Von Dutch Chout

Fred Austin got in touch with some history about the 60's Chout




"Steve,

I was looking at a website about Chouts and saw a photo you posted. I used to ride that bike. Von Dutch built it in the early 60s maybe 1960. He was working for Bud Ekins at the shop Bud had in Sherman Oaks the second one. Dutch was painting bikes for him and doing some wrenching. Anyway the bike was a kind of dark brown color if memory serves me. somebody bought the bike none of my gang could afford one. So it was around the San Fernando valley. Around 1963 or 64 it had been passed down to us poor fellows I don’t know how exactly. On a Death Valley ride it crapped out up in the desert and the guy riding it just rolled it out into the sand and left. When he got back to the valley somebody asked him where the bike was. He was done with it and gave it to Dave Arthur I think it was Dave who when back up to Death Valley and picked it and drug it back to Reseda. Somebody got it running again and it became the loaner bike in our group. When somebody's bike was down they'd get the old Chout running and ride it.

I rode it a couple of times one time we went to the races at place called Somis out near Ventura. I packed a chick named Nadine on it she had white pants on. The poor old Chout leaked so much oil her white pants were history by the time we got back to the valley. In the photograph you can see that there’s no pegs or foot boards. I cut a broom stick down to about 24” and tied it to the front frame tubes with rope for pegs. Eric Cleveland rode it for a while. He’s the one that put the high bars or ape hangers as we used to call them on the bike. For as poor of maintenance as it got it ran pretty strong and never gimped on me the few times I rode it. I think it had a jockey shift.
That’s Eric’s photo you have there.

Thanks for the memories.

Fred Austin
Reno, NV"

Breed at Speed

Breed Flatheads - Indian Chout, Geelong Revival.

Rob McIntyre's Chout build pt 2

Well, it’s been a bit longer than I had intended but have been making some progress over the last couple of months as my self imposed deadline of the end of year is fast approaching.
Finally got the frame pretty much sorted with just a side stand mount to make and fit.  There has been a few modifications along the way like:
 fitting the rear brake arm mount off a 741
 moving the rear brake cross shaft mounts back 10mm to clear the primary
 drill out the old broken top and middle frame tubes and replace
 fit new front downtubes and modify to clear the magneto
 make and fit new seat mount then modify the seat yoke
 design and make new kicker post mount to suit Chief engine


The front end has also had some tweaking with a clever engineer mate in Christchurch (New Zealand) who stuck 2 front drums off a 741 back to back so I can have a double brake setup to help slow things down, which of course still won’t be great!  While this seemed to me like a pretty simple task there were a few things along the way that proved a challenge for him and involved plenty of machining of a new hub and other bits and pieces to provide the clearance.  Modern sealed bearings have been included as well.  The backing plates also needed modification by moving the speedo drive along with using the longer rear brake arms for the front and making some arm mounting pivots to suit.   Still to do with the front end is sort out the double cable pull – although I think I know what to do here, and then decide what size front wheel will work.  Leaning towards a 19” as I tried a spare 18” 741 that was lying around and didn’t really like the look of it and I thought I didn’t like the look of another 16” on the front until I tried one and now I’m not so sure.

Motor is with Dave at Harley Speed and Custom so that he can get that sorted for me – I don’t have the equipment or skills to do this justice and a decent engine job is worth spending the money on.
I’ll rebuild the gearbox myself and plan to separate it from the primary at the same time.

The 101 tank has been modified a little with the fitment of 2 taps – 1 with a slight tube on it so there is a reserve portion of fuel floating around in there. I’m a little concerned that the 9L of gas in a 101 tank will be a bit small for a Chief engine, but I guess it’ll be enough to get me from 1 pub to the next!  We also had to add in return and breather lines to the oil tank for the Chief motor, and have modified the original feed fitting to take the outlet line.  Tank looks good in the frame, sits on 3 brackets as opposed to the original 2 and I added a little extra to the back of the headstock to fill in an ugly gap that was there.

Work to do while the motor is away will be shape and fit the rear guard, make and fit a tool/battery box although I would like to run a magdyno and do away with a battery all together if possible – still looking at options for that one.  Wire it up, fit the bars and controls then it should be a simple matter of getting the motor back, fitting that in, making up the relevant lines and then see how it goes.  Plan on doing a few hundred mile to make sure that everything is working OK before pulling it apart to be cleaned up, painted and finished off.

