Indian Summer
On the cover of this issue is the new 2026 Indian Chief Vintage, and starting on page 19 is the first American Rider supplement, a quarterly special section focusing on American V- Twin content. In the supplement you’ ll find V- Twin industry news( Rumblings), a preview of 2026 Harley- Davidsons, my first- ride review of the Chief Vintage, a travel story about riding a Harley- Davidson Low Rider ST in Wisconsin, a feature about the 30th anniversary of the Kyle Petty Charity Ride Across America, a 10- page guide to 2026 motorcycle events, Tech Tips by Kip Woodring, and product reviews( AR Tested).
Rider has always covered the V- Twin segment – for the past 51 years, we’ ve covered all aspects of the street- focused motorcycle market – so most of this content will be familiar to our regular subscribers; we’ ve just packaged it a little differently than usual. In this issue, you’ ll find our regular departments and columns – Response, Kickstarts, Riding Well, Favorite Ride, Motor School with Quinn Redeker, New & Cool, and Exhaust Note( AR Tested stands in for Gear Lab this month) – as well as a first- ride review of the new 2026 Honda Rebel 300 E- Clutch by our managing editor, Allison Parker.
This year marks the 125th anniversary of the Indian Motorcycle brand, which is the focus of Rumblings( see page 20). Our December issue included an announcement that Polaris was selling a majority stake in Indian to Carolwood LP, a private equity firm. As I write this in early February, the deal has just been finalized.
Since joining the Rider editorial staff in 2008, I’ ve had the privilege of reporting on two chapters in Indian’ s 125- year history. One of my first assignments was to visit the Indian manufacturing facility in Kings Mountain, North Carolina, when the brand was owned by Stellican Limited, another private equity firm(“ Indian Returns,” July 2008).
The Indian Chief Classic graced our November 2013 cover after being introduced at the Sturgis Rally in August.
Five years later, in August 2013, I went to the Sturgis Rally in South Dakota for the relaunch of Indian under the ownership of Polaris. On the first Saturday night of the rally, there was a huge reveal party for the Indian Chief lineup that was open to the public. The event included live music and a guest appearance by Mike Wolfe, host of the TV show American Pickers. Thousands of people were on hand for the unveiling of the new motorcycles, which were placed on backlit platforms on the roof of the Sturgis Motorcycle Museum.
The next day, I joined dozens of other journalists for test rides on three new models: Chief Classic, Chief Vintage, and Chieftain.
A year later, I returned to Sturgis for the relaunch of the Scout, another iconic Indian model. Within the span of 12 months, the revamped Indian Motorcycle demonstrated its commitment to the American V- Twin market with two entirely different platforms: the full- size Chief models, powered by the air- cooled Thunderstroke 111 V- Twin, and the smaller Scout, powered by a liquid- cooled 69-cubic-inch V-Twin.
In the years that followed, Indian stayed on the gas. It steadily expanded its model lineup, including
the flat track- inspired FTR1200 and the liquid- cooled Challenger bagger, which won Rider’ s 2020 Motorcycle of the Year award. It introduced the FTR750, a prototype racebike that won eight consecutive American Flat Track SuperTwins championships from 2017- 2024. And in 2020, Indian won its first of three MotoAmerica King Of The Baggers championships( the others were in 2022 and 2024).
Here at Rider, we want the motorcycle market to be as rich and varied as possible, so it has been an honor for us to tell the story of Indian’ s relaunch and growth, just as it has been an honor to tell the stories of Harley- Davidson’ s evolution, the emergence of new motorcycle brands( like CFMOTO), and other historic marques making a comeback( like Norton; see page 8).
RIDERMAGAZINE. COM / MARCH 2026 / 5