I have visited Bikes Blues and BBQ in Rogers AR the past two years simply for the demo rides. I ride down on my Street Triple in full gear and do demo rides with every manufacturer available to sample all the bikes that I can handle. This year I was expecting (like last year) Triumph, BMW, Indian and Harley Davidson but only Indian and Harley showed up. In the mood to make lemonade, I stopped at Indian first and rode the FTR 1200 the Scout Bobber 60 and the Chief Darkhorse.
Initial impressions of the FTR 1200 were that it sat very much like my Street Triple, which I found to be comforting and it was very easy to ride due to that similarity. Up high in the rpm range it had similar power to my bike, but it has a ton of torque down low that my Triumph does not have and it hits very hard. It was a fun and easy bike to ride. Turn in was ok, not as good as my bike but after it fell into corners it was good. This was the only Indian I rode with mid controls, the other two bikes had forward controls. I don't dislike forward controls. If they are done well, like on the BMW R18, they can be quite good to ride. Indian doesn't have placement down yet on their forward controls.
Both the Scout and the Chief had way too much torque down low and most of their power is down low. Beautiful bikes to look at, hard to find the forward controls unless you look at the pedals, not intuitive. Once found, the controls work very well, but put me at slight odds with the bike that could be due to my 6 foot frame, but I don't think so. My impression is Indian rode Harleys bikes and decided that if they made their bikes feel exceptionally brutal with torque that would sell more bikes and differentiate themselves from Harley in that way.
At the Harley tent I rode the Nightster, the Street Bob and attempted to fit on the Lowrider S. The Nightster fit me well and was a blast to ride. Tip in was slower on curves due to the larger front tire but it was a fun, light bike with good power and the mid controls fit right. The Street Bob had more torque down low than the nightster but it was a good amount and not brutal like the Indians. It had forward controls that were simple to find and easy to use. Everything fell to hand and was relatively comfortable for the cruiser riding style. The Lowrider S was simply built for a shorter person. I could not fit on it comfortably and it would have been dangerous for me to ride way too squished. Too bad because I really wanted to experience the 117 motor. All the other harleys were out on rides so I didn't get the opportunity to ride any others.
Overall I think Harley has the formula down after 100+ years and does bikes 'just right'. Indian has some points to learn and has to figure some key things out. Both are quality built, I can't knock that for either manufacturer.
I now understand the duckwalk that every rider does with forward control bikes. I get it and it's not for me but I will never disparage them.
Would I own an Indian or Harley? Maybe a Nightster or Sportster S, nothing else and no current Indian offerings. Things do change but there are way too many bikes that I absolutely love riding and fit me much better right now that I can't see it happening.
On a final note, every time I got back on my Street Triple after riding those other bikes I noticed that it was a better bike for me than anything else I rode that day and I way preferred the lower torque and higher horsepower scheme of it to the power scheme of the FTR. Interestingly I took my wifes RE INT650 for a ride earlier this week and I now hate it. Mostly because if its low power. It's a great around town bike but I'm ready to chuck it in a ravine. The build quality is fine for the cost but the engineering is decades behind every other major manufacturer and RE builds millions of bikes so its not for lack of opportunity to improve. This is not an RE rant post so I'll leave it at that.
