Because my introduction is long it's posted in two parts. Be sure to read both posts and look at the photos....
Greetings everyone! This is my first post and an introduction to my yet to be molested or restored original LiL Indian. I stumbled on this site while trying to do a little research on the late 1960’s LiL Indian that my family once owned and its twin that I currently own. I have been riding, racing and collecting old 1960-70’s mini’s and vintage motorcycles on and off every since my Dad first brought home our LiL Indian from Fletcher’s Trailer Sales in Hector, New York on my 8th Birthday in July of 1967. As I look at this little bike currently sitting in my shop, I can still feel the balmy breeze and smell the freshly cut hay coming from the field in front of our house as I watched my dad pull in our driveway with the little mini stuffed in the trunk of his big yellow Mercury. The bike shown in this thread, not unlike many others listed here has a wonderful history that I’ll share. Unfortunately, it is not the exact bike I had, but the twin that I recently purchased that had been originally owned by my neighbor and good friend a few houses down from my parents. Sadly, like many of you here, my original LiL Indian which was Identical to my friends (our dads bought them in the same year) was ridden hard and put away wet for four years until my parents finally pushed it’s stripped bent rolling carcass with its chains dragging to the side of the road for garbage pickup.
At the time it seemed like the right thing to do, at 12-years-of-age, who would have known that 37 years later, that cherished but whipped little minibike, that was discarded curbside would bring back so many great memories from those early innocent years of our lives. Besides, at the time there was a shiny new green Honda CT70H sitting in its place in our garage.
As you can will see from the photos, is mini is 99% original, the only major change from stock was the stock B&S muffler was removed and a piece of 8” metal plumbing pipe was added to give the bike a nice mellow growl, and the original Indian stickered pull start cover was robbed to replace a failing one on the original owners edger. It also looks like the brake cable was replaced (I may be wrong), if I remember correctly the bike came with both the throttle and brake cables that were black. Everything is original, the seat, chrome fenders, grips and most all hardware. There are plenty of dings, scratches, and surface rust, but the bike is complete and is still covered in dirt and oil from the last day it was enjoyed in the summer of 1969,Also note it’s the very cool 2 speed automatic clutch model with its Chrome wrap-around guard and the original white piped flared seat cover. The bike I originally owned was the same except that it had a full cover over the clutches, I’m not sure but I think LiL Indian may have changed the guard style mid-production run, thus the difference in the two bikes we both owned which were purchased a couple of months apart from the same dealer. One thing I do remember clearly is having continuous circular cuts from the spinning primary clutch on my left lower leg the year the guard on my bike finally broke apart at the welded brackets. After several failed brazing attempts by a plumber friend, we finally gave up and left the guard off. My friend’s simple front guard (shown in this thread) clearly was a stronger guard design, and has weathered the years better.
So here is some of my story of why I love these little minis about how I ended up with this little beauty. I a stated, I have known this bike since it was new in 1967, As most of you know, we can’t even begin to describe in words how much fun these little bikes brought into our lives as we rode them way back when. All of the times exploring trails, old gravel pits and construction sites, riding the trails in local woods, and chasing each other around the dozens of corn, hay and wheat fields in our very rural (at the time) neighborhood. The beauty was not only in the thrill of the ride, it was also the freedom of travel it gave us. With miles of trails between our house and other friends’ houses, we were never stuck at home. Even if we were limited on gas, our small ¾ acre yard could be turned into a great little TT-track where we could squeeze those last precious thrill-filled ounces of leaded fuel out of the little mini’s tank as we ricocheted off small berms near Mom’s garden, and jumped the slightly raised humps near the dirt driveway while continuously circling the house. I can remember more than once, inhaling a mouth full of gas while trying to siphon gas from our Dad’s old Wheel horse lawn tractor while we waiting for him to bring home a new supply of fuel for the mini. Who here besides me can remember chasing after our Mother, Father or Sister, trying to stop them as they hijacked our beloved mini for a ride when we least expected it. (Cont on next post)
Greetings everyone! This is my first post and an introduction to my yet to be molested or restored original LiL Indian. I stumbled on this site while trying to do a little research on the late 1960’s LiL Indian that my family once owned and its twin that I currently own. I have been riding, racing and collecting old 1960-70’s mini’s and vintage motorcycles on and off every since my Dad first brought home our LiL Indian from Fletcher’s Trailer Sales in Hector, New York on my 8th Birthday in July of 1967. As I look at this little bike currently sitting in my shop, I can still feel the balmy breeze and smell the freshly cut hay coming from the field in front of our house as I watched my dad pull in our driveway with the little mini stuffed in the trunk of his big yellow Mercury. The bike shown in this thread, not unlike many others listed here has a wonderful history that I’ll share. Unfortunately, it is not the exact bike I had, but the twin that I recently purchased that had been originally owned by my neighbor and good friend a few houses down from my parents. Sadly, like many of you here, my original LiL Indian which was Identical to my friends (our dads bought them in the same year) was ridden hard and put away wet for four years until my parents finally pushed it’s stripped bent rolling carcass with its chains dragging to the side of the road for garbage pickup.
