• There has been a recent cluster of spammers accessing BARFer accounts and posting spam. To safeguard your account, please consider changing your password. It would be even better to take the additional step of enabling 2 Factor Authentication (2FA) on your BARF account. Read more here.

Vintage Indian Chief carnage and fix ...

SFMCjohn said:
well, some urban carnage for Mr @kalle on his way to the shop this morning on his bobber Chief—he got knocked over by someone in a car behind him rolling up to a red light, looking at their cell phone instead of where they were going … :(

the damage:

View attachment 577833

broken distributor cap.
Click to expand...
Glad Kalle is AOK.

Looks like a $20,000 part to me. :teeth
 
I love those Kalle things. :thumbup

I guess no copyright music crap on IG??
 
couple biker-lifestyle pics from yesterday … helping Mr @kalle load up a 1916 Harley-Davidson Model J, for a trip to the Corte Madera CHP, to have it inspected and hopefully blue tagged with a VIN so he can get it registered in his name, so he can then ship it by boat for $600 back to the real owner in the EU:

IMG_0179.jpeg

IMG_0181.jpeg

the “Indian Carnage” connection, if we needed one, is that the EU owner makes reproduction pre-war Indian Chief frames. :laughing
 
Last edited:
yes, internal springs, maybe one inch of travel … here’s the factory diagram:

C6821A5A-496E-4632-B127-626A94D630B2.jpeg

“Scanning the collection of drawings relating to Harley’s front-end development, one can see the evolution. A 1908 tapered tubular design, in effect an early leading link springer, was in production until 1923.”
Harley-Davidson Historical Documents: Found and Preserved
 
Had to take a moment to appreciate the skill to make the drawing.

The spring had to be a difficult task and they nailed it. :thumbup
 
there isn’t a slip joint, but there are slots behind the headlight that allow the extension and compression …

you can see the left-side slot in the leading spring tube in the pic.

the slots allow up and down movement of the axel. you can see the slot in the bottom diagram up by the triple tree, indicated by the dashed line.

the fender moves up and down with the leading link. the top brace above the fender brace (the x-ray view in the diagram) is stationary and the springs above and below that brace allow the spring case leading tube to move up and down in relation to that stationary top brace.

the slots go all the way up to the end caps to allow for assembly/disassembly. the movement of the axel on the leading link is probably only an inch or so …

If I get a chance, I’ll try to get better pics of how the front suspension works.

:thumbup :ride
 
Last edited:
here’s a couple pics of the slots in the 1916 Model J’s front spring forks—you can just make out the short spring above and the stationary brace with the nuts:

IMG_0194.jpeg

IMG_0193.jpeg

we tried to make the front end compress on its suspension, and it is very stiff.

and a couple pics of Indian Chief front ends:

leaf spring on pre-war Chief:

IMG_0197.jpeg

you can see that this is a following link, with the axel behind the pivot/rocker … the leaf spring apparently does not require any dampening. Mr @kalle sez these rigid-rear suspension/leaf spring bikes handle well.

and a girder fork on a skirted Chief:

IMG_0196.jpeg

the girder fork uses a small hydraulic shock absorber between the springs to supply dampening. :ride
 
Last edited:
some Indian carnage on this year’s Moto Melee:

6735568416613491138.jpeg

the Mr @kalle bobber wound up on the trouble truck trailer, and the trick with strapping down these hard-tail/small-suspension-travel front end vintage bikes is ya gotta keep an eye on them because if the straps loosen just a little bit, the bike falls over. Ken, the guy driving the trouble-truck told Mr Kalle that the bobber fell off the trailer, twice. :facepalm

and, the damage to the tank:

IMG_0204.jpeg

in this pic you can see the top of the CV carb that Mr Kalle had just installed on the bobber. so he suspected a vacuum leak associated with the new carb when the bike stopped starting, and says he could have fixed the bobber with the spare ignition parts he carries, but instead missed the correct road-side diagnosis.

and a pic of the bobber’s ignition system carnage back at the shop after the ride:

3865731354296241653.jpeg

three Indian guys started the 2025 Moto Melee, and they all finished (Kalle went home the first day and got one of his skirted Chiefs and finished the ride on that bike):

5028123578461554617.jpeg

Mr Kalle’s replacement Chief, and our friend Jim’s red ‘28 Indian 101 Scout.

Mr Jim won the big “Spirit of the Melee” trophy … his bike had to be push-started over the 900 mile, 3-day ride after the kick-start broke, but the Indian crew prevailed in the end, and covered themselves with glory at the after-ride award banquet:

2334062823582324644.jpeg

Mr Kalle and his “2025 Moto Melee Willie Makit Award”:

659015560702350055.jpeg

“Willie Makit,” get it? :toothless

anyway … so, that’s progress on the vintage Indian front. :laughing :ride

Mr Kalle sez he needs to learn how to braize up Indian tanks, so the plan is to buy the pieces that are hand-beaten in India and solder them up himself to repair the damage to the bobber’s left hand side tank by basically making a new tank …
 
Last edited:
Every time I see you post in this thread I get jiggity because it usually is the awesome Kalle vids! :thumbup
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top