I believe we as the consumer are the real winners here. competition in the market is always good, and these two bikes are great competitors with each other. I personally went with the Sport Chief, I love the tech on it and it feels great.
I’m not near a big enough channel to get my hands on a sport chief. No dealership gives me the time of day. We don’t have an Indian dealer in this city either. Also, I doubt a 0-60 in 6 inches of snow would go too well.
Long comment here but.. I rode the Gen2 Chiefs. I spent 2 days at Indian's Demo Days and made sure to ride every single bike they had on offer. I rode the Sport Chief twice, Superchief 116, and Dark Horse Bobber 116. I was very let down by these bikes. The Scout impressed me and I really like that bike, the FTR is pretty good too. But the Gen2 chiefs are just... anemic. They have such unsatisfying roll on. I would do 100% throttle pulls on the freeway and it just felt sluggish and like it was lacking. I made sure it was in sport more, yes. I tried standard mode and it was even worse. I made sure to ride a different Sport Chief twice just to make sure it wasnt that first bike that was having issues. Still the same experience. The Sport Chief was less nimble than my Fat Boy. Front brakes were worse, despite my FB having just a single galfer rotor and pads. Rear brakes were good tho. The power was very lacking, and Going back to my Fat Boy immediately after riding the Superchief 116, my bike felt like a nimble angry MONSTER compared to these Gen2 Chiefs. Hands down the LRS wins, it's not even close. I have the "Worst" M8 softail in terms of handling and performance and it made the Sport Chief look bad. Now imagine going from a Sport Chief to an LRS 117. Sport Chief has nothing on offer that feels worthwhile. Also it was incredibly uncomfortable. It would take new brakelines, and risers, and cable extensions and all that to be able to get the risers and bars with kickback enough to feel comfortable. I'd have to get a seat that moves me up, and I'd have to swap to forward controls with mini floorboards. Pricey work compared to my fatty fitting me almost perfectly off the showroom floor. Speaking of price this doesnt even include the much higher cost of upgrades and lack of aftermarket on an indian chief. I went to that demo day expecting to look at my Fat Boy and think "Man maybe I should trade it in for a sport chief" but ride home thinking "thank F that I bought the harley, this bike is so much better."
Good to hear from someone who rode the Sport Chief. The bikes seem quite similar on paper, but we don’t ride paper. It is surprising to hear that a Fatboy would be nimbler and better handling.
@@canadiansa1nt309 I think it has a lot to do with the Monoshock system. HD ditched the dualshocks on the Softail, Dyna, and VROD when they designed the M8 Softail frame. The Sportster S also has a monoshock, and same with the Pan America. It's a stiffer, and more agile design. Fat Boy also has only 2degrees less Rake, but a shorter trail at 4.1inch vs 4.4inch. Fat Boy's wheel base is 65.6inch vs Sport Chief's 64.6inch. So Fat Boy has less trail, and only slightly more rake and wheel base. The FB also has 2 18inch tires so it's sitting neutral, but the SC has 19inch front and 16inch rear which makes it sit nose high. This is probably why it's resistant to flicking and tip in. My Fat Boy had a 13inch FOX Monoshock, and the SC also has FOX but dual shocks. My bike sits aggressively frame slightly negative, which contributes to a more twitchy nimble handling characteristic. The M8 Frame is just a nimble frame design, and the Fat Boy benefits a lot from that. But the Gen2 Chief frame has all the holdbacks the Dyna basically had and so it uses more lean angle for the turn radius. Lots of people who spent a lot of time on the Chiefs noted that they drag pegs on them super easily, sooner than they expected. The inverse is said about the M8 Softails. People were surprised at how much turn radius and lean they got out of it without touching pegs/boards. I think it just has a lot to do with Harley doing their homework and designing a frame and suspension base that benefits nimble riding, where as Indian wanted to capitalize on people's love of the Dyna platform. I was very shocked at how... bad the gen2 chief was, because Gen1 chief despite being heavier, had a monoshock design and was more nimble than it looked. I need to go test ride a stock Fat Boy 114 and compare to Rayearth... because my Boy has full suspension upgrade front and rear now.
