But it is a good, solid bike that is easy to ride and puts you in the mood to enjoy a leisurely cruise around the city or a long day on a two-lane highway. The Spirit is not a hot rod, it's not a technological marvel, and it's not flashy. But with its 626 pounds of dry weight, it's better to use both. Stopping the Spirit can be accomplished with just the front brake. The chassis is responsive enough to make quick in-traffic maneuvers as necessary, but it prefers just moving along at the posted pace. You can run the 88 into high rpm and beat most cars away from a traffic light, but why? The Spirit takes you back in time to a more relaxed period when just being on a bike was all that mattered. Like we said earlier, the Spirit is at its best when cruising.
While the Spirit feels smaller than the Chief, it is still not a petite bike, so those of longer leg and arm will find it most comfortable. The bars are wide - almost too wide - and let you sit in a relaxed position when you kick your feet out on the forward-positioned floorboards. The seat on the Spirit is built in-house at Indian and features a nice passenger pad and a lot of fringe. Inside the dash you'll find a VDO speedometer with a trip meter and indicator lights. A set of new 5.8-gallon tanks with a full-length dash rides high above the frame. A proprietary design Indian outer primary covers a wet chain and clutch assembly.ĭressing up the Spirit are Indian-themed fenders that are a little more stout than the Scout's, but significantly smaller than the Chief. The motor and five-speed transmission are finished in a gloss-black treatment that looks rich and luxurious against the chrome covers and trim pieces. It is a worthwhile change once you get past the break-in mileage. The 3.625x4.25-inch motor produces plenty of useable torque in stock configuration, but we know firsthand that an ignition, cam, and pipe swap can add as much as 20 hp and 25 lb-ft of torque. The Spirit shares the common powerplant that all Indians use - until the 100ci Chief motor is released this year - an 88ci Evolution-style motor built by S&S. Both wheels are equipped with Indian rotors and multi-piston billet calipers. A pair of 16x3.5-inch spoke wheels rides fore and aft, wrapped up in Maxxis wide whitewall tires (the standard Spirit has blackwalls). A newly reinforced swing arm adds chassis rigidity and connects to a pair of nitrogen-charged shocks with adjustable preload in the rear. For our test, we chose the Spirit Deluxe ($18,995) with whitewalls and two-tone paint instead of the Standard ($17,995).īased on the single downtube Indian frame, the Spirit has 32 degrees of rake in the neck and wears a set of billet aluminum Indian trees to hold its 41mm fork legs in place. A little dressier and more stylish than its little brother the Scout, and a bit smaller in stature and mass than its big brother the Chief, the Spirit is a riding machine. The Spirit is a middle-of-the-road bike that sits right in the middle of the Indian lineup. It will remind you why you started riding V-Twins in the first place: to cruise around and have fun. Putting a Spirit in your driveway won't put a swagger in your walk or send you searching for a new wardrobe with a lot of black leather accessories. You can also find some genuinely clean, simply styled machines that don't want to leave 100-foot patches of rubber on the road and would rather spend their time cruising down the street in comfort and traditional style - such as the Indian Spirit. When searching for a new American motorcycle, you will come across bikes with tires bigger than some cars, motors powerful enough to break most national speed limits before the end of Second gear, and radical styling that rivals machines on the show circuit.
Other times you just want a nice refreshing bowl of vanilla. Sometimes you want the five-scoop monster sundae with flavor names that make Ben & Jerry's seem tame. Motorcycling is a personal taste, much like ice cream.
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