A hooligan's Hooligan
We caught up with Parisian photographer and film maker, Dimitri Coste at the Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride in London to find out what he’s done to his Indian Scout to turn it into a Super Hooligan racer that he’d stuck a numberplate on and rode over from France.
Fortunately, he’s back riding again now after a crash while competing in the Hooligan Flat Track series at the MCN Festival in May left him somersaulting over the air fence. The result was a dislocated shoulder with the added bonus of crushing muscles, tendons and ligaments. Lovely.
“The Roland Sands Super Hooligan Indian Scout is usually my race bike. For the DGR though, I put the stock front wheel back on so I could have a front brake, fitted a headlight and cable-tied a number plate to the back,” he said.
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“It took a while to ride a motorcycle again after the crash, I was only able to raise my arm properly again about three weeks ago thanks to a lot of physical therapy.”
His RSD Scout commands presence. With no side stand fitted, it sits quietly against a wall looking menacing. The bike is still wearing some scars from the accident and the brick-coloured dust from Peterborough’s Showground gives the black machine a slightly orange tint from certain angles. It’s rock and roll – stylish, but unintentionally so.
“It started as a stock Indian Scout, I mounted a Roland Sands Super Hooligan kit that’s made especially for it. All that remains from the original bike now is just the frame, the engine and gas tank. The rest is all from RSD.”
Building the bike was simple enough, the Roland Sands parts were a plug and play affair. In total, it took two days to complete the bike ready for racing: “The way Roland’s designed the stuff makes it really easy to do,” adds Dimitri.
In racing form, the bike rolls on 19-inch wheels, shod with flat-track rubber. Riding it to the UK required some minor modifications “I just put a headlight, a mirror and the front wheel back on the bike but that’s it, there’s no signals and no tail light” he said. A spool hub on his racing wheels means that the front won’t accept a brake, not ideal considering he’s only just been able to start riding again, “I had to put the front wheel back in because the bike has too much power to use on the road without a front brake.”
There are special yokes fitted that allow the bars to turn more giving Dimitri better control of the bike when it’s sliding sideways, the deep scratching on the bars still reminding of the accident back in May.
The forks have been upgraded to feature GPSP progressive springs, but there is a view to to upgrade the suspension later on to Ohlins. There’s also the possibility of fitting some R6 forks to the bike too – that’ll allow Coste to fit a front brake to the 19-inch wheel he races on.
Dimitri isn’t hanging about though. After regaining movement in his arm again he’s already looking to get the bike back on the dirt oval and is hoping to get racing again soon.
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