I actually rode a Sport Chief and LowRider ST and I didn’t feel that way about the Sport Chief at all. The ST was nice, but the Sport Chief wasnt lacking in anything I felt. Now, I own a Challenger and will admit I’m a little partial to Indian, but I feel like the Sport Chief is definitely on par with the LowRider bikes.
@@CindiB_Does_America That's nice and all but you cant change my experience with yours. I went from a Fat Boy, with floorboards and fat tires, to a Sport Chief and was let down. Made sure to ride a different sport chief just to be sure the first one I rode wasn't a damaged bike. Went from that to a Superchief 116, then right back to my fat boy. My Fat Boy felt significantly better in every metric. It felt Sporty compared to that Sport Chief, and I left those 2 days straight of riding indian's motorcycles feeling only the Scout and FTR are worth it. Everything else was not interesting anymore. Maybe because Im small, and dont like baggers the experience would be unfavorable for me, but I ride bikes hard and aggressive and the Sport Chief didnt hold up. I was excited to ride it only to be disappointed. The Scout though? I left wanting one as a 2nd bike.
Indian? If I wanted a polaris, I'd buy a quad! Sorry, but time will tell on their quality. If they use polaris style wiring, it will fail in 5 to 10 years.
I bought my Indian in 2014. Polaris took over 2011. Mine has had 0 issues. Havent worked on it other than replacing the normal wear and tear parts. Polaris has done a pretty good job.
I got the Indian and i have been riding metric all my life, after 5 years all my bikes will have over 50k and ready to be replaced! so 5 -10 is pleanty good.
I believe we as the consumer are the real winners here. competition in the market is always good, and these two bikes are great competitors with each other. I personally went with the Sport Chief, I love the tech on it and it feels great.
I agree. The more competition the better for us.
Low Rider...i have owned both
Now i have just 1
The lowrider ST #1
Agreed 👍
Thanks for this. Excellent delivery of information bro 👍
No problem. Thanks for watching.
The indian is a wayyy better bike in my op
Everyone has their opinion I suppose.
True and I've geen riding hd for 25 yrs and owned 3 new bikes
My next will be an indian chief or fat boy
Well see
Both good bikes but I'll take the Indian
To each their own.
Same here, it my next bike for sure.
Hey from Brampton ( Ontario) good upload, we'll probably be seing snow in a couple of weeks too, tough for us riders.
Hopefully the snow stays away from you folks for longer.
Where did you get the horse power figures for the Indian. My research says it's 80hp not 96
It was from Indian’s website at the time
What would you use the BT on the Indian for?
I probably wouldn’t use it at all to be honest.
@@canadiansa1nt309 So it isnt good for anything why have it?
Bluetooth is used for headsets. You can hear the nav directions and change songs and answer calls from the bars.
U did a comparison but never lined them up ???
WTH ? Two sport bikes and u don’t even do a 0-60 ???
Wow
I’m not near a big enough channel to get my hands on a sport chief. No dealership gives me the time of day. We don’t have an Indian dealer in this city either. Also, I doubt a 0-60 in 6 inches of snow would go too well.
They aren't sports bikes
Long comment here but..
I rode the Gen2 Chiefs. I spent 2 days at Indian's Demo Days and made sure to ride every single bike they had on offer. I rode the Sport Chief twice, Superchief 116, and Dark Horse Bobber 116.
I was very let down by these bikes. The Scout impressed me and I really like that bike, the FTR is pretty good too. But the Gen2 chiefs are just... anemic. They have such unsatisfying roll on.
I would do 100% throttle pulls on the freeway and it just felt sluggish and like it was lacking. I made sure it was in sport more, yes. I tried standard mode and it was even worse.
I made sure to ride a different Sport Chief twice just to make sure it wasnt that first bike that was having issues. Still the same experience.
The Sport Chief was less nimble than my Fat Boy. Front brakes were worse, despite my FB having just a single galfer rotor and pads. Rear brakes were good tho.
The power was very lacking, and Going back to my Fat Boy immediately after riding the Superchief 116, my bike felt like a nimble angry MONSTER compared to these Gen2 Chiefs.
Hands down the LRS wins, it's not even close.
I have the "Worst" M8 softail in terms of handling and performance and it made the Sport Chief look bad. Now imagine going from a Sport Chief to an LRS 117. Sport Chief has nothing on offer that feels worthwhile.
