Indian - taking sales from HD or hurting Jap cruisers ?

[hacksaw]

https://www.webbikeworld.com/indian-motorcycle-debuts-2024-lineup-including-limited-edition-indian-ftr-x-100-r-carbon/

Over the last couple of years the Japanese cruiser offerings have dwindled. Idt others like Diavel or the Rwhatever BMW are doing much .
That’s not saying HD is what it was . Death of a true Sportster sucks .
Indian still makes the uncluttered Chief .
And at competitive pricing.
But whom is the target market?

I ran an Indian Chief b4 I got into HD.
So if I was in the market I would go for a Bobber Chief over HD. But I am old and hurting. Lol.
And I don’t know of many other former Indian riders left out there interested in a new bike.

Or is the cruiser market dying? It’s a stupid niche anyway. There never was such a thing back in my day . Bobbers were cut down standards . Even the birth of the Super Glide and LoRider were not labeled cruises. Not until the Honda and the others started building HD clones did mainstream moto press start labeling these jap clones as cruisers . Creating that category to put Japanese clones on some perceived equal footing with Harley-Davidsons. And of course appease their big advertisers.  
So as cruisers go , first in is also first to fade.

I can’t forgive Polaris for killing off Victory. I still want a Ness Jackpot. But Indian is quite the motorcycles .

[motogrady]

I dunno………to me, anything made for long haul, city to city, coast to coast, with rider comfort and engine power to spare being paramount, was/is a cruiser.  

Which began in the 30s with the big Harleys and Indians.

Electra Glides, Dressers, Gold Wings, whatever, where all those names came from I don’t know.

Thing is, they all seemed to be designed to travel long distances, kinda chugging along, while sitting back and enjoying the ride at your leisure.

In other words, cruising.  They’re all cruisers first and foremost.

And sad to say, most of those guys, the spirit of those guys,
seem to be going the ADV route at this point in time.

[Fatfatboy]

I think they are hurting the Jap cruisers more than Harley. Every guy I know that went from Harley to Indian switched back to Harley. I don't know why, never asked. Not really my business.
I don't see Indian as a real bargain compared to a Harley. Prices are about the same from what I've seen when comparing models.

The standard Chief MSRP is $14,999.00. The HD Softail Standard is $14,399.00. When I looked at the Challenger the price on it was basically the same as the Road Glide. $30K. I had high hopes for the Challenger but it sits higher than the Road Glide. Not fit for short legged folks.

I've wanted to like Indians but I prefer the look, fit and finish of Harley over Indian. I do like the Chief Sport, except the rear fender could be a bit longer. The local Indian shops sell it for $20k+.




I agree that Polaris should of kept the Victories going. I think they had some good bikes and I like the looks of them over the Indians.

[Mad4TheCrest]

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[m143]

To my eyes the Victory and new Indian engines were both beat with an ugly stick.

[hacksaw]

U have been brainwashed.
Cruising is not touring .
A Valkyrie could be a cruiser , most gold wings are touring bikes.
Kum ba yah, my lord, Kum ba yah!
Kum ba yah, my lord, Kum ba yah!
Kum ba yah, my lord, Kum ba yah.
O Lord, Kum ba yah

[hacksaw]

Sensible comments.

http://harleydavidsonraffles.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/National-Motorcycle-Museum-2014-Raffle-2014-Indian-Chief-engine-new-550x624.jpg

https://www.harley-davidson.com/us/en/motorcycles/softail-standard.html

The standard motor isn’t all horribly blacked out.
So in some ways I agree with you.Indian has more air around the motor . I like that.

I wonder if floorboards , oh excuse me, foot boards are available for either the Indian or HD

[hacksaw]

Well, I guess you are hooked on scramblers. Lol. That’s fine.
I only care for certain models of these marques.
I used to think the victory jackpot was a bit too much 1990 pro street .but with victory and ness both gone , in retrospect I like them .

https://cdn1.cycletrader.com/v1/media/651d72345bcdc740c83e3c29.jpg?width=1024&height=768&quality=70&bestfit=true&upsize=true&blurBackground=true&blurValue=100&upsize=true

Idk if this ^ is a ness bike or not. It’s a Vegas low .
Lowish miles and a low price.
$3999 and 24k miles.

