Should I Upgrade from the Indian Scout to the Chief?

[@robertmatetich2898]

It's not a question of upgrading, but of changing riding styles. If you're happy with your Scout and the advantages it offers in compactness, weight, maneuverability, and cost, why change? The Chief may be more of everything, but do you want that? On the other hand, have you found a pillion rider? Do you need greater range? Want more comfort? Can afford it? Like the man said, "It depends."

[@chrisjones8743]

The Street Bob’s kickstand is exactly the same. I like it a lot. The Chief is amazing. I have a 2022. Got Dean Speed sissy bar, crash bar and Rampage Exhaust and a Born Scum Saddlemen seat all on the way. Pumped!

[@chrisjones8743]

I’ve had both, but the Chief is just better. It’s not close. The torque is everything. You don’t need 100 HP. You need torque. Cruise control is cool too.

[@aaronpettigrew9674]

I didn't know about the lack of a fuel guage, but if you don’t need the size, bags, or touring amenities, I actually believe the scout is actually a better bike. I think I'd go with the full scout over the 60 and especially the new rogue model.

[@3macadoo858]

My first bike was a '16 Indian Scout (1200cc). It was an excellent starter bike for me. I put Vance and Hines Slash Cut pipes on it and kitted it out with bags and a larger passenger seat and sissy bar. I bought an '18 Chieftain Classic the year it was released. It rides differently the Scout but I wanted a longer distance bag with more features. That said, I missed the nimbleness of the Scout. I just bought a '22 Chief because I wanted a second bike. I looked at the Scout series and considered getting a Scout for a second bike, but the Chief won-out. Longer range, better engine upgrades, cruise control standard, the ability to get heated grips, rear cylinder deactivation, ride modes, etc. For me, it's a better fit than the Scout. But, that said, ride your ride. Find what fits and compliments you. The Scout is an awesome bike, but, between the two, the Chief was a much better selection for me. A new Scout runs around $13k minus the list of features above; the Chief I bought was $15.7k with everything listed above. Totally worth the extra bit of coin.

[@tularosamoto]

The Chief is quite a bike. Glad you're enjoying yours.

[@jasonadams1875]

Cool- thanks for the comparison- I tested a chief 111 and ended up happier with the scout 60 rogue, lighter bike for sure. I went ahead with the tune and air filter upgrades and it moves plenty quick- sometimes wish I had a little more speed for the highway but that’s on me- I tend to baby it into a more restrained rev so 70 mph feels pretty good cruising See you around SD if you hit the 78 twisties-

[@davefaust7317]

Just the kind of info I needed! Scout it is. Thanks!

[@tularosamoto]

Glad to help!

[@jeremiahbond2810]

Love my scout. I only wish I had a bigger tank. But otherwise the scout looks much better IMO. But the features of the Chief are so much better. But I love my scout.

[@derick4252]

Im a shorter stockier guy at 5 foot 5 and 195lbs and the scout fits me perfectly but am considering the chief as a upgrade

[@hootertexas9711]

Great comparison vid. I had to keep reminding myself you’re comparing it to a sixty. You can buy two scout sixties for the price of that chief

[@tularosamoto]

The 60 with a Stage One upgrade puts out a little more power than a Stock Scout 69 so the comparison is fairly close between the two. Of course, if you do a Stage One to a Scout 69, there's even less of a difference between the Scout and the Chief. The Chief is always going to have more pull but the question is whether you need it and the rest of the upgrades worth it.

[@ghoulwiz]

Great comparison, thanks! Even though I seriously miss cruise control on the Scout, I'd have to agree with you that upgrading to the Chief is probably not worth it. Specially if you have a 2021+ Scout, which comes with far better rear shocks. Also, one question, what's the 2-in-1 exhaust you got on that Scout?

[@tularosamoto]

It's a Bassani 2/1 with long megaphone. Nice deep roar. Not too loud but plenty for me. The longer pipe makes for more torque down in lower RPMs. Shorter pipes produce more power up in the 6,000 to 8,000 range - but the Scout can't really use it up there. Short pipes may look good and sound loud, but they produce less usable power.

[@chrisjones8743]

Also I got my 2022 Chief for $14,500. Just about the same as a Scout.

