When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

Hendee Mfg Co. / Indian Motocycle Co. Bicycles Information Thread

#eBayPartner    Most Recent BUY IT NOW Items Listed on eBay
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
eBay Auction Picture
In the early days Hendee raced bicycles and Col pope did too... so I’m thinking this was a long frendship developed through this and the reason why hendee selected pope for the bicycle Indian brand.. since they in 01-1902 focused on motorcycle building, hendee decited to subletting the bicycle building to pope which saves costs and maintain a long term friendship..
 
In the early days Hendee raced bicycles and Col pope did too... so I’m thinking this was a long frendship developed through this and the reason why hendee selected pope for the bicycle Indian brand.. since they in 01-1902 focused on motorcycle building, hendee decited to subletting the bicycle building to pope which saves costs and maintain a long term friendship..


Pope & Hendee .jpg


When dealing with history, it’s easy to make conjectures without documented evidence. There's an urge for us to want to fill in the blanks with OUR interpretation of what we think are possibilities. Sometimes these interpretations come from things that seem familiar or from what we've seen or what we've heard. We sometimes attempt to connect the dots that aren’t there, trying to make sense of a situation that never existed and unfortunately jumping to conclusions that are wrong.

Albert Augustus Pope was born in 1843 and George Mallory Hendee was born in 1866…that’s a 23-year age difference! Hendee; America's first national cycling champion, retired from competitive racing at 20 years old. I think we can conclude, the idea of Pope & Hendee ever competitively racing…never happened!

The closest Pope ever came to racing competitively was as a spectator.

We all know Albert A. Pope was a bicycle mogul, a conglomerate and a monopoly; controlling the supply chain of his products, in-house productions, mergers, acquisitions, and patent law suits, (A.B.C trust). And him later becoming a pioneer in the automotive industry…but he was never a racing competitor!

https://connecticuthistory.org/albert-augustus-pope-1843-1909/

If you have evidence that contradicts this fact…I (we) eagerly anticipate your response. We're here to learn.
 
Last edited:
AA477C3B-673B-4061-BF62-24DEAC47B08C.jpeg
its a 1902...pope. your right ...I just realized I really don’t care.. nor wish to participate. It’s one of those subjects I prefer to let go and enjoy buying pope, Miami built bikes as I have been for many years and Let the paper freaks do their thing...lol
 
Last edited:
View attachment 716657

When dealing with history, it’s easy to make conjectures without documented evidence. There's an urge for us to want to fill in the blanks with OUR interpretation of what we think are possibilities. Sometimes these interpretations come from things that seem familiar or from what we've seen or what we've heard. We sometimes attempt to connect the dots that aren’t there, trying to make sense of a situation that never existed and unfortunately jumping to conclusions that are wrong.

Albert Augustus Pope was born in 1843 and George Mallory Hendee was born in 1866…that’s a 23-year age difference! Hendee; America's first national cycling champion, retired from competitive racing at 20 years old. I think we can conclude, the idea of Pope & Hendee ever competitively racing…never happened!

The closest Pope ever came to racing competitively was as a spectator.

We all know Albert A. Pope was a bicycle mogul, a conglomerate and a monopoly; controlling the supply chain of his products, in-house productions, mergers, acquisitions, and patent law suits, (A.B.C trust). And him later becoming a pioneer in the automotive industry…but he was never a racing competitor!

https://connecticuthistory.org/albert-augustus-pope-1843-1909/

If you have evidence that contradicts this fact…I (we) eagerly anticipate your response. We're here to learn.

All of your posts are informative and well researched . Please keep them coming in the future!
 
For several months, I along with Shawn @Freqman1, have been trying to crack the Indian serial number code. A lot of time has gone into comparing different numbers to see if a pattern would emerge but we still need more proof. As an example, I have three serial numbers of known 1916 (script badged) Indians, ALL begin with the same letter and having the same font. This is important because there is a point in time where the font appears to change as does the letter sequence. There are several other serial numbers that have a beginning letter which appears to confirm the possibility of a patter and jives with known data found in catalogs and other printed information.
In order to confirm these findings, we would like your help. If you have or had an indian, please post your serial number or partial number (beginning letter and first few numbers) here or if you prefer to keep your information private, please pm me or Shawn @Freqman1. For those who have already provided information, thank you.
Todd
 
Last edited:
I haven't really been following this thread very much but, does it mean that the closest thing you could get to a factory racer by Indian ( 1901/02 ) is a Pope Columbia factory racer ??

I have a factory racer by Columbia 1902 Model 83 - so was just curious if there are close comparisons to the two. I believe it's the only one surviving as I've never seen another.
 
Nope-the Pope post has no relation to Indian, Hendee, or the bikes discussed in this thread. For a 1901 Indian special racer see post #147 of this thread. V/r Shawn
 
Back
Top