VOL. 52 ISSUE 16 APRIL 21, 2015 P123
Zoo but they seem more impressive here. As do
the crowds. But within an hour the gazelles and
snakes have lost their charm and all I can think
of is getting back on the Indian. Like the brat in
the cafeteria next to me who constantly begs
for pizza, eventually the wife gives in and we're
back, heading east to Julian and a meeting with
apple pie. There are lots of bikes here but the
looks the Indian gets outstrip them in spades.
We roll into town and vacate the steed
immediately, stand back and people watch.
Riders on pipe-wrapped choppers, R6 knee
draggers and Italian nakeds all come for a quick
look-see. The Indian Chief Vintage is a state-
ment bike if ever there was one. All leathery
bits and sixties paint and chrome to blind. It
might be brand new but its mind is from another
generation. And all the time they walk past with
the pervading smile and nod that says, "nice
bike…" It's the same wherever we ride, and in
Laguna Beach the reaction is like people have
never seen a bike before—in amongst the shops
that sell stones twice the value of the Indian, it's
a 10-minute job just to get through the conver-
sations to get the helmet on. The American
pride shines through. Heads turn.
After we stuff the remaining apple pie away
we hit the Julian twisties, which in hindsight
is not the ideal environment for the Indian.
Turn in is slow and quick direction changes
are delicate at best with two people and full
saddlebags. Like telling a wrestler to take
on 100-meter hurdles, this is not the Indian's
forte. The lack of backrest for Annabelle
means she's moving around a fair bit so I back
off and still hear the scrape of the undercar-
riage matched to the clunk of the downshift.
Whereas in the past I found the scraping a
badge of honor in some juvenile way, like I was
a better rider for it, doing it on the Indian feels
almost disrespectful, especially as it's easily
avoided by just backing off a bit and letting the
Indian do its thing in peace. Taking this attitude
will reward you. This is a cruiser, after all, not
something you're going to do your local TT on. Kick
back, relax, what's the hurry?
Out of the kind of roads I normally go searching
for, the Indian starts to come alive. Stretching the
engine out on the run back to Irvine, keeping with
traffic but still slightly faster than permitted in SoCal,
the 1811cc V-twin goes from stressing about the
The leatherwork
is nicely done and
you can get various
leather add-ons
via the accessory
catalogue. You can
also get a cool little
leather pouch for
the tank to keep
things like your
phone safe.
The back end of
the Chief Vintage
in unmistakably
1960s American,
it's a shame you
can't see the
rear whitewall
tire hiding away
under all that
leather.
111 cubic inches
of Indian grunt.
This heaving V-twin
has such little
vibration coming
through to the
rider thanks to the
rubber mounted
floorboards and
grips.
The famous Indian
war bonnet. Every
Indian that has gone
before houses one
of these on the front
fender. They're a
nice historic touch
to what is a very
old (and somewhat
new) American
brand.
