2023 Indian Sport Chief Review: The American Cruiser That Thinks It’s a Sports Bike!

Can a cruiser bike be a sports bike? The guys at Indian think it can, here’s my first ride review of the Indian Sport Chief – a cruiser that thinks it’s a sports bike! Huge thanks to the guys at Krazy Horse customs in Bury St Edmunds for making this review possible. Visit them here https://krazyhorse.co.uk/pages/empire-house-bury-st-edmunds

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Hey kids it’s F here hope you’re well welcome back to the channel and welcome to another bike review this one something quite different for me I’m riding the Indian sport Chief now to me that’s uh that’s quite a title because uh Indians are in my mind sort of big

American cruiser bikes but this has the word sport in the title to Hell sporty can it be well stick around stay tuned let’s find out All righty so welcome back to the channel and uh this absolutely beautiful day here in sunny suffk in September we’ve had an absolutely rubbish uh summer this year in blight is I’ve winged a lot on my Channel about and uh we actually got a little bit of a heat

Wave here at the start of September when I’m recording this so uh it’s a really good day to be out on a bike I borrow this for my friends at Crazy Horse in barison eans so that’s why I’m here in suffk I don’t know the area particularly

Well so I could get lost but that’s all part of the fun isn’t it anyway back to the bike first thing I noticed about it is uh it’s got quite an interesting riding position but uh before we get into that and how it feels

To ride and so on let me just show you around the bike just show you some of the little uh design touches and so on on this sport Cruiser okay so let’s take a look at the Indian sport Chief then what a lovely looking motorcycle I think uh I really

Do love the engineering on these Cruisers the first thing I home in on is this engine I mean look at this this is what they call the 116 thunderstroke engine it’s the thing of beauty as you can see it’s all blacked out but beautiful attention to detail I love the

Way they’ve uh got the uh shiny or metall looking um cooling fins it just makes the makes the things stand out and look beautiful great attention to detail on this bike I love all the logos that you can see around the engine really really nice uh let’s uh start from the

Front and sort of work our way through so unusually it’s got this fairing on the front which I guess is kind of sport spiky uh but as you can see if I move the handlebars it’s one of those fairings that does move with the forks

So it’s not like it’s fixed um so the you know the headlight moves as you uh as you move the handlebars it’s one if you see what I mean not explain that very well but anyway there we go uh so yeah I like the look of the fairing that

Works really well we’ll talk more about that shortly um coming around this side you can see everything is blacked out big old exhaust blacked out uh notably it is of course a belt drive so no chain maintenance that’s always a plus point as far as I’m concerned LED headlights

All around uh number plate mounted on the side they not sure whether I like that mountain position or not there’s always a problem isn’t it with these sorts of bikes where you stick the number plate but uh yeah overall a lovely looking thing if we come down

This side often you don’t see the side of the bikes do you you can see it says 116 cubic in there in big American lettering and then the lovely Indian uh logos there uh coming around this side again what else to point out oh one

Thing I noticed down at the um look down at the rear brake pedal you’ve actually got the uh brake fluid reservoir just there right near the pedal which is quite unusual isn’t it but uh just uh something I noticed anyway there we go that is the Indian sport Chief I think

She’s a looker and with all that black outness no Chrome to polish so easy to keep clean okay so welcome back aboard so much for what she looks like what does she ride like well in a word I think I’d sum it up as characterful which is uh often the case

Isn’t it with these big American Cruisers now I have to be up front and say I don’t regard myself as a cruiser man but I have ridden a few Harley-Davidsons and I have ridden a few Indians now and uh I’ve never ridden an Indian that I don’t like oh tractors

Just pulled out in front of me how annoying to me can I see around this no and I got a solid white line well oh well let’s have a check while we uh wait I think that if you’re going to have a big American Cruiser type bike

