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Indian Motorcycle Presents the 'Frontier 111' Custom Springfield

10K views 31 replies 26 participants last post by  S.Orona913 
#1 · (Edited)

Photo by Sara Liberte

Azzkikr Custom Baggers' Len Edmondson Plies His Art on Indian Motorcycle's Newest Bagger

MINNEAPOLIS, MN--(Marketwired - Mar 15, 2016) - Indian Motorcycle®, America's first motorcycle company, is proud to present the "Frontier 111" crafted by Azzkikr Custom Baggers of Phoenix, Ariz., as a radical interpretation of the new Indian® Springfield™ motorcycle.

The first custom to be built based on the 2016 Indian Springfield, Azzkikr's Frontier 111 showcases builder Len Edmondson's exceptional talents for creating award-winning and fully functional artwork. With this bike, his acute attention to detail and outrageous craftsmanship offer a truly show-stopping example of a thoroughly modern retro bagger that features classic lines via contemporary, artistic flare.

The Frontier 111 has obvious salutes to pedigree by incorporating the heritage of the Indian brand's skirted front fender, a leaf-spring equipped springer front end, jockey shifter with foot clutch, and historically inspired color palette surrounding Indian Motorcycle's powerful Thunder Stroke® 111 engine.

"We have been working on the cutting edge of the custom bagger movement for years now, but it's not often that you get to reveal a custom based on a motorcycle the factory just introduced," says Azzkikr's Len Edmondson. "From Day #1, we wanted something that reflected the big front wheel trend but still spoke to the heritage and style that is uniquely Indian."

The sleek Frontier 111 incorporates a sweeping line from its hand-built headlight housing to the tip of its expertly crafted rear fender. The front clip includes a custom-made triple tree sourced from KewlMetal, a springer-type suspension utilizing a leaf-spring, a 26-inch spoked wheel wrapped in Metzeler rubber, and a hand-formed aluminum hub hiding a modern disc brake system. Up top the Springfield's fuel tank was modified for a vintage look and topped with a polished dash piece featuring stock gauges, and a hand-tooled leather seat diverts the eye to the back of the bike, where you'll find hand-formed side panels, bags and rear fender. The removable bags are fully functional with a mechanical lid, and there's a vintage-look taillight assembly with brake light and indicators. Hidden by the bags, the stock-size 16-inch rear wheel is spoked while rear air-suspension allows the bike to ride at factory height or drop low for show. As with everything else, the striking red and black paint palette with gold leaf detailing also was done in-house.

"Everything on the bike aside from the triple tree was hand-made or manufactured in our shop to an OEM quality standard to fit on the Springfield's stock frame, so nothing on it makes any actual changes to the engineering of the present bike," Edmondson says. "In other words, if I wanted to send parts to someone to reproduce this bike with a new Springfield, they could put it together using the same bolt patterns. That makes this build truly revolutionary."

"The Indian Springfield is a touring bike that is meant to be ridden, and by building an extreme custom around the stock frame the Frontier 111 stays true to the spirit of the motorcycle," commented Reid Wilson, Marketing Director for Indian Motorcycle. "Len and his team did an amazing job with this build and it was very exciting to unveil this bike at the 75th Anniversary of Daytona Bike Week."

Learn more about Azzkikr Custom Baggers and its Frontier product line for Indian motorcycles at AzzkikrCustomBaggers.com. Learn more about Indian Motorcycle by visitingIndianMotorcycle.com and Facebook, Twitter and Instagram social media channels.

ABOUT INDIAN MOTORCYCLE®
Indian Motorcycle, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Polaris Industries Inc. (NYSE: PII), is America's first motorcycle company. Founded in 1901, Indian Motorcycle has won the hearts of motorcyclists around the world and earned distinction as one of America's most legendary and iconic brands through unrivaled racing dominance, engineering prowess and countless innovations and industry firsts. Today that heritage and passion is reignited under new brand stewardship. To learn more, please visit www.indianmotorcycle.com.

