Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Indian Vertical Twins

The Indian vertical twins tend to be sort of a baby only a mother could love. They are a little awkward looking compared to most big British monikers and they were cursed with a pretty miserable reliability reputation (potentially ill deserved as is the case with much vintage MC folklore). According to Edward Turner's biography when he was asked to review drawings of the 248 Scout vertical he expressed unheeded concern over what he called an inadequate main bearing spec. Who knows what if any difference changing the design might have contributed to the products overall success. About all I know about them first-hand is a guy near my old stomping grounds is pretty crazy for them.

I noticed a couple verticals at the recent Lemay ACM Vintage Motorcycle show that I found pretty endearing.

This Warrior is a apparently a local guy's daily rider. The owner seemed like a cool guy and there's no question this bike is rad.

 No shame involved with admitting I was sorta smitten with this little racer too.

Needless to say when I spotted this Scout cafe on Bike EXIF I felt almost setup to like it. Pretty clever and well executed in my opinion. Given it's clear British influence it makes more sense than a Chief powered Featherbed might by some definitions.


I'm not sure I'm ready to drag any of them home with me but it wouldn't surprise me at all if the next one I see gets a closer look than it might have a couple of weeks ago. I love it when I can appreciate any motorcycle in a whole new light.

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