1920s Indian Monkey Bike

A couple of decades ago (or more) I picked up this interesting little bike. It is made up of mostly 20s Indian parts. I thought it was mostly 101 Scout parts but looking at the frame a friend thought the frame might be a four cylinder. The engine is from a 20's Prince. The trans is a Power Plus. The tanks are unknown to me but Indian and very cool. I'll bet there's a racer that would like 'em. I believe the front hub is HD.

Obviously everything is cut down and miniaturized. The story goes that a monkey rode it in the circus (believe it or not!) maybe not, I don't know. The old fellow that owned it began restoration at one time and the bike was all apart. I stuck it together to wheel it around and had it in the basement for many years.

In 2005 I decided to put it together. The motor was apart, the trans was apart and a million and one little home made "One Off" parts filled several boxes. Well I spread everything out on an old door and began the puzzle. What an interesting job it was trying to figure out what fit what! I would go out to the garage from time to time and try a few things to see if they worked then try them again when they didn't. I would pick up parts that I was convinced were thrown in by mistake only to find that combined with another weird part it fit some purpose on the little freak! The shifter and clutch linkage were a real challenge!

This was one of the best "therapy" projects I have worked on...no pressure just put it together like a (not so) big toy. Of course when all was said and done I had a box of left overs...just like Christmas morning. I believe it had a sidecar at one time based on some of the spare parts I have!

Well then came the task of figuring out what to do with it. I took it out to an AMCA meet in Jefferson PA where it met its bigger cousin (Frank Westfall's) Super X Mini circus bike.

After that outing my sons and I hoisted it onto the kitchen table and into the perfect opening in the wall! It probably still has a little scalp and hair on the floor board..Oops careful kids!