Old School – Badass – Matt Black Bagger
Words: Séan Hendley Pics: Deon van der Linde
This has to be a new record for us here at Ridefast, this, if memory serves correctly, is our eighth cruiser style bike this year and our fourth Bagger in about 2 months…. Are we complaining? Not a chance, especially not me – I love these things, especially when I tilt into a bend on a sports bikes arse and frighten the hell out of them.
171 Nm’s at 3 000 rpm from a 1901 cc V-Twin….
Bang hard on the gas off the line, shift just before redline and it tries to kick its front wheel off the ground, that will surprise most people, keep hard on the gas and shifting just on red line and very shortly you will be in top gear and running into the rev limiter at with the analogue speedo needle somewhere just under the 200 kmh mark….
Yes they can do that, however, this is not what these bikes are designed for. They are long distance, continent crossing comfortable Super Tourers mainly built for arrow straight roads through the desert for dessert laden riders – or so common perception might suggest. This Indian is laden with all the correct accoutrements for touring, a nice big, wide and comfy stepped saddle, (colloquially known as the King ‘n Queen seat back in the day), that has both heating and cooling functions with separate controls for rider and pillion. The pillion also gets a lekker backrest against the top box. Speaking of which, the top box is upholstered in a soft matting to protect all your delicates and is complimented by two side ‘bags’ giving a total of 137 litres total luggage space. Go put five 25 litre drums next to each plus another half a one, that will give you some idea of the capacity. And if that’s not enough, the Roadmaster even has a “roof rack” on top of the top box – must be for the braai and the firewood???
Continuing with rider and pillion comfort there is a more than adequate fairing with an electronically height adjustable windshield upfront that houses all the techno gadgets. The screen has cut outs at the bottom that are only apparent once the screen is at full height, they help with a bit of airflow to break up the vortex created between the rider and windshield and to keep the occupant of the cockpit cooler on those hot African summer’s days. Extra protection from the elements is provided in the form of lower fairings mounted over the crash bars which also have vents to control the airflow through them. Other bits include keyless ignition, cruise control, LED lighting, ABS, tyre pressure monitoring and to compliment the cooled/heated seats, heated grips.
This bike’s party piece is the onboard electronics package and the layout of the dashboard and various controls. Apple CarPlay is standard for on screen apps and we easily connected our Android phone for music, calls, notifications and the like. The screen is a touchscreen and is compatible with any type of gloves and the icons are big enough to be operated with gloves while riding. However, that is not necessary, there is also a toggle switch on the left bar cluster that control all of that as well, and big square analogue buttons provide easy to navigate shortcuts to things like device pairing or selecting, the navigation screen, bike settings, (it has three rider modes – Rain – Standard – Sport), the bike info screen and the audio screen for connected devices or FM/AM reception.
NOW!! Let me tell you about the sound system….
Oh, My Goodness!! I am a bone-head at the best of times, especially with my car under my arm, holding the roof down and my music blaringly loud annoying everybody within a 5 km radius. Now stick a thumping 200 watt crystal clear sound system onto a cool bike and you just know I am going to be ‘That Oke’. I pulled up at a busy intersection, with the volume turned up to the max just as Steve Stevens started his shredding guitar solo on MJ’s Dirty Diana – Yeah – I made a complete spectacle of myself…. And you know what?…. I Freaking loved every single second of it, and that is how most of my time on the Roadmaster was spent. I did notice something interesting about the sound system, even at sensible volume levels it sounded like the music was inside my helmet, almost as if I was wearing headphones, and not coming from the speakers…. that is quite a neat trick – I like it! The whole ride felt like I was starring in my own Easy Rider style road trip movie.
So, what is it like to ride…. Responsibly?
Well, that I couldn’t tell you, this bike is just so Badass, not just in its styling but its whole demeanour that I spent all my time in the saddle being a ‘Sons of Anarchy-esque’ Bad Ass – or so I fooled myself into believing. Everything was done at full throttle and as near to the limits as possible.
I am tall by any description, but found the riding position to be more than comfortable and everything laid out exactly where I would expect to find it instinctively. My greatest find was the huge foot brake pedal, bringing over half a ton of bike and rider off somewhere close to the double ton to a rapid halt did require a fair amount of braking force, and stomping on the big brake pedal while pulling on the long brake lever only served to give me more confidence to push harder and brake later into corners, before standing it upright and yanking hard on the throttle out the other side. What I did notice was how that plush seat kept me planted in my seating position no matter how hard I braked or hit the gas. The other distinctly noticeable difference to any other cruiser style bike I have ridden lately, I never grounded out the very substantial floor boards regardless of how hard I cornered – not even once.
I also really appreciated the adjustable screen and the amount of protection it offers. I had donned my ancient biker leather and piss pot helmet with my sun shades for this test, just to try match the Roadmasters attitude and when I was bulleting along as fast as I could get the big Indian to go, that windshield in its highest position gave me so much wind protection that I could have been driving sedately along in a premium drop top car. It’s quite uncanny actually. So, I do imagine that riding this Dark horse in the manner it was designed for could be quite a luxurious and chilled experience.
One thing to bear in mind, it is a large, and quite heavy as well as a fairly wide bike, so rush hour traffic is a small challenge. Manoeuvring between almost standstill traffic you can definitely feel the full 403 kg’s and its 1-metre-wide girth. Either you need to accept this fate and dawdle along with the traffic or you can take on the Dark Horses persona and bully your way through. The Roadmaster seriously does have the presence and demeanour to do it – and do it well.
When we collected it from Indian Motorcycles South Africa, we had to deal with rush hour traffic back to the office. Initially I was intimidated by the Roadmasters overall size and its awkwardness at slow speeds, but then I twisted the throttle a bit, worked out the gyroscopic movement of that big mill negated the effects of its weight and geometry and…. uhm…. well…. the traffic seemed to part like the Red Sea in front of Moses. A combination of its matt black or Murdered Out paint scheme, its formidable size and quite possibly Rob Zombie howling, “Dig through the ditches and burn through the witches….” at terrifying volumes made sure every driver knew I was coming through with intention and had best ‘Get The F… Out Of My Way Or Else’.
If you find yourself too young for a traditional land yacht of a motorcycle but are still keen on a very comfortable long distance tourer with a lot of attitude, then the Indian Roadmaster more than fits the bill.
Go ride one for yourself, there might be a demo unit available at Linex Sandton…. If I eventually concede to giving it back to them.
For more detailed specifications on the Indian Roadmaster Dark Horse check out Indian Motorcycles South Africa.
