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Rebuilding the Indian: A Memoir |  | Author: Fred Haefele
Publisher: Bison Books
Category: Book
List Price: $17.95
Buy New: $13.46
as of 11/21/2009 10:16 EST details
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Seller: Amazon.com
Rating:  34 reviews
Sales Rank: 133161
Media: Paperback
Edition: Revised
Pages: 234
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 8.8 x 5.8 x 0.6
ISBN: 0803273584
Dewey Decimal Number: 629.2275092
EAN: 9780803273580
ASIN: 0803273584
Publication Date: September 1, 2005
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Product Description
The building of a vintage Indian Chief motorcycle is more than the restoration of a bike—it’s the resurrection of a dream. Rebuilding the Indian chronicles one man’s journey through the fearful expanse of midlife in a quest for peace, parts, and a happy second fatherhood. Fred Haefele was a writer who couldn’t get his book published, an arborist whose precarious livelihood might just kill him, and an expectant father for the first time in over twenty years. He was in a rut, until he purchased a box of parts not so euphemistically referred to as a “basket case” and tackled the restoration of an Indian Chief motorcycle. With limited mechanical skills, one foot in the money pit, and a colorful cast of local experts, Haefele takes us down the rocky road of restoration to the headlong, heart-thrilling rush of open highway on his gleaming midnight-blue Millennium Flyer.
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 34
 Bikers, babies, and buttheads - what FUN! July 19, 2009
Timothy J. Bazzett (Reed City, MI USA)
A lot of earlier reviewers seemed to be trying to compare this book to Pirsig's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, a book I read thirty years or more ago, whenever it first came out in hardcover. I remember enjoying the parts about the road trip and the father connecting with his son, but when he started getting all philosophical and "zen" on me, I tended to skip ahead. I guess I was just too damn dumb to understand the "deeper meanings" in that book. But Fred's book is very different. There's nothing too "zenny" or obscure in this book. It's about a fifty year-old guy trying to finally grow up and also realize a boyhood dream all at the same time, which couldn't have been easy, if you know what I mean. Haefele's a guy who screwed up a first marriage at a young age and kinda lost touch with his first two kids (but is trying to reconnect with them if he can), but got lucky enough to find a really great girl and marry again - in spite of all his faults, and he makes no bones about being a most imperfect kinda guy - and now, at the age of fifty-one, he's gonna be a father again. And he does - achieve fatherhood again, I mean. And his new wife, Caroline, seems to be one helluva good sport about all Fred's strange shade-tree mechanic friends and odd hours and habits. He tries to draw some parallels between rebuilding a fifty-some year-old motorcycle - from what he calls a "basketcase," no less - and building a new life and a new family all at the same time. He manages to go several thousand dollars in debt with the bike thing, and - miraculously - his wife doesn't leave him or kill him. They have the baby, the bike gets built, and they still seem to like each other. Correction: I'm pretty sure they still LOVE each other. Haefele has no problem with poking fun at himself and his peculiarities and juvenile obsessions, which only serves to make him more likeable. And the whole time he's building the Indian and trying to placate his pregnant wife, he's also working hard to make a living as a tree surgeon, or "arborist" - which is just plain hard work. This guy is no lazy slouch. He knows how to work. He just wants to be able to play a little now and then too. I guess I started liking Fred early on in this book, when I found out he's just a few months younger than I and was, like me, born in Michigan. He left Michigan as a young man, and there's plenty of local color here too, from his adopted home state of Montana. (Why am I so addicted to all these Montana books and memoirs lately? What is it about Montana that draws all the artists and writers anyway?) I left Michigan behind too, but did come back to retire, forty years later. My old (late) friend, author Jim Crumley, turns up briefly in Haefele's book too, ragging Fred for letting some women refer to his chosen paint color for the Indian (midnight blue) as kinda like "a prom dress" color. In the course of the this charming, folksy narrative, Fred touches on the strained distant relationship he always had with his father, laments losing track of his first son, and shows himself to be a loving and involved late-life father. I mean there are so many places here where I can relate to Haefele's tale and I just admire the hell out of this guy. I think if we ever got to sit down over a cuppa coffee we'd have plenty to talk about - and the wierd thing about this is I've never been on a motorcycle in my life - and never wanted to be either. Terrific book, Fred. Now I just wish you'd write another one. - Tim Bazzett, author of SOLDIER BOY: AT PLAY IN THE ASA
Best Present I ever gave my husband December 4, 2007
Cindy
Ladies - if you're husband is an "Indian Motorcycle Lover" this is a great present for him! I gave this to my husband last Christmas and it was by far one of the best presents he ever received in our 23 years of marriage. He couldn't put it down. A must have for anyone who has an Indian Motorcycle and especially who rebuilt it. Hope this helped - blessings to all! Anyone reading this - do you have another Indian suggestion for me - I'd love to give him another great book for this Christmas!
Wish I had found it sooner. September 17, 2007
Jeremy Charette (Brooklyn, NY USA)
I found "Rebuilding the Indian" on the clearance shelf of a bookstore in Napa, California; for just $9.99. Being a motorcyclist, I figured I'd pick it up. If it turned out to be an awful book, well, only ten dollars wasted.
But what a pleasure it turned out to be. Not just a book about restoring an Indian, it's more about the Author's journey through life, his failed first marriage, his blissful second marriage, and the birth of his third child. Putting the bike back together seems to be a metaphor for his life, as he attempts to resurrect his writing and teaching careers. The restoration itself is an exercise in frustration and hilarity, and an experience I can entirely relate to; doing whatever it takes to get the bike running at the very end, when you need that last nut or bolt, it's midnight, and nearest bike shop is closed. It's no Hemingway novel, to be sure, but it's easy to read, entertaining, and touching to the soul.
If you're into motorcycles at all, or have ever contemplated buying a basketcase of your own, this is a must read. Highly recommended.
Thumbs up for Rebuilding the Indian August 17, 2007
John F. Tolley Jr. (Missouri)
'Rebuilding the Indian' is not a step by step "how to" book on motorcycle restoration. It is the personal journey of a man finally beginning his dream. He had to do it with limited finances but with the support of a great family. Having taken similar journeys I found it a great read. It was fun to learn the same characters can be found in Montana collecting and saving rare motorcycles and parts as in the more densly populated areas of the country.
The author was not only a motorcycle enthusiast but writer that was able to become published.
The Indian Motorcycle as Simile June 20, 2007
Ross E. Nelson (Casselton, North Dakota United States)
I picked this book up at a garage sale or some such and had it for a while before reading it. What a delightful surprise it was. Author Haefele, whose life is in a bit of a mess (divorce, career problems, kid problems), sets about restoring an Indian Chief. The Chiefs were the premier line of the once-great Indian motorcycle company and highly valued now by collectors.
Along the way he encounters an eccentric cast of Indian motorcycle enthusiasts. Skilled artisans of sheet metal and engine restoration populate this book's pages, some in dingy, crowded shops, others in clean, professional places. Haefele records the trips tracking down Indian parts and the real characters he encounters along the way. His partner (Chaz, I believe) packs a pistol on one exploratory trip.
As the restoration goes along Haefele finds his life mending too. A new wonderful woman in his life, along with a beautiful baby girl, and his professional life reviving too. Whatever the reason, the gradually resurrecting Indian seems to pace his life coming together too.
He paints it Midnight Blue, definitely not a factory color, but one that works. His description of the first ride on the Indian is vivid--I had no idea how difficult it would be for modern motorcyclists to use a foot clutch, hand shift, left-hand throttle motorcycle. A satisfying book to read, and it's nice to know that another Indian motorcycle was rescued from the dumps.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 34
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