Motorcycles

Indian Motorcycle cranks out a new "Powerplus" 108ci V-twin engine platform

Indian Motorcycle cranks out a new "Powerplus" 108ci V-twin engine platform
Indian's Powerplus engine is the highest performing production American V-twin ever
Indian's Powerplus engine is the highest performing production American V-twin ever
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Indian's Powerplus engine is the highest performing production American V-twin ever
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Indian's Powerplus engine is the highest performing production American V-twin ever
Attractive detailing should make this thing a peach to design around.
2/5
Attractive detailing should make this thing a peach to design around.
In blacked-out form.
3/5
In blacked-out form.
Springfield's latest big twin.
4/5
Springfield's latest big twin.
I think I like the black one even better than the blinged-out chrome version.
5/5
I think I like the black one even better than the blinged-out chrome version.
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America's other great cruiser company has announced its latest and greatest big motorcycle donk, a 1,770cc, 60-degree V-Twin making an impressive 122 horsepower and 128 lb-ft (173.5 Nm) of torque.

Indian has built the Powerplus engine ahead of its upcoming Challenger, a big ol' fixed-fairing bagger that aspires to some pretty hard-charging, tire-smearing acceleration; a level of performance for which the gloriously named Thunder Stroke motor was deemed insufficiently grunty.

Thus, the company took its very pretty 1,133cc Scout engine for inspiration and set out to build a liquid-cooled, overhead cam, four valve per cylinder monster – the highest-performance American V-Twin ever developed. Presumably some of the knowledge Indian's parent company Polaris imbibed during its custodianship of the Victory brand came in handy here; Victory's big liquid-cooled twins were a pleasure to run up the tacho, as well as delivering that famous American grunt at lower speeds.

In blacked-out form.
In blacked-out form.

The Powerplus, though, is about 30 horses up on the motor in the old Victory Vision, and although it'll undoubtedly have to shift a heavy bike in the Challenger, it's going to be a fun ride on the way up to its 6,500 rpm redline. Its six-speed transmission, including a true overdrive in sixth, will give it the ability to motor down the highway in a very relaxed fashion, and help with fuel economy when you're not spinning the engine up and snarling your way into the top end. And its assisted clutch will make things easier on the ol' left forearm around town.

Importantly, for the cruiser scene, it seems to be a good looker, with nice detailing akin to the metalwork that makes the Scout such a terrific bike to look at and customize. We look forward to seeing what the Powerplus looks like once Rich Christoph and the rest of the Indian design crew build a bike around it, and feeling how it does its thing on the road.

Source: Indian

View gallery - 5 images
4 comments
4 comments
Pete
Funny how it looks like a mirror-image of the Harley-Davidson VRSC engine. 60° V, 4valve heads, water pump in the centre of the V etc, etc. The 1250cc VROD was making 125hp some 12 years ago: is Indian holding something back? Or can’t they make something better than an obsolete HD engine? I’d like to see Indian get back to making inline 4’s. There are too many V-twins in the cruiser market.
DWolvin
Call me when it's pushing something new. It's fairly easy to get more horsepower and torque out of smaller motors from other brands. What's this got, good gas mileage? I like Indian well enough, but this is a miss to me.
Ebran
A mirror image of the V-Rod engine ? this engine has over 50 more foot pounds of torque than the V-Rod engine, and please tell me what smaller engine on a production motorcycle has more horsepower AND torque I couldn't find one.
nick101
Of course, they'll put the engine in a 900+ lb bike, so you'll need that power!