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INDIAN SPECIAL
THE INDIAN RANGE INDIAN THUNDERSTROKE CHIEF When the covers came off the new Indians on the 3rd August at Sturgis, the wait was over. We had seen the motors a few months before but who could have second-guessed the rest? As it happens, most of us because there was no sense in creating a motor that was so obviously a tribute to the post ’40 Chief and slotting it into anything other than a post 1940-style motorcycle, but how that would manifest itself was another matter entirely. We anticipated two obvious opportunities: the base model that we now know as the Classic, and the Vintage with its fringed leather panniers building heavily on one aspect of a brand that was HarleyDavidson’s arch rival until the early fifties. In the event, we got three models, with Indian releasing its first hard bag tourer – the Chieftain – and while all of the styling cues were familiar, the underlying technology was anything but. Polaris have identified three founding principles in place for Indian: honouring the brand’s heritage; making it a premium motorcycle in every way, and instilling confidence in the brand after its years in the wilderness, and you can see all three at work in these first year motorcycles. Heritage speaks for itself. You only have to look at it to know it’s an Indian and while there are some out there who would deny Polaris’ right to Indian’s past, one word usually silences them: Triumph. As an American motorcycle proudly made in America, it is where it belongs, and the commitment of Polaris to the brand is solid. In terms of being a premium product, they’re not shy of using chrome as a standard finish anywhere they feel it is appropriate – in fact they make a point of justifying it as being what the market wants and as you look around the States, you can’t help feeling that they’re right. That does mean they will be on the shiny side but they are supremely confident about its quality and longevity, having put everything through strict testing regimes alongside competitor parts, and it has been laid on properly. But it’s also about premium performance: we were running US Spec bikes with 161.6Nm@3,000rpm: monumental torque that you really can feel on the road. International bikes will be down on that, at 139Nm@2,600rpm, but nothing that can’t be reversed and I can’t imagine the neighbours
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complaining about the American exhausts. Then there is the intangible: confidence. The Indian team are well aware of the ghosts they’ve got to lay to rest, but with Polaris’ engineering and the reputation of the Victory motor behind it, they’ve got most ends covered ... and a five year warranty from a multi-billion dollar Powersports company will help. That and the technical innovation that Polaris prides itself on. That’s easy to say, but what does it actually mean in practice? We covered the motor in depth in AmV62 but learned a few more details that are worth sharing because it gives an insight into the technical integrity of the company and the design. The Thunder Stroke 111’s semi-dry sump is key to a number of things that are core principles of the design: easy servicing, a low profile engine and a clean one. It meant they didn’t have to mess about finding space for an oil tank on the chassis, or plumb it in, and having made a remarkably compact engine, they had space behind the gearbox to hold the oil. Easy servicing? Drop two drain plugs – one each for the sump and the oil tank – fit a new filter, refit the drain plugs and pour five quarts of oil in: job
done. Tappets? Hydraulic. Primary chain tension? There isn’t one. Plugs? Oh, go on then. Indian call it a primary-less engine having dispensed with the need for a drive chain: it’s one thing less to adjust, and a massive amount of unbalanced weight – and noise – lost. They also put the alternator outboard of the drive gears, well away from the heat of the motor. Noise is a big thing on a motorcycle, and quite apart from paying great attention to the exhaust note, every cover needs to keep sound as well as oil in. This was never more apparent than with the double-glazed rocker boxes: removal of that faux finned cover reveals a less attractive cover over the valvegear beneath, and I’m delighted to say that it’s still a piece of cast metal beneath that layer of chrome. I’m expecting a race between Ness and RSD to come up with a choice of stylish outer rocker covers, or even a single rocker cover now that homologation and type approval have been dealt with! I finally got a tantalising glimpse of the bike under its covers on the stand at Sturgis, and got to see the cutaway engine for real – poking my fingers and lens into the places I’d really wanted to see – and the only sensible response was wow!
