The Prince was designed by Charles B. Franklin and began production by the Hendee Manufacturing company in 1925. It featured a 349cc (21 cubic inches) side-valve single-cylinder engine coupled to a three-speed hand-change gearbox, and unlike some other Indian models of the era, it used a dry plate clutch. It was envisaged to be a motorcycle for beginners and for export. It was designed as a lightweight, beginner-friendly motorcycle, with a focus on affordability and ease of operation and was influenced by British motorcycle designs of the time, particularly the Velocette. The Prince gear box was separate from the engine, the frame under the tank has a tube which the tank is bolted too, the gas tank is mounted from underside of tank, front and back it was a wedge-shaped fuel tank. Primary drive was by a simple chain and sprocket with the primary being covered by a tin guard much unlike its bigger brethren the Chief and Scout which had a sealed cast Aluminium primary case, initially with helical gear drive and latterly with multi row chain. The Prince was redesigned for 1926 with a fuel tank similar in shape to that of the contemporary Scout. Both versions used coil-sprung girder forks instead of the leaf-sprung trailing link forks used on the contemporary Chief and Scout. A front brake was added in 1928, the last year of production. The frame and forks of the Prince were revived in 1933 and used with V-twin Scout engines to form the Motoplane and then in 1936 the Pony Scout.(often called the Junior Scout or 3050.(30.5 cubic Inch)

We are always interested to hear about Prince Motorcycles & restorations etc. If you would like to showcase your Prince motorcycle in our gallery please don’t hesitate to submit pictures of complete bikes and interesting restorations. (interesting Prince finds, restorations and stories section to come soon). Please submit images to sales@crazyhorseindian.com