2023 Indian Sport Chief - Factory Built For the Harley Dyna Club Bike Buyer
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- čas přidán 24. 02. 2023
- Ridge Roamer looks into the new Indian Sport Chief with all its factory upgrades and compares to the Harley Davidson Dyna platform that was discontinued, as well as the Softail Low Rider S that replaced it. Is this Chief just a poser or a superior starting point for your custom performance and stunt cruiser? Dark Horse style with inverted front forks, long travel Fox shocks, handlebar risers, and a quarter fairing give it a real advantage compared to the current Low Rider models, but is it as simple or durable as the older Dynas?
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I come from a sport bike background looking for a new sporty cruiser like those mentioned. I have test rode the 3 of them Low Rider S & ST and the Sport Chief and Im here to tell ya the Sport Chief is the winner for me. It overall feels better and I feel from the factory I get more for my money. I also live in Minnesota and have the unique opportunity to buy the Sport Chief from a dealer who also owns a shop that makes Indian aftermarket parts and let me tell ya when its decked out its truly a magnificent machine.
As an Indian Rider i can say: dint compare yourself to others. Same stands for the bike! You love it? ride it and have fun
Great vid.
Indian is trying its best to out-do Harley in every way. We are the winners.
Agreed. I love the new resurgence of the competition. We, the consumer, win. I ride a 2021 Indian Scout Bobber Twenty. I get lots of nods, thumbs up.
And they are doing it fairly well 😊
5:31 is my claim to fame😂 ! Great vid!
Thank you!
Que paso amigo!
FXDX forever baby!
Great video. It's interesting that the lean angle wasn't mentioned after all that.
My 2015 dyna was my 2nd Harley loved every single day I rode it now I need a new bike since I had to let it go I am wondering if I should get another one or try new idian sport chief obviously getting new pipes and mods
I'm with you !!!
Neither bike is my cup of tea, but I'm interested to see what, when & how the Sport Chief is received & adopted, if it is at all ????
Awesome bike!
I'll keep my Harley. At least if I need service on a long road trip, I can find a HD almost anywhere.
Best Chinese bike you can own
@@racingspongahahahahahaha
@@killakawi1 or if they need to be picked up from the side of the road
But with an Indian, you wont need service
@@racingsponga Are you saying that the Harley is full of Chinese parts?
I like the competition but the reason people stunt the Dyna is because they’re like 7500 bucks used and you can rag em out. Not a lot of folks are gonna rag out their new 20k bike.
True, the used market for Dynas is flooded, and there are obviously not any used Super Chiefs yet, but many people are dropping $7k on a 20 year old Dyna and then putting another $10k into upgrades to make them perform/stunt. That's awful close to the price point of a new Super Chief with most of the upgrades already there, so...
Thats not why lol. The dyna is shorter and turns in very well. When you jack the rear end up with taller shocks. The early modle dyna are also smaller up to 2006 I think. Then the bike got physically bigger. It's longer and has a different balance point. The early softail were to low and long to ride any thing but stand up wheelies and scrape primary to easy for drifting. The early dyna was chosen on geometry that's all... if it was price it would of stayed sportster stunt scene. Dudes end up with 10k in these stunt bikes after suspension and rims. Bars risers.. chain drives. Pipes ..stabalizers. crash bars.. seats..Like seriously lol. The dyna simply stunt rides the best out of the full sized Harleys... that's why people pay so much for early dynas
@Ridge Roamer the chief looks to long. Won't stunt ride for shit. Poor geometry. Bad balance point. Sane reason both the old and new softails arnt stunted . Newer softail is better and has way more motor to power wheelie. But still poor balance point.. the dyna isn't king based on price.. it's based on the bikes geometry and simply stunting a harley. Also why you barley see the bigger later modle dyna stunted. It's not as good at it as the smaller early modle
I still have my 2016 Dyna Low Rider S :)
One of the big problems is that the aftermarket had never stepped up with performance parts, (cams, full exhaust, throttle bodies, air intakes, big bore kits, tuners, etc. etc.) for the Indians. Thats one big reason why the Harleys are so much more popular. Way more performance parts, and way easier to tune.
Who the hell wants a stock bike?
