A Marriage Made In Heaven Or?

 A marriage made in heaven, or another attempt to resurrect an old brand
that is destined for failure?

Has Polaris hit a home run by adding the venerable Indian brand to their
stable?  Certainly the acquisition will position them to take another
run at the class brand leader. Please don't ask who that is.

Polaris brings much more to the table than Stellican and their
predecessors could offer.  They have an established dealer network, mass
production capability and a respectable balance sheet. Their Victory
line has carved out a small but very loyal rider base, but it has not
been able to shake The Motor Company from the top of the tree.

Most are aware of the repeated attempts to establish the Indian brand.
Plagued by financial collapses and ownership changes Indian just has not
been able to gain any traction in a cautious market.

Polaris has a fine product in the Victory.  Not all are enamoured with
the styling, but you cannot argue the Freedom is a thoroughly modern
motor that serves up enough horsepower and torque to keep the cruiser
addicts satisfied.  It would be difficult to argue the Freedom is not a
demonstrably better mill than the Motor Company’s, but they have yet to
attract riders who vote with their hard earned cash for the crude and
rudimentary Harley edition.

Now the Indian brand seems to be ageless. Back when I was a young lad, I
recall hearing fables about brand new surplus Indians still in their
crates, available for ridiculously low prices. I never saw one but I
heard about them, often.  Looking back the golden age for the brand was
what, 70 or 80 years ago. Why do I feel so old? Will the cache of the
Indian brand translate into significant demand for a modern version?
Polaris seems to think so. I tend to agree.

Adding the Indian brand provides Polaris with a couple of options.  They
can continue to build brand loyalty with the Victory line. They can also
cater to the traditionalist by developing a modern Indian that respects
the heritage of the brand, while providing the creature comforts and
performance expected in today’s market.  Personally I think dropping a
Freedom into an Indian styled bike might make financial sense, but it
would do nothing to resurrect the tradition of the Indian motorcycle.

It will be interesting to see what the R&D guys and the marketing gurus
at Polaris do with the Indian.  I am looking forward to what they throw
on the showroom floor.

--
Disclaimer
Do not believe a thing I have said, unless you already know it to be
true, or can independently verify it from another source.

Reeky Ride To The Rockies
http://actualriders.ca/reekyrockies.htm

 

In looks, yes. Not in anything else. It's bigger, muffled to extinction
as standard, and doesn't have the light handling of the old Bonnie. Not
that it handles badly - it doesn't. It's just, um, different.


Indeed.


Absolutely. Actually, just to correct you slightly, Les Harris continued
to make the 750 Bonnies in Newton Abbott, south-west England, under
licence until 1988.

I tested one - a US spec model - in 1987. He'd made some remarkable and
worthwhile improvements - it was way smoother than the old Meriden
boneshakers, for a start, because (IIRC) there was a rubber bush in the
front engine mount. And the brakes were better - double disc front end.

On the debit side, the Italian rims were already starting to rust, the
thing would barely top 100mph because of the detuned engine and huge
silencers, and the rear shocks were so had they might as well have been
bolt-on steel bars.

I still loved trundling it around on a summery weekend, mind you. Until
it ran onto reserve and then precisely six miles later, ran out of fuel
altogether. But then, it wouldn't have been a true Bonnie test if I
hadn't ended up pushing it at some point.

As you say, the Indian brand is just an exercise in reviving an old
defunct brand. Like Bugatti, for example. Or, for bikes, MV and Benelli.

There's no continuity, no heritage, and anyone who thinks that there's
any link with the original Indians, beyond the name, is in cloud-cuckoo
land. I'd venture to suggest there's a bit more continuity with Triumph,
but not much.


--
BMW K1100LT  Ducati 750SS  Triumph Street Triple  Honda CB400F
Suzuki TS250  Suzuki GN250  chateaudotmurrayatidnetdotcom
Nothing damages a machine more than an ignoramus with a manual, a
can-do attitude and a set of cheap tools

 

No, Les Harris took the essential tooling as well (Bloor didn't want
it). A lot of parts were outsourced: Sebac rear shocks, Brembo brakes,
Radaelli rims, Silentium silencers, etc etc.) Les Harris had long been a
supplier of pattern parts for Triumphs, so he could get all this stuff
easily.

He had a five year licence to build the things, but all he was allowed
to build was the boneshaker 750. He told me that what he wanted to build
was the short-stroke 650cc Thunderbird, topped with the recently
developed eight-valve head (used on the TSS), but Bloor wouldn't let
him, for some reason.

 

Oh, they were, they were. Still with their own charm, though.

Harris then made the Matchless 500, using that Rotax engine. That wasn't
a very nice bike, actually. Vibrated. Nowhere near as good as Japanese
thumpers.

--
BMW K1100LT  Ducati 750SS  Triumph Street Triple  Honda CB400F
Suzuki TS250  Suzuki GN250  chateaudotmurrayatidnetdotcom
Nothing damages a machine more than an ignoramus with a manual, a
can-do attitude and a set of cheap tools

 On Jul 7, 3:50 am, totallydeadmail...@yahoo.co.uk (The Self-Styled
Expert on Cloud Cuckoos) wrote:


London, then?

 

To those of us who have owned both Hinckley and Meriden Triumphs, the
current Bonneville [and other new "throwback" Triumphs] bear very
little resemblence to the originals.   In fact, imho, Kawasaki's W650
was a MUCH better "new Bonneville" than is Triumph's in looks, size,
and initial purchase price.