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| By
Red Fred
It all started with the usual banter amongst the regulars of the VI mailing list. Constant drivel and running of the mouth about the ultimate Indian. Performance seemed to always be the common denominator so soon the discussion turned to an all out racer. A Land Speed Racer = LSR. We all put in our 2 cents worth on what it should be, and what parts and/or services we could all contribute to this community effort. It was amazing the input of talents offered. I happened to have enough Sport Scout parts to deem worthy for the cause. Having raced the Class C vintage circuit for a while amassed a small pile of spares here. Soon the "Manhattan Project" was alive, and we almost had a rolling project. |
-- 
If there should exist, somewhere out there, a bike cooler than this, I don't think I could bear seeing it... Moen |
| The
project sort of died out after awhile however, and the stagnant Scout parts
soon became in the way. About this time my ever energetic buddy Ron stated
that he was done with his house project, and that all he had now was time,
money, and space! And that he wanted to build an Indian LSR!! We both glanced
at the Manhattan Project pile, and dismissed it, as we are both Chief kinda
guys.
So we then began climbing all over my garage for useful parts and ideas. In twenty minutes we had a derelect Chief motor nestled in a 101 frame that was now a roller. None of any of the parts were ever together before this inspiration! The frame was bare, the cases empty, the forks over there, tanks over there, etc... We had created a monster in 20 mins! |
"A monster in 20 minutes" RF and Ron with the Chout |
| Ron
absconded with the beast and began repairing and contorting the frame and
forks to be useable (most of this stuff was junk you realize). All the
while he combed
ebay,
and subsequently scored some cool stuff.
Upon Ron nabbing a Kosman rear wheel for $100, we were well on our way to big time racing. The hub just looked professional, and we weren't used to such quality and craftsmanship. We immediately felt like the big boys with this new part (well, new to us). |
Straightening original 101 frame. |
| Sandy Kosman is local to us, and is one of the most renowned chassis builders in drag and LSR circles. Sandy's name is like that of Mario Andretti; one could mention the name, but if you were in the same room with the guy, one wouldn't know how to act, or feel worthy enough to strike up a conversation. Ron broke the ice with a phone call. We ended up picking Sandy up from the airport after the High Performance Convention at Indianapolis. We threw his bags in the back of the truck with the Chout, jumped 3 across in the PU, and we were all just motorheads going for a ride. | 
Ron demonstrates wind-cheating riding position. |
| Ron
and I wanted to retain as much of an old flavor we could on this project.
We really liked the look of an old 21" front wheel I had laying around.
But the ever-piercing
rulebook
shot us down on this. In our category, we needed V rated tires, but since
we were running spokes, that bumps us up a notch to the next rating. They
don't make 21" in that rating. We had to settle for a 19". It would
have been much cheaper and easier to go with modern stuff like mags etc...
Sandy's guys took a special liking to our project. We rolled out of there with a new front wheel, a new fork stabilizer (required by the rules), and an ultra trick rear brake set up (plumbing a hydraulic disc was way easier than adapting a mechanical, especially with the quickchange Kosman rear hub). The bike now looked like a spaceship! |
Close-up of Kosman Blade Runner disc |
| All this time, and we haven't even pieced together an engine yet! For now we will just run some units we already have, most likely my street hot rod 80", or the new 84" that Rick Abbott built for my touring '53. We just want to dial in the chassis now so we can fully concentrate on the go-fast stuff later. I've fallen in love with this bike so much, that I've decided to build one for the street; in my spare time! | 
In Love... |
| Also
by Red Fred in the VI back issues:
Garage Raid Rocky's Antique Parts Death Valley Run |
More LSR on the VI: Dream Catcher Streamliner The Shop's LSR Chief |
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