Indian’s bread and butter Scout model has been hanging around since Polaris re-introduced the all-American mid-size cruiser model to the world back in 2014. A decade on, this bike is still Indian’s biggest seller, shifting ten thousand units a year, give or take. It was important that the company get an improved Scout to market to fend off moves from Harley-Davidson, but it was even more important that Indian get it damn close to perfect before sending it out.
Jumping on the new Indian Scout Bobber last week, it was instantly obvious that the new version of the bike is miles ahead of the previous iteration. Since the Bobber trim’s launch in 2018, it has been the best-selling version of Indian’s best-selling bike, and now it’s significantly better. It still has all of the low-and-wide cool style of the old one, but it rides better, has better tech, and won’t completely beat your spine to death. Better, for sure.
Full disclosure: Indian flew me to San Francisco to ride the 2025 Scout lineup. The ride was split into two days with the sport-focused models on one day and the cruiser crowd on the other day. I ate lots of great food and slept in two different hotels with a view of the ocean. I had a great time.
Indian launched the new Scout with five distinct models in two different categories. The Bobber, Classic, and Super models make up the cruiser lineup, while the Sport and 101 are stripped-back sporty cruisers that can carve mountain roads surprisingly well. All of the Scout models are built on the same clean-sheet tubular steel frame and use a new SpeedPlus 1250-cc watercooled V-twin engine. I got to ride all five models during Indian’s event, but in this piece I’ll be focusing on the cruisers.
On the first day of the event I rode from the bottom of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco to the beach in Santa Cruz via the flat and smooth highways along the coast on the Bobber, Classic, and Super. To boil it down for you a bit, the Classic has the old-school chrome look you probably immediately think of, while the Super has the same chrome appearance but comes standard with bags, a tall windscreen, and all of the tech you can throw at a bike. The Bobber, the one I was most interested in, is basically a Classic that has been blacked out and loses an inch of suspension height.
The Super is a pretty decent mid-size touring bike that costs a whole lot less than a full bagger. If you’re looking for something to take on day trips but don’t have the coin for a bigger Chief, Chieftan, Challenger, or Roadmaster, this is a decent compromise. The Scout Super and Classic aren’t really my style, but they’re good and competent machines. I mostly included this section so I could use this photo of me riding the wrong way up Lombard Street. That was pretty cool, but I definitely scraped a few bricks with the pegs on this thing.
The second day of the ride was a curvy twist and turn route inland back north from Santa Cruz to San Francisco. I had some time on the Sport Scout, but spent most of the day riding the exciting 101 Scout. At the end of the day these are all variations on the same engine and frame, so they sort of ride similarly. I’ll talk more about the Sport and 101 in a separate piece, which is my attempt at keeping things a little simpler.
With 105 horsepower on tap and a ten-pound-lighter frame, the new Scout Bobber is slightly sportier than the model it replaces. It’s still a 542-pound brawler, so it isn’t exactly a lightweight, but the mass is mounted low in the chassis and it is extremely approachable to ride. With a 25.6-inch seat height you’ll feel like you’re sitting on the deck, but it’s easy to mount and the standover width is manageable for people with shorter legs. At six-foot-two, I should be all kinds of scrunched up on a bike with these stats, but I was surprisingly comfortable on every version of the Scout.
With just two inches of rear suspension travel, the Scout Bobber is the kind of old-school lowrider custom culture machine that looks hard as hell. If you’re riding this bad boy to your local coffee house, you’ll definitely get looks. And really, isn’t that what motorcycling is all about?I’m a fan of the blacked-out style of this bike, and the red paint was a delightful treat. There’s a certain look achieved with the fat tires, low bars, forward pegs, and low seat that you just don’t get on any other bike. It’s not the most comfortable bike in the world, but pain is beauty.
Unlike the previous Scout, Indian made all versions of the new bike with the same hardpoints, so all of the accessories could fit all of the versions of the bike. Because there are optional saddle bags, Indian had to mount the new (and massive) two-into-one exhaust low down. Combine that with the low suspension of the Scout Bobber, and you’re sure to drag more than pegs when you take it to the twisty roads. Forget chicken strips, you can identify a Scout Bobber rider who pushes to the limit if they’ve dragged exhaust.
Back in 2019 I tested the then-fairly-new Scout Bobber, and it was seriously painful to ride for more than twenty minutes at a time. It looked cool as hell, but it needed some improvements. Indian seems to have struck the right balance with the new Bobber, as it has a softer and wider seat and slightly more suspension travel. Maybe there’s something in the design of the chassis that helps with this, too, but I found myself able to ride for well over an hour without feeling the desire to jump into a ditch for fear of further ass pain. It’s still not a bike I’d want to ride hundreds of miles in a day, but it’s a big improvement.
The Bobber’s new standard gauge is an improvement over the old one, as it finally has a fuel gauge, and you can switch the little digital display to show engine RPMs. If you opt for a higher-spec model with Indian’s impressive four-inch round touch screen display, however, you get everything you could ever want from a gauge, including a real tachometer. It’s probably worth it.
Back in 2019 I called the old Bobber “unabashedly Hollywood cool,” and that remains absolutely true. This is a bike that deserves to be seen, and you’ll want to be seen riding it. It’ll give you a few extra cool points, and you’ll do whatever it takes to be rad enough to ride one. With a starting price of $12,999, it’s a heck of a bargain in the cruiser market, too.
