Herzbube: Indian 101 Scout at Auerberg Klassik 2019
Like some leather-bound version of Leonardo’s Last Supper Bernhard Elflein takes centre stage at the pre-start line-up, before the big hill (left of the builder is ace motorcyclist Maria Köpf – also competing on her Commando).
Photography: Séverine Day
There is no better testing ground than the track: and this hill-climb (actually a 1055m peak with a road right to the top) at Auerberg, is as challenging as any road course in Europe. Located just outside the picturesque village of Bernbeuren and about 20km from the fabled outdoor sports venue of Garmish-Partenkirchen, this biannual event is on its second edition. This particular meeting was covered in issue 20 of this publication but, at that time, we didn’t have these exclusive shots of Men’s File friend Bernhard Elflein’s studio-built Indian. This is one of many of this latter-day Hercules’ labours, that he seems compelled to do, no matter what. An engine rescued from a piece of farm machinery in the former DDR (East Germany), an original frame, front-end and tank sourced elsewhere, some Ironhead hubs and a power unit with modified internals. A 14 year project that saw the bike loaned-out as a prop for a Berlin bar for several years (that’s where we first saw it). Yes, it’s a beautiful and ‘clever’ build, but Herr Eflein’s stylish, Scorpio Risingesque presence on the machine adds so much more for our readers. The next Auerberg Klassik is in the summer of 2021.
