Chieftain Of The Road.

Mike Tomas at Kiwi Indian created the “Chieftain” for the S&S 50th Anniversary and kept a long journal of how he dreamed and fabricated it (including delays, frustrations and joys all along the process). Too long to be reproduced here in my Blog, but you can go to the Chieftain Diaries to live with him the ups and downs of this custom project. For the fast readers of my posts, here what you should know. The Chieftain uses the new S&S X-Wedge engine because Mike wanted to build a smooth long distance touring bike. Transmission and primary are a collaboration Sputhe/Kiwi in a nice and tight compact design. Oil tank is located inside of front right part of gas tank with the custom frame tubes feeding oil to and from engine. Battery and electrics are hidden from view in a left solo bag. Rear and front use hydraulic suspension (dampened rear plunger suspension, hydraulic Girder front end and seat post suspension for a Cadillac ride). Custom Nissin/Kiwi handlebar/control system with hydraulic clutch to pilot it anywhere you want, either desert, mountains and big cities because this bike is built to be EPA compliant. From his location in Riverside, CA Mike Tomas intends to produce a limited edition of this model . If you go to Sturgis, see the bike on display at Champion Parks and during the AMD World Championship. Go to talk to Mike on my behalf. He can tell you a lot of beautiful bike stories. The Chieftain at Kiwi Indian. 

10 Responses to “Chieftain Of The Road.”


  1. 1 burnout Aug 5th, 2008 at 10:28 am

    S W E E T ! Another bike that I would LOVE to ride!! peace

  2. 2 Max Aug 5th, 2008 at 1:40 pm

    Looks really cool!!!

  3. 3 Dave B. Aug 5th, 2008 at 9:11 pm

    A nice, clean, looking machine… I still haven’t put my hands on an X-Wedge motor, but they look nice and from all accounts, seem to be well engineered.
    Anyway, congratulations on a fine machine!

  4. 4 GThompson Aug 5th, 2008 at 10:19 pm

    $50,000 plus???

    Wow!!!

  5. 5 J Aug 6th, 2008 at 11:37 am

    SWEET bike! GREAT useage of the X engine…. What is the leadtime for a build, Mike?

  6. 6 Nicker Aug 7th, 2008 at 2:59 am

    Very smart looking Scoot Mike!
    Plunger frame, Exhaust and chine guard are spot on!
    I love it.

    S&S should build a Flatty X-Wedge for it….. 🙂

    -nicker-

  7. 7 Mike (Kiwi) Tomas Aug 7th, 2008 at 10:22 am

    At present we have a few month lead time as we build all of our bikes to our customer specifications and we encourage our customers to fly in and be custom fitted to the handlebars and seating. The X-Wedge engine really rounds out the Chieftain package nicely as the bike itself is classy and the engine is just so smooth unlike any rigid mounted Evo style engine I have ridden. Oodles of power too. It is fun to ride not only on the highways but in the hills and turns as it is well balanced.

  8. 8 J Aug 11th, 2008 at 10:49 am

    Sounds fine on the leadtime, thank you Mike;

    I am in the market for one of the new Indians, but frankly, this bike appeals much more to me- unique engineering, the S&S X engine is very promising, and I suspect that Mike will be around a lot longer than this llatest iteration of Indian- heheheh

    The price point isn’t really an issue- if you read the diary on the build, it’s clear this bike costs money to build, and $50K for a custom build isn’t out of the norm lately- certainly more attractive to me that the generic $50K chop/bob builds on every corner;

    Looking forward to doing business with you, Mike.

  9. 9 joe dirt Aug 11th, 2008 at 11:27 am

    dang!! that is one nice ride!

  10. 10 Gina Woods Aug 11th, 2008 at 12:01 pm

    NIce job as always Mike!

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Cyril Huze