Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1035029
I N D I A N M OTO R C YC L E P R E S I D E N T ST E V E M E N N E TO P98 INTERVIEW not anyone else! We have a great bike, a great support team and great riders, and that package is what's delivering the wins. Plus, we have a really good contingency package for our customers to purchase the FTR750 and race it against us—pretty successfully, it seems! Gary Gray, our VP Rac- ing, has been doing a phenomenal job with our entire race program, and it's thanks to him and his team we've been so consistent. And isn't racing about striving to finish consistently, and win races consistently? I mean, when you see the privateers coming to Indian now, and the success that they're having with our bikes, our team's got to keep on working super hard to stay ahead of them. They're pushing us all the time to keep getting better! We know you're about to launch a street spinoff of the FTR750. What can you tell me about it? The FTR1200 is indeed born out of the race pro- gram—that was one of the things we were always being asked, "When are you going to get that bike to production?" Back in the early days, if you recall, our engineering focus above all else was, "Let's get this range of street bikes out," and so that's why we waited until we went racing. But racing is in Indian's DNA, so then we did go racing, but having done so with such success we realized, "Wow, we've got something here." I mean, when you look at the re- sponse that the FTR has received, it was, "Oh, this is a bike we've got to bring to market." However, like other dedicated oval track racers from other companies, it was designed as a racer through and through—so it wasn't just a question of just hang- ing lights and a horn and an electric starter on it. But after we displayed the Custom concept bike at the Milan Show last November and it was so well received, we had to go to market with a bike that was as close as possible to it, while still meeting all Indian's standards for performance and practicality. So our development team's been really focused in evolving the FTR1200 in a hurry—although we're not going to short ourselves in terms of quality just to bring it out quickly. But it's exciting how we're go- ing to stretch Indian way beyond Cruiser/Bagger/ Tourer—and the FTR1200 is a perfect example of "We thought that if we could win maybe four races or so, that would be outstanding, and we could maybe get on any level of the podium about ten times throughout the season." Despite a shrinking U.S. market down 3.2% in 2017, Indian sales continue to increase year on year, up almost 20% in the USA, and over 50% in Europe and IMEA countries.