A man unafraid of challenges. Ten years after this fascinating photo was taken, Clymer acquired what was left of Indian.
Floyd Clymer (who was perhaps the most irrepressible entrepreneur in American motorcycle history) then attached the Indian name to a variety of frankly ghastly minibikes, mostly acquired from Italjet.
Later in the ‘60s, Clymer managed to cobble together a (kind’a) cool machine: The Indian 500 Roadster was basically an Italian sport bike ― Ceriani fork, Campagnolo twin-leading-shoe front brake, and Borrani rims ― powered by a Velocette 500cc single-cylinder motor.
There was some debate about the legality of Clymer’s claim to the trademark at all, but he was assigned the trademark by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office just before he died.