Skip to main content

Throttle Jockey: Indian’s blacked-out Dark Horse cruiser is a bargain

Late last year, I rode the new Indian Chief Vintage from Los Angeles to the Bay Area and found the big bike to be polished, powerful and a joy to ride. Not so joyful: a price tag a ducat short of $21,000. Still, for what you get, that’s actually a fairly reasonable number, but still a big chunk of change.

Now, Indian has introduced the Chief Dark Horse, a stripped-down, murdered-out version of their basic bike, the Indian Chief Classic. But if you think this $16,999 “budget bike” is going to leave you wanting, think again.

Basically a blank black canvas upon which you can draw your own version of the perfect cruiser (or tourer), the Dark Horse comes in any color you like as long as you like matte black, or Thunder Black Smoke as they call it – which is actually a fairly accurate description of the finish, truth be told.

While all the other Indian models fairly swim in chrome and polish, the Dark Horse blacks out the engine, bars and other bits for a too-cool-for-school back-street custom look. A shiny dual-exit exhaust system is about the only reflective element on the machine.

From there, Indian kept it pretty basic: no driving lights, cast instead of spoke wheels, single seat, a tiny smattering of brightwork bits and that’s about it. But keep in mind, it still comes with a very long list of features and if you want to kit it out, Indian offers a long list of options from heated grips to fishtails to numerous trim bits and seat options.

So what does the Dark Horse include? First of all, the motive power comes from their excellent fuel-injected 111-cubic inch Thunder Stroke V-twin, the same lump that powers all their big bikes, and I do mean powers. This is an engine that makes power and torque everywhere, is buttery smooth and is coupled to a slick-shifting 6 speed box.

The fully valanced fenders are retained as is the light-up War Bonnet on the front fender. The instrument pod features a LCD panel that includes numerous info bits including range, mpg, time and more. And thankfully, Indian has left their excellent cruise control in the mix – every open road cruiser should have one. This one does as stock. Triple disc brakes with ABS are also standard. That price is looking pretty good now, no?

You can read my full review of the Indian Chief Vintage here, but suffice to say the Dark Horse is one nice bike, no matter what color it is.

Photos courtesy of Indian Motorcycles

Bill Roberson
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Please reach out to The Manual editorial staff with any questions or comments about Bill’s work.
Everything points to Apple TV+ making a change you’re not going to like
Is an ad-supported tier coming to Apple TV+?
The Apple TV Plus Logo

It turns out that TV worked pretty well under its old model. According to a new report from Business Insider, Apple TV+ may be the latest streaming service that's set to introduce an ad-supported tier and charge those who don't stream with ads a premium fee to access their great shows and movies.

At this point, the report is still speculation, but Apple has made several recent hires in the advertising space that seem to suggest the direction they're planning to take. The company recently hired former NBCUniversal ad executive Joseph Cady to serve as executive vice president of advanced advertising and partnerships, a move that comes following the company's hiring of another former NBCUniversal executive, Jason Frum, who joined Apple's video ad sales team.

Read more
From Gilda Radner to Ali Wong, these are the best female comedians of all time
These women from all generations will make you laugh out loud
Ai Wong comedian 2017 Moontower comedy festival

Hot take: I don’t care for straight male comedians. It’s not that they’re not funny, they’re just … I don’t know, boring? Maybe that’s reductive of me, but I never seem to leave a straight male comedian’s set feeling particularly inspired. And though some may argue that it’s not important for a set to "inspire" its audience, I’d actually argue that the opposite is true. For me, I want to see a comedian use humor to address real issues and say real things about the world, even if they do it in a completely goofy way.

Therefore, I tend to prefer female and female-identified comedians. They’re sharp, tough, and have often seen shit that makes their comedy feel raw and true. Undoubtedly there are male comedians who do this, too, but to a much lesser degree, in my very humble and very personal opinion.

Read more
12 classic sci-fi books everyone should read
If you love science fiction and reading, these classic sci-fi novels are a must
Man reading a book and drinking coffee

It may feel like we were recently living in a science-fiction dystopia life -- and in some ways, we were -- but that doesn't mean that we should simply avoid an entire genre of writing. Hardly. In fact, this is probably the perfect time to explore classic sci-fi books, to see what the masters have written, and maybe even see if someone predicted anything like this. Many, though, simply ignore sci-fi wholly and completely because of an association with robots, aliens, and the like.

Long story short, if you think you don't like sci-fi, you have never read great books from the genre. But indeed, many such books abound, including a number that has delighted generations of readers going back well over 150 years. In fact, one of the best things about so many sci-fi books is their very timelessness. As by definition, this type of fiction breaks away from the norms of the everyday world -- whether slightly twisting things or taking place on entire other worlds -- the stories often feel as fresh and relevant today as when they were published decades ago.

Read more