Rating: 
Summary: The Restoration and the Life Experiences Ring True
Review: Rebuilding the Indian by Fred Haefele rings very true from my experience. I've been around car collectors, rebuilders, restorers, etc. for practically my entire life and I thought that the process that Haefele went through represents that of many others around the country and probably around the world. The need to scrounge, the need to pay others to fix things that you can't do yourself (few people can do everything themselves and probably shouldn't given the services available today), the frustration, the TIME, but most of all the relationships and conversations that evolve around vehicles all struck me as genuine. I can also say as someone who got divorced, like Haefele did, because the marriage brought out the worst in both people, that his reflections on the life he left and the new life he has created are both authentic and heartening. I think this is an excellent book and a rare chronicle of the sense of achievement that comes with hands-on mechanical (or other) work combined with the very human aspects of the highs and lows involved in realizing that achievement.
Rating: 
Summary: The Last Best Basket Case
Review: Rebuilding the Indian is a joy to read. A smart, funny, and informative adventure that revolves around starting a new family at fifty and (as if that wasn't enough) rebuilding a classic Indian motorcycle from, well, a "basket case" -- that is, a couple of boxes of gunked up parts that could belong to just about anything except a Honda. I love this book.
Rating:
Summary: The Last Best Basket Case
Review: Rebuilding the Indian is a joy to read. A smart, funny, and informative adventure that revolves around starting a new family at fifty and (as if that wasn't enough) rebuilding a classic Indian motorcycle from, well, a "basket case" -- that is, a couple of boxes of gunked up parts that could belong to just about anything except a Honda. I love this book.
Rating: 
Summary: There's no Zen here, just bad Karma.
Review: Rebuilding the Indian is the memoir of an aging arborist's mid-life crisis whose solution is to play biker-wanna-be. Throughout the restoration of the Indian, Haefele snivels about anything and everything, from the expense involved to the people that did most of the actual rebuilding of the motorcycle for him. He betrays the people who befriend him by revealing their personal lives without their knowledge or permission. It is blatently apparent why Fred rides into the sunset alone. There's no Zen involved here, just bad Karma.
Rating: 
Summary: Not bad, but it could have been better.
Review: The author tries really hard to make this a story about the motorcycle. Unfortunately the book is mostly a personal memoir of a guy who just happens to be restoring a 1940's motorcycle. The author talks too much about his prozac medication when you really want to hear more about bike restoration. He doesn't go into too much detail about which parts fit where and how hard to torque the bolts. Instead he talks more about what goes on in his life and how restoring a motorcycle makes him feel.One thing that really disappointed me was that the author did not rebuild the engine himself! He sends off the motor at the beginning of the book and then gets it back at the end. The stuff in between is a story about waiting for parts and finding enough money to pay for the restoration. "Rebuilding the Indian" is really about bike-people and bike-culture and only slightly about bike-rebuilding. Lastly, the author makes a big point about how wonderful his Indian looks painted in midnight-blue, but the photographs in the book are only black and white. The publisher could have at least put one color photo on the cover, showing the completed motorcycle. This book was a good effort, but not quite 100-percent of what one might expect from the serious-sounding title.
Rating:
Summary: Not bad, but it could have been better.
Review: The author tries really hard to make this a story about the motorcycle. Unfortunately the book is mostly a personal memoir of a guy who just happens to be restoring a 1940's motorcycle. The author talks too much about his prozac medication when you really want to hear more about bike restoration. He doesn't go into too much detail about which parts fit where and how hard to torque the bolts. Instead he talks more about what goes on in his life and how restoring a motorcycle makes him feel. One thing that really disappointed me was that the author did not rebuild the engine himself! He sends off the motor at the beginning of the book and then gets it back at the end. The stuff in between is a story about waiting for parts and finding enough money to pay for the restoration. "Rebuilding the Indian" is really about bike-people and bike-culture and only slightly about bike-rebuilding. Lastly, the author makes a big point about how wonderful his Indian looks painted in midnight-blue, but the photographs in the book are only black and white. The publisher could have at least put one color photo on the cover, showing the completed motorcycle. This book was a good effort, but not quite 100-percent of what one might expect from the serious-sounding title.
