2014 Indian Motorcycle Chief Classic Thunder Black Review
2014 Indian Chieftain and Chief Vintage Exam
As we meander our way through life, we occasionally come across so-chosen defining moments in time. Sometimes we recognize them immediately; on other occasions we merely realize their significance afterwards.
Of course, a defining moment in time is a highly personal thing—something that yous decide is of exceptional significance may merely be a nonchalant shrug of the shoulders to others.
As I rounded the corner headed up the hill from Keystone in South Dakota's Blackness Hills, Mountain Rushmore suddenly appeared in forepart of me, with sharp early morning light illuminating it from the heavens to the e. I'm not certain what I was expecting to see — I've seen the pictures, also — merely I certainly was not expecting the four Presidents to be so dramatically lit, and to brand such a powerful impression on me.
An involuntary "holy [curse]" (in a good manner) was uttered and I pulled the new Indian Chieftain over into a small-scale lay-by kindly set aside by the road planners, presumably for just such a moment. As a proudly naturalized American denizen (thanks for having me), I was momentarily overcome with emotion. At that moment, Mountain Rushmore symbolized a large part of what is nifty about America for me.
At present, I am not going to claim that the reveal of the new Indian motorcycle had the aforementioned outcome on me. How- e'er, for many motorcycle enthusiasts everywhere, it was an admittedly pregnant result, and possibly a defining moment in fourth dimension. Standing at that place on a warm evening in Sturgis — the heartbeat of American motorcycling — the covers came off the new Chief.
Strobes fired, spotlights blazed, and a very enthusiastic, not-entirely- sober crowd, all went wild simultaneously—quite rightly. This was the re-birth of a significant motorcycle brand, and that doesn't happen every 24-hour interval.
Founded originally in 1901 – the showtime 1,901 new Indians will have an engraved numbered plate – the visitor has a checkered history, yet it has remained a function of the public consciousness. To many enthusiasts, the "real" Indians were produced during the 1940s and early on-'50s, until bankruptcy swept them away in 1953. Since then, several brand and copyright owners accept given information technology their best shots. More recently, Indian had short-term stays in Gilroy, Calif. (the so-called Garlic Indians), and and then Kings Mountain, N.C., until purchase by Polaris in 2011.
Skeptics will scoff, assuming that the newest iteration of the Indian Motorcycle Visitor will last most another 4 years and and so again crash and burn. This doesn't have into account that the new owner — the highly profitable Polaris Industries of Medina, Minn. (market cap: $7.8 billion) — has such incredible financial muscle, resources, and passion, that this time, I am confident the cynics will be proven wrong.
To say that Polaris has taken its new acquisition seriously would be an understatement of epic proportions. Assertive that "Indian'southward rightful home is with Polaris," Steve Menneto (VP- Motorcycles), drafted in Greg Brewfresh from designing the new Rolls Royce at BMW — to come up with the new Main.
Brew immediately contacted owners and collectors, and talked to anybody he maybe could about the heritage and standout features of the brand, also as machines from the by. Several items quickly made their fashion to the acme of the must-include listing and, despite serious technology challenges, Mash'southward new Indian Motorcycle vision took shape with every must-take included.
To achieve this in two-and-a-one-half years is highly creditable; to have produced such a well-rounded (dare I say mature?) product, with iii models in the line-upwardly, and seemingly every nuance accounted for, is downright amazing.
The launch of iii new machines — the Chief Archetype, Chief Vintage, and Chieftain — includes an impressive line of accessories, a cohesive and informative website, and a highly creative ad campaign, all built around a reverence for the make that borders on religious zealotry. Yes, I would say Indian has constitute its rightful home at last.
The heart of any motorbike is of course its powerplant, and the new 49-degree V-twin, air-cooled, Thunder Stroke 111 certainly looks the part. Purists will annotation the cross-directional finning, fatty parallel pushrod tubes, and downdraft exhausts that requite more than than a mere nod to the archetype original motor. The oil reservoir is cleverly integrated into the rear of the engine, and only a single supply is needed to go on all the internals, including the 6-speed gearbox, well lubricated.
