Road Runner: a Custom Indian Scout Sixty by MotoShed

After a personal riding experience a while back, two members of the MotoShedcrew decided they wanted to sink their teeth into an Indian Scout Sixty and rebuild it according to their own personal taste. Nothing wrong with that taste we say. The guys created stunning bike!

A key element to this build was the underseat exhaust idea. Quite the challenge it proved to be, but more on that later. Beyond the exhaust, the team had decided on some basic guiding principles for the build; a more aggressive riding position with improved suspension and greater ground clearance. When asked the team report: “We could tell the Scout Sixty had a lot of potential, so we really wanted to push the riding experience by dramatically increasing its cornering performance. To match this increased ability, we also wanted to strip the bike back to the essentials for a clean, light-weight appearance, but retaining a factory look.” This resulted in over 100 hours of actual work on the bike apart from all the time spent on planning.

The ABS system was removed to make room for a custom built battery box holding a smaller race-style battery, regulator/rectifier and the ECU. Re-routing the wiring was a major feat in itself.

Once the Indian had been stripped of all the parts that MotoShed wanted to replace, modify or just eliminate from the final bike, the complexity of the underseat exhaust plan became clearer. “It really was the most complicated part of the build.”

With the underseat space clear, work began on routing the pipes round the engine and through the gap. Managing the heat was a big concern and the pipes were wrapped to get more of the heat to the end of the pipes and away from the rider’s legs – with the added bonus of looking great. Additional heat management required the fabrication of a rear hugger/heat shield which also keeps the road dirt away from the exhausts. With such short pipes, one of which is 20% shorter than the other, a Dynojet Power Vision CX system was incorporated to log data and help to perfectly re-map the ECU and fly-by-wire throttle.

When asked about the sound the team retorts: “It’s fair to say that, right now, it is a bit too loud. It fuels perfectly and the throttle response is excellent but we will be working on making it a bit quieter.”

MotoShed also preferred a more agressive sports stance, which meant replacing the standard foot controls with rearset Rizoma items mounted to custom plates and complemented with a set of lower Renthal handlebars.

Not everything was produced by MotoShed themselves, which we think is wise and only adds to the perfection of the end result. Experts called in on Road Runner for their specialist skills included: Chris Walton of CW Engineering who hand made the sheet metal elements such as the headlight nacelle, front mudguard and rear hugger and Steve Adams, an ex-Aston Martin upholsterer who re-finished the 1920 Solo Saddle Seat and Illusion Race Paint.

For the hand controls, minimalist billet switchgear was chosen with Galfer clutch lever, brake lever and master cylinder the blacked-out theme evolved. Fully adjustable rear suspension from HyperPro was added, while a JB Speaker LED headlight was selected to give a modern sporty twist.

All in all the Bikebrewers team are ecstatic about the way this bike came out. We will be testing some Indian bikes in the near future, so watch this space if you are a fan!