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Old February 28th, 2023, 02:50 PM   #1
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[cycleworld.com] - 2023 Indian Sport Chief First Ride

Sporty, faired cruisers have been churned out by aftermarket customizers for ages. Indian jumps into the fray with its Sport Chief, and delivers the goods.

Click here to view on their site.


Indian’s 2023 Sport Chief has a great stance, comfortable riding position, and potent engine. (Garth Milan/)Motorcycle trends come and go, that is guaranteed. Thankfully the bolt-on-billet chopper trend of the late 1990s to mid-2000s has come and gone, and hopefully stays gone forever. Having ridden a handful of those back in the day, I can report that there was very little enjoyment to riding them. Handling was a complete and total afterthought behind styling, huge rear tires, and oversize cantankerous aftermarket V-twin engines.

Today’s current trend of sporty, good-handling cruisers like Harley-Davidson’s Low Rider S embrace the West Coast Trend, itself inspired by the revival of the Harley FXR in custom circles. Now Indian has jumped into the fray with the brand-new Sport Chief, a bike very much intended to take the recently revitalized Chief family into new territory in terms of handling and riding dynamics.


This bike isn’t just about a cool stance. It has all the attributes to provide sporty handling and performance. (Garth Milan/)Indian Motorcycle seems to have put itself into a unique position in the market. While manufacturers are rapidly being forced by current emissions laws, like Euro 5, to adopt liquid-cooled engines, Indian has, at least for the time being, committed to maintaining a split model range with air-cooled bikes like the Chief models coexisting with liquid-cooled housemates like the Scout, Challenger, and FTR. So while the 49-degree 111ci and 116ci V-twins powering the Chief lineup remain largely unchanged from updates a few years ago, the missing variation in the lineup (to go up against the Low Rider S) is now in place in the form of the Sport Chief; a new addition to the family with a huge emphasis on handling and braking performance.


Looking at the Sport Chief, the styling is nice, but the details are more impressive. (Garth Milan/)Take one look at the Sport in person and a few things stand out. First and foremost has to be the stance with an inch of additional rear-suspension travel that’s easy to spot below the bobbed rear fender. Look a bit closer and you can see that the culprits in this case are a pair of Fox piggyback shocks that now offer 4 inches of rear-wheel travel. Scan your eyes toward the front of the bike, and you’ll likely notice a very serious-looking pair of radial-mount four-piston Brembo brakes and large 320mm rotors filling in the 19-inch front wheel. But even closer examination reveals the inverted KYB fork intended to work in concert with the rear suspension to deliver superior handling and more lean-angle clearance than the other bikes in the Chief lineup.


Not only is the gunfighter-style saddle quite comfortable, but the height is set at 27 inches. (Garth Milan/)Mid-mount foot controls, really help the rider utilize the Sport’s newfound agility, putting the rider in a pretty sweet riding position (more on that shortly), while a 6-inch handlebar riser and quarter fairing provide that West Coast look we alluded to earlier and offers benefits that end up paying off after you’ve been in the saddle for a while.


Mid-mount foot controls combine with a great chassis to provide sporty handling and riding dynamics. (Garth Milan/)Our ride on the Sport Chief took place in the Texas Hill Country in and around Austin. The route would deliver around 150 miles of riding, a large portion of which included a generous Texas-sized helping of curves to really get a sense if Indian accomplished its goal of putting the Sport into the Chief. I started my day on a bone-stock version of the bike, and later in the afternoon would also throw a leg over a few bikes that were fitted with accessories. Power up the bike, which comes standard with keyless ignition, and the 4-inch TFT display, disguised in a round analog-shaped housing, flashes to life. To get familiar with the machine the Standard ride mode of the three options (there are also Sport and Tour modes) was selected.


It may not sound like much, but that extra inch of rear-wheel travel makes the urban jungle an easier environment to tackle. (Garth Milan/)Before we headed out to the country, we slithered through the downtown streets of Austin, which like any city are strewn with bad pavement and potholes. Right away the Sport’s additional rear travel pays off, helping to not deliver a shock to your spine when the rear end inevitably finds those urban craters.

Like any mid-mount-control cruiser it takes a little while to teach yourself where to place your feet when you come to a stop, but mids are the only way to cruise with sporting intentions. The riding position is pleasantly surprising; the combination of the seat, and its relationship with the handlebar and footpegs are really good. The mid-mount controls put my legs at a pretty dead-on 90-degree bend, while the handlebars pulled me into a slight forward lean. Even at the end of a long day in the saddle with a wide variety of riding, my lower back was quite happy and content. Feet-forward cruisers just don’t deliver the same comfort.


Hit the highway and the standard height windscreen provides really good wind protection. (Garth Milan/)Once out on the open road and the highway, the stock height quarter fairing provides just the right amount of wind protection for my 5-foot, 11-inch frame. Air flowed cleanly over my helmet without any noticeable buffeting, and took any and all airflow off my upper torso, further eliminating fatigue that is so common on unfaired cruisers. Before hitting the curves, it was obvious that the Sport’s new geometry, which has a degree less rake at 28 compared to the Dark Horse and just shy of an inch less trail with 4.4 inches, is a nice compromise between agility and stability, despite having a slightly longer 64.6-inch wheelbase compared to Dark Horse’s 64.0.


