Old Indian dirtbike?

[smokeyhonda]

My dad's friend is selling/giving him an old dirtbike fresh from the barn. Says its an Indian. From the 50's. Asked dad what he was gonna do with it...restore it? No, I'd thought you would do that he says. Oh Boy! So where do I find some info, I haven't seen the bike but I'd like to research some so I know what I'm looking at when I do. Any suggestions, good sites or sources for parts? All I seem to find are streetbike sites and history no references to dirtbikes.

[TimSr]

I dont know of any Indian dirt bikes from the 50's, but they did have a bunch of them in the 70's. They were actually Japanese made 2 strokes, and wore an Indian label. The 100 and 125 motors suspiciously resembled the Hodaka. In the early 70's Indians pretty much ruled the MX tracks in the mini classes. Im going from memory, but I know they had a 50cc, a 100cc, and a 125cc. I think they may have had a 70 or an 80, and possibly a 175cc, but I dont think they had anything bigger than that.

[kevins750]

I used to have a centrifigul clutch indian 50cc bike....That thing destroyed any bike under 80cc back in the day....Actually I believe some of the motors(atleast mine was) were made by moto morinni or some other Italian co...You can check some publications listing american bikes, they will show alot of the old Indians in them...kevin

[atcpunk107]

hey i have an old Indian Dirt bike that i think i have about giving up on, i could not find out what it is, i gave the local Indian dealer the number on the motor ad frame and they said they could find out what it was either, it looks to be a 70, 80cc, i took the motor apart and behind the one case it said ducati, and in another spot in the same area it said motor something, if you can get pics of it it would be greatly appreciated, maybe it is the same bike that we have, maybe we could look for info on it and find out what they are.