One of the comments on yesterday’s post about the V4 custom mentioned the Twindian, a twin engine 1916 Indian. One look at this and I agree, it’s far better looking and shows the kind of cool work they were doing a long time ago.
According to the story on the site, the Twindian was built sometime in the 1920s by Bill Arnold who joined two 61 cubic inch 1916 PowerPlus engines together to make the V4. He also widened the gas and oil tank to provide for the extra engine. Evidently, the bike ran fine and he used it for quite a while before finally parking it. Bill passed away in 1985 and his widow had to find a place for his many mechanical treasures and it was entrusted to Doug King who had it restored to its present condition. The “before” photos on the site show how much work they had to do and it looks like they did a great job.
Even with all of the interest in old motorcycles you have to wonder how many treasures like this are sitting in old barns somewhere, waiting to be discovered.
Thanks for the pointer, Willie!
Link: Indianmotorbikes
More photos below:
Steve says
I really enjoy seeing examples of individual engineering from that bygone era.
Have you seen these multis?:
http://www.hendersonkj.com/other-hens/hen-six/index.html
http://www.hendersonmotors.com/photos.htm
Willie Schmitz says
This link will take you to a good Indian source.
http://www.indianmotorbikes.com/reprints/mmm/madmax.htm
This particular story is about Max Bubeck and his 1946 record on a Scout/Chief hybrid.
Old Will