Indian Motorcycle Company went through many changes and had many ownership groups over the last 12 decades, give or take. Often spinning in directions that the founders never would have imagined. Much like their main rival Harley-Davidson got involved with an Italian motorcycle company named Aermacchi, Indian did the same when they used Italjet and other bikes for small off-road motorcycles, such as this 1969 Indian MM5A Mini Mini, sometimes called Indian Bambino and other names. The seller says this one has never had gas in it and has been a display piece since new. It’s posted here on craigslist in Genesee Depot, Wisconsin, west of Milwaukee, and they’re asking a hefty $6,000. Here is the original listing. 

As cool and rare as it is to have one of these motorcycles that has never had gas in it or been started, I’ll go out on a limb and say that they’ll most likely never get $6,000 for this example. Unless it’s the exact model that a recently-retired owner of a big construction company had and he or she just sold their business for millions, it’s just not happening. They say that at auction this could, or would, be a $20,000 to $30,000 bike. Very, very, very nice examples sell for much less than $10,000 that are in instantly running and riding condition so yeah, no. I understand it, though. Most of us think we know values and there are really only one or two people who know the value of anything, and those are the people trying to outbid each other. In any case, you can see how nice this example is, even though it’s dusty and dirty and will “need gone through”, as they say in 2025. As in, it will need to be gone through due to sitting for longer than Buzz Aldrin has been back on planet Earth after walking on the moon in 1969.

These 57-pound bikes were made for kids learning to ride and were governed to 10-12 mph; not a bad idea for most adults on the #$%! freeways today, now that I think about it. They were powered by a 48-cc two-stroke single with 1.3 horsepower, and the governor could be overridden as kids got their game on after a few months of riding. This motorcycle would have cost $249 new in 1969 and the top of the seat is a mere 18″ off the ground. A lot of my motorcycles are 49-cc and I ride them regularly, although not on the street. With kick start and a single-speed transmission, this is the perfect two-wheeler to teach young people how to ride. If you can justify the seller’s asking price, that is. It’s probably worth it for such an incredible time capsule and I don’t mean to give anyone else advice on pricing a vehicle as I’ve lost tens of thousands in selling my own over the last few years. Have any of you heard of this tiny Indian motorcycle?