Indian Motorcycle commemorates its 125 years with Indian Chief Vintage
Indian Chief Vintage shares its innards with the Chief Dark Horse, but dives deeper into the retro aesthetic with flared fenders, solo seat and handlebars
Indian Motorcycle introduces Chief Vintage, taking inspiration from the '40s Chief
The latest Indian Chief Vintage celebrates 125 years of Indian Motorcycle, in an attempt to make a callback to the ’40s cool and classic American aesthetic of the original Indian Chief motorcycle. It pays an homage to the illustrious heritage of the brand and is an attempt to keep the fiery passion aflame from the gilded-age of two-wheeled motoring. The Chief Vintage shares its mechanical underpinnings with its stablemate, the Indian Chief Dark Horse, but sports a neo-vintage body style with notable elements like a flared front and rear fenders with an illuminated Indian ‘Headdress’ ornament on the front. Here’s more.
2026 Indian Chief Vintage design and features
The looks of the Chief Vintage motorcycle hark back to the 1940s, referencing styling elements from the original Chief. Its most striking retro elements are the valanced or flared front and rear fenders which cover a quarter of the 16-inch wire-spoke wheels, and the illuminated Indian ‘Headdress’ ornament on the front fender. Additionally, there’s a vintage-inspired floating solo saddle or seat as standard, but customers can option a matching pillion seat with a backrest. It also has some snazzy looking handlebars which are a clear nod to its ancestor’s twisted aesthetic. The rear sub-frame is now sleeker against the Dark Horse’s broader shape, and this motorcycle is available in two colours — Indian Motorcycle Red and Black Metallic.
Moving onto the feature set on offer, it gets a familiar 4-inch circular-shaped IPS touchscreen cluster. This cluster screen is now powered by the latest Ride Command software, which Indian Motorcycle claims is 25 per cent faster loading times. It packs basic quality-of-life functions like navigation and smartphone integration via Bluetooth.
The familiar 4-inch IPS touchscreen is now powered by the latest Ride Command software which is 25 per cent faster
2026 Indian Chief Vintage engine and chassis
Similar to the Chief Dark Horse, the Chief Vintage packs the 1890cc, air-cooled V-Twin, ‘Thunderstroke 116’ engine, which delivers a max torque of 156Nm at 3300rpm and has a six-speed gearbox. It gets three riding modes — Tour, Standard and Sport. Suspension duties are carried out by a front telescopic fork with 132mm of travel, while the rear gets a dual-shock setup with 75mm of travel. As for the brakes, there are 298mm discs at both ends, but the front gets a 4-piston calliper and the rear gets a 2-piston calliper. It gets ABS as well. This motorcycle’s seat height is set at 686mm, with an overall ground clearance of 125mm. It has a kerb weight of 327kg and packs a 15.1-litre fuel tank.
This motorcycle is one amicable amalgamation of retro-inspired design hits really hard and the level of performance it offers doesn’t disappoint either. If launched in India, it would go up against other contemporary old-timey motorcycles such as the Harley-Davidson Heritage Classic, priced at ₹25.71 lakh and BMW R 12, priced at ₹21.75 lakh (all prices are ex-showroom).
