The Thunder Stroke 111 is an amazing testament to the commitment Polaris has to bringing back the Indian.  The designers have the unenviable task of holding on to the design cues that immediately identify it as an Indian but still make it modern.  Their goal is to do what the car industry did with the Mustang/Camaro/Mopars with a retro-mod look.

Dropping the price point $7,000 right off the bat was huge.  Adding a bunch of dealers this summer will be huge. 

Everyone that has followed the Indian story knows how we got here and how insignificant the brand is numbers-wise.  Indian isn't even listed in bike magazines that have performance/used price guide issues.

Polaris almost always has a contender for Cruiser of the Year with a Victory bike but they never seem to take the undisputed #1 slot.  The Cross Country has been their strongest candidate so far.

Because Polaris has shown the world that they are 100% commited to "doing it right" and making it available to as many riders as possible, I predict the 2014 Indian Chief will be an almost unanimous choice for Cruiser of the Year and in some cases, Bike of the Year.

I pre-ordered one last month.  Don't even know what colors are available yet.  $19k for a base model Chief plus about $6500 in distressed leather and chrome will make it about $25,500+TTL.  Charlotte Indian will save me one for when I retire in May of '14.

After watching what I went through with the Vision in '07, my wife didn't even flinch over the Indian.

American Pickers on Aug 5th should be pretty cool.

pollolittle - 2013-07-13 11:08 AM He's back! There should be a whole slew of new Indian posters and pouring over every little nuance of that new bike. I remember this well so vividly from 6 years ago. Songfan you'll be happy to know i haven't pre-ordered one yet. Are you starting your own Indian riders site so you can post and blog and moderate at will. That should give you something to do in retirement, that and ride! Glad for you, I hope it fits you well, or at least adjustable floorboards. Hope to see it soon. Maybe you can get a quick flight out and drive it back.

Thanks Po.  I'm getting those old butterflies again.  My buddy that flew me to Houston for the Mustang reveal has offered to fly me to CLT for the Indian.  (Friends in high places.)  We'll see about the website stuff.  I've already bought about $400 worth of Indian stuff online for the man cave I'll be building.

XRSteve - I can't say enough about Mark Moses at Charlotte Indian.  More often than not, he will answer the phone himself.  His whole staff is super nice.  Here is a an interview he did last  year.  Talk about a survivor...

http://www.dealernews.com/dealernews/article/indian-motorcycle-charlotte-enthusiast-loyalist

This has nothing to do with logic.  It is 100% gut and emotion. 

This Vision introduced me to Polaris six years ago and if anybody on the planet can pull off the Indian comeback, it will be these guys.  I just want to be in on it before anyone else "gets it".  Just like the Vision.

Arkainzeye - 2013-07-15 8:49 AM i seriously doubt polaris will ever be as big as ford or chevy for the fact that they make products MOST people arent interested in.. I dont mean most people being bikers, i mean, everyone else....... Even in the Biker world, the average interesting in polaris isnt #1 so..........

I guess those of us who ride often forget our world is a very, very small world.  And those who have a passion for rider is an even smaller portion.  With that said, Polaris is a huge company that knows who to market to and how.  For their niche(s) they have done very well.

For me to understand the proportions, count the number of cars on the road on an "average" day compared to the number of bikes.  Out of the hundreds, perhaps a thousand of cars I pass on my way to work, I see at the most 5 bikes, none Victory, in a 31 mile stretch.  Now you have a comparison.  Think about this, I would say out of the thousands of bikes sold in a year of any manufacturer, I believe less than 10% will get ridden more than 3,000 in 5 years.   Just a guess, but I can find anything that will dispute my guess.  To confirm, for me, I know several folks who "own" bikes, and about 10% of them ride enough to have something to say about riding.

With that being said, it is refreshing to see a lot of Harleys over the ricers, especially this year.  I hope to see more and more Victory's and Indians though.

Monkeyman - 2013-07-15 4:34 PM varyder - 2013-07-15 10:33 AM I believe less than 10% will get ridden more than 3,000 in 5 years. Do you really think it's that low? For the most part, I don't ride in the rain (at least not on purpose) and I refuse to ride in the ice/snow and I already have close to 6k miles on my Vision. I expect to get 8-9k this year and I have yet to take a long trip (over a 500 mile day). Nothing like you but still, I don't think I'm in the top 10%. Other than that, I agree with what you said.

