Tony's a native, albeit not a native of the great land that stretches from shining sea to shining sea that produced both the Indian motorcycle and the pukka bare-arsed original inhabitants, but a native of the Netherlands and Tony's lifetime obsession with two-wheeled redskins has earned him the title of 'Holland's Mr Indian'. While the other kids were stumbling around in big wooden shoes and poking their fingers in dykes, Tony Leenes bought his first v-twin Indian and thus began a love affair with a motorcycle that would eventually turn into one of the finest Indian collections in the world.

Although there are many stock and restored examples of the Indian marque behind the big door at his museum in the Friesland town of Lemmer, Tony Leenes is far from being the archetypal restorer and collector of vintage motorcycles. Y'see, way back in time at the tail-end of the Sixties when it was fashionable to look like a twat, the pubescent Haar Leenes was as impressed by the chromed 'n metalflaked bikes of Captain America and Billy as the rest of the spotty generation that bastardised a million motorcycles and that very first Indian sprouted long forks and grew high handlebars as Tony turned the old war-horse into a chopper. Whereas most serious collectors and restorers, and indeed admirers of vintage tin, would have a tantrum fit to burst their colostomy bag at the sight of a stainless steel washer when the factory original was nickel-plated, Tony doesn't give a flying fuck for the conventional way of doing things and standing side-by-side in the museum with immaculately restored and rare original examples of Springfield's finest motorcycle are many of the chopped and customised Indians that Tony has built over the past 30 years.

The 'Speedy Burner' has been around as a customised bike for a long time, although not Tony's first Indian to be saved from a mundane life on the reservation, the bare bones of the 'Burner' were completely rebuilt in 1996 into a pretty close semblance of the latest `98 version, sans the Suzuki inverted front-end and a few other refinements. Probably more than anything else, it's the upside-down GSX-R1100 front fork of the latest reincarnation that gives the bike its avant guarde aspect of being slowly dragged headfirst from the 40s into the 90s. Never one to ignore the superior technical achievements from the land of the rising scum, Tony has used various oriental offerings from the land of fat men in nappies to update the brakes and suspension on many of his customised Indians and the 'Speedy Burner' uses parts from all of four members of the Nip big boys club. The aforementioned Gixer front forks are prevented from rubbing on the road by an original fat 16 inch Big Chief wheel rim spoked to a Honda 400-4 hub, with twin brake discs from a CB900 performing a double act with a pair of Kawasaki four-pot callipers when the rapid retardation of forward motion is called for. The Kawasaki complement is further enhanced at the back door with another original 16 inch Big Chief wheel rim laced to a Z650 hub complete with disc, calliper and billet aluminium sprocket - while the lone donation from the Yamaha Motor Corporation making itself visible on the right-hand side of the straight drag bars in the form of a solitary XS1100 master cylinder.

While the '46 Chief engine might have been born in the USA, it's had a considerable makeover by the Indian man from Emmelloord, Sieste Douwmar, who has been building and tuning Tony's engines since the Seventies. Using the tried and tested flathead tuning tricks that date from days when Indians ruled the boardtracks, Sieste stroked the 1200 engine to 1500 cee cees using a set of S&S flywheels and original Chief rods. The valves in a side-valve engine are located in the side of the cylinders, (hence the obvious name), and Sieste worked and enlarged the inlet and exhaust tracts of the original '46 Chief barrels to get more of the mixture in and more of the burnt remains out, and removed 5mm worth of metal from the roof of the combustion chambers in the cylinder heads to keep the compression ratio within the realms of sanity and provide a larger area for the burning mixture to expand. Not a lot comes from Denmark 'cept bacon, chopped pork and porno movies, but it seems that the Danes have a liking for side valves, (must be something to do with the dark nights and one of the highest suicide rates in Europe), and from the land of the midnight cum Seiste scored a nifty pair of `shoebox' camshafts - so-called because the insane height of the cam profile and the massive amount of valve overlap mean that if you miss a gear at high revs you can fit all of the parts of the engine in a shoebox.

To give the 'Burner' a four-speed gearbox and a strong and reliable clutch, Tony swiped a gearbox from BSA's version of the Exxon Valdez, the A10, and coupled it to a 30mm belt drive of his own design and a modified clutch from a Jawa speedway bike. A similar refugee from Eastern Europe found sanctuary on the right-hand side of the engine in the shape of a 38mm Amal carburettor that defected from a life of stale bread and flag-waving on a Jawa speedway engine. Rehoused and rehabilitated from it's diet of dope and despair, the Amal has been modified to run on petrol and fitted with a Mikuni airfilter sporting a traditional Indian badge. Again, taking a step back to the way things were done when Indians ruled the racetracks, Tony fitted the lightweight twin fuel/oil tanks from a 1932 500cc Scout to the rebuilt frame, (half of the rear section had rusted away from the bike lying on its side for years), and in a moment of sheer inspiration took a front mudguard from a 1944 Army Chief, slipped it into the rear of the rigid frame so that the curvature of the 'guard followed the line of the fat Avon tyre and topped off the cake with a cherry of a red-faced Indian front mudguard ornament as a rear light. The front lamp is a similar example of looking `just right' and a thankful change to the usual 5 inch Bates replica. Years ago Tony bought an old brass Cibie car spotlamp at an autojumble, the twin lenses giving it the moniker of the `bug eye' lamp, (and predating the modern streetfighter penchant for twin lights by about, oh 40 years or so), and he kept it at the back of the big Indian cupboard for years waiting on the right bike to use it on. Chromed and converted to a legal dip 'n dazzle format the bug-eye looks as much the part on the 'Speedy Burner' as a strap-on dick does on Martina Natratilova.            

