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Mike Tomas Of Kiwi Indian Motorcycle’s In Motion Builder Profile

Mike Tomas of Kiwi Indian Motorcycles got his start in the mechanical world as a young man in New Zealand performing repairs and fabricating parts for equipment on his father’s farm. He got his first Indian at age 17, knowing he wanted something American but not caring for Harley-Davidson and knowing that he didn’t want anything of British heritage. Kiwi was driven to the Indian brand one day when a man passed by him on a ‘41. Mike instantly fell in love with the lines and chased him down to learn more about his new dream machine.

 

The early 80’s found a 20 something Mike wandering the globe looking for his promised land. Eventually, he wound up in America and never left. He’d found where he belonged. 1988 rolled around, and Kiwi knew it was now or never to make his dream a reality, and so Kiwi Indian Motorcycles was founded. Mike quickly found his footing with his extensive knowledge of the Indian parts line.  You see, back in his motherland, Mike began fabricating his own Indian parts because at that place and time they were not readily available.

 

In 1990 things changed in a big way for Mike, he showed up at the Davenport Swap in Iowa with the industry’s first illustrated catalog for Indian Motorcycle parts. For the longest time, Kiwi was just a parts company, manufacturing some 1500 different part numbers. Mikes reengineering of original parts to make them last longer and perform better drove him through to the late 90’s when he achieved another first, in building the worlds first replica Indian engine made 100% with Kiwi Indian Motorcycle’s parts. Again in 2003, he was first with a complete replica Indian Motorcycle. Mikes talents don’t lie just in improving Indian equipment he builds a helluva custom bike. With a star-studded client list made up of collectors like Billy Joel, Jay Leno, David Letterman, Mike Wolfe and Perry Sands to name a few. Mike was even involved in the discovery build off the bike with Super Co and was a technical consultant for The Worlds Fastest Indian. Tragically, in 2014 Mike lost his young son Ross who was a big part of the business and an even more significant part of Mikes life personally. Much of what Mike does today he does to carry on his son’s memory. Always taking into consideration where Ross, who would have eventually taken the reigns of Kiwi Indian Motorcycles would have taken the company himself.

 

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