My new Indian FTR 1200 Race Replica

After a long, long wait I finally have my Indian Motorcycles FTR 1200 Race Replica! I saw the original FTR1200 custom on the "American Flat Track" series on NBC Sports. I thought it was the coolest motorcycle I had ever seen.

I went to the Indian Motorcycle web site and signed up to be notified if it was going to actually go into production. As soon as I got the email, I went Indian Motorcycles of Redlands, CA and put a deposit down. Robert kept me up to date on estimated shipping dates and days when they had one for a demo ride.

Update - On August 19th, I got a large package from Indian Motorcycle of Redland. I opened it and found a beautiful plaque inside!

Indian's marketing department did a great job during the long wait, posting videos of the design process including interviews with the engineers and managers involved. I bet I watched the "Design and Development" video 20 times! Here is a link to the "Inspiration" video and finally, "Inside the engine".

Then they released videos showing the accessory packages, called Collections, that would be available when the bike shipped. Surprisingly, they offered the individual parts from each collection for sale.

I wanted the luggage rack, waffle grips and side back rack but not a complete collection and I was able to purchase them.

Pick up day finally arrives

It came in on a Wednesday but I wasn't able to go get it until Saturday!  When I got to Indian Motorcycle of Redland they had it sitting by itself with a "Sold" sign on it. It was lust at first sight! I had an ear to ear smile:

Robert met me and we got the process started. The MSRP had gone up about $1200 since I put the deposit down but they worked some magic and the actual Out the Door cost was only a couple hundred dollars more.

My wife asked if there were any other discounts available, maybe a Military discount. Robert checked and Indian Motorcycles gives veteran $500 toward any Indian accessory or clothing!  I was so happy, I got the Indian Racing Jacket shown in the photos and the luggage rack. Thank you Indian Motorcycles!!!

For Your Information, all fasteners are metric sized!!! I am so happy about that.

Ok, Ok, enough background, WHAT'S IT LIKE TO RIDE IT!

OMG, it exceeds every expectation I had for it! I have been riding for 53 years but this is my first American motorcycle so I didn't know what to expect. I think Indian has really knocked it out of the park with this thing. My other street bike is a 2010 Ducati Hypermotard SP so keep that in mind as it is my standard for comparison.

The FTR is fast, smooth, has torque everywhere, shifts like butter, stops on a dime and revs out beautifully! NOTE: I have heard some complaints on Youtube about vibration. Mine did shake a lot initially but at 1000 miles it is much smoother.

I don't know how they did it, but they managed to leave in some serious intake noise. On my Ducati I had to modify the airbox to get that satisfying sound! I usually wear 3M -32db ear plugs when I ride but I have been leaving them out just to hear this thing gulp air in and exhaust it out the Akrapovic pipes.

I haven't pushed it too hard in the mountains yet but ground clearance doesn't seem to be a problem. And it holds the line in the corner, no correction needed. I haven't ridden it back to back with my Ducati in the twisties but I am really impressed with how easy it is to bend into a tight turn.

The slipper clutch is pretty much magic. It doesn't break free and spool, it just works. You still get engine braking but no wheel hop or overreving.

On the race replica model they spec'd Brembo brakes, Sachs fully ajustable suspension, Akrapovic exhaust and Protaper bars. The Brembo brakes can easily activate the ABS even on new, smooth black top and the ABS works perfectly.

The Dunlop Flat Track for the road tires look awesome but I was worried about grip. So far I haven't had any issues. The lean sensitive traction control seems to be dialed in perfectly for the tires. I have been intentionally rolling on the throttle in turns from four way stops and in lower speed corners and it always prevents any drama.

I don't have a lot of miles on the FTR yet but so far I am very impressed with the suspension. For shock preload, the manual has a chart. You pick your weight on the left and it gives you distance to set the preload collar to. They even include a spanner for loosening/tightening the preload collars. I have digital calipers and metric scales so it is very simple to set up.

It came from the factory setup for a 170lb rider. Since I'm about 200 with gear I looked up my weight and it called for 8mm preload. I dialed in 8.5mm and immediately noticed the difference.

The forks have spring preload along with compression/rebound clickers. From the factory, the preload adjuster is right in the middle of the 10 turns of adjustment. So far I have turned it in 1 turn. Surprisingly, most of the back roads I ride have been repaved recently so they are very smooth. The freeways not so much!

The Ducati Hypermotard has Ohlins Shock and Marzocchi forks. I haven't touched the clickers on the FTR forks or shocks yet, that says a lot about the Sachs suspension. I'm more of a motocross rider than street rider and I keep a detailed log for each track with the settings I use. On my Ducati, I have had the forks apart many times, changing Oil Height, Oil Weight, installing new springs, modifying the spacer for more or less preload, etc. I'm sure that once I get some miles on it I will start experimenting with different fork oil and probably a higher rate spring.

Cruise control allows you to bump up or down by 1 mph. I haven't used it much but it is nice to be able to set it and then use your right hand.

Four way Hazard lights by pressing in on the turn signal button.

Adjusting the Handle Bars

The Protaper handle bars have a vernier scale near the clamps. I rotated my handle bars up about 1/2 line. To make adjustments, you remove two 5mm hex head cap screws below the ride command, drop the Ride Command down and then use a 6mm Hex wrench to loosen the clamps.

The only issue I had is that I didn't see a way to rotate the control pod back down to level. I removed two Torx 10 screws but that just removed the covers. There are two more Torx 10 screws under the covers but removing them didn't allow the pod to rotate either. I'll do some research on this.

Ride Command features

The Ride Command is great. It synched to my iPhone without any drama and when a call comes in I can answer it on the touch screen with riding gloves on.

There are two trip odometers along with the total mileage odometer which I appreciate because I like to reset one when I fill up to check fuel mileage and somtimes to keep an eye on how far I've gone down an unfamiliar road.

There is a compass and outside temperature display. It is nice to know the temp when riding up into the mountains. It can be 50° in the valley where I live but close to freezing in the mountains. Knowing it's cold enough to form ice on the road is always a positve.

GPS Time setting. I love it, accurate time and automatic update for Daylight savings time.