ABOUT POLARIS® INDUSTRIES
Polaris Industries Inc. (NYSE: PII) is a global powersports leader with annual 2015 sales of $4.7 billion. Polaris fuels the passion of riders, workers and outdoor enthusiasts with our RANGER®, RZR® and POLARIS GENERAL™ side-by-side off-road vehicles; our SPORTSMAN® and POLARIS ACE® all-terrain off-road vehicles; VICTORY® and INDIAN MOTORCYCLE® midsize and heavyweight motorcycles; SLINGSHOT® moto-roadsters; and Polaris RMK®, INDY®, SWITCHBACK® and RUSH® snowmobiles. Polaris enhances the riding experience with parts, garments and accessories sold under multiple recognizable brands, and has a growing presence globally in adjacent markets with products including military and commercial off-road vehicles, quadricycles, and electric vehicles. www.polaris.com
 

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#5 ·
this thing is nice. I would like to get that tail light cover
 
#6 ·
I do like the springer front end but I am so tired of the slammed bagger look with the big front tire. Some of those big front end wheels I swear look like a wagon wheel. This one is more tastefully done but to me it is hard to beat the classic lines of the production Indian. Dean
 
#12 ·
It's a slick looking motorcycle, not necessarly my style, but nice all the same. Sure hope it has some sort of air-ride to lift the ass end up while traveling. With the roads the way they are here up north, that fiberglass rearend would'nt last very long before it had bottom-out in a chughole or road-groove or just going over a cross-road.
 
#14 ·
Victory inspired headlight .............I don't know, maybe its the paint scheme that just does not do it. This bike looks like it rides rougher than a night in a Mexican jail. As cool as the jockey shifters are, they really are a pain in the ass. No shiftgate here but I am guessing he has tight linkage, otherwise you are really fishing for gears. Been riding jockey shifters for years and own 4 of them still...........its not all that, trust me.

Still its a chore to customize an Indian with its swooping lines and just cool make- up anyways. I respect that endeavor. But its not me. Len lives in Phoenix, home of the bagger nation and full of bagger builders. Either you are into the large front wheel or you are not.
 
#15 ·
Love the front suspension. Not sure why a headlight assembly that looks Vic inspired was chosen. I had a big wheel as a kid, I have since moved on. I like to see what others are doing, but as stated above, the production bike pays homage to the beauty of the original Indians, and that's hard to improve.
 
#16 ·
It is a nice piece with beautifully done details.
But I see technically and functionally a few "compromises". Besides the leaf sprung front end ... the jockey shifter is driving a CABLE.
Can be interesting with a sticking 1st gear on a cold morning... but maybe this is a nice weather (or collectors) bike and not meant to be ridden regularly?
 
#18 ·
Nice garage art, completely unrideable. The leaf spring front end and dropped rear would slow you down immensely; and those bags would give you the turning radius of a semi-truck. But then again I don't think performance was their main inspiration.

There are a few thing that would be nice to incorporate though.
 
#20 ·
As someone that is now riding a girder front end, it is not as bad as you guys are saying. It took a couple hundred miles to get used to, but I am starting to get the hang of it. It just changes the way that you apply pressure to the front end and makes you look a little further down the road.

This bike is on air suspension, so it doesn't ride on the ground like that. That is just park mode. I didn't get to sit on it, but it is long, so that is just going to mean that the turning radius is not going to be awesome, but still rideable in a straight roads, you know, like PHX has.

Personally, I am not a fan of the built baggers, but I can certainly appreciate the effort and skill that went into this build. Building clean is NOT easy.
 
#26 ·
Not to disparage custom bikes, but I have to give kudos to Indian themselves. I personally don't see these custom bikes as an improvement over the original. It's kind of funny, because I'd prefer, for example, an original 1928 Scout over a custom modified 1928 Scout. These customs are like vanity plates, they might be cool, but most of the time you're left wondering what the owner was trying to say.

The other day I was out and about in the Jeep. I came into a parking lot and there was a sweet red Vintage all alone. Maybe I'm used to the Roadmaster, but I was taken aback. I said to myself, "Wow, that is really a beautiful bike!". There was nothing custom about it. You can't improve perfection.
 
#28 ·
Not a huge fan of the "Big Wheel" bikes but this one's not bad. It has several nice styling cues and I give kudos to the builders. Like others, I don't care for the Victory-inspired headlight but I do really like the paint job, the leaf spring front end and the hidden disc brakes.....looks retro.
 
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