First Day With the Indian Motorcycle Vintage Dark Horse

Good morning, welcome back to the channel. It's classic spring for this year in the UK, either pouring rain or freezing cold, so today it's pouring rain and I'm about 20 minutes away from getting the biggest engined motorcycle I will ever have ridden, and that is the Indian Motorcycle Vintage Dark Horse. I always get that name wrong but it's the Vintage Dark Horse, probably the most look-at-me motorcycle I will ever have ridden. But before that, it's such a massive bike I will have no room in my lockup for my Bonneville, so my Bonneville will have to be parked outside probably for two weeks. So I've been lucky enough to get one of Amazon's best selling motorcycle covers from a company called XYZC10. I like the look of these, they've got extremely good Amazon ratings and they've also got a lock hole design, meaning, see if you can see this in the video, meaning that, which one is it, I think it's that one there, meaning that you can put your lock underneath the bike and loop it through the bottom of the bike lock. It's also got two straps on the bottom as well as a carry case. It's extremely good value, about $30 or £20, £25 or something, lots of different sizes, plus until the 30th of May, that's only 10 days until the 30th of May, there's a discount code that I've got that I'm very happy to share for 30% discount, so you can get this for about $18, $20, £18, something like that, so I'll include the link to the website and a discount code for you all to enjoy, but I'll put that on the Bonneville and show you how it looks. I've been so excited for this day, I just hope that we get a little gap in the rain, but whatever happens, I'm taking you along with me to enjoy the Indian motorcycle. I always feel like I'm cheating on the bonnie when a new bike comes, beautiful shiny new bike comes, Bonneville just gets dumped into a corner somewhere, but this is it, it comes in that bag and I'll show you how it fits and how it looks on. I'm very happy with that, it comes with three straps tying it underneath like that, so three of those straps and it comes with, on the front and back wheel, one of these on either side, so you just put your lock through there and you lock each wheel front and back and it keeps the cover on, so that's a really good lock and if you're in the market or on the market for a cover, use the 30% discount code before the 30th of May. Any minute now though, any minute, Bonneville's locked up, I'm going to get a call that the vintage dark horse is here, so I'll run back upstairs just in case he rings on the bell. Here we go, just had a call that the bike's outside, I love new bike days. Wow! Remortgage the house, sell everything I own, I want this bike, I've never been on anything that makes me feel so special, this bike getting pushed off from the van, I've never seen anything like it, small crowds forming, they couldn't believe it, nothing's ever generated this amount of interest, not even remotely close as this vintage dark horse has, so the weather's cleared up, I'm going to go for a coffee, just a little bit into London, it's a single seat, so Monica's going to have to drive and I'll meet her there, but I'll give you my first impressions after a little ride, but really my first impressions, it's the most special bike I've ever been lucky enough to ride. Just arrived at the coffee, I have to show you before we sit up here with a view of the Thames, 2021 Indian motorcycle, vintage dark horse, 21,400 pounds, 1890cc engine and it's the most special bike I think I've ever ridden, just doing this short ride, it's riding, in my eyes, riding heaven, it's just such a beautiful place and ergonomically, so I'm six foot one, super low seat height, perfect position on the handlebars, I've got this bike for two weeks and I'm going to be riding it every single day, open face helmets, sun in my face, I cannot tell you how nice this bike feels to ride and just before I go up for a coffee, I think to the best of my knowledge, this is a Euro 5 bike and if it is, this is by a huge distance, the best sounding Euro 5 that I've tried, okay here we go, sounds absolutely brilliant riding along, not that it's remotely important for a bike like this but I was amazed at how quick this is, this has got some proper pull but anyway, let's go upstairs for a coffee and just soak it in. What a day for it, 15 minutes after the vintage dark horse arrived, blue sky just came and now it is perfect open face cruiser weather, this is a great spot, we're in south east London, right on the river Thames and if you can see that ship just there, you'd never guess it from an old abandoned looking ship just on the edge of south east London but that's got an incredibly interesting history so I'll walk you over there and tell you a bit about it in a second but after we've had a sandwich and a coffee, I'll walk you around the dark horse because there are so many design features on that bike, it's just kind of a sensory overload, the sound, the looks, the size of it, it's 355 kilos, it doesn't feel like it with the low weight but there's so much to show so I'll do a walk around, first I need to buy a tweet, oh sorry, I was just having a quick look at a few ways I could refinance my my properties because that's what this bike does to you, like a bike can provide so much joy and happiness, it's pure elation, I don't know if a house or a flat or a property brings that much joy so I'm just having a look at a few options because if I could have that feeling every day of my life owning that bike, cruising around like that then it's worth selling everything, no, no way, well we're going to disagree with Mark, there are going to be some arguments, I see why there are divorces actually with bikes like this, they make you want to sell everything you own, they're that special, sometimes a bike or a vehicle is so out of this world special every time you get on it or look at it, you would consider doing crazy things, it's a really, really dangerous bike, it's something like this, I've calmed down a bit, I've got a few ideas about roughly what my flat's worth so now I'll show you my gear for the day, I mean this is fitting, Daytona helmet, USA helmet company, open face, super slim profile, DOT approved, so it's the American approved version, see this with me wearing it a lot, this is the Frank Thomas, I think they call it the highway jacket, I'll put the exact name in the video but I've had it 10 years, it's a fairly budget jacket about 180 pounds which is good value for a leather jacket and it just gets better with age and these, first time I've worn them on the videos, Lithuanian company called Pando Moto, these are the boss black nines, really nice quality jeans along with Fury Gun black boots, I wondered where