Modified Indian Scout Has Serious Country Music Vibes, Plus a Touch of 1940s Chief

A couple of weeks ago, we brought you news of a custom Indian Scout made by Roland Sands Design (RSD) for Joshua Dun, member of the Twenty One Pilots music duo and winner of one Grammy Award for Best Duo/Group Performance with the song "Stressed Out."

It's unclear if the modified Indian we talked about back then managed to create a connection in your mind between the melange of musical styles Twenty One Pilots makes and custom motorcycles; but I had to mention it because, just like the ride we have here, it is part of an Indian-backed effort to make custom Scouts popular.

The effort is officially called Forged and it manifests itself as a YouTube series hosted this year by Roland Sands himself. It's been around for a number of years now, and in 2025 the series plans on releasing a total of three custom builds made for more or less famous people.

The build made for Dun was the first in a series of three, and the bike you're looking at now is the second. This project was born from the mind and hands of Brittney Olsen, and it was put together for another popular singer, Nikki Lane.

Olsen is the founder of something called 20th Century Racing, a project meant to "preserve the magnificent history of early American motorcycle racing by educating, entertaining, and inspiring motorcycle enthusiasts of all ages, globally." The way she does this is by getting involved in all sorts of activities, from racing to custom bike building.

For those of you who are into country music, Nikki Lane needs little introduction. The 40-year-old singer, known as The Highway Queen, has released four albums so far, and is the winner of one Ameripolitan Music award back in 2017.

For reasons that have not been properly explained, Lane "sees motorcycles as her form of meditation," and that's probably one of the reasosn why she was chosen to be the recipient of the second build in this year's Forged series.

Just like the bike made for Dun, Lane's two-wheeler had to be put together with few restrictions, the biggest of them being that the final design had to be "rooted in a historical figure, machine, or era of inspiration taken from Scout's storied 100+ year history."

Olsen, the builder of the bike, apparently took inspiration from the Indian Chief bikes made back in the 1940s. That's because there are genuine Chief springs, shocks, and risers from that era installed on the front end. But she was also inspired by a female Indian rider from the same era, Cecilia Adams.

The bike is described as being custom end to end (that's not entirely accurate, and we'll get to that in a bit), and the changes start with the wheels. Mounted on the original hubs of the Scout there are now FTR laced wheels sized 19 inches in diameter at the front and 18 inches at the rear.

The fender at the front has been removed, and the one at the rear modified to give the Scout a touch of nakedness. The spine of the bike holds a modified fuel tank sporting Springfield and Chieftain panels. Such an approach was chosen in a bid to give the two-wheeler's tank a teardrop shape.

I said earlier that despite claims this is a custom bike end to end, that's not entirely accurate. All of the bikes major mechanical components, including the fuel pump and intake, have been kept stock. And so was the engine (which only received a stainless exhaust system), the mid controls, and the frame.

It's unclear how much the bike cost to put together in this form, but you should know Indian is selling the least expensive Scout for prices that start at $12,999. The Scout range comprises four other versions in all, namely the 101 Scout, Scout Classic, Scout Classic, and Super Scout. The latter is the most expensive one you can get, as its sticker reads $16,499.

You can have a look at how the country singer reacted to her getting the bike, but also get a glimpse at what putting it together was like, in the video attached below this text. As a reminder, this is the second of three Forged bikes for 2024, with the third one, made by Ronna Norén for an undisclosed recipient, to be shown in the coming weeks.

We will keep an eye out for when details are announced and come back with a story on that motorcycle as well. In the meantime, you can already have your say on which of the two Forged bikes of this year you like the most so far.