#RoadTest: Indian Motorcycles all-new Scout Australasian launch

This month Indian Motorcycles launched the much hyped all-new Scout, a bike with a strong connection to New Zealand thanks to the record setting antics of the legendary, Burt Munro. The Scout has been hyped and applauded frequently since its official launch at the Sturgis Motorcycle rally in the US earlier this year. But does it live up to all that hype?

Short story, I think it more than matches its own hype, but not without a couple of small criticisms.
The Australasian launch of the Scout took place just South of Auckland on the wild west coast off Waiuku. After the obligatory presentation covering everything from the huge range of possible accessories for the Scout to the rest of the 2015 Indian range we headed off on a loop around the Hunua ranges, which also happens to be one of my favourite stomping grounds.

The Scout at once proved that it definitely meets the design criteria of a low, light and easy to handle bike.  Aided by a low seat height of just 635mm it really is a confidence inspiring package that makes it not only easy to cruise on but plenty of fun on Kiwi back roads when the right tightens.

When it came to our day long press ride I went into it with the idea that I would have to follow the ‘slow in, fast out’ mantra but that went out the window as soon as we hit the first corner. You see, the Scout has the ability to lean up to 31 degrees before the forward controls touch down, a full 5 degrees more than the bike which Indian used as the class benchmark. This means that during our circumnavigation of the Hunua ranges the Scout was more than capable of holding speed through the many, many corners in the ranges. The Scout will of course touch down but the length of the bike means it is very stable and I never felt like I was in trouble despite my lack of experience with touching down the pegs in normal conditions.

The 1133cc 60 degree engine in the Scout is an all new unit. At a casual glance you’d be forgiven at thinking it was an oil or air cooled unit thanks to the clever design of the all aluminium frame which thanks to the thick forward section the radiator is invisible. As a result the Scout’s engine puts out a healthy 74.7Kw and 97.7Nm of torque which when matched with the Scout’s low weight of 253kg fully fueled really makes the Scout boogie.

That all aluminium frame while being a strong contributor in the act of bringing the Scout’s weight down, is also a nod to the past. Indian Motorcycles pride themselves on following the past glories of the company while looking to the future and in the Scout’s case, the rigid triangle of the frame mimics that of the scouts of old, while using modern materials and design to give the bike a modern feel. As a result the silhouette of the Scout is very similar to its ancestors of the early 20th Century.

After a full day of riding the Scout around the Hunua Ranges and through South Auckland the only real criticism I had for the Scout was the huge high profile tyres. Like most bikes that exit the factory, the tyres the Scout comes with let the Scout down. On our ride when the roads started to get wet it was very easy to lose confidence in them as they started to wiggle and slip on the smoother sections of road. At one point when I changed gear from 3rd to 4th the bike hit one of the many patches of seal which had been worn down to just the tar, the result was the bike swinging wildly from right to left before settling itself, amazingly with very little input on my part thanks to the stability generated by the Scout’s long 1562mm wheelbase. The experience did however have me reigning in my enthusiastic riding and sticking with the slower pack of riders to keep myself out of trouble in an area where phone reception was at a minimum.

The Scout is also backed by a huge range of accessories that is far to expansive to go into here and is best viewed in its entirety online at the Indian website (http://www.indianmotorcycle.com/en-nz/) . Major accessories include saddle bags, pillion seat,  touring screens and extended reach handlebars and were fitted to one of the bikes in the launch fleet. When asked if I wanted to ride said bike I politely said ‘’no thanks” as I much preferred the Thunder Smoke Black bike I was on (and secretly felt I was much too young to ride the decked out tourer).

If I was in the position to buy the new Scout, which at a low $19,995 asking price is quite attainable, I would be swapping those tyres to something more suitable to the Kiwi climate and putting them aside for the future as they’re branded with the Indian logo after all and that makes them worth holding onto. Other than the addition of the pillion kit I’d be more than happy to be riding the Scout. Either as a weekend cruiser or daily commuter, the Scout has got quite a wide range of abilities hidden behind the cruiser visage.




FAST FACTS:
ENGINE: 1133cc DOHC 4-valve V-Twin
POWER: 74.7 Kw / 97.7Nm & 5900rpm
FUEL CAPACITY: 12 litres
SEAT HEIGHT: 635mm
PRICE: $19,995 +orc