22 March 2017

Indian motorcycles back in Ireland

The Indian motorcycle brand is back on sale in Ireland after a gap of around a century, writes Brian Byrne.

The Irish franchise was launched at the recent Motorbike & Scooter Show in the RDS in early March, by Keith Reynolds and Barry Egan of AKB Distribution, under the trading name of Franklin Motorcycles.

Charles Bayly Franklin was a Dublin born engineer who became the chief designer of Indian motorcycles. He had previously operated an Indian franchise in his shop in Dublin while the original bikes were on sale in Ireland.

Pictured below is a typical Indian motorcycle-sidecar combination of the time (photographed in Vancouver, Canada).