America’s Coolest Motorcycle Is Dying, Get One While You Still Can

America’s motorcycle manufacturers tend to be known for building the same thing over and over for all of eternity. Regardless if you ride Harley or Indian, these companies are best at slinging gigantic expensive cruisers. That’s why the Indian FTR was a breath of fresh air. It was the exact opposite of America’s motorcycle bread and butter, but even better, it looked gorgeous, rode well, and had levels of cool no Harley Street Glide could match. Dare I say? The Indian FTR was the coolest motorcycle America has built in years. But now it’s dead. Thankfully, you still have some time to buy one if you want one, so act fast.

This news comes to us from a report published at Motorcycle.com. Polaris Industries released its Q4 2024 and full-year 2024 financial report. In it, the powersports manufacturer got to the point, highlighting damage done across its portfolio. In terms of dollars, sales were down 23 percent last year and overall sales were down 20 percent compared to 2023. Polaris made no mention of specifically its Indian Motorcycle brand, but the presentation made clear that last year was not a good one for Polaris as a whole.

The saddest thing of all was the mention of the FTR. Some motorcycles get a grand departure when they die. Maybe a manufacturer might sell a final edition or maybe we get a loving press release. The FTR isn’t getting that. Instead, in that nerdy earnings presentation is a line that says: “The Company realized certain costs associated with the wind down of the FTR product line beginning in the fourth quarter of 2024.”

I imagine this has taken several in the industry by shock. It was only a few days ago or so I was chatting with a marketing agency associated with Indian and we were chatting about where we’d love to see the FTR go. If killing the FTR was a plan set ahead of the earnings report, Indian might not have let everyone know. Sadly, I have confirmed that the FTR really is dying. The motorcycle isn’t getting a funeral or a proper send-off, so I’ll pour one out for the FTR right here.

Since Indian Motorcycle’s rebirth, it has been gunning for Harley’s best. So then, why on Earth did it even have something like the FTR in the first place?

Born From Racing

The FTR story started on the track, where Harley-Davidson and Indian were historically rivals in pretty much every aspect of their businesses. From a previous piece:

Over the next 50 years, the two companies would battle each other in intense competition. As Web Bike World writes, Indian built its first V-twin before Harley, in 1905, and until World War I, were marketed as “America’s fastest motorcycles.” The company backed up those claims with race wins and speed records. In 1906, a pair of Indian dealers rode from San Francisco to New York in a record-setting 31 days, reporting no mechanical issues. That same year, Harley-Davidson moved out of a machine shop and into its first factory on Chestnut Street in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Later, Indian’s factory racing team swept the podium in the 1911 Isle of Man Tourist Trophy. In 1913, Harley-Davidson sponsored a racing team, one that would later be called the Wrecking Crew for its dominance in the dirt and on the board track. This success was interesting, in part because at first, Harley wasn’t even interested in going racing.

[…]

Both motorcycle companies supported the World War I effort by sending motorcycles overseas and by 1920, Harley-Davidson grew to become the world’s largest motorcycle manufacturer with 2,000 dealers in 67 countries. It took the title from Indian, which was the largest motorcycle manufacturer during the 1910s. The rivalry continued into the 1920s and beyond with both companies producing liter engines in 1920. Harley-Davidson and Indian continued to battle it out on track and later, Indian would introduce the luxurious Indian Four. Over time, Harley would focus on comfort and utility while Indian continued to build fast and powerful machines. Indian would go into a decline after World War II and cease production in 1953.

For decades, American motorcycle companies found success in winning races as a marketing tool. Thrill-seekers looking for the fastest rides wanted to ride the brand that dominated on the track. The original rivalry ended in 1953 after Indian suffered in the post-World War II motorcycle market. Indian was gone, ultimately crowning Harley-Davidson as the champion.

The Indian name has been passed around several times since then. The latest caretaker of the Indian name is Polaris Industries, which started producing Indian-branded motorcycles for the 2014 model year. Sadly, while the Indian motorcycles of today look like descendants of the ones of the past, they aren’t related. Still, the Polaris Indian has still reignited the old rivalry.

One of the challenges of the revived Indian was marketing itself. It didn’t have a century of real heritage like Harley-Davidson and the last Polaris bikes Americans knew about were the weird Victory machines. In 2016, Indian employee Gary Gray came up with an idea. The last time people really knew about Indian was over a half-century ago when it was still winning races. Indian could return to the circuit to challenge the supremacy of the Harley-Davidson XR-750 dirt-tracker.

There was just one problem: In 2016, Polaris had nothing but heavy and slow cruiser engines. What Indian achieved after was incredible. Its engineers hunkered down and came up with a new race engine in about a year. The resulting Indian FTR750 flat tracker dominated the circuit, winning its first Grand National Championship at the end of 2017. The FTR750 would then win seven more in a row.

