When Polaris took over the operations of Indian Motorcycles, they literally revived the brand from the dark shallows of abyss and created a niche for the brand worldwide. Now, Indian Motorcycles has successfully lifted itself up to the pinnacle and has even snatched the throne away from Harley-Davidson.

Adding another jewel to their crown, Indian is providing a power bump kit to all their 2018 models running the Thunder Stroke 111 engine with a 116-cube Stage 3 Big Bore Kit. It promises to give out a 20% increase in power and 15% increase in torque figures.

The 111 Thunderstroke powerplant running across the range is a 1811cc 49 degree V-Twin capable of belting out 73 hp of power and 88 Nm of torque. Now with the Stage 3 Big Bore Kit, the space increases to 116 cubic inches, which is 1900.9 cc.

That is 1901cc if you round up, which is the year Indian started making motorcycles and you get to see that number on everything it produces. Co-incidence? Maybe not.

This now stands on par with Harley Davidson Milwaukee Eight’s 117-cube (1923cc) CVO engine and is capable of producing about 87 hp of peak power and 137 lb-ft of peak torque. Although it is still not powerful enough compared to Harley’s 107 Milwaukee Eight (92.5 hp), it has more torque than even Harley‘s 117 CVO engine (125 lb-ft).

Enough torque to tear apart the tarmac and accelerate without breaking a sweat in every situation. It is still both oil and air cooled and operates pretty smooth compared to the heavy throbbers around.

The engine breathes through a 54 mm throttle body and transmits power to a 6-speed gearbox through cable-actuated clutch having a relatively light pull. Power is delivered to the rear wheel via a belt-driven system. You can even notice the downward firing exhaust outlets of the Six-Shooter that makes them roar like the God of Thunder.

This Big Bore Kit will be available to all customers of the Chief Classic, Chief Vintage, Chieftain, Roadmaster and Springfield models from December this year for $1,999 plus installation charges.

Other performance kits available with Indian are Stage 1 Performance Air Cleaner and Thunder Stroke High Flow Air Cleaner, Stage 1 Slip-On Exhaust and Stage 2 Performance Cams.