FIRST RIDE
P52
2014 INDIAN CHIEF CLASSIC, VINTAGE AND CHIEFTAIN
even a great product or company
can't last without great leaders.
Since 1953, a few have tried to
revive the iconic brand but without success. Good leaders with
good ideas are hard to come by
but - after 60 years - perhaps
that right leader has finally come
along for Indian in Polaris Industries.
In 2011, Polaris, the parent
company of Victory Motorcycles,
purchased Indian Motorcycle
Company. With Polaris' track record you know that Indian now
has, for the first time since 1953,
a real chance of making it again.
Sturgis was certainly a fitting place to re-launch the first
round of Indian motorcycles under the Polaris wing since those
who started the rally in 1936, the
Jackpine Gypsies, all rode Indian
motorcycles. In front of an enthusiastic gathering of Americanbrand loyal bikers at the Sturgis
Motorcycle Museum and Hall of
Fame, the three all-new Indian
models, still retaining the brand's
iconic valanced front fender with
the classic lighted war bonnet on
top, took center stage. By the
roar of the crowd, most seemed
impressed by what they saw.
"When we acquired Indian Motorcycle two and a half years ago
we set out to capture the heart,
soul and legendary heritage of this
iconic American brand and then
infuse it with unparalleled design,
engineering and state-of-the-art
technology," said Scott Wine,
CEO of Polaris Industries Inc.
And by the looks of things,
they accomplished just that.
Like everyone else in the
crowd, I wanted to ride one. Fortunately, I didn't have to wait long.
My next three days were spent
touring the awesome back roads
of the Black Hills on the three Indian Chief models, which have a
lot in common.
For one, all three are powered
by the same air-cooled Thunder
Stroke 111 motor that was built
specifically for the new Indian
Chief line. The motor features a
triple-cam design with a chaindriven center cam that turns
front and rear cams via gears,
which allows parallel placement
of the pushrods to give a similar
appearance to older Indian designs. Power is delivered to the
rear wheel via a gear-drive sixspeed transmission and a final
belt-drive system.
