Recently, I was at the IMS in Daytona, FL. After admiring the new Indian models, I watched a demonstration Indian was putting on. They had a new Indian strapped to a dyno with no cooling fan directed at the bike. Temperatures were in the upper 80s F, close to 90 F. The guy on the bike started it up and didn't shut it off for the five or ten minutes the demo lasted. An announcer spoke about the bike while the operator ran it full throttle up to "speeds" in excess of 100mph a full five times, maybe six. When he was done, the bike was shut down and he laid his hand on the the engine's cylinder fins and upper end without burning himself. The demo ran about every 15 minutes and I'll assume the same bike was used all week-plus long. I'm surprised after other air-cooled bikes I've owned that you could put your hand on the engine at the end of the test and not get burned. How could they do that? Apparently Indian is selling well as I saw a LOT of them on the streets of Daytona. Good for them!
Sounds faked. Maybe the "dyno" was a big treadmill with sound effects and the motorcycle engine was not even running. What did they do after the "But wait, there's more..." part of the pitch? --Bill
No, the way the bike's suspension reacted, the engine was definitely under heavy load. I don't think I could put my hand on any of my liquid cooled motorcycle engines after five dyno runs. The Indian sounded awesome, by the way. I also had a chance to scout out the new Scout. It won't move to the top of my personal short list of possible motorcycles to buy, but it definitely warrants a look if you're in the market for a VRod... or many other cruiser-style motorcycles.
If you call now they'll double the offer!! A friend of mine bought a Scout, he hasn't taken delivery yet but it'll be interesting to see one in the flesh.
Last summer I pulled into costco and noticed a guy standing next to his HD talking to a woman. The bike was running. I went in and did my shopping, at least 20 minutes, came out and the guy was still talking to the woman with the bike running. Maybe the bike can take it, maybe I wouldn't want to own it 10,000 km later.
If the engine utilizes ceramic coatings on the inside it is believable . The Yamaha cruiser ( 1900 I think ) uses that technology and you can put your hand on the valve covers minutes after the bike is shut off .
