As Indian approached its tenth birthday, the design of Oscar Hedstrom’s original single-cylinder motorcycle had begun to mature. Like the vast majority of its contemporaries, the early Indian owed much to traditional bicycle design, which was hardly surprising as Hedstrom and his partner Oliver Hendee had started out in the cycle business. Other manufacturers, most notably arch rivals Harley-Davidson, had started with a clean sheet of paper, adopting what was generally known as the ‘loop’ frame that wrapped around the engine. Indian went down this road for 1909, abandoning the old ‘diamond’ frame.

Indian’s singles continued to have a rearward sloping cylinder, though this was no longer part of the frame. By this time the Indian ‘F-head’ (inlet-over-exhaust) single was available in three different capacities: 19.3ci (316cc), 26.96ci (442cc) and 30.5ci (500cc) though only the smallest and largest of the trio were still on offer in 1910. That same year, Oscar Hedstrom designed new engines that would enable the company to retain its supremacy in motordrome (board track) racing that had recently come under threat from Excelsior. To maintain its edge, Indian switched from the ‘F-head’ arrangement to overhead valves, solving the problem of keeping two necessarily large valves cool by using four per cylinder. There was an added bonus, as the additional port area enabled the engine to breathe more freely. The new 8-valve v-twin and 4-valve single-cylinder engines debuted in 1911 and were immediately successful. The 8-valve became dominant on the board tracks and in 1920 set a world record of 114.17mph, the first of many. Early versions used the so-called ‘big base’ crankcases that contained the large flywheels thought to be an asset as speed was controlled by switching off the ignition (there was no throttle control on the board racers) while the later ‘small base’ versions, developed for dirt-track and road racing, used standard roadster ’cases.

This ‘small base’ example of what was the fastest racing motorcycle of its day was the very motorcycle featured in the Guggenheim Museum's art exhibit and book, The Art of the Motorcycle, and is presented in fully restored, near perfect condition throughout.