Who Makes The Best West Coast Performance Cruiser, Harley-Davidson or Indian?

Cycle World

Harley-Davidson’s Low Rider S and Indian Motorcycle’s Sport Chief are each manufacturer’s take on the West Coast scene, but which is best? We grabbed the keys to the pair of performance cruisers and went for a ride to find out, with a quick stop at the 2024 Born-Free Show.   Check out the story at https://www.cycleworld.com/motorcycle-reviews/harley-davidson-low-rider-s-vs-indian-sport-chief-comparison-test/   Subscribe to Cycle World Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/c/cycleworld?sub_confirmation=1  Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6CLI74xvMBFLDOC1tQaCOQ  Read more from Cycle World: https://www.cycleworld.com/  Buy Cycle World Merch: https://teespring.com/stores/cycleworld

Transcript

00:00Welcome to sunny Southern California where today we're going to be doing a

00:04little comparison between two of the most performance oriented big twin

00:09cruisers in Indian and Harley-Davidson's lineup. Now in this corner we've got the

00:13all-new Indian Sport Chief and over there we've got Harley-Davidson's iconic

00:18Lowrider S. These bikes are inspired by West Coast Club styling, a subculture of

00:23the cruiser category that originated right here in Southern California. What

00:28that entails is tall suspension, a tall moto style handlebar, and some additional

00:33styling cues that give it that old-school Dyna look. Now Harley-Davidson

00:38has been a driving force in this space for years but Indian wants a piece of

00:42that pie and they're doing that with this, the 2024 Sport Chief, a bike that is

00:48very clearly designed as a direct competitor for that Lowrider S. Now today

00:53we're gonna find out did Indian build a better performance cruiser than

00:57Harley-Davidson? How we're gonna do that is by riding through the city, cruising

01:02up the coast, carving some canyon back roads, before eventually making it to

01:07Born Free, the mecca of custom cruiser culture.

01:20Now there's been a lot of talk about this motorcycle in recent years but if

01:25you haven't been following along with those updates let's get you a quick

01:28little overview of the Lowrider S and some of the main features. The big story

01:33here is that Harley-Davidson reintroduced the Lowrider S to its Dyna

01:37lineup in 2016 and carried that through until 2017. Unfortunately they killed the

01:43Dyna in 2018. Sad times for a lot of Harley folks. Fortunately the Lowrider S

01:50was reintroduced to the Softail platform in 2020. Now the big difference here in

01:55that Softail platform, outside of frame changes and things like that, is that

01:59you're gonna have the shock hidden underneath the seat versus your twin

02:02outboard shocks on the old Dyna models. There was another update for the

02:06Lowrider S platform in 2022. That is when Harley-Davidson outfitted this bike

02:12with its Milwaukee 8 117 engine as well as some other small changes like a new

02:17display setup. We did put this bike up on our Dyno. It made 93 horsepower and a

02:23hundred and fourteen foot pounds of torque. We also weighed the bike. It

02:27weighed in at 678 pounds with a full tank of fuel. This is again a West Coast

02:34Club inspired motorcycle which means you are going to get a lot of different

02:37styling treatments like this little speed fairing here. You've got four inch

02:42risers and a moto style handlebar. You've got this solo seat out back here and

02:46blacked out treatments across this thing matched with mid controls. Suspension is

02:52obviously a big talking point and here you are getting a 43 millimeter inverted

02:57fork with triple rate springs and 5.1 inches of travel. Out back you've got

03:034.4 inches of travel. That's going to increase ground clearance and make this

03:07a more sporty motorcycle than some of the standard models elsewhere in

03:11Harley-Davidson's lineup. A couple other things to consider is that on this bike

03:15you are getting traction control and a keyless ignition. Mind you that all does

03:19come for the very low price of $20,000 plus a few hundred dollars depending on

03:25paint. The history of the Sport Chief is not nearly as complex as the Lowrider S.

