Sunday evening, Indian Motorcycle unveiled the new FTR750 for AMA Flat Track competition. Indian Motorcycle Wrecking Crew Living Legends, Bobby Hill and Bill Tuman were on-hand to celebrate the historic return of Indian to professional racing. The Indian Scout FTR750 was revealed at the “Motorcycles as Art” industry event that took place at the famed Buffalo Chip in Sturgis. Special guests on-hand were the two surviving members of the legendary Indian Wrecking Crew, Bobby Hill and Bill Tuman, both of whom are AMA Hall of Fame members. The third member of the Wrecking Crew, Ernie Beckman, passed away in 1999. The motorcycle featured the #51 of Bill Tuman, as a tribute to the last rider to win a Grand National Championship on an Indian in 1953.
“A heritage of racing and winning is in the lifeblood of this brand, and everyone in attendance was clearly proud to be a part of this important moment in the historic return of Indian Motorcycle to professional flat track racing,” said President of Motorcycles Steve Menneto. “We have an incredible team of engineers and designers working on this initiative, and all of us are deeply committed to building a world-class racing program that will live up to our legendary history on the track.”
The all-new Indian Scout FTR750 features a high-revving, racing V-Twin engine developed in-house and is wrapped in a unique steel frame that allows for a tight wheelbase, with a centrally located airbox and unique lightweight carbon fiber body. The design of the race-only bike reflects the heritage of key Indian racing models from history including the Big Base Scout; a historic bike that won in Daytona, dominated events across the country and is still raced in Vintage competition today.
More information on the race only Indian Scout FTR750will be made in the future. The motorcycle will be on display in the AMA Paddock at the Black Hills Speedway during the fans walk, and will be shown in the Indian Motorcycle factory display on Lazelle Street through the rally week.
Has the makings of a future street bike to rival the HD 750’s.
Very nice!
Is that the one with no front brake that Roland Sands rode off the stage?
Very cool.
Will they sell a street-tracker version…???
-nicker-
Will sell if they make a “street:” version
Nice. peace
Hope they do make a street model to make h-d work on their Street 500 & 750.
The 500 should be more than a replacement for the Buell Blast for their rider training programs.
Many of us remember when 450’s were considered pretty big. It could make the MOCO some $$.
I think H-D and hopefully Kawasaki just got put on notice.
Could go many directions, often when a factory purpose-built race bike ends up in competition with similar displacement essentially stock bikes, the rules committee “works on the problem” or folks stop running the stock ones, or it becomes a brand specific class, or, or, or, 😉
Is this model’s engine based on the current Scout engine or a clean sheet? It’s hard to tell from the photos. Obviously liquid cooled, and a very light frame.
This should be the basis of a street version for Indian. They already have the big and medium sized cruiser segments pretty much covered and have some real momentum. Now’s the time to come at the market from the other end…a light, great handling street bike based on their racing heritage which will appeal to a whole group of riders (younger) for whom cruisers are not their thing. I think Indian has the makings here of turning the category on its end and a major leap forward. Just depends on how visionary they are.
I agree, this 750 racer would be a great basis for a small street bike. But please, hide the radiator better than on the Scout. That protruding, wide radiator is a deal-breaker on what’s otherwise a great motorcycle.
While I agree with Boris, the people that are coming into the showrooms and buying the Scout don’t give a damn about the radiator. In my experience, the vast maority of them are not your typical American V-twin enthusiast. They’re new. They’re coming from a different riding experience. They’re looking at Japanese and European bikes and the Scout made their lists. I think that was Indian’s goal. To go after a younger crowd, and that crowd doesn’t have the idea of a pure American V-twin having to be air cooled, or that the radiator is such a sin that you simply must hide it. As a guy that works in an Indian/Victory showroom, I have to say that in my experience, 2/3 of our Indian sales are these new Scouts. Thank god for this new brand of customer, or it would have been a very long and boring selling season this year.
I got to meet Mr Tuman and Mr Hill at Springfield a couple years ago, even got to see them make a lap on one of Walkslers old race bikes. I wonder what they thought of this new motorcycle. It is still a very exciting time to be a motorcycle enthusiast.
CycleWorld has a great three part series online about this bike. Look it up, I won’t post a link here.
This engine shares zero with the Scout production engine and was developed in Switzerland by Polaris owned SwissAuto. I would not hold my breath for a production version.
I think if anyone has doubts to the seriousness of Polaris/Indian as to becoming a major player this answers some questions. They did not go cheap on this.
I don’t question Spaz’ professional experience since he’s in it. but I do think that a street version of the FTR750 is a no brainer if Indian wants to really expand the market. No doubt the Scout has brought in tons of newer riders but, as good as it is, it’s fundamentally a better handling cruiser. All the manufacturers are trying to court the millenniums. I personally don’t think the HD 500/750 street bikes do it well at all. I’m far from that age group, but I looked at the Street bikes when considering a new motorcycle and they didn’t do it for me at all (I’ve ridden and owned HDs but wanted a lighter, more responsive motorcycle. Unfortunately, the bikes compromise an awful lot to get that price point and it really shows. As my wife said, “looks like a plastic bike”. An exaggeration, for sure, but the point is well taken). So, when the Scout was introduced, I jumped sight unseen. But, the FTR750 is a whole other animal. I see what appeals to the really younger (millennium) audience and it’s often Triumphs, Kawasakis and Yamahas. The FTR750 as a street bike has the potential to undo them all, particularly if Indian has success on the dirt track. Inidan has the authentic heritage. Now, it needs to show the vision.
If the new Indian is a totally new design with nothing in common to the street bikes, that could mean it also comes nowhere near to being translated to an EPA compliant bike?
Class-C should go back to being a production showcase, not an exotic development exercise.
-nicker-
“Production showcase”? Well, goodbye XR750. Hello Street 750 derived bike. Oh, that is what is already happening.
Don’t doubt for a moment HD won’t lobby for exactly what you requested.
Especially when the “Scout” starts cleaning their clock.
@ NoH2oh, are there really any bragging rights if a purpose-built race bike “cleans clock” on an altered, production street bike? Even chain saw competitions don’t have disparities like that.
Coming soon to a showroom near you and no it is not what went off the stage. The RSD bike was a custom built RSD bike.
Wow, What a fun bike.
Yeah, I stopped at the Indian display TWICE during the rally and asked about it and no one there knew what I was taking about or said “uhh, not sure where it is?!?!”