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THE RANGE
While the clothes are familiar, the radical frame beneath the skin must surely owe something to the Victory CORE programme, comprising precisionmachined, cast aluminium sections bolted together without a single weld in sight. It could be a technology too far for those who are determined to find something not to like, but it’s an excellent design that is light, stiff, consistent and corrosion-free; and really lends itself to modification if you’ve got talent and imagination. From the front, the top spar is one of two aluminium castings – 29-degrees for the Classic and Vintage because it looks right, and 25-degrees for the Chieftain which hides its tighter geometry behind a feature-packed fairing – with very conventional, clearly visible tubular steel downtubes bolted beneath the headstock. Interestingly these are not load-bearing, in fact they’re not even necessary and are little more than something to mount essential services onto. The spine also acts as the main air intake for the large air cleaner on the primary side of the motor. Reminiscent of the Helmholtz box on early Buells, this is a static air chamber that should kill any induction noise, and some of you will already be wondering whether something like a Forcewinder will fit it. I can see a couple of hours of polishing and radiusing round that twin stacked intake in the cast aluminium spine, just because it would look better – even if it wasn’t used. The middle section, bolted to the back of the spine, comprises a pair of cast side-plates that serve as the rear engine mounts and complete the rest of the cradle, including the swing-arm pivot. A rear sub-frame that supports the skirted steel mudguard is bolted behind that and is braced at the furthest point from the headstock by the only other steel frame member, which secures the back of the mudguard and the long dual mufflers. If you want to bob one, get the spanners out … or wait and see what else Indian themselves might do with it in the future: if they are serious about taking on Harley-Davidson, they’ve got some range building to do, and a new mid section opens up all sorts of opportunities! The form of the swingarm will be familiar to Victory owners – cast
aluminium with a horizontal seam that is just begging to be polished out – but differs significantly in its springing. Indian use a rising rate single shock on a variable-rate linkage, and they run it offset – on the primary drive side – leaving space for a decent sized battery alongside. The conventional coil-over shock is mechanically adjustable for preload on the Classic and Vintage, but replaced by an air shock on the Chieftain. Importantly, the shock is easily accessible for adjustment, so is more likely to be set up properly for two-up work. Up front is a pair conventional telescopic forks – leaf spring forks were obsolete by the end of the forties, just as Harley were casting off their Springers, and there’s no sense in getting too carried away with clever shocks in view of the unsprung weight of a fully skirted front mudguard.
The expanse of the Classic’s rear fender looks huge without the tubes of the sprung heel frame to break it up, or the bags to hide it, but within a few hours you don’t notice it any more, and once 2-tone schemes start to materialize – defined along the coach lines inspired by the original Chief’s full chainguard – you’ll forget that it was ever different. Incidentally, rear wheel removal is a simple matter of jacking the bike up under the motor, then pulling out the ‘Progressive Linkage’ suspension’s rocker pin enables the rear wheel to drop clear the bodywork. The march of progress has been felt with the controls, too, with a keyless ignition switch alongside a fuel gauge, where once an ammeter would have lived, ahead of a speedo that offers an odometer, clock, gear indicator, twin trip meters, ambient air temperature, average mpg and remaining range – which you scroll through using a button on the leading face of Indian’s own switchgear: chrome, of course. What? The speedo not at the front? No, Indian didn’t do it that way back in the day, so they don’t do it that way now. The fly-by-wire throttle’s wiring passes through the inch and a quarter bars together with the rest of the electrics – enabling cruise control as standard across the range – and keeps things neat, while the hydraulic lines are slender, blackwrapped braided steel. Oh, and the indicators and taillight are LEDs. So, what have they done with all this technology?
CHIEF CLASSIC: The bare-bones model can only be described as such when compared to its siblings because it is hardly underspecified and no compromises have been made in its quality and finish – unless you count the Indian script as a massive decal rather than a badge. It would probably be easier to have started with the Vintage and then say what accessories the Classic lacks but it does give us chance to look at the base spec. You’ll get the engine, frame and cycle parts as above, and the chrome Warbonnet mudguard ornament with its glass lens, laced 80-spoke wheels with Dunlop whitewalls, footboards, the Chief’s cast and chromed headlamp nacelle and a black studded leather seat – not vinyl that looks like leather, but the real thing – and you feel the difference. And so will your passenger, because the bodywork isn’t overpowered by a decent-sized pillion perch. No frills – literally – and
while £18,100 might seem a lot for an entry level model, you get a hell of a lot for your money.
