1915 and later kick start

[Ian Biddle]

Please can anyone tell me if any of the 1914 Indians had a conventional style kick starter as supplied for 1915 onwards? All the books I seen suggest not but I have seen 13 & 14s shown with the kicker, which I presume is a later mod to make daily riding easier.

'The Iron Redskin' shows Dewey Bonkund's 13 with a kicker, as does The Ultimate Motorcycle (a 14) and Fred Lange had a 14 with kicker for sale recently. Thanks.

And I'm still looking for a carb for my 10/11 Thor 4 HP if you here anything. Thanks again

[chicagohen]

The first year for an Indian kick starter was 1912 on the TT model but it was on the forward side of the gear. 1915 was the first year of kicker behind the gear but the arm quadrant was long and the gear was small. Indian reversed this ratio in 1916, shorter quadrant, bigger gear. What you see in the old photos is a retrofit that was not original. Many of these guys also stuck a Powerplus tranny in to make the early bikes more rideable. In those days there was less emphasis on judging correctness down to the last nut and bolt as today. The fellows enjoyed riding their old machines.