Also it was incredibly uncomfortable.
It would take new brakelines, and risers, and cable extensions and all that to be able to get the risers and bars with kickback enough to feel comfortable. I'd have to get a seat that moves me up, and I'd have to swap to forward controls with mini floorboards. Pricey work compared to my fatty fitting me almost perfectly off the showroom floor.
Speaking of price this doesnt even include the much higher cost of upgrades and lack of aftermarket on an indian chief.
I went to that demo day expecting to look at my Fat Boy and think "Man maybe I should trade it in for a sport chief" but ride home thinking "thank F that I bought the harley, this bike is so much better."
Good to hear from someone who rode the Sport Chief. The bikes seem quite similar on paper, but we don’t ride paper. It is surprising to hear that a Fatboy would be nimbler and better handling.
@@canadiansa1nt309 I think it has a lot to do with the Monoshock system. HD ditched the dualshocks on the Softail, Dyna, and VROD when they designed the M8 Softail frame.
The Sportster S also has a monoshock, and same with the Pan America. It's a stiffer, and more agile design.
Fat Boy also has only 2degrees less Rake, but a shorter trail at 4.1inch vs 4.4inch. Fat Boy's wheel base is 65.6inch vs Sport Chief's 64.6inch. So Fat Boy has less trail, and only slightly more rake and wheel base. The FB also has 2 18inch tires so it's sitting neutral, but the SC has 19inch front and 16inch rear which makes it sit nose high. This is probably why it's resistant to flicking and tip in.
My Fat Boy had a 13inch FOX Monoshock, and the SC also has FOX but dual shocks.
My bike sits aggressively frame slightly negative, which contributes to a more twitchy nimble handling characteristic.
The M8 Frame is just a nimble frame design, and the Fat Boy benefits a lot from that. But the Gen2 Chief frame has all the holdbacks the Dyna basically had and so it uses more lean angle for the turn radius. Lots of people who spent a lot of time on the Chiefs noted that they drag pegs on them super easily, sooner than they expected. The inverse is said about the M8 Softails. People were surprised at how much turn radius and lean they got out of it without touching pegs/boards.
I think it just has a lot to do with Harley doing their homework and designing a frame and suspension base that benefits nimble riding, where as Indian wanted to capitalize on people's love of the Dyna platform.
I was very shocked at how... bad the gen2 chief was, because Gen1 chief despite being heavier, had a monoshock design and was more nimble than it looked.
I need to go test ride a stock Fat Boy 114 and compare to Rayearth... because my Boy has full suspension upgrade front and rear now.
I actually rode a Sport Chief and LowRider ST and I didn’t feel that way about the Sport Chief at all. The ST was nice, but the Sport Chief wasnt lacking in anything I felt. Now, I own a Challenger and will admit I’m a little partial to Indian, but I feel like the Sport Chief is definitely on par with the LowRider bikes.
@@CindiB_Does_America That's nice and all but you cant change my experience with yours.
I went from a Fat Boy, with floorboards and fat tires, to a Sport Chief and was let down.
Made sure to ride a different sport chief just to be sure the first one I rode wasn't a damaged bike. Went from that to a Superchief 116, then right back to my fat boy.
My Fat Boy felt significantly better in every metric. It felt Sporty compared to that Sport Chief, and I left those 2 days straight of riding indian's motorcycles feeling only the Scout and FTR are worth it.
Everything else was not interesting anymore.
Maybe because Im small, and dont like baggers the experience would be unfavorable for me, but I ride bikes hard and aggressive and the Sport Chief didnt hold up. I was excited to ride it only to be disappointed.
The Scout though? I left wanting one as a 2nd bike.
Indian? If I wanted a polaris, I'd buy a quad! Sorry, but time will tell on their quality. If they use polaris style wiring, it will fail in 5 to 10 years.
I guess we will see how they last.
I bought my Indian in 2014. Polaris took over 2011. Mine has had 0 issues. Havent worked on it other than replacing the normal wear and tear parts. Polaris has done a pretty good job.
For 10 years of ownership, I take my hat off to Polaris. They've come along way with models and sales from scratch
I got the Indian and i have been riding metric all my life, after 5 years all my bikes will have over 50k and ready to be replaced! so 5 -10 is pleanty good.