Back to the future: Indian Scout Sixty ridden
Say what you want about the “modern classic” trend, it’s produced some gems
If you consider the subject empirically, there has been no better time in the history of automobiles than the present, specifically for motorcycles. Depending on how old you are, you may look back fondly at the two-stroke era, or the horsepower wars of decades past, or with disdain at the introduction and relentless advance of electronic aids. But I believe many more will look back fondly at the present time, when nostalgia is informing motorcycle design, but not engineering, and opening up motorcycling to so many newcomers. Just look at the resurrected Triumph Bonneville, Ducati Scrambler, Indian Chief or its youngest sibling – this Indian Scout Sixty.
Like most trends, there are the authentic leaders, and the sheep. Like the myriad pretenders that slap high pipes on a standard model and hope for a halo to form. The Scout Sixty is not a pretender, it is a leader. It may be designed from the ground-up to hark back to a time past, but it is engineered for 2016. The Sixty joins the full-bore 1200cc Scout as a “cheaper” entry into the Indian brand. Unfortunately, as a fully-imported motorcycle, it ends up being just about Rs 100,000 cheaper, with no other advantages. It uses a 999cc motor, makes 78hp and 88Nm of torque, which is significantly shy of the 100hp and 98Nm that the Scout makes. Clearly, these numbers have some meaning on a buying decision, but otherwise affect little in the experience of this genuinely fun motorcycle.
The first thing you notice about the Scout is its overtly ‘vintage’ design. Fat front tyre, classic colours, machined metal you’d expect on old railway engines. All this is fancy-dress, hiding a thoroughly modern liquid-cooled V-Twin motor nestled between cast frame pieces as a stressed member. When was the last time you saw a cruiser without two tubes of metal cradling a vibrating lump of a motor? For a bike of its size, the Scout Sixty is surprisingly light, and weighs 252kg full of fuel. None of this weight is evident due to its extremely low 643mm seat height. You sit feet forward, with the bars reaching comfortably back for this 5'9" author. Taller riders will actually be even more comfortable and able to lean further back into the accessory backrest.
The Scout Sixty comfortably falls into a category I like to call “psychotic rickshawalla”, which is to say, you can misbehave with this motorcycle almost the moment you get on it. Once you adjust to the odd sensation of not having your feet generally below your body, you can just cane the Scout Sixty with confidence. The ride-by-wire throttle and fuel injection are perfect, and provide the tactility and ‘connected’ feeling I enjoy in a motorcycle. There’s no snatchiness at low speeds, torque is available in plenty at all rev ranges, and point-and-squirt negotiation of city traffic is tons of fun. Suspension is well-damped and you only feel jolts in your spine over the harshest obstacles. The generous torque ensures you always feel like you’re in the right gear (5 against the Indian Scout’s 6) and the relatively vibration-free motor allows you to wring the maximum out of the motorcycle, all the way to it’s approximately 200kmph top speed.
Get out into the hills and you continue to gain confidence, but lose some metal. The Scout Sixty has a modest max lean angle, and you’re likely to scrape the pegs, if not other bits at even slightly elevated pace. The bike stays planted, however, and eggs you onward and upward. Slow-in-fast-out is a prophecy rather than good advice with the Sixty, with so much torque and CG so low that you can’t do anything else. This is not a lazy, loping cruiser but one that will keep up with sportier bikes in most street situations.
We used our brief time with the Indian to put as many kilometres on it as possible, including some fast highway work. Unfortunately, the NH4 is full of slow highway work-in-progress. There are sharp, deep, near-invisible potholes all along the ‘highway’ outside Pune in the direction of Bangalore, and quite a few were bad enough to be disastrous. Our ride was without incident, but we can safely say that a less capable motorcycle would have easily tossed us off, or over the bars, or something similarly dramatic. The Scout Sixty took it all in its stride and highlighted a key truth: cruisers – no matter how comfortable – will hurt your back at some point, by way of the forward-mounted controls. The rider simply has no weight on the feet to absorb impacts. That apart, fast cruising is a pleasure and despite no wind protection, wind blast was manageable. Brakes are adequate and didn’t warrant comment one way or the other.
Our test bike came decorated with accessory leather saddlebags, with fiddly clasps and a big chrome crash bar. The bar is close to the footpegs, and may foul for those with larger feet. That, and the very basic console are about the only niggles we had with this motorcycle. More serious is the noise the exhaust makes, or doesn’t make. It’s a very poor note, barely registering as a V-twin and something that will immediately put off anyone familiar with this format of motorcycle. For those who intend to keep the bike long-term, you might want to note the 16" wheels with custom Indian-branded tyres. You’re unlikely to find options in your local tyre shop.
The Indian Scout Sixty proves that you don’t need raw horsepower, overarching attitude or yogic ergonomics to have fun. This is a fast, honest motorcycle that makes few compromises in technology and delivers performance in spades. At Rs 11.99 ex-showroom, it is beaten in value only by the Rs 12.99 lac Scout. I can’t think of many other cruisers I’d want to buy, at any price.
Pros: Handling, performance, confidence-inspiring
Cons: Odd tyre size
Rating: 4.5/5
