RIDE REVIEW I ROLAND SANDS DESIGN INDIAN CHIEF BUILD
P94
DOWN BELOW
Taking an Indian Chief and turn-
ing it into a proper road racer is
a massive undertaking, although
probably not as big a deal for
Boss and Brewer than it would
be for you or me.
"You have all your foot con-
trols, handlebars and everything
in absolutely the wrong spots,"
Boss started. "The seating
position, wheelbase, and the
overall the geometry behind it is
all completely wrong. We know
what is correct and what works
after many years building things
like FTR's and recently with the
Challenger Bagger bike from
MotoAmerica, so we had to
figure out unique ways to put the
right specs into this bike.
"The challenge is making a
heavy bike still work good. Tak-
ing a lot of weight off definitely
helps, but getting the suspen-
sion correct for the weight, the
valving in the forks correct, the
ride position, these are the main
points."
When you break the bike
down, the two main structural
components—the frame and
swingarm—are stock units from
Indian, with the overall weight of
the motorcycle dropped some
150 pounds The motor is also
pretty stock, save for an Indian
Motorcycle Stage 2 camshaft,
throttle body and injectors and
a Stage 1 intake with a Loydz
Garage ECU tune.
Running RSD's own brand of
cast alloy 17-inch front wheels
wrapped in Dunlop race slicks
and Brembo brakes, the team
enlisted suspension partner Fox
to modify a set of Harley-David-
son 15-inch Dyna shocks while
GP Suspension put together the
same forks as fitted to the team's
FTR racers that run in the Super
Hooligans series but ran them in
reversed S&S triple clamps from
the team's Challenger bagger.
From there, it was very much a
matter of ground clearance.
"The absolute most challeng-
Aaron Boss, looking all boss-like,
is the man largely responsible for
the Big Twin racer's creation.
