Indian Motorcycle has announced the winner of its Custom Scout Bobber contest, which it opened to both amateur and professional builders in the Benelux region of Europe. Dutch designer Luuc Muis earned first place by turning the Scout Bobber into a one-of-a-kind model that bridges the 1910s and the 2010s.
Muis called his build Hasty Flaming Buffalo, a name that almost makes it sound deliciously edible. It's not, sadly. Drawing inspiration from the Indian-made bikes that dominated board track racing in the United States during the early 1900s, he stripped the new Scout Bobber that Indian sent him for the project down to the basics. He removed the front and rear fenders, designed a new frame, and commissioned a Norwegian firm to make it out of aluminum. The airbox and the various electrical components are integrated into the custom-made fuel tank to achieve a clean, period-correct look.
Old Dutch Leatherworks provided the leather-upholstered seat, and JSR Service contributed the rims. Muis had only 20 weeks to finish the build, which makes it even more impressive.
"I wanted to explore the idea that, if over 100 years of motorcycling, materials and techniques had developed but visual design hadn’t, what would that look like," he summed up.
There are no major mechanical modifications, so the Hasty Flaming Buffalo uses a Scout Bobber-sourced, 1.3-liter V-twin engine that delivers 100 horsepower and 72 pound-feet of torque. The two-cylinder exhales through a gorgeous exhaust system created for the project by Akrapovič.
The Hasty Flaming Buffalo made its public debut at the Bigtwin Bikeshow and Expo held in the Netherlands. It will also appear at Custombike in Germany, Autosalon in Belgium, and Motorbeurs Utrecht in the Netherlands before being reunited with its builder in February 2020. Indian is not planning to turn it into a production model, so you'll need to persuade its owner to build you a replica if you want it in your collection.
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