Happened to be in Tucson this past week, and to my great surprise the Indian Dealer had the demo truck in for test rides all weekend! I was able to take out a Chief and a Scout for a longish test ride with the group. I've been wanting a big cruiser for a while now, something I could pile the miles on easily in the short summers up here. " />
The lineup:
This is the chief I rode:
The scout I rode did not have the windscreen
I rode the Chief first. For being a giant beast of a motorcycle, I was more than pleasantly surprised at how light the steering was even at parking lot speeds. Once on the road, it glided along like a Cadillac with 0 suspension harshness and almost no vibes from the motor. Very very smooth riding and nice handling bike. The motor sounds great and has some serious balls too, torque for days and all the power you'd really need and then some. Once on the interstate I really felt like this is a big that would be serious fun to do long days on, maybe even riding it back home to Alaska. Even without a windscreen it was comfortable cruising at 80mph, and the view over the huge chrome headlights and bars was just about perfect.
The Scout, I was kinda disappointed in. The motor is awesome, the chassis feels good, and it feels like it's 200 pounds lighter than it is, but comes off as feeling plastic and cheap instead of just lightweight. Which is a shame because it isn't cheap and it isn't plastic, but it doesn't have the solid feel that even a Sportster has. The suspension, while far better than a Sportster, still really sucked. The forks didn't have enough spring action and gave harsh feedback, and the rear felt stiff and jittery. Adjustments might have helped? All in all, it wasn't a bike that I felt like I'd want to travel on but could make a mean around town bike with suspension work.
CN: Rode a couple Indians (motorcycles), really really liked the Chief. Not so much the Scout. The weather in Tucson (mid 80's and sunny) is a lot nicer than Fairbanks right now (-10 and sunny at least).
