LET THE ROAD TAKE US

PHOTOGRAPHY BY MONTI SMITH

FROM A ROAD TRIP…

When you need to be 700 miles away and both parties involved have an Indian Motorcycle in their garage, you’re not flying commercial. You’re flying that two-wheeled highway cruiser and getting in the wind.

After three good days on the salt of Bonneville, we had our last meal in Wendover and walked out of the Salt Flats Café to our bikes. Monti was on his beautiful red Chieftain Dark Horse, and I was riding my Sport Chief. Our mates Jack and Stacia had a couple more days in town, so we hugged and said our goodbyes, all knowing we’d see each other again before too long. Monti and I tightened our cinch straps and pointed our bikes east toward Salt Lake City. Monti had spent a lot of time in Utah growing up, so he was happy to play tour guide.

Riding out of Salt Lake City, the only really bad option is the most direct one. Take your time, soak it up, and try to get lost if you can. We were only on the interstate for twenty minutes before cutting east at Spanish Fork and moving south along Highway 89. Rolling hills of green, cliffs of orange and red rock, lakes, rivers, and ponds interspersed — twisty roads inspired spirited riding, but the scenery demanded time and attention.

The next morning we were on the road twenty minutes after waking up. All of a sudden! “Morgan, Jack and Stacia are up at Forest Ranch up the 395, wanna roll?”

“Oh dude, not next door but the weather only gets better if we head over here — and maybe we can do one night of camping on the way?”
We continued to chat through our Cardo and tried to find a reason not to go home. There’s always another stop or another place to stay — but there’s always the next trip, too. Take the trip if you have the opportunity. Take as many friends as you can. Make it longer and explore new places.

That’s really what our bikes are for.

Cruising along turquoise waters

When Karine, the founder of Indian Ladies First,
called for women to join International Female Ride Day

– which is marked worldwide in early May each year – she got responses from French, Italian, Luxembourgish, Polish and Slovakian riders. The rallying point this year was the village of Agay on the French Riviera. Although this region is very touristy, it’s still relatively quiet in spring, before the summer peak. This calm period is ideal for really appreciating the scenic Côte d’Azur’s turquoise waters and inland mountains. Around forty female riders joined the ride on their Indians, cruising along the stunning, jagged Mediterranean coastline in glorious sunshine.

When you reach Iceland – a land of Vikings, legends, ice and fire – as my friend Olivier says you have to be ready for visual overload! Everything’s a source of wonder; even with photos, details, and stories it’s hard to really do justice to the amazing variety of extraordinary landscapes we passed through.
If you make the journey, you’ll see the mountains around the eastern fjords plunging into the sea; ride alongside black sand beaches that stretch as far as the eye can see; cross broad deltas, work your way through huge moss-covered lava fields and flows, and pass the base of glaciers and their glacial lakes where blue icebergs float as if you were at the poles; you’ll travel roads winding through dry landscapes that look like they belong on the moon, amid deserts of rock and ash. Your bike will take you along the foot of looming mountains, barely slumbering volcanoes, and outlandishly coloured geothermal fields with smoke spiralling from below. You can stroll along the fault line between the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates. From the edge of the summit craters of some of the volcanoes, you can glimpse the turquoise lakes within – and be mesmerised by the roaring power of the country’s waterfalls.

You’ll undoubtedly be wearing your Gore-Tex gear, with padding and protection. Bring warm gloves and underwear – the average temperature is 13°. You get used to it very quickly, but sometimes it can get as low as 7° and be very damp. You need to be prepared for it to be raining throughout your stay. If you’re ready for something a little more challenging, take your tent – but watch out for the wind, which can be very strong at times. Bear in mind you’re in the middle of the North Atlantic, 300km from Greenland and at the edge of the Arctic Circle! On July 28 we boarded the ferry to return home and felt it was over far too soon. To make things last that bit longer we stopped off for three days on the Faroe Islands, where we enjoyed more fabulous views on our rides!
This archipelago is quite simply fantastic; you really have to see it for yourself. The 1800km trip back along the motorway from Hirtshals to Angers wasn’t exactly unforgettable, but it was all part of the experience! The extreme heat made it a long, tough ride, and we were sad that our wonderful road trip would soon be over. By August 4, we were back in our village – and it took some time for us to digest everything we’d seen and done!”

SPORT CHIEF

PERFORMANCE CRUISER
The iconic Chief was born in 1921, and today its back in a completely reinvented form based on the same DNA that made it such a hit originally.