Like any other statistic, it is a slice of a relative population.  If you go to different places, say Caves Creek, AZ, and take the poll, you might find it to be 50%.  Or northern Maine, it may be, .1%   I just know in my average neck of the woods, I think I'm pretty close.  Even the guy that inspired me to ride again only has 150,000 miles on his 10 year old Wing.  He ridee alot, has a 100 mile one way trip to work, takes at least one long trip a year.  He's a heavy rider, with his average is 15,000 a year.  The next guy that I know has had his V-rod for about a year and he's already got 3,000 miles on this bike.  One guy who just sold his, bought it brand new Harley in 2006 or so, only had a couple of hundred miles on it.  He's the light rider. but he had all the appearl, pictures, stickers that showed he's a Harley rider.  A couple of other guys that I work with put only a few hundred miles on their bike a year.  That is usually on a special weekend or two, that's it.

The above average rider, to me, puts about 5,000 miles a year on their bike, but sell it before it gets to 25,000 miles.   This is no more thasn conversation and spectulation.  But I do recall, if I can recall, when I had 76,000 miles or so on my bike I met a Harley rider that bragged he was a "heavy rider" and had about 26,000 miles on his 2006 Harley.  He had to catch his breath when I showed him my odi with my mileage on my 2008 Vision.

If I had my Indian right now, I would only ride it two days a week, and probably only average about 3,000 out of my 25,000 a year.

So, here's a question.

It's been a couple of day that you were not able to ride.  It's Saturday and you're itching to ride, but you have chores to do, so any long ride is out of the question.  You need a box of nails and need to go to the hardware store. It looks stormy outside, do you:

1. Ride your bike, even if you might get drenched.
2. Wait until the weather clears up some and then go.
3. Take the car.

Monkeyman - 2013-07-15 6:31 PM I wasn't trying to argue with you, Chris. Just giving my opinion. I'm a "heavy rider" but only because I weigh 280 pounds. Seriously, I ride whenever I get the chance. I only put a couple thousand miles on my last bike ('07 Nomad) in a year because it wasn't comfortable. I've only put a little under 6k miles on my Vision in the past 10 months but plan on another couple thousand before riding season is "over" (for me). For what I paid for my Vision, I want to get as much out of it as I can. I don't know if/when I'll sell/trade it. It might be after 150k miles or it might be next month but I won't go without a bike. In answer to your question, is it currently storming? Can you see lightning in the distance? If so, I'll take the car to get the nails then ride later. (Chores can wait until later...or the next day.) If it just looks like it "might" storm, I'll take the bike and chance it. I've seen your "middle of a snowstorm coming home from work" pic a few months back. I just wouldn't have fun with that. Doesn't mean I don't like riding my bike. It just means I like riding it differently.

I'm messing back.  Everybody rides what they feel comfortable with, and that's on so many different levels.  While I have rode about 10 miles in snow on I-95 one January evening in 2011, I don't make that a habit.  I love the work picture, it is true, but I went straight through the light to the parking lot on the otherside when I saw the road was not as clear as I had hoped to be.  Cars are not to kind and I was more afraid of getting run over.  It was extremely slick but I was able to make to the lot without dropping it.  I saw the picture the next day by my coworker.

As far as the question, I don't have a "couple of days" that I don't ride, unless bike is broke, so in essense it's a trick question.  I rarely check the weather anymore and I laugh at myself when I get "caught" in the downpours.  I never planned to ride as much as I do but it is harder for me not to ride.

While I may not get one for a while, I'm still hoping to get a first year Indian Chief.  The thing is, it's already taking on a persona all it's own in my mind.  From when and how I will ride it, and what I will wear. 

Jacket, yes, it keeps a lot of rain off. It's the seat of my pants that get wet that I don't like. The water will run up and down the seat. I don't like the back roads either when it rains, especially in VA. Last week I believed I was heading for diaster, but it seems I got a little into it and did a slight countersteer, but then I slowed down. It's that stinking patching material they might as well throw down oil. I've rode hard on the interstate when it's pouring without losing confidence. Maybe just stupidity on my part, but I don't like going slow either, I don't want the macho man in the hi-rise Ford Pickup to run me over. He'll hydroplane long before I will though. It's the fresh starting rain that I have my most worries because of stuff on the road that gets slick when it first gets wet. After a few minutes of steady rain it will wash off. I've learned so far when riding in the rain to know when to hold them and when to fold them.