03:30It started in 2022 when Indian completely overhauled their Chief lineup

03:35which included the Chief, the Chief Bobber, and the Super Chief to make it

03:40more minimal and visually lighter. A year later in 2023 they felt there was

03:45still something missing and that's when they came out with their performance

03:49cruiser the Indian Sport Chief. Let's jump into some of the features of this

03:54bike. Starting off with the power plant this is a 116 cubic inch air-cooled V

03:59twin. It made 74 horsepower and 105 pound-feet of torque on the Cycleworld

04:05Dyno while weighing 687 pounds on our automotive scales. West Coast Club

04:11styling here gets you a quarter fairing with a tall windscreen, a 6-inch bar

04:17riser, a tall back seat, mid controls, and of course all this blacked-out finishing.

04:23More importantly a 43 millimeter inverted KYB fork offering 5.1 inches

04:28of travel. Out back you get Fox piggyback shocks offering 4 inches of travel and

04:34upgraded Brembo brakes. In terms of electronics the difference here over the

04:39Lowrider S is that the Sport Chief gets a 4-inch touchscreen display powered by

04:44Ride Command. You also have three ride modes Sport, Standard, and Tour and

04:49pricing starts at $20,000. The model shown here that we're testing is $20,500.

05:04Three, two, one. That folks is the look and sound of Alpinestars new Tech Air 3

05:13canvas airbag vest. I know it might not have looked like it but this is a

05:17wearable airbag system. You have full coverage on the chest, shoulders, and full

05:23coverage on the back. Look at that protection when this vest is deployed.

05:27This and the Tech Air 3 leather counterpart are the latest addition to

05:32Alpinestars lineup of wearable airbag systems which bring MotoGP developed

05:37crash protection technology to the stylish street rider as evidenced by

05:41Evan here. Alpinestars crash detection algorithm has been developed with

05:45millions of miles of riding data and crash data allowing the system to assess

05:50when to deploy the airbag ahead of the impact or a crash. The airbag inflates in

05:55milliseconds reducing up to 95% of the impact energy in the covered areas. The

06:01system is completely self-contained in the vest. Six integrated sensors provide

06:06crash monitoring performance in a variety of riding situations even when

06:11stopped. Style, convenience, and customization are key. The discrete

06:16design means no one will ever know you're wearing an airbag vest. The Tech

06:20Air 3 canvas and leathers elasticated side panels not only help the system

06:25accommodate many rider shapes and body sizes but also assist with the airbag

06:30inflation during deployment. Plus it has six pockets including one dedicated to

06:35your sunglasses. A fully charged battery provides 40 hours of active ride time

06:40and pretty neat there are openings to allow customization of your vest with

06:45patches and embroidery. In the case that you do have an incident and the airbag

06:49discharges the vest can be sent to a certified Tech Air service center for

06:54new gas inflator canister. We should also mention that while I'm wearing the vest

06:58outside of my riding jacket, Alpinestars specifically designed the Tech Air 3

07:02leather and canvas to be worn over or under your motorcycle jacket making it a

07:08practical choice for riders looking for a little extra style that fits their

07:12vibe with a discrete airbag functionality. This includes riders

07:15regardless of what kind of motorcycle you own. The style of riding that this is

07:19designed for is mostly commuting, street riding, and touring. The vest is available

07:24in extra small to 4XL sizes with pricing starting at $650 for the canvas

07:30option and $750 for the leather option. Now our lovable Evan here is 5'7", 120

07:38pounds and he is wearing a size small. I am 6'3", 200 pounds and I wear a size

07:44extra large. Now as for that 4XL option it accommodates chest size up to 61

07:50inches for those of you that aren't Evan sized. If you're interested in

07:55learning more about the Tech Air 3 canvas or Tech Air 3 leather head over

07:59to alpinestars.com and as always thank you Alpinestars for sponsoring this

08:04video. Alright well the first off I'll say I am pretty happy to get out of all

08:10the chaos that we were just in and yeah what'd you think what'd you think of the

08:14old sport chief there bud? First impression ride through the city is that

08:20this thing's hard to meter up through the town and up to a stoplight and away

08:25from a stoplight because the throttle by wire system is not very smooth and

08:29direct. On top of that this clutch doesn't have a lot of feel so when

08:33you're pulling away from a stoplight or a stop sign it's just hard to kind of

08:37get off the line with the combination of the vague throttle delivery and the

