Living with a RM - Part 1 Indian Motorcycle Reviews & Impressions >
Junior Member 47 posts Horrock Junior Member 47 posts
Horrock
I jumped into this category thinking I might be able to read a heap of owner feedback, but the cupboard looks a bit bare with only three threads. Here's one more for you.

So about 2 years ago, I'm pretty happy in my third year of Victory Cross Roads ownership.

Then three things sort of all coincided. The Scout appeared on the scene, I'm getting a bit tired of manhandling the big Vic around the city, the majority of my time on it, and then my good mate goes and writes off his Victory.

Well, long story short, I decide to sell my bike to him, mates rates, he goes off very happy and I'm looking at replacements.

Gee, that Indian looks the goods for town use, and I can option it up for touring duty. I slap down a grand deposit, but the months crawl by, and the Scout fails to materialise (I'm sure many of you have been there).

So I'm getting a twitchy right wrist, no ride, when my occasional pillion-in-a-million sees a photo of the Scout and asks, "So where do I sit?", followed shorty after by, "I'm not sitting on that little pad".

I'd been under the impression her interest in touring had waned, but, not so. From there, she gets a look at a photo of the rest of the Indian range, and, having come from the pillion seat of a Cross Roads with a trunk (aka top box), she points to the RM and says "Why not get that one?".

Weeeell... Not one to question a Royal decree, I am promptly onto Indian in Melbourne to change my order, and we book tickets to fly over from Perth and take delivery. No WA sales representation for Indian or Victory at this time remember.

I have optioned a black bike with the rider backrest, pillion armrests for my understanding wife, and a heel/toe shifter. I brought my Zumo and mount over, hoping to have them fit it, but the time/labour needed to hard wire it is not available, and with the cig lighter power supply cable attached, the satnav won't clip into the cradle. Aargh! Looks like I have to ride home to WA on battery power.

Anyway we walk into Elizabeth St at about 2pm on a gloomy rainy Thursday June afternoon, and clap eyes on this beauty. John Cook spent about 3 hours giving me a comprehensive rundown, and completing all the paperwork, which included a temporary 7-day permit to ride it across the country. Great introduction.

So finally, I roll out of the rear door into rain, darkness and Melbourne peak hour traffic, on a bike I have never sat on before, to ride 50 km down to our friends home in Mornington. Holy shit, how am I going to survive this baptism?

But, it all goes OK. The weight disappears above walking speed, the gently muscular touquey engine makes it easy to idle along, or grab brief passing opportunities. I leave playing with the multitude of switches and controls for another day. The screen's effectiveness is the best I have ever experienced, and I've sat behind quite a few. I can, at 1.75m, see over the rim on the retracted setting, and fully extended, the air stream provides no buffeting and there is excellent protection. But rain and screens don't go together in city traffic.

Indian Melbourne have booked me into Italian Motorcycles, the Adelaide dealer, for the initial service on the following Monday, so I ride over on the Sunday, grab a motel, and present myself at 8am the next day.

My first day on the highway confirms the RM is a supreme tourer. Wind protection, seat comfort (the rider backrest is the best $1K you will ever spend if you tour), suspension compliance, the cruise (a big improvement on the Victory arrangement), smooth effortless power.

Initially, the riding roominess felt slightly cramped, but remember I was mentally comparing it with my previous Victory. They are really stretch-out roomy, whereas the Indian's crash bar boxes prevent this. After more familiarisation, the seat-hands-feet combo is excellent for medium height riders. Those little cubby holes in the boxes are not much use as delivered, unlockable and not waterproof in rain. I have never used them. The weather protection is very good in cold or wet weather though, and the only part of the body that gets very wet is your knees, between the boxes and the bottom of the fairing. The box vents keep them tolerable in hot weather, but I remove them, a simple 10 minute job.

The leather was changed for the 2015 range, as you know. It's not the lovely buttery soft tan (like my backrest, old stock I guess), but darker brown, less compliant to the touch, and treated to make it effectively waterproof. A wipe off after hours in the rain, and your bum will stay dry. Very good. Seat comfort is all-day excellent, and contrary to some experiences, has not deteriorated over the months and klicks. I do use a skeepskin on tour, admittedly, but not day to day.

