Indian Chieftain PowerPlus Dark Horse (2025 - ) review

US style ‘baggers’ are a simple concept, and the latest Chieftain is about as pure an execution of it as it gets. Harley started the trend with its 2006 Street Glide, chopping the screen and top box off the Electra Glide full-dress tourer for an arch blend of cruiser looks and practicality. It was such a success it spawned a whole family, including the Road Glide with its frame-mounted fairing, inspiring rivals like the Chieftain and a US scene of its own with dedicated shows, magazines and more. This latest Chieftain is for the most part brilliantly executed. There are enhanced looks under the Dark Horse branding, uprated performance through the replacement of the old air-cooled ThunderStroke engine with the liquid-cooled PowerPlus and the result is probably the best-looking and most potent Chieftain yet, and an even more appealing option than the Challenger with its frame-mounted fairing. Were it not for a slightly annoying dash layout – and the price – it would be a straight five out of five here!

Given it’s half-cruiser/half-tourer you’d expect the Chieftain to be upright and comfortable – and it is. It’s also a big and heavy slab of motorcycling real estate, with a long wheelbase and hefty wet weight of 382kg. Thankfully, being fairly low-slung with a 672mm seat height means it’s easy to climb on to, the bars are fairly flat and roomy, feet place easily onto large footboards and the fairing, complete with cut down screen, does a pretty good job. It’s not perfect – although the rider’s seat is fairly plush the pillion’s is fairly minimal and it’s also ridiculously heavy and awkward to manoeuvre about. But, on the whole, it’s a decent compromise covering most of the riding owners will do.

Baggers owe their popularity back home to their practicality and, in context, there’s little to complain about. Over here, though, they are so tuned to American tastes as to feel a little OTT in both style and manners for those not inclined to wearing a stars and stripes bandana under their lid. Yes, the Chieftain can cruise down motorways (although there are plenty of bikes that do it better), take a pillion (ditto) and even carry reasonable amounts of luggage. It’s also got a built-in stereo and sat-nav, so if that level of comfort and capacity is what you want, you won’t be disappointed. But it’s too big to carve traffic, too precious to be ridden all year round and is obviously no sportster or off-roader. On the plus side it is a tremendous pose, brings a smile to your face, draws a crowd and delivers as a weekend two-up cruiser like few others.

Here’s the first significant upgrade over the old Chieftain. When originally launched in 2014 after Indian’s buy-out by Polaris the Chieftain was powered by the 1,811cc air-cooled ThunderStroke V-twin. Although it compared favourably to Harley’s equivalents it’s been showing its age, especially with regard to the latest emissions rules. Indian’s all-new, 1,769cc liquid-cooled PowerPlus V-twin launched in 2022 and is steadily rolling out across the range. For 2025 the Chieftain’s turn has come with a further enhanced version and the result has noticeably more punch, a crisper response and a sheer vivacity that simply wasn’t evident before. There are also three riding modes and the overall feel is of a true, hot rod-style power cruiser. Braking is similarly impressive. Twin discs and superbike-style Brembo radial calipers take care of things at the front and, considering the Chieftain’s length and weight, they do a decent enough job, with the electronically linked assistance of a single rear disc and ABS.

Baggers aren’t supposed to be about sports handling, but they are meant to be chopped down and lighter, more manageable and more fun than full-dress tourers. The new Chieftain PowerPlus carries over the die-cast aluminium frame of the old and carries impressively high spec suspension in the form of beefy 43mm inverted forks and rear monoshock, its preload adjustment the only thing you can fiddle with. The result is a low-slung, ultra stable gait with just the right balance of control and comfort. Swinging into bends isn’t as big a wrench as its length and weight suggests, grip from the Metzeler CruiseTec tyres also impresses and the only thing really holding it back is ground clearance.

With a price nudging on 30 grand the Chieftain PowerPlus Dark Horse is as expensive as it is big and heavy. Meaning purchase price is only the start of the expenditure, given the inevitable appetite for fuel, tyres, brake pads and other consumable components. That said, residuals aren’t too bad, it’s not really a performance machine so is less likely to be ridden hard and, during our test, it also returned a fairly reasonable 42mpg after being ridden fairly hard.

Indians generally have a pretty good track record for reliability, their quality is goodand we’ve heard of few reliability issues on any of its models. That said, this new Chieftain is using a newer, further enhanced engine so we can’t be entirely sure. On top of that, the TFT dash is fairly basic compared to the lavish Harley equivalents, there are few electronics or fancy features to get worried about and, considering its style and price, most are likely to be used gently and fastidiously maintained. Overall, we have very few reliability concerns.

The manufacturer backed warranty is for two years/unlimited mileage as standard from first registration, though Indian has offered extensions in the past so it’s worth keeping an eye out for these promotions. Servicing is fairly typical, too, being recommended at 500 miles for first oil and filter ‘break in’ service then annually or every 5,000 miles (whichever comes sooner) thereafter.

Like other baggers, the new Indian Chieftain PowerPlus Dark Horse is sort of half-way between a naked cruiser and a full-dress tourer, so you’d expect its equipment levels to tally with that. So, there’s a handlebar-mounted fairing and cut-down screen, though this is at least power adjustable. You also get two hard-case panniers (but no top-box) while useful tech like hill-hold and rear cylinder deactivation help take the effort and heat out of low-speed riding. On top of that there are three riding modes, electronically linked brakes and a dash combining analogue, LCD and TFT displays. This latter item is a little bit of a disappointment – at least in comparison to the latest 13-inch TFT on the equivalent Harley Street Glide. Yes, there’s sat-nav, Bluetooth, infotainment and all you actually need, but it’s not particularly well-designed, modern or integrated and nor is it convincing or satisfying to use. In isolation, however, you’re likely to have few complaints.

If you fancy a US-style bagger Harley-Davidson still leads the way with its latest Street Glide, Road Glide, CVO and most recent Street Glide Ultra Indian has plenty to offer, though. The previous air-cooled Chieftain remains on sale while stocks last and there’s the Road Glide rivalling Challenger but this Chieftain PowerPlus is probably best of all. It has the look, more performance than ever and simply gives you the purest bagger experience you can buy.