2014 Indian Ride Report

Polaris did a very nice job in the detail on the new line. The question

has come many times of design "sharing" going on between Victory and Indian lines

with Polaris (being both owned by one company). Except for the fairing on

the Cheiftain, I honestly could see NONE! Looking at the detail

of the bikes and riding them proved to me that the Indian project was a ground up build

for Polaris.

Detail was awesome, I liked the old school coloring - paint was well done

in all colors, chrome appears very high quality in all areas, old school

dash on the Vintage and Chief Classic were really neat in appearance -

although I did find the amount of chrome in the dash/headlight area created

a terrible reflection on the windshield (quick disconnect) if used. I

thought the gauges in the fairing on the Chieftain were kinda cheezy BUT

the audio system was awesome!! Layout of the bar controls was very well

done, I really liked the bars although would find out later that I actually

needed 2 inches longer to get comfortable in my "normal" riding position. I

personally have always liked the brown leather on the Indians, come to find

out the same company that has always made these is still making them!! Leather

appeared high quality and detailed nicely. I have always liked spoked

wheels and really liked where they went with these. You can also get

aluminum wheels, they looked great but I liked the spokes..

While out at Sturgis this year, one of the things that I caught onto

at the unveiling was Polaris's marketing campain and the words

"Choice is here". When I first saw this

slogan at Sturgis I commented to Tippy and said "I wonder how the Victory

guys are gonna take that".. I found out later that this really didnt go

over very big, the Victory guys were actually insulted by this.. I had a

chance before the ride to chat with a Polaris rep about it and was told

that the Indian brand they are producing is aimed right at HD buyers. He

also told me that their Victory brand was going to become (I guess there

are lots of changes coming in the Victory too) their shot at the metric

industry..

This conversation gave me, a nobody test rider who does this stuff

cause I love motorcycles am nosey and love having a real opinion, a

basis of comparison of the bikes I was about to ride. Besides, I knew I would be

disappointed if this new line didnt compare to the old Yam Venture molded to my backside . I have owned a number of HD's thru the years, have put a fair

amount of time on them - both wrenching and riding.

Tippy and I climbed on the Chieftain. Other than the rear peg placement

(to high and to far rearward for her) she instantly commented on the

Indians seat being more comfortable than the Stock HD Ultra, I totally

agreed. I found the bike to be roomier both for legs and arm placement..

The HD has way more room in the rear rider area for moving around - at this

time there is NO tour pack on the Indian - it will be interesting to see

where/how the tourpac sets when they finally come out.. Tippy and I are

unusual in the point of really not liking to be separated when riding. I

know LOTS of folks that love the HD's for this but truthfully, we enjoy the

old "chopper feel" of - her against a backrest-me against her, the Indian

does this nicely. For me - it does lack in handlebar length by about 2

inches and given all that internal wiring and adding cable length l gotta

hunch this is not an immediate offering from Polaris. I LOVED the

adjustable windshield on the fairing of the Chieftain, it worked

perfectly!! Having ridden the new HD Ultra, one of which had a low cut

shield AND the upward venting, makes it very difficult to say which I would

prefer,, I almost go with the short and venting but ONLY because of the

simplicity.. On the same note though, I really wonder what that vent would

do in the rain - remember, you gotta keep the vent open to force airflow

over the head of the passenger - close it and you lose air flow height...

I really like the adjustable shield!!

Performance was, again in my opinion, not impressive.. After twisting the

throttle from idle to rev limiter on the stock Chieftain all I could say to

Tippy was I needed to ride the "Stage One" Classic they had.. I am thinking

that if, again I say if, the 111 inch motor produces 119 pounds of torque

it HAS to be a crank measurement.. I have never thought much of what HD

turns out in their stock bike performances (any of them,, except for the

V-Rod) and this Indian is right on par in my opinion - maybe a little more

go power.. On the same token though, I remember riding the HD 103 back to

back with the HD Screamin Eagle 110 CVO and my seat of the pants told me

the 103 was a stronger pull than the 110 - my buddies about scalped me for

that so what do I know.. I just gotta a sneakin hunch that compared to the

HD 110 - yea the 111 has it, compared to the 103 - could be more

interesting.. Compared to my old 83 Yamaha V-4,,,,, oh I wasnt gonna go

there...

