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VI NEWS UPDATE JANUARY 5, 2002
1946-48 Girder Forks -  Century Ride Home 2 - Gas Proof Linkert Floats - Int'l Rally 2002 - Kiwi's Chief Engine Update - Warpath Update
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Happy New Year, everybody!  -And welcome to the new VI News website. The VI Magazine is very much alive, and there will be a new issue sometime in the beginning of 2002. We will try to stick to a roughly quarterly schedule after that. The grand plan is to use the VI News site to give you brief updates of new developments in Indiandom in a regular and timely fashion. The VI Magazine will continue to contain the heavy philosophy, the in-depth journalistic probes, the mind-melting bike projects and the comprehensive bolt-by-bolt coverage of all things Indian that you've come to expect from the VI site. You will note that the new VI front page also has convenient links to ads, events and other magazine "departments" which are now being updated continuously. If you have any Indian news that belong here (new products, events, pretty much anything "Indian"!) please drop us a note. Thanks. The VI team.
Dave Molnar's 1946-48 Chief girder forks are now in stock at the two US distributors Michael Breeding and Jerry Greer (phone +1 714/826-9940). Michael is working on making complete bolt-on forks available and already has many of the parts (as well as tons of other neat stuff - check out his website!). We hope to have up-to-date photos of the forks soon! Dave can be contacted at impax@wightman.ca.
Kiwi Indian Parts announces that there will be a Century Ride Home 2 in 2003, the 5th anniversary of the closing of the Wigwam. From Riverside, CA to Springfield, MA, it will retrace the route of the 2001 Century Ride Home. There will be more details on the (VI sponsored!) CRH website in January.
Liberty announces Durable Floats for Linkert and Schebler Carburetors. These ultra-light floats are composed of a closed cell foam that is impervious to today's pump gasolines. They are now available for Schebler 1" , 1 1/4", and Model H carburetors , as well as for standard Linkert carburetors. They retail for $50 for ellipticals and H models, and $40 for the Linkert. In Europe the floats are available from IPE. [PHOTO]
The 2002 International Indian Rally will be in Slovenia July 26-28, and there is a new website with details online now. Take a few minutes to check it out. It would be cool to see some visitors from outside of Europe. 2002 may be (even) better suited for a European Indian holiday than other years, as there will be a pre-rally rally in France the weekend before, and a spectacular ride together across the Alps to the rally site in Slovenia. This is a trip of about 600 miles and there will probably be 3 days for it. All in all a great way to spend a couple of weeks in Europe! More soon.
Mike Kiwi Tomas says: "The Kiwi 84" repro Chief engine now has just over 11,000 miles on it without any problems what so ever -not even an oil leak anywhere. Four weeks ago we did 1000 miles in one week which is no big deal really after accomplishing 4000 miles across the US on the Century Ride Home. During that week we rode it into LA several times, up to Las Vegas  and back, and then on a road run near Pasadena, CA, up in the mountains. Most of the freeway riding was at speeds from 65 to 80 mph. The bike was being put through it's paces and is never ridden gently. The run to Las Vegas and back was 500 miles and it pulled in a respectable 45 mpg at 70 plus mph. The only big departure from stock is a dual firing ignition and some experimental stuff inside the engine along with piston skirt coatings (more about that soon!). The 84-incher cruises effortlessly up the steepest of hills with a tall output sprocket."
The second set of Warpath cases has been cast and sent to Rick "Rocky" Dillinger. Rick informs me that the cases are out of heat treating and are being machined. These cases are for use in Rick's land speed record attempt in the S/G 61 cubic inch class (more about this soon!). Rick will be using his Koslo 4 port heads on the cases for his speed run. As soon as I hear back from Rick on how the machining went and if any pattern adjustments are required, I will cast 5 additional sets. Because of quality control concerns, I plan on jobbing this work out to another foundry. I will know more by the end of the month after I have met with the foundry and discussed machining costs with Rick. Lyle. [PHOTO]
Stay tuned for more Indian News soon!