Indian Motocycle Manufacturing Company color options in 1934. Models of that era had Indian's famous war bonnet logo on the gas tank. Indian's huge Springfield factory was known as the Wigwam, and native American imagery was much used in advertising. In 1940, Indian sold nearly as many motorcycles as its major rival, Harley-Davidson. During this time, Indian also manufactured other products such as aircraft engines, bicycles, boat motors and air conditioners. The Indian Scout was built from 1920 through 1949. It rivaled the Chief as Indian's most important model. The Scout was introduced for 1920. Designed by Charles B. Franklin, the Scout had its
Harley-Davidson I was the first time the motorcycle had been adopted for military issue, first with the British Model H, produced by British Triumph Motorcycles Ltd in 1915. After the U.S. entry into the war, the U.S. military purchased over 20,000 motorcycles from Harley-Davidson. Harley-Davidson launched a line of bicycles in 1917 in hopes of recruiting customers for its motorcycles. Besides the traditional diamond frame men's bicycle, models included a step-through frame 3-18 "Ladies Standard" and a 5-17 "Boy Scout" for youth. The effort was discontinued in 1923 because of disappointing sales. The bicycles were built for Harley-Davidson in Dayton, Ohio,