It was a VERY smooth ride!! Tippy said "because it doesnt shake like a HD

does that mean less parts are likely to viborate off (something we have

experienced first hand)?" to which I replied - yep, locktite company could

be in trouble Seriously it was that smooth. Of course, there are droves of people that need that good ol HD shaking front wheel/engine or life aint right - dont buy a new Indian if your one of these folks!

I was told that the tranny smoothness was beyond belief - like almost not even noticeable shifting in a spooky kinda way.. I did not find this to be true.. I did

find it to a lot less clunky in feel to the HD tranny and very smooth in

operation in a precise way but not without "feeling" as I had been told.. I

did find all the issues with finding neutral at a stop associated with HD's

trannys were never a problem on the Indian. Sixth gear in the indian was

very tall and we riders were warned to only engage it at 70 or above.. If

you know me you know I had to test that,, because of its torque it handles

45 and above in 6th with two riders - below that, yea,, not good.

FLOGGING this thing is a nightmare!! It is very slow in its steering.. I

have a hunch the bike is longer, more rake, more trail than the HD line..

It doesnt like to be tossed around, it wants to fight back and go straight

or take lazy corners.. I ran it up 90 on an interstate exit to attempt a

decent lean and didnt "feel" the agreement happening between me and the

bike so I didnt push it.. I have ridden MANY hours on HD Road Kings and

have always liked their cornering abilitly, they are really a handling pile

of steel... I just didnt get this from the Indian,, smooth - YES, lenier

in its power delivery - YES, GREAT BRAKES - YES, stable on the highway -

YES, let go of the bars and relax at speed - YOU BET but twisties - not so

much..

The stage one on the Classic (its the one in the pics with the single seat

and backrest) did help.. Not sure what the gain actually was but it

certainly was evident.. All the stage 1 amounts to is pipes.. If you have

ever owned an HD and tossed on a set of pipes (man they are choked down

terribly) you can relate to the difference in the Indians case - pretty

much apples for apples..Dont know why but the Classic and the Vintage rev

limited at 4 and the Chieftain at 5. Engines were all the same.. The

engine/tranny on the new Indians are one unit, not like the separate units

like the old Indians and the Big Twin HD's.. I am sure that this has

something to do with the smoothness of the shifting and also the quietness

of the motor on the Indian - no compensator and on and on.. The indian also

has that 3 cam system which is noticably quieter than HD's twin cam

system..

Here is an interesting point, while my wife had no issues with feeling

warmth from the engine, I actually kept getting a hot butt/thigh on my

LEFT leg from all the bikes.. I did not dig into the reasoning for

this but I will say that it was noticeable.. All the bikes came with

an oil cooler up front and I LOVED the placement of the screw on oil

filter.

I am really curious where these bikes are gonna fall in the MPG

range.. I know a modern HD 103 Bagger will net you 48 mpg pretty

regular,, while I didnt actually check fuel economy on any of these

bikes I did ride the Chieftain consecutively out to 111 miles on the

speedo and came in with an empty tank according to the fuel guage..

The staff guy said it had to be filled or it would run out on next

run.. They hold 5 gallons of gas.. If it had a gallon left in it that

calcs out to maybe 30 mpg.. Of course, not being broke in (may get

faster after break in too) that will go up but I still am anxious to

see where these 111's fall in the MPG thingy..