[@midasrepublic6943]

the full blown scout definitely has more hp than the chief

[@maxrash3123]

If they would make a chief water cooled I would buy one

[@tularosamoto]

I’ve got to say I was a bit disappointed by Indian’s choice of an engine. They decided they had to compete with Harley so they played Harley’s game by putting in a long stroke V Twin. Harley is losing Harley’s game so I don’t see the point of Indian jumping in there too. It’s such a me too move. I’d have preferred some version of the Scout/Challenger engine in the Chief. They really could have made that bike something special. I guess we’ll just have to wait.

[@DrDiff952]

The top of the line Chief is the Super Chief Limited

[@kenkarpuk8288]

I disagree, I swapped my ‘21 Scout Bobber for the ‘22 Chief Bobber Dark Horse. The Chief is everything I wanted to change on the Scout. If budget isn’t a consideration the Chief wins hands down. Power, range and upgrades make this a no brainer. Buy the Chief and bite the price bullet out the gate or pay for the upgrades to a Scout and still have to get gas every couple of hours without ride modes a decent seat other little things that the Chief has. All in all you get what you are willing to pay for..

[@tularosamoto]

“If budget isn’t a consideration…” Yes if budget isn’t a consideration, the decision to upgrade would be easy. Here at Tularosa, we’d upgrade past the Chief right on up to a $50,000 Panigale V4 R that puts out 240 hp and redlines at over 16,000 rpm. (We can all dream. 😉) However, for most of us budget is a big consideration - so that’s not something we can just sweep under the rug. Glad to hear you like your Chief. Nice bike for sure. 👍🏼

[@HoboHiney]

Naa, The Scout is just too Fun to Ride!

[@tularosamoto]

No argument here!

[@tylerlajko7025]

I upgraded myself. The Scout is great, just too small and uncomfortable. I wouldn’t say it is any more nimble than the Chief. The Chief fits me better being 6’1

[@tularosamoto]

I can see that the Chief would fit better if you're big and tall. It's definitely got more heft. The Chief does way over 100 lbs more though and that's going to affect handling. No getting around that. I could feel it immediately. Either way though, it's a great bike. Hope you enjoy yours!

[@BlackbirdSSR]

I too, upgraded from a 2018 Scout Bobber to a 2022 Chief Dark Horse. I love both bikes but the Chief fits me better at 6'2". And personally I feel the Chief is more nimble with that 19" front wheel. It just falls into corners so easily.

[@TheCrispinho]

Hello! Can you list all your upgrades for your Scout, please? Thank you

[@tularosamoto]

Sounds like a good video idea. 👍🏼

[@flattenthecurve8623]

You should try cornering with a boss hoss. Haha, I go for it but I never win in the turns. Straight ahead, I win every time.

[@johnflack1350]

Enjoyed the comparison... very helpful. Aside from that, can you please tell me what gloves you're wearing?

[@tularosamoto]

Indie Ridge off Amazon. They've held up well and look good. www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07Q597DYY/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[@yoshit9819]

Very well done. Subbed.

[@HHowardHH]

nice, thank you very much

[@SK-kt2ch]

Nicely done … but which one would be best for the track ;-). Just kidding!

[@tularosamoto]

Between the Indian Scout and Chief, I'd pick the Yamaha R6. ;-)

[@HHowardHH]

@@tularosamoto haha

[@DeltaElite121]

The chief actually makes much less power than the Scout. The only thing it makes more of is torque. Having owned a scout bobber and ridden both bikes, they're both good for different purposes. Don't buy a chief if you want power because that's definitely not what you're buying, lol. Go get a liter bike if you really want to experience that. The chief is great at what it does: spirited cruising.

[@tularosamoto]

They’re both fun bikes. To be clear, the Chief makes less horsepower than the Scout. The Chief’s power comes from torque - and it’s got a ton of that. Torque is what will accelerate the bike from a stop or slow speed - so the Chief will definitely take the Scout off the line. Once you get to higher speeds that’s where horsepower takes over - and the Scout then can get back in the race. I never got to push the Chief’s top end speeds so I can’t really comment how the two bikes would do head to head. I do agree though, if you want speed, a sport bike is the way to go.