CHIEF VINTAGE.
Really pushing the heritage of the brand, the Vintage replaces the Classic’s black leather with a dark tan that grows on you once you’ve got over the initial shock, and which I’m confident will take on a nice patina. Can you specify black leather? Not yet, but I was less bothered by that after 500 miles than at the beginning. The quickly detachable bags are the obvious addition but there’s also mudguard trims front and back, highways bars, a securely-mounted QD screen and an extra metal script on the skirted front mudguard to match the smaller, metal Indian script on the tank, and if you could source the screen and lined leather bags of this quality alone for less than the £1,299 difference between this and the Classic, you’d be doing exceptionally well. It’s not enough to call them bags, to be honest, because they are prime examples of Polaris’ “premium” mantra: thick and supple treated leather, luxuriously lined in the lid with something quilted, American-V.co.uk
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Indian SPECIAL and their leading edge and floor is stretched over a steel former to aid waterproofing and help keep critical aspects of its shape over time while the rest beds-in. They are mounted using a pair of rubber expansion joints in stainless-steel spools, secured by a substantial latch cam and with a lip in the spool for additional peace of mind. And it is a solid fixing that is reasonably unobtrusive when revealed: each bag is rated for 6.8kg/15lbs. The spool has a second rubber bushing on its outer surface, which is for mounting other accessories like backrests and racks, and it is the only accessory attachment bracket that isn’t part of the original hardware on the Classic. In other cases – like fitting a screen, for example – the fixing is always there and effectively invisible: you just buy the screen and fit it onto brackets waiting to accept it. The latching cams are on the large side and can get in the way when loading the bags, but it’s the only thing that does and the malleable leather is a real joy after wrestling with vinyl and cheaper, harder grades of leather: this stuff feels luxurious! And, of course, the seat is made from the same stuff. The saddlebags’ QD buckles are small and comprise a chromed steel receiver with a plastic latch behind the classic buckle. I don’t need to mention the fringes because you’ve got eyes in your head: if you don’t like them, you’ll have to cut them off. Velcro secures the fringes on the seat – and optional fringes below the saddlebag lids – so you can save your scissors if they offend your sensibilities. And obviously when the bags are off, what is underneath is a Chief Classic: no unsightly mudguard designed with both eyes clearly focused on practical wheel removal. The screen’s QD system inspires confidence, with a proper latching mechanism that locks the screen in position and ensures correct replacement. It’s on the tall side for my tastes, but it comes in three heights. Obviously targeting the Heritage Softail, and clearly celebrating a very different heritage, it’s unashamedly more expensive than the Harley but Indian’s 111 packs more of a punch. It will make for a very interesting head-to-head next year, and I’m really looking forward to seeing them together.
