Californians are still waiting for the now not-so-new Indian Chief
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Riding a motorcycle through 114-degree heat isn’t my idea of a good time, but I was tired of waiting for the new Indian Chief, and Dante’s Inferno was the closest location I could find. The not-so-new debut from the latest incarnation of Indian Motorcycle, the Chief has been on the market since January. It just hasn’t cleared the emissions hurdles to be available for sale in California, which is why I traveled to Mesa, Ariz., this week to ride one.
Welts and heat blisters be damned. The 2009 Chief was worth it.
To be honest, I didn’t really know what to expect from the bike before I got there. Despite its 108-year legacy, the Indian brand, and the bikes that have been built in its name, have been fumbled more times than a football by a second-string running back. Sure, the pictures I’d seen looked great, but so do a lot of fashion models until you see them in person without the benefit of an airbrush. I needed to see and experience the bike up close, which I got to do at a place called Chester’s – a Harley-Davidson dealer that has separated Tonto from its American sidekick with a stand-alone building devoted entirely to Indian merch and motorcycles.(See video after the jump).
Up close, the latest iteration of the bike that first debuted in 1922 is stunning. It looks as expensive as it is, which should please the diminishing few who can afford such a bike these days. Not only has the Indian preserved the Chief’s classic design elements, such as the valanced fenders and lamp ornament, it’s distilled them into four increasingly fancy incarnations that delve deep into the chromed and studded history of motorcycling – the streamlined $31,000 Standard, the two-up $32,000 Deluxe, the tour-oriented $34,000 Roadmaster and the bike I was testing – the top-of-the-line $35,500 Vintage, with its two-tone Indian red paint job, chromed highway bars, fringed bags and – lest anyone confuse this bike with its sole, heritage-brand competitor – 14 little Indians dotting the body and leatherwork.
All of the bikes are built around the same long and low steel frame, which rolls on 16-inch laced wheels powered with a re-engineered version of the PowerPlus motor pioneered for the ill-fated, malfunctioning and short-lived Chief from Indian’s last owner, which went bankrupt in 2003. Aesthetically, the motor looks almost identical, with its gorgeously rounded and chromed heads. But millions of dollars have since been pumped into its cylinders, not only to make it 5 cubic inches bigger but to ensure it actually works.
Hi-yo, Silver. Does it ever. The Indian Chief was torquey without being abusive, smooth but with an edge. If it weren’t for the mirage-inducing heat, I’d have been tempted to skip town on this bike because this is exactly the kind of power I like, but meat was grilling – and it was my thighs. They were sizzling. Whether the heat was emanating from the engine or merely Mother Nature, I have no idea. Most likely it was a combination. All I know is that it’s been two days since I rode the Chief, and my hamstrings are still mottled. At least it was a good test for this air-cooled V-twin, which didn’t pass out from the high temperatures.
That was just me, who, as compromised as I felt by the weather, still thoroughly enjoyed my experience on this machine. For a show pony of a bike, the Chief’s latest designers haven’t sacrificed rideability. While the bike is big and burly, its angles aren’t at all extreme, which made the Chief easy to steer and control, even at low speeds.
The issues I had with this bike were, by all counts, minor. The kickstand was difficult to kick. There wasn’t any gas gauge. And occasionally, depending on the position of the bike, the flat top of the teardrop head lamp caught the sun and bounced it into my eyeballs, which were already on the verge of evaporating. But on the whole, this bike looked fantastic and worked just as well.
Californians who’ve been saving their money to buy a new Indian should console themselves with the thought that this bike is worth the wait. According to Indian Motorcycle, the four current versions of the Chief – along with the two new 2010 models, the Bomber and Dark Horse – will be available in California in September.
2009 Indian Motorcycle Chief Vintage
Price as tested: $36,000
Powertrain: Air-cooled, fuel-injected, 45-degree V-twin, 6 speed
Displacement: 105 cubic inches, or 1720 cc
Seat height: 27.89 inches
Running order weight: 773 pounds
Road test MPG: 33 (based on 120 miles traveled)
-- Susan Carpenter
Video credit: Don Kelsen, Los Angeles Times