Friday, 4 September 2015

Friday bike

One I found an example of for sale on Ebay, but had never previously heard of.


1956 Indian Brave

Very nice, I thought - but something caught my eye:
Yes, the words 'Made in England' are on the side of the engine.

I did a bit of research, and found that the Brockhouse company (famous for their 'Corgi' folding motorcycle developed from the WWII 'Welbike' air portable bike) were a major shareholder in Indian and between 1950 and 1955 built the Indian Brave at their factory in Southport. Until 1954, these were only sold in the US, after that they were also on sale in the UK. Some models (like this one) remained unsold until 1956.
Not much technical detail about it other than it was a 250cc sidevalve with a 3 speed gearbox. Not particularly well designed or built, it wasn't a commercial success.

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3 comments:

  1. Trobairitz6 September 2015 at 16:31

    Very cool. I didn't know that some of the old Indians were made in England.

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  2. Norman7 September 2015 at 10:51

    I didn't know before last week either. I knew of the Royal Enfields that were badged as Indians (there was one in NYPD trim in the National Motorcycle Museum in Birmingham), and there were also some rebadged Matchlesses. http://www.ridermagazine.com/style/vintage/retrospective-indian-royal-enfield-chief-700cc-1959-1961.htm/

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  3. Anonymous26 January 2017 at 19:46

    very nice but I would say that as I did the restoration on this little brave I brought it for £300 as a pile of scrap proper basket case The build took me 4yrs to complete I still have photographs from day one

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