WORDS: BORIS MIHAILOVIC
PHOTOS: INDIAN MOTORCYCLES
THE NEW
WARPATH
hat’s unapologetic hyperbole, but it’s
kinda true. Here is an entirely new
kinda bike from a factory which made
its very recent bones building traditional
cruisers for a very traditional market.
The FTR is such a departure from what
I’ve come to expect from Indian, its advent
caused social media to stop celebrating the
eating of dishwashing liquid, and to start
high-fiving itself in anticipation of the FTR’s
arrival.
Which was by no means certain.
But the wheels were certainly in motion a
few years back.
In the background, Indian was busily
beating Harley-Davidson to death on the
flat-track circuits of America with its potent
750cc dirt-weapon. But since this part of
the world doesn’t follow the US flat-track
circus all that much, many people here
would have been entirely unaware of this.
Still, images of the brutally gorgeous and
unconquerable flat-tracker were appearing
on the Internet, and lots of folks were
making “Hell, I’d buy that in a second!”
noises. Those noises are normally hard to
ignore for a bike manufacturer. But as the
worldwide motorcycle market tightened, I
couldn’t help but wonder if they would be
ignored in this instance.
Bringing something like the FTR to market
would be a huge investment for Indian.
Would it have the balls to make that
investment?
Would it fully commit to making a product
actually worthy of such an investment?
After all, if Indian was going to play in this
entirely new playground – a naked, ballsy,
corners-are-important, and “We’re Not In
Indian’s flat-track-inspired
FTR1200 has been the most
eagerly anticipated motorcycle
since the time of Christ...
Kansas Anymore, Dorothy” playground –
the FTR had to be ‘right’.
If Polaris balls’d this up… well, that eager
USA All The Way cheering would have
dwindled into a terrible silence full of
recriminations.
A lot of people were watching that space.
They can stop watching now.
Indian got the FTR damn right. And in the
process, has created an entirely unique
niche for this entirely unique bike to
occupy.
The size of Indian’s balls and commitment
cannot be questioned.
The FTR cannot be compared to another
bike, because it is entirely unlike anything I
have yet ridden.
It is not, as some would have you
believe, a tyre-frying naked sportalicious
scrambleriffic hypermotarded slayer of
KTM Superdukes, Tuono Factories, and
Triumph Scramblers.
It breathes a delightfully different air
altogether.
An entirely American air.
Will it shame itself in such exalted
company?
As always, the answer to that question is
entirely in the hands of the rider. But on
general principles, we all know that very
few people can ride the aforementioned
weapons anywhere near their limits on the
road.
The limits of the FTR1200S I rode in the
hills behind LA will appear before the
limits of the above – but then so will most
everyone else’s. Make no mistake, a good
rider on an FTR will be more than a match
for just about anything you’d care to name.
KIWI RIDER 97