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NEW YORK – It’s never a good idea to have a preconceived notion about a motorcycle before riding it, and John Shope freely admits to having had one before he tried out the 2015 Indian Scout.
Owner of custom shop Dirty Bird Concepts in Phoenix and one of the stars of History’s realty TV show “Biker Battleground Phoenix,” Shope recalled, “I was comparing it in my mind to a (Harley-Davidson) Sportster.” His conclusion after riding it? “A Sportster could never hang with this bike,” he said during press day Thursday at the Progressive International Motorcycle Show at the Javits Center.
Shope was one of two custom builders tapped by Indian to come up with one-off versions of the Scout; the other being Karlee Cobb of Klock Werks Kustoms. Their bikes were revealed Thursday:
Cobb, whose Scout is dubbed “Outrider,” went for a bobber look. She changed the fenders and the handlebar, added a low profile seat pan, and got The Factory Match show in Tea, SD to give it an earth tones paint scheme. Kully Co. gave it a one-off stainless pipe. New wheels helped give it a new attitude.
Shope’s bright blue Scout is called “Scout 42” and plays up the sport appeal of the model. “I wanted to stick with a racing-type look,” Shope said. “We left a lot of Indian parts on it. We just drilled ’em out,”
Both Shope and Cobb, who became the youngest person to set a land speed record at the Bonneville Salt Flat in 2008 at age 14, praised the Scout. “The powerplant is amazing. The thing really moves,” Shope said.