08:42lack of feel in the clutch lever. Yeah you always like sound like a hooligan

08:46because you're like trying to rev it up to get through that initial part of that

08:49slop in the in the ride bow wire and accelerating through that. The other

08:53hand you've got this Harley which is really smooth actually it feels really

08:57refined. It's funny because I think coming into this I don't know why for

09:01some reason I I almost thought that the Harley was gonna feel a little bit more

09:04rough around the edges. The throttle connection is great the pickup off the

09:08bottom you know the engine it's it's really enjoy what smooth it's just it's

09:13very user-friendly. This bike is a lot more refined than I expected it to and

09:17yeah it seems like the the Indian hate that. Yeah it's because you have this

09:21great torque hit right on the Indian once you but you kind of have to fight

09:26your way through the initial part of the throttle and then working with that

09:29clutch before you can really appreciate the the low-end torque of this thing. On

09:34this engine here Harley-Davidson's Milwaukee 8117 they've got the dual

09:39counterbalancers to really smoothen it out it's rigid mounted obviously you do

09:43start to worry about vibrations a little bit so they got the dual counter

09:46balancer setup on this bike. I think they've done a really good job actually

09:49with this package you know that you're riding a Harley you know that you're

09:51riding a big twin but yeah it's not excessive. It doesn't get old where yeah

09:56when the vibrations get a little out of hand like on this Indian it's just after

10:01a while you just kind of get over it. I mean I'll be honest that that Indian

10:05sounds really good like yeah riding next to you I've got to ride it a little bit

10:10and that thing just sounds phenomenal I mean obviously a massive thing with

10:14these bikes has always been especially with Harley one of the things they've

10:17dedicated so much time to is is sound and you always think nobody's gonna top

10:23Harley in terms of exhaust note and engine noise but like yeah that that

10:28Indian does sound really good. Yeah just almost when you have them together and

10:34you're switching from one to the other it almost the sound of the Harley is

10:38almost a little bit of a letdown when we first got on the bikes because the

10:42Indian sounded so good and then it just the Harley doesn't have doesn't match it

10:47with that you know good harmonic engine exhaust note. Here we are out at our

10:53private test facility gonna get these bikes out on the strip and see what they

10:57can do in a quarter mile.

11:13What about ergonomics? Obviously both of these bikes have the mid controls and

11:30the bar risers the Harley has a little bit shorter bar riser but it seems like

11:34a little bit taller bend so on this bike I know the foot pegs are just a little

11:40bit higher I think that's where you get a little bit more cornering clearance on

11:43this bike we've got let's see help me out here we got 20 no we got 31.5

11:49degrees of cornering clearance on this bike and 28 29 yeah the foot pegs being

11:54a little bit higher on this bike definitely makes it just a touch more

11:57cramp. Yeah I mean the Indian the foot pegs do feel a little bit lower so it

12:02opens up that rider triangle a little bit the seat height is slightly shorter

12:06just has a more open rider triangle and oddly enough on for me at my size of you

12:11know 5'7 the Indian has a taller bar riser but because the handlebar the

12:17sweep up it's not as tall of a handlebar the it's just the easier reach to the

12:22handlebar for me on the Indian the the Harley it's kind of a stretch for my

12:26little arms to reach the controls. We're so different in terms of size right me

12:31being 6'3 you being what 5'7 yeah it's just yeah it's such a difference I mean

12:37I don't really have obviously too much of an issue with the reach on either of

12:40these I will say I really like the soft cushion on this Harley the seat after

12:46spending some time in the saddle it starts to get a little bit too soft and

12:49then and then you get like these pressure points and that's uh yeah

12:52that's that's not so much fun. Yeah we're on the Indian it's it's super supportive

12:56this seat has been comfortable for you know almost all the miles that I've

13:01spent on the bike it's not something you you get those pressure points and you

13:05start shifting your weight around trying to alleviate that and it's just something

13:09that it's comfortable for for all-day cruise. Alright moving on to the

13:12suspension what's the Harley suspension action like on that thing? It feels

13:16really good actually it might be even a little bit softer than I expected it's

