Indian

Indian Motorcycle, under the expansive Polaris umbrella, blessed its Chieftain lineup with a facelift ahead of MY2019, but the Chieftain Classic alone retains its looks to perpetuate the retro-styling that made it a hit in the first place. The “Classic” benefits from the same under-the-hood fandanglery as the rest of the lineup, so while its looks might be a bit dated in the most delightful ways, you can count on modern safety and comfort all the same. Indian is in the midst of its timeless conflict with America’s second-oldest manufacturer, Harley-Davidson, so today I want to take a look at the new Classic and see how it stacks up against the MoCo. Let’s get to it.

Continue reading for my review of the Indian Motorcycle Chieftain Classic.

Indian Motorcycle updated its base-model Chieftain ahead of MY2019 along with the rest of its bagger family in order to present a sleeker, more-modern face to the world. Attention was paid to the aesthetics to include changes to the body panels, front and rear, as well as the saddle. New technology also sees the light of day with entertainment power and comfort features that are meant to help America’s oldest motorcycle brand compete with the second-oldest domestic marque. Some of that gadgetry is geared to make the powerful 111 cubic-inch even more user-friendly and attractive in this great arms-race with its traditional foe Harley-Davidson. Today I’m going to take a look at the new Chieftain and see how it stacks up against one of H-D’s baggers.

Continue reading for my review of the Indian Motorcycle Chieftain.

The Dark Horse showcases the menacing character of the epoch Chieftain with the subtle yet dark cosmetic changes that give it a stealth outlook while blacking out just about everything.

For 2019, the Springfield manufacturer will equip the Chieftain Dark Horse with a fresh sleaze of aggressive styling and technology under its belt that enhances riding experience to an all new level. New restyled fairings and saddlebags and Ride-Enhancing Technology like ride modes, rear cylinder de-activation, and enhanced audio systems improve appeal, performance, comfort, and audio quality.

Indian Motorcycle announces the new 2019 Chieftain family with a host of new features for the Chieftain, Chieftain Classic, Chieftain Limited, and the Chieftain Dark Horse in both appearance and electronics.

Continue reading for more on the new Chieftain lineup.

An ultra-premium bagger boasts worldly comfort, convenience, power, style, infotainment, craftsmanship and most important of all - confidence. It is everything the Chieftain stood for, and this time Indian Motorcycles have given it a ravishing new statement.

For 2019, the Springfield manufacturer will equip the Chieftain guns with a fresh sleaze of aggressive styling and technology under its belt that enhances riding experience to an all new level. New restyled fairings and saddlebags and Ride-Enhancing Technology like ride modes, rear cylinder de-activation, and enhanced audio systems improve appeal, performance, comfort, and audio quality.

“As we continue to evolve the Indian Motorcycle brand, we want to expand our lineup with more aggressive style options, while still maintaining the availability of our more classic style options,” said Reid Wilson, Senior Director for Indian Motorcycle.

The 111 Thunderstroke powerplant running across the range is a 1811cc 49 degree V-Twin capable of belting out 73 hp of power and 119 lb-ft of torque.

Riders can customize their Chieftain range with a variety of accessories, including custom fit options like extended and reduced reach seats, mid-rise handlebars and reduced reach handlebars and PowerBand Audio options. Also available are color-matched accessories such as Hard Lower Fairings, Saddlebag Audio Lids, and a Quick Release Trunk.

Indian Motorcycle has certainly called some attention to its mid-size bikes this year through its success on the flat track, and the Scout Bobber looks to capitalize on that by garnering some of the factory-custom business. The “Bobber” brings modern performance to the table along with an overall look that is rather unique, yet fits in well with the rest of the made-for-the-US market, foreign and domestic built. An 1,133 cc plant delivers the power, and this year, the Bobber rocks improved electronics plus a USB charging port, regardless of which color you choose. I’ve been a fan of the new Scouts since day one, so let’s dig into the nuts and bolts of the thing and see what all there is to love.

Continue reading for my review of the Indian Motorcycle Scout Bobber.

The Roadmaster has always been the cream of the crop from Indian motorcycles and has constantly been raising the bar for comfort, convenience, power, style, infotainment, craftsmanship and most important of all - confidence. Being the best money can buy is not easy but this pulls it off with all bells and whistles every single time.

The same will be repeated for the 2019 edition where it receives a fresh sleaze of technology under its belt that enhances riding experience to an all new level. New Ride-Enhancing Technology like ride modes, rear cylinder de-activation, improved airflow and enhanced audio systems improves performance, comfort, and audio quality.

First out in the wild last year, the Springfireld Dark Horse was a solo saddle amalgamation of the mechanicals and stature of an Indian Springfield. It received subtle yet dark cosmetic changes to give it a stealth outlook while blacking out just about everything to showcase the menacing character of the epoch Springfield.

For 2019, the Springfield manufacturer will equip the Springfield Dark Horse with a fresh sleaze of technology under its belt that enhances riding experience to an all new level. New Ride-Enhancing Technology like ride modes, rear cylinder de-activation, and a few others. But the star of the show is what makes the Dark Horse rather sane. The White Smoke color option.

For the year 2018, America’s oldest brand gave the world a brand new lineage of motorcycles that are sophisticated and technologically packed while keeping the core values of its predecessors intact of being the vintage charmers. Three new machines rolled on our streets including the Roadmaster Elite, Springfield Dark Horse) and the Chieftain Elite.