Three windscreens are available, we tried all of them and the standard is pretty hard to beat. (Garth Milan/)Once into some curvy sections, it was pretty easy to bury the footpeg feeler into the asphalt. The combination of the reasonable-width rear tire and tighter geometry sucks you into slamming the bike into the corner only to be met with the sound of the “metal-on-road” grind. And although the bike’s claimed 29.5 degrees of lean seems reasonable for a cruiser, it definitely leaves you wanting just a bit more. Unweighting your foot a bit and letting the peg fold up another inch or so gives a touch more, but know you’re at the end of the line. When talking about cruiser handling, you have to take it with a grain of salt, right? Part of me is totally willing to give credit where it’s due, understanding what the bike really is, but part of me also was left wishing it had just a bit more.


Fox piggyback shocks provide a plush ride, but we’d love to try the optional units with full adjustability. (Garth Milan/)While the pair of Fox rear shocks deliver a really plush ride, I really wished I could have tried out the optional accessory Fox units that offer rebound and compression damping in addition to preload. When we picked the pace up to a more un-cruiserish level, the shock wasn’t totally able to keep the rear composed when hitting G-outs in the road, letting the rear pump and bounce a bit too much. The fork however, despite also only having provision for preload, felt like it was managing the chassis very respectably. Despite needing more damping, the Sport’s chassis is otherwise very composed and never seems to get intimidated when the pace hots up, that’s why it’s a bit disappointing when the footpegs are so quickly scribing arced-shaped perforations into the tarmac.


Top-shelf Brembo radial-mount brakes with huge 320mm rotors are hung on an inverted KYB fork. (Garth Milan/)Another element of the chassis that totally delivers are the Brembo brakes. Throughout the day they delivered strong stopping power with predictable feel. They might not have that light and super crisp feel at the lever that sportbike Brembos deliver on, say, a Ducati, but they are really quite hard to fault considering they are tasked with slowing down a 685-pound motorcycle that’s being ridden by a jerk who thinks it’s a naked bike or sportbike.

Also contributing to Sport’s handling is the rolling stock: a 19 by 3.5-inch front and 16 by 5.0-inch rear contrast-cut wheels are wrapped in Pirelli Night Dragon rubber in 130/60-19 and 180/65-16 sizes respectively. At a sporting pace, grip was never in question, while as mentioned, the rear isn’t so wide as to hinder the bike’s agility, allowing the bike to feel very neutral in terms of turn-in and midcorner stability.


High-quality rolling stock contributes to the Sport’s handling. Pirelli Night Dragon rubber on 19-inch front and 16-inch rear contrast-cut wheels are dialed to the chassis. (Garth Milan/)With some accessorized bikes at our disposal, it was a good opportunity to try out the optional 10-inch handlebar risers, some different windscreen options, and bikes with different air-filter/intake kits. As for the 4-inch-taller riser, it really alters how the seating position feels, but at the same time, it really doesn’t drastically change the bike’s behavior, which is a good thing. However, the one thing that it did change was how vibration from the engine was amplified to the rider’s hands. With the standard 6-inch riser, the engine’s vibes that seem to start building at 2,800 rpm and hang around until 3,500 when at normal cruising speeds in fourth or fifth gears aren’t that big of a deal, noticeable but not intrusive. With the taller setup, it was much more pronounced, requiring grabbing another upshift to get it out of that rpm range. Maybe for some, the styling is worth the penalty, but that’s really open to interpretation.

The standard bar/windscreen setup looks cool and is honestly placed at an ideal height in terms of comfort. As for the taller windscreen that was fitted to cover up the extra 4 inches of riser, it’s nice, but the standard-height unit provides excellent protection as it is; there is also a shorter version, so it will really come down to rider preference.


This accessorized bike had the short windscreen and accessory intake kit. (Garth Milan/)Well, we’re pretty deep into this review without really talking about the engine too much, so let’s address that.

Clearly the Sport Chief is all about the chassis and the engine is a carryover. While the base model Chief and the Chief Bobber have to settle for the 111ci Thunderstroke, the Sport Chief gets the monstrous 116ci (1,890cc) air-cooled four-valve 49-degree V-twin as standard. Indian claims that the engine delivers 120 lb.-ft. of peak torque, which is nothing to scoff at. Around town and leaving stops, the Thunderstroke 116 provides excellent bottom-end torque, encouraging you to short-shift for an ultrarelaxed ride. Feel from the clutch is smooth and predictable, while snicking through the six-speed gearbox takes just a bit of practice to keep from feeling chucky and industrial, but overall it’s a nice transmission. As mentioned, the engine does get into an area of vibration if you hang out around 3,000 rpm, but otherwise it delivers a lot of character with easy-to-access torque across a broad rpm range.


