was found through an eBayAuction, listed by a friend of the owner whohad a bike shop in Hollister. He hadpurchased the bike from a CaliforniaHighway Patrol Auction in 1971: $10.00 forthe frame and $10.00 for the engine. It wasthe 1970’s and the new owner turned thebike into a chopper, a far cry from its

Bike was advertised on eBay in2010

Pre-build inventory

origins as Highway Patrol Bike. He rodethe bike around Hollister for many yearsbefore the engine failed. He tore it down tore-build and there it sat until I purchased thebike in 2010.It was in a rough condition when it finallyarrived in Australia with some of the partsunusable. At the time I had just finished my741 Bobber Scout and was enjoying ridingthat. This bike was going to be a longrestore, that I knew. Looking through “TheHistory of a Classic American Motorcycleby Tod Rafferty” I came upon the picture ofthe 1940 Indian Chief California HighwayPolice bike restored by Bob Stark and Iknew that was the bike that I wanted tobuild.A lot of nights were spent looking for andsourcing the right parts. Some came fromKiwi, some from Greer, some from friends,others from eBay. Slowly the bike wascoming together, one parcel at a time.Along the way some real bargains werefound: the RM Magneto; the S&M LampCompany lights were a great find; theMotorola radio head is a prized item. (Ineed some radio boxes if anyone has any.)The winter screen was a great find andcame from Portland, OR all the way toPerth. Found a company in Washington thatreproduces the CHP Stars for the tank, too.The bike has been torn down to bare metaland rebuilt with as many original parts aspossible. Additional parts were sourcedfrom auctions and sheds. Due to the age ofthe bike and its previous history some partshad to be replaced with new parts. Oldparts were restored, cleaned, cad platedwhere possible, new bearings installed asneeded. All restoration was done here inWestern Australia over a period of 6 yearswith the help of many. To name a few:Andrew, Chris, Jim, John, Graeme andWayne. A lot of time and support fromfamily and friends has assisted in therestoration of this bike and I must send outbig thanks to all that helped andcontributed.· Std 74 cubic in Indian motor· Indian Bonneville cams and lifters· Linkert M6BA - Indian Bonneville carb· Std. 3 Speed Indian Gearbox· Original engine had 1942 cases.(CDB319M) but they needed a lot of work· 1947 Indian NOS magneto enginecases were found in Australia· Original NOS Full Winter Screen

Partial way through the restoration

Kiwi Indian supplied guardsbeing test fitted.

Getting close after almost 6 years!

· RM Edison Splitdorf Magneto with a hotspark· Original Motorola Radio Head· Original friction drive Sterling Siren· Original S&M Lamp Co Los AngelesPolice Lights· Original tinned soft soldered fuel tanks· New front and rear guards supplied byKiwi Indian· Original configuration – Left-handaccelerator and Right-hand advance/retardof magneto timing.· Foot clutch and hand shifted · 18 x 4.50 4 Ply tyresLearn more here:https://www.facebook.com/EarlyAmericanMotorcycleClub/

Finished Bike ready for license

Check out the Early AmericanMotorcycle Club’s Facebook

page

KrazyHorse motorcycles located inBury St Edmunds in the U.K., hasparticipated in the AMD WorldChampionships and S&S Cycle’s 50th

anniversary, among other events.Since Indian’s re-launch, they’veactively pursued and developed partsand performance enhancements for thelineup. We asked KrazyHorse owner,Paul Beamish, to tell us more: To give some background, KrazyHorseis now in its 23rd year of business. Westarted in a shed building customHarleys. We now have 4 shops with atotal square footage of over 20,000.We still build custom bikes but are alsomain dealers for Norton, MV, Fanticand Indian as well Morgan cars andother smaller brands. We have had along relationship with Mike and KIWI.Our shops are in the East of Englandand London.From an Indian point of view we havebeen a dealer for the Polaris productsince the relaunch, We have workedvery closely with Indian in the UK andhave done a lot of work on developingthe Scout as a basis for a line ofcustom and performance parts. Todate we have developed and built Wallof Death Scouts for Guy Martin’s worldrecord, Chopper Scout and Street

Fighter Scout for the UK dealer Scoutchallenge. We built 6 Super Hooligansto race in the DTRA flat track series,raced them for the last two years anddeveloped a Street Hooligan. Theparts are high quality and designed tobolt on, so suitable for an end user ordealer to fit. Much more info at thewebsite www.krazyhorse.co.uk

