CYCLE NEWS CRUISER BUYERS GUIDE
comfy miles, and having such a capable engine beneath you
should be a given. What is a nice surprise was the three modes
gave genuine performance differences to the ride. I spent the
majority of my time in Sport, simply because I liked the imme-
diacy to the power delivery, but when I got lazy in the second
half of day two, I switched it to the lowest setting of Touring
and never wanted more. Throttle response in all three modes is
excellent, offering simple, unobtrusive delivery of torque.
But if you're gonna splash that cash and make it rain like
Friday night in da cluurrb, you owe it to yourself fit the
116-cubic inch, Stage 3 big-bore kit. There's nothing like
more cubes when it comes to crusing, and the 116 doesn't
disappoint. There's a claimed 20 percent more power from
the Stage 3 unit, and I'd believe it because the Dark Horse
fitted with the Stage 3 was quickly a favorite among even the
most cynical of journos present.
The Stage 3 still gives you the three riding modes, however,
the throttle response becomes a fair bit harsher in Sport mode,
where the full power is unleashed. It's easy to get used to, and
if you fit a Stage 3 to your Dark Horse this won't be a problem
at all as you feed wave after wave of Indian horse (horsepower,
not an actual horse, man) to its death via the Dunlop Elite rub-
ber, which, it must be said, could be better in the wet-weather
handling stakes.
Dry weather grip with the Dunlops was fine, but we encoun-
tered much of that crappy, sleety light rain that doesn't really
get you wet, but just makes everything greasy. The tires still
gripped, but didn't inspire much confidence in iffy conditions.
It's easy to forget you're riding a bike north of 700 pounds
because the Dark Horse holds that girth remarkably well. It is
low to the ground, mind you, and you'll go scraping the floor
boards easily if you go throwing it into corners with the kind of
abandon afforded by lighter bikes. Progressive steering is the
name of the game, and once in the corner and on-line the Dark
Horse tracked beautifully, especially in the dry.
Braking force is not great, but good. There's plenty to haul you
up but there's not a great deal of feel at the front brake lever.
Conversely, there's a decent amount of halting force from the
rear, but that seems to be the case for baggers in general, not
just the Dark Horse. A better front brake setup would be more
POWER TO THE
PEOPLE
