That is very concerning, especially when the neck is made from cast alloy that will be subject to unknown imperfections/flaws unless Ultrasonic tested before machining the part.
Indian motorcycle's are closing all there factory dealership's this year in Australia. They are looking for other dealers to take on the Indian franchise, I think Teamoto at Springwood and at the Gold Coast in Queensland are looking at it. Still I would be worried owner with Indian pulling out all it's factory dealership's in Australia to my way of thinking Indian Motorcycle's can't have much faith in the Australian market place if they are not going to have at least one factory dealership in Australia. Anyway just my thoughts.
Why is that, to my knowledge no other manufacturer has their own dealerships. Indian Motorcycle seemed to be the lone ranger on that model (yeah I know I couldn't resist...). I think originally they wanted to have total control of the brand and the profits, would make more sense from a profit point of view for the dealer to have more than one brand out the front to increase floor traffic and sales.
Yep not sure the reasons why they are closing down their factory dealership's but it is happening. I contacted Indian Motorcycle's just two weeks and asked if they were looking at any dealers North of Brisbane. They told me that the Brisbane factory dealership closes it's doors around the end of July and the only two new dealers was going to be with Teamoto at Springwood and Gold Coast which is just going to be a franchise to sell Indian motorcycle's. And here lays the problem for people like myself who don't live in the big cities closest Indian dealer for me is a good three and a half hours drive/ride away, Harley dealer just over a hour away from me. Got to love my Harley if only for that reason cheers.
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Didn't older harleys also have cast necks?
the trouble with cast iron is there is no give .. wont bend and will just crack or snap off.. if i had to guess what happened i would say the front wheel maybe hit a high curb and the shock snapped it .. or something similar.. also take into consideration that the vin numbers are stamped into that neck and u can see both the top and bottom numbers have been cracked through .. could have been a starting point.
Saw this story had made the US CVO forum as well. One of the members is also on the Indian forum and provided these comments from the Indian forum:
