Collectible Bike of the Week: 1951 Indian Chief Roadmaster

OK then. What can I say? This one is special to me for a couple of reasons.

1: I was born in 1951, so this bike and I are roughly the same age. Hopefully the owners took more care of it than I did of me.

2: The first ride I ever had on a motorcycle was an Indian Chief. It would have been in 1955 or ‘56. Look what it caused.

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This is a rare bike from might be the most famous marque in the first half of the 20th Century. Indian was an innovator and an icon that failed due to several really bad business decisions (I’m sure to feature some of those decisions) and poor choices. At the end of their production run in 1953 it was really hard to tell how many were built and sold. They didn’t change much at the end and there were some 51s sold as late as 1954.

Really good complete Indians from post WWII are really hard to find, and they bring premium prices. The amazing part if you do find one it is still rideable if you so just a little work to the heads to make be able to burn modern gasoline. It still works just fine even 65 years after it was built.

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This 1951 had a 1300cc (79 cid) V twin side valve motor. Throttle was on the right hand grip with a left foot (suicide) clutch. The three speed transmission was shifted by the lever on the left side of the tank. Front brake was actuated from the right handlebar and the rear by a right foot lever. By ‘51 all the Chiefs had hydraulic front forks, Indian was an early adopter of that technology.

Indian raised the bar a good many times in the motorcycle business during it’s existence with many innovations that we just take for granted today. The 1951 Chief Roadmaster is a really good example of the last gasp of all that technology.

I hope you enjoy this weeks motorcycle. I know I certainly do!

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