Project Scout contest won by a Thug

Indian announce winner of Project Scout competition

Cornish dealership Thor motorcycles have scooped the top prize in Indian’s Project Scout comeptition with their hardcore THUG machine.

Custom competitions that see dealers fight it out for fame and glory are not a new phenomenon, Yamaha have their Dealer Built competition, Harley-Davidson have the Battle of the Kings and Ducati had the Custom Rumble for their Scrambler.

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What they offer is a glimpse of what’s possible with the current crop of motorcycles that are currently on offer from leading bike bods, presumably with the intention into hoping that a customer will be inspired to buy their latest and greatest model so they can do the same.

The basis of the Indian’s Project Scout competition is simple enough, take a Scout Sixty and modify it. There are no restrictions or rules on the cost, the theme or the style of the build and there is a time limit of 90 days in which to complete the build.

The only stipulation was that a minimum of three genuine Indian Scout accessories must be used and at least one part from either Custom Chrome Europe, MAG Europe or Harrison Billet. 

The winner of the competition by public preferance at Motorcycle Live was Cornwall’s Thor Motorcycles, who created the THUG. It took over 20% of the final 1905 votes to claim the winning position beating off close competition from Midwest Moto’s MWM-115 and Moore Speed Racing’s Beach Tracker, which placed second and third respectively.

Colin Treleaven, dealer principle at Thor commented: “We didn’t want to build a handbag, fashion statement bike, it had to be something that hadn’t been done before and it had to be a rideable bike, not a show pony.

“Most of the components were sourced by rooting through our stores and parts bins, aiming to keep the build as cost effective as possible. With the exception of the lighting, exhaust and a handful of official Indian accessories, anything that couldn’t be found in our shop was hand fabricated. One of hardest tasks was creating a machined spline assembly that extended the front sprocket to convert the final drive to a chain. THUG goes as well as it looks and we’ll definitely be riding it on the road.”

Other notable entries came from custom powerhouse Krazy Horse, who entered two bikes with the ‘Green Manalishi’ and the KH163. HBC Motorcycles also created a mean looking tracker and dubbed it the Wild Horse.

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