THE RANGE
Chieftain Without anything to base a hard bagged, faired motorcycle on, the Indian design team did the only thing they could. They imagined what the original stylists would have done if they had built one, developing the style of the skirted fenders and streamlined heads using visual references from those times. The late 1930s were the days of Santa Fe’s first Super Chief streamliner locomotives – iconic in their own right – and the design team set about creating something that could have come from the pen of G. Briggs Weaver, who is generally considered to be the architect of the streamlined Indians. And then they upgraded it as though it had continually evolved over the next sixty years. At face value the Chieftain’s fairing holds a clear, matching speedo and tacho and if you don’t want to play with all the options, you can just have some sensible additional information on the backlit LCD panel between them. If you want to know more – or are a gadget junkie – there is a toybox of information from how you are hooked into your Bluetooth-paired phone to your tyre pressures in real time. Clever stuff, but it’s not rocket science. Just simple, cute and overdue. My favourite bit is a cubbyhole inside the fairing containing a tethered bag that holds and protects your phone (or helmet cam) while you charge it using the USB interface. There is also an easily accessible conventional 12v socket, which is the obvious power point for either a SatNav or a weatherproofed phone being used as one. And then, of course, there’s the electric screen with a four inch range which will be welcomed by anyone who has wrestled with the age old problem: cool wind deflector or touring screen. It comes with an intermediate height screen that is a good starting point, but has a couple of height options – 4-inches lower or 3-inches higher – more to cater for taller and shorter riders, but the tinted low option would also suit the more custom oriented. The Chieftain’s cast wheels are wrapped in blackwall tyres with a higher load rating than the Chiefs, but then it isn’t trying quite so hard to be a classic and is more likely to be carrying more weight. It’s also likely to be travelling quicker with that wind protection, and steering quicker courtesy of that 25-degree rake at the headstock. In designing their panniers they have again tried to be sympathetic to the original style while offering a worthwhile amount of space. Their floor
forms slightly round the tops of the twin mufflers, and they are hinged at the outside edge, but they have another trick up their sleeve: a central locking system activated either from the keyfob or a rocker switch in the console, which is disabled when the bike is switched off. They too are removable, and again they leave a good looking bike behind. There will obviously be some wiring to account for with the central locking, and that only gets more involved if you take the optional “Concert Audio Lids” to pump out another 100W of sound to add to what is already coming out of the fairing. The fairing obviously isn’t so easily mothballed: there’s way too much going on in there to be able to do without it. At £20,250 it is more expensive than the Street Glide that is in its sights, but while it will be a fairer fight in the bends, compared to a Softail, I would expect it to come down to a battle between brand identities. Returning to the full range, all of the bikes are available in a choice of three colours, which seems a little mean at first sight, but in their first year, Indian’s focus is on having the right bikes in the right places, and three colour schemes makes that a lot easier. Springfield Blue is a close facsimile of the original Royal Blue that was standard on pre-1912 Indians, Indian Motorcycle Red is close enough to the old Indian Red used from 1912 until 1935 when Indian’s then-owner E Paul du Pont offered every colour in the du Pont company’s range for an extra $5 on a $300 bike, and Thunder Black is … well, it’s black, and always a popular choice. All leather accessories – and there are plenty, either fringed or plain – come in both distressed tan or black, both with white stitching. There’s fender trims, footboard trims, grips, lever trims and fork bags, but the piece de resistance is the messenger bag, which looks like it’s going to be a tan-only affair: part laptop bag, part pony express satchel, it’s designed to clip to the rack that replaces a removed pillion seat in a fusion of hi-tech and High Chaparral. Of course, you can also indulge a passion for more chrome with chrome fender tips, which are as much to protect the leading edge of the fender as ornament it, or a full-on bumper rail – front and rear – and, of course, cam, horn and derby covers which come colour-matched to the base colour of the bike. Performance enhancements are limited through Indian themselves to a CARB-compliant Stage 1 pipes exhaust with a choice of tips, but there is obviously much scope for developing the motor a lot further and Indian seem to be relaxed about the opportunities that might be taken by others in developing cams and air cleaners at the very least. Polaris had a relationship with S&S regarding tuning in the early days of Victory and were happy to share original engineering drawings with them to accelerate that process. Whether that will happen here is too early to say, but we are hopeful.
