However, when you look at a finished 101 it is hard to tell how well the, mostly hidden, mechanical work has actually been done.

This is the major reason for thinking about doing it yourself (and I am here to help you with anything you are not sure of, or don't have the machine tools to do). If you are in control of building up the bike, you decide how well things are done. Second, it allows you to put a personal touch on it, making it "your 101".

The good thing, financially, about building a bike from parts is that you can spread the expense over however long time it takes you to finish the bike.

The rolling chassis here is one I built for myself, but I am not sure I will get around to finishing it, so I am looking for a good home for it.

I am probably not going to put more of these together, but you can special-order the individual parts (you will never get them as cheaply as now, though!) - as well as any you may need to finish this chassis. 

I am willing to sell this for less than the parts cost, and I don't even want to begin thinking about how many hours I have spent on making everything fit and work as it should. This is sort of a lower level version of what I said above: "The poor guy who does the first build will never get his money back".

There isn't room here for everything, so I will continue on another page (link below). In addition to the rolling chassis, I also have an engine "starter kit". Basically, these are the parts left over from the typical as-found 101 engine when you throw away the parts that need replacing with new ones! The engine parts are a start on a 1928 101 750cc stroker engine with primary drive and gearbox. 

I have the rest of the parts new, and will help with advice during your rebuild. Any machining jobs you can't do yourself, or have done locally, can be done here. From rebuilding the connecting rods to a complete engine rebuild. So, we can find a way of you doing what you can and IPE doing the rest.

There are more frame and fork detail photos here. where you can see how truly original these parts look. 

More about the engine kit below

This rolling chassis looks just like an old 1928 chassis, with a few personal touches; stuff a speed minded owner might have done in the old days. Primarily some cool Burt Munro racer holes in the brake drums and backing plates (for cooling!) and in the pedals (for lightness!). This means that it may be easier to continue this theme with the rest of the build for a cool period bobberor racing style bike, rather than build another coffee-table book 101. 

(Just my personal opinion that, nice as restored-to-original 101s are, it can get a tiny bit boring that they all look the same - note that I said "restored"; original unrestored bikes are something else, and these should not be messed about, as patinated original bikes are the peak of coolness!)

One added benefit of this approach would also be that you will save a lot of money by leaving off the megabucks Corbin speedo, and not having to buy "correct" fenders, tool- and battery boxes and other sheet metal - and by finding cool period parts for head- and tail lights etc, not having to use the "correct" Indian parts. For example, this 101 has a later headlight fitted with a simple DIY bracket.

As I said before, I put this together for myself, and I made sure everything fits and works as it should (this can actually be a big job with both old and new parts; there is a lot of fettling and fitting involved with any Indian rebuild). There are probably still a few adjustments to be made, but you will be way ahead of just a pile of parts.

One of the few remaining jobs is to make rear axle spacers in the correct thickness (the spacers on now are just "place holders"). I wanted to wait with this until final assembly to make sure everything lined up. This is not a big job for anyone with a lathe, or any small machine shop. The front brake anchor is just loosely fitted and must
be riveted on after painting (or before, if you like). Rivets included.

The paint on the parts is just spray-can primer. You can either paint
on top of this, or blast the parts back to bare steel and start from there. The retainers for the wheel felt seals are included, but not fitted as they are hard to remove/refit without damage, so I wanted to wait until after painting. 

Handlebar tubes are just loosely inserted into the center casting in the pictures. The idea being to cut them to length and rotate them for a good riding position when I got that far. This means that you can get a riding position to fit YOU, rather than some 1920s average size rider, before brazing or silver soldering in the tubes (if you have never done this, it is actually dead easy; ask if in doubt). The rubber grips in the pix are from a later model, but you can have any model you like.

The steering head bearings and top nut are my stainless taper roller ones (see 101 parts page for more details). These are a huge improvement over the original loose balls. Polish to look like nickel or leave them alone as you like. 

Do consider doing something like this to strengthen the original fork to handle bar interface, which is not very well thought out. Again, ask if you are not sure.

Front engine mounting bolt, spacers and nuts included, as well as all the brake linkages and cross-over shaft/levers. Clutch linkage too - just hook up the engine! 

You may have to trim the foot board rubbers a bit for a perfect fit. A good tip is to stick/glue them onto the foot boards so water can't get under them and rust the boards. 

Also included is the battery bracket that also serves as the lower rear fender mount. The saddle spring bracket (that does tripple duty as generator- and top rear fender mount) is also included, as well as the mounting hardware for this.

I think I remembered everything, but ask if there is anything you are not sure of, or want better pictures of.

But if you want to do it yourself, and give your 101 a bit of a personal touch, this one probably isn't going to be more expensive than any other way of doing it - and this is surely the cheapest you are ever going to find a new 101 rolling chassis!

If I add up all the parts in the rolling chassis, we are probably close to EUR10000. And that is without counting the time I spent on making things fit. 

However, as it doesn't look like I'll get around to finishing it anytime soon, I would be willing to sell it for less than that if a good home can be found for it. I could break it up and sell the parts, but I think that would be a pity after all the work of making things fit together.

So, here's the deal. 

Rolling chassis EUR7500.

Rolling chassis + engine kit EUR9500.
(note: engine kit only for sale together with rolling chassis)

Crating and worldwide shipping at cost.

If I get no takers at these prices, I will keep it!

More about the engine kit below.

All the parts here are original parts. Almost all of the missing parts are available new from IPE. The only exceptions I can think of right now are: Cam followers (741 and Sport Scout can be used), shifter fork (ditto, I think), shaft and "finger" in the shifter tower. None of these are particularly hard to find, and perhaps good used parts can also be found instead of new ones in some of the other cases. If you get stuck, I could probably find these parts for you.

Some repair work was mentioned in description for some of the parts when I first took the pictures, but I have since fixed most of it (se notes in picture text below).

This is actually a good and sound beginning for a nice 101 engine but - unless you can do everything yourself - it is not going to be cheap. However, you will end up with one of the best and most iconic motorcycles of the 1920s - so it may just be worth the trouble and expense!

As I mentioned earlier, any aspect of the machine work (and there is quite a lot of this involved in rebuilding Indian engines) that you don't have the equipment for, or no local place to do for you, can be done here. That could be jobs like:

Rebuilding the connecting rods: Straightening, honing of big- and little end eyes, fitting and honing of pin bushings, fitting of custom ground rod races, setting rod-to-rod end play and honing races to final size.

Rebuilding the flywheels: Balancing to your piston weight, assembling and trueing, setting of rod end play.

Main bearings: Bearing bores in cases honed round, new custom ground bearing housings fitted and honed to size. Possibly also fitting of flywheel assembly in cases and setting of end play of flywheel assembly in cases.

Cam bushings:Aligning (between crank case and cam cover), fitting and sizing bushings to fit your cam shafts.

-or whatever else you may need. 

So, all parts are available, all problems have a solution - it won't be cheap, but you will have a fabulous 101 when it's done!

Ask if you have any questions or want better photos of anything.

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