Here’s something that you can expect Indian Motorcycle to remind you of over and over and over in the coming months: this year marks the brand’s 125th anniversary.
So, you bet your sweet bazoombas that it’s going to be offering up a 125th Anniversary model or three. And recent filings made in Australia – and uncovered by Motorcycle.com’s Dennis Chung – suggest that the first of those will be a Scout Bobber powered by the more powerful engine used in the Scout 101.
Indian overhauled its Scout platform about two years ago, placing the Scout 101 at the top of the group. Its 1250cc liquid-cooled SpeedPlus V-twin engine claims 109.4 bhp at 7250 rpm, while the rest of the Scout range (also powered by 1250cc liquid-cooled SpeedPlus V-twin engine) promises closer to 103 bhp.
Chung was able to work all this out based on letter codes used by Indian in its filings. However, there’s no sense yet of what the bike will look like, what features it will include, nor when it will be revealed.
I have my guesses on some of those, but won’t share them for professional reasons. Sometimes it’s bad form to share exactly how much you know. But I can assure you that you will definitely be reading about it on Dancing the Polka.
RELATED: Read my review of the 2018 Indian Scout Bobber
Regular readers – all three of you – will know that I am a longtime, albeit fickle fan of the Indian Motorcycle brand. Sometimes I get frustrated with its gradual approach but some part of me is always eager to see it succeed.
To that end, I’ll be paying particular attention this year. Last autumn, Indian’s hitherto parent company, Minnesota-based Polaris, announced that it was cutting most of its ties with the brand, handing oversight to a California-based private equity company.
The deal is set to be completed in the next few weeks, at which point Carolwood LP, which has no experience in running a motorsports company – or, indeed a company of this size, as best I can tell – will become the majority stakeholder of Indian Motorcycle.
It’s a move that has raised some eyebrows. I’ll be honest that I am deeply skeptical. But I am buoyed by the fact that Polaris is maintaining a “small equity position” in the company. Surely, if it felt that Indian was a financial dud it would walk away completely. Right?
Additionally, Indian starts this new chapter of its very tumultuous history on good footing – possibly the best footing it has had in roughly 100 years. It has some 900 employees, two manufacturing facilities – in Spirit Lake, Iowa, and Monticello, Minnesota – and an industrial design and technology center in Switzerland (where the bypast FTR 1200 platform was developed).
On top of that, Carolwood has brought in former Harley-Davidson and Vance and Hines executive Mike Kennedy to head up the team. So, while Carolwood may have no motorsports experience it’s been smart enough to hire someone who does.
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