This Is Just The Beginning

The FTR1200 is a very European bike from America’s oldest motorcycle manufacturer. And it’s only the beginning – there’s plenty more where this came from! But first things first: how does it ride?

- Alan Cathcart

Had to happen. Indian Motorcycle’s FTR750 racebike enjoyed two seasons of utter supremacy in the 2017-18 American Flat Track (AFT) competition after the company’s 70-year absence from racing. The FTR750 won 17 of the 18 races held in the 2018 AFT season. Unsurprisingly, America’s oldest motorcycle manufacturer has now launched a street spin-off of that title-winning racer.

Clearly inspired by the FTR750 in terms of both styling and engineering, the base model FTR1200 and the FTR1200S broke cover at Germany’s Intermot motorcycle show on October 1. They will inevitably usher in a series of Street Trackers from several other manufacturers, but none of them has such a proud history of race track success as Indian. Okay, Harley already tried to do it before with the relatively short-lived XR1200 back in 2008, but nothing since. Fuelled by its racing sister’s two seasons of dirt track dominance, the tag line that the new Indian was ‘Born on the Dirt, Built for the Street’, rings true when you ride it.

The FTR1200/1200S are the real deal. A visit to the Minneapolis HQ of Indian’s parent company Polaris Corp, for an exclusive ride on the pre-production prototypes on the roads of Minnesota and Indian’s Wyoming, MN R&D Center’s test track six weeks before their Intermot launch, revealed these to be only the first of several future Indian models to be powered by the FTR’s all-new liquid-cooled DOHC 1203cc eight valve 60º V-twin engine. Measuring 102 x 73.6mm, and delivering a claimed 120bhp at 8250rpm, with 85lb-ftof torque peaking at 6000rpm, this third Indian engine platform under Polaris ownership (following on from the Chief and Scout) shares little beyond a general format with the Scout motor it’ll inevitably be compared to, says Indian CEO Steve Menneto.