Poor Boys 648

July 8, 2016

Article By: Kiwi Mike Tomas

Photos By: Chris Callen

Originally Published In The February 2016 Issue Of Cycle Source Magazine

It’s not very often that you find someone that owns the same bike that they bought in 1962. Harold Duffey is one of those guys and he’s still as passionate about it now as he was when he first bought it. Duffey was on his paper route as a young 16 year old when he noticed this bent up Indian leaning up against a house. Like any young lad into motorcycles he knocked on the door and asked what was up with the bike. The lady of the house replied that her husband dumped it on a gravel road and it’s gotta go. Sensing a limited opportunity, he i Article By: Kiwi Mike Tomas Photos By: Chris Callen immediately struck up a deal and got the money before the guy came home. Smart move, there’s many a good deal gone south because someone dilly dallied. But not Duffey, he was sharp as a tack for a 16 year old who worked hard for his money and was going to make it count. This 1942 Indian Sport Scout had his name written all over it. Duffey lived on the other side of a small town in Iowa and while pushing the bike about half way home, he had the sudden realization that if he took the bike home his parents would kill him. Still not deterred he called his mate Boone in the next town over and asked if he could store the bike for a few years. Boone said sure, there’s an empty pool hall above my dad’s Tavern that’s been empty for years. We can push it up the stairs and store it there. Novi’s Tavern emptied onto a side alley that lead on to Main Street and then straight out of town so when Harold wanted to go for a ride he would get the bike up on the firing stroke and roll down the stairs and she would fire up. Duffey’s moto was bikes before babes, now that’s passion. Duffey’s parents never knew about the bike until many years later.

Indian Scouts ran very strong and there were some exceptionally good tuners around. This engine has had the hands of such notables as Ernie Beckman and Smitty in it. Smitty was an exceptionally good engine builder and built Bill Tuman’s race engines. Beckman was one of the 3 members of the original Indian Wrecking Crew. For those that don’t know, Bill Tuman (now 94 years old and still alive) was one of the 3 Indian Wrecking crew members (Bobby Hill, Ernie Beckman and Bill Tuman). Indian utilized one cam lobe for the front cyl to lift the intake and exhaust valve and another lobe to run the rear cylinder. It was a bit of a limiting factor for all out performance but these old builders knew how to massage the engine and perform their magic. The Indian factory offered a high performance (Bonneville) cam and follower set up which really woke the engine up. To me every Indian should’ve left the factory with Bonneville cams and followers but like the manufacturers today, they offer it as an upgrade. On the other hand it provides plenty of employment for our fellow mates in the industry so all is right with the world. Duffey calls his bike “Poor Boys 648” since Birkman, the original builder, couldn’t afford a real 648. The 648 was a 45” Scout that the factory purposely built to race in 1948 at Daytona against Harley Davidson. By crickey that Scout kicked Harley’s ass with Floyd Emde piloting his 648 Big Base Scout to the finish line at Daytona to take the checkered flag. Floyd was a cool dude and he always had my respect.

It was also known as the “Big Base Scout”. Some things that separate the Big Base Scout was its heavier built crankcases, internal oil scraper pickup, beefed up output drive side, stronger primary, 1948 Chief gear drive aluminum oil pump, use of ball and roller bearings to name a few. Duffey really comes alive with one of his recent experiences. He had the Scout in the back of his 32 Ford Pickup and was at a gas station in route to a car show when a couple of guys with modern race bikes in their pickup pulled up, came over and started chatting about the bike. They were fascinated and asked so what he did with the bike. Duffey replied “I mostly show it but I would like to see it raced”. Without missing a beat one of the guys piped up for his mate and said he’s a pro rider, Kenny Alderden, 35G (age 18). No racing got done that day on the Scout but a plan was put in place to take it to Sturgis and run it there. Duffey had never been to Sturgis but he knew his nephews had reservations at a campground there so he put a plan in place. So off they go, the campsite seemed like the logical place to fire it up and blow the cob webs out. Jim Wall of Colorado is an excellent Scout tuner and he got it dialed in while riding some laps at the Sturgis ½ mile race track. Unfortunately the bike was denied its glory to race in the AMA Pappy Hoel races because it had no brakes apparently.

Not to be discourage, Duffey took his bike to the Editors Choice bike show at the Broken Spoke where he won Cycle Source’s Editor’s Choice. The following day they went to the Jack Pine Gypsies 1/4 mile track and Kenny loosened up his own dirt with the Scout. When Kenny finally stopped going round and round he pulled up and said “It went faster than I thought it would, faster than I wanted to go. It’s the best day of my whole life! Duffey finished to say, “That day was the “Day of my Decade”, a Cycle Source win, A Cycle Source feature and a Pro rider kicking up dirt.” Thanks Kenny for throwing dirt again and Duffey for preserving such a fine Indian and thanks to Cycle Source for sharing it with everyone.