I'll just say this and move on, if your ride is not fun, don't do it. The real thing is is to finish your ride to ride again. If the ride has you on pins and needles, its time to take a break. Riding is always about your comfort level, not about what someone else is crazy enough to do. The cliche stands for a reason "ride your ride, not somebody elses"

Keeping to the subject:

I want to make my first ride to Sturgis on an Indian. (maybe I'll win the 2014 Chief contest, and I'll ride my Vision there, and the Indian back... )

Monkeyman - 2013-07-15 8:23 PM While the Indian isn't for me, it's a really nice looking bike. Hope you win.

You heathern.. Thanks!!!

I won two tickets to an R-Rated movie when I was 16, a case of Cokes at a radio station 60 miles away, and tickets to Harlem Globetrotters about 3 years ago.  I was never able to take advantage of any of my winnings except the Globetrotters, I sold the tickets...

I hope I'll be able to take advantage of the Indian when I win it...

bigfoot - 2013-07-16 3:23 PM Average motorcycle mileage per year is between 1,600 to 1,800 (DOT) miles. ...

 Wet or Hot tar snakes suck. ...

I don't commute since I'm retired, so all my mileage is pure pleasure riding.

I find that annual mileage ridiculous. I bought my Vision in May this year and it now has 2526 miles on it. I am so low on mileage that I actually noticed it just before I parked. When my HD Road Glide was near 16000 miles, I could not even tell you how many hundreds, much less the last mile. You only really notice the miles when the bike is new, and mine feels brand new to me.  

All tar snakes suck, agreed.

I retired 2 years ago at age 64 but I still have a reason to leave the house every day. I am building myself a new home so I commute to my building site every day, about 18 miles each way. I no longer have a clock to worry about, in fact my wife bought me a clock that gives the day of the week instead of the time. With no regular employment it is easy to lose track of what day it is. I am embarrassed to say that I use that day of the week clock more often than any regular clock these days. I leave home as soon as I can after sunup to take advantage of the cool early part of the day. By 2 PM it is so hot I no longer want to work so I ride home and crawl into my air conditioned present home.

The Indian Springfield, MA assembly line in 1953.  When men were men....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnVHXjJHIoo

I'm refreshing:

e-mail (from dealer)

indianmotorcycle.com

indianmotorcyclecharlotte

cyrilhuze

thevog

YouTube

Nothing yet.  Only 30 minutes into it Mountain Time.  I don't do Facebook but somebody will surely post there near real time.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151753397959028&set=a.60947844027.68343.17850134027&type=1&theater

http://www.indianmotorcycle.com/en-us/home

Holy Smokes!  Look at the front of the faired bike!

Red/Blue $400 extra.

I'm leaning black or red Vintage.  Decked out like I want it:  $23,464/Black  $23,864/Red.

No sleep for me tonight.......

Good article/pics here:

http://www.cycleworld.com/2013/08/03/2014-indian-chief-vintage-and-chieftain-bagger-first-ride-review-photos-specs/

I've got a buddy taking a really hard look at a blue Chieftain. 

I'm going full-boat old school with Beach Bars and Fringe hanging off the grips and levers of the Vintage.  I had XM on my Vision and never listened to it.  Can't wait to hear the Stage 1 Thunder Stroke in person!

Hey WEBMEISTER !!!!!!!!!!   Looks like you're gonna need a NEW WEBSITE !!!

CHIEF_RIDERS.COM or RIDE_THEM_INDIANS.COM

Just a suggestion ...

donetracey - 2013-08-04 1:29 PM

CHIEF_RIDERS.COM or RIDE_THEM_INDIANS.COM

Just a suggestion ...

Thunder-Strokers.com

Hmmm..could go either way.

Ok, I have questions....

Is the left side gas cap a dummy cap?

What is that oval deal above the Chieftan headlight?  (Closeup at 1:27 on the Chieftan video.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XheeEX00t4&feature=youtu.be

When does the front fender LED War Bonnet light up?  With the headlight or with the running lights?  Are they all on all the time?

When I saw the Chieftan this weekend, I thought about a conversation I had with a Victory engineer a couple of years ago when the Cross bikes came out.  I said "Wow, if they put a power windshield on the Cross Country they'd absolutely corner the market."  He said "Well, there are a couple of things we are keeping exclusively for the Vision to make it our flagship and the power windshield is one of them."