That is absolute bullshit. The market is full of these parts and growing every single day. I have two Indians and two Harleys. I customize all of them.
Actualy true. Try to find a decent after market exhaust for the Sport Chief. No V&H options at all.
@markanderson4353 who wants a vance and hines anyway🤣🤣
Plus here in Europe no-one cares about Indians. Someone started a new factory to build cruisers and stuck the Indian name on them, big deal.
I really like the new Sport Chief. I'll consider switching to one down the road. I love my '11 Road King though.
Also a former Marine, I'm riding the 2018 Indian Springfield dark horse, which is the equivalent of the Road King. I agree with you. You would be giving up a lot of long range road comfort. The Super Chief is really cool, though.
Not the biggest Indian fan but this is a great bike....
Your dialog in this video falls flat in its self, your argument has no basis. You're covering something relevant 4 years old. Most people have accepted the new Harley Plat form. Even the fact that you have to mention soa is a desperate scream for attention in your part. What Harley is dropping the ball is in the way they conduct business and the little things on their products.
I really like this machine ...I wish they offered one with less tech.
Indian all the way!! 👍🏻
With the Indian design of the engine you have unit construction as well as a gear driven primary which eliminates the need for compensators or change and all that crap. Because the belt is easy to get to like a Sportster it is easy to replace unlike a Harley big twin where you have to tear down the primary in order to get to the front sprocket. And four hundred thousand miles on my Harley Sportster I have changed the belt three times it is as easy to replace as an endless chain. But the belt lasts a lot longer and it's a lot cleaner and if it breaks it will not go through the crankcase of your engine like a chain will.
Good of you to stick with the Sportster for so many miles. As much as "real" bikers look down on them, Sportsters are awesome reliable bikes with the longest running model name in motorcycling. Some complained of the new rubber mounted chassis models, but can be set up as a smaller FXR bike for those who know what they're getting.
It's not that the big twins "need" compensators, it just dampens the uneven vibrations from the engine so they don't get transmitted into the drivetrain. There are aftermarket kits to eliminate the comp entirely and in fact sportsters don't have a comp and they have the same basic engine design. And you can tell because they are a bit shakier when you first take off. Unit construction is great and all until you have to tear down the primary and top end on both cylinders to split the cases so you can service the transmission...
@@calincampbell5637 that is precisely the reason a big twin needs compensator. In the old days you would take it out so you could burn Rubber. My Sportster has the trapdoor transmission. That makes it easy to access the transmission. Harley deleted that to save some money. In 400,000 miles I have never had to service my transmission other than changed the fluid. The trapdoor is eliminated in The Rubber mounts Sportsters forcing the complete putting the case and order to service transmission. They could have designs the twin-cam to be a unit construction engine and they would have changed the frame to accommodate it. If they had done that the milwaukee-eight would be a unit construction engine. Harley has to be compatible with the aftermarket. Indian being a brand new startup company does not have an aftermarket to hold itself to. The aftermarket will make Parts to fit the Indian not the other way around. Today's Harley is such an unreliable collection of government regulations on two wheels I am surprised that anyone buy them knowing they're mechanical deficiencies.
How many rebuilds on the engine ?
@@mamjack6134 I t is on the original engine.37 rears&17 front tires in 25 years.Used 3 belts.1 stator in 200,000 miles on her in 20yrs.
It's a good bike but it doesn't replace my desire for a Lowrider S. Just like I had to add a V&H Comp pipe, upgrade the suspension and put V Rod 4 piston calipers on my Sporty Roadster, I'd do the same on a Lowrider.
I'd take a monoshock softail over a frame with nearly horizontal twin shocks.
After owning a Polaris Victory i can see that they use the same factories to produce certain bike parts on this one.
I've been on an indian for 7 years. A Springfield. Rode harleys all my life. Will probably stay with indian.
I'm on a 2019 Springfield myself. Ain't it a peach? I do love it so.
There is only one,--DYNA! Bro!
The Chief Sport with a 16x16 front and rear: 200-60-16 and front 150-80-16 and I'll buy 1
😎🇺🇲🇵🇭
I had an Indian for 3 years. I like Indian, almost bought a new Chief. The main problem with Indian for me is, there's only 1 dealer that's a 2 hour ride and the other one is 5 hours away. There dealerships are spread out making it a pain for service. There's about 6 Harley dealerships within 30 minutes to 2 hours from my house. Not to mention that Harley has a better roadside assistants service if you break down. Good luck with Indian if you break down..
