Polaris has once again added to their lineup, with a new light bagger filling another niche in their showrooms, the Indian Springfield.
The Springfield (we told you last week it was coming) is a light bagger, combining hard bags with a quick-release windshield. It’s built on the same basic Thunder Stroke 111 motor as the rest of Indian’s large cruisers, but Indian says they’ve designed a new chassis for the bike, with 25° rake.
The idea of a convertible light tourer — a bike that can be switched from utilitarian bagger to a leaner cruiser model — is nothing new. Harley-Davidson’s Switchback (a.k.a. the Road Queen) has held this territory for years.
However, the Indian Springfield is a little more dressed-up than the Switchback (with crash bars protecting engine and baggage). It also has a few touring-friendly options installed as standard (tire pressure monitoring system, cruise control, tachometer, auxiliary headlamps). A matching trunk is available as an accessory to go with the quick-release bags (which offer remote locking).
Other available accessories include taller or shorter windshields, heated seats, heated grips, engine upgrades, ape hanger handlebars, and more.
ABS is standard. Suspension comes from cartridge forks up front and an air-adjustable monoshock in back, with a respectable 114 mm (4.5 inches) of travel. The wheels use 16-inch rims. Fuel capacity is 20.8 litres. Seat height is 660 mm.
We haven’t seen a luggage capacity figure for the saddlebags yet, but the accessory trunk holds 17 gallons, which works out to 64 litres.
Red and black are the only available colours for the Springfield, for now.
Wet weight for the Springfield is 388 kg, up significantly from the competitor Switchback (330 kg wet). That’s the price you pay for having all that chrome trim, and that heavy skirted front fender.
Speaking of prices, the Indian Springfield will have a $27,999 MSRP in Canada. Find more details at Indian’s website here.
GALLERY
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The Switchback isn’t the competitor Zak, Indian is obviously going after the Road King with this one. And they got some balls selling it @28 when a RK is @22 – Zombie brand and inferior dealer network and all.
Nice looking bike though, but if it’s anything like the Chief it’s nowhere near as manoeuvrable as a Road King.
Yeah, the pricing thing is weird, as Polaris has usually offered pretty good bang for your buck when compared to Harley-Davidson. Either they’ve made enough impact in the market that they figure they can start raising prices, or the low CAD has finally caught up with us. Harley-Davidson is somewhat insured against currency fluctuations by their massive global reach — when the dollar is down in Canada, it’s up somewhere else, and with their new direct distributorship model, they’re able to leverage their worldwide sales to keep the ship afloat without raising prices.