Indian Springfield should be unveiled soon

Polaris continues to expand their motorcycle lineup, with rumours of a new model dubbed the Indian Springfield, supposedly coming in early March.

Details on the new machine are scarce, but there are a few bits of information floating around, thanks mainly to the California Air Resources Board. Every time a motorcycle manufacturer registers a bike’s paperwork through CARB, the beans get spilled.

This time, we know Indian is going to introduce yet another bike built around their V-twin Thunder Stroke 111 motor, the  air-cooled1811 cc motor that powers all their lineup except the Scout models. Sorry, fans of the classic Indian Four — there’s still no four-cylinder coming from the company yet.

The CARB paperwork lists the bike’s name as the Springfield, in keeping with the brand’s historic connection to Springfield, Massachusetts.

The CARB documents also give a hint as to the bike’s styling, listing its mass as roughly the same as Indian’s Roadmaster and Chieftan touring machines. This bike isn’t likely to be a stripped-down bobber, in other words — expect a fairing and bags. It’s also worth noting those other bikes are all still listed on the CARB paperwork, so the new Indian Springfield does not replace them.

Indian’s marketing department has already started the push to promote the new bike, with promises that we’ll see the machine unveiled on March 3. This is in keeping with the North American motorcycle industry’s twice-a-year news cycle; cruisers tend to be released ahead of either Daytona Bike Week in late winter or the Sturgis rally in the summer.