Sprockets: ID this bike?

I just saw the trailer for the new Brad Pitt movie. It looks neat and, at one point, he's riding a super-killer motorcycle. This is the best view I could capture from the trailer. Is there enough there to ID it?

An Indian...me thinks a Scout from the 30's

here is a '32 Scout

kinda hard to id w/o seeing the engine

There is enough to tell its an Indian not enough to tell year or exact make. More than likely it is a Scout as I mentioned, or possibly a VERY early Chief.

Here's another picture:

taken from my dead end search at Internet Movie Car Database http://imcdb.org/vehicle_198729-Indian-unknown.html

Left hand throttle or is he coasting?

Looks like an Indian, love the springer set up out front.

That is a super cool motorcycle! Not knowing much about bikes in general, a few questions. In the picture below (of a 1927 Indian Scout), what is the curved handle coming up from just behind the motor? Is that the shift lever? And why does it have what looks like a bicycle pedal?

kickstarter.

The pedal is a kick starter and the lever is a shifter. Look at the bottom of the pedal's shaft, a gear rack, it spins a small pinion gear.

Right hand throttle, so you would ease off the throttle while pushing down the clutch pedal with your left foot, shift the lever, then eas the clutch out.

I'm still confused about the throttle though, if it's right hand throttle you can't shift and throttle at the same time. Left hand throttle would spaz me out. IIRC one of the manufacturers at the time offered a choice of left or right shift.

Dan

I can't see pics at work (damn NetNanny! ) but a lot of the olde tyme V twins had the throttle on the right and the spark advance/retard on the left. I learned this the hard way trying to start a Harley panhead. I accidentally advanced the spark the whole way and wound up going over the bars. Ouch.

About kickstarters: back in the '60's and'70's, JAWA/CZ made a whole line of bikes meant as dirt cheap transportation. One of the cost cutting measures was a combination shifter/kickstarter. It was on the left side in the conventional position, you pressed the tip of the shaft inward and the lever would flip back to the kickstart position. Once you started the bike, you pushed it back to the shift position and rode away.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUS0gH8brcE

I rode my friend's Harley 350 (actually an Aermacchi) shifter on the right, brake on the left. Evcerything's fine until you have a panic stop, you end u downshifting right into a Buick.

is that rod coming up from the crankcase to the gas tank one of those old compression release doohickeys? I remember hearing about those on old bikes but have no idea what they're for.

914Driver wrote: I rode my friend's Harley 350 (actually an Aermacchi) shifter on the right, brake on the left. Evcerything's fine until you have a panic stop, you end u downshifting right into a Buick.

Hehe interesting isn't it? I have an Aermacchi 350 with an all aluminum motor that had been a race bike back in the day. It was actually a very common thing on older small size bikes including the old Sportsters.

Funny thing is when I went to a riders safety class they asked where the various controls on a bike were, I pointed out that it wasn't always the case and got a dirty look.

Where would one look for "antique" motorcycles of this type? It would be a fun restoration project.

Also, while not a huge two-wheel fan, for those of you who are, you MUST make a trip to the Barber Motorsports Museum. I went a few years ago and the motorcycle collection is unparalleled. The website claims over 1,100 examples in total.

http://www.barbermuseum.org/

Bultaco made the switchable bikes IIRC. The shift and brake pedal shafts went all the way through so you clamped the pedal to the side you preferred.

If you are really interested in old bikes, check out Walneck's Cycle Trader. http://www.walnecks.com/ That has damn near every antique bike known to mankind listed. Warning: the old Indians and Harleys bring STUPID money and are not for the faint of wallet.

I got to ride a norton 850 combat comando once, a fantastic ride if ever there was one. It had the shifter on the right and brake on the left, which I didn't find to hard to adjust to; the reverse shift pattern killed me though! at every stop I wound up in fith gear and stalled it! how embarrassing.

dyintorace wrote: Where would one look for "antique" motorcycles of this type? It would be a fun restoration project.

Check everywhere basically. Motorcycle swap meets, local barns, I got my Aermacchi's online from a guy that was getting out of racing and got an entire truck load of parts for free, yard sales, papers/sales rags. I was at my local shop one day and the owner pulled me into the back of the shop where the storage is and showed me a newly acquired 50's Triumph complete with original tires

Well then...I'm going to have to start looking around!

something that you may want to do is start with ANY basket case bike you can find (70's japanese imports can be had for nothing if you look hard enough). That will give you some practice wrenching on a bike, then flip it and get another. It will get you in on some of the unique aspects of working on a bike without trashing your prized Indian when you find one. One of the engines for my Aermacchi has such close tolerances it is INSANE, but then again its a 350cc single cyl engine that can rev to 10k when built to the right specs (freakin Italian engineers).

Another thing is get to know your parts, I picked up a used Aermacchi suspension, rear shocks and front forks, I paid $30 and that was including the shipping. The forks that I got are the same as what was used on some of the 60's Ducati bikes and I have seen them go for around $500 for rougher condition that these are.

Oh another thing is in the old days there were quite a few shared parts with some of the bike manufactures, so don't be surprised when you see a part you are looking for coming off another bike. Getting parts for a vintage bike like an Indian can be tough so it will be a hunt to get all the proper parts.

I am going to say 1928 - 1931 Indian Scout, Model 101, 45" version. I can't see the top of the tank or the rear fender, and most likely they added a front disk and some other stuff to make Brad safer.

pinchvalve wrote: I am going to say 1928 - 1931 Indian Scout, Model 101, 45" version. I can't see the top of the tank or the rear fender, and most likely they added a front disk and some other stuff to make Brad safer.

He's not much for AGATT, though...

Vintage Indians were absolutely left hand throttle, and very early ones had a twist grip for timing advance on the right hand side. That was one of the reasons they were popular with some LEOs, so they could ride the bike and point their gun with their right hand.

pinchvalve wrote: I am going to say 1928 - 1931 Indian Scout, Model 101, 45" version. I can't see the top of the tank or the rear fender, and most likely they added a front disk and some other stuff to make Brad safer.

Hmmm dunno about the front disk conversion as it still has the drum fork. Also as Osterkraut pointed out they don't exactly have him riding in full gear (which would be correct if this is suppose to be set back in the day) I doubt they would make that sort of change to the bike. But as for the estimation of the bike model I agree there.

matt_fulghum wrote: is that rod coming up from the crankcase to the gas tank one of those old compression release doohickeys? I remember hearing about those on old bikes but have no idea what they're for.

Not a compression release. That bike had only like 6:1 compression anyway. It's an oil pump for the lifters. You pump it up when you hear lifter noise.

Friend of mine has one. I think it's a '26 or a '28. A friend of his bought it in Mexico about 1988. All the metal was Parkerized at the factory, so rust is virtually non-existant. The shop manual is a hoot: When you pull the head off on the side of the road to decarbonize the pistons, be sure to be very careful and not damage the head gasket so you can reuse it.