I have had absolutely no issues with Indian under warranty with my most serious one being my rear shock kept losing pressure over a two week period. Turned out not to be a Schrader valve issue, but that it was leaking fluid from the FOX racing shock. Replaced at my 5k service. BTW, that was 13,000 miles ago and no issues since.

The Victory thing is a different story, but they learned from those mistakes over the 18 years and have no desire to alienate their customer base and really do care about the rider's experience. Most times the issues folks have is from a dealer not following up as well as they should.

And the other thing is, Indian will not deny your warranty claim for aftermarket pipes, air cleaners, or custom tunes unless they see your custom tune is completely out of whack. And if Indian does have a real world issue they don't ignore it. They figure it out and fix it. The three big ones were the early clacking, which is frankly overrated. The parasitic draw on the battery when the "Ride Command" system came out, and the 116 BBKv.2 change to the stronger rods to handle the upgraded cams, tunes, pipes, Air cleaners, catless setups etc. In general, the original BBK with the original rods could handle the kit fine with the factory tune and factory accessories.

My only complaint on any of those issues is that it takes Indian awhile to make the fix, but I assume that is so they have time to really, truly test it, put a plan in play, manufacture the parts, and get it out to the dealers.

My personal opinion and I think it is smart is that they follow all the mods folks do to their bikes and incorporate those ideas or changes into the minute design upgrades each year. For instance, the 3 ride modes were likely developed for a factory version based on all the PCVX mod work done by riders and especially by Dynojet and Fuelmoto...

 

I watched it and TOTAL BS

Is the Indian a nice bike, probably. Is it UGLY, "YES" in my opinion.

Will it make a Harley CVO look like it is tied to a stump, I seriously doubt it.

That is one brand of bike I don't even care to test ride.

 

Useless video. There are plenty of folks here who own both brands who's opinions carry far more weight. I owned a Chieftain for three years and now ride a SGS, both great bikes in different ways and I wouldn't have a problem owning either. Buy and ride what you like.

 

Amazing how many are willing to give Polaris a pass on screwing people over with Victory. You wait and see they will do the same with Indian. They do it now with many of their off road ATVs. yes I have one and seen it first hand. Son in law has one first week he had it fell apart and blew engine. Polaris " they are not meant of off hard surface use.. Say what?

 

Yeah - "say what?"... they say that an all terrain vehicle should stay on hard-pack? WTF? WTFF???

 

Son in laws brand new Commander got water in the in take. It was not even half way up the wheels.. It has happen to many of them Polaris in take piping leaks. Of course they sell a kit to fix it. No warranty. Not meant to get wet ?My brand new 500 Sportsman never ran right from the first day. Polaris " tune problems are not covered under warranty" Refer to owners manual. Another dealer explained the carb is set way to lean and the only way to fix it is Drill the plug and add fuel. Witch by the way voids warranty and cost $200.
Remember when they shut Victory down. They were sell new bikes that day as if they would be around for a long time. Lot of buyers got screwed. New bikes lost over half their value before they got home..

 

My buddy who owns a Honda VTX1800, is dying to buy a made in USA Cruiser. He test road an Indian Chieftain Darkhorse, and a Harley Streetglide. In his opinion the Darkhorse is a much better bike. We went to the Harley museum this summer and was all pumped up to get a Harley after seeing all the history there. That was until he road the Chieftain. I guess I need to try on and see what he is talking about.

 

What it boils down to is: Get what YOU want, not what someone else tells you you should have.

 

Short answer is yes. I personally would never own one as I do not like the looks, but owned Polaris products and they are built well and last.

 

So you are saying Indians have more power than Harleys???