Riding Indian’s new 2002 Chief Deluxe

This is one stylish machine. Those big, fully valanced fenders are just the beginning, and anybody who understands the importance of the storied Indian name will think back to those last-of-the-old Chiefs, with the similar mudguards. Those old enough to remember the start of the Korean War, Ike’s election, or The Wild One appearing at the local movie theater may well be cheered by the sight of this anachronistic beauty.

The looks and the name are the key ingredients in the success of this model. The third issue, performance, is strictly tertiary. Do not get me wrong—the Chief works fine, with a good engine and a good chassis, but that is not why buyers are going to lay out the cash. More performance is available for less money elsewhere in the marketplace, but you cannot get the scripted Indian writ large on the gas tanks—two separate tanks, with two separate fillers, and a connecting hose in between. Just like the old days.

Reach down below your left lower cheek, turn the key, the little red and green lights on the tank-mounted dash sparkle, push the starter button, and that is one big, honking engine that fires up. The Powerplus 100 engine of the new Indian Chief is the latest addition to the growing list of seriously large OEM V-twin power plants—this one is 100 cubic inches, a “perfect score” figure that the marketing fellows love. Or 1,639 cubic centimeters for you metric folks.

Just as a reminder, the last proprietary Indian engine on the market was the 42-degree, 80-inch flathead twin that powered Chiefs from 1950 through 1953, when the Indian marque effectively died. Now, half a century later, the new (since 1998) Indian Motorcycle Corp. is betting that they can bring the broken brand back to its former glory.

Three years ago the company began with several models, including a Chief, that were, as the impolite say, Harley clones, based upon S&S engines not too different from those anyone could buy off the shelf. However, management realized that for the company to succeed it had to come up with a genuinely Indian motorcycle: to wit, the new Chief. IMC will continue to offer S&S-based models for a while at least, but the Chief is the new top-line machine.

To build a motorcycle you need running gear and a drive train. With the help of computers, a new frame was designed from scratch, utilizing a box-section backbone, single front down tube and cradle base. Two wide vertical sections at the back hold the pivots for the hefty swing arm. Beneath the seat a single German-made KW shock, with preload adjustment, controls the rear suspension, with a little more than 4 inches of travel.

The 41mm fork, made to Indian specs by an outside supplier, has more than 5 inches of travel and is kicked out with a rake of 34 degrees, giving a trail of 5.9 inches—very stable on the freeway. The 16-inch, 60-spoke wheels are assembled in-house, with MT90 (130/90 in more modern terms) Maxxis whitewall tires fitted. An 11.5-inch brake disc is attached to each hub, squeezed by a four-piston Brembo caliper.

The air-cooled OHV engine, with two hydraulically adjusted valves per cylinder, is loosely based on the tried-and-true Harley 45-degree, single-cam design, but the look is singularly New Indian. The design team has created a recognizable new roundness to the cylinders, heads and billet rocker covers. Dry sump lubrication is enhanced by a new Ge rotor pump, which ensures a suitable supply of oil at all times.

The old Indian had a Linkert carburetor on the left side of the cylinders, so the new Chief’s Mikuni 32mm flat-slide is also left-mounted. A manual choke is on the right, quite useful when starting on a 30-degree morning—motorcycle testing is not always a pleasure. A large, two-piece air-cleaner cover is a result of the EPA requirements to minimize air pollution. With the restrictions getting so restrictive, one could safely presume that fuel-injection is not too far off in the Indian’s future. The Chief has a gravity, not a vacuum, petcock, a touch of tradition.

Fuel mixture goes through a big intake valve almost 2 inches in diameter (1.94), gets compressed, and exits through a 1.6-inch exhaust valve and header pipe and into a Super trap muffler that meets the 80-decibel requirements. It is probably safe to prophecy that there will soon be an after market in carburetors, air cleaners and exhaust systems, as an engine like this can have the power boosted by 20 percent with relatively little effort—for off-road use only, of course.

Power goes out through the double-row primary, through the proprietary clutch, the five-speed offshore-built (Korea) gearbox, and out the left side with a belt final drive.

Throw a leg over the 28.5-inch-high saddle, grab the three-foot-wide bars, and stand the bike up. Right away the rider understands that this is truly a manly machine, because pulling those 700-plus pounds up off the side stand is not the job for a featherweight rider.

Pull in the clutch, which requires a strong hand, put the tranny in first, and move away easily. We have no official power specs on the Powerplus 100, and our two-day session with the bike near the Gilroy, California, factory did not allow us to get any dyno figures. Torque figures would be of primary note, and the seat of my jeans told me that lots of pounds-feet are twisting that rear axle. The gearbox is satisfyingly chunky, none of this soft-toed snickerdoodle stuff, with lots of power in any gear; the engine can be lugged down in third or fourth and still accelerate cheerfully and forcefully.

The seating seemed quite comfortable, although the airbox does intrude on the left knee. Since we were stopping at least once an hour for photos, I do not have a long-distance appreciation. This is a cruising bike, for country or city cruising; profile down Main Street at 25 mph, or the freeway at 70, you feel like you are chief of the world.

Any rider partial to twisting roads will find that the handling is quite good, by cruiser standards, with a good deal of cornering clearance. The front brake on the Deluxe seemed a tad weak, but I would attribute that to possible glazing of the pads, as the identical brake on another Chief worked quite well.

Will this Indian Chief appeal to the cruising rider? Only time and sales will tell. One thing is for sure—Indian has ceased to be solely a clone maker and officially entered the realm of the Original Equipment Manufacturer—again.