Out of the silence, a screeching sound and a sudden wobble wake me up in an uninviting way – the train is reaching its next station. I’m on my way to Munich, where the all new Indian Scout will be revealed, the second iteration of the model that revived the long gone legend. 

My lack of sleep goes back to another machine of the american brand, a friend’s 1928 Indian Scout 101 that we have been working on these last days (Bernhard Elflein, Herzbube Motorcycles, Revival of the machine: Herzbube’s Indian Scout 101 | Bike EXIF). He’s had the 101 for ages, one of those perfect, hard to finish projects. We spent long hours giving the old Scout its life back, the perfect anticipation to seeing the new icon, almost a century after its forefather was first brought to life. Midnight wrenching proves to be a great metaphor to describe the character one could associate to Indian: a restless, driven, maverick attitude. And I’m about to find out what has been made out of it.

Photo: Olivier Groot

Meeting other attendants upon my arrival already gives a small preview of what could be expected: actors, racers… a wide array of backgrounds with a motorcycle brand as the touching point. Unusual, considering the homogeneity that brands tend to breed. But nothing about this reveal seems to be usual in any way. The chosen place for the occasion: Motorworld Munich, the automotive mecca of the German city, a huge event location packed with the rarest, most impressive machines of recent history. 

Photo: Olivier Groot

Soon after entering the room where the reveal will take place, we notice the covered silhouettes of the bikes we are here to see, parked on the side. Standing in the center, another beauty of early Indian years, this time courtesy of the Indian Motocycle Club Germany. You read that right, Motocycle, without the r, as read on original bikes. Indian people have been riding their lane since the very beginning, when attempts to register the full name led to dodge regulations by letting a letter out of the equation. Clever gentlemen. Christoph – caretaker of the old machine above – also had plenty of other stories to share. It seems like you might meet the nicest people on a Honda, but those with the greatest stories ride an Indian.

Photo: Olivier Groot

After warming up the atmosphere, those responsible for the launch take the stand to introduce the brand and the man leading its renewal, Ola Stenegärd, who guides the public through the creation of the latest machine, in a way very appreciated by anyone with a background in design or motorcycle building. In Ola’s words, the team focused on timeless aesthetics, concentrating on making stuff lean and clean while always keeping customizing in mind. The inspiration? The hot rod scene with legendary cars like Zephyrs, and the unmistakable lines of the original Indians. The design of the new Scout was considered through every layer, giving attention one can notice in every read: from afar, closer or in the smallest details, in the words of the designers.

Photo: Olivier Groot

All the anticipation leads to the covers being finally removed, revealing five models based on the new Scout: the Scout Classic, Scout Bobber, Sport Scout, Super Scout, and 101 Scout (a homage to the original 101, called the best motorcycle Indian ever made). All five share the same tubular frame design that has cleaned the overly heavy, casted feel of the previous model, a design that favors a connection to the vintage Scout and the current Chief. It now features a smaller radiator between the downtubes, neatly integrated rear shocks and that classic Indian downtube line. Features like shock travel, fenders, seats and wheels vary across the line, just like the final trim the customer can choose.   

The new engine – called the Speedplus – has been completely redesigned, bored out to 1.250 cc and now pulls between 105 and 111 horsepower at 7.250 rpm, with 108 Nm of torque at a slightly lower 6.300 rpm. Many will miss the machined engine covers that contributed to the industrial look of the first modern Scout, but there is a general smoothness the bike has in its lines, angles and details that feels coherent and thought through. A very clean look altogether. Of course, it’s not the 1930’s anymore and no manufacturer will offer an exhaust system that doesn’t look like it belongs as a fuel tank in a multiplanetary rocket, but considering everything, the job done is more than acceptable.

Making a bike look like those built 90 years ago only goes so far, and so does losing oneself in poisonous terms like heritage. Throwing some chrome on everything won’t make anything better, neither will doing as if not a single decade has passed, and I think Indian have managed to create a modern machine that knows where it belongs, while not forgetting where it comes from. They put their hands in the fire and cast one hell of a piece out of the heat. Judge for yourselves.

