About three years ago, comedian and automotive enthusiast Jay Leno was involved in a major accident. He was out riding a 1940 Indian Chief bike, and in January 2023, he had a horrible crash on the motorcycle just a few miles from his home and garage.
Leno had wanted to make a U-turn in the road and pulled into a parking lot to do so. However, a wire was across the road, and it wasn’t marked, and with the sun in his eyes, Leno ran into the wire, which hit him in the face and knocked him off the bike. The 1940 Indian Chief carried on, slammed into bushes and a building, and it was totaled.
Leno had suffered a broken collarbone, two broken ribs, and two cracked kneecaps. This came just two months after he suffered third-degree burns to his face and chest after a garage fire with his 1907 White steam car.
Now, three years on from the accident, Leno has decided to get back on the repaired motorcycle to give it another run. It wasn’t an easy task, but in a video on the Jay Leno’s Garage YouTube channel, the comedian finally got back in the saddle.
Leno Walked Through the Restoration of the Motorcycle
In the video, Leno discussed the accident as well as the restoration work that went into his motorcycle. Leno bought it 20 years ago, and despite the bike being written off, the subsequent repairs were actually a blessing. Leno said the bike had been cruelly restored by a previous owner, and their work after his crash gave the team a chance to put things right.
Leno explained things like the chrome at the front was redone, Bondo had been applied poorly, and there was actually a lot more for the team at the garage to do than they realized. In fact, the sidecar was virtually brand new, with the old one beaten up even without the accident. Leno’s team was also able to lighten the sidecar a bit to make life easier for the bike itself. The bike was also repainted from orange to white and blue.
The engine had a total rebuild as well. “I think it’s fair to call it 1,300cc, just a big flathead; it’s a really heavy motorcycle,” Leno said in the video. “It’s only 40hp, it doesn’t sound like a lot, and it’s not, but it’s enough to get you down the road at 75 to 80mph,” he added. It is, though, a very reliable motorcycle, so Leno knows he’ll be able to get many years out of it and its engine.
What It Was Like for Leno To Ride the Motorcycle Again
Undeterred by the accident, Leno got back out on the motorcycle again to give it a go. “I never broke a bone until I got this motorcycle,” the comedian joked while out for a ride. The accident certainly did a lot of damage, but Leno almost didn’t seem to care. “There’s something about these that is just so much fun,” he said as he rode through the streets in the glorious summer sunshine.
He was relaxed, comfortable, and just really enjoying himself. Even with the sidecar on, which he said, “comes with all the disadvantages of a car.” However, it added to the character and the style of the Indian, and the restored paintwork and chrome really glistened in the sun. Leno is a hard nut to crack, and he was never going to let an accident on this bike stop him from enjoying it once again.