The 2020 Indian Challenger
Close your eyes. Imagine a motorcycle with Brembo brakes the size of dinner plates, inverted front forks, 122 screaming horses, 128 pounds of twist, liquid cooling, 4 valves per cylinder, overhead cams, lean angle traction control, and LED lighting. Did you imagine a sport bike? Me too. I’m listing the specifications of the all-new 2020 Indian Motorcycle Challenger, the most powerful bagger ever to wear number plates.
Here are my initial impressions with the all new 2020 Indian Challenger. Most people gravitate towards the all-new Powerplus 108 cubic inch Vtwin. It’s liquid-cooled, overhead cam, and sexy as hell. I get it. But the devils in the details. The new transmission houses a slipper clutch with assistance. Powerful bikes used to be a torturous affair on the left hand but Indian Motorcycle designed a great modulating unit that can put the power down. But Indian Motorcycle did much more than stick a new engine on a fixed fairing Chieftain and call it a day. The Indian Challenger rides on an all-new cast aluminum frame, completely new suspension front and rear, bodywork, gas tank, etc.
Let us start from the front and work our way back. The new front fender houses a brilliant war bonnet that pays tribute to the Indian Motorcycle war bonnets of yesteryear. It’s sleek, gorgeous, and has an eye-catching LED strip down the middle. Then we go to the brakes. They’re dual discs Brembos lifted straight off the FTR 1200. Enough said. The forks are inverted because that’s what the fastest bikes on the planet use.
The new Indian Challenger frame-mounted fairing houses a gorgeous LED Pathfinder headlight in the center with sharp daytime running lights and turn signals either side of it. Adjustable vents also allow the right amount of air through. Just behind the fairing is the legendary power-adjustable windshield and Indian Motorcycle Ride Command system. This bike uses a quad-core processor instead of the older dual-core for even faster response and processing. I thought the wind protection was much better vertically than the Chieftain fairings. I searched for tornados to really test the limits of the fairing but being in California, they were nonexistent. On-bike tech isn’t the only new thing. The key is now redesigned to be slim and pocketable. It’s sleek with a hidden slot for your saddle bag keys. Don’t worry, they’re still one-touch power locking on the Limited and Dark Horse models. This is just so if the battery dies, you can still reach your essentials in the waterproof saddle bags.
The Indian Challenger used a new gas tank houses 6.0 gallons of flammable dinosaurs. That’s 0.3 more than the existing heavyweight lineup to give you more miles between stops. The design is familiar Indian Scout which is fitting given the Challenger’s performance. The gas cap is power locking. Fumbling between keys is a thing of the past. The frame is all-new and lighter. I mean seriously light. More about that later. The new rear shock is hydraulic instead of the air unit of older models. Still designed by Fox Racing. This means it’s more predictable and adjustments are a peach. Throw away the old air pump. This hydraulic shock only requires a few twists of a knob to adjust. There is also an extra inch of suspension travel. You’ll be glad the next time you hit a pothole. What man doesn’t want an extra inch? The rear fender is now exposed. When the hard bags are off, rear wheel adjustments are a breeze.
So enough of this spec-sheet stuff. What is the Indian Challenger like to actually ride? Incredible. The clutch and throttle modulation are as easy as the Indian Scouts. Great feel, ton of torque to not bog, and not intimidating at all. The feather clutch makes it incredibly easy to modulate the throttle between slow-speed maneuvers. It might be a combination of the new lighter frame or the fact that the steering is considerably lighter than the Chieftain but this was by far the least intimidating big bike I have ever ridden.
Then the road straightens. I pin the throttle and see the speedo climb to Mach 5. The power seems endless. Where most big Vtwins lose their breath half-way up the rev range, the Powerplus just pulls and pulls until fear makes you relax a bit on the throttle. I had to convince myself that this was a completely untouched engine. There was no special exhaust, intake, cams, flux capacitors, rocket fuel, nothing! 122 horsepower was the least amount they can wring out of her. The fairing was a work of art on its own. The tachometer and speedometer are much higher than on the Chieftain fairing which made glancing much easier.
The Indian Challenger suspension was a noticeable improvement over the outgoing Indian Motorcycle heavyweights which are already industry-leading. I’m sorry I didn’t find a canyon to jump to really push the suspension but the normal everyday California road highlighted some of the improvements. The old suspension was fantastic; the new stuff is better. The front forks felt stiffer than the other Heavyweight lineup and the new rear Fox Racing mono-shock helped the tires grip the road. Indian Motorcycle designed this bike to gobble up straight roads and surprise people around corners. The floorboards are much taller than the existing heavyweights to give it class-leading ground clearance. Traction control is standard on all models. Bosch super-intelligent electronics are standard on the Limited and Dark Horse models. This brain monitors the lean angle, pitch, and speed to help keep your wheels on the pavement when you reach the bike’s limit. I was fortunate enough to meet the engineers of this system during my ride. They encouraged me to really abuse the system and try to upset the bike. My gentlemen parts aren’t made of steel, so I’ll just trust him on that. Let's just say I pushed the bike a lot more than I’m comfortable with and the Challenger told me “that’s all you got?”.
There are no excuses for this motorcycle. There isn’t a “well it’s pretty good for a…” or “with all things considered…”. The new Indian Motorcycle Challenger raised the bar and kept climbing until it becomes a danger to airplanes. I encourage you to ride one and not walk away impressed. I dare you.
