In their latest blog post, Indian Motorcycles' newest owner calls itself "The Guardians of the Jewel". Although that sounds a little self-indulgent, as can be seen by the positive comments to that posting, Indian has such a huge following and loyal fan base that they are probably not too far off. At one time, Indian and Harley-Davidson fought it out for supremacy of the open highways, and the Chief led the way. Featuring the iconic full-fenders and swept-by-the-wind styling, the Indian Chief is a true American classic. According to this article, Indian says that the images being shown on their site of the '09 Chief is not a "100% accurate view of the production Chief." Still, they go on to add that it is "a very good depiction of the classic and elegant direction our designers are taking." Looking over the pictures, we clearly see that the bike is instantly identifiable as a Chief, which is a good thing, but it is a bit derivative of past designs -- although purists are sure to point out that this is not necessarily a poor choice. Whatever the bike looks like, the PowerPlus motor had better be up to the latest standards of you know who, and it had better not be too close of a copy if the bike is to be respected as a stand-alone brand.
[Source: Indian Motorcycles, Motorcycle.com]