Then you should have a big American Cruiser so in other words what I mean is don’t buy BMW r8t or or whatever they call you know the big twin thing byy yourself a Harley or an Indian the authentic proper American Cruiser and for me Indian you’re just that little bit different to Harley

Aren’t we everybody thinks of Harley-Davidson when you think of American Cruisers they don’t necessarily think of Indian so for me Indian cond of wins as a brand we’ve got an opportunity to overtake here yes we have now this bike has massive shove was in common with all other Cruisers it has a

Huge engine we’ll go through the spec in a minute but what is different is this riding position and it does actually feel quite sporty my feet are relatively forward they’re not it’s not a feet forward bite by any means in fact for a cruiser type bike this is probably

Regarded as as midet peakes my feet are uh just just behind my knee slightly I’m LED quite a far quite far forward though so that’s what gives it it sort of sporty feel I think the handlebars are really high on these uh on these massive bar risers but it’s uh much more comfortable

Than you would think when I first got on the bike I thought Alo I’m not going to like this it feels weird but actually I’m now deciding it feels weird in a good way the handlebars look narrow but there’s no lack of leave the handling actually around these

Corners is is lovely you don’t have to give it lots of input and dare I say it it does actually feel quite light and sporty again all all these things are Rel it but it yeah it just rolls it at these Corners beautifully I do love the steering so

Okay back to the rition Comfort so the seat itself you can’t move around on it cuz it’s sculpted but uh yeah feels pretty pretty comfortable and because you are LED forward a bit over the handle bars unlike other Cruisers I’ve written it doesn’t feel like all you

Weight is going into your Coxx I think you’d be all right for extended periods of time on this one what I don’t like is there are quite a bit of Vibes on the bike through the handlebars it seems all rev so far there are quite a lot of Vibes going

On and that means you can feel you can feel it through the seat you can feel it through the handle bars and indeed I don’t know if you can see the blur mirrors but there’s quite a lot of vibration there too so if you don’t like Vibe your bikes this one isn’t for

You but I guess that’s all part of the character the clutch on here not as heavy as you would think actually it’s got this massive lever uh but actually it’s quite like to use the gearbox is quite positive it’s quite clunky and I have had a couple of force

Neutrals but I think that’s just a matter of getting used to it but it’s proper mechanical you can feel you know this bike has been built by Burly men with spanners in a big Factory somewhere it’s got all that American Cruiser charm that you’re going to want lots of

Double White Lines here impinging my ability to overtake while we’re waiting for other roads to appear let me go through some of the switch gear what we’re looking at here what I love about the Indians is the um display that they do they they do this um round D but it’s

Got a TFT in it it’s full of functions it’s touch sensitive as well and you should be able to use it with your glove he says these might not be the right sort of gloves but uh it is touch sensitive there you go it does work with

These gloves and there’s all sorts of information on here in this first ride review I can’t go into the detail it’s just really a quick look at the bike but it’s even got a proper inbuilt fully featured saav which is something I I really like so few bikes have that uh my

Gold Wing does and that’s about the only other bike I can think of that has that uh so that is an excellent feature you don’t have to hook it up to your phone you don’t have to rely on your phone signal you have got a SAT have built in

Which is absolutely excellent so I love that display and you can customize it as well you can have it in various formats I like this one with it with what looks like oldfashioned gauges uh on the on the round ale itself that’s the sort of

Thing I wish TR would do that on their retro style bikes rather than the heath Robinson uh Affairs they have I think that looks really really good so I like that switch gear on it typical American Cruiser uh not much to say really about it it’s quite positive to use it’s easy

Enough to use it’s all kind of obvious It Is keyless this bike so I suppose the only thing that’s not quite obvious is how you start and stop it which in this case is that’s kind of the on button if you like and then you start and stop it

With these buttons here cruise control on the right as well always handy if you’re on a cruiser uh and everything else where you’d expect it around these big sweepy corers it’s uh it’s beautiful it’s quite a heavy bike in fact let’s go through the numbers let’s talk uh let’s quickly

