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TPW-JAN16

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50 nJanuary 2016n www.thunderpress.net by Kip Woodring LOS ANGELES HARBOR, CALIF., NOV. 19—Perhaps next time, it will be harder to fi nd… or darker… or less revealing. I can only hope… not! After a 60-minute drive into the dark and seedy bowels of old LA harbor to see the new Scout 60, I was consulting Google maps on my phone to try and fi gure out how I could have missed it. The invitation clearly stated the address: 133 W. 22nd St. I had driven there (I thought), and beyond there, and back from there, several times, to no avail. Then I heard loud echoes of a rock band warming up… Ah-ha! Follow that sound. That led to a dark warehouse (dare I say) off the beaten path. I had arrived. Strolling through the parking lot, I passed by several neat motorcycles: a clean old Meriden Triumph, a "new" super-scruffy Ducati Scrambler, and plenty of assorted machines of mixed and magical ancestry. None seemed to be of the cruiser ilk, however, a factoid I was to geek out on a bit later in the evening. Up a steep stairway from the street-side loading docks to the sound of music, past a table full of millenni- als checking credentials (it was invita- tion only, after all) and the fi rst thing I see in the dim light (barely) is a nice fl athead-equipped (as it should be) Deuce coupe! The evening was look- ing up, if not brighter! Sure enough, just beyond, in the center of the ware- house, was an eclectic assortment of cool cars and cooler Indian motor- cycles… both old and new. After fi nd- ing food and drink, I milled around for close to 30 minutes, studying a minia- ture man-made, and quite manly-look- ing indoor short track… of all things! This was going to be a different kind of new model introduction. So it had been promised and so it appeared. Now, it needs to be said that I have attended my fair share of new motorcycle introductions. Most all were a sort of classroom, chalk-talk, Q&A, test ride, debrief affair of some kind. You got to touch, feel and hear, you got to get your kinesthetic on and your Zen fi red up… then you asked questions! In the past, these could be anything; "What's the bore and stroke?" "How'd you come up with those gear ratios?" "Seat height, wheelbase, curb weight… Bubba?" "Why no green color?" and plenty more. Almost invariably, the journal- ists on the scene at the time wanted details about the machine. Almost invariably, these details were technical, helping journalists understand the new machine's raison d'etre… its place in the world and possibly even its odds for success. What I have never been to, in my quarter century as a moto- journalist… is a Paparazzi Party… until this night. The "instant celebrity" being feted was the new Scout 60 from Indian Motorcycle Company. So, when the band took a break and the food was almost gone, close to 45 minutes after the party started, the guest of honor was introduced. Wait! Check that! I should have said the guest of honor appeared in drag…racing, that is. Well, damn, that's still not quite right! What happened was a bunch of fl at-track bikes began fi ltering onto the mini- track and proceeded to buzz around at a frisky clip for several minutes! Then, almost as if on cue (ha!) some police motorcycles began a lights-fl ashing, sirens-wailing, lukewarm pursuit. It was all in fun, well staged and had a happy ending. Great… now we could move on, to the offi cial introduction of the newest Scout. Too dark everywhere in the ware- house, except on the well-lit "track" and on the bandstand/podium, one could be forgiven for presuming the motorcycle would then appear, to be shown off in the middle of the track, and described in voluminous and gory detail by offi cers and spokesmen of the company. Nope… not a bit of it! Instead, the short track "racers" rode to the front of the bandstand and popped off their helmets, while Mr. Pandya from Indian introduced them. Wow! Roland Sands was one of 'em… how cool is that? His fellow Hooligans were also allowed a moment or two in the limelight while Roland talked about turning fi ve examples of the new Scout 60 into pseudo-trackers in INDIAN SCOUT 60 MEDIA LAUNCH By invitation only Hooligans meet the paparazzi Roland Sands showed off his skills in the Hooligan races Showing the Scout 60's versatility, Roland Sands converted fi ve examples of the bike into pseudo-trackers in 30 days

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