Indian 741 rebuild - the start

30th November 2024

The start.

I had been hankering for a new project having finished the Austin Healey 3 years earlier.  I still have lots of general maintenance to perform on the Healey but I have much less garage time than I used to and I am not having to do the sofa based surfing in pursuit of knowledge that I used to and I miss both.  It was clear that I needed a new project.  It was also clear that it had to be small and not extremely expensive.  I just don't have the space for another car nor do I have the appetite for another 12 year project so my mind turned to a motorcycle.

I started looking at British bikes but most are just so small.  Well, have such small engines that I figure I won't actually enjoy riding them.  The bikes with bigger engines are too expensive.  So I started looking elsewhere.  I knew that I wanted something old as all the bikes I like are equipped with girder forks and these tend to be pre war.  Eventually I looked across the Atlantic and became drawn to the Harley Davidson WL bikes of the 1940's and the Indian Scout or Chief.  I have a thing about Harley's as a brand.  I can't stand the modern bikes and the thought of saying that I owned one didn't appeal at all so I focussed on the Indian bikes.  I prefer light bikes and so the Chief lost out and I started searching for a Scout.  It wasn't an easy search.  I wanted a complete bike that had basically been sat in a garage gathering dust for a few decades but I couldn't find one.  All complete bikes were astronomically expensive and eventually I changed my outlook and broadened my requirements.  I remembered that when I bought the Healey I joined the club and placed an advert in the wanted section of the magazine so I did the same and eventually bought this lot.

It is, apparently, a 1941 Indian 741.  It is actually just a lot of boxes of bits and it comes with an engine rebuilt by 'Mike'.  It also has no registration documents although it does come  with an old registration / log book that I think the previous owner bought from some random place.  This is one of the two things that troubles me about this bike;  is it a box of bits accumulated over a number of years or is it a bike that has fallen into a project like state?  The engine does look well put together and is complete but I am very conscious that when I bought the Healey it also had a rebuilt engine and it was a complete nightmare that eventually required a total rebuild.  Neither the frame nor the engine have numbers on them although both have clearly been used.  Am I going to spend years on this and then be unable to register it?  I keep putting that thought to one side; surely I can find a way round that challenge!

The second thing that troubles me about this bike is that I have absolutely no idea how it goes together and information is far harder to find that it was for the Healey, there are no books on the restoration of an Indian 741.  I am finding help on the Internet but it is from a very limited range of sources.  I have got my sofa surfing back again.

The engine on the way upstairs and into temporary storage.

The gearbox, carb and clutch plates also on route to the bedroom storage site.

 

Summer 2025

I spent two years with the Healey in storage before I was able to take the plunge and get started and I have been pretty idle with this as well.  The first issue was that I didn't think I could make a start on the bike without more space and a bike bench.  Eventually I got the garage extended while I was on holiday in August 25.  

It made enough room for a bike bench and has made the place a much better workshop than it was before which is great.

So, this is the bike and the garage, basically ready to go.