Rebuilding the Indian: A Memoir [Paperback]

Fred Haefele (Author, Afterword)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2005

The building of a vintage Indian Chief motorcycle is more than the restoration of a bike—it’s the resurrection of a dream. Rebuilding the Indian chronicles one man’s journey through the fearful expanse of midlife in a quest for peace, parts, and a happy second fatherhood. Fred Haefele was a writer who couldn’t get his book published, an arborist whose precarious livelihood might just kill him, and an expectant father for the first time in over twenty years. He was in a rut, until he purchased a box of parts not so euphemistically referred to as a “basket case” and tackled the restoration of an Indian Chief motorcycle. With limited mechanical skills, one foot in the money pit, and a colorful cast of local experts, Haefele takes us down the rocky road of restoration to the headlong, heart-thrilling rush of open highway on his gleaming midnight-blue Millennium Flyer.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

An Indian, Haefele explains at the outset, is a make of motorcycle not built since 1953 but highly esteemed by American bikers in the 1930s and '40s. A Montana tree surgeon and an ex-teacher of creative writing, Haefele (City of Trees) set out to reconstruct an Indian, and that task gives the principal thrust to this memoir. The rehabilitation project involved searching for abandoned machines, negotiating for old parts, purchasing replacement parts when originals were not available and keeping an eye out for "basketcases"?a motorcycle built from a hodgepodge of makes?from which valuable parts may be salvaged. Also included are accounts of the birth of his third child (the first of his second marriage), the vagaries of Montana weather and portraits of other bikers. But all else takes a backseat to the machine, and such a focus limits the book's appeal to readers equally committed to or fascinated by the construction of a what he calls a technological "work of art."
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

An entertaining if somewhat flawed look at how a middle-aged hobbyist finds new meaning in life through rebuilding a classic motorcycle. Haefele is a frustrated novelist and academic who works, albeit happily, as a tree surgeon. Deciding after visiting an annual motorcycle rally to invest in a vintage American-made Indian Chief motorcycle, he finds himself friends with bikers and other assorted characters whom he would normally avoid. In the end, he finds that he has much in common with these folks, even as he has managed to sell his first novel and, by books end, is back on the academic trail chasing down university jobs. Because of the setting (Montana) and motif (motorcycles), Haefele's book is doomed to comparisons with Robert Pirsig's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. These similarities notwithstanding, Haefele is able to guard himself well from any influence anxiety, though in one particular scene where he uses beer can slivers as a maintenance tool, the similarity is a little too close. Haefele's style is more relaxed and he isnt, for the most part, prone to the didacticism that mires down Pirsig's work. Unfortunately, the bottom begins to fall out when, for instance, the ``naming ceremony'' for his newborn daughter, Phoebe, is juxtaposed against the episode in which he names his motorcycle the ``Millennium Flyer.'' By the end, Haefele has dubbed his biker friend and tree-surgeon assistant Chaz the ``mythical trickster'' who has kept him going on his quest to rebuild his bike, and even more clumsily, he draws open comparisons between the clothes bought for his daughter and the parts bought to help build his cycle when most readers would catch the similarity on their own. These slips are not enough to ruin Rebuilding the Indian, though, which leaves one curious to see his forthcoming novel. -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 234 pages
• Publisher: Bison Books; Revised edition (September 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0803273584
• ISBN-13: 978-0803273580
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #359,017 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Fred Haefele's stories have appeared in Epoch, Missouri Review, Prism International and other magazines. His essays have appeared in Outside, the New York Times Magazine, Salon.com, Wired, Big Sky Journal, Newsday, American Heritage and others. He has received literary fellowships from the Fine Arts Work Center, the NEA, Sewanee and Stanford University. He is the author of the award-winning memoir, REBUILDING THE INDIAN,(Riverhead Books, 1998, Bison Books, 2005), and EXTREMOPHILIA (BangtailPress, 2011) Haefele has taught creative writing at Murray State University, the University of Montana and at Stanford, where he was a Jones Lecturer.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Men, Montana, and Motorcycles, November 6, 1999

By 

Mike Cussen ([e-mail]) (oakland, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rebuilding the Indian (Paperback)

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.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars you will like this book, July 6, 1999

