The Black Hills Beast

Basedon a new 2015 Indian Scout and customized to emulate thepurpose-built nature of historic hill climb motorcycles, the BlackHills Beast is the work of Doug Siddens and Nick Jaquez ofIndianMotorcycles.net.

Photography by Todd Williams

Transformingthe look of the Scout started relatively easily with the addition ofseveral new Indian Motorcycle accessories including the 1920 SoloSaddle Seat (MSRP $379.99) and a set of the accessory laced wheels($499.99 each). Custom details that set the bike apart include anelongated custom swingarm, custom handlebar, custom radiator shroudand front number plate with an LED headlight. The 100+ horsepower ofmuscle in the Scout powerplant chewed up the earth via a custom tirechain designed for maximum grip when charging up a hill.

“Buildinga hill climber seemed easy enough, but it posed some uniquechallenges,” Says Doug Siddens of IndianMotorcycles.net.”Enthusiasts know what a hill climber looks like – so some ofthe mods were logical – but scaling them to fit the new Scout was thekey and took a lot of work and planning. We are very proud of theresult and the reception that the bike got at such an importantSturgis milestone, the 75th anniversary. “

“Weput the bike into our custom photo booth for the Sturgis MotorcycleRally,” Says Indian Motorcycle Marketing Director Scott Meek.”Loads of attendees climbed up and took photos on the bike. Itwas cool to see such a positive reaction and enable so many riders toexperience a key piece of Indian Motorcycle’s performanceheritage.”

“Wesettled in on a design quickly,” adds Nick Jaquez ofIndianMotorcycles.net “But none of it would have worked withoutthe assistance of our suppliers and partners in this build. Wecranked on it for a month and tossed out a few bits along the way – Ido feel like we delivered one hell of a machine – and it was a blastgetting it dirty too!”

Additionalsupport for the Indian Scout Black Hills Beast came from Aeromach(Floorboards and heel shifter), Dobeck Performance (Engine tuning),Fox Shocks (Suspension), RPW USA (Exhaust), Starr Studios (Paint),Ricochet Customs (Powder coating), BTR Moto (Swingarm and tirechain), Zippers performance (Chain Drive Conversion) and TraxxionDynamics (Front Suspension).

IndianMotorcycle will continue to play with this gritty work of art throughupcoming celebrations of custom Scout motorcycles, including theInternational Motorcycle Shows tour as part of the Scout CustomSeries launched last year with the Wall of Death Scout, and nowincluding the USO Scout and the Black Bullet Scout inspired by landspeed racing.