Sturgis gets competitive motors running Harley, Indian fans go helmet-to-helmet.
At Sturgis, fans line up on both sides of the street
STURGIS, S.D. – They’ve banged handlebars for more than a century, and nowhere is the battle between HarleyDavidson and Indian Motorcycles more apparent than at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally.
The rally – which continues through Sunday and is expected to pull in about
500,000 people – is the epicenter of spirited competition between Harley and Indian, the last remaining major U.S. motorcycle companies.
On Tuesday, the battle between Harley and Indian was won by Indian at a Sturgis flat-track race where the company’s bikes dominated – taking the top
12 finishing positions.
On the street, Harley and Indian are going wheel to wheel with demo rides at the rally, where licensed motorcyclists can experience the differences between the brands.
The competition is good for motorcycling, said Roger Fridal, a Harley owner from northern Utah who took two test rides on Indians.
“I think rivalries are healthy. You don’t want one company to have the whole market for something because, once they get control of it, they can do whatever they want,” Fridal said.
Indian was founded in 1901, two years before Harley-Davidson. The brands fought to capture the hearts of American motorcyclists until 1954, when Indian folded.
❚ Fond memories: “For most people, the old Indians are remembered as those classy bikes with the skirted fenders, the Indian-head parking lights and the funny spelled name ‘motocycle’ on the emblems.
For Harley-Davidson, Indian was the company that just could not compete with Harley and win,” author Allan Gir- dler wrote in his book “The Harley-Davidson and Indian Wars.”
Numerous attempts to revive Indian failed, but the brand has come back with a roar under Polaris Industries, a $5.4 billion Medina, Minnesota-based manufacturer of snowmobiles and all-terrain vehicles.
Polaris said its Indian motorcycle sales grew by “mid-single digits,” in the company’s recent fiscal quarter but didn’t provide specifics.
Harley’s U.S. motorcycle sales were down more than 6 percent, while its international sales were up 0.7 percent. Worldwide, including the U.S., sales fell
3.6 percent.
❚ Harley’s in charge: Harley’s grip on the overall U.S. heavyweight motorcycle market remains firm, with a market share of nearly 50 percent. Yet Indian’s growth is notable, coming at a time when fewer Americans are buying big bikes.
“Harley is obviously a very large company, but our plan is to be a major motorcycle manufacturer. We are really happy with the results of the last couple of years,” said Reid Wilson, Indian’s senior director of marketing and product development.
The Indian bike ties run deep in some families.
Taylor Barnum, from Vermillion, South Dakota, named his 2014 Indian Vintage after his grandmother, Vanona.
“When she was a young gal, she owned a 1946 Indian. She always loved Indians and pushed that style of bike on me,” Barnum said.
“I think the rivalry is awesome. It pushes each company to come out with something bigger and better,” he added.
Polaris has redesigned Indian bikes from scratch. The goal has been to capture the spirit of the Chief and other Indians from a half-century ago but with a modern engine and other components.
The brand languished under previous owners and, even in its prime 90 years ago, Indian’s owners were accused of draining the company’s profits to support money-losing businesses.
In recent years, the company was dogged by engine problems and a cutback in the number of dealerships. In
2012, one dealer in Michigan complained that it still had a new 2003 Indian Scout for sale – priced at $16,000. Polaris acquired the brand in 2011.
❚ Tugging at heartstrings: There isn’t one piece left of the old company from when it closed in the 1950s. But the brand that has survived in some iteration since 1901 still tugs at the heartstrings of classic motorcycle enthusiasts with its powerful V-twin engines.
“There is absolutely a cadre of people who want an American V-twin motorcycle but don’t want a Harley. It’s too common for them. It’s the Chevy of American bikes,” said Robert Pandya, a veteran of the industry who has worked for Polaris.
“When you have a sea of businessmen, it’s hard to pick out the one guy who has the $3,000 suit. But when you throw a leg over an Indian, instantly you are sort of standing out,” Pandya said.
Persuading Harley-Davidson owners to give Indian another try takes some doing, but it worked for Jim Mead of Milwaukee, who previously rode Harleys exclusively for 48 years.
Mead said he has been to Sturgis twice on his 2015 Indian Vintage, which he bought after trading in his 2005 Harley Road King.
“I wasn’t dissatisfied with my Road King, but I stuck a lot of money into the motor to get the performance I wanted,” he said.
❚ Switching to Indian: Harley-Davidson is the official motorcycle of the Sturgis Rally. But Indians are starting to show up more now as the revived brand has gained traction under Polaris.
Dickie Bectchkal, 70, spent decades riding Harleys. The Milwaukee biker switched to Indian in 2014 because he felt that Harley had lost its mojo.
For a while, he managed an Indian dealership.
“At 69, I got my first tattoo and it says ‘Indian.’ I never had Harley-Davidson tattooed on my arm, as much as I loved their bikes,” Betchkal said.