Tag

Indian Motorcycle

Browsing

Today has been a busy day for new bike releases, and the Indian Motorcycle brand is looking to get in on the action as well, with and update to the FTR1200 lineup.

The revision, which is being cast as for the 2022 model year (though available now), is a rather large one for the flat-track inspired motorcycle, and they seem focused on the core criticisms levied at the machine.

The year is 2020, and at best, the climate control systems for motorcycles are rudimentary. Only a handful of motorcycle models come from the factory with heated grips or heated seats installed, but if you want to cool down, the options are even more scant.

The best bet for motorcyclists who want to cool down is to look to the apparel market, where vests made from freezer pack border on our best option…unless you want put a backpack sized A/C unit on your passenger seat, and run a hose into your jacket.

Thankfully, the eggheads at Indian Motorcycle have been thinking about this very issue, and have developed a pretty clever solution to tackle motorcycle air conditioning.

Mainstream headlines right now are talking about how the United States is surviving on home delivery purchasing services – like Amazon, Instacart, and UberEats – in order to get the goods we need while maintaining stay-at-home orders. For many, it has become a way of life.

Now, the motorcycle industry is starting to catch onto the same idea, as Indian Motorcycle announces its Click.Deliver.Ride program, which the company says lets you shop, configure, and purchase your new Indian motorcycle online and over the phone – all without changing out of your COVID-19 sweatpants attire.

In reality, the program is just a basic online lead-generation platform for local dealerships, which have always been able to handle the bulk of a motorcycle purchasing transaction over the phone (or via an online form). Though perhaps the ability to home-deliver has not always been so prevalent at the dealership level.

The Indian Motorcycle brand is recalling its newest creation, the Indian Challenger because the engine output shaft bearing may not have been sufficiently lubricated during the motorcycle’s assembly, which could possibly result in the bearing failing at a very low mileage.

This gets us to a recall with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration because operating a motorcycle that was assembled with an improperly lubricated output shaft bearing may result in unintended or sudden deceleration, which may increase the risk of a crash.

It is a rarity in marketing to see a brand target a competitor as explicitly as Harley-Davidson just did with Indian and this “unofficial” ad on social media.

The guerrilla social media marketing campaign isn’t officially sanctioned by the Bar & Shield brand, so we are told, but it is hard not to see this as the American motorcycle company’s faithful throwing some shade at its biggest contender.

Every now and then we see a recall notice that kind of raises the eyebrow, and makes you wonder if things aren’t just a little too silly sometimes. This is one of those recalls.

This is because 3,147 units of the 2019 Indian Chieftain motorcycle are being recalled because their tail lights are too bright, and exceed the maximum allowed lumens set by the federal government.

As such, this means that the 2019 Indian Chieftain fails to comply with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) number 108, “Lamps, Reflective Devices, and Associated Equipment” and must be recalled.

Another recall that centers around braking components is hitting us this week, and this one concerns the Scout lineup of motorcycles from the Indian Motorcycle Company.

The recall focuses on the ABS unit for the Indian Scout, Scout Bobber, and Scout Sixty motorcycles from the 2019 model year. In total, 2,702 motorcycles are affected by the recall.

It should be noted that this recall is an extension of a previous recall by Indian for the Scout motorcycle, which was reported last year.

In Episode 4 of the MOTR Podcast, I sit down with Reid Wilson, Senior Director of marketing and planning at Indian Motorcycle.

Our conversation comes just hours after I rode a pre-production version of the Indian FTR1200 street bike, which serves as a jumping off point for a conversation about where Indian is headed as a company and a brand.

The FTR1200 is a pivotal motorcycle for Indian, as the machine helps mark the transition occurring at the American motorcycle company. Up until now, Indian had wanted to be the next Harley-Davidson…and now it wants to be the next Honda.

Reid’s insights into the Indian FTR1200 and the company’s overall positioning help us understand what is going on behind-the-scenes at Indian, which makes for an interesting conversation. I think you will enjoy his insights.

You can find the latest episodes of the MOTR Podcast on iTunes, Google PlaySoundCloud, or via your RSS feed, and be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter as well.

If you’re not already, you should also listen to our sister podcasts, the Two Enthusiasts Podcast and The Paddock Pass Podcast.

Source: SoundCloud

The INTERMOT show is done and dusted, and we have had some time to chew on the models that we saw in Cologne, Germany...or didn't see, as the case might be. The second largest trade show in the motorcycle industry, one can wonder though whether the INTERMOT show is the second most important.

Having two major shows on European soil, with INTERMOT coming every other year, creates a Sophie's Choice for motorcycle manufacturers. EICMA might draw the crowds and the press, but it is also a maelstrom of new models, and it is easy for a bike's launch and debut to be lost in the chaos.

To that vein, INTERMOT provides an opportunity for manufacturers to see the forest for the trees. It is less pressure, with most manufacturers choosing to debut more minor releases at the German show, but this makes it ripe for some surprises as well. For 2018, things were no different.

To continue reading this story, you need to have an A&R Pro subscriber account. If you have an A&R Pro account, you can login here.

The belle of the INTERMOT ball, the Indian FTR1200 made its debut in Germany this week to much fanfare. We should all make note that the American brand has released its first non-cruiser motorcycle…and it did so on foreign soil. This is not an accident.

The FTR1200 marks an important moment in the Indian Motorcycle Company’s history, as it is the first of several machines to come from this historic marque that will take it into the future.

As I have said before, we should all pay attention, because Indian doesn’t want to be the next Harley-Davidson…it wants to be the next Honda, and that means worldwide domination.

We’ve seen patent design images and spy photos, and now we only have a week until the Indian FTR1200 debuts. We know this because Indian has begun teasing the street tracker’s debut in a short YouTube video.

In the video, we see American Flat Track champion Jared Mees sliding around on the Indian Scout FTR750 race bike, before he heads into an open garage. From there, we hear revving what is presumably the motor to the FTR1200 street bike.

Details on the 2019 Indian FTR1200 street tracker have been tight, but the American brand has been sloppy on keeping things under wraps. Design patents filed abroad have given us a good glimpse of the machine’s inner-workings, and the crafty Australian’s at Motorbike Writer have a spy photo which looks to give us the full monty on the machine.