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Bits for the orphan Indian Chief

Sunday shed wrap

August 31, 2025, by Guy 'Guido' Allen

Feature and ride pics by Ben Galli Photography

2009 Kings Mountain Indian Chief Vintage

The message on my phone was as simple as it gets: a picture of a box of parts, from young Mark Barthelmie over at Crazy Horse Moto. Some time last year he decided to quit his stock of Kings Mountain Indian parts (this was the factory that was bought out by Polaris) and offered me much of it.

Given I had bought the bike itself from him back in 2015, it made some sort of sense to say yes and worry about the consequences later. I shot the money into his bank account and got busy with other things – like completely reshaping at least half of my fleet by sending a herd to auction and then, somehow, ending up with a bigger herd.

The machine we're focussing on is a 2009 Indian Chief Vintage, from the Kings Mountain factory. The latter is important, as it had pockets deep enough to hugely improve the product over its predecessor, producing just 1134 motorcycles across 2009-13 before Polaris shut down production of this series and came up with its own clean-sheet design.

In the 'lucky-dip' box are a new ignition coil, new regulator and a front brake master cylinder, along with assorted gaskets, some chrome trim parts, a couple of tail-light lenses and a few other random bits.

Do I really need them? Probably not. However I'm caught in a dilemma where, if I do need them, no-one is stocking them in any formal and organised sense and so they're good to have. You could argue it's a much better result if they're never needed and collect dust.

The thing is Kings Mountain models are now orphans, even though they have a lot of appeal as a ride and as a significant step in the history of the marque. There is no shop where you can go either physically or online, where you can cruise through a virtual parts fiche and find what you need.

I've owned a few other 'orphan' or outlier vehicles (cars and bikes) and the experience taught me the component you find today will never be cheaper or easier to get. You need to understand that, before you turn it down.

Here's an example that literally stopped my otherwise reliable Kings Mountain bike: the body control module (BCM). This is a term that many of us simply did not grow up with. You need a battery, a working alternator, a regulator/rectifier, plugs and leads. How hard can it be? That has changed with the adoption of electronic fuel injection and more sophisticated ECUs.

The BCM essentially runs the larger plot of the electronics 'talking' to each other. It went to lunch in this bike and that meant it could not be started or ridden.

When I got it home, I could see much of the electrical system was working and could even turn over the starter with a screwdriver across the relay terminals.

After a little hunting around on the interweb, I discovered the USA National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTA) had issued a recall notice back in 2011, requiring the BCM to be replaced with an updated (and hopefully more robust) unit. My bike, which may well have been sitting unused in a shed by then, missed out. And, having later crossed the Pacific Ocean to Australia, it finally broke down in 2020.

Given there was no longer any factory support, I started hunting through parts consolidation sites such as Megazip and Partzilla. It was through the former I found what I needed, presumably stock which Polaris had offloaded.

Just as an aside, BCMs are common currency these days and there are clever people out there who claim they can rebuild them for cars. They ran away the moment I said "Indian motorcycle". Sooks!

The new BCM plugged in and worked at a cost of around Au$450 (US$300, GB£220, €250) by the time it landed. I was so relieved that I went out and bought a second as a back-up. Silly and unnecessary? Yes, I hope so. But if someone messed up with my replacement unit, I get a second chance.

In the meantime these things have become the proverbial unicorn. After checking all the usual suspects, I found one in Canada – assuming the stock listing is up to date.

Meanwhile the Chief has been thoroughly enjoyable – a relatively low-use unit that's just about to click over 5000km (3100 miles). It's earmarked for an annual Pub & Grub ride with the local Iron Indian Riders crew and otherwise just gets exercised and taken out for the proverbial Sunday morning coffee run.

That reminds me: I should talk about the dual lithium battery installation – a theme for another day...

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