Back in the day if you couldn't turn a wrench on your shovelhead, you weren't a real biker because dealerships didn't exist. Only RUBs worried about paying someone to wrench on their scooter. Then the Evo was produced and people quit worrying about breaking down, but then all these T-shirt shops started opening selling purses and changing oil on Harleys calling themselves dealerships. Next thing you know, everyone and their mother is riding the same bike but somehow thinking they are ' rebels.' Now most guys who ride bikes are to worried about making sure how their iphone can get charged or how the WiFi coverage is at their dealership and worry about breaking down on a new motorcycle. Funny how times have changed.
Somebody has to come up with a drink holder big enough to hold a double caramel dip macchiato Grande.
Find a mechanic to work on your Indian that's not at a dealership. Problem solved.
I have never taken my bike for dealership service because it's so expensive.
I still ride a Bike with carbs and have never needed a dealership to look at my bike. You guys are paying way too much for wind in your hair.
I love to see Indian use the Chief engine in a normal motorcycle. 30" seat height, 60" wheelbase, 25 deg. rake, proper mid controls...like a real motorcycle. I'm almost describing my Buell tuber. Sort of.
I agree need higher suspension.I never understood the idea of looks taking over function.Function should dictate form not other way around.
I love buells
same. the chief would have been much more palatable had it normal suspension travel on both ends.
Wow, the sport chief is about $400 cheaper then the Dyna
Harley does not sell a Dyna !!
@@ronalddauro563 they used to
They did and that was in 2017 .. it was about a a grand less than the sport chief for the top of the line lowrider st. The chief is deffinetly cheaper than its replacement the softtail lowrider st. But the chief is also uglier and not likely to out handle the softail from previous reviewed I've seen .. hence why it was compared to the very flawed dyna platform. Power is probably on point or better thoe
For the first time in my life im seriously want a Indian😄 Coming from a FXDL owner
I'm now on an Indian after owning dozens of Harleys over the years. Couldn't be happier.
Ok. I'll bite. You can systematically break down the bikes and stratify judgements categorically and see which bike is more similar to the new Indian Chief- the older out of production Dyna, or the current Low Rider S.
-Dyna twin cam 68hp / 83tq.
-Indian Chief Sport (ICS) 85hp / 120tq.
-softail Low Rider S (LRS) 103hp /125tq
*front forks
ICS has inverted fork suspension.
Dyna has traditional fork suspension.
LRS has inverted forks
*throttle
ICS throttle by wire
dyna cable
LRS throttle by wire
*rear suspension
ICS dual shock rear
dyna dual shock rear
LRS rear monoshock
One thing is for sure…..HD is about feel the heat from Indian
This made me LOL.
@@aucklandsadventures well….you know what they say….everything the goes up…will eventually come down….HD has dominated and still dominates the bike market….but Indian is moving up….and eventually will turn the tables on HD….maybe not tomorrow or next year….but make no mistake…..Indian is growing and not slowing down
@@bobberboss If HD really wanted to close the door on Indian. All they have to do is start a calling for the name to be removed. We can’t be riding racist motorcycles around American now, can we?
Seriously though. It’s only took HD 120 years to build the Motor Company and Dealership network. Indian and Buell will catch up any day now…
@@aucklandsadventures my man…..stop. Seriously, stop. Your now thinking straight, the HD bug did a number on your judgment. HD is bleeding people…the younger buyers are not buying HD’s anymore….whats keeping HD alive is the old farts who can’t live without their prostates massaged by HD bikes. Open your eyes and realize that people are looking elsewhere for bikes. FACTS.
Great video man! My dream was to get a Harley one day but now i will consider the Indian . HD is going downhill!
Indian are going forward in leaps and bounds.They are absolutely smashing it!
Idk, we Dyna riders are mostly waiting for the Buell Super Cruiser, regardless of price.
Have never met a single rider that tried to 'club style' an Indian bike.
Also, Indian riders are commonly much much older than any Dyna rider - They are usually 50+ on an Indian.