America’s Coolest Motorcycle

The Indian FTR street bike was built in celebration of Indian’s track wins. In 2017, after the FTR750 racebike had proven itself to be a speedy wonder, Indian presented the FTR1200 Custom concept (below) at the Milan motorcycle show. It was an instant hit with the public. The FTR1200 was beautiful, powerful, and a complete departure from what everyone expected for a street bike from an American manufacturer.

Indian greenlit a production version and in 2019, the Indian FTR 1200 was born. At the heart of the new FTR 1200 was a new 120 HP 1203cc V-twin and some traits trickled down from the racebikes. Like the racer, the FTR 1200 featured a trellis frame and its airbox was tucked neatly on top of the engine.

The awesome part about the FTR 1200 (later just called the FTR) is that Indian didn’t just lazily make a bike that looked like the racer. It went through the work to make a motorcycle that rode just as good as it looked. We’re talking meaty Brembo brakes, a fuel tank under the seat, a low center of gravity, and some terrific fun handling. Sure, it wasn’t nearly as snappy as even anything with the name “Buell” emblazoned on the side (to give an example of another American bike), but it wasn’t afraid of curves.

The motorcycle then went on to score generally positive reviews by the motorcycle press and it deserved it. While I never had an FTR long enough to write a full review of it, I saw what the moto press loved in it. The FTR was never the fastest, the best handling, or the best value for money. It also wasn’t particularly light at 512 pounds, either. Personally, I thought the FTR was a bit more expensive than it should have been. The FTR also had a few quirks, like a flimsy side stand and an unrefined throttle response when the engine wasn’t fully warmed up.

Our friends at RideApart had numerous complaints about their FTR tester. That bike had some oddity with its fuel system where the engine would stall out just trying to idle after a cold start. If the writer was brave enough to ride the thing before the engine was fully warmed up it would either stall or buck. RideApart also found the pegs uncomfortable, the tires suboptimal on imperfect pavement, and the turn signals ridiculously fragile.

However, if you were able to look past those downsides – most of which can be corrected in the aftermarket, anyway – the FTR was a seriously fun ride. I loved every single moment I’ve gotten to swing a leg over an FTR. I loved my FTR rides so much that the FTR was the first new motorcycle I ever attempted to buy. Sadly, I found out the hard way that my then cash-only lifestyle made me unattractive to banks. Oops!

To me, the Indian FTR hit a sweet spot of fun, vulgarity, and beauty. It’s a bike you could stare at all day or swing a leg over and tear up backroads. The Indian FTR has that sort of “badass” cool that the likes of Dodge so desperately wants today. Even Ryan F9 of Fortnine practically gushed over the thing:

He’s Dead, Jim

Unfortunately, being cool apparently isn’t enough to sell bikes. It’s hard to say where Indian went wrong here. Maybe the FTR could have been faster, cheaper, or looked closer to its concept. Or, maybe it was doomed because if Harley-Davidson’s long list of modern-day fails suggests, it’s hard for an American cruiser manufacturer to convince enough of the public to buy something that’s not a cruiser.

I suppose another reason could also just be the world as it is right now. Recreational products almost across the board from motorhomes and personal watercraft to side-by-sides experienced cratering sales after the pandemic. People are still buying toys, but they clearly aren’t buying as many as they used to. Even I ended up buying a much cheaper Royal Enfield instead of spending at least $13,499 on the FTR.

Why did Indian Motorcycle discontinue the FTR?

I reached out to Indian for an explanation and received this:

Indian Motorcycle regularly reviews its portfolio – critically evaluating where to focus investments to have the biggest impact for riders, as well as position the brand for continued growth through the development of products that reflect emerging trends and rider preferences.

After careful consideration, Indian Motorcycle made the decision to discontinue the FTR lineup. The decision aligns with Indian Motorcycle’s long-term vision to focus on models and technologies that represent the future of the brand, as FTR is small part of Indian Motorcycle’s overall portfolio. The decision enables the brand to focus investments on platforms, as well as future products and technologies in the pipeline.

I asked if Indian planned a replacement for the FTR:

Indian Motorcycle regularly reviews its portfolio – critically evaluating where to focus investments to have the biggest impact for riders, as well as position the brand for continued growth through the development of products that reflect emerging trends and rider preferences.

Unfortunately, it’s pretty safe to say Indian doesn’t have something else in the works. Weirdly, this will mean that Harley-Davidson will have the more diverse portfolio of the rivalry, but nobody really knows how much time the LiveWire and Pan America have left before they’re tossed in the dustbin.

Even the FTR750 racebike is having a bad time. American Flat Track changed its rules, effectively banning race engines like the one used in the FTR750 and Harley’s XR-750.

There’s still time for Indian to send the FTR out in a more proper way. The FTR was one of the coolest American motorcycles in years, it should go out with a little more fanfare than a dry statement in a financial report. Thankfully, there is also still time to get one if you want one. Indian hasn’t given a firm date for when production will cease this year and as of right now, it’s still being advertised on Indian’s sites. Depending on how things go, dealers might even have new ones sitting around for a while. But after that, it’s the end of the road. Maybe one day America’s motorcycle brands will get this right.