Although the Indian Model 841 was originally designed as a military motorcycle it showed promise as a civilian model with some modifications. A few prototype civilian versions were made but did not make it into production.
Fast Facts
- The Indian Model 841 was originally made at the behest of the US military beginning in 1941.
- The Model 841 was intended to be a motorcycle that would provide all the advantages of the German BMW R71 and Zundapp KS750 in an American military motorcycle.
- Ultimately the military decided not to adopt the Indian Model 841 but instead to go with the Jeep, which was much more capable of going anywhere carrying a heavier load of troops and/or equipment.
- Indian realized that the Model 841 was a promising design with a potential future on the civilian market if a few changes were made to the design. They did this and produced a few prototypes.
- Only one of those prototypes is known to have survived and it is to be offered by Mecum Auctions at their Las Vegas Motorcycles auction on Saturday, January 31st, 2026.
The Indian 841 is one of the interesting “might have been” motorcycles. Created by Indian at the behest of the United States military this was to be a rugged, go anywhere desert warfare machine.
The military had been impressed by the German BMW R71 and the Zundapp KS750 which used horizontally opposed twin cylinder engines, and shaft drives which tended to be superior to a chain drive in the grit and dust of North Africa’s desert environment.
The US military asked both Harley-Davidson and Indian to each make 1,000 motorcycles of similar capabilities. The Harley-Davidson bike was the Harley-Davidson XA which was by and large a copy of the BMW.
Indian were more creative however and that creativity is what makes their motorcycle so interesting.
Indian’s engineers could see that the simple solution to changing from a chain drive to a shaft drive would be to turn the engine through 90 degrees so the crankshaft lined up with the drive shaft – just as is done on a front engine rear wheel drive automobile.
They used their existing 45 cu. in. (745cc) side-valve Scout engine and re-designed it from a 45 degree V-twin to a 90 degree V-twin. New cylinder heads were designed and the compression ratio was set at 5.1:1 so it would run on pretty much any grade of gasoline. The engine breathed via a single Schebler carburetor.
This engine was designated a type “8” and the bike was created beginning in 1941 so the model designation was 841. The engine generated 25hp giving the bike a top road speed of 70mph (110km/hr).
To transmit the power to the rear wheel drive shaft a new four speed gearbox was designed. The gear shift being accomplished by a rocker pedal on the right side of the transmission case. This was needed because the riders were going to be soldiers wearing clunky army boots.
The engine and gearbox were mounted in a tubular steel cradle frame with twin tubes to support the engine and transmission. At the rear the bike was provided with plunger suspension and at the front was a newly designed girder fork made using tapered oval cross-section tubing.
The bike was equipped with two fuel tanks providing 5 US gallons (19 liters) of capacity and weighed a substantial 528lb (240kg). Suffice to say it was “built like a tank” because it needed the durability of a tank.
It rode on 18×4 inch wheels and had 8 inch brakes front and rear.
The Model 841 proved to be an excellent motorcycle and very comfortable to ride: but despite its being an excellent design it was not to be accepted by the military.
Indian made 1,056 of these Model 841 motorcycles and some were delivered to the military. But the military had changed their mind about motorcycles and instead had decided to go with the Jeep as being a far more capable means of transportation.
So the inventory of Model 841 bikes remained in storage until the war was over at which point Indian “civilianized” them and sold them.
But the design of the Model 841 showed a great deal of promise as a potential civilian model and so a few prototypes were made as a potential production model.
This new prototype model was given a compression ratio of 8:1 and had other mechanical modifications.
The new civilian Model 841 was to be up against some stiff competition in the post war period. Indian were in financial trouble and were putting a lot of effort into re-defining the company and its products. This led to them getting in touch with Britain’s top motorcycle maker, Vincent, and seeing if a cooperative relationship could prove to be the saving tonic that Indian needed, and that Vincent needed also.
You’ll find our story on those events if you click here.
Only one of the Model 841 prototypes is known to have survived to the present day and it is to be offered for auction by Mecum Auctions on Saturday, January 31st, 2026, at their Las Vegas Motorcycles sale.
You will find the sale page for this quite unique Indian Model 841 prototype if you click here.
Picture Credits: All pictures courtesy Mecum Auctions.
Jon Branch is the founder and senior editor of Revivaler and has written a significant number of articles for various publications including official Buying Guides for eBay, classic car articles for Hagerty, magazine articles for both the Australian Shooters Journal and the Australian Shooter, and he’s a long time contributor to Silodrome.
Jon has done radio, television, magazine and newspaper interviews on various issues, and has traveled extensively, having lived in Britain, Australia, China and Hong Kong. His travels have taken him to Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan and a number of other countries. He has studied the Japanese sword arts and has a long history of involvement in the shooting sports, which has included authoring submissions to government on various firearms related issues and assisting in the design and establishment of shooting ranges.