[m143]

[hacksaw]

Indian did a decent job keeping their motor somewhat within sight of their flathead looks.
I would prefer black cylinders.

M143 I think your tinfoil hat is starting to burn .

[m143]

Could be Indian's new Ad Campaign "powered by the all new Phony Flathead".


And displacement of this thing should be expressed in CFM's.

[m143]

hacksaw wrote

Well, I guess you are hooked on scramblers. Lol. That’s fine.

Since you brought it up.

[motogrady]

Don’t buy the hype.

There’s cruisers, motorcycles, and dirt bikes.

[hacksaw]

<quote author="motogrady">
Don’t buy the hype.

There’s cruisers, motorcycles, and dirt bikes.
</quote
???
Well you don’t seem to know what a cruiser is supposed to be.
But that’s ok bcz I have never bought the cruiser hype.
The motoscribes have broken down motorcycles into so many self serving categories I really don’t give many , especially newbies that never wrote for a print mag, much cred . They are nothing more than advance men for the oem advertisers .
Cruiser , sport bike , and naked sport bikes (that still have fairings lol) street trackers bobbers (oem bobber? Lol! That’s as bad as factory custom )
Adv , touring , standard?
The one thing I can say is one can tour pon anything .
Milk crates and bungie cords are your friends .
Once upon a time all bikes were standards.
Sure you can tour on a cruiser . Just load it up with bagger crap . But there is a big difference in market segment between a FLHTCUI and a low rider.
Not to mention thousands of dollars difference.

In 1980 I took a full dresser and turned it into what now would be considered a cruiser . Pretty similar to what HD came out with a decade later with their Fatboy.
I did similar to an old FLT . Although it retained the bags.
So there is cross over models  as I once had and FLHS . That model morphed into the road king !
But cruisers are by definition built  for cruising.
Weekend warrior type stuff . Bar hopping . Suzuki even named a model the Boulevard.

Where did the word cruising even come from ?
Cruise nights are events for old cars and hot rods often taking place at drive in eateries . Reminiscent of the days youngsters cruised from drive in to drive in . Hanging out .
Most had school or work the next day . So they were cruising , not touring !

[hacksaw]

m143 wrote

hacksaw wrote

Well, I guess you are hooked on scramblers. Lol. That’s fine.

Since you brought it up.

Yeah, well I am not really a fan of all black engines.
I like your bike but I wouldn’t buy one . Years back bikes came with their iron motor parts usually black .
And from that time my eyes just view all black as a blob .
I can say the same to a degree about all silver , but the silver motor bikes usually come in black framed motorcycles. And many have chrome engine covers. So they have a little bit more definition .

[motogrady]

So…….what makes a dresser a dresser?

[motogrady]

Wiki’ sez……


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Types_of_motorcycles

The AMA has its list, and the even mention dressers,
full dressers at that, but I lost the link.  
Not that it clarified a lot.  

[hacksaw]

My hinkleys motors are much more defined looking than just everything coasted black .
I can understand many people may not care and prefer the simplicity of all black.
Be that as it may.
I actually like the tank on my old 2005 white T-100 shown here much better than the bulbous efi tank on my latter model . I went as far as to buy a carb bike tank to try and convert the later one, but never got around to doing so.

[motogrady]

Agreed.  The white bike, the smaller tank does look a bit better imho.  Both good looking rides for sure though.

[hacksaw]

m143 wrote

Well you are keeping the faith, m143!

This old white scrambler is nice. Which takes me back to the chief . I like a lot more space around the motor here than hinkleys. Of course this bike is just about  half the cc of the modern 1200 scramblers. Liquid cooled , efi , cat converters . All cramp styling.