13:20not too harsh it's got just enough plushness to it that you know riding

13:25around in some of the really aggressive rough roads that we were like on in the

13:30city it's actually pretty compliant and plush but it's also like balanced it's a

13:34pretty enjoyable motorcycle I've ridden the old Lowrider S's you know on the

13:39Dyna platform and I think this bike is way more comfortable and enjoyable for

13:45me especially around town. You got an upgraded suspension package on this

13:49right with the KYB up front the Fox in the rear but it just feels a little bit

13:54over sprung for me especially when we're riding through the the city and

13:58it just it kind of beats me up it's a little bit rough it's harsh in my hands

14:03kind of a few times pops my butt out of the seat so for cruising through cities

14:08and stuff yeah the Indians a little bit of a handful. So basically around town

14:13stuff I don't know are we giving the nod to the Harley I think it's I think that

14:18smoothness to it and it's kind of nice I think if it's a bike that you're living with on a

14:22daily basis yeah I think I like some of the softness to this it doesn't look

14:28soft doesn't you know still got yeah it's got that good look to it but it

14:32just in the riding character of it it's an enjoyable platform. Alright enough of

14:36that city talk we're here cruising on the coast and this Indian it vibrates a

14:41little bit even at cruising speeds but it does offer good wind protection you

14:46got you know that quarter fairing with a six and a half inch windscreen so the

14:50wind gets protected off my chest so that's comfortable I do have cruise

14:56control on this bike which is amazing when you're cruising down the coast or

15:00just commuting to work on the freeway and this does have a nice touchscreen

15:05TFT display with you know ride command as we talked about. Yeah well hey you say

15:12nice you say nice but I know you've been fighting that thing a little bit right

15:15yeah that thing ain't the the most switched on system ever right you got

15:21me you got me it takes about a mile down the road before it actually illuminates

15:25so start your bike up and it'll be black for seems like about 60 seconds but once

15:30it works it works well got cruise control I got the rear cylinder

15:34deactivation so that's nice when you're sitting in traffic I do have a smaller

15:40gas tank so my fuel range is not as good as the Harley we have noticed that

15:45just a little bit during our ride today four gallons for the Indian right five

15:49gallons for the Harley so you've got an extra gallon of gas on the Harley so for

15:53sure for the cruising stuff I'm gonna be able to get a little bit more range out

15:57of the old rider here which is nice little little nod to the nod to the low

16:01rider and your bike is lighter than mine but the one thing that I really like

16:06about this Indian is you know you're cruising down the coast you want to look

16:09cool and this thing has some beautiful finishes you know you have the machined

16:13parts whether it's the top triple clamp and just some cool parts like that it

16:17really gives it that cool cruiser style yeah I'll be honest I feel like that's

16:23one one place where Harley seemed to have dropped the ball at least compared

16:26to that Indian or something that the Indian does really well I've just been

16:29looking at you as we're cruising and yeah all those little machine finishes

16:33the details it whether it be in the wheels or the fins on the on that engine

16:38there whereas on the Harley it's got just like all these plastic pieces in

16:43man even like the triple clamps aren't looking very good I mean I will say this

16:47is a massive update over the previous generation lowrider which had the dashes

16:52up on the tank but yeah just in terms of styling and stuff I would say that the

16:56Harley may be a notch behind going back to the whole cruising side of it all

17:01that stuff again the stuff that you know pay dividends around town is really nice

17:06on just the open highway I mean this thing is smooth it's got just enough

17:10vibrations to it where you kind of got that character to it but it's still a

17:14really enjoyable motorcycle to just spend some time in now I will say that

17:20that seat that we talked about being a little bit plush and soft it yeah the

17:25more miles you put in the more you kind of just sink into the thing and not in a

17:29good way maybe not as good as that supportive seat you got there on the

17:32Indian all right that's enough talking about cruising because these bikes are

17:36really about an emphasis on performance so I think we need to jump up into the

17:40twisties above the beach right here and find out which one of these bikes really

17:44can handle those twisty Canyon roads I'm ready if you are man

17:58we just got done with some Canyon riding and we're gonna talk about handling here