For 2019, the Springfield manufacturer will equip the Chief, Springfield and Roadmaster guns with a fresh sleaze of technology under its belt that enhances riding experience to an all new level. New Ride-Enhancing Technology like ride modes, rear cylinder de-activation, improved airflow and enhanced audio systems improves performance, comfort, and audio quality. The Dark Horses, on the other hand, also gets style updates and expanded color options.

Riding high on the success of the Scout and Scout Sixty, Indian Motorcycle introduces the 2019 stable with a few updates over last year, but mostly the same approachable rides with clean lines and more appeal for younger buyers.

Continue reading for my review of the Indian Scout and Scout Sixty.

Driving the Indian “Spirit of Munro 50th anniversary 2017 Indian Scout” Lee Muro and the team were attempting to crack the 200mph at the Bonneville Salt Flats during the Speed Week earlier this month, for the second time.

Unfortunately, mechanical failures threw both the bike and the rider out of the race and left Lee with some pretty bad burns on his leg that were unable to have recovered. The current record by the Spirit of Munro is 191.286 mph recorded at the previous year’s Speed Week.

Called the "Icon Paint Series", India Motorcycles turned their Scout vintage charmers into high school teens with swanky new paint jobs for the 2018 season. Indian believes that this paint "have the ‘wow’ factor" delivering a high-quality finish along with offering the all-important factory warrant.

For the 2019 edition, all the Scout machines will receive new colors, and Indian will offer ABS standard on all the color options (and keeps ABS as an optional on Thunder Black models). Along with that, the Scout and the Scout Bobber will also get a USB charging port for staying charged on the go.

Earlier this month, the Springfield manufacturer unveiled the builds of the “The Wrench: Scout Bobber Build Off” contest at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally 2018. After three months and 100 or so submissions, 12 semi-finalists were showcased online for a fan vote to determine the final three finalists. These three builders got a full paid trip to Minneapolis for an unveiling party of their customized Scout Bobbers at Sturgis.

Of the three, Alfredo (Fred) Juarez, a NASA engineer from Las Cruces won the grand prize and held the coveted “The Wrench” title along with a feature story in Hot Bike magazine on his custom Indian Scout Bobber.

Adding itself to this latest trend of the factory customization war, Indian Motorcycles called for non-pro builders to customize the Scout Bobber. Indian teamed up with Hot Bike magazine for “The Wrench: Scout Bobber Build Off” contest that began on March 15th, 2018. The top three designs were then awarded a new 2018 Scout Bobber to customize along with $10,000 for the build.

The Springfield company has finally unveiled the builds at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally 2018 after three months and they include builds from a NASA engineer from Las Cruces, NM, an OSHA safety inspector from Avon, OH, and a mechanical engineer from Buffalo, NY. Let’s find out how they stack up against each other.

Half a century ago, one man from a small town in New Zealand dreamt of setting a land speed record on a 1920 Indian Scout. In 1962 at the Bonneville Salt Flats, Burt Munro’s dream finally came true at the age of 68 and 184.71 mph. This number was finally crossed by Indian on July 16 at the El Mirage 2017 by none other than Burt’s nephew who drove the 2017 Spirit of Munro Scout at 186.41 mph in the MPS-G (Modified Partial Streamliner) 1350 cc class. (Since Burt’s record was on an SA 1000cc class, his record still stands unbeaten in that class.)

Driving the Indian “Spirit of Munro 50th anniversary 2017 Indian Scout” again, Lee Munro and the team is attempting to crack 200mph next week at the Bonneville Salt Flats. The Spirit of Munro Scout bike will undergo small modifications to the intake and fueling while the streamlined body will have minor body adjustments.

As part of the TV channel History’s ‘Evel Live’ event on July 8, Travis Pastrana and his crew went on a live-transmission show to perform three bike jump attempts recreating Evel Knievel’s stunts that put the word ‘famous’ suffixed to his name.

They included the recreation of the Knievel’s jumping across the fountain at Caesars Palace, a jump across 50 cars and a jump over 14 buses. The event was organized by Nitro Circus, Pastrana’s extreme sports company that conducts adventure series live shows around the world.

In 2016, Indian Motorcycles and Jack Daniels, two legendary American brands joined forces to commemorate JD’s 150th anniversary of the Jack Daniel Distillery, which was registered in 1866. This occasion led to Indian Motorcycles building a very limited number (150 units) of the Jack Daniel’s Indian Springfield and Indian Chief Vintage motorcycle models, all of which were sold barely under 8 hours within the launch.

For 2017, the same stalwarts came together again to produce yet another limited edition of the iconic spin-off of the sumptuousness Indian Chieftain and christened it as the Jack Daniel’s Chieftain. Carrying the legacy forward, the same folks have now created a gold & black Jack Daniel’s Limited Edition Scout Bobbers.

Looking at what customers were making out of their products in the last decade, manufacturers have forayed into satisfying the current wave of enthusiasts wanting custom and classic motorbikes. Factory Customization was born.

Adding itself to this latest trend is our very own darling Indian Motorcycles. Indian teams up with Hot Bike magazine for “The Wrench: Scout Bobber Build Off” contest that will begin March 15th, 2018. They are calling in for participants to submit their creations digitally of which three top designs will be awarded with a new 2018 Scout Bobber to customize along with $10,000 for the build.