2016 Indian Chieftain Dark Horse – no more chrome

While most have this conception that American cruisers need to have tonnes of chrome to complete the ‘look’, a styling that has been noticed lately is a whole bunch of US-made motorcycles with blacked-out components where the bling used to be. The big guy, Harley-Davidson, recently revealed its “Dark Custom” line, while Victory dropped the covers on the 2017 Octane, which had virtually no chrome adornments.

As the oldest American motorcycle manufacturer, Indian Motorcycles has added its own take on the zero-chrome cruiser, and launched the 2016 Indian Chieftain Dark Horse.

Coming in a matte black paint that has been applied to almost every part of the bike that could be painted, the 2016 Chieftain Dark Horse is perhaps designed to appeal to the rider who wants to get into the cruiser lifestyle, but doesn’t want to spend entire weekends polishing chrome.

Powered by its Thunder Stroke 111 EFI V-twin – which equates to 1,818 cc – and cranking out 138.8 Nm of torque at 2,600 rpm, the Chieftain Dark Horse probably isn’t going to win many races. With its bagger styling, the Dark Horse is probably the sports-tourer equivalent in the cruiser world.

Equipped with all mod cons, the options list on the single-seater Chieftain Dark Horse is staggering. There is a Bluetooth-enabled stereo, on-board trip computer that also includes data such as engine operating hours, engine oil life, plus fuel consumption, air temperature and the such.

Other options include black-finished exhausts, stereo speakers for the fairing and bags, ape-hanger handlebars and performance cams. There are also ABS, cruise control, tyre pressure monitoring system and keyless start. Even the windshield is adjusted electrically for height.

Weighing in at 364 kgs dry and 380 kg wet, the 2016 Indian Chieftain Dark Horse retails for USD21,899 (RM88,615), while the base model Chieftain, with chrome, goes for USD1,000 (RM4,030) more.

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