The Indian Papoose Is The Skydiving Motorcycle You Never Knew You Wanted

The old saw among riders is that there are two kinds of people on motorcycles; the ones who have dropped their bike, and the ones who are going to drop their bike. Usually this means crashing, but in the case of this strange little Indian Papoose, the drop in question is out of a plane and into enemy territory. The underpinnings of this small 98cc-powered folding motorcycle are actually more British than American, as its based on the WWII-era Welbike. 

The Brit-built Welbike was developed specifically for Her Majesty's Royal Air Force paratroopers to chute in and ride around. After the war, surplus production bikes were adapted to civilian use by Corgi, and sold in the U.S. under the Indian banner with a few brand-specific aesthetic adaptations, including the Indian-style tapered 1.5-gallon fuel tank and fishtail exhaust. Both Corgi and Indian were, at the time, owned by the same holding company, Brockhouse. 

That tiny 98cc two-stroke kick-start Excelsior Spryt engine was hardly a speed demon. Despite featuring a headlight and taillight for street legality purposes, the Papoose was limited to around 30 miles per hour. It was an absolute fuel sipper, though, achieving around 80 miles to a gallon of fuel, getting up to 120 miles on a single tank of your finest high-test leaded petroleum distillate. The bike's pair of four-inch drum brakes are probably not quite up to the task of stopping it from any faster than 30 miles per hour anyway.

The Papoose was, more or less, the 1940s version of today's Honda Grom, but foldable like the Motocompacto. They were cheap, sold like crazy, and were beat like mules until they croaked. It's seriously difficult to find a nice Papoose in 2026, despite the fact that nearly 30,000 examples were built. 

If you're a jumping-out-of-planes enthusiast, you're already something of a daredevil. That should make you immune to the bikes-are-dangerous propaganda. If you already parachute, and you already ride bikes, what's stopping you from parachuting with your motorcycle? This is the perfect machine for you and your very specific needs. Why bother waiting for someone to come pick you up from your sky diving adventure, you could just pack up your own chute and ride off on this stylish little motor scooter. All of your jumper buddies would be jealous and think you're really cool. 

This particular machine recently sold on Bring A Trailer, going for $4,000 with no reserve. It has no title, and without an odometer there's no way to know how many miles it's been ridden, but it's old enough that many states will happily plate it with just a bill of sale. The selling dealer didn't even know if it'll run, because they'd never tried to start it or ride it. It was a bike in need of saving and, with a little elbow grease, riding everywhere you possibly can. For little more than the cost of a Grom, whoever bought this will look significantly cooler riding it than the little Honda. Honestly, how are you going to survive without a tiny folding two-stroke Indian in your garage?

For a little more context on how these things were dropped out of airplanes, check out this short video. In it you'll see one of the original Excelsior Welbikes and the packing tube that it was loaded in. When paratroopers dropped out of planes, these tubes were also detached from the underside of plane wings, like they were deployed munitions. Instead of blowing up, they were fitted with their own chute and gently drifted to the ground alongside the soldiers. 

Once you got to the ground, you simply found your own tube, cracked it open, and pulled out your new wheels. The Brits tested that the bike could be unboxed, unfolded, and operational within 11 seconds of landing. Some bikes were also used in beach assaults.

Just around 3,600 of these tubed Welbikes were built for British armed forces use. Mostly reserved for the British 1st and 6th Airborne Divisions, the Welbike wasn't deployed often, but when it was they were quite effective. The most famous use of a military Welbike was during Operation Market Garden, when a fleet of them were dropped into the Dutch city of Arnhem. Thanks, in part, to the increased mobility of the paratroopers once they got to ground, Allied forces took control of several bridges and successfully advanced more than 60 miles into Nazi territory.