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My name is Raul. New member as of May 2025.
In 1973, my younger brother purchased a new Harley Sportster. Soon after, many of his friends also purchased Harley's. That same year we were sitting around my parents back yard and this group of Harley enthusiasts spent the better part of the afternoon talking about Indian motorcycles. I didn't have a bike, but I thought if all these Harley guys think Indians are so cool, heck I'll buy one. I was 19 and didn't have much money, but managed to purchase a basket case for $750 (see pic). Oh, yeah... I was also clueless. I had no idea what I was doing. However, the numbers matched, I had most of the sheet metal and I was determined to put it together. I put in a lot of overtime to raise the money needed to finance the restoration. A special thank you to the late Sam Pierce and Bob Stark who kept me moving in the right direction. It took three years and a lot of swap meets, but by 1976 it was on the road. Sort of. The second pic is of me in 1976 at a meet in Fullerton. However, I could never get the generator to work properly, the tanks started to leak, and to top it off, the guy who rebuilt the engine for me was also clueless. I pulled the engine, took off the heads, and could move the pistons from side to side.
It was time to take it to Bob Stark who completely rebuilt the engine (again) for me. I took my rebuilt engine home and placed it back in the frame (it's now 1979). Shortly after I met my future wife, started a family, got my dream job, and never put the bike completely back together. Yeah, that's right, its just been sitting there since 1979 in pieces. Fast forward to 2025. My youngest son starts pushing me to restore the bike, I tell him I'd love to, but I'm retired and it's not in the budget anymore. So he offers to finance the entire project. He made me an offer I can't refuse!! The frame is out being powder coated, the seat reupholstered, and a special thank you to Mike Tomas (Kiwi Indian) and Kurt Reichenbach (Kurly's Starklite Cycle) for all the parts I needed to replace.
There's still lot of work to be done and I try to spend time on it almost every day. As much as I love the look of chrome, the header was ceramic coated in black (just got it back) and I'll be converting to 12 volt. I hope to have it up and running again by August. I'll continue to show my progress here.
FYI, for those of you that noticed the Indian head decal on the tanks, yes I know it's not accurate for the year. But again, I was young, clueless, and mostly broke. The decals were inexpensive and looked cool. I may just keep it that way.
In 1973, my younger brother purchased a new Harley Sportster. Soon after, many of his friends also purchased Harley's. That same year we were sitting around my parents back yard and this group of Harley enthusiasts spent the better part of the afternoon talking about Indian motorcycles. I didn't have a bike, but I thought if all these Harley guys think Indians are so cool, heck I'll buy one. I was 19 and didn't have much money, but managed to purchase a basket case for $750 (see pic). Oh, yeah... I was also clueless. I had no idea what I was doing. However, the numbers matched, I had most of the sheet metal and I was determined to put it together. I put in a lot of overtime to raise the money needed to finance the restoration. A special thank you to the late Sam Pierce and Bob Stark who kept me moving in the right direction. It took three years and a lot of swap meets, but by 1976 it was on the road. Sort of. The second pic is of me in 1976 at a meet in Fullerton. However, I could never get the generator to work properly, the tanks started to leak, and to top it off, the guy who rebuilt the engine for me was also clueless. I pulled the engine, took off the heads, and could move the pistons from side to side.
It was time to take it to Bob Stark who completely rebuilt the engine (again) for me. I took my rebuilt engine home and placed it back in the frame (it's now 1979). Shortly after I met my future wife, started a family, got my dream job, and never put the bike completely back together. Yeah, that's right, its just been sitting there since 1979 in pieces. Fast forward to 2025. My youngest son starts pushing me to restore the bike, I tell him I'd love to, but I'm retired and it's not in the budget anymore. So he offers to finance the entire project. He made me an offer I can't refuse!! The frame is out being powder coated, the seat reupholstered, and a special thank you to Mike Tomas (Kiwi Indian) and Kurt Reichenbach (Kurly's Starklite Cycle) for all the parts I needed to replace.
There's still lot of work to be done and I try to spend time on it almost every day. As much as I love the look of chrome, the header was ceramic coated in black (just got it back) and I'll be converting to 12 volt. I hope to have it up and running again by August. I'll continue to show my progress here.
FYI, for those of you that noticed the Indian head decal on the tanks, yes I know it's not accurate for the year. But again, I was young, clueless, and mostly broke. The decals were inexpensive and looked cool. I may just keep it that way.
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