Classic motorcycles
Larry Lindemann of Valley City took third place out of 60 at a restored antique class motorcycle show in Bismarck recently. He won with two restored Indians, which were the only ones at the show. “They really turned some heads,” he says.
The show was sponsored by the Freedom Riders Motorcycle Club out of Bismarck.
Lindemann has been restoring motorcycles since 1962, when he got his first Indian, but this was his first show as a competitor. Both of his winning bikes are the 1948 model, because, as Lindemann puts it, “I’m a 1948.” He also has a 1937 model and a couple of 1947’s.
The Indian started at the same time as Harley Davidson, and the two companies were real competitors between the 1920s and 1940s, according to Lindemann. During World War II,
Harley Davidson got most of the military contacts, which put the company ahead, financially.
The Indian was last made in 1953. The most significant difference between an Indian and a Harley, Lindemann says, is the Indian’s trademark skirted fender.
“Indians are easier to restore now and parts
are easier to find, because companies are reproducing them. It’s not like when I first started,” he adds.
Motorcycle restoration is mostly a winter hobby for Lindemann. It takes him about a year and a half to completely restore a bike. In his regular business, General Air Service, he does aircraft maintenance, sales and crop
spraying. During the summer he and his wife ride a late-model Harley because the Indians are just for show.
Now that he has tasted victory, next year Lindemann plans to compete in the motorcycle show in Fargo. “It’s fun talking and visiting with people at the shows.” Apparently, it’s even more fun to win.