Fuel consumption. On a previous trip WA to Vic and return, that Victory averaged 5.3l/100km. 106ci and 380kg. So when I get to Adelaide, and the RM is using 6.24, I'm pretty unhappy. Not much bigger capacity, not a great deal heavier, but, yep, thirsty. By Perth, after 4000km, it was 6.3, and thereafter it gradually improved to about 5.9 after 13,000km or so. So I do believe these TS111 engines do need time to reach their best, but for me, the exceptional figures enjoyed by some of you are always out of reach.

Anyway, Indian in Adelaide were ready for me, straight in and up on the hoist, and the mechanic, who looked about 18, got to work. I had a few items requiring attention besides the oil & filter. The headlight was set very low, the mirror stalks were too close to the grips, meaning every time I reached for a lever I was knocking the mirrors out of alignment. Finally, the bike was persistently pulling to the left, and I asked for the rear wheel alignment to be checked.

It was Day 5 of my ownership, so it meant my Victorian road permit (7 days duration) would expire somewhere on the Nullabor, so I took a taxi to the motor rego office in Adelaide for another permit while the bike was serviced. When I get back, the manager tells me, "Yes, you were right, that alignment was out". Bewdy, sorted. About 11am, I get the bike back, turn on the Garmin to find my way to the highway north, and set off. What a drama. Within a km or two, both mirrors are swinging around on loose stalks, the Zumo goes flat (internal battery only remember), and I'm trying to find my way out of the city with no Nav and no rear vision. I find there is nothing in the toolkit to tighten the mirrors, eventually find a Repco, spend $40 on a couple of spanners and sort that out.

Once I can concentrate on the road heading to Pt Augusta, I realise the damn bike is still pulling persistently to the left. A week later, at home, I get it up on the jack, string line the wheels, and finally eliminate 90% of this trait. Still a tiny tendency to drift left to this day, and I'm resigned to living with it. And to make it 3 out of 3 for Indian Adelaide, the headlight is now only good for possum hunting when I get a chance to use high beam. Easily sorted at an overnight stop with the bike's tools.

Over the next few days, all the positive findings are reinforced, strong side winds, rain and temps down to -1 on a early start from Norseman, are easily handled by this big competent tourer. I can't stay on the seat with the heating on high, it's so efficient, and I have not needed more than #7 of 12 heat settings on the grips. Every bike should have heated grips, you'll never be without them once you've tried them.

The audio. Promoted as a big feature of the Indian tourers, but I'm disappointed. The quality of the front speakers is poor, and although there is plenty of wattage to drive them, over about 80 I found the distortion was awful, unlistenable, with my full-face helmet. So, one can Bluetooth to helmet speakers, try that. But with earplugs the volume available through the Interphone F5MC is pretty much inaudible. Without the screen up, things are even worse. I have since replaced the front speakers with the Polk items regularly mentioned on forums, and the difference is night and day. If you are dissatisfied with your sound, spend the $120 or so, and swap them out in a spare half hour. I can now crank the volume up to about 20-24 setting out on the highway, and hear clear music or spoken word easily. Of course, everyone within half a km can probably hear it as well, but so what. I never use the speakers in town though, bit too dorky for me.

I'm not too keen on the tube in the filler neck which makes getting that last litre in a fiddly business. And why are we not provided with the locking fuel cap that almost every other bike on the road has, on our $40K motorcycle, Mr Polaris.

So, after five comfortable days on the road, I rolled into Perth very happy with the RM, unquestionably the best cruiser I have owned.

Let's call this Part 1. I'll post again later with my ongoing experiences and about modifications I have made along the way.