Photo1

Machined out the new slot for the kicker
Photo2,3

Kicker arm adapter
Photo4

kicker attached
Photo5

New twin brake front, sizing up a 16” front tyre
Photo8

Sizing up a 19” front
Photo9

Drilling out the old frame tube stubs

Latest update Anders Chout build part XIII

HERE

DiXiE update no6

On the IPE site

Hobo Nickel update

http://indianchout.blogspot.co.uk/

Rob McIntyre's Chout update

Frame is almost sorted, mvoed the rear brake cross shaft mounts back
about 10mm to clear the bottom edge of the primary, drilled out the old
frame tubes so we could put in new tubes to suit the chief
motor, fitted  the '30s chief headstock and added a brace, to fill in
the ugly gap more than anything else. Thought about, and created a
solution to  the kicker arm position, had the oil and fuel line fittings
added to the tank and got the seat mount pivot milled out ready for my
welding.

It's interesting, looking at others chout builds and seeing how other
people come up wiht solutions ot similar problems - all work just as
well but each is quite different for the same problem!!!

I was worrying about how to get the bottom tube to clear the
heads - TRex (a NZ Indian fellow) cam up with the solution of bending
the 'seat post' back slightly and becauce I was using Ricardo heads
which are a bit lower than standard '40s chief ones should give us
enough clearance.   He was right and this works a treat....

 Shows my solution to fitting the seat pivot.  I didn't want a
big ugly bracket sticking up so had another mate turn up the tube on his
lathe and then had the man with a mill cut out the top tube - all I need
to do now is weld it in and give the seat mount a bit of a bend and
it'll be nice and tidy below the line of the frame.
resized5 - This is my really clever solution to moving the kicker arm
back a little.  As you all know a chief motor is a bit bigger than a
scout one, so one of the things you need to do is relocate the kicker
arm.  I had a couple of other ideas before this one but they were far
too complex........  this is a piece of steel bar, cut and ground down
to shape, a couple of holes drilled in it, bit of machining on the frame
(this was sent out to PG2000 in Wellington NZ) and it all matched up and
worked a treat.

Next on the agenda is to sort the motor/gearbox, rear guard and tank
then that is about all there is to a chout so I should be ready to ride
it - hahhaha, almost!!

Chout on ebay!

HERE

worth a read and look for some hints and tips

 Indian 101 Chout.

    This is a 1928-1930 Frame Modified to for a 1939 Chief Motor.  I have owned other Chouts 
before and after seeing what worked and what didn't, I decided to build one the way I felt worked 
best.  Over the years I picked the best items from loads of parts I bought to build this Chout.  
My first intention was to keep the lines of the 101 Scout.  I also wanted it to look period like 
it rolled out of a barn.  Everything we brazed and any area we worked on the frame or bike was treated
 or left alone to look like the original parts.   I NEVER HAD ANY INTENTION OF PAINTING THIS 
BIKE.  All parts were either nice patina/old paint, surface rust or original paint. No parts were used that 
were rotted in any way. All work we did was recorded in a journal and documented.   All receipts, 
the journal and paperwork will transfer to new owner.  In my state a notorized Bill of Sale is all that 
is required to transfer title as Vermont does not offer titles past 15 years old.  I may have an old 101 
title around if it would be useful to register for the new buyer.  Please ask me to look if this is a important
for you to register.  As of now the bike is only sold with a bill of sale, the title is not included but I might be 
able to help.

    The motor and transmission we used was a very nice 1939 complete motor and not built from a pile of parts.  
It was completely rebuilt by HP cycles in Berwick Maine.  I have all receipts for the build and I can put potential buyers in 
touch with the owner to discuss the work if necessary.  The builder that worked for HP has since 
retired but he worked on Indians and Aircraft work his whole life, an ace mechanic. In the pictures you 
will see a Morris Magneto that drops in the distributor hole and is driven by the oil Pump. Engine has 
been fitted in the frame.  Last piece of the engine install is to finish the kicker assembly .  
The period modication was to use a 20s Chief Kicker gear.  This was confirmed used on a period 
racer Chout that is in the Wheels thru Time Museum.  I have a 20s Chief 
kicker gear but it is worn and I have yet to locate another but I can aid in that location 
for the new buyer. Another option is to braze a new pin just behind the original pin and use 
the stock Chief arm and gear.  George has successfully done this on another customers Chout 
that was built about 5 years ago.  Or lastly a stepped back pin bracket can created which 
I had and worked well on a previous Chout I owned.  All work can be done for the buyer after 
the sale for a shop rate of $40 per hour.  My thoughts is the most period correct fix is to 
use the 20s Chief kicker gear which is why I haven't pursued the latter fixes. 

