That was very nice, thank you. I live is Sacramento CA and one of the big attractions here in town is "Old Sacramento", which is the Century + ancient buildings, bars, restaurants, shops, etc around downtown. On Saturdays they have living history, people walking around in old time costumes talking to the tourists and posing for pictures. I want to get an old time motorcycle outfit to ride down there with. I think it would be a blast putting around like history.
1911 Indian
- Thread starter cobrafreak
- Start date
I ride my Kingsbury Special and Choctaw motorized bike at our flying museum's events in Texas and other places in made up old style garb and it really enhances the fun. You can look up Kingsbury Special on youtube and/or Choctaw and you can see some of the get up I wear with them.
Schipperfabrik has some nice leather gaiters that really look appropriate for the period, it was a common type of thing to wear by motorcyclists in that period. I have some WWI officer gaiters but they are hard to find in a usable size, the schipperfabrik gaiters fit pretty large so I am wearing them now. I bought the largest 18 and can even wear them with heavy blue jeans. You can get military fiding pants of that period that look good but ordinary slacks look fine. The blousy newsboy caps are easily obtained and cheap on the web. Modern driving caps are a bit to small to look good but the newsboys look great. I had made up off the net a dark blue long sleeve Tee Shirt with Indian Motorcycle in red put on it that looks pretty good. Also found that a two color softball shirt custom made with something like INDIAN MOTORCYCLE (I made up one on the web for my CHOCTAW in red and white to match the red and white bike and it turned out great) on the front is cheap and if you wear a long sleeve T shirt the same general color of the sleeves it looks great.
Stacy Adams makes some nice ankle shoes (madisons) that look very good for the period. Add in some googles and you would be set, maybe some gauntlets or welding gloves (I haven't done this yet) and you would greatly enhance your Indian's eye appeal and your own fun. I am trying to get some of the builders of the bikes on this forum to not only build the bikes but go the history route. Everything needed is available on the net and pretty cheap if you go civilian.
Here are some of the clothes I have ordered so far. I wish I could get away with a hat or cap, but in CA i would get a ticket so I got the oldest looking leather helmet I could find. Some are imitation leather but this is a real leather one. It is the same helmet worn by the character "Dudley" in the movie "The Wild Hogs". It doesn't meet any safety standards but looks like a helmet so it will keep the ticket books away at first glance. At least it's more substantial than just an aviator cap. It probably offers the same protection as a skate board helmet. I normally wear a real DOT helmet wherever I go, so this is just for dress up days. The boots are equestrian English field boots, but mine are dark brown. I've seen old motorcycle pictures of riders wearing them so it will work great. Found them on Ebay. They open up all the way from ankle to knee so you could pretty much put any pant leg inside them, totally adjustable. I found a good russian surplus that has Soviet officers breeches for about $40 a pair. They are dark grey, and I got some long sleeve retro Indian motorcycle shirts that will look cool. I checked out your Kingsbury Special video. Looking good! I like old airplanes too.
Last edited:
I like it. Just got it today from Indonesia. it's real leather over something like a plastic Tupperware bowl. Very light and comfortable. You could wear this for hours and it wouldn't be uncomfortable. I don't like aviator caps because they are too thin and tight fitting on the head. This is a good compromise. Offers zero protection, but looks great. I also got the boots today too. They are the bomb. They come all the way up to the bottom of the kneecap. Very comfortable and you could stuff your jeans into them if you wanted. Infinite adjustable. Cant wait to get the whole outfit together.
Last edited:
Nice, can you post the link for the brown leather helmet? I found a B-3 bomber jacket on eBay a few weeks back, it's nice and warm when riding in the cold weather. I have the aviator cap and goggles but that helmet looks a bit better.
Here is the leather helmet link:
http://motorcycle-retro-helmets.com...eather-WILD-HOGS-2Goggles-Brown-P1542935.aspx
And here is the link for the boots if you are interested.
http://cgi.ebay.com/CF-MEN-BUCKLE-E...t=US_Childrens_Shoes&var=&hash=item905af3390e
Last edited:
Here is my Son modeling some of my new clothes for retro riding days. The pants I ordered from Soviet ARMY surplus were a tad too small for me, so I am having a pair made for me at Schipperfabrik that are 1908 U.S. ARMY breeches that are close to this picture.
No doubt about it. That outfit is the real deal. Excellent!!! A good friend and myself are working on putting together period outfits so we can do some serious cruising with our 1914 Indian Replicas.
Now a stained white border and a few fade/water marks on the edge,lolI had some fun with your pics lol
Those photos are AWESOME! Okay - Ima gonna do that when I get done with the Higgins. Take some pictures, do some PhotoShop, see what I end up with.