Words Doc Pics Graeme Hammond1924 INDIAN
A
fter viewing a 1934 bobber at a rally in Bunbury and being
struck both the look and style of the bike, a fire was lit within
Graeme Hammond. The bobber owner told him he knew a bloke
who had a 1924 Chief frame and the remains of a Chief engine.
We’ll come back to the story of this bike, but first let’s take
a trip back in time to 1924, when Indian Motocycles were a pretty
big deal. Their sales brochure boasted on the cover that the Indian
Motocycle was the Master of the Road and, not only that,
but was the Standard of the World.
Back in the day, well before ‘cultural appro-
priation’ was a social issue, the Indian
factory in Springfield Massachusetts
was called the Wigwam, and at one
time was the largest motorcycle
factory in the world. In fact, it was
larger than all the other motor-
cycle companies put together.
The Hendee Manufacturing
Company initially produced the
motorcycles beginning in 1901,
but the name was later changed to
the Indian Motocycle Manufacturing
Company as it’s known today.
Why ‘motocycle’ you may ask? Well when motor-
cycles began to appear in the late 19th century,
there was some uncertainty about what to call them.Do you prefer Sinatra or Presley? Both
sang a powerful version of “I Did It My
Way”. Well with this bike, owner Graeme
certainly did it his way!