Thanks for reading this far,

Horrock
--------------------
Albany, Western Australia
ex 2015 Roadmaster 
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Houso Joel Founding Member 396 posts
Houso Joel
Great write up Horrock, 

Now ya got me drooling wishing I had the time and cash!
Houso Joel
SYDNEY NORTH
Harley Davidson Traitor [wink]
Started with an Indian - stayed for the conversation
2017 HD Road King Black(Anita)
Previous 2015 Scout Red (Geena)
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Brettg Junior Member 38 posts
Brettg
Fantastic write up Horrock. Look forward to the next instalment
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crash Founding Member 2,565 posts
crash
Awesome rightup.  Funny you know, I have the roadmaster and I found myself going 'yep', 'yep', 'yep'.  Wish I could put my thoughts into words like that.

Talking about experiences though, I have found that
1. after about 20k kms on the clock is when the seat starts to bunch up - apparently its the heating element and all do it - and no it's not a warranty claim.
2. the inside of the screen marks very easily (so don't mount a gopro or something on the dash - make sure that it is far enough away from the screen not to have it vibrate)
3. rear shocker loses its pressure after a short while and you will find that some part of the bike starts to hit on the road when turning some corners.
4. the brakes started to become very noisy after about 18k kms (replaced them with softer compound brake pads - the noise has gone but the brake dust is now a problem)
5. the rear belt starts to squeak at about 18k kms (could have been an adjustment thing)
6. your right, the speakers in the front are pretty lame (will take your advice and get "polk" - I have only heard good things about them)
7. the left and right covers that are just under the seat appear to be getting scratched from the constant rubbing of the seat wings.
8. locking petrol cap is a bit of a worry (or lack of - Zorros is trying to source one for me at the moment)
9. I am not so keen on the throttle surge when coasting up to the lights - I know, people say it's normal but that doesn't mean I have to like it.
10. Those glove boxes are next to useless although I have dumped camera's in there quickly whilst on the move so............ 
11. I am starting to see a bit of wear in the top box liner - it's starting to scuff up a bit.
Ulysses #30673
IMRG #AU100394
Current: RoadMaster (ebony and ivory)
Highett Victoria Australia
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V-Twin Founding Member 7,820 posts
V-Twin
Excellent write up Horrock! Can't wait to read your part 2.

It was brave of you to ride a brand new bike with brand new tyre in an unfamiliar city in wet! [thumb]

Sounds like you have been around the forum long enough to know Scout vs RM... how fortunate the launch delay got you a bike you love.

Mileage of only 5.9l/100kms... if that is strictly highway only mileage, unless you are riding two-up or head wind, it does sound bit high. It is possible that WA might be windy... not sure.

Bummer about your experience at Italian Motorcycles in SA. I bet you can't wait until Perth dealership open?

I was enjoy reading your review... then I read that you use sheep skin covers. What can I say? [biggrin]

Crash, did you read what Horrock said? He doesn't use his speakers in town because that's dorky!! [biggrin] (Oh! I'm going to cop it now! I shouldn't have poked the bear)
Melbourne, Victoria
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crash Founding Member 2,565 posts
crash
Ah, yes, dorky - that's me.

But guess what??  at least I will ride in the rain even if the speakers are on [biggrin]
Ulysses #30673
IMRG #AU100394
Current: RoadMaster (ebony and ivory)
Highett Victoria Australia
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V-Twin Founding Member 7,820 posts
V-Twin
crash wrote:
Ah, yes, dorky - that's me.

But guess what??  at least I will ride in the rain even if the speakers are on [biggrin]


...what happens to your pet?  ...sheep skin??   [eek]
Melbourne, Victoria
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crash Founding Member 2,565 posts
crash
V-Twin wrote:


...what happens to your pet?  ...sheep skin??   [eek]


hmmm, mature, very mature - reduced to mud slinging I see [smile] [biggrin]

Sorry horrock, on with the story - ignore the petty little squabbles.
Ulysses #30673
IMRG #AU100394
Current: RoadMaster (ebony and ivory)
Highett Victoria Australia
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V-Twin Founding Member 7,820 posts
V-Twin
Yes Horrock!  Please give us your part 2 so we can get back to the topic at hand.   [rofl]
Melbourne, Victoria
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Airhead Full Member 153 posts
Airhead
Good write up mate thanks
I like bluegrass, banjos and motorcycles.
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