Getting young 'uns into motorcycling is one of the greatest challenges for big lifestyle brands these days, especially the big American cruiser companies. Harley-Davidson addressed the issue with a pair of electric balance bikes last August, and Indian is following suit now with an electric minibike designed to look like the FTR750 flat tracker, and by association the FTR1200 streetbike.
Recommended for kids over eight years old, the eFTR Jr is a 36-volt electric motorcycle with a twist grip throttle, basic suspension at both ends, decent-looking disc brakes and a set of tank 'n' tail bodywork just like the big FTR. The battery box has some vaguely engine-ish shapes on it, even if it looks like a parallel twin instead of Indian's V-twins, and there's also a pair of fake plastic high-rise shotgun exhausts just like the ones on dad's bike.
Indian's not releasing any power figures for this thing, but says it'll do a solid 15 mph (24 km/h) in high power mode and 10 mph (16 km/h) in low power mode. The battery should last about 65 minutes on high power and around 140 minutes on low.
Oh, and there's a 175-lb (79-kg) recommended weight limit, just in case some of you big kids are eyeing it off for some back yard shenanigans. Not that anyone in history has ever followed a weight limit advisory on a motorbike.
The eFTR Jr is available now at US$749.99. That's a little pricier than the Harley balance bikes, but it looks more like a motorbike, it's got dual suspension where the Harleys are totally rigid, and it's a fair bit faster. It'll suffer in comparison to full-on e-dirtbikes like the Husky EE5, but then that's a pretty serious piece of kit that'll set you back more than $5,000.
Check out a video below.
Source: Indian Motorcycle