Rock ’n’ roll and motorcycles have always been inexorably intertwined—Elvis Presley loved motorcycles. That bond remains unbroken. Mikkey Dee, the famed Scorpions drummer who has also pounded the skins for Motörhead and Thin Lizzy, is the owner of a new custom Indian Scout built by Unique Custom Cycles’ Ronna Norén.
Norén’s build used the new 2025 Indian Scout as a starting point. The Swede made extensive chassis modifications, leaving the V-twin motor internally untouched.
The Scout’s upper frame was stretched four inches to accommodate a Trask Powerflow air filter that is complemented by a custom stainless steel exhaust system. “It’s very loud,” Dee says enthusiastically. “Louder than my drums!”
“The plan from the beginning was to strip down the stock bike and make it as clean as possible,” Norén reveals. “I started by stretching the frame [and] making a smaller tank.”
Atop the fame is a Scout tank that has been sectioned, narrowed, and shortened, with the fuel pump relocated. Tolle Engineering provided a pop-up fuel cap.
The neck was raked out to 33 degrees, with a custom billet triple clamp adding another four degrees to the fork angle. The fork legs and dampers were extended eight inches by Tolle-Engineering. In the rear, the shock mounts were repositioned rearward, and Indian’s accessory Performance Adjustable Rear Shocks by Fox were installed after black anodizing was applied.
The wheels used stainless steel spokes to join the hubs and rims, which get a Cerakote coating. The Unique Cycle Customs Indian Scout gets a 21-/18-inch rim combination, with a 180mm-wide slab of Metzeler ME88 Marathon Ultra rubber in the rear. Above both wheels are customized fenders.
Braking is provided by monoblock ISR calipers. Both calipers are radially mounted, thanks to an ISR prototype billet kit. The front caliper is a six-piston unit for the 320mm disc, with four pistons taking care of the rear. An ISR master cylinder is employed to push fluid to the front caliper.
As you’d expect, the ergonomics have undergone extensive revision. The tapered aluminum handlebar and risers are modified, along with the footpegs and foot controls.
Finally, the paint was applied by Haka Lindberg.
When Norén’s Indian Scout build was handed over to Dee in Prague, famed builder Roland Sands and Indian Motorcycle Director of Design Ola Stenegärd were there, as it was part of Sands’ six-episode Forged video series.
“Dishong was one of the pioneers of the chopper scene in the ’60s, and one of his Scouts had many of the cues that Ronna has picked up on,” Stenegärd noted as he commented on legendary performance and custom motorcycle builder Stan Dishong’s influence on the Norén’s creation. “When you look at the bike, there’s no jarring elements; it’s totally consistent. The stance sits right, totally clean.”
Dee agreed, answering his own question: “How stylish is that? Wow, that’s clean.”
“Some bikes legitimately have soul,” Sands says. “You can see evidence of that when you give it to someone to work on, to customize, to put their own love, energy, and design into a machine. With this iteration of Scout, I think you’ve seen how different you can make the bike, and how much you can bring your own soul, your own style, your own spirit into the machine. Yeah, Scout’s got soul. That’s what’s up.”
Not simply a showpiece, Norén’s chopped Indian Scout is meant to be ridden, and that’s exactly what Dee did.
“I wanted it to look light, and this bike has got that,” Dee says of the Unique Custom Cycles Indian Scout. “Riding it the whole day was another experience. It’s got really light handling. It has a great balance, and I enjoyed that.”
Photography by Jenny Jurnelius