Words: Andy Hornsby
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So, who the hell is the Polaris ... apart from just the company behind Indian? Reading this, it is anticipated that you will be aware of Victory – the built-from-scratch brand that brought the company into the motorcycle sector, but Polaris have been around since 1954 when they built their first snowmobiles – initially as utility vehicles but later for recreation. They diversified into All Terrain Vehicles in 1985 and Personal Watercraft in 1992 and by 1995 were generating more than $1 billion annually in sales for the three lines, with ATVs equalling Snowmobiles and PWC accounting for 7% of group sales as the world’s 4th largest producer. A major player in the Powersports industry, they took the view that it wasn’t a good idea to hinge their future on three lines and looked at acquisitions, as well developments into new markets, and the result – after looking at a variety of other opportunities – seemed to point increasingly at motorcycles. A couple of dirt bike companies came up for sale, and a European manufacturer approached them regarding distributing their bikes through Polaris, and the germ of an idea was born. They also canvassed the opinions of Polaris vehicle owners regarding a number of alternative product lines through their ‘Spirit’ magazine and motorcycles scored highly. Further investigation determined that it wasn’t the off-road market that held the best opportunity but road bikes, and the cruiser sector in particular. The result – in just three years from hiring a couple of engineers for preliminary chassis and transmission work – was a new American motorcycle manufacturer and the Victory V92C. Since then, Steve Menneto, VP of Motorcycles, tells us that they have become the number one Powersports manufacturer in the US, selling more units than Harley-Davidson and Honda, and growing significantly faster. They have increased their output five-fold over the last four years and have got their sights firmly on becoming a $5 billion a year business by 2017, which they expect to achieve by developing their own brands as well as by buying technology through the acquisition of smaller companies – and they don’t underestimate the benefit of R&D and innovation, increasing those budgets by 20% a year. A truly international brand, they retain a stronghold in their hometown of Roseau, Minnesota, but have a motorcycle engine plant at Osceola, Wisconsin, with motorcycle assembly in Spirit Lake, Iowa. That puts both Victory and Indian under the same roof, but they are on wholly different assembly lines. As part of their expansion, they have spent $200 million in plant and infrastructure and taken on 2,600 new employees in the last three years – which has included a doubling of the size of their R&D facility in Wyoming, Minnesota, adding 300 more engineers – and motorcycles are a significant part of that growth. Polaris will make the most of the opportunity that Indian affords to take Victory to new places as a complimentary brand. Victory isn’t a development exercise preparing the ground in anticipation of Indian, and the numbers of bikes, particularly Cross-Series tourers, that we
saw on the street in the US lends credence to Polaris’ Product Director of Motorcycles, Gary Gray’s claims that Victory has hit the #2 spot in developed market for 1400cc+ cruisers over just 15 years. That they have done so without taking on Harley-Davidson directly is remarkable, offering a distinct alternative American product. Indeed, we’ve been put on notice to expect major changes in the Victory division in the near future to build on that, and in exciting directions. It was interesting to learn how world markets are setting the agenda, with the Hammer-S being the best seller in Europe but being withdrawn in the US, the Baggers being stronger Stateside; and there’s the Judge, which stays it its sporting guise in Europe, but is morphing to a sit up and beg cruiser in America. Indian is a different thing entirely, though: they are targeting Harley-Davidson with a premium product that is combining traditional styling with modern technology, demonstrating that the lazy power delivery expected of an American heavyweight cruiser can be realized in modern engine cases and that styling doesn’t have to compromise performance. Why take on Harley-Davidson? Because Harley are the runaway market leader in a massive sector, and because Indian has the heritage to take them on. You might question that, in the light of the gap between Springfield and Spirit Lake, but then Hinckley isn’t Meriden either and that hasn’t done Triumph any harm. Pragmatically, it’s also a sector where Indian can launch a range of motorcycles round a single engine that hits multiple markets: three distinct bikes already and I think we’ll see a few more bikes based round the Thunder Stroke 111 as production settles down … and then you’d be foolish to rule out a smaller engine – let’s call it a Scout, for the sake of argument – because if they’re going to take on Harley, they’ll need to take on the Sportster, in which case let’s hope they account for an A2 license compatible model for Europe! Repeating myself? Damn right: no better way to make sure the message gets across. Self-effacing, they are well aware that the world will be nervous of Indian after the last sixty years, but with Polaris’ engineering reputation and the strength of the Victory motor behind them, combined with a limited warranty that can be extended to five years with unlimited mileage, they exude confidence. They want to put Indian back on top and riding with their senior executives, I think they are capable of doing just that!
ABOVE: Polaris VP Motorcycles, Steve Menneto is a lifelong motorcyclist, and sees motorcycles as instrumental in Polaris future. BELOW: Product Director, Gary Gray’s mission is for Indian to ‘Take its place at the top of American Motorcycles’, and his broad knowledge inspired confidence inspires confidence. BOTTOM: Polaris Industries Director of Industrial Design, Greg Brew had the job of designing an icon and is responsible for the bikes you see.
Words: Andy Hornsby
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