Millwater Motors

millwatermotors

When we learned that local Millwater man Peter De Jong owned a beautiful Indian Scout motorcycle, we just had to go and learn more.

Peter’s parents emigrated from the bulb fields of Holland in the 1950s and he was born at home in Glenfield, where he grew up admiring the motorcycles and cars that his elder brother had. “When I turned 16, I had my very own first ’bike,” Peter told us, “which brought an instant love for motorcycles that has endured through marriage and parenthood, when raising a family was our top priority.”

When Peter turned 40, he returned to biking and bought a Suzuki SV650 and enjoyed trips with his brothers. “In 2015 I bought a Honda VFR1200 sports tourer, which was really quick and I was surprised at how soon I got used to its superlative performance,” Peter said.

Classic motorcycles had always held their appeal for Peter, but he needed all the ‘bells and whistles’ of a modern machine. This led, in 2016, to Peter buying the beautiful new Indian Scout that you see here. We asked where his favourite roads were and Peter was quick to say, “All of New Zealand.” Having met an American biker on an earlier NZ road trip and

then accepting his invitation to ride with him in the USA, Peter and wife Diane later returned the hospitality in NZ.

Indian Motorcycles began back in 1901, in Springfield, Massachusetts, but the original company ceased production in 1953. Several attempts, some more successful than others, were made to resurrect the Indian. Finally, in 2011, Polaris Industries took over and produced in August 2013 their first all-new Indian-branded motorcycles. The range now runs to 10 different models.

The ’bike you see here in Indian Motorcycle Red with the matching tan leather panniers is the Scout model – nowadays one of many variations of the 60-degree, liquidcooled, 1133cc V-twin. Twin overhead cams, 4 valves per cylinder with graded tappets, closed-loop fuel injection, split dual exhaust with crossover and semi-dry dry sump are just some of the outstanding specification details.

We asked Peter if he was concerned about the image of leather-clad, middle-aged men riding grunty American motorcycles. His typically humorous response suitably concluded one the most enjoyable interviews we have had: “You don’t get cowboys riding Indians!”