Yesterday I demoed the new Indian Chieftain. If your not familiar with who has the Indian brand name now its Polaris Industries, the same people that make ATV's and the Victory motorcycle. They added on to the Victory plant and started production on the new Indian motorcycle. They may share some electrical connectors buts that's about it, Indian is a separate product. Where HD is about 80% American made, the Indian is maybe more like 90 to 95%. The dealership guy didn't know exactly how many, if any parts were made out of the states.

Its nice to see Indian finally get a company with financial backing that can spend money on R&D and get not just a good product but a great one coming off the assembly line. What Polaris did with the brand is not simply ram an S&S motor into an off the shelf frame and sell a bastard bike with the hopes of simply selling the brand name. What Polaris did instead was to create a brand new proprietary motor with gobs of torque that has a huge counter balancer for smooth power with a sweet exhaust tone. I think the sells Rep. said 111 ft/lbs (150.5 n/m). They put that motor into an aluminum frame. The Chief has a 29° rake where the Chieftain has a 25° rake for easier handling at slower parking lot speeds.


Out on the road we go.
Its the first year so the cable clutch was not quite as easy as a hydraulic clutch and I thought due to the cable felt different while in tight turns as in an intersection. Maybe they'll change it in the upcoming years. No big deal with the clutch however because it was easy to use.

The brake peddle position felt funny and that may be due to my height. The Chief and Chieftain both come with factory installed (not an option) cruise and it works great. I forgot to use the electronic windscreen height adjustment, on the Chieftain, with the press of the left thumb so I can't report on anything but the low position that worked just fine with me. Actually after getting off the Chieftain that I rode with my 1/2 helmet, that I brought along and getting on the 1kF with my full helmet, for the 2 1/2 hour high speed ride home, I realized how dead silent the wind noise was on the Indian. I know that at least one of the demo bikes had a radio. I think the one I rode had the standard BT setup. In any case you would be able to hear each clearly with the lack of road noise if you used it.

I was third in line, the demo leader, a guy on a Chieftain and then me followed by the pack. When the leader stopped to hold back traffic, the guy in front of me and I blasted up the on ramp to the 4-lane. WOW! We were flying and these bikes can handle a huge lean angle. I had the Indian well laid over on the ramp and the front end slipped out. I rolled off and then back on a bit to hard, now the back as well as the front was slipping. I had her sliding into the turn and could see the turn getting tighter so I had to up her and do some heavy braking while still in the turn or end up in the tulips. I was thinking about how I was going to explain to the nice Indian people how I piled up their $22,000 bike on a little demo ride. LOL When we got back to the dealership, MINUTES AHEAD OF THE LEADER, one of the Indian guys said,"UT-OH someone did some passing....what were you told....NO PASSING!" I looked down and like a little kid that got caught with his hands in the cookie jar and said,"Hey man, I'm not going to be sitting on the interstate hanging out." The guy actually started to laugh and said, "I really don't care, just as long as you guys get back here safe and have a good time." So with that I took a closer look at the tires. The spoked wheels have tubes where as the others are tubeless (common sense). It turns out all are belted and it think white-walled tires. Had they been shawed with radials, I could have gotten more lean and no slippage but then again, a belted tire would work for a normal person.

The motor is so sweet. Even when the standard gear position light was lit up showing a 6 (6th gear), I could still roll up speed in the city. This thing pulls impressively hard at very low rpm's and doesn't complain about it. You have to flip through a menu on the Chief for that. Oh, one of the things you get while flipping through the menu, you get tire pressure. HOW ABOUT THAT!

I am posting this to let you know, don't be fooled by where the Indian brand name has gone in the past. Since 1953 it has come and gone but I really and truly feel that it has found a new home. As a motorcyclist its great to see new brands. Here's an old brand with a some of the past and the best of the new. The vintage looking engine totally rocks. The colors reflect the fast, Thunder Black, Indian MotorcycleŽ Red, Springfield Blue.

If you should ever get a chance to ride one, do so before passing judgment on it thinking that its just another attempt to sell a product by name only. This is a true motorcycle with a real engine that can handle the twisties and take you for a long ride in comfort.

Would I own one? Yes!

 

Nice report and write up.

 

The Obama man said choice was coming or was that change? Anyway, what's the difference?

 

Great report TBT - thanks for taking the time to do it.

I saw a news release yesterday so this is timely for 'real' feedback.

Cheers, SB

 

Great report TBT
I think the price tag in a slipping economy would make me think twice....$22900 Hoooo
Peak torque at 3000 revs - hmmm
I couldn't find any horsepower figures..........................but with that much torque on what is really a cruiser - does it matter ?
Look out Hardly Devilson - dere am a noo kid on da block !

 

I'm sure that the first magazine to review it will put it on the dyno.

The Indian Rep told us that they put 300,000 miles in the engine in a test bike and beat the crap out of it. He said they ran engines on stands at max RPM and kept slamming all the gears for something like months trying to break things. Its bullet proof.

Stock HD's put out around 55 HP unless you pay dearly for the upper models that have dyno tested at 80 HP. The V-rod being water cooled puts out 115 HP.

Depending on where you look, the Stratoliner puts out 84 to 100 HP. (rear wheel vs crank?) The Indian feels much like my Strat (HP) with the exception of, the Strat has a primary and the Indian has a helical gear direct drive for smooth operation and doesn't clunk at low RPM's. Both the Strat and Indian have aluminum frames for really good handling. The Strat is huge compared to the Indian or HD's.

I always thought Sturgis was a Harley thing but it was actually started by Indian riders. The Indian was unveiled at Sturgis this year.

Look out Hardly Devilson - dere am a noo kid on da block !

 

Great write up! I'll be the first to admit I am not really a fan of those cruiser style bikes. If I ever bought anything for long distance travel it would be more like a GoldWing... but your write up still bumped my pulse up some. Sounds like it's a great bike in that category! And, it also sounds like you should be earning a little commission if anyone who reads this buys one!

 

^ Its not really my cup of tea either. I got one to try something different. I'm still thinking about a Goldwing but it would trump my three bag system on the CBR and I don't like duplicate purpose bikes in the garage. My camping trips are taking me further and further from home. I've done three such trips on the Stratoliner this year. I think with lowers installed the Chieftain would make a decent mid to long hauler. Nothing beats the Goldwing except maybe the K1600GTL, but I personally didn't like the 1600 I test rode.

The reason I wrote about the Indian is that I was really taken by what it is and how well it handles. I chose the Stratoliner in that class of bikes because of what it is and how well it handles. The Indian offers a lot in electronics and is just as much if not more motorcycle in the engine and handling department. If you should see someone riding one you'll know why, Its a decent ride.

In the cruiser world, its all about big 1,800+cc air cooled push rod engines. I have ridden HD's and others and can tell you there will be a lot of talk about this new/old kid on the block. Hats off to Polaris for doing the right thing with an old brand.