The 3-cam, two-valve-per-cylinder motor is balanced, not condom-mounted, then vibration is enough to make the motor experience alive, nevertheless pleasantly damped so that no extremities go to slumber on extended rides. Despite beingness completely smoothen at highway speeds, every bit a big-inch V-twin (101mm bore and 113mm stroke, 1811cc) the engine feels unhurried and capable of carrying you nonetheless far you feel similar venturing.
The EFI system is very skillful, and the wing-by-wire throttle connectedness is first-class; meandering down Principal Street, Sturgis, at 10 mph, between literally thousands of motorcycles, posed no problem whatsoever.
Mash and his engineering team did more than get the motor's look right. They researched the sound they wanted from the exhaust, and using a professional sound engineer they made iteration afterward iteration of those twin mufflers, until they had that ideal throaty burble sound. Indian claims the engine outputs a monstrous 119 ft/lbs of torque at a leisurely 3000 rpm, and having toyed mercilessly with several other bikers on the Sturgis highway, I'm inclined to believe them.
Rolling on in sixth gear from lxx mph produces a solid shove of acceleration that will have any red-blooded biker salivating — or beside himself with humiliation — depending on which brand of bicycle he is riding. A large diameter kit for more than power? No need, thanks. I have plenty.
Wrapped around the spectacular motor is a cast aluminum chassis that is backbone style, and also incorporates downtubes to maintain the accurate look. The 46mm cartridge fork and single rear progressive linkage stupor (with pneumatically adaptable preload on the Chieftain) take plenty of travel. This dainty supple pause feels firm enough to provide sporty handling, however it absorbs bumps well on the Chief Archetype and Chieftain I rode, both of which tip the scales at over 800 pounds fully fueled.
On open roads through the Black Hills, I had the good fortune to see and exploit some of the most fabulous scenery and blacktop I take always come across. The Indian handling is very practiced, and in that location is a ton of ground clearance; information technology took a lot of attempt to touch down the fixed floorboards.
In add-on to the stable chassis, Dunlop deserves serious credit for the perfectly matched and superb grip of its American Elite whitewall tires. The fatty 130-department front has enough of footprint, and a 180mm rear helps put all that torque to the ground and plow the cycle efficiently when asked.
Sporting riders will be well acquainted with Dunlop's racing credentials; it is comforting to know that the knowledge and expertise that created the superb Q3 is leveraged into their cruiser tires every bit well.
The faired Chieftain, with its centrally lockable hard bags, plainly carries more than weight than its siblings, and then the rake has been tightened to 25 degrees, from a leisurely 29 degrees on the Chief Vintage; this helps speed up the steering a trivial. Riding the bikes back-to-dorsum, the Chieftain's easier turning is immediately noticeable. All the same, the Chief Vintage model doesn't feel ponderous or slow in any style. It has excellent, neutral, confidence inspiring handling in the corners, while as well feeling stable and planted in a straight line.
Purely out of um… "journalistic integrity", I felt it necessary to briefly push button the Chieftain to a iii-effigy speed on the highway. As expected, the motorcycle exhibited no ill effects whatsoever, and remained every bit sharp and solid as it did at much more regular (and legal) speeds.
Braking is handled by twin drilled floating discs and four-piston calipers at the front end, and a unmarried two-piston caliper and floating rotor at the rear. The ABS-equipped brakes have excellent feel and more than than enough ability to chop-chop slow the half-ton projectile with me aboard; at no point did I have any cause to question their efficiency.
Beyond the unique motor, the Indian heritage demands sure visual cues, and Brew was very much in tune with Indian motorcycles of yore. The valanced fenders are the most obvious, and help with the aerodynamics of the cycle, though they add more weight. A single pivot running through the rear of the chassis allows the unabridged rear cycle and interruption to be dropped away in ane piece for maintenance. It's a nifty solution everyone will appreciate when it is time to change the tire.
