Indian Motorcycles was founded as a dream in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1901, a dream shared by George M. Hendee and Carl Oscar Hedstrom. Hendee was a retired bicycle racer who sold and manufactured bicycles in Springfield. During his work he had met Carl Oscar Hedstrom, an engineer who had worked to develop a reliable, sturdy motor system for motorized bicycles. Motors on bicycles at the time were notoriously fickle and were generally only used by racers who wanted to take a break. Hendee and Hedstrom’s work together would change all that.

The two men talked and eventually developed a plan to create and market a mass-produced, motorized bicycle that would be affordable to the general public. Hendee would manage the administrative side while Hedstrom would develop the bicycle itself. In 1902, Hedstrom developed the Indian motorcycle, America’s first motorcycle. Hedstrom’s designs gained a reputation for being remarkably fast without compromising reliability, while Hendee’s marketing ensured quick public support and steady gains against rivals Harley-Davidson. By 1904, Hedstrom and Hendee were making 500 bikes annually, and in 1911, the 1st place, 2nd place, and 3rd place racers at the Isle of Man TT were riding Indian motorcycles. By 1912, the manufacturing had to be moved to a five-floor factory, and in 1913, Indian was producing 32000 motorcycles yearly. Going into the first World War, the Indian Motorcycle Manufacturing Company was the world’s biggest motorcycle company, making the world’s best motorcycles.

After World War I, Indian changed the face of American motorcycling again, debuting the rugged 1000cc Chief in 1922. The Chief’s dynamic styling would set a new standard in American motorcycle design. The Chief and its ‘little brother,’ the Scout would become Indian’s most well known and highly celebrated models. Known worldwide for their technical superiority and rugged construction, their reputation birthed the expression “You can’t wear out an Indian Scout, or its brother the Indian Chief. They are built like rocks to take hard knocks; it’s the Harleys that cause grief.” Today, vintage Indian Scouts are highly prized by daredevils and trick riders for its speed, reliability, and superior handling. Even as late as 1962, Burt Munro used his modified 1920 Indian Scout to set three landspeed records at the famous Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah.

In 1945, however, the company was taken over, and started a slow downturn. Poor construction quality under new ownership meant that by 1953, Indian was no longer producing its own motorcycles, and declared bankruptcy in 1962. A copycat company emerged in 1960 producing under the Indian name without permission, and name ownership disputes dogged potential revival efforts from 1970 until 1998. During this entire time, dedicated fans of the original Indian motorcycles kept their faith strong, lovingly restoring their original cycles and keeping the brand alive in the public consciousness.

Apart from a brief revival effort in Gilroy, California in 1999, the Indian name was dormant until the formation of the Indian Motorcycle Company in 2006. Using top-quality American-made parts, today’s Indian Motorcycle Company manufactures high-quality motorcycles at its factory in Kings Mountain, North Carolina. Every motorcycle is carefully assembled and inspected by a dedicated team of motorcycle engineers, and a dealership network is being grown by an administrative team that are motorcycle fans first and bosses second. Respect for the past and hope for the future means that Indian is making motorcycles that carry on the Indian tradition of combining top-quality construction and styling with cutting-edge motorcycle technology.