Indian Chieftain Demo Ride

[Redfish Hunter]

I had left the FJR with the dealer overnight to get a set of tires installed and on my way home with it today I passed the Indian/Polaris/Victory dealership. They had Indian Demo Rides going on and since I had a couple of hours before I had to be at work, I swooped in and signed up.

Why? Well, I think the new Indians are beautiful. They look fantastic and they sound fantastic. No, I don't want one but I really, really wanted to ride one.

The parking lot looked like this:



The bike I have been wanting to ride looked exactly like this:




So, my curiosity is satisfied. It is large and feels large. It is heavy. It feels like the grips are 4 feet apart which is good because that gives plenty of leverage to turn the beast. Their website says 855 pounds full of fuel and it is at least that. It was a beautiful and beautifully engineered bike. It felt exactly like I expected an Indian to feel. It sounds great, it has less vibration than a Harley but still has enough to let you know there is a large displacement (111 cubic inch) V-Twin down there. Lots of torque, silky smooth power delivery, and a surprising amount of lean angle added up to a very pleasant machine.

Two major faults that I could not get past:

Slow. Really Slow. I was shocked. I do not know what I expected but it was not this. It is about even with the older 96 cubic inch HD Street Glide although it is more refined and smoother.

Hot. Really, HOT! Those of you whining about engine heat on your Gen2 should ride one of these things. The head on the rear cylinder is just below your right leg and in Baton Rouge traffic today at 86 degrees it was extremely uncomfortable. I have ridden my FJR and my Honda ST1300 at low speeds when the temp was above 100 and it was nothing like this.

I thanked the ride leaders, and I got my scorched butt back onto my FJR and headed home. The FJR felt like a 250CC dirt bike after riding the Chieftain. Except it was much, much faster.

 

[Bellerophon]

I demoed one last year, and came away with exactly the same impressions you did. I could not believe how slow it was. Loaded with gear and two up it would be even worse. While I appreciate the styling and engineering Polaris put into these bikes, I guess half ton baggers are just not my thing.

 

[HotRodZilla]

Even when I was interested in cruisers, I was never interested on cruisers like that. To each his own though. Someone will like them.

 

[lonerider]

A local dealer just took on Indians and was offering test rides last weekend. I declined since most of my riding is done on lighter machines and I was pretty sure I wouldn't like the size and handling of the Indian. However, I'm glad Polaris picked up the brand; seems to me they stand a better chance of making it successful again than all the others that have attempted since the 50s. The more competition in the market, the better the end products will be. Thanks for confirming my decision to pass on the test ride.

 

[Craigar]

Obviously, any typical large cruiser will feel both large and slow. Especially, when you're used to your FJR. R-Fish Hunters description was spot on. Having ridden the Chieftain myself. I felt it was both very cramped and didn't pull much past 4200 RPM (if memory serves me correct).Perhaps that's improved over the past couple of years.

My X-Country had more room and handled much better. Plus it pulled like a freight train up to the Rev limiter.

The Chieftain is a nice bike. The only thing I like about the Indians vs the Victory came down to the electronics. Still lagging behind HD in that market.

 

[Big Sky]

I rode the Chieftain for a day and Mr. Hunter. has gotten it right. They are nice bikes of high quality though the LCD info screen can only be read part of the time. They are big and heavy and slow and expensive so...not for me. I also rode a Ducati Multistrada 'S' Touring for two days. Light, nimble, fast, fun...and expensive. Very cool bike! When I got back on the FJR it felt like, well...a Chieftain. Yup, the FJR falls in between.

 

[900gc]

If I ever DID buy a cruiser, it'd be an Indian. Speaking of slow, back around 2003 I borrowed a friends HD Ultra Glide which was ladened down with about a hundred extra pounds of bling on top of being bone stock in the motor department. Glaciers move faster...

 

[danh600]

Those Indians sure are pretty. I really like the Scout my wife has. She wants me to trade my Honda cruiser in on one of those Big Indians. If I did get one

it would probably be a Chief Vintage. That is a nice looking big, but I am done with big and slow.

I am actually wanting to trade the Honda Cruiser in on a small flickable bike. I am done with cruisers for awhile. At least buying them. I still like to ride the one I have from time to time.

 

[El Toro]

When the Chieftan came out, I wanted to replace my 2008 Rocket III Touring, and the Indian Chieftan (hard bagger) looked like it might be a good choice.

I rode my Rocket III Touring down to the dealer in Murfreesboro (Sloan's), and they let me take their Demo Chieftan for an unrestricted test ride. I'd done the same thing back around 2008 or 2009 when the Victory Vision came out.

In any event, I was singularly unimpressed. The Chieftan had all of the weight of the Rocket III Touring, and none of the get up and go. The same was true of the Victory Vision test ride.... both Chieftan and Vision have the same honestly defined pedigree, so this should not be a surprise.

I had a second feeling about the Chieftan though... and that is that it felt chintzy to me. Now I know there are folks who would judge it as a high quality no holds barred cruiser, but to me the controls and instruments just screamed gaudy and cheap.

Well, after the test ride on the Chieftan, I decided to replace the 2008 R3T with a 2014 R3T ABS.

It was a good call. If you're interested in a cruiser type bike, and 875 pounds wet powered by 140 cubic inches doesn't turn you off, the R3T is mighty hard to beat. I've owned three of them. The only model of motorcycle I've owned more of is the FJR AE.