Who here is buying a new Indian?

[Drift1]

LOL ... Troll don't you just love the questions and face expressions after you answer them  Yesterday I met up with a few friends that wanted to ride , now we all have different brands of bikes . One of my fellow riders has a 2012 VROD and needed to get an inspection done . We were eating at Gullys , , on the river front of Newburgh after a trip through Fishkill and such so we planned to go to the Harley dealer called , Moroneys so he could get his inspection done . Now were in there looking around at various things including the eye candy that works there in their skimpy tight shorts  ... ok back on subject , so I hear the one dealer say to another , "check out the WLA bike outside . " Again people are taking pictures with there phones of my bike . Now I'm at the parts counter looking for one of those inspection plaques dealing with a Burly " Biker " guy that ask . " What bike is it for ? " I reply , "It's for a 99 1500 drifter " and the guy gives me a dirty look and say , COME ON with an attitude . Long story short after waiting on the inspection the same guy is outside when I walk over to MA-DEUCE taking pictures . He says this is yours , nice job and you ride a Kawasaki 1500 . I say yup and this is my drifter 800 ... HAHAHAHA I thought the guy was going to faint .

[Troll]

Hehehehehehehehehehehehehe....I had  a similar experience the other day with a "biker". Looking over the Drifter, and then asking me why I had a ROK sticker on it....

[Drift1]

I just came from an Indian show at the motorcycle museum in Newburgh , near me . Indian was there with a tractor trailer load of there new models , 30 bikes worth . If you signed up Indian allowed you to test ride the fleet in packs at a time after going over the bikes and such .

I was able to ride the vintage and the classic was not impressed with either . For starters there only toe shift and my boot couldn't even fit under the dam thing . Now I know , yes this can be adjusted . I stand 6' and couldn't sit flat footed so I asked and yes you can buy a lower seat , but do NOT come stock . These bikes have 5,000 miles on them and the brown leather was already faded from the sun big time . Needless to say the seats were darker then the bags and some vise versa . One gentleman stated some of the seats were so bad from fade they already replaced a few . The turn singles themselves felt cheaply made and the bike in a whole felt cheap . The power was there , but with all the rest of the dislikes and that price tag they can keep that thing I'll enjoy my drifter

Besides there were a bunch of Indian enthusiast amongst the crowd as well as Harley riders with beautiful looking rides . I'm sure they all cost a hell of a lot more then my two drifter put together , but MA-DEUCE received the most attention and plenty of people taking pictures to boot  One of the Indian representatives walks over and asked me what year Indian was she , I simply reply , " My Kawasaki Drifter is a 2000 " everyone gave me that deer in the headlights look and I just smiled . Oh boy then all the questions started .

[smokey422]

Not me. My Drifter 1500 ('99 model) has over 27,000 miles on it and has never run better. My closest Indian dealer is  in Lincoln, NE (I live in MO), over 220 miles away. And I want to see some long-term reliability reports before I drop almost 22 grand on a Vintage. Reliability tests mean nothing until you get a lot of them on the road with some miles on them. Look at the problems Harley has had with the twin cam motors.

[bikerbob5864]

That's part of it for me too!, got so many things to do and not enough money for them all.
Have to prioritize, like the old days...........when you drove a POS to maintain your Bike!
When we have the time................we don't have the money............when we're making the money...........we don't have the time. The great Paradox of the American Dream.

Bob

[chief]

If I didn't have so many things going right now, I'd definitely buy the Vintage. No, I would not sell my Drifter. My wife loves the Goldwing and I would not want to modify the Vintage to suit her, so the Goldwing would stay as well. THAT is the problem... that and we have so very many things to do before we retire!!!

[bikerbob5864]

Can't see one in the immediate future for me either. Might have to move in a couple years......and working on putting together a Rat Rod 23 T. Something has to go, so I think the Custom Softail is not long for my world! Had it for 15 years now, always ran great and still does...(S&S Motor) and a real showstopper/Trophy winner. Love it, but I think it's time to move on to new things. 

Bob

[greenbarn]

I don't think I'll be considering a new Indian in the foreseeable future.  I can't see, for me, justifying the additional money- maybe in 10 years if they're $4500, who knows. 

[darkdrifter]

I've got 15000 bar hopping miles on my kings mountain era Indian.  no long trips yet mostly due to job and schedule.  A couple hour trip to the Ozarks don't count.
more than likely a 2015 Polaris indian is in my future.  I'm not buying one till we have a established local indian dealer.  learned my lesson the hard way on that.
The drifter isn't going anywhere though. 

[jmbo]

Does the Polaris version make you want to buy it?

Nope.  I really like the Drifter. Don't get me wrong the new Indian looks great but everyone puts a price on their fun. I can have a hell of a time on a $4500 bike. It may not say Harley or Indian on it but for every $20,000 dollar bike there are a hundred great low millage bikes that someone bought and never rode just like my '99er.

[49Reo]

A good example of "bikes being sold with few miles" is the Drifter; almost all the Drifters I see for sale are low mileage; the odd one with 20,000 or more, almost all are under 10,000. Mine had 5500 or so on it. I get the feeling mine had been in an accident before I bought it though; found some repair to the gas tank on it, evidence that it had been repainted... plus one of the pads under the tank was missing, an 'o' ring under the gas cap, and some 'swelling' in the clearcoat, evidence of a mild reaction between the original and new clearcoat or paint. All this being said, I wonder if the original owner wiped out and scared himself into getting rid of it.....his loss, my gain!!

[gdrudd13]

Somehow, I'm thinking that it will be hard to find someone who will put 20k on one of these. I would, you would, but the "average" poseur won't......Hard to get that kind of mileage bar hopping. Am I being cynical? Naaahhhh.

So true. There are so many newer bikes being sold on CL with barely any miles. The good news is that it lets other people buy them with someone else having taken the hit on depreciation.

[Troll]

  Somehow, I'm thinking that it will be hard to find someone who will put 20k on one of these. I would, you would, but the "average" poseur won't......Hard to get that kind of mileage bar hopping. Am I being cynical? Naaahhhh.

[TripWire]

I will probably get one in a few years. Just waiting to see if the average engines can get more than 20k on them before they need a rebuild.

[moosewayne]

Yes, yes it does.
A Polaris owned Indian is a 'when' not an 'if' for me.
A black Vintage is in my future.

[DC]

Does the Polaris version make you want to buy it?