Whis through the spect no motorcycle review is complete without quick with through the spec is it so let’s quickly do that then starting off with this incredibly beautiful looking engine at least to my eyes it is this is 116 cubic inch air c v twin it actually works out

If you’re European at 1890 CC so massive old lump it’s called the thunderstroke 116 what a fantastic name in terms of its power output I have no idea actually what the power output is I couldn’t find any figures for that but uh torque wise it’s 120 ftlb of torque at 2,900 RPM as

Ever low grunt is the name of the game brakes on the front we’ve got dual 320 mil discs with Brembo four pot calipers rear brake is this single 300 mil disc with a two-pot caliper that’s badged Indian suspension on the front is provided by these 43 mil KYB upside down

Forks and uh I can’t see that they’re adjustable at all at the rear we’ve got these dual Fox piggyback shocks which are kind of in keeping with the whole Cruiser Vibe seat height on the bike is a very low 686 mm that might be one of the lowest seat Heights I’ve ever ridden

With and it makes for a very easy bike to ride you and get your feet planted down nicely the weight of the chief in running order is 311 kg so actually not as heavy as you might have thought tank capacity on the sport Chief is 15.1 l so

Quite small for this size of engine I’ll imagine this will be quite thirsty but what I want to do is show you the TFT when it starts up if I turn the bike on takes a little while but it’s got this amazing animation that comes on I hope

You’ll be able to see there we go check that out that just uh I really like that sort of thing I’m easily pleased when it comes to that but while we’re talking about that sort of thing let’s just uh think about the electronics on the bike

So it has this 4-in touchcreen with what Indian call ride command uh it’s got uh Bluetooth connectivity for nav phone uh if you want that or it’s got that built-in saf it’s got LED lights all around riding modes keyless ignition and a USB port so actually pretty well

Sorted for electronics I know what you’re thinking how much is the sport Chief going to cost me well you can have one of these for $19,995 and the any other things to mention I guess is it’s got that clever rear cylinder deactivation so if you’re sitting in traffic or low RPMs the rear

Cylinder uh shuts off so it doesn’t get so hot which is a a nice move also helpful for fuel economy uh and the other thing to note is that it comes in three colors this black red gray or blue in fact that’s four colors isn’t it okay that’s

The numbers covered off then let’s talk a bit more about the uh the ride on the bike so it is called the sport Chief it’s quite interesting because it’s got a slightly different naming convention to the other Indian chiefs which are all called Chief something whereas in this

Case this they put the sport first I don’t know why they’ve done that but I was intrigued as to how sporty this bike would feel and all all these things are relative but I think it’s a fair it’s a fair thing to say that it does feel sporty surprising myself saying that

These roads are quite bumpy around here lots of drains and potholes and things like that but uh the suspension is doing quite a nice job of soaking all that up for a cruiser I’d say the suspension is fairly hard again all these things are relative it’s not

The handling that is nice on this bike and that’s because it’s got slightly stiffer suspension that allied with its weight as well means that once you set it up in the turns it just feels planted this bike which is nice but I think the geometry on the

Bike is such that it turns much quicker than uh other Cruisers I’ve ridden then I’m going to have an opportunity to get past this traffic what a lovely part of the country this is by the way especially on the day like today isn’t this beautiful what is this

Village I’m in I have no idea hope I can find my way back to Crazy hor in a minute come on let me overtake slow speed control I mean here I am I’m only doing 20 Behind These slow cars uh and the fueling is is absolutely

Lovely but once you uh get get the chance to open her up here’s a little opportunity coming up if I can see passes traffic once we get past these Nationals should be able to experience the immense torque that this massive thunderstroke engine has to offer here we Go fire the Fier absolutely ous the engine not even kicking up any sort of a sweat easy peasy Even at high revs though still feeling those vibes through the seat so uh something to be aware of if your anti Vibe this fairing on the front does a remarkably good job I mean it’s a bizarre shape I’ve never seen sat behind a fairing quite like that on a bike

