2018 Indian Scout Bobber launch review

The new Indian Scout Bobber has arrived at the perfect time. While the original Scout has provided a beautiful retro vibe with a contemporary beat over the last three years, the question has often been asked: what about a factory custom too?

Well, Indian has now delivered in the shape of the Scout Bobber, which is a slammed, tear-away-the-chattels version of the Scout that in our books is now the company’s premier cruiser. There’s a lot to get enthused about.

The Scout Bobber is not a dramatic styling exercise by any means, but the more brawling look over the standard Scout is mainly due to the flatter bars, chopped fenders, lower suspension (by 26mmm), knobby tyres, and all the blacked-out bits: wheels, headlight nacelle, exhaust, seat and gauges. The trick 50/50 LED tail light and blinker units are also encased in a black housing.

Some other countries have bar-end mirrors on the Scout Bobber as standard, but not the Aussie-spec models.

RELATED READING
Indian Scout launch review

Lower and flatter
What’s not immediately obvious to the naked eye is the footpegs on the Scout Bobber are now 38mm closer to the rider compared to the Scout. Coupled with the flatter bar, it makes for a much more aggressive riding position than the Scout and in a similar vein to the Harley-Davidson V-Rod.

That was the most noticeable part of the Scout Bobber’s persona when we hit the road from Indian’s dealership in the Brisbane suburb of Fortitude Valley, on a route that is the bike’s bread and butter: city work interspersed with some country cruising.

I did feel a little stretched and uncomfortable at the start of the ride but, as is so often the case, that feeling soon dissipates as you start to get a feel for the occasion and make subtle adjustments to body positioning. Some mini apes would be nice, though…

The solo seat is surprisingly comfortable and, even though our riding stretches weren’t exhaustive, my bum didn’t go numb or even feel pangs of pain. The seat basically locks you into one position, so there’s really nowhere to move.

Of course, with just 50mm of suspension travel at the rear – the front remains the same as the Scout with 120mm of travel – if the Scout Bobber had an evil seat and suspension combo it could really take the wind out of the sails of any rider.

But that's not the case with the Scout Bobber, which has well-sorted suspension. The biggest change is that the Scouts now have cartridge upside-down forks, which make for much better damping.

We didn’t bang out a lot of curves to really test how the non-adjustable forks perform under excessive braking forces and harder cornering, but the tease was impressive: very stable, and the Scout Bobber fell into turns with minimal effort on the bars. A lot of that composure is down to the light and rigid cast aluminum frame, which produces a neutral-handling machine tracking on chunky 16-inch rubber.

The Scout Bobber’s rake of 29 degrees is identical to the Scout’s, but with the slammed back-end the lean angle isn’t as expansive – 29 degrees compared to 31 degrees. That's also exacerbated by the Bobber’s footpegs, which are fairly wide; it doesn't take too much cornering gusto for them to start grinding in earnest...

With such a small amount of travel and weighing in at 255kg (wet), those rear shocks have a fair task before them. They are effective though, and soak up small bumps quite easily. Indian did have one of the launch bikes fitted with Fox shocks, but I didn’t really get enough time – or ride with enough vigour – on that one to make a meaningful assessment.

However, we recently fitted similar Fox shocks to our long-term Triumph Street Scrambler, and they produced a quantum leap in damping performance – as well as being able to accommodate a pillion.

Speaking of that, other accessories on display at the launch were a leather passenger seat and a stage one slip-on exhaust, the latter maintaining the split/dual look.

Indian also offers a saddlebag in its accessories catalogue, which is fitted to the right-hand side.

For the complete Indian accessories range, click here.

Flexible powerplant
This author hadn’t ridden the ‘big’ Scout – let’s not forget we had the smaller Scout Sixty on sale here in 2015 and 2016 – since the initial launch in New Zealand in October 2014, and I soon realised what I had been missing with that fabulous water-cooled donk.

