Indian Motorcycles Model F 7hp Twin 1914
The pioneering success of the Hendee Manufacturing Company’s Indian motorcycles is well known.
The company launched motorcycle production in 1901 by combining Oliver Hendee’s ‘Silver King’ bicycle expertise with Oscar Hedström’s skills in engine design and development. Up until the early 1910s, motorcycles were manufactured using what was essentially bicycle frame technology but, among other significant advances incorporated in its models, Indian motorcycles introduced a full cradle frame. The 1914 7hp model featured such a frame with leaf-spring suspension front and rear. The front suspension was of a trailing link design.
The 7hp, 61ci (988cc), V-twin, Hedström-type engine featured inlet-over-exhaust valves and a Hedström-designed carburettor, and was equipped with a multi-plate dry clutch operated by either hand or foot. The ‘basic’ model was single-speed but other models featured two- and three-speed transmissions. The hand controls operated mechanical linkages with the throttle on the left and the ignition advance/retard on the right. The gear lever on models with a gearbox was on the right hand side of the fuel tank, a feature that Indian continued throughout its history.
The top-of-the-range 1914 model, known as the ‘Hendee Special’, was ahead of its time in terms of electrical technology. It featured full electrics including the first electric starter on a motorcycle and an electric horn but the battery technology available at the time was not up to the task. With batteries becoming exhausted after only a few dozen starts, the company stopped production from March 1914 and reverted to producing only machines without electric equipment. Consequently, the Hendee Special became an expensive failure with an estimated US$100,000 spent on its development. The electric starter did not return to the motorcycle world for several decades.