Cycle News

CN III ARCHIVES BY LARRY LAWRENCE O scar Hedstrom was co-founder of the Indian Motorcycle Company. Hed- strom hand built the first Indian proto- type in 1901. His engineering skills were responsible for giving the early Indians a reputation for solid construction and excellent reliability and helped catapult the company to the world's largest manufac- turer of motorcycles. Of the two founders of Indian—Hed- strom and George Hendee— think of Hedstrom as the mechanic and Hendee as the businessman. Hedstrom was the guy you'd most likely find on the factory floor with the workers. Carl Oscar Hedstrom was born in the little parish of Lönneberga in the province of Småland, Sweden, on March 12, 1871. His family immigrated to the United States and settled in New York City when Oscar was 9 years old. While a schoolboy, Oscar was given a bicycle by his father. Hedstrom loved to ride the bicycle around the city and was intrigued by its mechanical workings. At 16, Hedstrom took a job at a watchmaker's shop where he learned the use of machine tools, pattern making, forging and metallurgy. He worked as an apprentice for several small shops and earned journeyman status when he was 21. In his spare time, Hedstrom applied his growing skills to his passion for bicycling. Working out of his home shop, he produced high-quality bicycles that were lighter and more durable than production mod- els. As his reputation as a builder grew, he began making gasoline engines to power tandem bicycles used to pace races. The pacers were designed to split the wind for the bicyclists who rode in their draft while attempting speed records. The pacers of the time were mostly crude and unreliable machines, and Hedstrom earned a reputation for building reli- able pacers. While Hedstrom was building his pacers, former bicycle racing champion George Hendee, of Springfield, Massachusetts, was manufacturing bicycles and sponsoring races. It was during an event in Madison Square Garden in January 1900 that Hendee became acquainted with Hedstrom and witnessed first-hand the excellent perfor- mance of the motorized pacing bicycle he built. Hendee was dissatisfied with the crude pacers available, and asked Hedstrom to bring one of his machines to Springfield. Hendee was impressed and asked Hedstrom to build a prototype of a mass-production motorized bicycle. Hendee and Hedstrom signed a partnership agreement in January 1901 and Hedstrom became the chief engineer and designer. He was 29. The first Indian prototype was built by Hedstrom at the Worcester Bicycle Manufacturing Company in Middletown, Connecticut, and the first public dem- onstration was held on Cross Street in Springfield on May 10, 1901. Hedstrom traveled to Aurora, Il- linois, to refine his engine design and Hendee Mfg. Co. contracted and licensed the Aurora Automatic Machine Company to build the engine, an arrange- ment which lasted until 1907. Hedstrom supervised all aspects of manufacturing, including the design- ing of production molds and machines and expan- sion of both factories (the main factory on State WATCHMAKER TO MOTORCYCLE BUILDER P104

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