At the Scout launch, Indian said its new engine was a “stepping stone to the future”, and the Scout Bobber is a part of that wave.

The 1133cc 60-degree V-twin is massively flexible and resourceful, perfectly content to perform its ‘cruiser-like’ low-end torque workhorse duties, but also happy to rev as well – all the way to the 9000rpm soft-action limiter. The flywheel is light, which adds to the sharpness.

Even though the Scout Bobber looks great and has some beautiful finishing touches, the irrepressible 94hp/97Nm engine is still the main ticket item for me.

You can ride it in sixth gear at not far above tick-over and still accelerate away, and when the soft-action throttle is given a handful it leaps from a slow burn to frenetic in an instant. During that period, some vibes start making their presence felt through the mirrors – but not the bars. However, such is the intensity and enjoyment factor it’s just something’s that’s noted, rather than an annoyance.

And on it goes! At 6000rpm it really takes off, where the term ‘performance cruiser’ moniker begins to make a lot of sense.

Even though the gearing is tall, it doesn’t stifle the Scout’s intent. Acceleration is always crisp – no lugging or labouring for this baby.

The gearbox is an absolute beauty. No grimacing ‘clunk’ as it goes into first gear, either, and the silkiness and positivity continues, even when the transmission is under plenty of strain. The light clutch is also soft and progressive, which is especially beneficial for city work.

The Scout’s brakes are serviceable, with single 298mm discs at both ends, gripped by twin-piston (front) and single-piston calipers. Up front, the lever nearly hits the grip with a firm squeeze, but the rear doesn’t really add a lot to the package.

The Scout is available in Thunder Black, Star Silver Smoke, Bronze Smoke, Indian Motorcycle Red or Thunder Black Smoke.

Summing up
The Country Manager for Indian Motorcycle in Australia, Peter Harvey, believes the Scout Bobber will outsell the $19,495 (ride away) Scout going forward – at a split of about 60 to 40 per cent – by targeting a broader demographic.

Perhaps the Scout Bobber should have been the first Scout produced? Maybe, but no point in labouring that one – the important thing is that the Scout Bobber is now on sale in Australia, offering an edgy, more aggressive ‘fighting’ alternative to the Scout. A beautifully complementary piece of hardware.

The Scout Bobber and Scout will be joined in the 2018 Indian line-up by the Chief Dark Horse, Chief Vintage, Springfield Dark Horse, Chieftain Dark Horse, Chieftain Limited, Roadmaster and Roadmaster Elite.

2018 INDIAN SCOUT BOBBER IN BIKE SHOWROOM

SPECS: 2018 INDIAN SCOUT BOBBER
ENGINE
Type: Liquid-cooled, eight-valve 60-degree V-twin
Capacity: 1133cc
Fuel system: Electronic fuel injection

PERFORMANCE
Claimed maximum power: 94hp (70kW)
Claimed maximum torque: 97Nm at 5600rpm

TRANSMISSION
Type: Six-speed
Final drive: Belt

CHASSIS AND RUNNING GEAR
Front suspension: 43mm non-adjustable telescopic forks, 120mm travel
Rear suspension: Preload-adjustable twin shocks, 50mm travel
Front brakes: 298mm disc with twin-piston caliper, ABS
Rear brake: 298mm disc with single-piston caliper
Wheels: Front – 16 x 3.5, rear – 16 x 5.5
Tyres: Front 130/90-16-14, rear 150/80-16

DIMENSIONS AND CAPACITIES
Claimed wet weight: 255kg
Rake: 26 degrees
Seat height: 649mm
Wheelbase: 1562mm
Fuel capacity: 12.5 litres

OTHER STUFF
Price: $18,995 ride away
Colours: Thunder Black, Star Silver Smoke, Bronze Smoke, Indian Motorcycle Red or Thunder Black Smoke
Bike supplied by: Indian Motorcycle Australia
Warranty: 24 months, unlimited kilometres