For the past few weeks I’ve been riding the Indian Sport Chief RT, the company’s full-sized air-cooled sport bagger. It’s — spoilers for the eventual review — a very good motorcycle, but like most things on this earth it’s not perfect: It’s big, it’s expensive, and its air-cooled engine runs hot. Yet it seems Indian has gotten access to my phone’s Notes app, because the company just announced a bike that may well address nearly every fault I can find with the Sport Chief: The new Sport Scout RT.
The Sport Scout RT takes the Sport Chief RT and, as you might expect, applies its formula of mods to the Scout platform. The smaller, lighter, liquid-cooled bike gets a sporty front fairing, a set of locking hard bags out back, and a full coat of paint all around — no more black-only fenders and fairings like the non-touring Sport Scout. The whole kit weighs in at a claimed 568 pounds wet, a full 146 pounds lighter than the Sport Chief RT.
I may have a new favorite cruiser
The Sport Scout RT’s 1250 cc water-cooled engine puts out a claimed 105 horsepower at 7,250 RPM, and 82 ft-lbs of torque at 6,300 RPM. That’s all stopped by an 11.73-inch front rotor and two-piston caliper — just one, the 101 Scout is the only model in the range deemed worthy of a second rotor — and an identical rotor out back gripped by a single piston. Indian claims 4.7 inches of suspension travel up front and three inches in the rear, though the only adjustment to be found is rear preload. In stock form, the Sport Scout RT comes with a solo seat, though Indian offers a two-up accessory seat that I expect plenty of dealers to order.
The Sport Scout RT, at least on paper, could be well on its way to the perfect cruiser. We’ll have to ride one to know for certain, but there’s a combination of style, practicality, and ease-of-use here that’s tough to beat. Especially at its price point — the Sport Scout RT starts at $16,999, just a $1,300 jump from the Limited +Tech-trim Sport Scout from which it’s derived. That’s a lot of bike for the money, and I can’t wait to swing a leg over one someday.
