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I figured I should make my own thread rather than crowd up the harley thread or "post what you've done to your bike" thread. About 5 weeks ago I sold my kawasaki vulcan 900 to my brother, I wanted something a bit peppier and he wanted something to learn how to ride on. To make up for it, I bought a 2017 Indian Scout Sixty.  Short review for anyone that is thinking about these bikes and didn't catch my posts in the other threads: quote:Starting off with the ergonomics. The stock hand grips suck and need to be replaced with something a bit softer. Feel more like plastic than rubber. Leg angle is about 120-ish degrees, and I have a 28 inch inseam. Cycle-Ergo is way off with the example on their site because the bike is so small, I do not have a hard time reaching the controls. My legs are not bent any more than they were on my vulcan 900- it's a cruiser with a sporty engine, if you come at it looking for just that you'll be fine. I'm used to the feet forward position so I'm comfortable with it. The stock seat could use some more padding. Physically it is a smaller bike, reminding me of a midsize cruiser. It's closer to my old suzuki marauder 800 than the kawasaki vulcan 900 it replaced. Granted, the vulcan was made to be close in size to a fullsize cruiser, but still. The scout is lightweight for a cruiser and easy to walk around a parking lot. It's 570 lb, which for most bikes is on the hefty side (100 lb heavier than the rebel 1100) but still lighter than my vulcan.
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Apr 11, 2021 22:20
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). This shouldn't be a concern for a while, but it's good to plan ahead.
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I've got a lot of plans for this bike, in the short term mostly cosmetic and comfort related. Plenty of time for Biggest thing I've done is switch out the exhaust from the stock chrome to the... stock matte black. I hate loud pipes and I couldn't find any aftermarket slip-ons that I liked. The stock ones are as loud as I care to go, honestly I'd prefer it if they were even quieter but I don't think that's an option. The important thing is now I don't have giant chrome logs on the side of the bike, they now match the rest of the bike and will play into future changes- the chrome doesn't match the look I'll be going for with this bike, and the black will be less distracting.  
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Apr 11, 2021 22:21
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You done good, it's a beautiful bike. Black exhausts indeed look better, as does the Sixty's black engine trim, rather than the regular Scout's chrome. What grips did you put on it? Were you tempted by heated grips? That is literally the number one mod for me, slapping some heated grips on. I've been using mine p much daily since November, and it's now April. How is the rear suspension on bumpy roads/potholes?
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Apr 11, 2021 23:01
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Steakandchips posted:You done good, it's a beautiful bike. I wanted heated grips, but couldn't justify it with how little I ride in the winter. I don't mind riding in the cold but it just rains all the time (used to be snow when I was a kid, but now North Carolina feels like Olympia Washington from December through February). I didn't want to spend the money but I went with kuryakyn spear grips, I got a set of iso-grips for my kawasaki as a christmas gift years ago and I liked them so I decided to stick with what I know, but they didn't have or make black iso grips in the size I need. These don't have the same rubber pads as the iso-grips but they seem comfortable enough, and stick to the Indian theme, in a slightly tacky but hopefully not too gaudy way since they're blacked out. They're a lot chunkier than the stock ones, that's for sure.  Pot holes suck, the rear isn't all that bad but it's unpleasant, same as it is on all bikes I suppose. Hasn't bounced or bucked me off the seat or gone any direction I didn't want it to go. The front is definitely a lot softer than I'd prefer, I'll have to address it one day.
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Apr 12, 2021 00:52
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Have you set the suspension up for your weight? Can make a world of difference. Great looking bike, and I'm not a cruiser fan generally
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Apr 12, 2021 19:56
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As Nero Danced posted:I wanted heated grips, but couldn't justify it with how little I ride in the winter. I don't mind riding in the cold but it just rains all the time (used to be snow when I was a kid, but now North Carolina feels like Olympia Washington from December through February). I didn't want to spend the money but I went with kuryakyn spear grips, I got a set of iso-grips for my kawasaki as a christmas gift years ago and I liked them so I decided to stick with what I know, but they didn't have or make black iso grips in the size I need. These don't have the same rubber pads as the iso-grips but they seem comfortable enough, and stick to the Indian theme, in a slightly tacky but hopefully not too gaudy way since they're blacked out. They're a lot chunkier than the stock ones, that's for sure. This got me into looking at how much Oxford Hot Grips (Oxford Heaterz as they are called in  ) cost in America. Oxford do really really good heated grips. They are the defacto standard here in the UK because they always work and are really quick to warm up and get lovely and warm, even (and especially) in the rain, and I've seen Scouts with them installed here too.So I checked Revzilla: ROFLMAO, starting prices for the Oxfords at $90! Some as much as $140! I got mine (still in the box, unused, the Harley is ride by wire) for free with a £40 subscription to MCN. They are regularly on sale for that price on sportsbikeshop as well. Keep us updated on the changes you make to the bike, but be sure to ride it a lot before making big decisions! 