So, if I it were me laying out the 23 grand for a new touring bike

what would it be? HD has a HUGE dealership network, according to

Polaris not all of their current Vic dealers are gonna be Indian

dealers so I am assuming their "network" is gonna be small. HD (and

aftermarket folks) offers more for your money than Indian does in the

way of cool gearhead stuff - build it the way you want it, cams,

jugs, pistons, heads --- it took HD years to accomplish this. I like

the way HD's handle the road, especially the twisties but I honestly

think the Indian has a better highway feel, especially for two up (but you gotta remember I have a really weird riding position) -

stretched out touring.. I, personally, like what HD has done with

watercooling.. I really like the looks of the Indian engine and I also

like the big fenders and the spoke wheels and the tank/speedo bib! I

would be happy with either

Do I think Indian is a threat to HD right now? Nah, not really.. If I

were a marketeer for HD I would be more concerned with how their

target market is gonna accept watercooling than the Indian attack at

this time..

Now if Polaris cut these bikes out at say $18k for the Chieftain, 15

for the Classic and 14 for the Vintage just to get em out into the

publics hands for a good proving ground than yea,, that would be a

threat but hey, that aint gonna happen.. While we were there testing

the new ones a couple guys came in on the Gilroy Indians.. One of

these guys had paid 31 for his new back in the day, and his came with

an S&S motor.. Victory had major issues in their original 92 inch

motors/trannys that really didnt get resolved until 05.. I think some

of all that is gonna haunt Polaris in getting the new Indian into real

attack position..

Man I love this stuff,, what a riot riding the new bikes, what a great

day and age to be test riding new bikes and enjoying our sport!!

Best of luck Polaris!!

Cowpuc

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Great evaluation. I rode the Classic when I demo-ed. Different rake on the forks, but mostly the same otherwise. I really loved it. The transmission was smooth on the one I rode and it handled great on mountain twists.

I don't have the journalist approach to writing, but as a biker since 1959 I liked it. I believe that this is all that really matters.

Very nice! But I still have the same question that I had for the dealer 3 years ago when they wanted 30 grand for the thing.

Why are there passenger pegs on a solo bike?? If you look at picture nine you can see them. I mean c'mon, stick a couple of chrome bolts in there and give the new owner the set of pegs if he wants 'em!

OK..OK, I know it's not quite as bad as a cassette deck on on 21st century motorcycle.

 

I don't have the journalist approach to writing, but as a biker since 1959 I liked it. I believe that this is all that really matters.

 

Yep,,, couldnt agree more!! Personal choice is something we motorcyclist take great pride in claiming ownership of,, beyond that its just two wheels and miles of smiles:whistling:

 

Very nice! But I still have the same question that I had for the dealer 3 years ago when they wanted 30 grand for the thing.

Why are there passenger pegs on a solo bike?? If you look at picture nine you can see them. I mean c'mon, stick a couple of chrome bolts in there and give the new owner the set of pegs if he wants 'em!

 

OK..OK, I know it's not quite as bad as a cassette deck on on 21st century motorcycle.

 

:rotf: GOOD POINT!! That particular bike had the Stage 1, also had an audio system on it to plug an mp3 player into(no radio-no cassette) and the seat/backrest/rear carrier rack.. All OPTIONAL equipment that they had installed.. I am sure the pegs are stock equipment and they just didnt bother to take them off,,,, still really looks stupid

I gotta tell ya,, me and Bubba,, we still love the looks of the "Bottle Cap" Indian better than the new ones.. I know they had a lot of problems with that motor but I think if I were going to choose one (and couldnt find a REAL 46 Chief to invest into) I would actually rather have one of those.. and Bubba,,, he's just lookin for something to sink his teeth into - know what I mean Vern..

Bubba is always lookin' for something to sink his teeth into since he got the new dental plan! He thinks ObamaCare is gonna be almost as good!!

Headed down to Arlen Ness on the 12th of Oct to ride on the demo tour (free food) Hope I don't fall in love with the leather bagger or the hard bagger as the wife will not be with me. She is the reasonable side of my brain. Think I will stop reading posts and go practice writing my name. Better start looking for another place to live Wonder how long it can be parked in the hospital parking lot??

THe chrome gas cap on my RSV has been bothering me lately with reflection in the windscreeen. I cant imagine how bad the bezel around all the do-dads on the gas tank would be on this thing.

There are products that will dull the chrome finish by spray can. Easy clean up and no damage.