Indian Chief

That 74-cubic-inch side-valve thumps through your boots at idle like a diesel locomotive clearing its throat, and out on open highway it pulls with a lazy, unstoppable authority that modern bikes can't replicate with all their horsepower. The post-1940 skirted fenders are genuinely beautiful — heads turn before you even blip the throttle — but they trap heat and make tire changes a miserable afternoon project. Steering is slow and deliberate, the girder front fork communicating every road scar directly into your palms, and anything over 130 km/h feels like a negotiation rather than a cruise. Keep up with the total-loss oiling, expect to wrench every few hundred miles, and this machine rewards you with a riding experience that is completely, irreplaceably its own.

Sitting on that low 660mm saddle and rolling the throttle at 3,000 rpm delivers genuine chest-thumping torque — the S&S-derived 1442cc thumps with real authority and the retro fender styling turns more heads than a Harley Electra Glide ever will. But I spent more weekends tracking down oil weeps, fixing loose chrome fixtures, and chasing electrical gremlins than I did actually riding the thing, and that's a damning reality for a bike costing this much in 1999. Gilroy's team clearly had passion but not enough factory discipline — tolerances varied unit to unit, and my bike needed valve adjustments at under 4,000 miles. If you can find one that's been properly sorted by a previous owner who already paid the mechanical tuition, the riding experience is genuinely moving; if you're buying blind, budget for a rebuild.

Stellican deserves credit for rescuing the nameplate and tightening up the catastrophic build quality of the Gilroy era — gaps closed, paint held, chrome actually stayed on past 6 months. The 1638cc V-twin pulls hard from idle and that 122 Nm torque surge between 2,500 and 3,500 rpm is genuinely addictive on long sweeping two-lanes, and the 660mm seat height makes it accessible for shorter riders in a class that usually punishes them. But 340kg is not a polite number when you're threading through a gas station or picking it up from a slow-speed tipover, and parts sourcing was already an anxious conversation in 2006 — in 2024 it's a full-blown treasure hunt. The 2008 collapse hung over every purchase even when the bikes were new, and buying one now means accepting that you're riding a collectible with all the fragility and mythology that entails.