Before but putting my hand here I can feel I’m the air is calm right the way up to my helmet and in fact I’m getting no buffeting whatsoever even though that looks quite small that fairing it’s doing an amazingly good job it’s quite low as well you’re not

Looking through it you’re not looking through a screen which annoys me it feels like you’re riding a Naked Bike I’ve got absolutely no wind buffeting whatsoever which is a surprise in a in a very good way that works really well the most wind I’m feeling is around my

Legs and oddly I’m getting some on my chest I don’t quite know how that works cuz as I say my head and shoulders aren’t in in any any Buffet but uh yeah that’s doing a doing a good job it’s beautiful around these corners and the pegs are high enough that you

Don’t feel like you’re going to scrap them which is often an issue on a cruiser but nothing behind me let just try the brakes wow you have to give the front brakes quite a whole them to have any effect let me just try the rear oh actually the rear is very

Good which is odd brakes are kind of the opposite way around to what you expect the rear is very good front you have to really get give them A Yank it’s not that they’re not any good it’s just that you do have to pull the bre the lever quite hard but then that’s

The case with heavy bikes isn’t it this bike is fitted with the uh standard exhaust and the engine though it’s very nice it’s very muted I have to say this is not one of those bikes that’s going to really upset your neighbors uh if you take her out early

On a Sunday morning just got a nice Rumble to it I like it really do like this display on here they’ve done a top job on here that engine note is so lazy on here it’s uh it’s Brill very very easy bike to ride I have to say sometimes these heavy Cruisers

Can be intimidating that is not the case in this bike look my feet completely flat on the deck lovely low seat makes it very confidence inspiring as I say and very easy to ride man this is what summer should be like isn’t it absolutely superb some lovely attention to detail on the

Bike I love this bit on the tank here it says Indian Motorcycle I love the little logo here on the clamp at the top really nice job in terms of the build quality but why is it I attract Vans and trucks all the time so what is my sort of summing up on

This first ride my first impressions of the Indian sport Chief what am I likes and dislikes well let’s uh get the negatives out the way first my dislikes for me personally are The Vibes on the bike some people would describe that as character for me they’re a bit much you

Might uh find it fine but uh that’s something I’m not so keen on definitely gives it character you know you’re on a motorcycle that’s that’s fine um so Vibes are one thing that uh that I’m not keen on and then the other thing are is the braking the brakes on here aren’t

Very good again you get used to that uh so not necessarily a problem but they’re not as good as you you’d expect uh on this bike but those are the only things that I don’t like about the bike there’s plenty to love about this bike I love

The way it looks actually I think it’s unusually well it’s a very unusual design you’re going to either like it or not very personal thing I like the way it looks I love the way it goes the shoving this thunderstroke engine is just incredible these bikes are always

Always about the torque and this just puts a big grin on your face and that’s what that’s what’s important about motorcycles say I love the grin Factor on this I really love what they’ve done with the electronics on it it’s you know it’s full of upto-date tech this you

Know things like the Saab and so on um but they they displayed it in this very nice and simple way if you just want a classic look you can go with this dial which is what I like or you can have the satinav or and and you know it’s all

Tailorable I love that the switch gear is easy to use I like the way the bike sounds it’s not obnoxiously loud but it but it does sound good it’s comfortable I actually like the seating position which is again something that sometimes puts me off of Cruisers but seating position on this is

Lovely build quality is great yeah there’s a lot to like about the Indian sport Chief if you’re in the market for a big Cruiser and you fancy something like this maybe your first cruiser bike something that’s not too intimidating then uh this is definitely definitely one to consider or recommend

It to the house all right I hope you’ve enjoyed that if you’ve not been uh to the channel before don’t forget to hit that subscribe button it’d be great to have you along to the next one and uh I look forward to speaking to you soon

Until then this is p the missing and fly cherio