One of the KrazyHorse SuperHooligan Scouts racing in the

European series and several of theircustoms

Damn Yankees in Thailand Part 6From Mae Sariang to Mae Hong Son

We return to the chronicle of ourintrepid riders, Kiwi Mike and DennisBolduc, as they continue theiradventure of riding in Thailand.Nothing (much) worries these twobrave blokes but it’s a good thing theyhad local guides! What a beautiful morning for breakfaston the deck of the Riverfront Hotel inMae Sariang. The lazy Yuam Rivermeandered by and the morning mistcloaked the farmland. The sun was a

Now our guide Lee is a world classrider and he took the lead on hisVictory Vision. I was on my IndianChieftain riding double with AA on theback. Mike followed on his IndianVintage. This was footboard scrapingtime, game on. The scenery wasincredible as we wound our waythrough the mountains ofThailand. I was trying to enjoy theincredible views and keep up with Leeas his Victory Vision was throwing

dull glow through the fog. A perfect spotto drink coffee and plan our day.Out front our motorcycles waited us.But first we were going to visit themorning market. In Thailand all thevillages have both morning andafternoon markets where the Thai’s doall their shopping for food, housewares,hardware and other essentials. Eventhe lottery! Most important, marketsserve as social centers where peoplevisit and gossip. We were certainly thetopic of conversation walking aroundthe market! The “farongs” (foreigners )were here and the locals took note.The markets are always interesting,vibrant places. This morning we weretreated to the sight of a large bowl fullof frogs being offered for today’sdinner. We passed on that offer, thankyou.With the market behind us we loadedup our bikes and hit the road. Todaywe had a 200km (125 mile) ride aheadof us from Mae Sariang to Mae HongSon. The Maehong San Road is aninfamous mountain road with 1684turns in 125 miles with mountainswitchbacks and 4,500 ft. elevationchanges. That’s 15 curves per mile!More for sport bikes than heavycruisers. That’s a lot of corners butwhat corners they were: nice banked,smooth corners. You could tuck thebike right into them and sail rightthough. On some of the corners therewas another lane added on the outsidein case you had to scrub off somespeed.

sparks off the boards in the corners. Itwas a ride we will never forget. WhenI’d left Bangkok on this Chieftain thetires were flat spotted in the middle,now they were well rounded.When we arrived in Mae Hong Son, wechecked in at the Thai version of avisitor center and received ourcertification that we had conquered theMae Hong Son Road. We noticed thatthe windows of the center werecovered with decals people hadbrought from all over the world. Mikehad one representing his son Ross,which he proudly stuck on the window.Ross is now remembered in Mae HongSon Thailand!We headed over to our hotel for thenight and checked in. After a quick restwe headed into town and found arestaurant with American food. I had aThai version of spaghetti! We thenfound a pleasant outdoor cafe and hada couple beers as we watched the Thaitraffic driving by. A perfect end to anawesome day’s ride.

Some people love to do their own wheellacing and truing. If that describes you,make sure after you are done that yourspokes do not protrude out beyond the endof the nipple on the tube side. If the spokedoes happen to protrude out, grind it flush. Another tip: always use a rim strip to offer alayer of protection for the tube.

Feedback &Testimonials

Talk To Us!

Part of the goal of the Kiwi E-news is tobuild a community of like-mindedreaders and riders. So we don’t putlimits on those who want to share astory with our readership. What’simportant is to tell your story in yourown words and provide some imagesto illustrate it.What are we missing that you’d like tosee included? Do you have a story toshare? We want to hear from you!Email: office@kiwiindian.com orBigChief@KiwiIndian.com. Here’s a look at our recent mail: Hi Mike,Just wanted to share pics of my father,Bernard Shields, in Columbia, PA in1955 on his ’47 Chief.Thanks,Tony Shields

Hi Tony. Those are awesome pics ofyour father. Wow!For the record, your father is on a1948. It has a speedo cable comingout of the front brake plate and I canbarely see a 1948 style dash. Darngood model so you know he had greattaste. Kiwi Mike Hi Mike,I am in the Phoenix area and haverestored my 1945 Indian Chief, (blueone) starting in 2009 with a bunch ofrusty parts, about 70% originally. Nowfor the past year, it is my daily rider.I am currently working on another 1945Chief (red one) as I do restorations onIndians. I thought how cool it washaving one 1945 in my garage, now Ihave 2 at the same time!

This is the 6th Indian I have done workon in the past couple of years and itnever seems to fail how much thesebikes have been messed with but theyare always fun to work on. Thought Iwould share my story.Thanks,Stan Csapo

Thanks for showing us your bikes,Stan. It’s always good to see anotherChief made roadworthy.

Kiwi Indian MotoCycle NewsKiwi Indian Motorcycles Inc.

www.KiwiIndian.com Riverside, CA 92504

951.780.5400

If you have ideas, want to contribute toupcoming Newsletter articles, would like toorder parts or have questions, feel free tocontact us!

CONTACT US