Makes me wonder how much he knew about the Chieftan back then.

Polaris Indian could NEVER have pulled off this measure of success without building the Victory's first.  Call Polaris a lot of things but stupid is not one of them.  These guys learn from both their mistakes and other peoples strong points.  This is not the same company that built the V92C.  They have invested a TON of blood, sweat, tears and money over the last 15 years.

V92C jump to Vegas was THE turning point in the Victory direction.  Vegas jump to Vision was overwhelmingly complex and controversial and I'm not sure that the Polaris players involved with that jump will ever get over what a big deal it was.  Love it or hate it, the Vision project was a gigantic learning curve.  The popularity of the Cross Country is proof of the lessons learned there.

Along comes Indian.  The single greatest game-changer in the history of Polaris.  This iconic brand has tried to crawl out of the ashes for longer than Polaris has been around.  It finally claws its way back to the point of being an almost unattainable brand, in the realm of Duesenberg.  Even if you saw one, all you could do is shake your head and think "Not in my lifetime."

Imagine the Polaris brass mindset when they bought Indian and announced it to their team.  These are PREMIUM bikes from an iconic brand name that we have to make better and more affordable.  Oh, by the way, you'd better not screw this up! 

Polaris had to make the Indians "better" than the Victory's.  We can sit on the Victory sideline and think "Gee, that sure would have been nice on our bikes."  The truth is, Polaris could never have pulled off that reveal and cranked out Indians of that quality, at that price point, in that timeframe had it not been for the lessons learned from Victory. 

Indian owes last weekend to Victory in many regards.  Victory will benefit from the bar being set so high by Indian.  They will each be better because of the other being in the same house.

It's owed to the development of the Vision. I think one of the reasons I like the Vision so much is the Art Deco and the rear side view reminds me of the rear skirted fender of an Indian.

I believe there was a lot of late hours and scrap metal and castings to get it going from scratch to production. The other good thing is, that while Indian is strong in heritage, the tribe will acclimate to whatever form Indian has taken. I'm sure there will be some that have a little heartburn with the cast frame, but when they see the war bonnet, that settles it, it's an Indian.

I'm beginning to understand something here, the Chieftain is the Indian geezer glide. While wind protection minimizes fatigue, I sure would like a lot less of it on some days. Purists want to straddle the saddle, hit the wind and hang on. This is one of the reasons that Indians came with nothing more than a windshield. Anything above that, get a Vision...

If I want lowers on a Chieftain, I would use leather panels to lace around the bars.

It's taken me a while to get it, but I think I get this motorcycle thing. This release of Indian is proving my point, whether anyone else gets it or not, or maybe I just don't get it. One, Indian is not about replacing anything, it's about bringing back an icon of motorcycle history. There's many things that the Indian is that Victory will never be for many years to come. I enjoyed a thorough two hours or more discussion of motorcycle passion with an Indian die-hard enthusiast. In those two hours, not once did he bash any other motorcycle, to include HD. He talked about rider appeal and the love of riding. As much as I drool over an Indian, it is not my Vision, and it carries no competition for me. Like my Indian lover friend said, "I've got the perfect bike for how I ride." speaking of the Vision. I've not gone to any other forum than the two Victory forums I participate in, one NOT being the VOG, but I'm amazed of how there is a lot of buzz over the new Indian and the remarks of folks wanting to dump their Victory for an Indian. I'll say this and I'm done. Victory has had it's struggles because most folks have never had a passion for the brand, only the passion to own something American that is not a Harley. So, if that is the case, Victory will take a hard hit, and those going to Indian looking for the comfort of a Victory, they will be sorely (pun intended) disappointed.

I believe as a heritage bike, this Indian will be the top of the line in comfort, but if you're going to make it a Vision or Cross bike by accessorizing it, stay with a Victory and put tassels on it, you'll fair better. I'm done.

Chieftan - After watching all the videos a hundred times by now, certain things become evident.  Polaris pulled the Vision A-team out of Victory and put them on the Chieftan project.  The Chief and Vintage Chief have a boatload of design cues established so that transition from previous models was not that tough.  The decision about which ones to pick from and use was tough but it was because they had so many to pick from.  I think that each model of Chief had a lead designer assigned.

