One-O-Wonder
Bill Fowler's 1931 Indian 101 Scout
Story by Jim Babchak, Photos by Buzz Kanter
(Reprinted here with permission of the editor - please support them!)

About 20 Years Ago (1983), I purchased an old 101 Indian Scout from a neighbor in my hometown of Peekskill, New York. It was barely running at the time, but complete enough to warrant a full restoration for someone with a great deal of vision and even more financial resources. (I had the vision, but was short on the financial resources.) The bike was held together with chicken wire and bubblegum, and many makeshift parts had been substituted for the factory original pieces throughout the years. The good news is that because of these "ham and eggs" repairs, the bike still ran and thus avoided being turned into scrap metal years back, long before anyone appreciated its future value as a collectible. Lots of those neat little clips, one-of fasteners, and beautiful nickel-plated nuts and bolts were long gone, and would be needed to do a proper job of restoring the Scout.

I set the project aside, and about five or six years later, I decided to tackle the restoration. I inventoried the bike and wrote a long list of the hardware needed to begin the restoration. It was a daunting list, and it was my opinion that these parts would take a long while to hunt down. My search began at an Antique Motorcycle Club meet in Pennsylvania. There I ran into Randy Walker of Walker Machine Company in Brookfield, Massachusetts. To my absolute delight, spread out on Randy's vending table was an outstanding collection of small, newly manufactured parts for the 101 Indian Scout! I was taken aback and thought I must be dreaming. There on the table sat a gleaming new set of rocker studs, bushings, bearings, wheel hub parts, etc., all gorgeously reproduced, nickel-plated, and ready for assembly. I was impressed. I bought a batch of parts and have never been more satisfied with the quality of remanufactured parts in all my years of motorcycling.

Randy's love affair with the Scout goes back many years. As a kid in the 1950s, his first bike was a 1931 Harley-Davidson, which his father bought for him. Randy's dad is an amazing machinist and restorer with a large collection of cars and motorcycles, and he infused in Randy a love of all things old. On his 16th birthday, Randy got a 1931 101 Indian Scout and has been enamored with them ever since. An attempt to restore his Scout in the mid-1980s led him to George Yarocki of Torrington, Connecticut. George is a life-long fan of the 101 Scout. He formed a club in 1983 that's dedicated to the model, called the 101 Association. George is nicknamed the Father of the 101 and is a recognized authority on the model.

The 101 Indian Scout was manufactured from 1928 to 1931 and is considered by many to be the finest motorcycle Indian ever made. They are called the One-O-Wonders. Their quality of design and rugged reliability are credited with the origination of the slogan "You can't wear out an Indian Scout."

As for this month's feature bike, Randy bout it as a collection of arts in 1998 and then set about restoring it. Restoration is one way to describe what he did to it, but a more accurate term might be "remanufactured." His goal is to maintain the original quality of the machine, but not necessarily use all original parts. You see, Randy's company remanufacture over 700 parts for Indians. During the refurbishment of our feature bike, he incorporated most of these parts in the task.

Let's start with the motor and work our way around the machine. The motor was disassembled, and the cylinders were addressed first. Randy believes in using a heavy 3/32" cast iron sleeve and bores it to factory specs. He used NOS pistons (of which he has a large stash), as well as a set of NOS valves, a set of newly manufactured cast iron guides, springs, keepers, etc. the guides were immersed in synthetic oil and heated to 450 degrees for a few hours to impregnate the cast iron with Teflon. The cooling fins on the barrels and heads were rewelded and repaired as needed and then nickel-plated to exact factory standards.

On the bottom end, Randy installed all new parts that he manufactures; a pinion shaft, a drive gear shaft, crankshaft, bushings, bearings, rollers, pins on the cam followers, and more. The stock connecting rods were magna-fluxed and straightened as needed. The DLX 79 Schebler carburetor is remanufactured as well, with new sleeves in the throttle throat, and a new venturi, float, and needle valve. The magneto and generator were also rebuilt back to factory specs, and a new wiring harness keeps the electricity flowing.

The transmission, a three-speed that shifts off the tower, uses newly manufactured gears with NOS bearings and a conventional oil seal that Randy makes himself. He's not a fan of the old felt seals because they tend to leak and fail. A King Clutch was installed for ease of shifting and solid performance.

Next up was the chassis. Randy has built a series of jigs and frame alignment tools to help return the bike to its perfectly straight and true original stature. The frame was heated and tweaked back to factory specs, as was the front end. The handlebars were straightened, but Randy is able to replace them with new tubing if needed.

This machine rolls on 18" drop-center rims with 4.00-18" Crocker diamond tread tires. The spokes are stainless steel items that Randy dipped in an acid solution, to get the cadmium-plated look while still retining the better wear characteristics of stainless steel.

The gas tank was taken apart, cleaned up, resoldered, resilvered, and put back together. The fenders were removed from the braces, straightened, and put back on new fender stays. Tandy also made the entire exhaust system, which is an item he produces.

The headlight is a rare John Brown unit that was all but impossible to find, so Randy has them reproduced. He also reproduces the taillight, compete with the script on the bucket. Randy's attention to detail is amazing, which is fitting since he is the New England AMCA chief field judge, as well as the president of The 101 Association, taking over for long-time president and founder George Yarocki.

The paint is S&W's maroon enamel with Tacoma Cream panels. The gold pin striping and Indian script is hand-lettered and hand-painted. Randy does not like the decals currently available on the market, as they are incorrect according to factory photos. Speaking of which, Randy restores all his bikes to factory specs, based on factory photos and literature. He takes nothing for granted, nor does he use any secondhand information, photographs, or other restorer's specs.

Once the bike was finished, Bill Fowler (shown) bought it from Randy. We caught up with Bill at the Eustis Rally during Daytona Bike Week.

So, another One-O-Wonder is reborn, thanks to the dedication and craftsmanship of Randy and the Walker Machine Company (www.walkermachine.com)!