Indian Scout Test Ride Review

Riding Dynamics – This American motorcycle is a beauty on the straights and despite being a cruiser, she handles great even in the corners. The 135 mm of ground clearance allows the bike to lean without any of the body parts scraping the ground. The steep rake angle of 29 degrees (generally 31-32 degress in such segments), compensates for the fat rear tyre which in other cases gives a sluggish feeling, it provides an accurate feedback of what the front is doing in the corners. Manoeuvrability in the city is an easy task due to its low height even though it has a long wheelbase.

The amount of grunt this bike produces, it is a whole lot of fun to ride solo

The front telescopic suspension claims to travel for 4.7-inches but the stiffness doesn’t provide adequate resistance. It tends to top out early. The unsatisfactoriness of the springs and the fork fluid often bums you out of the luxurious ride you generally are having. Coming back to the rear, it’s quite the opposite. The rear dual shock suspension has a total travel of 3-inches but is quite firm for an average sized and average weighted rider. Heavy potholes or uneven surface for a prolonged period of time can cause back pain. Coming to the brakes, the front is geared up with a 298 mm single disc with a dual-piston calliper unit while the rear has the same disc but with a single-piston calliper, which at first seemed to be way under the requirement of the machine.

But as we tested the brakes, they passed with distinction. They tend to generate enough braking power to stop the vehicle in time without skidding as it is equipped with ABS which performs very efficiently. The front and rear tyre has identical dimensions but different sizes. The front is 130/90/16 with a load rating of 72H and the rear is a big 150/80/16 with a load rating of 71H. The rubber sticks to the ground and gives enough confidence to the rider to push the bike into the corners but then under perform in wet condition and the bike fishtails under such conditions.