The Chieftan was Vision territory; totally uncharted.  In some ways it was freeing because there was no blueprint, in other ways it was gut-wretching because it had to tie in to an iconic brand that had never built a faired bike with hardbags in its 110 year (at that time) history.  Rule #1 - It must never be mistaken for a Harley but it still has to look American.  Sheesh, where to start.

Every Chieftan video that shows the mock-up/modeling/production has clips of my favorite designer either carving clay off the seat or standing back to get a perspective.  His hair is a little grayer now, surely a reflection of the Vision years.  It just does me proud that when Polaris really has a ground-breaking project to pull off (starting with the Vegas) they go to Mike Song and his hand-picked team.  The Chieftan is all about the fairing and it has his fingerprints all over it.  If I had to guess, he might have started with a Google image search of  locomotive streamliner.

When you are going into high-profile, high-stakes, but unknown territory, who you gonna call........

These are 2014 year model bikes so they have a year to make them.  Scott Wine is hoping for 4,000 this year and 8,000 2015's.

If I were to buy a modern Indian and stick it in a vault for my grandkids to auction off someday, it would be one of the 2013 Kings Mountain bikes.  They just turned into the unwanted stepchild this last week but 50 years from now, they will be remembered for their pure massive size and exclusivity.  I could have picked up an LE or FE a month ago for the same price I'll be paying for the Polaris Indian that will number in the thousands during its first year. 

The "1901" numbered limited edition 2014 bikes being offered right now is about how many Kings Mountain bikes were produced under the entire Stellican regime.

There were only 35 LE's made and I'm not sure how many FE's were sold.  Way less than 100.  I can't remember where I saw it but I saw 2,240 as a number thrown around for the KM bikes.  Don't know why somebody would just make that up.

The #1 accessory I'm waiting for Polaris to make for their new Indian is the arrow shaped shift rod.  Coolest thing ever (except for the LED War Bonnet).

My best friend-riding buddy here in Memphis ordered a Blue Vintage today from the new dealer in Arkansas.  (He said my buddy was #16 firm buyer since since yesterday.  Shipping and dealer prep fees are being waived.)  My buddy is 5'10 and the dealer recommended the 2" pullback bars since he ordered the drivers backrest and would be leaning back a little.  6-footers plus would fit the stock bars ok. 

As far as the Chieftan goes, it is a couple of inches shorter than the Classic and Vintage but that's wheelbase, not necessarily a factor with legroom.  The Chieftan floorboards have more clearance than the Vision and allow a 48% lean angle.  Should corner like no other v-twin bagger ever made.  Chieftan will also have heated grip option with heat display indicator on the dash.

Here is one of the best article/video combos I have seen so far (Buried in the middle of the article is the fact that the Chieftan seat design will be available on the other two models later on.  Makes me wonder what the difference is.)  Not sure how tall the author is.:

http://www.motorcycle-usa.com/155/16786/Motorcycle-Article/2014-Indian-Chieftain-First-Ride.aspx

Another intersting note.  Scroll through the comments at the bottom of the article and read the one by McJitsu.  Pretty cool.

Yeah, I found out about the heated grips by scrolling through the Specs dropdown on the individual models.  It's buried in the Electrical paragraph.  Available on all 3 models.  I ordered a heated solo seat with my bike and will probably pass on the heated grips since I will have the grip cover/tassles on there.  Will also keep me from going too crazy in bad weather.  It's not a Vision, it's not a Vision, it's not a Vision.....

I'm not surprised about the Arkansas dealer getting swamped.  We know that Texas has no dealers onboard yet so he is raking in guys from across the border.  I did a dealer search from my brothers zip code in Houston and the Arkansas guy is the closest.  He told my buddy that guys are just showing up from out of state unannounced and putting down deposits.

DSmith - 2013-08-06 12:25 AM I was fortunate enough to do a demo ride yesterday and there were two things that Indian still needs to work on in my opinion. First the wind protection was poor, you hardly could call it a geezer ride. The second was the dismal passenger seating, my wife was bailing off before we even left the parking lot. I am sure for the guys that are still dating or on their honeymoon it would work just fine, but for those of us that the honeymoon was over many years ago its a dismal failure.

Double Vision - Based on DSmiths review (see previous page) the wife might not stay on long enough to enjoy floorboards, even if they offered them.  That's why I bought a solo seat.  After getting her used to the Vision Barcolounger seat I don't even want to suggest that she'd want to spend any length of time on the back of the Chief.  I might put the stock dual seat back on for a group ride on a weekend lunch run but that's about it. 