The Sport Chief comes standard with Indian’s 116ci Thunderstroke V-twin. Claimed output is 120 lb.-ft. of peak torque. (Garth Milan/)Indian’s Chief engines have ride-by-wire throttle control and deliver very good fueling across the range. With that throttle control, comes the three aforementioned ride modes and cruise control. Of all the ride modes, Standard mode was the most useful. After toggling through them and trying out Sport for instance, the throttle delivery just became herky-jerky and a bit too sensitive, making it hard to keep the bike settled on the throttle midcorner around hairpins and sweepers. Tour seemed just a bit flat, so once settled on that middle setting there wasn’t much point in changing it—unless you were in the mood to light up the rear tire leaving stoplights. Which we’d also recommend…

Although our ride day wasn’t blazing hot (low to mid-80s), you quickly learn to appreciate the rear-cylinder deactivation around town. Heat from the exhaust headers on the right side can be pretty spicy when you’re not moving, so the addition of another heat source under your butt would only compound the issue. So turning itself into a “single” at stops, indicated by a symbol at the bottom of the TFT, seemed to quell the heat quite a bit.


Disguised in a round vintage-styled gauge is a 4-inch TFT display powered by Ride Command. (Garth Milan/)Interaction with the TFT display is well thought out with logical menu navigation to access most of the bike-related options like modes, while there are a few different views the rider can choose from in terms of info being displayed while riding. The Sport comes with Ride Command, which offers turn-by-turn navigation and various weather and traffic overlays. The small screen, and slightly sluggish processing while entering nav info takes a bit of patience, but once accustomed, does the job. You can also pair your phone to the bike via Bluetooth allowing phone and music connectivity (for helmet-mounted devices), while there is also a USB port to keep your smartphone powered up. Although we didn’t get a chance to ride at night, the Sport comes with full LED lighting including the headlight and combo taillight/turn signals.


An LED headlight is joined by combo turn signal/brake lights. (Garth Milan/)How bikes like the Sport Chief didn’t come into mainstream popularity decades ago is a mystery. It’s hard to argue against this bike’s dynamics, power delivery, and styling. If you’re looking at lightweight cruisers without bags, it’s truly enjoyable in a wide swath of situations. And another thing to note is that if you’re a fan of air-cooled engines in your cruisers, the choices are becoming farther and fewer between unless you’re shopping in the used market. It looks like Indian is committed to the Thunderstroke platform in at least the near term. So, if that’s your cup of tea, the time is now, or maybe never.

The Sport Chief will start hitting dealerships in March, and is available in four colors: Black Smoke ($18,999), Ruby Smoke ($19,499), Stealth Gray Icon ($19,499), Spirit Blue Smoke ($19,999).

While most standard cruisers are really one-trick ponies that don’t love getting too far from the home stable, the Sport Chief greatly opens up the range in which the rider is willing to wander. It also expands on the type of roads that cruisers can enjoyably travel. A good-handling chassis invites you to tackle curves at a fun pace, while the sporty and neutral riding position makes doing so all day quite easy and comfortable.


The Texas Hill Country has the perfect combination of curves and good riding for a bike like the Sport Chief. (Garth Milan/)
The 2023 Indian Sport Chief in Black Smoke. (Garth Milan/)
The 2023 Indian Sport Chief in Spirit Blue Smoke. (Garth Milan/)
The 2023 Indian Sport Chief in Ruby Smoke. (Garth Milan/)
The 2023 Indian Sport Chief in Stealth Gray Icon. (Garth Milan/)2023 Indian Sport Chief Specs

MSRP:$18,999–$19,999Engine:1,890cc, air-cooled, 49-degree V-twinBore x Stroke:103.2 x 113.0mmCompression Ratio:11.0:1Transmission/Final Drive:6-speed/beltFuel Delivery:Closed loop fuel injection w/ 54mm single throttle bodisClutch:Wet, multiplateEngine Management:Ride-by-wireFrame:Steel-tube with cast aluminum rear subframeFront Suspension:43mm KYB inverted telescopic fork; 5.1 in. travelRear Suspension:Dual Fox shocks w/ piggyback reservoirs, spring preload adjustable; 4.0 in. travelFront Brake:Dual Brembo 4-piston radial-mount calipers, semi-floating dual 320mm discs w/ ABSRear Brake:2-piston caliper, 300mm floating disc w/ ABSWheels, Front/Rear:Cast; 19 x 3.5 in. / 16 x 5 in.Tires, Front/Rear:Pirelli Night Dragon; 130/60B-19 / 180/65B-16Rake/Trail:28.0°/4.4 in.Wheelbase:64.6 in.Ground Clearance:5.9 in.Seat Height:27.0 in.Fuel Capacity:4.0 gal.Claimed Dry Weight:665 lb.Contact:indianmotorcycle.com

Gearbox

Helmet: AGV K5 S Mono

Jacket: Alpinestars Oscar Trucker

Pant: Alpinestars Alu Denim

Gloves: Alpinestars Celer V2

Boots: Alpinestars J-6 Waterproof
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