Indian Roadmaster review, test ride

As the highway stretches into the distance, hot gusts of wind sweep its length. Unbothered, I sit behind the large windscreen of Indian’s new Roadmaster, and the wide and plush saddle makes me look forward to the journey ahead. To make things even more agreeable, the torquey motor plays all the right notes without a hint of vibration from the ’bars, pegs or seat, even at 120kph. The Indian Roadmaster is, in American speak, a full dresser. That is, it’s dressed up with all the kit to go touring, such as wind protection, comfy seats and ergos and of course, panniers. This type of oversized and overweight motorcycle isn’t ideal for touring in India, but as I experienced, it has a flavour that’s just hard to ignore.

Touring masterclass

The Indian Roadmaster is the embodiment of the typical American highway tourer. It gets the typical massive touring kit that you see on bikes such as the Harley-Davidson Electra Glide. The Roadmaster has been built on the same platform as the Indian Chieftain. So, while it carries over the chassis and engine, it also packs in a lot of extras for its touring role. Apart from the extremely relaxed highway-style handlebars and wide, comfortable rider’s seat, the bike gets massive storage options. These include hard panniers on either side and a gargantuan trunk at the back which can easily swallow two full-face helmets whole. And the best part is that all three of these boxes are remote lockable, from both a button on the fuel tank or the key fob. There are also a couple of boxes right over the front crash bars which extend downward along the bars, and do an excellent job of protecting your legs and feet from the elements. All combined, including all the little storage spaces in the vast front fairing and under the seats, you’re looking at about 140 litres of weather-proof luggage capacity. That’s almost the same as three average aircraft cabin permissible bags. The trunk also doubles up as an immense backrest for the pillion, and the luxurious rear seat also gets arm rests. The enormous electrically adjustable windshield on the front fairing rounds out the complete touring package. Now if you’ve noticed, I have used a lot of synonyms for the word ‘large’ in the preceding text. Well, that’s because the Roadmaster is one of the biggest bikes you can buy today.