Of all of the different road racers, factory MotoGP and 500GP bikes, countless world Superbike contenders and numerous home-brewed and factory-built musclebikes, nothing I’ve ever ridden compares to the factory Indian Challenger on which Tyler O’Hara won the 2022 MotoAmerica King of the Baggers crown. In terms of its sheer improbability coupled with its mammoth size, hefty weight and downright belligerence, nothing comes remotely close.
And when O’Hara and Indian snatched the crown off their Harley-Davidson rivals at the end of last year, it reignited the century-old on-track warfare between America’s two leading manufacturers. Indian versus Harley is the oldest brand rivalry in motorcycle sport, and the pair has been at each other’s intakes to earn bragging rights to road racing’s King of the Baggers (KotB) crown, in the ultra-ridiculous but potentially very lucrative pursuit of going racing with tuned-up versions of their best-selling V-twin roadbikes. And it’s war.
O’Hara clinched the 2022 King of the Baggers title in a nail-biting rain-lashed finale in New Jersey by splashing to second place behind Harley-Davidson’s Travis Wyman. His season-long consistency – he was fourth or better in each of the seven races – allowed O’Hara to secure the 2022 KotB Championship by 10 points from Wyman, two ahead of brother Kyle, with Indian teammate Jeremy McWilliams fourth in the final standings.
With a miffed Harley-Davidson considerably ramping up its 2023 race budget in an effort to regain the title, and relative minnow Indian – whose annual production is one-sixth that of Harley – intensifying development of its Challenger RR via its race partner S&S, the Bagger race series has now doubled in size for 2023. There are 14 races at seven different events – all doubleheaders – in what has now become the direct two-wheeled equivalent of NASCAR.