Check out our impressions of the new Indian Scout launch on YouTube!

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New Partnership
Indian Motorcycle have created interesting partnerships with extremely talented builders in recent years. They invariably resulted in truly magnificent machines based on one of their new models. Now the 120 year old American brand has partnered with former FMX star and award-winning vintage custom builder Danny Schneider for exciting future collaborations.

“This is a huge honour. Indian Motorcycle is an old love of mine particularly since I built my 1931 Scout. Then when the FTR came out, I wanted one so badly. And it’s now a reality thanks to the team at Indian motorcycle,” said Danny. “I expected the FTR to be quite different and that I’d need a lot of time to get used to it. But as soon as I sat on it, we clicked. I felt super comfy and confident and that’s the most important thing whenever you try a new bike. The balance, power, and handling are extraordinary. Plus, I love the display.”

While the details of the collaboration are still to be revealed, Danny’s personal affinity with Indian Motorcycle has been long standing, BikeBrewers were offered a chance to talk to Danny to find out about his history and his special vintage Indian Scout creation.

Like Swiss clockwork
Born on August 1974 and growing up in Bümplitz, Switzerland, Danny Schneider went from an early start in BMX to becoming an FMX star then switching direction to become an award-winning custom bike builder. Danny Schneider puts all of himself into anything he does and has bikes running through his veins, he could even wheelie at four years old.
“I was diagnosed with ADHD and needed an intense sport like this, something I could really throw all my extra energy into. I had a blast.”

End of career.
With his natural talent for riding, Danny ventured into Motocross at 16 and by 20 was competing in the extreme sport of FMX (Freestyle Motocross) to become a major force in the developing Swiss scene and a global FMX star. But then Danny had a huge practice crash that saw him in hospital for four months, a career ending injury.
“I knew my competitive riding days were over, but I also knew I couldn’t re-train to work in an office. I needed to find something that would let me express myself. As soon as I could, I bought an old bike and started to modify it and what started as a hobby soon turned into a profession. In 2002, I founded my Hardnine Choppers garage and I’ve been customizing vintage motorcycles ever since. Bringing them back to life as roadworthy pieces of art.”

Still at the top
Now ranked among the best vintage bike builders worldwide, Danny needed his friends’ help in the early days to learn the metalwork skills to be able to realise his creations. But soon his builds started to gain attention and the 2009 D’MX build gained praise in over 20 international magazines.
“That was a real turning point for my career and Hardnine Choppers. The global attention the D’MX bike got was incredible. Soon I was being invited to custom shows and winning trophies in the big competitions.”

Danny is a major name in the custom bike world with fans in America asking for his autograph whenever he attends US shows. A big part of Danny’s appeal is that he never follows trends or gets stuck creating the same style of build. Whether you like café racers, flat trackers or classic choppers, Danny will have built something that will appeal to you. Including a beautiful 1931 Indian Scout which Danny built in 2012.
“For me, the Indian Scout is the best original looking bike ever. When I saw an early Indian Scout, the first Indian Motorcycle I had ever seen, I was blown away by the design and the technology that Indian Motorcycle had back in 1930. Then, after seeing the movie ‘The World’s Fastest Indian’ it became my dream to be the proud owner of one and to build it up from scratch.”

Dream come true
Danny’s dream would come true when he was given the opportunity to buy an incredibly special 1931 Indian Scout 101.
“The amazing part was that the bike was owned by Hans Mack in Germany, a one-of-a-kind wall of death rider back in the day. When he sold it to me, Hans was 83 years old, and he was still riding it. I mean, being able to buy a bike from a legend like him with so much history just blew me away.”

Danny then had a serious decision to make, restore the bike as it was or customise it.
“When you start researching what people have done with the Indian Scout 101, like 99.9% are in original condition and I might get some heat from people if I modified it. But I just couldn’t leave it like this, I have to create unique bikes. So, my game plan was to show respect to Hans by keeping all the original parts, leaving the frame and forks original by not cutting anything off. Welding new stuff on would work because I could always take it away again and take the Scout back to original in the future if I wanted to.”

