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<\/p>\nIndian have just announced the 2021 model range and it is a positive step forwards in these weird times.<\/p>\n
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The big thing is that the Thunderstroke 111 has now been superseded by the 116 incarnation \u2013 including in the Chief Vintage and its new-for-2021 blacked-out sibling, the Vintage Dark Horse.<\/p>\n
<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\nA Vintage Dark Horse, you say? Would that be a blacked out version of the laced wheeled, white-wall tyred, fringed leather saddle-bagged heavyweight? Yes, but with cast wheels, regular tyres and a blacked-out motor with gloss black covers, accents and handlebars contrasting against smoke black everything else. And the panniers and unskirted solo seat only come in black. Okay, so it\u2019s a Chief Dark Horse with fringed leather panniers, which explains why there isn\u2019t a Chief Dark Horse any more.<\/p>\n
Like the Springfield Dark Horse, it makes do without the screen of its host, but the Vintage retains the wheel sizes and skirted front mudguard.<\/p>\n
<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\nHang on a second \u2026 the Chief Vintage itself is only available with tan dual seat and panniers. And it still has the whitewalls and laced wheels, just in case you wondered, and comes in a rich and lovely, complementary Crimson Metallic hue.<\/p>\n
The hard-bagged Springfield gets the 116-inch motor as well as a colour change \u2013 a pair of two-tone schemes \u2013 and is the first to feature a new right hand switch cluster that contains the on-off switch that was previously a big round button on the tank top console, which is now home to a USB charging port. It\u2019s now a switch next to the kill, and in a similar style.<\/p>\n
<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\nThe Springfield Dark Horse already had the 116-inch motor but not the switch, and is otherwise very familiar.<\/p>\n
In the Chieftain family, it\u2019s more a matter of what\u2019s missing than what has been added as the Challenger muscles-in on its turf. No base Chieftain, no Chieftain Classic with the original freight train streamliner, just a Chieftain Limited in any colour as long as it\u2019s Thunder Pearl Black and a Dark Horse in a choice of three matt colours: Black, Ruby and Titanium: all of which feature the less skirted front mudguard and the later styling. They too have had their big round on\/off switch replaced by a USB socket, which I\u2019m guessing at this point is a higher rated one than the USB connector for the Ride Command, allowing faster charging.<\/p>\n
<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\nThe Challenger is still establishing itself, with a Limited and Dark Horse model, but upgrades are limited to a Metallic Ruby in addition to the Thunder Pearl Black for the Limited, a relocated on\/off switch and PowerBand Audio: an amplified QD trunk that adds 50% more volume to the stock audio system and 64 litres of additional storage \u2026 and creating the Roadmaster\u2019s inevitable challenger for next year\u2019s touring honours.<\/p>\n
<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\nThe only range that numbers more than two is now the Roadmaster, where the addition of a Limited to bolster the base model \u2013 the last resting place of the Streamliner fairing \u2013 and the Dark Horse brings the headcount up to three.<\/p>\n
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