18:02and what these bikes are like up in the canyons because they are again

18:05performance cruisers and they've got the taller suspension and this is in a

18:08way what they're made for right let's start with the Indian because that is I

18:11think some of the things we found is some of that rawness and aggression and

18:14we talked about some of the stiffer suspension around town theoretically

18:18that should help it a little bit up here in the canyons and when you're pushing

18:21the thing right so what are some of your thoughts after some serious miles up in

18:26the tight twisty stuff it definitely feels planted in the twisties but it's a

18:31heavier motorcycle it just requires more effort to initiate that lean angle

18:36but I will say once you're on the side of the tire it feels really good it

18:40holds its line really well and I found that I could tighten up a cornering arc

18:44pretty easily on this bike I will say the thing about the Harley is I really

18:49noticed how much easier it is to put into a corner it's a lot lighter now

18:53weight wise yeah we're only up nine pounds lighter with the Harley but it

18:58feels way lighter than that when you're up in the twisties and pushing the thing

19:02around obviously probably a little bit of weight balance you know where the

19:06weight is out on the bike and the distribution but yeah overall this seems

19:10like a much easier bike to ride I will say the handlebar is a little bit wider

19:14on this bike so to me that always gives you that little bit of extra leverage I

19:17always appreciate that now I will say in terms of suspension for sure this feels

19:22a little bit softer I would say do you agree with yeah I felt that my thing

19:26there is I mentioned it earlier I think in some of the around town stuff it is

19:31softer but it's also balanced I think to me it offers plenty of support for what

19:35the majority of people are going to be doing with this bike and I think the

19:38suspension again is that really nice balance of having the support but not

19:43being overly stiff and you know not bouncing you around on the road and

19:46things like that so I like this package where I think that Indian is I wouldn't

19:50say too stiff but again it's it's almost a little bit maybe even more aggressive

19:54yeah for sure yeah we are in the city or cruising on the freeway that stiff

20:00suspension package it just sacrifices all the comfort all the miles you have

20:04to put in to get to the twisties can be kind of miserable depending on your road

20:08surface yeah and then yeah you get up here and the suspension is taught it

20:12holds its line again the Harley has proved that it can be comfortable in the

20:16city on the freeway and then still rip a canyon road pretty good yeah I think

20:21that goes to I mean obviously Harley's had a lot more time to develop this

20:24package compared to Indian without being the newer bike they perfected this for

20:28me a little bit more so let's talk about another big thing on that bike is the

20:31brakes the Brembo brakes and I bring that up because I heard you talk a

20:35little bit earlier about not exactly loving that braking package which is a

20:39supposed to be a highlight of that bike right yeah exactly it was a little bit

20:43of a disappointment when yeah one of the highlights is Brembo brakes and you

20:47think oh yeah performance cruiser you're gonna be able to stop the thing really

20:50quickly the initial bite is just it's not there it's not very good if you

20:54really get deep into the lever you feel it start to slow down but I got to be

20:58honest the rear brake seems to do more of the stopping power than the front so

21:02that was a little bit of a letdown yeah for sure I think brakes are a little bit

21:06softer here on the Harley but again to me it offers plenty of power and you

21:12have more feel in the lever and it's just again it offers the feedback that I

21:16want so maybe a little bit of an edge there moving on a big thing a very big

21:21thing let's say on these bikes cornering clearance now we talked about the Harley

21:25obviously the foot pegs are a little bit higher and yes around town that does put

21:30your knees out a little bit more of a bend and for sure I would say a little

21:33bit more uncomfortable I rode this thing up here all the twisties that we've done

21:37didn't scrape foot pegs once I'm sure we could have if we were like really trying

21:41to but yeah I didn't in the pace I was going and I felt comfortable I wasn't

21:46scratching the foot pegs where I jumped on that and I think it was like the first

21:49or second corner I was into the foot peg feelers cornering clearance is important

21:53to a lot of people big picture what's your what's your feeling on that bike

21:57now that we've done you know some serious miles up here and obviously some

22:01really cool cruising and then getting up into the end of the twisties it's a fun

22:05bike it has a sort of an edge to it like we talked about it's a little bit raw

