Indian to challenge Harley’s Road Glide?

Indian Motorcycle looks like it could be throwing down a challenge to Harley-Davidson’s popular Road Glide tourer with a fixed-fairing model.

A reader whose name has been withheld has provided us with these spy photos showing a heavily disguised Indian.

The fairing is quite obviously fixed to the frame, rather than the forks.

On the Road Glide it makes the steering lighter and provides more highway stability with less turbulence-induced weave.

It’s also quite big and ugly!

“I think this is the HD Road Glide killer,” the reader says.

New engine?

The images also show what looks like a different engine to the current 111ci Thunderstroke.

Our reader who supplied the photos believes it’s a quad-valve water-cooled engine which was originally developed as the Victory Freedom V2 engine before Polaris axed the brand.

“I believe the engine capacity is less than 111ci but has more power/torque,” he says.

“There is a rumour that this bike is smaller and lighter than the Thunderstroke bikes.”

The images also show twin Brembo brakes and an adjustable windshield.

Challenge

The bike to challenge the Road Glide could be called the Challenger which is a name Indian recently trademarked.

The company also trademarked Raven in December and Renegade in January.

The spate of trademark filings in the US and Europe have got the industry buzzing about a possible model assault from a company which has been fairly steady in its lineup for a few years.

This is in stark contrast to their American colleagues, Harley-Davidson, who are on a plan to release 100 new models in 10 years, including electric bikes and an adventure bike.

Could Indian also be considering an electric or something totally out of the box like Harley’s Pan America adventure bike?

The trademarks are for the names Indian Raven, Indian Renegade and Indian Challenger for use on “motorcycles and structural parts therefor” plus “clothing namely shirts, jackets, hats and gloves”.

The use of the name “Indian Challenger” is probably to avoid any trademark infringement on the Dodge Challenger pony car.