- Sun Jan 05, 2014 10:38 am
#31738
Hello,Ted
It's grate to se the interest developing in the RE- indian bikes after all this time, they are worthy of a lot more. My 59 chief is the only road registered bike in the whole of Australia that we know of,it has the single saddle fitted and as yet I haven't come across a seat pan for sale, may be some time down the track one of you guys in the USA might be willing to do a fibreglass take off for me at a reasonable price. But first I offer my knowledge to try and help you along with your project, if need be you can use 16harley rims, I run 5inch by 16 Avon white wall gangster tyres on my bike, I had to stretch the front guard or fender open by a simple hands and feet quick pull just to get that extra bit of clearance , and deflate the rear wheel 75percent to slip it in the rear swing arm and also cut a wee bit out of the chain guard to clear the tyre. Before you spend any cash on wrong parts for your bike like we all have, I would like to tell you and Allan at Hitchcocks will confirm this, the book you need to be order and be working off for correct part numbers is the 1955-1958 Indian trailblazer parts list plus the 1959&1960 royal enfield chief parts list supplement and you won't go wrong, Pierce motor centre in San Gabriel blvd San Gabriel ca, used this book back in the 50s.my bike was the original 6 vault, but I have up graded it with a 12 vault alternator it's quite simple to do. I recon the boys are correct on your eng number as well as the last chief was 50500 that we know off, mid 1959 they changed from smpb tp PC it's belived that this stood for police chief as there is an order form in 1959 from the NY police department for the first batch of 20 bikes, but after yrs of searching there is no actual evidence of the bikes being delivered. There must be an old photo or film clip of a cop on an re chief out there I recon, any way hope this might help you out Ted, you will love the chief when its up and running but take your time and enjoy it.
Regards, bluey.