The New Indian: A Test Ride in Review

Since there seems to be less and less stuff posted about motorcycles lately, I figured that I would try something new, well at least at least for the recent past.

As we all know Polaris Industry's has purchased the Indian brand and has released their first model year which offers three bikes. They are; The Chief Classic; The Vintage; The Chieftan. As we know, the Indian offers classic styling with modern technology. A true Omage to yesteryear. Or is it?

As of now the three models are available in few different colors and have accessories available. Although they are only offered through Polaris and are limited and expensive. But since when does that matter to the real motorcycle enthusiast?

Today I decided that I was going to give this modernized marvel a test run and see if the hype of this new Chief in town measures up or is just merely a Brave.

Today I went to the dealership in Watkins MN. The weather is a little cool and windy but still a great day for a ride. I rode a motorcycle there as it would be my first decent ride of the season. I arrive pleasantly surprised that there are a lot of people there for the same purpose. I find my way to the ladies taking personal information so one could ride on each these sculpted pieces of metal. Once there, I had a choice to either ride The Vintage, or The Chieftain. I decided to ride The Vintage.

I stood there as the salesman quickly went through the start up, or should I say, " the wake up" procedure. Right from the start I was not real impressed. Call me old fashioned but I guess I prefer to see a keyed ignition someplace on the the bike. This Indian is way too refined and just doesn't have it. The salesman took no time to explain any of it. Nice concept, just wish there was better information. In the same time frame, the salesman , after the bike has been run for a long period of time, he had me place my hand on the head cover. Yes, I was able to do so easily and without burning myself.

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I thought that that was neat but it was cooler out and the Indian is factory equipped with an oil cooler.

OK so now it is time to ride . Now mind you that there was no real break down of what this bike is.

I proceed to get my gear on and asked for a basic rout. Remember, it is early spring here and I am in an area that I am not in a lot. The salesman gave me the rout so I proceeded. Right off the bat I was at a dislike because I am used to having one turn signal at each thumb. They aren't. The turn signals are located to the left on one thumb. Not even sure if they are self canceling or not. . I slowly climbed through the 6 speed gearbox. This I was impressed with ax I thought that

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The gears were nice and tall. The Vintage accelerated nicely and with ease.

Knowing that this bike is a 6 speed and which I have a tremendous bias against, I kept an open mind as I wanted to accelerate quickly while in 6th. I was unmoved by its lack of acceleration. Yep, factory 6 speeds still suck. (I know that this gear isn't meant for power).

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I continued on with my ride and I started down shifting and racing through the gears to see really how snappy the 111" power plant runs. Now assuming that they (the dealership) properly tuned the bikes, again, I was very underwhelmed. I was able to have the throttle at wide open position and the bike was far behind in rpm and over all vehicle speed. I did this from 2nd gear though 6th. Throttle response sucks!!

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It was hard to know what speed I b was going at times because I found myself searching for the gage cluster often. The cluster location forces me to look sharply down often. I prefer to not travel my eyes off of the road as much as possible. One of the things that I did like is the gear indicator and digital rpm indicator. Nice touch.
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As far as handling goes, there was nothing super special about it. The stock handle bars I thought were in the right spot, the mirrors could be a tad bigger. The floorboards were nicely placed in contrast to riders position. It was easy to reach the brake and shift peg.

The suspension was average. Not a lot to report there.

In closing I would have to rate this bike as a C+ because I feel that it performed ad any new modern bike should. There was nothing about this bike that said to me that I must have one immediately. Yes , I do think that Indian will make it under Polaris, but they have a long ways to go. BRAVO to Polaris as they made a really really nice bike right out of the chute.!

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Yeah I thought it to be average for a new release. Not sure where you get the tire lifting experience from because the one I rode, I felt was pretty wimpy. The power was OK but I do feel that my 98" has way more power than the 111" that I rode. Did these bikes gave tuners on it already? I know that the one I rode just had a stage 1 exhaust upgrade.

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I rode the vintage and the Chieftan at Sturgis. the Chieftan is a quicker handling bike due to the front end geometry. The windshield was really cool and for a smogger ,it pulled pretty hard, a lot harder than my 103 and more than Harley's newer offerings as well. I would pick the Chieftan over the Street Glide..nice bike.

could be

As you know one of my sons is a Kawasaki / victory tech at a dealership in AZ. So far he has not seen a victory apart. Other than tires oil or other general maintenance. Some of the customers have 100,000 miles on their victory's. That says something and may indicate where the Indians may lie. But like Flht said, I don't care for the styling of the Indians either.


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Great reports. Great personal intel on the Indian. Sounds like it'll all come down to an individual test ride. Thanks for sharing all that everyone.