Very detailed video, though!
I can't wait to see the Buell Super Cruiser either, but that price tag will be crazy. I worked for a motorcycle dealership that sold new Indians and new Harleys, and while they both have an older customer base overall (for the big expensive bikes), the Indians definitely pull in a lot of younger buyers to the Scout, FTR, and Chief platforms.
You speak for all dyna riders? Interesting. I have a dyna, and just bought a sport chief last month.
"Waiting on the Buell, regardless of the price?" Get real.
I love HD. But most loyalists just spew nonsense and propaganda.
I don't even get the hype on Dyna's and hate on their discontinuation anyways. The m8 softail handles much better. The rear monoshock suspension is leaps and bounds better than the twin shocks on dynas, and you can get inverted forks up front unlike the dynas. The m8 engine is much easier to make power with. All I'm saying is why would take death wobble from ancient suspension design when you can have a proper handling machine with suspension similar to a sportbike.
Harley should never have discontinued the Dyna, but where this injun bike is going to fall short is aftermarket and used parts.
Indian is getting more aftermarket support, and unlike a harley won't be needing over $10K in parts within the first 5K miles. Harleys are money pits, as anyone who owns and rides one will tell you.
My last bike was a Harley. I had it for 9 years and 11 months... I'm pretty sure my next bike will be an Indian Chief. Although, the new tech (traction, ABS, Lean angle, etc...) and liquid cool HD is sure capable of making the choice hard. My angst with the HD was the constant oil mist coming from the rocker box, through the breather and down the side if the bike. Just that alone has left a terrible taste for HD.
Indian also has 3 rider modes
better with the rounder gastank , their cerved tanks always put me off
ever since the reemergence of the Indian bikes in the market it has been chomping up much of the market share that supposedly were Harley's
Sport Chief over any harley.
I love the comparison. But a harley is a harley… :)
I may buy that Indian.
The Indians very nice the Harley-Davidson I left it alone that was very nice you don't need all that equipment Rider modes I'm old school
I have a Dyna Wich I love but I want a Chief Sport too 👍
I like Indian, I don’t care for scrub dealers to service anything unless it’s for warranty.. I don’t go around visiting dealers for crap, I like riding to destination and Indians makes maintenance 10x better than Harley’s PIA 3 fluid change. It’s an over complicated and over partition design from the boondocks…
The differences are insignificant. If you like Indian buy one if you would rather have a dyna buy one. The chief sport is quite a bit more heavy that's the big difference.
12 lbs. Is "quite a bit more heavy"?!
You don't feel the weight, that Thunderstroke engine sits so low in the frame the bike feels much lighter and handles like a dream.
Have you rode a new Chief?
@Chad Almquist my fxdl lowrider 2017 weighs in just at 655lbs wet @ public scale. If I remember correctly the sport comes in at 680 round about, that's significant.
@@Crimepaysaskapolitician Yeah, that's a few pounds, but if you do happen to catch the Indian Demo Truck this Spring/Summer, go ride a Chief, they feel shockingly light and handle very well. That's one of the big things that sold me on the Chief.
@@BlackbirdSSR good enjoy
The amount of money needed to get a dyna to the out the box performance of this Indian is thousands of dollars. That's pretty significant.
🛑🛑If Polaris bought the Indian name, and dropped Victory…
Why is Polaris (Indian) removing the Indian Logo in his Headdress from their Dealerships?
Hmmmmm 🤔??
I see your bias all over this video perhaps that was the point, LOL.
wym? The point of the video is that the Indian Sport Chief is more of a successor to the Dyna platform than HD's softails. In my opinion the sport chief beats the low rider s on a lot of levels
Love it polaris has to be compared to a discontinued 7 year old bike. Lmfao
Not hard to beat a dyna.. rubber mounted drive train and swing arm are it's Achilles heel
Can’t compete head to head with the LRS so you compare it to a bike they obsoleted in 2017? 🙄
Buell Supercruiser
Better than Hardon’ley …
It looks like Indian copied the FXR frame.
@ 2:54 your making a comparison between the older HD when Indian didn’t exist.
Indian did exist in 2017... But I get the point of what you are saying. I would have compared the Sport Chief to a 2023 Dyna, but Harley discontinued the Dyna in 2017, so 2017 is the most recent one available. This is Indian's version of a Dyna, and there is no denying that.
