Get out on the highway

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This article was published 15/09/2014 (4228 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Fans of the iconic Indian motorcycle brand can now get revved up at
Headingley Sport Shop.

And if you happen to have $12,199 in disposable income, you can order a 2015 Indian Scout, one of two new models the company is offering. The other is the Roadmaster, a much larger style that rings up at $29,999.

Shop owner Jill Ruth is thrilled about becoming Indian Motorcycle of Winnipeg, the sole Indian motorcycle dealership between Calgary and Toronto.

“We’ve been negotiating with Indian for about a year and a half,” she said.

The first floor models are on display, and Ruth expects the new models to arrive soon.

Part of her ability to sell the Indian brand is due to Polaris Industries buying Indian Motorcycle in April 2011. Indian started making motorcycles in the U.S. in 1901, two years before Harley Davidson began. The Indian company developed innovative technology and by 1911, had set national speed and distance records. It played an important role in both World Wars, supplying Allied forces with motorcycles.

However, following the Second World War, the company struggled through two bankruptcies while Indian aficionados mainly bought and repaired vintage models.

“It had become almost a custom bike,” Ruth said.

The 2006 movie, The World’s Fastest Indian, starring Sir Anthony Hopkins, depicted New Zealand speed bike racer Burt Munro as he set land speed records on a modified Indian Scout in the 1950s and 60s at Bonneville Salt Flats.

Following its purchase of the company, Polaris started making Indian Chief Classic, Vintage and Chieftain models.

 

 

 

Ruth’s 45-year-old family business at 5160 Portage Ave. in Headingley has sold Polaris snowmobiles for years, adding the company’s Victory motorcycles to its stock more recently. She said Polaris has been able to increase the Indian motorcycle’s reliability while decreasing the price.

She is expanding the store with a 10,000-square-foot addition to showcase the Indian motorcycles, clothing and other branded merchandise.

“It’ll have its own entrance,” she said, making it a virtual Indian brand store. She expects work to begin this fall and the new section to open in the spring.

She plans to invite friend and local Indian motorcycle fan Ross Metcalfe to the opening so he can share his knowledge. Metcalfe owns a 1938 Indian Junior Scout, which broke the land speed record at Bonneville Salt Flats in 2005 and is on exhibit at Jim’s Vintage Garages at 5353 Portage Ave. in Headingley.

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