#indian

By Evans Brasfield

While it’s difficult to say which is the top rally in the popular consciousness of American motorcycling, both Daytona Bike Week and Sturgis feature prominently in biker mythology. If you break down both events into their most basic components, they look something like this: Bikers arrive from all over the country and other parts of the world, take over the main venues of several local cities/towns, make lots of noise, consume tons of food and drink, go for rides around the local area, consume more and make more noise, spend tons of money, and go home happy, already talking about next year. Daytona has a little more racing (to this crowd) and Sturgis has a lot more riding. Both are considered must-do motorcycle events.

In recent years, the cruiser market has been caught up in chasing the perception of authenticity or heritage or history or whatever buzzword you care to use, but regardless of the name attached to it, the result has mostly come in the form of the motorcycle’s styling. While it’s nice to call on the past – and it certainly shouldn’t be ignored – there comes a point where the current retro styling exercises risk crossing over into a caricature of the very thing they’re trying to evoke.

When  Indian revealed the 2015 Scout, yesterday, the company made a bold move that is sure to frustrate Indian traditionalists and pique the interest of riders who have wanted a smaller, lighter, less-expensive Indian. In the process, the design crew has shown that there is more than one way to interpret history.

Indian has said – repeatedly since its release of its first models under Polaris’ ownership – that it plans to expand its model line beyond just the Chief and Chieftain. Well, today, the company announced its latest addition at its dealer meeting. A few weeks ago, Indian invited a few members from the moto-press to visit the Polaris Product Development Center in Wyoming, Minn., to meet the people behind the development of Indian’s newest motorcycle, the Roadmaster.

Cruisers have always been about the essence of motorcycling, stripping motorcycles down to their core: an engine, a seat, a pair of wheels and little else. Naturally, when thinking about the essential elements of motorcycling, thoughts of the open road come to mind. The dream of packing just what you need on your bike and pointing the front wheel towards destinations unknown looms large in many cruiser riders’ hearts.

It’s so nice when a plan comes together, especially one bound together with the tiniest thread of logic. The Brenham, Texas, tourism people were promoting their lovely Washington County and the upcoming Bluebonnet Festival (a member of the Lupine family), and they invited us to cover it. Then we remembered that our Indian press relations guy is based in Austin, not too far from Brenham. And that Indians are available in Springfield Blue. Bluebonnets! Blue Indians! Red State! Bingo!

The rebirth of Indian Motorcycles under the stewardship of Polaris Industries is the most significant industry development in years. Indian has been an iconic American brand for more than a century, and it still resonates among older motorcyclists.

My favorite thing to do on motorcycles used to be see how fast I could fly through places like Texas. Lately the theme seems to have shifted to understanding that the motorcycle is the perfect vehicle for getting from one interesting place to the next within a given geographic area. Maybe the cruiser crowd has always known that? As it turns out, there are a lot of interesting places in Texas within an hour or two of Houston’s George Bush International Airport.

A strange thing happened at Sturgis last summer. The Sturgis Rally and Races has pretty much been a Harley-Davidson festival since the 1970s, even more so than Daytona’s Bike Week. Sure, you’ll see some metric cruisers, a smattering of Victorys, a trickle of Gold Wings and a handful of sportbikes, but there’s no denying the overwhelming dominance of The Motor Company at the South Dakota rally. Look at the image above of Sturgis’ Main Street for visual evidence of the Harley lovefest.

With 2014 just around the corner, it’s time to take a look back at the year that was and revisit the top news stories from the motorcycling world in 2013.

Rivalry (ˈrīvəlrē) n., Competition for the same objective or for superiority in the same field.

In what had to be one of the most anticipated reveals in motorcycle cruiser history, Polaris boldly used the backdrop of the world’s largest motorcycle rally to unleash the latest generation of Indians on the motorcycling community. On the steps of the Sturgis Motorcycle Museum and in the shadow of the Black Hills, notice was served with a loud and clear report: Indian Motorcycle is back.

We’ve now ridden the new Indian Chief and confidently predict that it will make a massive splash in the cruiser market. Our full review will soon follow, but there’s a lot of ground to cover in telling the Chief’s story.

With the Sturgis rally less than a month away, anticipation for the unveiling of the new Indian Chief is approaching the boiling point. But first, Indian Motorcycle is whetting fans’ appetites with another glimpse of its Spirit of Munro tribute motorcycle. But this is far more than a mere hint.