While the front end may be as hi-tech as a solar powered vibrator, with nothing more than a 1923 Scout solo saddle to cushion the posterior, the rebuilt 1937 Chief rigid frame gives a ride as hard as a Viagra-flavoured ice lolly. With a respectable 55BHP at the sticky end of the rear Avon the hard-arse rear-end cramps the usable power of the engine. Okay so 55 horses may not sound like a lot of nags beating down the stable door in today's Rs and elbows dominated market place, but it's around 15 more than the sort of late Sixties Triumph Bonneville that brings a tear to the eye of the kind of people who have a nice beard and wear Belstaff Y-fronts and it's at least five more than the best that Harley-Davidson can wring out of a 1340 Evo. So weighing in at less than the combined weight of the Rwandan Olympic power-lifting team with no non-functional doo-dads added, save an Indian motif on the air filter, when the stroked 1500 cee cees of the big old Chief engine is whooping a war cry at the wrong side of 120 mph it takes considerable effort to hang your arse off that thin seat while the rear end rock an' rolls like Julian Clary with a rabid hamster superglued up his tradesman's entrance.       

Like the Giro queue at my local Post Office, the many component parts of the 'Speedy Burner' are truly multinational - although the bulk of the bike hails from the US of A, the engine has cams from Denmark, a clutch from Czechoslovakia, gearbox and dynamo from Great Britain, headlight from la belle France and suspension and brakes from the man who brought you Pearl Harbour and the Burma railway, good old uncle Tojo, all melded into one cohesive package with more style than Noel Coward in spats and a Panama hat by Tony 'Mr Indian' Leenes … a cigar-smokin' Dutchman who's had more Indians than a Ganges crocodile.

Specifications  

Owner:	Tony Leenes, Lemmer, Holland
Make & Model:	Indian Chief
Engine:	1946 Indian Chief side-valve v-twin - stroked to 1500cc using S&S flywheels and original Chief rods. Modified Chief cylinder heads with 5mm relieved from combustion chambers. Original 1946 Chief cylinders with enlarged intake ports. 500cc Scout valve springs on special inlet manifold. `Shoebox' hi-performance cams - made in Denmark. Modified Jawa speedway 38mm Amal carburettor. Modified Mikuni air filter with Indian motif. Approximately 55BHP at rear wheel.
Exhaust:	Modified BSM pipes
Transmission:	Jawa 6-bolt speedway clutch, BSA A10 swinging-arm gearbox, 30mm belt drive primary. One-off handmade primary belt and rear chain guard.
Frame:	1937 Indian Chief - repaired, restored and modified. Modified custom aftermarket footrests and levers. White Power steering damper.
Forks:	Suzuki GSX-R1100 USD forks and yokes, top yoke modified for headlight bracket.
Front Wheel:	Honda 400-4 40 spoke hub with original Big Chief 16in rim and Avon HL29 tyre.
Front Brake:	Honda CB900 brake discs and Kawasaki Tokiko 4-piston brake callipers on one-off billet aluminium brackets. Plastic-covered stainless steel brake lines, Yamaha XS1100 master cylinder.
Front Mudguard:	Unknown Jap front mudguard
Rear Wheel:	Kawasaki Z650 hub with original Big Chief rim and Avon HL30 tyre.
Rear Brake:	Z650 brake disc and calliper, billet aluminium sprocket. Harley-Davidson master cylinder with plastic-covered stainless steel brake line.
Rear Mudguard:	Modified 1944 Army Chief front mudguard
Seat:	1923 Scout solo seat.
Petrol Tank:	1932 Indian Sport Scout: fuel in left side, oil in right
Oil Tank:	see above. Custom-made oil cooler.
Paint:	Silver and red candy paint by Rob Smidt from Texel.
Chrome:	Chrome plating by Jan Jager. Aluminium polished by Theo de Jong.
Handlebars:	Custom drag bars and billet aluminium risers.
Wiring:	Wiring harness by owner, all wiring routed through frame and handlebars. Switchgear hidden under fuel tank. Original Indian 6 volt Autolite distributor and modified Lucas, 'Prince of Darkness' dynamo.
Headlight:	Original 1940s Cibie 'Bug-eye' headlamp, modified for modern bulb fitment.
Tail light:	Indian front mudguard ornament fitted with red lens and used as rear light.
Other details:	Bike engineered and built by Tony Leenes, engine modified and built by Sieste Douwmar, belt and chain guards made by Hans Spel. The 'Speedy Burner' is on display alongside around 40 more rare redskins, (and a few palefaces), at the Tony Leenes Indian Museum, Indian Place 1, Lemmer, Holland. Ring 00 31 (0) 514 563244 for details of opening times.

This feature first appeared in Back Street Heroes 177