Indian has been around longer than HD what 😂
@@jerseyboycustoms that is funny 😆
@@kelvinknaff9903 nothing funny, they started a year before Harley in 1901
@@jerseyboycustomsbut Indian also went bankrupt and was out .. Harley has stayed around for 120 years bro
Every video I've ever seen of the new Indians show just awful peg scraping. The clearance is too low and would turn me off for that reason. Too bad as it otherwise looks like a great, fun bike.
Im a dyna guy. Always have been, always will be. The only new bike I’d buy im currently purchasing which is a lowrider st.
The dyna will always feel cooler and be a better stunt piece. Everything else is better on the lowrider s. I’ll take both.
The Indian will not replace the dyna for me. Doesn’t have the character, cheap entree cost, and thousands of products of aftermarket support.
i think the dealer network, the originality, more aftermarket support, and the larger gas tank outweigh the other fancy things the chief has by far. i think indian has to much a much better bike or for a better price to win over people that want a harley. i think indian is trying to sell to people that want to be different or dont want to associate with the harley community, and thats pretty much it
Na dyna is definitely better
Dyna bros? Oh they’re the ones with the sideways caps 🧢 with the brim flipped up like they’re in high school but they’re actually 35.
🙌 *promo sm*
to put it simply, no, it isnt
Dyna-saur. Indian is a better engineered bike at a lower price. Put Lloyd's 126" big bore, re-map, and loud/lighter pipes on the Chief and no Harley will touch it.
Except a 131 softail
Cool story bro
@@calincampbell5637I was gonna say this lol a 131 lowrider s makes absolute killer numbers and it’s lighter lol
That fairing is just ugly.. i'm sorry i'd take that shit off and replace it with an aftermarket fairing.
1" wheelie dentist poser mobile
WOW,why u don’t make your own bikes,instead of copying Harley????
Too bad it has all that stuff and still comes short in aesthetics... It's ugly.
Very ugly, the Indian motor is disgustingly hideous. The silhouette is pudgy and malformed, the heads are butt ugly.
The quarter fairing looks like it came right from Amazon for $45, a terrible Memphis Shades knock off.
Functional. Tough. Sexy looking engine. And Tuff ! :-)
Lol. Harley has nothing to worry about !!!
LETS BE REAL HERE. Where was Indian for the last 25 years while the Dyna existed? I Harley is a monster company, after you’ve been building the same platform for a very long time you’re going to move on to something else. Now Indian is just building a bike in the same platform as the Dyna?? Technology changes and Harley already ran their bike for years, why didn’t Indian come out with one in the beginning when they dropped victory? Every bike I see now from Indian is a copy of a Harley.! The original Indian chief as a bagger or not is the only one I have respect for as it is original. The Challenger is a road glide want to be, and so is this Indian chief sport. Indians way late in the game and they think they have a winner because they have no competition now.
Lmao your reaching dyna bros not going to indian sorry.
that's what I'm saying bro, this shit kinda cringe
Who cares about torque? That's boomer cope for their bikes being slow. List the horsepower. That's the real measure of speed. The numbers are readily available.
If you want speed, I would recommend a sportbike. This is still a cruiser, just with better performance than most cruisers.
Torque ? Everyone cares about torque.. any racer , any real driver , any real rider cares about Torque. Torque wins races. Stop light to stop light torque is the factor.
I’ll stick with Harley over a Polaris.
As far as bikes go. Price of purchase: the Indian is far better value. However the dealer network of Indian shops and Independent shops that would work on an Indian is miniscule compared to Harley Davidson. Also the Aftermarket supplier network of parts for Harley completely dwarfs that of Indian. In fact there is nothing like it in the entire world. Does the harley come with more problems when you buy one? Absolutely. Is the Harley more primitive than Indian? Absolutely. Which is more reliable: a new Harley M8 or an Indian Sport Chief? Who knows at this point? However if you are on a very long trip and your Indian starts to experience problems or breaks down...the nearest Indian shop will be much further than the nearest Harley shop.
If you want to upgrade your Harley or keep it running 30 years after you buy it: no problem. But Indian is a completely different story: it would be far more of a challenge than Harley.