I am looking into a power port for heated clothing so I will pass on the word there if I can rig it without messing up the looks.

Radioteacher - It's....not....a....Vision.  Don't tempt me!

(Not sure why this is all red.)

Great views of the frame in CAD here.  Frame intake and left side breather.  Wow.

http://blogs.motorcyclistonline.com/2014-indian-chief-first-ride-37591.html/frame-3/#axzz2bIWROxkd

While you are there, scroll through all of the pics.  Best gallery on the web so far.

Here are a set of Kings Mountains you can modify to fit (cough):

http://www.indianmotorcycle.com/en-us/pages/detail.aspx?ItemID=N90500214

The arrival date being thrown around at my dealership is last week of August on the pre-orders, 2nd week of September for the Dealer stock. 

Having said that, I'm totally expecting delays by Polaris because they will not ship those bikes if there are any know issues unresolved.  I went through an emotional rollercoaster (ok, let's call it a meltdown) waiting for the Vision to arrive in the Fall of '07.  (I didn't snap until my dealer called to tell me my bike was on the truck headed out of Spirit Lake - WOOHOO!!!! - only to call me back two days later and say it got turned around to get an issue fixed back at the factory.  10 days later...)  I'm better now and my Indian will get here when it gets here.  I'm getting my hip replaced tomorrow morning so a slight delay will probably be better for me anyway.

There will probably be a backlog of accessories early on until the vendors get fully ramped up.  I'm guessing I'll have to take the bike home with about half the stuff on back order. 

Charlotte is the big gun as far as dealers go so other dealers may have a slightly different timeframe.  I think they are still under the 1901 so numbered bikes should still be available.   50 current dealers X 30 pre-orders each is still only 1,500 bikes.

I put a $1000 deposit down the day after Indian announced the pre-order (first week of July) and I was #3 in line at Charlotte.  Not sure how low that will get me overall.

The Aussies have the "One-Eleven Original" club that is very cool.  The first 111 Indians are already pre-sold and many of them are fully paid off, sight unseen.  I'm not sure how those will blend in with the U.S. bike as far as low VIN #'s go.  They are not a part of the 1901 program here.

Polaris showed a huge leap of faith in the Aussies by secretly shipping three bikes down there for a simultaneous reveal with Sturgis Saturday night. The only glitch was when the Sturgis schedule got bumped up 30 minutes and the Aussies had to cut off their guest musician in mid-song for their reveal.  Sturgis revealed early because of impending bad weather.  Other than that, great party in both hemispheres.  Smash hits.

"One-Eleven Original" info here:

http://www.indianmotorcycle.com/en-au/stories/indian-motorcycles-thunder-stroke-111-engine-revealed-at-ulysses-agm-on-fraser-coast

http://cyrilhuzeblog.com/2013/04/23/indian-motorcycle-revealed-the-new-thunder-stroke-111-engine-in-australia-launches-the-one-eleven-original-riders-club/comment-page-1/

http://www.autoevolution.com/news-g-image/2014-indian-chief-is-already-a-star-photo-gallery/129523.html#sjmp

Good on ya mates!

My buddy ordered his from Jacksonville, AR on Tuesday and I told him it wouldn't shock me at all if his number ended up lower than mine.  Neither one of us are Polaris insiders or early Victory guys with connections so anything is fair game.  No lose situation for me regardless.

aaronrkelly - 2013-08-12 12:43 AM Easttexasrider - 2013-08-11 9:08 PM Other than that, the reasons for buying a Chieftain 2. Owning a historic Indian would be cool. Its far from a historic Indian.....its a Polaris with a Indian badge on it. Dont get me wrong.....I like Victory and I like Indian.....just dont mix up historic Indian with "been sold to half a dozen different companies and re-badged Indian". It shares no lineage with the historic Indian.

Neither was the Gilroy, neither was the King Mountain, neither was the moped built across the pond, but they are part of the Indian History.  Since the failure of Indian in 1953, each rendition of the Indian name has added to the peppered history.  So, Polaris has made history, I believe this will be the last attempt to bring the name back to life, but there won't need to be another attempt.  As forward thinking as Polaris is, it falls right into the original vision of the brand.  I think Hendee would be proud.