Indian Motorcycles Unveils New Engine

The most recent look under Indian’s skirts is the announcement and unveiling of the new Thunder Stroke 111 engine, the all-new V-Twin powerplant that will reside in the upcoming lineup of Indians slated to roll out of the new factory in Spirit Lake, Iowa.

Backtracking a little bit to review the story so far: The original Indian Motorcycle company built a range of bikes in Springfield, Massachusetts beginning in 1901. The original Indians were prized for their speed and agility, competing with rival Harley-Davidson for racing titles through the 1930s. Bad luck and poor decision making crippled the company during World War II, and Indian ceased production in 1953.

Several concerns licensed the Indian name during the remainder of the 20th century, putting out motorcycles and other products bearing the company’s name and logo. In 1999, a new entity cleared the Indian name and produced motorcycles through 2003 out of Gilmore, California. The Gilmore Indians relied heavily on aftermarket parts and Harley-Davidson-derived engines, and were widely considered as Harley “clones” rather than as unique Indian products. The Gilmore concern folded in 2003. In 2004, brand revival specialists Stephen Julius and Steve Heese took control of the company name, and by 2008 they had set up production of a new Indian Motorcycle in Kings Mountain, North Carolina, using some of the Gilmore company’s designs and plans. Polaris Industries bought the Kings Mountain company in 2011, and has moved production to a facility in Spirit Lake, Iowa. The last of the Kings Mountain Indians has rolled off the line in November of 2012, and Indian is gearing up for “late this year,” according to Gary Gray, Indian Motorcycle’s Product Director.

The new engine is the big news – and I mean big. As the name implies, the Thunder Stroke 111 will displace 111 cubic inches, a deliberate thumbing of the nose at rival Harley-Davidson, whose biggest factory engine option is the 110 cubic inch Twin Cam found in its high end CVO models. The Thunder Stroke 111’s twin cylinders will be air cooled and arranged at a 49 degree angle. Three camshafts, pushrods, and two valves per cylinder with hydraulic self-adjusting lifters and a forged crankshaft will contribute to a claimed 115 lb-ft of torque. Horsepower has not been quoted. The engine will also feature electronic sequential port fuel injection and fly-by-wire throttle control. Matching Harley stride for stride, the new engine connects to a six-speed manual transmission with a multi-plate wet clutch. The Thunder Stroke 111 will be built in Polaris’ Engine Assembly Plant in Osceola, Wisconsin.

In a phone interview with Gray, he emphasized Indian’s respect for the brand’s heritage. “We started out doing a lot of research, reading a lot of books,” he said. “We actually went on what we called the ‘Indian Heritage Ride,’ where we took off and rode current Indians, but then we rode to some people’s houses that had fleets of 1930s and 1940s Indian motorcycles. We got to ride old Twins and an old Indian 94 and some of the old race bikes, and just really got a good feel not only through the research that we did, but also in riding the bikes.”

When asked about how much the new engine owes to the outgoing Power Plus design, Gray replied, “It was a full clean sheet design. We actually started with architecture. Should this be a parallel twin? There were lots of old parallel twins, there were V-Twins, there were singles — a lot of different places to go. We decided V-Twin,” he continued. “The brand went out in 1953, and that was pretty much the main engine that was the bulk of sales. We were the first manufacturer with a V-Twin motorcycle in 1906 — it was a race bike, and went into production in 1907. Obviously, they’re really popular, so consumer demand today also pushed us there.”

 “It’s a two-year design development path,” Gray stated. “I haven’t found anyone in the world that’s done a ground up new engine and bike in that short a time frame. We’re keeping the actual date tight because we don’t want to disappoint. We want to overachieve, so we’re saying that the bike will be ready for sale late this year.”

The Thunder Stroke 111 made its debut to the public during Bike Week in Daytona Beach, Florida this week — traditional Harley-Davidson territory. That’s another in a long line of teases. Hopefully, the promise of Indian Motorcycle will be fulfilled when the new engine finds its home in a new motorcycle, and makes its way onto the road to satisfy eager fans and new buyers.