My buddies over at Rising Sun 4x4 club have this long-running thread in their forum for mostly Land Cruiser interests and oddities, and I thought it might be fun to do the ADV/DS/Moto version here. The idea is just to post up weird/cool/interesting relevant stuff, or simply good deals you come across. Obviously there will be a lot of link rot over time, but it tends to be a fun in-the-moment kind of thread.
That said, I always have a soft spot for vehicles from my birth year: 1974. I’ve had a ‘74 BMW 2002, but I’ve always dreamt of a ‘74 BMW moto, as well as some cool old Hondas and other little Japanese bikes.
This Indian was a new one to me though. Anyone ever ridden an Indian dirt bike?
These were not real Indians in the made in America by the original company sense, they were rebranded imports with parts from around the globe. Back in the late 60s and early 70s when dirt bikes were as common as X-Boxes today cheap 2 strokes were rebadged or parts conglomerations assembled for the US market and sold by many companies. The original Indian company was long gone by then This Indian was a marketing idea capitalizing on the brand name. I‘ve ridden one, not very good, not so much a collectable as a curiosity. 3k asking is absurd. Nothing like a Rupp or Hodaka. This ME 100 had an Italian Minarelli engine I believe.
@mulebarn When you first posted this I almost replied with an @motojason, until I realized there was no need. His response to you regarding this particular bike was likely already being teed up. Bro is motoencyclopedic.
This would be good for the CORCS Saturday Vintage Series. I know the seller and have seen this bike. It’s very original and in good shape. The IT didn’t have the aggressive cylinder porting of the YZ490, it’s much mellower and easier to ride, but they are still hard to jet to keep them from pinging under heavy load, similar to the YZ but better. Head and carb mods were popular on the 490. If this IT’s head has been modified then jetting / starting / running will be much easier / better. The 83 has a good chassis and some of the best production drum brakes ever used on a dirt bike. I run this DLS front hub and 43mm fork on my 2 GP SR racers. Steve Sage (sage Suspension) does good work on Yamaha suspension of this era and he’s in Arvada
