Indian Motorcycle (UK) 2020 Scout 100 Years Brochure

100 YEARS SCOUT Of

®

A VISUAL RETROSPECTIVE OF AMERICA’S GREATEST MOTORCYCLE.

SCOUT 100 YEARS

®

1920 Scout®

1924 Scout®

1927 Wall of Death Racer

1928 101 Scout®

1929 Hill Climber

1932 Standard Scout®

1934 Sport Scout®

1936 Sport Scout®

1940 Sport Scout®

1941 Scout® 741B

1941 Sport Scout®

2015 Scout®

2020 Scout® 100th anniversary

1940 Junior Scout®

1942 Thirty-Fifty Scout®

1949 Scout® Super Sport 249

All images except 2015 Scout® and 2020 Scout® 100th Anniversary courtesey Bonhams.

This year marks the centennial of one of America’s most iconic bikes: the Indian Motorcycle® Scout®. In those 100 years, the Scout® has gone in and out of production multiple times. It’s served in World Wars and been used to break land speed records. It’s survived new owners and new tastes.

It’s been bulked up and slimmed down. It was ridden to dirt track titles in the 1950s—and then again six decades later. Through-out that journey there’s always been one constant: The Indian Motorcycle® Scout® makes people want to ride.To mark such a momentous anniversary, we decided to look back at the bikes that have come before the new 2020 model. One hundred years of Scout® history have been building to this point.

We can’t wait to see where the next 100 take it.

1920

1934

1948

1998

The Indian Motorcycle® Scout® debuts with the 1920 model. The original engine is 596cc, much smaller than most other bikes at the time, which are 1000cc or more. With its lighter weight and smaller engine, the Scout® quickly becomes a popular, more manageable option.

The Sport Scout® enters the market. It features a two-piece keystone frame, which allows the engine to be a structural part of the chassis, a light, English-style spring girder fork, and streamlined, curved fenders.

After World War II, Indian Motorcycle® introduces a parallel-twin 440cc Scout® in order to compete with an influx of lightweight foreign imports.

Nine companies merge to resurrect the Indian Motorcycle® brand - and the Scout® - after a nearly 50-year break in production.

1951

2008

Indian Motorcycle®’s flat track racing team, the Wrecking Crew, wins the first of three back-to-back-to-back championships riding strippeddown Scout®s.

Brad Pitt’s character in Benjamin Button rides a cherry-red 101 Scout®.

1928

1937

The 101 Scout® replaces the original model. The new design adds a stronger frame, better suspension, a lower seat, and a front brake. It also incorporates the new, soon-to-be-legendary 750cc V-twin engine.

Ed “Iron Man” Kretz wins the inaugural Daytona 200 race riding a Sport Scout®. Even though he falls twice during the race, he still manages to lap the field, averaging 74 mph and finishing the 640-mile race in 2:43:27.

1932

1940s

As a result of cost-­cutting following the Great Depression, Indian® replaces the Scout® 101 with the Standard Scout®, which uses the 101 engine in a heavier Chief frame.

Scout®s are used by Allied troops during WWII, often literally for scouting. The most common Scout® used in the war was the 741B, a modified version of a Thirty-­Fifty, with a three-speed transmission and a 30.50-cid 15-hp twocylinder engine. Unlike the civilian Scout®, the 741B comes with a leather submachine gun scabbard and has a metal ammunition box attached to the left front fork.

1933 The Pony Scout® and Junior Scout®, known as Thirty-Fifty Scout®s because of their 30.50cid engines, are introduced.

Although less powerful, they become very popular.

1967 At 68 years old, New Zealander Burt Monro makes motorcycle history by setting an official land speed record of 184.087 mph (with an unofficial top speed of 205.67) on a modified 1920 Scout® Streamliner at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah.

1975 Actor Steve McQueen buys a meticulously restored 1942 Sport Scout®, one of the last produced before Indian Motorcycle® shifted its attention to military bikes during World War II, to add to his collection.

2015 Under new leadership, Indian Motorcycle® relaunches the Scout®, which is now here to stay.

2017 The video game Call of Duty: WWII is released, featuring the Scout® 741B.

2020 The new, limited edition Scout® 100th Anniversary is a modern take on the original 1920 Scout®. It clearly shows that the same passion that drove the company 100 years ago still thrives today.

A CENTURY AGO, WE

SET THE STANDARD WE STILL LIVE BY TODAY. We were founded in 1901 with a simple philosophy. If you're going to do something, do it right.

That's our standard. It's how we built the first Indian Scout® in 1920, and it's how we build motorcycles today. It's the only way we know.