Tall boys on Indians
First of all, I'm talking about the Chiefs (TS111). Not the Scout. You can get a Scout setup for a tall guy, but to be honest I'm an ass on this subject. If you're tall, WTF are you doing on a Scout?
Seems like once a month a new owner chimes in on the latest generation of Indian (Spirit Lakes) Motorcycles not fitting them correctly. There's a reason for that; they built them too small. Period. First, the previous generation built by Kings Mountain bikes were roomier. Fact. Second, Indian is owned by Polaris who used to have the Victory line until last year. Their touring bikes were roomy! So what do they do when they come out with the '14s back in 2013 time frame? They delivered them .... without ample room for us big guys. IMHO they F'd up. So, what to do?
I still remember the first time I rode one of the new models and couldn't believe they'd 'shrunk' the bikes. Still, I took a leap of faith and 'put up with it'. Soon, I started finding solutions.
The Seat. The first thing we need to do is take that seat off and chuck it . Okay.. don't do that. Set it aside, sell it on the forums or eBay .. whatever .. but.. replace it. I realized early on the new Corbin seats give you about an 1.5 extra inches of room pushing you back. If you ask them to modify them further, they can push you back 2", but then you lose the ability for a driver backrest and god help your passenger. Mustang's seats also push one back further, but they aren't made of leather. Lot of folks claim the Mustangs are more comfortable out of the box than the Corbins which need to be broke in. Nowadays it seems like everyone is getting in the market, even Indian FINALLY got a big boy seat out for us. Additionally, a lot of folks really like the Ultimate Seat; the buyers of these seats are fanatical about them. The good news is, there are lots of options. The main thing to worry about is matching your leather elsewhere on the bike and ensuring the OEM passenger backrest setup will work. This has bit a lot of folks in the ass. Make sure you ask the manufacturer the right questions!
Lower the boards. One thing that I immediately noticed was my knees were higher than I felt they needed to be. Solution is provided via Aeromach. They have THREE different kits. My recommendation is if the below doesn't make sense CALL them up and ask which one they recommend. Has to do with clearing the lowers , your highway bar, etc. Just call them! Problem solved!
should be. The simple solution for that is to drop the boards down a notch. Now, if you spend 365 days a year running the Tail of the Dragon wearing the chrome off your boards and pipes, you may want to rethink this, but for the most part I don't have any issues and I do push my bike hard through the twisties. And it's more than worth it to get some comfort into the ride, getting your legs in the correct position. Initially I got comfort from keeping my feet on the Highway pegs I'd installed, but lowering the boards was a huge improvement. The only place I know that makes the kits for this is
Thinner Boards: This was my first solution actually. I ordered boards from Dirty Bird Concepts and they were literally a third of the depth of the OEM boards and I solved my knee issue on my Chieftain. Simple as that! I actually did it accidentally; I just wanted a different look to my boards. Score! Some of these companies out there are doing solid billet aluminum boards vs the OEM style where the pad absorbs the bumps,etc (IE thicker). On my Vintage I have a lowering kit and OEM boards. Point being; you have choices!
Handlebars. I'm 6'4" and the stock location of the handlebars does NOT work for me. I also like a riser type, so when Dirty Bird Concepts came out with their 4" riser Stampede bars, I jumped on it. A year later Indian came out with their own version. And nowadays, there must be a 1/2 different options on the market for us. Still, I love my DBC bars. The ONLY negative is, if you live up North your hands are a notch above your fairing so they'll get a notch chilly when it gets cold out. I live in Texas; no big deal for me. On my Vintage, I've got the beach bars to stretch me out a notch.
Should they have come from the factory, comfortable for us? Of course. But they didn't. Now, pull out the credit card and fix the problem!
Seems like once a month a new owner chimes in on the latest generation of Indian (Spirit Lakes) Motorcycles not fitting them correctly. There's a reason for that; they built them too small. Period. First, the previous generation built by Kings Mountain bikes were roomier. Fact. Second, Indian is owned by Polaris who used to have the Victory line until last year. Their touring bikes were roomy! So what do they do when they come out with the '14s back in 2013 time frame? They delivered them .... without ample room for us big guys. IMHO they F'd up. So, what to do?
I still remember the first time I rode one of the new models and couldn't believe they'd 'shrunk' the bikes. Still, I took a leap of faith and 'put up with it'. Soon, I started finding solutions.
The Seat. The first thing we need to do is take that seat off and chuck it . Okay.. don't do that. Set it aside, sell it on the forums or eBay .. whatever .. but.. replace it. I realized early on the new Corbin seats give you about an 1.5 extra inches of room pushing you back. If you ask them to modify them further, they can push you back 2", but then you lose the ability for a driver backrest and god help your passenger. Mustang's seats also push one back further, but they aren't made of leather. Lot of folks claim the Mustangs are more comfortable out of the box than the Corbins which need to be broke in. Nowadays it seems like everyone is getting in the market, even Indian FINALLY got a big boy seat out for us. Additionally, a lot of folks really like the Ultimate Seat; the buyers of these seats are fanatical about them. The good news is, there are lots of options. The main thing to worry about is matching your leather elsewhere on the bike and ensuring the OEM passenger backrest setup will work. This has bit a lot of folks in the ass. Make sure you ask the manufacturer the right questions!
Lower the boards. One thing that I immediately noticed was my knees were higher than I felt they needed to be. Solution is provided via Aeromach. They have THREE different kits. My recommendation is if the below doesn't make sense CALL them up and ask which one they recommend. Has to do with clearing the lowers , your highway bar, etc. Just call them! Problem solved!
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| Disclaimer: Taken before I swapped boards |
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(COO: US) CI-3025 Indian Rider Floorboard Relocation Kit Retail Price: $129.95 NOTE: WILL NOT WORK with Indian factory Highway Bars. Installing this part will reduce the lean angle of the motorcycle. | ||||||
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| (COO: US) CI-3026 Indian Rider Floorboard Relocation Kit | ||||
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(COO: US) CI-3028 Indian Rider Floorboard Relocation Kit Retail Price: $129.95 | |||
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Thinner Boards: This was my first solution actually. I ordered boards from Dirty Bird Concepts and they were literally a third of the depth of the OEM boards and I solved my knee issue on my Chieftain. Simple as that! I actually did it accidentally; I just wanted a different look to my boards. Score! Some of these companies out there are doing solid billet aluminum boards vs the OEM style where the pad absorbs the bumps,etc (IE thicker). On my Vintage I have a lowering kit and OEM boards. Point being; you have choices!
Handlebars. I'm 6'4" and the stock location of the handlebars does NOT work for me. I also like a riser type, so when Dirty Bird Concepts came out with their 4" riser Stampede bars, I jumped on it. A year later Indian came out with their own version. And nowadays, there must be a 1/2 different options on the market for us. Still, I love my DBC bars. The ONLY negative is, if you live up North your hands are a notch above your fairing so they'll get a notch chilly when it gets cold out. I live in Texas; no big deal for me. On my Vintage, I've got the beach bars to stretch me out a notch.
Should they have come from the factory, comfortable for us? Of course. But they didn't. Now, pull out the credit card and fix the problem!
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| Changed out the Seat, bars and the boards. 6'4" / 315# Rider |
Comments
I got the floorboard kit from Aeromach on your recommendation but before I installed they kind of recalled it and came out with a different model so I still have not done that.
I am still looking for the tallest flare windshield ( something you didn't touch in this blog).