INDIAN SPORT CHIEF (2023 - on) Review

Indian’s Sport Chief is a slice of American pie with an unlikely appetite for corners. For a company best known for steady-away cruisers, bobbers and tourers, that might sound far-fetched, but their racing endeavours in the States tell a different story.

They won three national championships in 2022: American Flat Track (factory FTR750), Super Hooligan (modded FTR road bike) and the King of the Baggers on the mighty Challenger RR. It’s no surprise then, that the new Sport Chief handles superbly.

The Chief range consists of traditional air-cooled V-twin cruisers powered by Indian’s 1890cc ‘Thunderstroke 116’ engine. They sit one-up from the entry-level, 1133cc Scout range. After than you’ve got baggers, tourers and flat-track inspired FTRs.

It originally appeared in 2014 when the ‘new’ Indian opened its doors for business and overhauled in 2021 to celebrate 100 years of the Chief name, with a new engine, tubular steel chassis, bodywork and luxuries like a classy circular touchscreen dash, keyless ignition, rider modes, LED lights and 12v charger port.

The Sport Chief joins the Chief Dark Horse, Chief Bobber Dark Horse and Super Chief Limited in the line-up. Designed to scratch ‘n cruise, it has new KYB upside down forks, longer travel (up from 75mm to 100mm) twin Fox shocks and Brembo radial front brake calipers. It also has motocross-style handlebars on six-inch risers, a single seat with a bum stop and nose fairing with a mid-height screen. The engine remains the same.

It's well built, classy, has a fantastic dash and works exactly as intended. It’s a characterful, grunt-laden cruiser that loves to corner. Steering is accurate, brakes are strong and there’s plenty of grip, but its lack of ground clearance quickly puts a stop to the fun.

It also has an odd, hybrid riding position that’s neither sporty nor comfortable over distance. Is it worth twenty grand? That kind of money will buy you a top spec adventure, sports, naked or touring bike, but for a machine that’s so single minded and relatively basic, the answer must be no.

Watch Neevesy's full Indian Sport Chief video review here:

With its mid-mounted foot pegs and high bars, the Sport Chief has an unnatural riding position compared to your average road bike.

With feet forward and a long stretch to the bars it takes a while to get accustomed to and never feels quite right, especially for tall riders. Wind protection from the nose fairing is pretty good, but the way you’re contorted the Indian quickly becomes a pain in the neck, back. You’ll need to be Sport Chief-shaped to cruise for more than a few hours.

At the Indian’s world launch (near Girona, end of March ’23), we tested it on all kinds of roads, including the kind of relentless twists that would send a supermoto to heaven and a cruiser to hell. Not this cruiser, though.

Weighing 311kg there’s no denying the Sport Chief is a heavy old beast, but once you attune yourself to the ebb and flow of its bulk, it’s incredibly fluid and remarkably sure-footed in corners. Even when you grab it by the horns, there are never any heart-in-the-mouth moments.

Front and rear brakes are powerful and reassuring, suspension is controlled and the Indian tips obediently into an apex with a light but satisfying push of the inside bar.

Pirelli Night Dragon tyres offer superb grip and being forced into the tarmac so hard by all that weight, you can take liberties on the way into corners. And despite making 19lb-ft more than a supercharged Kawasaki H2 SX, there’s never a lack of grip on the way out, either. The Sport Chief doesn’t have traction control, but in the dry at least, it doesn’t need it.

However, there’s a but and that’s its limited ground clearance. Indian claims the extra rear suspension travel frees up and extra degree of lean to 29.5 degrees, but it’s not enough.

On an ultra-twisty road, you need to throw the top half of your body off the side of the bike, like Maverick Vinales to keep the pegs off the floor. The challenge quickly becomes figuring out a way to corner, scrape-free. That’s a shame because the Sport Chief always has a lot more to give.

As is the way with American cruiser makers, Indian are staying tight-lipped on power figures for its 1890cc ‘Thunderstroke 116’ engine (we reckon around 90bhp), but their claimed 120lb-ft@3200rpm torque figure is impressive.

With so much grunt on tap at such low revs, you never need to work the engine hard to get a move on.

It delivers the kind of thrust that will spin the rear tyre from a getaway with a dab of clutch, but its deep, grumbling power delivery is smooth and refined in all three of its rider modes.

Its six-speed gearbox is precise, too, but works best when it’s not being rushed. That said, it barely needs to be troubled once you’re moving.

Indian has forged a reputation for excellent build quality and reliability, which accounts for the brand’s popularity.

They’ve almost doubled their sales outside of the US since 2017. The current Chief range has only been around for a couple of years, but there are no reports of major problems.

In terms of the tech and performance you get for your money the Chief Sport doesn’t seem like great value, but the price is on par with its major rival: Harley Davidson’s £19,395 Low Rider S.

The Chief Sport’s multi-function 4in round touchscreen, Bluetooth display is one of the neatest looking around. It also comes with keyless ignition, rider modes, ABS, LED lights, a 12v charger port, Brembos, Fox shocks and KYB forks.