Finding the quintessential touring bike in an already burgeoning field isn't an easy task. Among so many worthy competitors from which to choose, the field is narrowed down to one best of for 2022. Indian Motorcycle hits the scene in 2022 with the tour-tastic Indian Pursuit Dark Horse with Premium Package to stand toe-to-toe with the other cruiser-type tourbikes at the top of the field.
The Pursuit Dark Horse Is The Epitome Of Motorcycle Touring
In looking for a “Best Of” candidate, the field needed trimming. To find the quintessential American touring bike, I removed the sport-tour and adventure-bike sectors to instead focus on the homegrown full-dresser touring machines. Sport-tourers, while having ample performance, generally have small panniers, not even big enough to hold a helmet. Adventure bikes, while capable tourers in themselves, don't have the overall creature comforts to fit the bill of the American-style touring machine.
The features and protections are fairly standard across the board with little to choose between the main heavy-hitters in the industry like the Gold Wing Tour and BMW's R 1250 GS. What is rising in today's touring field is horsepower, so even though the comforts of the big contenders are present, it is the addition of performance that sets the stage. The Indian Pursuit Dark Horse, built on Indian's Challenger platform, has the comfort-cruising capabilities and amenities that long-distance riders demand. It also has the engine capability that comes with the new age of power touring.
More Horsepower, Not Just Torque, Are In Demand At The Touring Top End
This liquid-cooled plant sets its platform apart with 122 ponies and 128 pound-feet of torque. It adds an element of performance to what has traditionally been a somewhat stodgy category, which is why the Pursuit Dark Horse rises to the top of the heap in the American-style market. The PowerPlus powerplant delivers the goods, and benefits from the shift in focus away from aesthetics, as with Indian's Thunder Stroke engine, toward performance as the main front-burner consideration.
Creature Comforts Are Top-Of-The-Line When It Comes To Touring
Infotainment matters, as evidenced by its proliferation in top-end machines. Here Indian excels once more with its RIDE COMMAND+ bundle that brings a trio of ride modes for quick personality changes on the fly. A seven-inch color TFT touchscreen acts as the rider interface, and it lets you “touch and drag” elements around for a customizable and fluid display. You can tap into the interwebs for real-time weather, traffic, and turn-by-turn navigation support. A headset and Bluetooth connection bring your phone into the loop for hands-free phone calls on the road. Plus it rocks the Apple CarPlay system that lets you turn every trip into a concert, or if you're old school, you can tune in to both the AM and FM band. A 200-Watt system ensures plenty of tuneage to share with everyone around you, though it remains civil through an automatic volume control that turns down at stops and gets louder when you get underway to counter engine and wind noise.
The rear suspension preload value is adjustable in response to changing cargo and passenger loads, so you can keep the ride dialed in right where you want it. That's important given the 35-plus gallon storage capacity afforded by the topcase and two side bags. In the top American-style tourers, ample cargo space is a must. For body comfort, Indian's Rear Cylinder Deactivation feature reduces the engine heat wash in slow/stop-n-go conditions, and the Pursuit Dark Horse comes with an adjustable windscreen and tuneable vents in the fairing to give you incremental control over the rider's wind pocket. Highway bars let you switch your leg position for comfort, while your passenger benefits from an adjustable footboard, which is a rare detail, even at this level.
Factor in the front fairing and lower leg guards, and you have a well-protected cockpit that is conducive to long-range work with little physical impact on the pilot. The fairing is the frame-mounted type rather than fork-mounted, so wind resistance won't interfere with steering. What's more, the Pursuit Dark Horse comes stock with heated handgrips to help extend your riding season, perhaps year-round in some areas, plus you get heated seats from the Premium Package to round out the cold-weather gear.
Luxury Touring Means Luxury Price And Safety
For safety, the Indian has ABS and the Ride Modes feature along with its Smart-Lean technology. Smart Lean adds a lean-sensitive component to the traction control, torque control, and ABS to help you keep it between the stripes.
Pricing lands above the $30k mark. The Pursuit Dark Horse plus Premium Package starts at $33,999 MSRP in Black Smoke and runs up to $35,499 for the two-tone Ruby Metallic over Black Metallic.
Honorable Mention Goes To A Worthy Old-Timer
Harley-Davidson powers its Ultra Limited with a Milwaukee-Eight 114. It puts out 119 pound-feet against 128 pounds o' grunt from the Pursuit Dark Horse, but the horsepower tells the tale. Only the PowerPlus engine comes built for power with 122 ponies.
The MoCo's top non-CVO tourer costs $29,169 for its Vivid Black model and as much as $33,564 for the Custom Two-Tone over Black packages. Indian offers a total of four colorways against H-D's 14 color packages, but it's hard to beat the King of Paint in quantity and quality.
The Ultra Limited also carries a Batwing fairing that falls short of the protection provided by the fixed shark-nose fairing on the Pursuit. In addition, the windshield is non-adjustable, so it's arguably less comfortable in inclement conditions. While the H-D does have the electronic gear to match, it's stuck in a $1,025 optional RDRS equipment bundle that isn't factored into the starting price.