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04-10-2017, 02:57 PM | #1 |
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Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 109
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Anyone looked at an Indian Chieftain or Roadmaster?
I'm looking at getting a used Voyager next year (preferably one already Ivan-ized), but am also considering a used Indian Chieftain or Roadmaster if I find one in sufficiently good shape that I can afford. I recently had an opportunity to ride the '17 Chieftain and Roadmaster, but I've yet to try a Voyager or even see one in person. So I thought I'd see if any Kawi 1700 bagger owners have also tried an Indian Chieftain or Roadmaster and could answer comparison questions like:
1) Engine performance 2) Handling and cornering 3) Quality/sturdiness of bags 4) Overall build quality/fit and finish impressions 5) Value (Recognizing the large price disparity between Voyagers and the Chieftain or Roadmaster.) Login or Register to Remove Ads |
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04-10-2017, 05:59 PM | #2 |
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Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Listowel, Ontario
Posts: 642
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I own a Voyager and have driven several 111 Indian bikes.
The Indian has more power and torque, and better chassis and suspension. Voyager has a better fairing ( frame mounted), significantly better brakes (KACT), better shifting (2011 on), liquid cooling, onboard diagnostics. Quality........ the Voyager will keep going and going and going.... note my mileage. A couple 111s that I rode had an engine knock, read their forums, it's a common complaint and Polaris has not been helping to resolve the issue. Also lots of complaints about poor paint. I have stock original bags and trunk on my bike, they work fine and hold a lot of stuff but they appear and feel flimsy compared to Indian and Harley.
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Garry 2009 1700 Voyager KACT, sold at 679,465 kms 2011 1700 Nomad Improve handling, suspension and tire life with Garry's Fork Brace. PM for details. |
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04-10-2017, 08:26 PM | #3 |
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Join Date: Aug 2016
Posts: 539
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My buddy bought a 16 roadmaster an put about 5,000 miles on it in a couple months, great looking bike. I really like the power windshield and remote locking saddlebags & trunk.
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04-10-2017, 08:30 PM | #4 |
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Join Date: Jan 2017
Location: Michigan
Posts: 67
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Yes the Darkhorse chieftain is my favorite bike ever.... just gorgeous but a little out of my price point. Hell just paid off my 2013 vaquero. My buddy bought the Dark horse and I rode it last weekend. Has A LOT OF POWER!!!!! Wonderful ride!
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04-11-2017, 10:52 AM | #5 | |||
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Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: Austin, TX
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Final question - are any of you guys' bikes Ivanized, and therefore can compare it with a stock Indian 111 model performance-wise? Login or Register to Remove Ads |
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04-11-2017, 11:48 AM | #6 |
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Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Listowel, Ontario
Posts: 642
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I'm Ivanized, but the 111 (and 107 Harley) will still pull smartly away from me.
'Bang for the buck' is Voyagers strong point, it will never have the prestige of other brands and it won't win races but it is comfortable, reliable and it keeps going and going and going...................... Edit... One more thing, Indian uses a plastic gear to drive the oil pump, do a search on that and learn how well it worked in Vulcan 1500 back in the day. Voyager has a steel gear driving both oil pumps and the water pump, can't break it!
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Garry 2009 1700 Voyager KACT, sold at 679,465 kms 2011 1700 Nomad Improve handling, suspension and tire life with Garry's Fork Brace. PM for details.
Last edited by gv550; 04-11-2017 at 11:53 AM.
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04-11-2017, 01:51 PM | #7 | |
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Location: Austin, TX
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Last edited by Toku57; 04-11-2017 at 01:53 PM.
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04-11-2017, 04:36 PM | #8 | |
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Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Listowel, Ontario
Posts: 642
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Gotta pull the engine and split the cases to get to the oil pump on a 111, on a Voyager just remove the alternator cover and the oil pumps can be removed (engine in frame, cases together)
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Garry 2009 1700 Voyager KACT, sold at 679,465 kms 2011 1700 Nomad Improve handling, suspension and tire life with Garry's Fork Brace. PM for details. |
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04-11-2017, 04:45 PM | #9 |
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Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Middle Tennessee
Posts: 616
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Compared to the Voyager, you will never find an Indian in the same ballpark pricewise.
