All You Need To Know About The Indian Challenger

Indian is ready to take on Harley-Davidson’s Road Glide Special with its new Challenger (quite aptly named, right?). The American bike maker has just launched the new bagger in the US and within barely 48 hours it has become the talk of the town. We help you make sense of this hype in five simple points:

Is powered by a 1769cc V-twin motor! 

Indian’s motorcycles are usually powered by big torquey motors. The 1769cc liquid-cooled unit belts out 122.5PS of power at 5500rpm and 178Nm of torque at 3800rpm, making the Challenger the most powerful cruiser in Indian's lineup. On the other hand, Harley-Davidson’s most powerful V-twin in the CVO churns out 169.4Nm. The American manufacturer claims it has tested the new engine for over four lakh kilometres on the road. That’s like covering the Earth’s circumference… 10 times! 

Equipped with a tonne of electronic goodies

Indian has thrown almost every electronic equipment it could find at the Challenger. The new bagger is available in three variants: standard, Dark Horse and Limited. While the base model gets ABS, traction control and three riding modes, it’s the Dark Horse and the Limited variants that take the cake here. Both the variants come equipped with Drag Torque Control (DTC) and a Bosch six-axis IMU for cornering traction control and ABS. Indian has also equipped the bagger with a seven-inch screen for navigation. 

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Sophisticated cycle parts

The Indian Challenger is suspended on 43mm inverted fork and a hydraulically adjustable Fox monoshock. The Indian Challenger is practically a couch on wheels and bringing this expensive couch to a halt are twin 320mm discs with radially-mounted Brembo 4-piston calipers up front and a 298mm disc at the rear with a 2-piston caliper. The 19-inch alloy wheel up front and the 16-incher at the rear are shod with Metzeler Cruisetec rubber. 

Will it come to India? 

Yes! Just like the Chieftain, the Challenger is also available in three variants: Standard, Dark Horse and Limited, and the American bike maker is likely to bring all three variants to our shores. As this bagger will be brought to our shores via the CBU route, it will attract hefty taxes and could start from Rs 25 lakh (ex-showroom). 

Option to kit it up as per your taste

Like the Chieftain, Indian is offering a whole array of accessories to kit up the Challenger. If you tick the right boxes, you can get a 16-inch windshield, a passenger backrest, passenger floorboards, a heel shifter and much more. Additionally, Indian is also offering its new PowerBand Audio Plus system for on-road entertainment. Indian claims the optional audio system is 50 per cent louder than the standard one. Now, all these accessories will allow you to style the Challenger as you like, provided you’re willing to shell out some extra bucks.