By 

stephen morison - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rebuilding the Indian (Paperback)

Haefele's book is beautiful and eminently readable. It came in the mail at 9:30 in the morning and twelve hours later I closed it, having read it cover-to-cover. I can't remember the last time I did that. It seems to be about not just a motorcycle rebuild, although it most certainly is about that, but about America and Americans. Haefele, a man running from consumerism and the artificiality of the modern world, finds himself in a community of stragglers all orbiting about the pursuit of the art of the motorcycle. It is a touching and insightful tale, mostly because of Haefele's artistry and honesty. I highly recommend it.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Moto Kierkegaard, January 4, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Rebuilding the Indian (Paperback)

Is he a frustrated English Major out to write a book no matterwhat? That's one explanation. Or perhaps been assigned a writingproject to augment counseling to deal with his end-to-end relationaltroubles with his son-from-first-failed-marriage as well as his ownfather-now-married-again-to-someone-not-the-author's-Mom? That wouldbe another explanation. Or is he the tree surgeon overspending on anexpensive hobby he can't really afford? Yes, yes, and yes. Thosewould be some author-centric comments, to which must be joined someexplanation of the motorcycle subject (the old Indian) and thedramatic sideshow issues (the types of people whom he encounters alongthe way to rebuilding the old motorcycle, and how commenting on themreveals the author's own story).

Here's what strikes me: Just whenyou think Fred has careened down the path of absorbing somelowest-common denominator biker behavior, he mentions having a Latt'ewith someone. Or having a dinner party at his house for poets andwriters. Then, from the other end, when he gets into a critique ofhis first failed marriage to a comparatively more-uptight academicwoman, he swings up into the trees with references to his preferencefor hanging out with marginal law-breakers who drink, cuss, and felltrees for a living. So in the interstices of all of that, he cleverlycatches readers who may be located anywhere within this spectrum ofmotorcycle enthusiasts.

For it is the motorcycle person who reallyloves this book. Anyone who has ever taken apart a lawnmover or amini bike will instinctively identify with the drama of getting theold Indian together and running, along the way meeting the types ofartisans so admired by Robert Pirsig, the author of Zen and the Art ofMotorcycle Maintenance.

Fred actually contracts-out a lot of thefabrication and procure ment of the rebuilding work, and this gets himinto the narration of the personality types involved in the process.It's a little like East of Eden as we see the human frailties ondisplay, from low-down ripoff artists, to wannabe aritsans who may bebetter than Fred, but not as good as iconic perfectionists whom Fredalso meets, or hears about.

I can't adequately capture his grasp ofpeople, because his language skills far outstrip mine. I especiallylike the use of the word "brio" to describe the way one guykick-starts his bike. What he does accomplish very well is anarration of how he fits into his own future, compared to how otherpeople are doing, and how he reconciles himself with his past, andartifacts from it (like his two kids from his first marriage). Theway he succeeds with the Indian then becomes incidental to the way hesucceeds, or finds some hope of succeeding, in reconciling his pastand building his future. So it's a better ending than thelater-edition of "Zen," in which Pirsig has to inform usthat his own son was stabbed to death in San Francisco--cutting shortthe father-son theme that Fred also covers. I hope Fred and Kyle getmore time together.

It's Kierkegaardian, because it's so intenselyintrospective. But it's not, because Fred avoids the preachiness andperfectionism with which Kierkegaard tortures himself and his readers.Where is Fred headed beyond himself? We're not sure. Is he moreprepared for the road ahead as a result of his Inidan project? Itseems so.

Favorite scene: Fred deciding to finish mowing the lawnwith a busted mower that has just spit out half of the inner bladehousing, as the mover gyrates wildly and the neighbors look on. Proofof the non-perfectionist streak that could have wrecked this book, ifFred had just given us a non-stop lecture about how perfect hisrestoration of the Indian had gone.

I flew through this book in aday. Then gave it to a friend. He read 60 pages on his way to theairport and sitting on the runway on the way out of town, calling mefrom the plane to discuss it. But then he also has a bike.

Error:Fred describes the same rider in two places as wearing first,motocross pants; and second, riding breeches. But don't let this stopyou from getting the book...