Mason City man builds 1910 Indian motorcycle

(ABC 6 News) – A Mason City man decided to do something pretty neat, and build a 1910 Indian Motorcycle. It seems to be catching everyone’s attention!

The motorcycle is something you would see back in the day.

“At that time, Indian was the largest motorcycle manufacturer in the world,” Raymond Quayle said. “If I can inspire young people to try and be more creative and use their hands, and start to build things again, I think that’s what this world needs, we need to start building things again.”

It took Raymond a year to finish this project.

He got the inspiration for this by going to a restaurant, sitting down, and seeing a brochure for the Anamosa National Motorcycle Museum.

It took him a year to make this motorcycle from scratch.

From the setup of the fuel tank, to an original seat he found in a river, he had everything he needed to complete this project.

And now that it’s done, he’s pretty happy about the results.

“I made all of the parts except for the wheel and the headlight. I looked at everything as a challenge and how to get there,” Quayle said.

Hard work pays off. He took part in the Abate National Motorcycle Show, and it won the people’s choice award, first in antiques, and second in best paint.

It was like the stars aligned, the Anamosa National Motorcycle Museum noticed the motorcycle and told Raymond that they would like to showcase it there for a day.

He says even the curator thought it was an original!

“How does it feel to see this come full circle, from seeing that brochure on the table, and then having this museum have interest in this?”

“There’s a lot of people that do good work, and I appreciate the attention that it has got. Back when I was a kid, I couldn’t afford nothing, I had to build what I wanted,” Quayle said.

“Can you ride it? Or is it just for show?”

“I built it with the full intention of riding it,” Quayle said.

Quayle plans to show the motorcycle off at many more local events when he can.