Indian Unveils Street-Legal FTR1200 Custom Race-Ready Flat-Tracker With A Plate

Indian Motorcycle has just unveiled a street-legal "custom," combining its winning chrome-moly flat-track chassis with the 100-plus-horsepower 1,133cc Scout motor. It's the bike many of us have been begging Indian for, and now—while we have no word of any production model coming down the pike—the Minnesota manufacturer has just given us hope that we might someday see this beast become a reality.

With the successes of Indian's Wrecking Crew on the FTR750 in the 2017 American Flat Track Series, Indian wants to celebrate its history of performance and—here's the exciting part—"point to a bold future driven by innovation and success." Just a tease that this might be more of a concept than a custom.

Breaking out of the cruiser and bagger market with a full-blown, street-legal flat-track racer would be an incredible move for Indian, and for flat-track racing as a whole. Imagine being able to buy a bike like this that’s basically track ready—it could spawn a new era of local and club flat tracking! My excitement is showing, but with the growing popularity of the sport paired with the proven performance of both the FTR chassis and the Scout motor it’s using, I see a winning combination.

Weighing in at 427 pounds, the FTR1200 is 101 pounds lighter than a production 2018 Scout—that’s some serious trimmed fat. However, some of the custom components like the S&S pipes, RSD wheels, and two-piece carbon-fiber body would likely be left on the cutting room floor due to cost and emissions were this beast to go to production. Other components like Öhlins suspension, Brembo brakes, and Lyndall rotors go the extra mile to show that this isn’t just a pretty bike in a racy package; this custom has been built with real performance in mind and doesn’t stray too far from its race-bred brethren.

While we have all 10 fingers crossed hoping to see more evolve from this bike, right now Indian is sticking to its guns that “it’s just a custom.” If it is a concept, we’re just praying it will be as close to this as possible because this bike looks like it absolutely rips—and we can’t wait to find out.

Don’t forget to check out the rest of our coverage of all the new motorcycles released at EICMA this year!