The New Indian: A Test Ride in Review

I'm thinking the Indian is a Victory w/ flared fenders?

I thought that bike over all rode well. Just pointing out the things I noticed that I liked and disliked.

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I will say that there were a lot of Victory riders at the dealership. Indian will survive under the Polaris banner. Love the flathead look of the Indian engine.

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Yes, good intel. So far most of what I've read about the new Indians (and Victorys) is basically good. I'm not crazy about the styling on either one, but I think Harley is going to have to ramp it up a notch or two to stay competitive in the future.

+1


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What Victory doesn't have is the name, not yet at least but by buying the rights, building the bike and pricing it the same if not cheaper than a comparable Harley, I'm talking Indian now, they're in the game. This could shake things up a little, and guessing by the reaction from Harley, I'd say they did. I've seen a few Indian resurrections and people, at one time, were paying stupid money for an S&S clone. There was a big buzz in Sturgis last year over the new Indians. Harley, wisely in my opinion, had their demo rides in Rapid. I don't think Harley is going to get killed by the Indian but as the Indian dealer network grows and more people get on them things could get a little Interesting. At the very least there is finally some serious competition out there. That's good

Harley is starting to attack a whole new market with in introduction of the 500 and 750 Street. I agree, Indian will make a splash and will put HD to the design edge.

I did happen to see the Vintage decked in all black leather the day my dad, Hot Rider and I went to the Donnie Smith Custom Bike Show. Now that was a good looking bike. :B

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I don't like the Chieftan either. I agree that Indian will never be able to over take Harley, but it can influence them.

As far as the metric competition, that is the precise market Harley is attacking with the Street. Harley needs to offer more to the marketplace.

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I've been riding a victory past couple days and love the engine and tranny.


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Interesting read from start to here, thanks, JohnnyBiker for sharing your impressions both good and bad of the Indian you tried out. The comments from all are interesting to read, not filtered by magazine editor. The new bikes from Indian really seem to have people talking, and if Indian marketing gets smart and gets some well known celebrity motorcyclists on a few, who knows where their products and comments on them will be in 10-15 years.

Jay Leno has already given them a thumbs up for whatever that means. He does have a lot of vintage vehicles and did a little comparison of a vintage Indian to a new one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=hzPwvVoqyHs

Don't understand why the link was just a list of videos but I just updated this thread to put up the one I was referring to. I hope!

I had not seen that. That was a cool vid! That fairing looks a bit "clunky" hanging off the front on the road test, maybe the chrome bezel around the headlight, or the LED signal lights with the chrome, but something looks out of place. Prices don't sound too bad for a produced in North America product, maybe daughter will have to settle for a less expensive university.