Rating:
Summary: Men, Montana, and Motorcycles
Review: The author's midlife crisis is solved by rebuilding a motorcycle and having a new baby. Starting over at 50. Some of the writing is a little simplistic, but the images are pretty clear. He does a good job of developing the several sides of Chaz, his mentor and nemesis. I found it strange that in the pictures there wasn't one of Chaz. Did they finally go their separate ways? I also got the feeling that the author was leading two lives, that of a wannabe English professor who attended the college parties and that of a biker. The biker life was only to rebuild the Indian and I admire him very much for that. I think he enjoyed the biker life better. He also did a good job praising the knowledge of the older Indian restorers, Ken and Magoo. This is a good book and an easy read. Makes me want to go out and restore an old Triumph like I had 30 years ago.
Rating:
Summary: Boyhood Dreams and Adult Realities in Great Nonfiction
Review: The preceeding, somewhat slighting, Kirkus Review of "Rebuilding the Indian: A Memoir" seems rather elite and out of touch with the clear vision of the author. Fortunately nonfiction reveals many of the foibles, inconsistencies, and unfathomable decisions of humans. If you are looking for everything to be neat and consistent, read fiction. Fred Haefele has written a giant of a work. He draws the reader into the archane world of motorcycle restorers and the more archane world of Indian Motorcycle enthusiasts. We begin with him the unfocused search for an Indian Motorcycle (a basket-case) and follow the step-by-step restoration process. Each component of the bike has a story: Engine, fork, wheels, generator, tires, paint and fuel tanks. The assembly process is a wild hyperactivity of searches and discovery of parts. Often these parts are in the custody of ecentric motorcycle people that are more focused on maintaining the connection to the past glory of ancient motorcycles than on any business or profit motive. Haefele buys his basketcase for $5,000 and then spends by his accounting $13,000 or more to complete his restoration of his Indian Chief motorcycle. The gratis labor and undercosted restoration services make the rebirth of this Indian Chief a product of huge personal and monetary investment by a man with limited resources. There are a number of pages of excellent photos detailing the restoration in haunting black and white. These photos seem to speak of another time and era, when men of adventure took to the highways on these huge beasts. The author comes to grips with these vibrant childhood dreams, and memories that many middle-aged men carry in their private corners. The times when everything seems exciting and possible, versus the mundane frustrations and humdrum existence of adulthood. Here is a man, and a rapidly widening pack of Montana rowdy friends that gather to bring his and their collective dream to reality. On a parallel course, Haefele comes to g! rips with divorce, remarriage, lost children (first marriage), and the hope and responsibilities of a new life, child and wife. Throw in an all-consuming obsession to bring his Indian Chief to life and you have a great read. I found the compromises between a "perfect restoration" and realities of parts that don't fit, improvisation and the drive toward getting the thundering Chief on the road to be a perfect metaphor for the author's life decisions. Here is a man that got on with it all, regardless of the risk and found and learned more about himself. This is a story of Haefele's restoration as well. I could not put it down. I bet you won't either. We ask for more books from this most talented and human author.
Rating:
Summary: best motorcycle book
Review: this book could be twice as long as it is. it was such an enjoyable read, i just couldn't put it down. i agree with some other reviewers that it is better than "zen and the art of motorcylce maintenance". although actually there is not much going on in "rebuilding this indian", the reader is drawn into the story and follows the recontruction of the classical motorcycle. i can't quite understand why people see parallels in the bike and fred's daughter phoebe, who is born during the rebuilding of the bike. the bike is always in the foreground. the book is for sure no masterpiece languagewise, but this is i think not the intention of the author. i really liked it, and was sad when i finished it!
Rating:
Summary: best motorcycle book
Review: this book could be twice as long as it is. it was such an enjoyable read, i just couldn't put it down. i agree with some other reviewers that it is better than "zen and the art of motorcylce maintenance". although actually there is not much going on in "rebuilding this indian", the reader is drawn into the story and follows the recontruction of the classical motorcycle. i can't quite understand why people see parallels in the bike and fred's daughter phoebe, who is born during the rebuilding of the bike. the bike is always in the foreground. the book is for sure no masterpiece languagewise, but this is i think not the intention of the author. i really liked it, and was sad when i finished it!
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