these were and Indian motorcycle gloves, I'll be honest I've got no idea what they're called and I couldn't find them online but they're nice and stealth, so let me show you what I see, so it's very very minimal, you don't really have, well you don't have any extra buttons at all, horn, lights, indicator, cruise control and this is all you get for the gauge, super minimal, no more than what you need at all, you've got fuel gauge there, neutral, mileage, time and then just this beautifully simple speedo, nothing else at all and for a bike like this you don't want any more, you don't need any more at all, I think they've got this absolutely spot on and for a riding position for all-day comfort, 5000 mile tours of Europe, USA, Americas, anything, it's a stunningly nice place to be and look at that seat, that's sofa levels of comfort in that seat, I'm going to jump off and I'll show you all of the little design features of this bike because it's an overload, something I probably can't do self-filming is just to show you the panniers, so they've got these buckles but underneath you've got these clips making it a lot easier, Harley do this as well and I prefer it, it's just much nicer to open it up, so they're the panniers either side and now I'll take over and show you around it, front to back, so I'm sure you will have seen when I was riding and Monica captured me, this, this actually illuminates, so that actually acts as a front light, it's a face, I haven't actually ridden an Indian motorcycle that before, that's so cool, so that's on the front and this such a unique front mudguard with the word vintage there, covers about 60 percent of the bike, that is classic Indian motorcycle with this front headlamp, beautifully positioned bars and look at that, that's actually quite a wide profile of a bike with those bars like that, coming around to the side, engine established 1901 Indian motorcycle, panniers, I mean just brilliant looking retro panniers with those clips and that, I love that and the exhaust, probably the best sounding Euro 5 exhaust that I've seen actually, no need to change that at all, coming around to the back and the rear fenders, just like the front, in that it covers about 60 percent, in fact see if I can get low, 60 percent of the rear wheel and that is the width of the rear wheel, the seat, that's as I said before, sofa levels of comfort, it's such a perfect, well a perfect seat, brilliant padding and also ergonomically the position that you sit at in relation to the bars, couldn't be more comfortable and look at this here, it's just this quality throughout here and I love these boards, they just make it really comfortable for all day cruising but the quality throughout, this is a really expensive bike but you can see the difference in quality actually, Monica did ask me, is this bike worth the eight thousand premium over the Scout Bobber? Yes, you can see where the money's been spent, it's completely obvious I'm a huge fan of the Scout Bobber and it's one of my favourite bikes I've ever ridden, I would love to own one but you can see so clearly where the extra money's been spent on this bike, both looks and also the power of that engine in every gear, it's a stunner! Okay, here we go, the wind may get a bit bad so apologies for that but I'm going to go up and show you this ship because it's only about a month ago I found it rotting away on the Thames and I thought that must have a history to it, ended up googling it, it's the Iris Liverpool and it's hosted the Beatles and the Queen, so let me show you and here it is just rotting away, it's almost sad to see really because it's had such an interesting history, the Beatles performed on it in the 1960s, it hosted the Queen I think in the 70s, it's caught fire, it's hit another ship in the year, if I remember correctly in the year 2000 it was meant to be turned into a nightclub in Liverpool I think, that never happened, it was then towed down to London I think in the year 2000 where it was meant to be turned into a nightclub here in Charlton, South East London, that never happened and for the past 20 years it's been left to rot and this is what's left, sad to see but what an incredible history and there you go some of South East London's finest history right here on the Thames, just to give you some perspective that is Canary Wharf there and I'm looking to the north of the Thames just across here, have a good one and that's the end of my day one with the vintage dark horse, I'll be completely honest I've completely forgotten what we've actually filmed so apologies if I double up but I've been so over excited about this bike that Monica almost has said that she's not filming me anymore doing this, I've been like a petulant three-year-old who's just opened their Christmas presents and doesn't want to go down for Christmas lunch, I can't get off it and that's what these bikes do the Americans, the USA does this better than anyone, I said it about the Scouts Baba before and I mean it even more so about this, that sense of theatre, if you buy a big cruiser you cannot justify spending this amount of money on a motorbike, it purely has to be a passionate purchase and if it's going to be that expensive it has to be something that makes you feel so mind-blowingly incredible every second you get on it and honestly I just cannot stop smiling it's worth, I dream about selling my flat and riding around the world on this bike, it is that out of this world special and it's that feeling, how important is the feeling, a feeling that amazing, how valuable is that feeling of just sitting on the bike and and cruising in the sun with that, it's just indescribable, I cannot describe how amazing it is so I cannot justify this bike at 21,000 but how do you justify the unbelievable feeling that it gives you and you only live once, you can't justify this type of happiness so I'm sold, I honestly think hand on heart this is the most incredible bike I've ever ridden, I said it about the Harley Softtail Deluxe that that bike nothing's ever made me feel that amazing and I think something has just taken its spot, this is just a just an out of this world bike, well that's it I'll end it there before I carry on talking complete nonsense, I'm that over excited, thank you so much for watching the video please do subscribe to the channel, give the video a like, comment and let me know is this bike as amazing as I think it is, I want to know your thoughts on it and hopefully in the next video I'll be able to give you a bit more of an informed kind of review instead of me just desperately gushing about that bike because I'll have done a few more hundred miles on it and I'll let you know my thoughts hopefully in a few days time but I'll see you soon, thank you for watching, have a brilliant day!