22:08that engine it's not as flexible as the Harley but like when you get it right

22:12and you get in that sweet spot of the power of the torque it's fun like it

22:16just accelerates really nicely kind of feels like a little rocket ship but then

22:21you got to grab the next gear quickly it's a fun package but I just don't

22:26think it's something I would want to live with where the Harley is something

22:29keep slaying miles on that thing and be a happy customer what's your overall

22:33feeling about the lowrider s the most interesting thing now having put these

22:36Canyon miles in is it's not as aggressive as I expected it to be but

22:41it's it's as aggressive as I need it to be I really enjoy the handling on this

22:45thing compared to the any okay there are bikes out there that are gonna have

22:48higher performance you know thresholds than these bikes but these are bikes

22:52that are supposed to push the envelope of you know big twin performance and I

22:57think the Harley does a really good job of that without overwhelming in a lot of

23:02ways it's still a really enjoyable motorcycle you feel that potential in it

23:06it does it in a really seamless way I think that's an advantage I think that's

23:10something that Harley has very clearly done really well is just having a bike

23:14that has a little bit of everything you got the style you got the performance

23:17and you just have something that has all that while still being pretty easy

23:20friendly bunch of miles logged on both of these bikes but now it's time to head

23:25over to Born Free and immerse ourselves in custom cruiser culture

23:40all right we made it we're parked on the grass lot just outside the main gate

23:54to the Born Free show first impressions man this scene is alive and well it is

24:00just a sea of motorcycles which is really cool to see in person actually

24:04yeah Evan how was it rolling in on that thing yeah I felt a little bit like the

24:08odd man out one a few Indians at this show it seems like there is one parked

24:13next to me though but so it's cool chatting to that guy but I mean it's got

24:17the look it fits the bill so it definitely has its spot in this scene

24:20yeah I guess the opposite of that I said there was a sea of motorcycles but it's

24:25more like a sea of Harleys it is incredible how many Harley-Davidson's

24:29there are in this lot as for the platform itself I've seen actually a

24:33handful of the lowriders already a couple more ST's than the regular S's

24:37but it seems like a lot of people are already gravitating towards this

24:40platform and liking it which is I think cool to see in person yeah yeah and

24:44there's a lot more to see so I think we should hop in there and check it out

25:07okay for free show check that one off the list move the bikes out here to the

25:22back lot to answer the question that you guys came here for which is is the

25:26Indian sport chief a better motorcycle than the Harley-Davidson lowrider s and

25:30to start that I'm gonna hand it over to you Evan final thoughts on the Indian I

25:34love the way this thing sounds the engine it's fun it's punchy it has a lot

25:39of torque but the bike is a little bit raw it vibrates a lot the ride by wire

25:44system is really vague it is more comfortable motorcycle the ride of the

25:49two and you do have this touchscreen display which is nice some of the triple

25:53clamps up here their machine they look pretty I think Indian did a good job at

25:57their first attempt at a performance cruiser or anything in the Harley yeah

26:01well I mean to start yeah I think absolutely they did a very good job

26:03building that thing they got close to this but man this is just a really sweet

26:08package things we like that engine that things to stand out for sure very

26:13flexible and user-friendly it was at home whether we're cruising up the coast

26:17or up in the twisties riding a little bit more sporty way then we're looking

26:22at negatives and it was really hard to find any big negatives over the Indian

26:26the only thing we kept coming back to was this seat just really soft and it

26:30started to hurt you in some not so fun ways after after a little bit of time in

26:35the saddle so but it's also it's kind of hard to think of that as a big negative

26:38because so many people replace the seat on these things right away anyway so but

26:43hey something to think about then there's the handling a little bit

26:46lighter handling and and we seem to have more cornering clearance on this which

26:50did make it a little bit more fun up in the twisties so if we're trying to

26:54answer that question of is the sport chief better than the lowrider s I'm

26:59gonna have to say no it's just it's close it's a really good machine but

27:02it's not what this lowrider s is yeah I agree and that means we're at the end of

27:07this Cycleworld comparison test if you want to know more check out the written

27:10story online at Cycleworld.com and as always like comment subscribe and

27:15thanks for watching

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