From time to time Landström's Foundry receives photos of enthusiests' bikes. The latest one I received was from Chris Biglands hailing from the UK. Chris' bike is not an ordinary Indian custom. I've never seen a Chief in a soft tail frame or some of the other mods that he has done. Usually when guys get too far out, they lose perspective of what vintage Indians are all about but that's not true in Chris's case. He combined a modern frame and transmission with a classic Indian engine to make a fully streetable yet vintage custom motocycle. I thought Chris's Indian was so neat that it should get some recognition and I decided that it should be the first Featured Bike on this site. Enough of my rant. Check out Chris's bike.

Chris Biglands' story....

I have a very low attention span and as soon as I finish something I’m bored. The second my 741 started I was already moving on. I have always wanted and still want a 101 Scout but my finances, like everyone's, are limited and I've had to compromise. This bike is my homage to the 101.

My first love is custom bikes and I’ve built choppers even from an early age—tasteful things of course, with metal-flake paint, apehangers and tombstone taillights. Don’t get me wrong: I don’t dislike stock bikes I just can’t help myself and cannot resist the urge to modify things (sometimes and quite often for the worse).

This chop started with a half scrap crankcase. Then I acquired the rest of the engine, a scrap HD frame, boot sale wheels... you know how it goes.

For me, building a custom bike is like completing a large three dimensional jigsaw puzzle and the fun is in making a bunch of bits that come from a wide range of sources and continents work together and look as though they have always been together. Throughout this process my foremost principle is it must be rideable and capable of being ridden hard (f**kin hard!).

Chris' homage to the 101

I started on the engine and acquired a new pair of Kiwi cases, this was for two reasons: first, the ones I had were tired and secondly, I wanted it to go like f**k! Cases made from melted 1940s pots and pans were definitely not the way to go. Kiwi cases are made from modern high quality aluminum, but don’t be fooled into thinking they just bolt together, anyone who’s ever worked on more than one Indian will know that each year Indian made small changes sometimes with scant information so each engine varies and so does mine. I wanted speed so my natural choice was Robin at RTO Engineering (RTO now has a new site). The bloke is not normal, but he sure can build an engine! I settled for 74” built to Bonneville specs. This was due to both the available parts I had and the fact that I know the "big" engine can be a bitch to start at times.

The gearbox is a Revtech HD type bought off-the-shelf because I wanted modern gear ratios to help fulfill my desire for speed. I had acquired a very bent HD Softail frame for £100. The Softail frame gave me rear suspension and the Revtech gearbox would drop straight in. Furthermore, I knew from other projects that I could use up to a 180 rear tyre using the stock swingarm and chain drive. All I had to do was cut the frame into 1000 bits and remake it around the engine, gearbox and a 101 tank. As a result, all that was saved from the HD frame was the gearbox mounts, swing-arm and swing-arm mounts. I couldn’t help trying to make the axle plates look antique by welding tags and reshaping them. Before I get carried away and claim all credit for the fabrication work, this was done almost exclusively by Dave Batchelar of P&D (UK number 0044 1403 791038) and my Dad plus my usual pathetic assistance.

I had bought scrap wheels and forks from a boot sale years ago and these were already rebuilt waiting for the rest of the bike to catch up. The forks are eight over and I don’t think they quite look right so I'm making a set of stretched leaf spring girders.

Chris' 741

The generator was more difficult, because I was running an open primary I had no box/gears to change the rotation to power a Chief generator (and I didn’t own one!). I scratched me head went through boxes of shite in the garage and found most of a 741 generator and a bracket. All I had to do was convert it to 12v, machine the back off the clutch basket, whack a pulley to it and Frankenstein's yer uncle, Volts! After some serious measuring I figured there was just enough room to run the generator belt next to the rear chain, taking the back off the clutch hub meant I also had to machine the generator pulley to make it a bearing retainer as well. I made the primary backing plate (from plate borrowed from a skip) using an electric jigsaw it took sooo long, I eventually lost the will to live and bribed Robin file it square while I made the tea. If you look carefully at this bike you will see many fine little details like the speedo hidden in the yokes, the HT leads running through the frame and the panhead oil filter. The bikes oil tight but the panhead filter leaks like a sieve, Harleys, eh?

I’m running billet brakes with the Chief, not cheap but they do work. Years ago I made a Sportster go very quick, only to hit a bend fast and realize I should have bought brakes first. Lesson learnt. The front caliper just bolted straight on, the rear didn’t and to make it difficult for myself I wanted a kind of 70s frisco look. The seat is a nice repro one from Alan Forbes, I didn’t have any springs so cut up an old pair of jap fork springs, they work a treat and are nice and stiff. I wanted to experiment with electronic ignition so bought a kit in the US, it seems to work well and was the perfect answer to using a stock HD coil I had bought from a boot sale for £5. The horn was my real extravagance, its from a Gilroy Indian and was obscenely expensive but I had set my heart on one and knew it would look great. On reflection compared to Indian horns it was pretty cheap. The headlight came from a HD main dealer (£35 while the boss was out) bargain. I went for a Mikuni carb, its been a bastard to get the jetting right due to my incompetence and there being scant info around, but it now works well. It was again necessary like my Scout to make an adaptor to fit the 3 stud Linkert manifold mount. One day when I’m really bored I will cast a few of these up to help others with the same problem (don’t hold your breath).

When the bike was finished my mate Lard and I took it to Robins for the final tweaks and the big test, would it start? Yep it did, first kick! This bike is a testament to the skills, ingenuity and faith of a small number of people. My desire was to create a chopper that would be timeless which I hope people will agree we have done. That said it was described by one very well known character in the UK Indian world as ‘an abortion’ which I found a little sad, but it takes all sorts I guess.

The bike is still running strong with well over 1000 miles on it and it hasn’t missed a beat. Its still brings a massive smile to my face ‘I F**kin love it!’

We have also now won a staggering amount of trophies this year, on average two per show, its also in 100% Biker issue 69 (fnar fnar) and hopefully The Horse: Backstreet Choppers in the States.