Custom Indian by The GasBox

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Today’s feature is a blast from the past a custom Indian built by master builder Jesse Bassett atThe GasBox. Jesse Bassett first appeared on Moto Rivista with his flawless creation The BSA Lightning.

It’s ironic that when we are young we like the future and as we get old we look back in time and enjoy certain memories of it. I always get excited when I get to feature a custom vintage bike. In many ways vintage bikes remind me of my past, and when I saw Jesse Bassett’s custom Indian it reminded me of the time I spent with my dad working on his vintage bikes.

Lets get a little flashback about Indian Motorcycles “Hitting the road in 1901, Indian was not only the first American motorcycle, it was the world’s best-selling bike and, having introduced the first V-twin motorcycle to the world in 1907, the most technologically advanced. The Indian Scoutwas built from 1920 to 1949 and was designed by Charles B. Franklin.”

Back to Jesse Bassett’s custom Indian “The motorcycle started out as a 1940 741 Indian Military Scout. The design concept was to make it look like the styling of the late 1920’s Scouts.

First the top frame rail was cut and raised to frame the shape of the fuel tanks. The frame was then stretched 4” to move the down tube in front of the generator instead of behind it, by doing this the line of the motorcycle is cleaned up by not having a generator sticking out. The stance was next, the lower girder links were stretched 3/4 of an inch for rake and the front axle position was raised 3 inches for the correct ground height in order to accommodate both front and rear 19” wheels. The top of the girder was narrowed 2” to eliminate the bulky look.

The fuel tanks were hand formed from sheets of .080” aluminum to copy the look of the 1920’s Indian tanks. The handlebars were made from cutting up sets of Harley Panhead bars to utilize original internals and designed after original Indian Scout bars. The front hub is original Indian and the rear is Triumph. The rims are Dunlop’s. The headlamp is a 1920’s automotive lamp and the bezel was hand spun from brass to copy the original since it was in too bad of condition to reuse.

For the drive train, the Indian engine was rebuilt with new hard parts and a Norton Commando4-speed transmission was chosen in exchange for the oem Indian 3 speed. New engine plates were made and the Scout primary was cut in half, offset and mated with a 1920’s Indian outer primary. All of this was done in order to accommodate the Norton diaphragm clutch. The Norton engine sprocket was bored out and welded to the machined down Indian front sprocket, then re-hardened.

All aluminum was polished, all steel was nickle plated, and all cast iron was electroless plated. The entire frame and fork were nickle plated then painted Indian red.

It’s not surprising this custom Indian beauty come second in the Custom Class at this years Quail Motorcycle Gathering behind Shinya Kimura’s Mv Agusta. The flawless creations that roll out of The GasBox will be admired for many years to come.

Check out the other featured bikes from The GasBox.

Visit – The GasBox | The GasBox Facebook

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MotoGP, Losail: here come the paddock girls

from Twowheelsblog

The new, long-awaited MotoGP season has finally begun, and that means that our usual photo gallery featuring the most charming paddock girls of the weekend is back too. There’s no doubt that Valentino Rossi’s “resurrection” in Qatar had many fans jumping on their sofas in excitement, and here is a nice collection of pictures that might get your hearts pumping just as much. Well, maybe not ‘that’ much, but after such a massive race this might be just the proverbial ‘icing on the cake‘ to close the Losail chapter and move on to the next one.

Speaking of which, the next MotoGP round will take place in just a forthnight at the brand new ‘Circuit Of The Americas’ (COTA) in Austin, Texas, where a few weeks ago Honda’s Marc Marquez topped the timesheet in all of the three days of testing. Not that there were that many teams there (just Repsol Honda, LCR Honda and, for the first two days only, Yamaha Factory Racing) but that is obviously a good omen for the talented 20 years old.

However, even though Marquez and Pedrosa lapped considerably better than Rossi and Lorenzo on their first test at the COTA, if there’s something that we’ve learnt (again) from the Qatar GP is that being fast on one lap doesn’t mean anything if you have no consistency and the bike doesn’t take proper care of the tyres, so we just have to wait and see what will happen once there. One thing we are already sure about is that there’s going to be more paddock girls there, and we will report about that a couple of days after the race.

The Ranchero Returns Part 2! Alaska or Bust, the Sequel - Roadkill Episode 1

On this episode of Roadkill, the 14-month dream of ice racing in Alaska comes true! More than a year ago, on Episode 2 of Roadkill, Freiburger and Finnegan hit the road in a '68 Ford Ranchero with a wild goal: to drive 3,600 miles from Los Angeles, California, to Big Lake, Alaska, to go ice racing. Somehow, they instead found themselves in the bottom of the Grand Canyon. You really need to check out Episode 2 to understand the level of fail that has chased these guys. 

The most recent Roadkill, Episode 13, told the first half of the story of Freiburger and Finnegan's second attempt—and this time, on Episode 14, you can bask in the suffering and victory as they finally reach the goal. But how with their 45-year-old muscle car fare in an ice race with the Alaska Sports Car Club? Watch to find out.

For those interested in tech specs, the '68 Ranchero is powered by a 363ci small-block Ford that's based on a big-bore Dart SHP block; the bore and stroke is 4.125x3.400. It has 9.3:1 compression, Dart 195cc heads, and a hydraulic roller cam with 232/244 duration at 0.050, .565/.580 lift, and a 114-degree LSA. The engine made 471 hp at 6,200 rpm and 451 lb-ft at 4,500. The trans is a Gearstar C4. The car's biggest problem is the 2.80:1 gears in the 8-inch rearend. That's too high for a heavily loaded car with a big cam, but they were used to keep rpm down during the trip to Alaska.

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