My Kind of American Muscle

I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN ATTRACTED TO FAST, SPORTY MOTORCYCLES; SUPERSPORTS and naked streetfighters have always been my flavours of choice. Eyeball-popping acceleration, high-revving multi-cylinder engines, and aggressive handling are what I’m looking for in a motorcycle. So, naturally, when I was assigned the task of riding an Indian Scout across the country in mid-2016, I was less than thrilled. After all, I perceived big American V-twins to be somewhat slow and agricultural, not exactly the exciting embodiment of motorcycling as I saw it. I couldn’t have been more wrong. The 1,133-cc motor proved its worth over the next 2,000 kilometres, with its easily accessible 95 hp and 97 Nm. It accelerated pretty quickly and I even saw an indicated 200 km/h on a few open stretches of highway, so it clearly wasn’t slow. I did, at the time, wonder what it would be like to ride a sportier motorcycle powered by this kind of engine, but since Indian only built cruiser and