[@name2see]

The Chief will lose a drag race everytime, off the line and during a rolling start, tried and tested repeatedly. kzbin.info/www/bejne/gaqzqKWsh6yZn8k

[@tularosamoto]

@@name2see Interesting... but that test wasn't very scientific. I think that was more a test of rider skill than bike. The Chief has way more off the line power than the Scout. That thing just pulled so hard. The Chief rider probably couldn't handle the power so he backed off. On the top end, the Scout does have more horsepower so it will pull ahead once the Chief taps out on the torque curve.

[@josephmartinez8803]

Air cooled equals more torque...Liquid cooled means more horsepower.

[@CactusJack252]

what exhaust is on your scout?

[@tularosamoto]

I’ve got the Bassani 2/1 with long megaphone muffler. It’s got a deep roar without being too loud.

[@CactusJack252]

@@tularosamoto awesome! It sounds good and looks fantastic!

[@jamesskeen3392]

IM GONNA SHOP PURSUIT DARK HORSE! 🤔🤷‍♂️

[@bobbertwentytank9267]

It's a bobber twenty on your thumbnail

[@tularosamoto]

Nice catch. Same basic bike though.

[@mamjack6134]

170% more torque ??

[@WarPaintCustom]

Are you comparing to the scout or the scout 60? There is a difference. Either way the chief doesn't have enough to upgrade from a scout to a chief. For a few grand more the Springfield would be a better option

[@tularosamoto]

My bike is the the Scout 60 - but with new intake, tune and exhaust, it's putting out about the same power as a reguar Scout with no Stage 1. So the comparison is roughly the same. Either way, it wouldn't be worth it for me to upgrade.

[@Rltw_556]

The bobber 20 is faster than the chief

[@martinsteinetz1397]

The chief does not have more power….it has more torque.

[@tularosamoto]

Thanks for your response. I think you’re confusing power with horsepower. Torque is a measure of twisting power so yes the Chief has more acceleration power. You may be correct to say that it doesn’t have more horsepower however. (Haven’t checked the specs lately so I don’t know if that’s the case.) Horsepower is the result of torque applied over time. I need to make another video on the difference between torque and horsepower since people often don’t understand the difference between the two.

[@mikebarthen1270]

Your comparing the scout 60 to the chief. Not the scout bobber which has more Hp

[@gabrielcruz2463]

Well you are comparing it to a scout 60. Not the right comparison. The scout bobber with the bigger engine with 100hp and over 100lbs lighter, will eat the Chief up

[@markkulyas2418]

Background music, inaudible.

[@Huh-jx8kd]

How tall are you?

[@tularosamoto]

I'm 5'10"

[@Brentminhinnick]

Iv got the 2021 chieftain darkhorse 116. It's fast but the sout is faster. Scout 60 is heaps slower

[@tularosamoto]

The Scout 60 with 2/1 exhaust, performance intake and revised fuel map will put out more power than a stock Scout 69. The two are actually fairly close once you get rid of the Indian ECU tune that limits the 60's power. Indian purposefully limited the 60's power so that it wouldn't compete with the 69. A new tune though brings the power back.

[@juliojames5986]

Hope you stop, get off and show us the bike, some visual …..details……waiting. Bah

[@tularosamoto]

Sorry! I figured that's there's plenty of photos and videos out there for you to check out. I try to keep my videos short and to the point.

[@Rhetorical346]

Definitely a much faster bike? You're 100% wrong. The scout is faster in every metric. Side by side the scout is way faster at any speed. I wish the Chief had the speed you imagine it had, I would have bought one by now. You're comparing a 12 second bike against a 14 second bike. You got blinded by "muh torques" and didn't actually measure anything or bother to look up performance metrics.

[@tularosamoto]

Well there’s two metrics that say the Chief is a faster bike: First off, the Chief has 120 ft lbs of torque. The Scout has 80 ft lbs of torque. My race ready Yamaha R6 has less than 50 ft lbs so basically the Chief has an entire sport bike more torque than the Scout. That’s a crazy amount of torque! More torque = faster acceleration. The other metric is my seat of the pants dynamometer. The Chief is so much quicker to accelerate than the Scout. You can just feel it when you twist the throttle. Your head snaps back and the bike wants to rip the bars from your hands. The Scout doesn’t come close. The Scout might have marginally more horsepower - so over a long enough distance, it will pull ahead. But for most riding, the Chief is quicker bike.

[@flattenthecurve8623]

170% more torque than the scout?