At the time it seemed like the right thing to do, at 12-years-of-age, who would have known that 37 years later, that cherished but whipped little minibike, that was discarded curbside would bring back so many great memories from those early innocent years of our lives. Besides, at the time there was a shiny new green Honda CT70H sitting in its place in our garage.
As you can will see from the photos, is mini is 99% original, the only major change from stock was the stock B&S muffler was removed and a piece of 8” metal plumbing pipe was added to give the bike a nice mellow growl, and the original Indian stickered pull start cover was robbed to replace a failing one on the original owners edger. It also looks like the brake cable was replaced (I may be wrong), if I remember correctly the bike came with both the throttle and brake cables that were black. Everything is original, the seat, chrome fenders, grips and most all hardware. There are plenty of dings, scratches, and surface rust, but the bike is complete and is still covered in dirt and oil from the last day it was enjoyed in the summer of 1969,Also note it’s the very cool 2 speed automatic clutch model with its Chrome wrap-around guard and the original white piped flared seat cover. The bike I originally owned was the same except that it had a full cover over the clutches, I’m not sure but I think LiL Indian may have changed the guard style mid-production run, thus the difference in the two bikes we both owned which were purchased a couple of months apart from the same dealer. One thing I do remember clearly is having continuous circular cuts from the spinning primary clutch on my left lower leg the year the guard on my bike finally broke apart at the welded brackets. After several failed brazing attempts by a plumber friend, we finally gave up and left the guard off. My friend’s simple front guard (shown in this thread) clearly was a stronger guard design, and has weathered the years better.
So here is some of my story of why I love these little minis about how I ended up with this little beauty. I a stated, I have known this bike since it was new in 1967, As most of you know, we can’t even begin to describe in words how much fun these little bikes brought into our lives as we rode them way back when. All of the times exploring trails, old gravel pits and construction sites, riding the trails in local woods, and chasing each other around the dozens of corn, hay and wheat fields in our very rural (at the time) neighborhood. The beauty was not only in the thrill of the ride, it was also the freedom of travel it gave us. With miles of trails between our house and other friends’ houses, we were never stuck at home. Even if we were limited on gas, our small ¾ acre yard could be turned into a great little TT-track where we could squeeze those last precious thrill-filled ounces of leaded fuel out of the little mini’s tank as we ricocheted off small berms near Mom’s garden, and jumped the slightly raised humps near the dirt driveway while continuously circling the house. I can remember more than once, inhaling a mouth full of gas while trying to siphon gas from our Dad’s old Wheel horse lawn tractor while we waiting for him to bring home a new supply of fuel for the mini. Who here besides me can remember chasing after our Mother, Father or Sister, trying to stop them as they hijacked our beloved mini for a ride when we least expected it. (Cont on next post)
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Im not sure what id do with the bike probrobly just clean it up and ride it till the rust wears off and call it good :thumbsup: like back in the day. Gotta love those old slot cars too. Hector NY aint too far from me :smile:
:smile::smile::smile:
