Indian engine number

[panthersteve]

Hi

I have been doing a bit of looking on here but have not been able to find an answer.

I found the following on a website and was wondering if it is corrrect or not ?

Would an Indian expert please comment on my interpretation of the number:

The number is 90F432 and according to my reading is translated as follows:

The 'F' indicates 1914, and the machine has a 61inch twin motor.

The Twin motor of 1914 is designated '7', so we take the '90' and break it down by splitting the 9 to a 7 for the engine type, plus 2 plus 0

The 2 is translated to be 2x10,000 = 20,000; The 0 is translated to be 0x1,000 = 0 and when the 432 is added we get the seriel number 20432

The location is http://www.vinandvet.eu/Motorbikes/1...Indian-V-Twin/

Cheers
Steve

[Ross]

The F for 1914 is a given. The rest of what you have...hhhhmmmmmm

[panthersteve]

Hey Ross

Thanks for the reply, according to a bit more research the above may be correct, or at least it matches up with the information here http://web.archive.org/web/201105191...es/serials.htm

The only thing I don't know now is if this page is correct, after all it could either corroborate the initial example or it could be where they got that information.

Can anyone provide more info on the validity of this information please.

Cheers
Steve

[dixchief]

1914 indian seat is wrong

Just a quick note. Without going further into the bike, the seat is not correct on this bike. The 1914 Indian had leaf sring suspension in the seat. Ironicly , this seat matches an unknown seat I have been trying to ID. I have pix of the original seat on my 1914 twin.
Richard dixchief@gmail.com

Hi

I have been doing a bit of looking on here but have not been able to find an answer.

I found the following on a website and was wondering if it is corrrect or not ?

Would an Indian expert please comment on my interpretation of the number:

The number is 90F432 and according to my reading is translated as follows:

The 'F' indicates 1914, and the machine has a 61inch twin motor.

The Twin motor of 1914 is designated '7', so we take the '90' and break it down by splitting the 9 to a 7 for the engine type, plus 2 plus 0

The 2 is translated to be 2x10,000 = 20,000; The 0 is translated to be 0x1,000 = 0 and when the 432 is added we get the seriel number 20432

The location is http://www.vinandvet.eu/Motorbikes/1...Indian-V-Twin/

Cheers
Steve

[exeric]

Sucher's book "Iron Redskin" lists the 1914 twin as starting with serial number: 70F001 and up. I would suspect the numbers were sequential. That formula is a bit bizzare and would fly in the face of logic. From a production viewpoint, a sequential number can be traced to time, and production methods which is critical if a component issue occurs. Of course, I'm applying logic, and serial numbers often baffle the experts.

[AFJ]

The F for 1914 is a given. The rest of what you have...hhhhmmmmmm

While for 1914, "F" is the year code, "40" is the single cylinder code and "70" is the twin cylinder code it would appear that "90" is the code for single gear twins. A review of Indian serial numbers acquired over the years from various sources suggests to me that all "70" and "80" codes are v-twins with gearboxes.

It appears that when a number over 999 was needed for an engine number, the model code number was increased by 1. (eg. 90 would become 91) And when the popular twin serial numbers exceeded (say)79F999 then presumably 80F101 started a new "series".

First saw this long ago when researching the story of the Toronto, Canada Indian factory on Mercer St.

AFJ