If Kawasaki would have made some improvements to the Voyager and offered a color I wanted, I would have replaced my '10 Voyager with another instead of replacing it with the Road Glide Ultra. The Voyager is the best bang for the buck touring motorcycle out there. My real negatives with the Voyager that couldn't be solved easily with after market parts, were chasing down body rattles, and not being able to quick release the tour pack.
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2010 Vulcan Voyager, 2007 Vulcan Mean Streak, 2009 Vulcan Nomad |
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04-11-2017, 07:23 PM | #10 | ||
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04-16-2017, 09:26 AM | #11 |
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Join Date: Feb 2017
Location: Port St Lucie, FL
Posts: 65
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I test rode a Chieftain, nice ride decent power. Love the looks and comfort of the Chieftain. My 2011 Vaquero is just as comfortable and has adequate power. But price point was a big factor In my decision. My bike is not new, just got it 5 weeks ago with 1800 miles on it, but at 200 bucks less a month it fit my budget. Chieftain is a beautiful bike but almost as expensive as owning a Harley. I want to ride my bike not have it sit in the garage because of cost of maintenance or parts.
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I ride to feel, touch, breathe, soar, relax, belong, I ride to live! 2011 Kawasaki Vulcan Vaquero 1700 (Big Red) 2011 Yamaha Stratoliner Deluxe 2001 Kawasaki Vulcan 1500 Classic |
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04-17-2017, 12:05 PM | #12 |
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Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: SOUTH FLORIDA
Posts: 1,210
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I had a Vaq, put 100,000 trouble free miles in FIVE years (cept for 2 sets of warped rotors) b4 I sold it and gots me this CDH.
The Indian engine is nuthin special, with my custom intake and modified exhaust my Indian makes the same H.P./Tork as my Vaq did AT 95,000 MILES!!! The CDH out handles the Vaq hands down, absolutely no comparison, and that was with LOTS of $$$ spent on the Vaq in suspension/handling improvements. Wind/rain protection on the Indian is FRIKKIN HORRIBLE, the Vaq has a MUCH better fairing for those aspects, tho the adjustable w/s on the Indian is nice to lower when runnin round town. The saddlebags on the Indian SUCK BIGTIME. All the stuff that came out of the Vaq's bags won't fit into the Indian's bags. The Indian has a far superior audio system and I don't have to spend all that $$$ I did on upgrading the Vaq's system, but when u spend $20,000+ that is to be expected. I have gotten more compliments on my CDH since I bought it in June 2016 than I did the whole 5 years I had the Vaq, but that is just an observation. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and very quickly I grew to NOT like the Vaq's front cowl (NOT a pretty face, tho that is just my opinion) and LOVED the ass on the Vaq. But when I look at the CDH at ANY angle, my face smiles.....LOTS. AVG MPG so far is bout the same as the Vaq, tho the CDH will NEVER be as efficient of an engine as that 1700 Kawi engine. I look at the Indian engine as an old lump of coal! And yes....I ALREADY have warped the rotors on the Indian a lot sooner than I did on ANY Jap bike, as I have found there are LOTS of made in China stuff (like wheels) on the Indians. The Indian's overall fit and finish is no where's near as good as a Jap bike, there were SO MANY gaps in the fender area at the rear of the skoot that ridin on wet roads had the back end FILTHY requiring too much clean-up. Took me 2 hours to silicone and install foam to seal the gaps! All in all the Harleys/Indians, in my opinion, are NOT WORTH the $$$$ buy in as compared to a Jap bike. I been werkin on skoots for a living for 40+ years and have learned more than just about anyone (and am still learning) and from a professional standpoint the Jap skoots in many ways are better built. Funny thing tho, as much as I loved my Vaq, it NEVER touched my heart strings like this Indian does. Never, and in that weird comparison (completely ELLIMINATING) my professional and objective findings MAKES THE $$$$ buy in WELL WORTH IT!!! We are emotional bout our skoots for sure!!! BTW...here's what I've done since June 20th, 2016... I am waiting to hit the Lottery so I can gets me one of those new Chieftain Elite's, now THAT skoot touches my heart strings like no other!!! RACNRAY
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"TRUE HAPPINESS IS IN THE HEART, NOT IN THE OUTSIDE FIXES" WITH OVER 46 YEARS AS A MOTORCYCLE TECHNICIAN/HI-PO SHOP OWNER I AM A PURVEYOR OF FACT NOT FICTION! "WE LIVE OUR LIVES IN CHAINS NEVER KNOWING WE HAD THE KEY"
Last edited by RACNRAY; 04-17-2017 at 12:42 PM.