Lit the torch
As Danny began to disassemble the Scout, he wanted to create a new fuel tank and bought two fuel tanks to use as the base, but they needed a lot of attention due to their age.
“I hand shaped one new tank out of the parts of the two old ones and it took a lot of sheet metal work because they were in a really bad condition. Then I hand hammered a fender and shaped the bars. It sounds easy but it’s a hell of a job, luckily it’s one that makes me super happy because I love the work.”

In the middle of the build, Danny had the idea to photograph the bike on the Offene Rennbahn Oerlikon bicycle track in Zürich, Switzerland which was built over 100 years ago and had also hosted flat track races in 1920.

“I called up and ask if I could ride there as soon as I finished the bike and thew were onboard immediately. But they let me know that the track would be shut for the year from October 13th. Turning around to see a frame with a big mess of parts all around it, and then seeing that the calendar said it was August 27th, my four-month build plan had to go into overdrive. I forced myself to work 18-hour days to complete the bike in time, I wanted to ride this bike on that track so badly.”
 


Call for help
Luckily just days later, Danny’s friend Steve Hopkins rang and Danny told him about the project and the tight timeline. Steve immediately offered to come over to help. Two days later, Steve, a helicopter mechanic, arrived and set to work on all the small, time consuming work like making spacers and fixings for the seat and fenders, plus polishing the engine.

“Steve really helped me with all this small stuff that takes so much time, and I could concentrate on rebuilding the engine. As soon as the fender, bars and tank were done I had them painted. The first time I hadn’t used flakes as I wanted it in an old school traditional look, nothing high gloss. After this I sent the fender and tank out to Japan to Mr.G who does a lot of my artwork for me. In my eyes he is the best and he hand painted them in two days, incredible.”

While waiting for the tins to return from Japan and the tyres to arrive from America, Danny turned his attention to re-building the wheels and completing the engine build.
“In the meantime, I was thinking about how I wanted to do the pipes. With this engine I’d have to do really tight bends to make it fit which would affect the performance of the engine. It took me two weeks of measuring, bending, welding, re-measuring, and trying again before I got the shapes that I was happy with. Plus, the sound is so nice.”
By the end of September, Danny had the project ready for final assembly and with help from Ramon of Hotcycle Pilotes who did all the electrics, the big day came.

Back on the track
“Four kicks and it was running. I adjusted the carb, did a short test ride and I was ready for the big photoshoot. I had the bike completed by October 5th with just days before the track would close. To make a long story short, the track was dry, we shot some great photos and I had an amazing time riding the Indian Scout for the first time. They almost had to shoot me to get me off the track.”

The BikeBrewers team are happy Danny took this Indian and restored it to its former glory.
Paying hommage to the vision and design which dates back almost a century is what this bike really deserved. Taking it back to its natural habitat on the track made us drool. We can’t wait to see more coming out of the Swiss’ workshop!

Builder details:
Builder: Danny Schneider – Hard 9 Choppers
Instagram
Photo credits: Janosch Abel

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Born to be a builder

Modern over Classic
A true petrol-head at heart, Luuc got his license when he was 19 years old. His 1^st bike was a Honda VT600 Shadow. Rest assured it never stayed stock. As a matter of fact, Luuc turned it into a bobber. None of all the 8 other motorcycles he has owned since have stayed stock for long. Once, he even won the bid during an auction on a Honda CX500, with a quirky transverse v-twin. The CX500 didn’t stay stock either, and got turned into a racer and got sold to a man in Sweden, who still owns it to date. Although Luuc doesn’t have a specific brand preference, he must admit that he likes modern machines the most. Basically, anything made after 2010 with EFI. However, he does have a tiny week spot for Indian and KTM/Husqvarna.