The biscuit face up retro-manner clocks, v.5-gallon teardrop gas tank, and fully enclosed right side chugalug bulldoze are further visual cues from the by, as is the large, left-side mounted air intake, and chief cover with its distinct iii centers of rotation.
There are iii not-metallic color schemes, and each model comes in a choice of Thunder Black, the instantly identifiable Indian Motorcycle Red, and in homage to the birthplace of Indian — Springfield Blue — with the latter ii colors running a few hundred bucks extra.
It has to be said that the base prices starting at $19,000 for the Archetype to the $23,000 for the Chieftain are much lower than anyone expected. This must accept come as an unpleasant shock to competitive brands, given that the Indians include such "extras" as internally wired fat bars, prowl control, ABS, and real leather upholstery.
Differences betwixt the models are manifestly visual. The Vintage is the Archetype equipped with a rapidly detachable windshield and soft leather-fringed saddlebags. The flagship bagger Chieftain is the kickoff Indian ever to come with a fork-mounted fairing and hard numberless, and that fairing is the first to accept an electrically height-adjustable windshield. Underneath, however, they are the aforementioned basic motorcycle.
I didn't dearest the homogenized look of the Chieftain fairing, especially with the large Victory Vision-esque LED lights/turn signals that I found a bit incongruous; notwithstanding once I understood Brew's design inspiration came from the art deco streamliner trains of the 1930s, I did applaud the thinking.
Whether you similar the look of the fairing or not, there is no denying information technology functions extremely well. Many hours spent in a wind tunnel have paid off, and the cocoon of relatively still air backside the screen makes for a very pleasant ride and means the wonderfully audible sound system rarely needs full volume.
Instrumentation on the Chieftain — in fact, the electronics on all three models — is very much not the 1940s. The musical instrument cluster includes an electronic speedometer, tachometer, and fuel judge with odometer, dual trip meters with altitude and time, fuel economy, and fuel range. Additionally, there is a clock, ambient air temperature and gear position indicators, tire pressure readout, engine hours of functioning and engine oil life percent, plus average speed, and battery voltage.
Both Bluetooth and USB accessibility are integrated into the 100-Watt radio stereo system; and a handy cigarette lighter ability socket is there to ability a GPS, telephone or other item. An accessory handlebar-mounted stereo system is available for the Vintage and Classic models if you need your tunes while on the move.
Information technology is crystal clear. The heritage has been respected, the specifications are impressive, the looks are merely right, the price is reasonable, and the motorcycle performs far across expectations.
But does the new Indian have soul? That is the question. It needs to take that indefinable grapheme, that je ne sais quoi that will translate to a bright time to come of big number sales, from more but the early adopters or those interested in the novelty.
Ridiculous every bit it may sound to an outsider, a motorbike has to become part of you; it has to become almost an extension of who y'all are—later all, people judge you by your ride. So, the answer to that question lies within you — non the motorcycle.
Indian has provided the perfect platform, the ideal raw motorcar with a definable DNA, and you will need to go it home and go far your ain. Accessorize it, tweak information technology, and above all, ride it, ride it, and ride it some more. And then you volition be able to answer that question.
For me, having ridden the new Indian at present for several days, the answer is an unequivocal yes. It does have soul, and this is a defining moment in time.
Riding Style:
- Helmet: HJC RPHA Max
- Eyewear: Maui Jim Lahaina
- Jacket: Joe Rocket Reactor 3.0
- Gloves: River Route Laredo
- Jeans: Levi'due south 501
- Boots: Toschi Motard
Photography by Barry Hathaway & Tom Riles
Story is from the September/October issue of Ultimate MotorCycling magazine. To read a digital version, click here. For Ultimate MotorCycling subscription services, click here.
Source: https://ultimatemotorcycling.com/2013/10/29/2014-indian-chieftain-chief-vintage-review-reservations/
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