Where's Henderson?

Ever wonder what happened to Henderson Motorcycles?  How about Excelsior Motorcycles?

Here's a couple tidbits of Information, 

Excelsior:

 was owned by Mister Ignaz Schwinn, Yes, the Bicycle guy. Excelsior (not the European bikes of the same name) became one of the worlds leading motorcycle manufacturers in the 1910's and 1920's earning Championships and speed records. As a matter of fact, the Big Three in motorcycles was Harley Davidson, Indian, and Excelsior. Schwinn added Henderson to his fold in 1917 when he bought that company. The depression spelled the end when Schwinn stopped motorcycle production and concentrated on bicycles.

Henderson: 

Now let's step back a bit, in 1911 William Henderson founded the Henderson Motorcycle Company, being an engineer, Henderson designed a in-line 4 cylinder motorcycle. 

Henderson (Excelsior owned)  

In 1917 Henderson sold the company to Schwinn, but in a couple years began a second company "Ace", selling an updated in-line 4 cylinder  Henderson died in a testing accident and by 1927 Ace was forced to liquidate it's assets... Step in Indian.

Indian: 
Indian was looking for a new model to compete with it's arch rival, Harley-Davidson, so it acquired the Ace In-line 4 powered bike and began selling that model. In just over a year and a half later Indian dropped the In-line 4 in the 101 Scout style frame and the "Indian Four" came to life. During the depression 4 cylinder engines where too complicated and expensive for the market. Instead of dropping the line, Indian redesigned it and the "Upside-Down Four" was born, the "'36 Indian". It was called upside down because the engineers redesign placed the exhaust valves over the intakes, this put the carbs low on the bike and the exhaust pipes above. The idea was that the excess heat would vent to the air and the carbs vaporize fuel better. But as many people have found out, when an idea becomes reality, it often turns out they are two different things. The exhaust riding high meant the top end ran hot, and if a person wasn't careful they could boil the grease out of the top end. In '37 Indian modified it with a duel carb, this did little to nothing to help the bike. So they went back to a normal in-line Four design.

Indian continued the 4 cylinder bikes until 34, after which fours faded away and V-twins became the rule. 

klay