Indian winter
How does a stripped-down naked stunner designed for summer fair in the cold?
Few people who buy an FTR S (in the UK at least) are likely to run it through winter. In fact, if I owned this FTR S, I would’ve tucked it up in the garage last October to suckle at its trickle charger.
Unfortunately for the MCN fleet FTR, that’s not how longterm tests work and so I’ve been cajoling the bike into life in sub-zero temperatures and forcing it out onto the filthy, grit-encrusted roads.
The first reason I hate doing this is everything to do with my ego and nothing to do with the bike. It feels strange to get kitted out headto-toe in textiles to climb aboard such an achingly cool roadster. The good people of the Indian design department clearly put a lot of care and attention into getting the details right – from the logos embossed on the cylinder heads and crank cover to the faux pinstriping on the tank – and they didn’t factor in me sitting there like a Gore-Tex elephant in the middle of it all.
Bit parky
Moving on from my vanity to issues of practicality, the FTR’s complete lack of weather protection can really be felt when the mercury drops. Wearing as much kit as I can squeeze on and moving with all the grace of a toddler in a ski suit, the battering of winter wind can still be felt. Even with my flattrack-style flyscreen added, which deflects a little of the wind off my chest and calms the chaotic airflow created by the headlight, bars and controls, the barrage cannot be tamed.
Prolonged stretches of dual carriageway become nigh-on unbearable. The cold creeps in around the tank and up your front or spools around your backpack, seeking out any imperfect seam or misalignment of kit layers.
In warmer weather, I enjoyed the FTR’s near-complete nudity. Being in the wind creates a sensation of speed and drama that you don’t always get at road speeds on more aerodynamic models. But now I’m not so enthused.
Add rain into the mix and you’ll lose your sense of humour very quickly, not least because the FTR’s stylish lack of a rear mudguard means that your back is constantly sprayed with whatever muck you ride through on the road. My backpack and the back of my jacket has never been so filthy.
Battling those cold starts
The FTR may feel a bit out of its depth in a UK winter, but it has never failed to start whatever the temperature gauge on the dash shows. I have made it to the third press of the starter button before the engine finally burbled into life on a particularly cold morning – I was starting to get that sinking feeling – but it did fire up.
With the slippery roads I’ve dropped from the ‘Sport’ throttle mode to ‘Standard’ as the aggressive response was making it too easy to spin up the rear in the cold. The traction control caught it every time but it’s a better riding experience to switch the riding mode. The dash also got stuck in its daytime mode one evening but switching the bike off and on again sorted the problem so I assume it was a gremlin brought on by the cold.
LIKES
● Winter reliability
DISLIKES
Lacks weather protection