Indian Motorcycle's designers have managed the impressive feat of housing its super-muscular 1890cc V-twin Thunderstroke motor in a pared-back chassis that gives a streamlined silhouette to all three mod-els in the Chief line-up. In addition to the three existing versions, Dark Horse, Bobber and Super Limited, the 2023 Sport Chief has a new, more assertive personality with a Quarter Fairing, KYB® inverted front forks, radial-mounted Brembo® brakes, piggyback rear FOX® shocks, Ride Command system and a solo gunfighter seat. This Sport version offers the Chief modernity and performance with a riding pleasure rarely experienced in this category.

PURSUIT

TOURING RE-IMAGINED
With its streamlined curves, assertive forward-projecting stance, and the confidence to devour endless distances, the Pursuit is a majestic steed.
The Pursuit brings the best of Indian Motorcycle’s modernity to the grand touring experience. This bike’s 1768cc liquid-cooled PowerPlus engine churns out 122bhp and 178Nm of torque, offering on-road performance and smooth handling along with exceptional comfort, plus the bonus of ample luggage space. What’s more, Ride Command and an on-board computer put premium tech features and audio at your fingertips, taking this touring motorcycle to a whole new level in its class.

CHALLENGER

A POWERFUL BAGGER
This new-generation bagger is built around the awesomely muscular 1768cc liquid-cooled PowerPlus engine, producing 122 hp and torque to match.
Performance is the name of the game for this two-time winner of the American circuits’ King of the Baggers. Comfortably settled in a seat with integrated backrest and well protected behind the fairing, you immediately notice the smoothness and efficiency of the suspension and how easy the bike is to handle and manoeuvre. Smart Lean Technology gives real riding confidence and you have all the power of Brembo brakes at your fingertips. The peerless Challenger is unarguably top of the class when it comes to modern-day Baggers.

When Indian Motorcycle launched the FTR 750 in 2016, it was a return to the company’s flat track roots—to the post-WWII era when the U.S. was consumed by the sport and the legendary Wrecking Crew dominated the podium. In 2019, the FTR 1200 debuted. It was a machine born on the dirt but built for the street.
This year, the legacy continues with the new FTR, FTR S, and FTR R Carbon, taking street performance, approachability, and control to a whole new level.

Calling the FTR the base model is like calling base camp at Mount Everest the lowlands. This bike is as much about capability as it is about authenticity. Every twist of the throttle is a thrill.  

WE LISTENED. THEN WE IMPROVED.

Every Indian Motorcycle has a product manager. Someone who takes control of each step, from “Do you think we could…” to the first dealership delivery. For the 2022 FTR, that person was Ben Lindaman. 

Lindaman started with a challenge: the success of the original FTR. “The style and performance of the bike resonated well,” he says. But thanks to customer feedback, he knew it could be more. “We monitor all social networks, and when someone buys a bike from us, we reach out and ask questions. We get so many comments about loving the bike, but we want to hear the bad stuff too.” What he discovered was that owners loved the track pedigree of the FTR, but they wanted the bike to be even more street ready. 

The first thing Lindaman and his team of engineers and designers addressed was the tires. The original FTR had 19-inch wheels and knobby tires that are great for mixed use, “but not the best option if you want to carve canyons,” Lindaman says. They swapped in 17-inch wheels and Metzeler® Sportec® tires instead. At 150mm, the suspension travel was similarly optimized for off-road riding, so “we went to 120mm.” Then there was the seat, which many riders said was higher than they expected.
Changing the height of a motorcycle seat isn’t as simple as grabbing a wrench and lowering it. To reduce seat height, the rake had to be steeped and the trail lessened. There was computer modeling, followed by physical prototypes, tweaking at every step before testing, and tweaking again until they got it right: a seat that is 1.4 inches lower than its predecessor, providing improved control and confidence.

With the design complete, it was time for the components. “Going into this new world of neo-retro-type bikes, we wanted to partner with people who were known and respected in the industry,” Lindaman says. The team added Akrapovič exhaust to maximize power and substantially reduce the overall bike weight. They used Brembo® brakes to provide optimized braking ability, and fully adjustable Öhlins® forks and piggyback shocks for a smooth (and customizable) ride. 
The result, Lindaman says, “is much more agile, much more nimble, with much quicker response. Going through corners, you just feel so precise. It puts you in the position where you are in optimum control.”
It’s a whole new FTR.