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04-22-2017, 08:47 AM | #13 |
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: NW Region
Posts: 5,222
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The POG would be enough to stop me from buying any bike. At least Kawasaki stood behind there POG mistake for 10 years even if the bike was outside of its warranty.
That is a major repair, no guarantee Polaris would be as ethical. Some good insights and info on this thread. Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk
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VBA #659 2003 Nomad 1500 (Gone but never forgotten) 2005 Honda ST1300 - Sweet and still kickin 2006 Honda Goldwing - Best Boat in the Marina |
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11-29-2017, 07:14 PM | #14 |
Sr. Member
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: SOUTH FLORIDA
Posts: 1,210
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Indian update
As of today I am 13 miles away from 30,000 miles on my CDH, it will be 18 months old in 21 days. So much has been learned bout this skoot, by myself and by other Indian owners.
Yes, I have had a few problems. I ALSO warped the front rotors on this CDH which I detected the warpage at bout 8000 miles. Got them replaced under warrantee and have been easier on the new ones as I saw the label on the box of the new rotors said...."made in Taiwan"! Common complaint is windshield rattle which I fixed but required front cowl removal. If ANY of you 1700 owners think the throttle delay is bad on the 1700's, the lag is HORRIBLE on the Indians. Thankfully DynoJet came out with the Power Vision CX for the Indians which allows full access to ALL parameters of the ECU. I have worked with the RBW tables (there are 3 tables) and this has transformed the thing into a MONSTER. In some areas of the RBW tables the ecu is delivering 50-60% LESS throttle plate opening as requested by twist grip position. What a joke the factory settings are due to Indian's bonehead committee!!! Flashing the ecu only takes about 7 minutes. The PVCX also allows us the ability to alter fuel and ignition along with stuff I have yet to understand, and has also improved performance tremendously. I am averaging upwards of 45-47 MPG with an increase of about 15 H.P. over stock with my custom intake and modified stock header with Bassani slip-ons. The "clacking" and engine knocking noise complaints that have been common and what has been mentioned b4 have been rectified by altering individual cylinder ignition timing and at the same time improves performance. Indian's bonehead committee at work here again. The Indians do have a weak clutch and clutch slippage was noticed between speed shifts when a couple of Harleys wanted a taste, so I installed a Barnett kit so I won't have any slippage in those scenarios. There have been no oil pump issues and that plastic oil pump gear resides under the left side clutch cover. It is big and beefy and there are a few Indian owners with over 100,000 miles with no engine issues. All in all I am happy with the Indian. It out handles and rides much nicer than my Vaq. The saddle bags SUCK big time and don't hold as much as the Vaq bags did. The electric locks make life easy, the cruise control is much better than the Vaq. I hated the stock seat on both bikes and both bikes got Corbin seats. This skoot is prolly the first that I will NOT install different grips, they are comfy! I admit the cost of the skoot is high, but the way this thing looks, handles and performs is awesome and one thing that I can say is this skoot twangs my heartstrings like the Vaq never did. RACNRAY
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"TRUE HAPPINESS IS IN THE HEART, NOT IN THE OUTSIDE FIXES" WITH OVER 46 YEARS AS A MOTORCYCLE TECHNICIAN/HI-PO SHOP OWNER I AM A PURVEYOR OF FACT NOT FICTION! "WE LIVE OUR LIVES IN CHAINS NEVER KNOWING WE HAD THE KEY" |
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11-30-2017, 10:28 AM | #15 | |
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Joel "Waterman" 2017 HD Road Glide Ultra 2006 Nomad - Sold VBA 213 VROC 16913 Custer 09: Cortez 10: Crescent City 11: Kanab 12: Estes Park 13: Tahoe 14: Red Lodge 16 |
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