So a buyer of an Indian would get a better deal upfront, but down the road the Harley would be the better choice.
I would agree with most of that but I don't really know how many problems most new Harley Davidson riders are having. Most harley riders I know do pretty well and based on some data I have seen Harley still is more reliable than Indian in the grand scheme, of course people will bitch more if something goes wrong in their bike especially if they paid more for it but as far as I'm concerned as long as Harley and Indian both keep quality control on the up I suppose it's just a matter of taste give or take a few hundred or 1K bucks.
@@thehardcorecollector9355 Harley has come a very long ways in terms of reliability. The problems of oil sumping by the new M8 engine has been solved by Harley redesigning their oil pump to be better at scavenging oil. The early twin cams had problems with their CAM Chain Tensioners going out early. The later twin cams had problems with their Primary Chain Tensioners racheting up the Primary chain and loading both the inner primary bearing and the main crank bearing. Some of the bearing problems were caused when Harley switched away from Timken Bearings to Roller Bearings in the Crank in 2003. Other problems were that the Twin Cam's ran excessively hot due to EPA requirements that the bikes run as lean as possible to reduce emissions (not Harley's fault: but the Government's). This caused the bikes to lose power (especially on the rear cylinder). Much of the heating problems were fixed in the M8 with the addition of an Oil Cooler and redesigned cylinder fins. One problem that remains is that the Fly wheels go out of true because Harley didn't weld the plug and when combined with the lack of Timken Main Bearings the run out increases over time.
S&S and Darkhorse make a much better Flywheel assembly than Harley Davidson and have fixed this issue.
But the M8 is still a very very solid engine when it comes to reliability. It is a beast. It can be better, but the new M8's can take an awful lot of abuse and still keep running (like an Timex).
But the Aftermarket for Harley: nothing compares to it: absolutely nothing.
Even if other bikes might be more reliable right off the showroom floor...down the road after many years have passed, that old obsolete Harley will still be running after all of the other brands and their models have stopped running for lack of available parts.
To me: the Aftermarket's breath and depth as well as the sheer number of independent bike shops that can work on a Harley is Harley's biggest strength.
Both HD and Indian have went woke .. Boycott time .
All riders should go buy a .
HonKaYamaSuki..
What do you feel has made them woke?
@Ridge Roamer
Have you not heard about the corroboration with Bud Light ?
@Henry Toler yes, Harley collaborated with Budweiser, which makes them woke by association possibly. And what about Indian?
@Ridge Roamer
Indian went woke by ditching the Indian Headress colors as to not offend Native Americans .
@Henry Toler pretty loose definition of going woke...
Well like you said the Dyna is discontinued! This bike may compete with the dyna but it's got nothing on Harley's new softails! You want a knock off Harley? Go ahead and get you a Indian! Oh wait no Indian is owned by Polaris. So yeah go ahead and get you a Harley knock off made by Polaris lol
Did y’all hear that Indian isn’t using the colored headdress on their logo anymore because they don’t want to offend the Indians yes it’s true they’re only going to use a gray black and white headdress on their Indian logos so they won’t offend the Indians let’s face it Indian died in 53 maybe they should just change their name to victory
So your video was just a piss take on Harleys! What people don't seem to get is be it bad or good it's a HARLEY DAVIDSON, and anything else even if ten times better is just a wannabe!
My biggest gripe with Harley in this video is the discontinuation of the Dyna platform, a bike that has been awesome for decades! And my question was whether or not the Indian is a worthy successor after Harley abandoned it. You're the one who just implied the Indian is ten times better....
I didn't imply Indians are 10 times better at all. I ride a Harley (FXDWG) so a dyna, and am damn proud of it, to me in your video every point you made about the Harley you directly after related something about Indian that made the Harley look inferior, my point is whether you like them or hate them, the name Harley Davidson in motorcycling stirs emotion like no other. Harleys are by no means the best motorcycle on the planet,hence 10 times better, but I wouldn't own anything else, the word Harley is iconic.
I just followed the mindset of Indian. Look at a motorcycle that people love, figure out how to make it similar but better. Then build and sell it. Every successful manufacturing company in the world does it. It's just smart business and gives riders an excellent machine.