Part 2:
The bars are much different than on my Ultra and were strange at first, but felt good and riding position was good, more upright than I am on my Ultra. If you are a forward lean kinda rider, like I am on my Bro's Roadglide, you might not like the riding position. The bars seamed narrower than what I was used to, but again, was comfortable.
Bike has gobs of power, lots of torque and smooth as hell, almost too smooth. It's power is on par with my 110" and that's factory vs. a Stage 1 and dyno tune on my 110". While this is seat of the pants, the dyno curves on the TS111 look better than my 110" post mods. You can feel the transmission, but it doesn't clunk like a Harley and neutral was easy to find. The engine is quiet. Not the exhaust, but the engine. The valve train on my 110" is noisy as hell and overall a lot of noise from the engine that took me a while to accept as "normal". The TS111 didn't have a lot of extraneous noise, just the exhaust. That being said, the transmission had a very different sound. Very hard to explain but somewhat of a whining sound. Our Cayenne had a similar sound, it's like a rubber band wound very tight that has power just waiting to be set free. Again, hard to describe, but it is different than a Harley.
You can feel heat off the engine but not nearly as hot as my 110". It was about 86 outside and the bikes weren't allowed to cool down much before the next group of riders took them out. You really didn't feel the heat moving, it was just when stopped.
The rider controls are very different and need to get used to. But then again the 2014 HD controls with the two nipples to play with are all different as well. I thought there were a lot of controls on an Ultra, but this blows that away. I'm not crazy about the turn signals together on the left. They are self cancelling - I tried to leave them on, and they did cancel. Most of your controls are on your left with the right reserved mainly for cruise control and starting the bike. Oh, as far as starting the bike. I know many have joked about the push button start, but the push button isn't a start, but a power button. Much like our big ignition knob at the top of the forks. Starting the bike is as on any other bike, on the right. One of the things I never liked about the Vics was that the controls looked like after thoughts. Not the case with the Indians. They are all part of the same, very nicely chromed housing.
The bike feels much lighter than it really is. Both getting it off the side stand and feel of the bars. It's about the same weight as my Ultra, but feels much less. The weight is lower and think this would be a big plus for petite female riders that don't feel comfortable an E-glide or other big twin for that matter. It's also very well balanced.
The Chieftain rides in Dunlop Elite 3's. I put these on my CVO a few years back and they are awesome tires. Great traction and much better for the aggressive geezer glide rider than the one's the put as stock on the HD's without giving up black slab comfort. The tires fit well with the handling of the bike. This bike is quick into turns and very easy to hold those turns. It has a very good lean angle (don't ask me what it is, I have no clue) and is very comfortable laying it over. Yes I ride a geezer glide, but the metal scrapped from the bottoms of my floorboards can attest I like to push her limits. The Chieftain just felt even better. It is just a very nimble bike. I'm not sure how the Chief rides with the additional rake, but assume it will be different.
Overall, this is a fantastic bike. Is it a Harley, no and it's not trying to be a Harley. The fit and finish on these bikes were very good and the engine pulls like a freight train.
Some of the things I didn't like:
No optional tourpack, but was told it is coming.
No heel shifter. I use mine all the time, so I really missed that.
The placement of the side stand when up is not in a great position and found myself "looking" for it with my foot. It's like it's tucked a little too far under the transmission.
So I left and got on my bike to head home thinking could I really be happy with an Indian Chieftain, particularly stepping from a CVO Ultra? The CVO has so much "bling" and the Chieftain is just a classic looking bike. Then no sooner did I hit the Garden State Parkway, Friday traffic hit. The Parkway was a crawl and the turnpike south was a parking lot. Now this is normal, but I could start to feel my 110" heating up. She starts with the neutral light beginning to flicker, then parade mode kicks in when I sit long enough at idle and I start thinking - Oh chit, wonder if my clutch will go out AGAIN. Luckily I just had the fluids changed, so I didn't lose my clutch and was able to get her cooled down once traffic began moving again. That's when I thought, yes, I could be happy with a Chieftain.
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Topic: Info on the latest Indians (Read 26854 times)