Indian Scout review, test ride

Bold by design

The Scout may be one of the oldest and most storied nameplates in Indian’s history, but the born again brand has no inhibitions about embracing the 21st century. The Scout’s look is cruiser-like but look closely, and you can see the modern engineering underneath. For instance, the cast alloy chassis is light, and the front end cleverly integrates the radiator at the front. With the engine as a stressed member, the rear cast alloy sub-frame is also hard mounted on the engine. The engine is another bold step forward. Firstly, it is liquid-cooled, not partially, but completely. Secondly, it uses dual over-head camshafts with 4-valves per cylinder. Indian claims that this 1133cc 60 degree V-twin makes 100bhp. Sounds plenty enough!

Scouting for Action

On the winding roads around Auckland, we tested the Scout in a variety of conditions from fast motorways, bumpy B-roads, and snaking hill roads too. The Scout’s motor lived up to its promise, delivering plenty of torque over a wide rev range. We were chugging along at 100kph in sixth, with the digital rev-counter showing about 3300rpm. Only the lightest hint of throttle would send it scurrying ahead. The response was so peppy that a taller sixth gear would amplify its cruiser credentials without giving up on rideability.  

The spread of torque is such that you could spend all day in the higher three gears without a problem. While low-end response is nothing to complain about, the pace jumps once past 3000rpm. The counter balanced engine will rev strongly to 8400rpm, but there are a fair bit of vibrations when revved up. But, revving the engine up will rarely be required on this torque laden engine. While the gearshifts aren’t troublesome, shift quality isn’t the smoothest around. What was a bit of a dampener on our ride was the slightly iffy fueling on our test bike, which was evident on a few other test bikes on offer. The engine felt a bit snatchy when prodded by mild off-on throttle inputs as I adjusted speed to the traffic ahead. Since these are pre-production bikes, I guess these issues are expected to be ironed out before it goes on sale.