Design Contest
In 2019, Luuc participated in a design contest. The task was simple: design a marketing bike for Indian Motorcycles based on their Scout Bobber. He submitted his design and a panel of judges decided that Luuc and 2 other contenders won the assignment. A final poll online showed that the people loved his design, marking him the winner of the contest. This meant a nice trip to London, and while at it, he also went to visit the Bikeshed MC, which was great! This also meant that he now had to build his designed bike for real. No pressure…

Board Tracker
The vision Luuc had for the bike’s overall design was based around a question: what would the Indian Scout look like if motorcycle design remained the same for 100 years, but technology didn’t? An interesting proposition indeed. It is clear that the original 1919 Indian Board tracker served as an inspiration for him. The first step of the design process was to create a digital sketch, followed by a detailed 3D render, in which each part of the bike was carefully measured and recorded. A time-consuming ordeal that required a ton of patience. As a matter of fact, this whole project took about 20 weeks to complete, while he was still working his day job! How does that look like? Work in the office from 9AM to 6PM, work on the build from 6PM till well over midnight, go to sleep, and repeat. Luckily his girlfriend, family and friends all supported him.

Digital Design
We have met with a number of bike builders, none of which have ever pulled off a build like this in a mere 20 weeks, let alone while working in the evenings and weekends alone. Luuc’s secret? Remember he designed this whole motorcycle in 3D, carefully measuring and recording all dimensions? This actually made all the difference. Since the entire project was recorded digitally, it was very easy for Luuc to outsource certain jobs such as frame components. This meant that most of the time could be spent on perfecting the welds and sticking the parts together like a giant LEGO. The gas tank posed a unique challenge on its own. Hard to see from the picture, but the tank actually houses the M-unit, a fuel cell, wiring, air intake, and is even a part of the frame. No digital wizkiddery here, but old school sheet metal shaping by hand.

Bling Bling!
The Indian is full of special parts. The front suspension, for instance, was made by CeraCarbon racing. CeraCarbon racing make some of the worlds lightest motorcycle parts, designed for performance. Then the electrics. Luuc made a completely new harness based around an MO-unit and Motogadget components and with the new racing Carrot C32 ECU replacing the old one, the Indian made more power and the electrics got a whole lot cleaner. Then there is of course the titanium exhaust. This was sponsored by Akrapovic themselves. Luuc and Bert Jan from Outsiders Motorcycles went on a trip to Slovenia with the bike in the back of a van to visit the Akrapovic factory. Together with the grandmasters themselves they built a one-of-a-kind titanium exhaust that is freaking loud! This also spurred the birth of the name of this wild machine: Hasty Flaming Buffalo. It’s fast, it’s red, and you better get out of the way if you see it coming at you!

A Piece of Art
We asked Luuc what he likes the most about this build. “It may sound a bit strange but actually finishing the bike in time, achieving the challenge set by the deadline, for filling the vision I had and firing the bike up for the first time. That just sounds like a lot of violence and must have come close to what the racers in 1919 must have heard and felt while riding the bike!” We can’t help but completely agree. We have seen and heard this piece of art in real life. It is truly something extraordinary, that rather belongs in a museum than in a shed.

A personal message from Luuc Muis:
“This project for me was the stepping stone to start my own business: engineering products & building custom motorcycles. While the Hasty Flaming Buffalo was a marketing project for Indian, I also build bikes for private clients and if you are interested in something unique based on a modern platform bike, you know where to find me.”

Photo Credits: Ronald Rink

Builder details:
Luuc Muis Creations
Website
Instagram
Facebook

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Yes: I’m a huge fan of Indian motorcycles. Especially the really old (and rare) ones. But also the latest models can make my heart run a little faster. The custom Indian I’ve featured was the beautiful creation of Roland Sands, which also was number 5 in our top 10 custom motorcycles of 2015.

My grandfather owned several Scouts, some of them are still ridden by some members of the Dutch Veterans Motorcycle Club. So when I was talking with my uncle about the new models, I took a look at some custom models and it happens to be that Indian Motorcycles is running a contest for their dealers worldwide: “Project Scout“. A worldwide contest for the best custom, 2016 model Scout.

For me, this beautiful Indian Scout Boardtracker stood out:

The low handlebars, short rear, huge wheels and white tires are a tribute to the early Indian Scout Boardtracker:

Voting is possible until February 19 on the website of Indian Motorcycles.

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