History
| Alan Forbes has been in the Indian
Motorcycle restoration and parts supply business for thirty years. Restoring old Indians is not just a business to him, it is his passion. A passion in which he breathes new life into old Indians. Alan owns the very first Indian imported into the United Kingdom; it's in his shop on West Scotland Lane, Edinburgh, Scotland, as well as a rare inline four model from the thirties. He also owns the Trademark rights to the Indian name in the United Kingdom. He is clearly a world-class leader in the movement to preserve the Indian Motocycle Company of old. |
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| The Dakota 4 design, which Alan has
developed into a full production machine, came in part from the Swedish
company, Viking. When Alan saw the Viking designs, he was struck by the way in which the concept could be reconstructed to fit into his overall vision of the Indian 4 updated. He then acquired the rights to the design of the Viking, and took the design to its fruition. Hard work and willpower have brought the
"Dakota 4" to be within the spirit of the original Indian Motocycle Company.
The historical precedents are strangely interrelated; the Indian 4 was
originally via Ace, which was bought and developed by the old Indian
company. Bill Henderson who designed the Ace, moved from Scotland to the
U.S. and begun his development of the four cylinder inline motorcycles. Mr.
Henderson and Oskar Hedstrom (also a Scandinavian who migrated to the U.S.)
founded the Indian |
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