THE NEWEST INDIAN'S:

MAIN PAGE: PERIODS: PROTOTYPES: SINCE 1999: THE HOREX

INDIANS SINCE 1999:

These motorcycles represent Indian Motorcycle development since 1999. Beginning with the "Gilroy" Indian followed by the "Stone Mountain" Indian, and now the "Polaris" Indian, the name, bike, and development has continued. The Gilroy Indian started with an S&S engine then had it's own engine, the Powerplus" after 2002. The Stone Mountain version increased the engine from 100 c.i. to 105 c.i. and developed the engine to a much higher level. What Polaris will do to the engine is not yet known!

Each phase of development has been good for the Indian brand. The Gilroy version put Indian back into production, the Stone Mountain version made it a much more refined motorcycle, and the Polaris version will no doubt make it much more marketable. Time will tell.

THE GILROY, CALIFORNIA INDIAN:

Nine investors came together sometime in 1998 and purchased the Indian name. The dominant ones were from Canada. They then looked for a factory in which to build the new Indians. They chose the California Motorcycle Company located in Gilroy, California. CMC had been building low production customs under their own name. They just switched to the new motorcycle using S&S motors. Indians were built from 1999 to 2003. There were a few 2004 bikes built for show. All that happened was that one of the investors defaulted in money which was being funneled into Indian as operating capitol. The factory was closed, assets liquidated, and the name sold. The greatest complaint regarding the Gilroy Indians was that they were like "kit" bikes. There was little refinement and development was slow.

The bike at the top is a 2000 Chief, the next is a Stone Mountain version, followed by a Polaris owned version.

The full fenders have been an Indian trademark since 1940:

The Stellican Indians were built from 2006 to 2011. Stellican is a Londan based investment firm which has been known for taking distressed companies and renewing their business. The most famous of the Stellican brands was Chris Craft. The Indian name was bought, a factory built in Stone Mountain, North Carolina, and much development work was done. The new Indian company went to Harley Davidson development employees and offered them more money than what they were currently being paid. Many followed and an estimated $50 million was spent in developing the motorcycle. The existing machine was overhauled and made much better. What happened to the new company was this, the economy fell and the market for heavyweight motorcycles dropped drastically. The result was a very low production motorcycle sold through a minimal numbers of dealers at a premium price. My guess is that few have been sold. No numbers have been published but I understand that the original 200 built were not sold in 2009 when they were first offered for sale. The Stillican Indians were sole from 2009 to 2011.

The new Polaris Indian is just beginning to develop it's strategy for the future. My guess is that there will be an effort to blend the Indian with Victory Motorcycles. I would also guess that the price will be made lower and the greatest effort will be in the area of marketing! Polaris took over in mid 2011 so my guess is that it will take a year to see what direction will be taken.