Roland Sands Design Indian Scout is a Bitchin’ Board Track Tribute

Although the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the brick paving it had for much of its early history are well known, most of America’s early superspeedways were made of a far more humble material: Wood. The first board track to open was the Los Angeles Motordrome in 1910, a high-banked one-mile circle located in what’s now Playa del Rey. Pretty soon timber speedways – some up to two miles in length – dotted the nation, playing host to the bravest souls that the still-very-young car and motorcycle racing worlds had to offer. It is to the men and machines of this long-gone era that the latest release from Roland Sands Design pays homage.

Starting with a new 2015 Indian Scout motorcycle (designed, engineered and marketed by the Polaris powersports conglomerate), Sands and his team stripped the bike down to the bare frame. Then they got rid of the frame itself, and fabricated a barely-there new one from chromoly steel tubing. A custom swingarm, whose motions are governed by an adjustable Öhlins monoshock, hangs off the back of the frame and is also made of the strong round tubing. The 1,133cc water-cooled V-twin sits beneath a custom two-part gas tank and saddle. The cooling hoses and some other parts are installed somewhat haphazardly using plastic zip ties, but that was due to Roland Sands Design rushing to get it ready for its public debut at Burning Man. Some might call it sloppy, but we think it suits the back-to-basics, form-follows-function nature of the build.

Source: Roland Sands Design