    I did all the frame and chassis modification in George Yarocki's shop with his help and
 Tim Raindle (one of the best new guys working on 101s I know).   All work was brazed and not welded, as welding
 if done near the frame castings will turn them very brittle and unsafe. Although alot of people 
may have problems with this, the frame was the nicest original frame I have ever owned.  I wanted a straight Solid, no rot frame, or essentially one 
that didn't need any work done to it.  But just to be sure, we put the original 101 frame in the frame jig to test it 
before we started any work to be sure it not structurally compromised.  Then we stretched it 
approximately 2 inches in the rear and 2 inches on the kicker down tube and 2 inches in front 
down tubes.  Then we used a set of 20s Chief NOS fork legs and 20s Chief links.  We did this because modifying the 
frame changed the ride height and angle of the chassis so we needed to bring the front end up a little.   We wanted it to ride level.
  To utilize the 101 front brake we had to braze the front brake anchor on which can be seen in the pictures.  
We figured this was the way to go by talk to some old timers who did it back in day.  We had to changed and repined the
 fork stem because the 101 frame has a different diameter stem then the chief forks had. The wheels were rebuilt and tested, all recorded in the 
journal.  The fenders fit fine but the front fender road a little high due to the longer chief 
forks so we made a custom front fender bracket to bring it down a little.  The Headlight was an 
original perfect light traded by a friend just for this project because the bike was for me.  
THE HEADLIGHT THAT IS ON IT WILL NOT GO WITH THE BIKE.  I said I would not sell the light and I 
have to honor my word.  A brand new, very nice reproduction headlight with glass lenses will go 
with the sale.  The headlight brackets were turned upside down and bent to look right, this was all 
to get a lower streamline looked that was a period modification I was going for.  The gas tank 
was a super cool tank I got from Australia  with old indian head logo on side, with a 22 bullet hole thru it.  We repaired it with 
tin as it would have been done during the period, both inside and out and tested the tank.  
Because we used a later Chief engine we had to have a recirculating oil system.  The tank has a 
hole cut in the bottom to mount a plate that will hold all the oil piping.  All the fittings 
are there and the tank can be completed at the shop for a shop rate of $40 an hour after the 
sale. There will be a generator mount included with the sale but my intention was to run this 
with a 12volt alternator and convert the headlight and tailight to modern light for a brighter 
light (bulbs for 12volt brighter light will be included in the sale).  No generator or alternator goes with the sale.  
The bike will run off the magneto so as of not no electrical is included with the bike.  My goal was to run it and iron out the electrical later.
Again this is some that can be addressed after the sale for a shop rate of $40.  The seat is a reproduction seat that we worked to look worn, and it looks great.  
The brake lever is a very nice original.  The bars were nice custom period bars that were cut and shortened to flat track as best I can tell.  It gives that sport ride stance.
There is a cool old paint tool box.  AN NOS SIDE STAND....only nos 101 stand I have ever seen.  Two battery boxes, one original, one repop......bottom rotted out of original
almost all of them do so I figured it could be run with rotted box, use repop (not direction I would go) or cut the bottom out of repop and weld to old one (what I intended to do)
Jockey shift assembly is new from Rockys but the shifter lever is an original Indian Head Robbins.

138mph Chout

Jim Robinson's Chout was timed at 138mph at El Mirage, its fitted with Bob Nichols' Racing side by side conrods and cams. Close up of the twin carb cyilnders on the last picture.

Tony Carabine's short framed Chout

Picture taken a few years ago, Tony sold the Chout on.

Allan Lowson's Chout

"It has: '31 '101' frame with a 'snub nose' (no magneto drive) '48 Chief motor shoehorned in, 741 front end running a Brembo/Goldwing disc brake, '39 Chief rear hub & brake, Sport Scout tanks, Bendix carb, Fairbanks-Morse mag, Mercedes 12 v generator, alloy rims and custom fenders with saddlebags.  Haven't even had time to start it yet as away from home for a few weeks.  It keeps my stroker Scout (Commando primary/trans/rear wheel and drum front end) company"

Hobo Nickel update

Here http://indianchout.blogspot.co.uk/

Ander's Chout parts V1 to V111

Keep up!
http://ossianbuilds.blogspot.co.uk/

More pics of Marie Sommansson's Chout - For Sale

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=353754518012781&set=o.208531189202051&type=1&theater

Ander's Chout update part V

http://www.ossianbuilds.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/chout-part-v.html

Hobo Nickel part one

More here on my build blog

Update on Ander's Chout build

Its on Peter Ossian's bench and you can catch up here. Chout build part 1 parts 2-4 are on the blog too.. coming together nicely.

A brace of Standard Chouts

Wayne from Western Australia sent me these pictures of a fine pair of Standard Scout frames Chouts  that he built one for himself and the other for his mate Chris

Wayne's bike above is a 344 Chief powerplant in a 1934 frame

Chris's is in a 1932 frame

Chout For Sale in Sweden

Chout for sale in Sweden http://www.indian-mc-club-sweden.com/sidafem.htm

'36 motor in a '28 frame

Bustin' Loose part 2

Found a little more here 1940 motor, Ollie cams, Bonneville carb, HD Knucklehead transmission in a 1928 101 chassis