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Apr 12, 2021 21:02
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Steakandchips posted:Keep us updated on the changes you make to the bike, but be sure to ride it a lot before making big decisions! Definitely, I have a couple ideas in mind that I will want some input on before I spend the money, just waiting on the testing stuff first. Also, ribbed for your pleasure 
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Apr 13, 2021 01:38
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I'm waiting on parts to ship, and it's going to take awhile before they get here (might be a month or more for at least two of them, so at least I have time to get the rest sorted out). In the meantime, I figured I would post the piddly little stuff here and keep things documented in case I start to change my mind again later, and to get some feedback. I think I've said it before in other threads, but I hate black vehicles. It's an alright color, I don't hate it, but it's impossible to keep clean, especially in my area- after 3 days the pollen looks like leopard print (actually, that sounds a lot better than it really is). So I'm going to plastidip this bike, same as I did my last one. I considered getting it painted by a pro, but I have the attention span of a gnat and I keep waffling on the color, and I can't find a vinyl wrap installer near me that isn't booked up till June (I tried doing it myself once, never again). Here are some of the color options I'm considering:  Left to right: 1- "aintree green metallic," a little bit bluer than I'd like but not bad- I'm going to try to gloss it and see if I like it more.  2a- Neon green over medium green base, and the left half has a green-gold pearl topcoat. Very pretty, but I'm not very happy with the pearl- works better over a darker base, the gold particles clump and looks a lot like dirt up close. It would look great on wheels, but not for the whole bike 2b- The right part is the neon green over a medium green base, I like it but it seems like it would suit a kawasaki more. A bit too loud for my tastes  3- Aintree green with the green gold pearl. Looks very gold in person, not bad but not something I was looking for.  4- same as #2, only neon green over a white base. Much brighter in person. You can see what I mean about the pearl looking like dirt. Maybe if I was using gallons and an air sprayer system instead of aerosols I would get a more consistent finish, but as it is, the green-gold pearl needs to be used over a dark base- it worked great over the aintree green, but not on the neon green.  I don't have a can on hand to test it, but I'm also considering OD green. It looked great on my last bike and truth be told I keep thinking of going back to it. 
As Nero Danced fucked around with this message at 18:15 on Apr 17, 2021 |
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Apr 17, 2021 18:07
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TBH I think the OD green would really set the rest of the scout off. There is little enough bodywork compared with your last bike that I think it would be a good balance and look. Especially now that you have flat black exhausts.
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Apr 17, 2021 19:32
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Coydog posted:TBH I think the OD green would really set the rest of the scout off. There is little enough bodywork compared with your last bike that I think it would be a good balance and look. Especially now that you have flat black exhausts. I won't lie this was the first scout I ever saw and I've been thinking about it for a while, part of me wanted to try something different but don't mess with what works:  Unless I find something else that jumps out at me in the next month, I'll probably stick with this. Now I need to find a tommy gun...
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Apr 17, 2021 21:05
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Good news, a custom fender finally came in. Bad news, it's the wrong size and I doubt it will fit. 250 bucks wasted. It's going to be a while before I post any content.
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May 5, 2021 14:41
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Finally have some content for this thread, and some forward momentum with the bike. I don't hate the stock front fender, it just doesn't match the style I want. Same with the black paint, come to think of it, it's just not my color. So, I bought this fender: Sadly I can't use it (hence the scuffs and scratches as I've been working around it for a few weeks). Not only is it a quarter inch narrower than I wanted (check your invoices folks), it's also frankly too large as well:  I was prepared to cut back a lot of the trailing edge, but frankly it was just never going to work anyways. The pinch along the top is too dramatic and it rubs the tire, and if I drilled the holes lower it would stand too high off the tire and look even goofier than it already does. Another option was the fender I had on my old kawasaki 900, which is what convinced me to go down this road:  This worked better, the pinch at the top is less pronounced so less chance of rubbing, but it still comes back a bit too close to the radiator, even with a custom radiator guard I found. Ultimately, this is just more work than I want to deal with right now- I just don't have the space, money or time to make something like this work. Then I realized, there was a compromise staring me right in the face, right there on my inspiration build: It finally came in the other day, and test fit was very promising. Only marginal fiddling to get the nuts in for the bolts, doesn't seem to rub, and no more fiberglass particles scratching my arms to hell when I try to mess around with it:  A little bit of plastidip later, and oh man, I am so much happier with this bike.   The more I look at this fender, the happier I am with it. It matches the classic style I wanted, and the bike doesn't look unbalanced without saddlebags. I still kind of want to try a big chief style fender one day, but not for a while. You can tell the path I'm taking this bike down now, next up will be saddlebags, just need to decide if I want to stick with black leather or switch to brown (I want to replace the stock seat anyways, so that would be a good time to change colors.
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May 22, 2021 21:49
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 That looks GOOD. In your earlier fender attempts, my eye kept going to the stock rear fender. I think that something that matches the shape and wheel coverage of that would work best. And then you found that perfect fender! This is wildly good looking. Nice balance throughout, and the OD coloring really sets off the black components. It looks factory.
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Jun 25, 2021 14:52
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Coydog posted:
Thanks! I'm still tempted to get a brown seat and saddlebags, the black is nice but it's just a bit too dark (I know, it's camoflage, it's not supposed to stand out, but the brown would compliment it really well and I'm not riding this off to battle anyways). I might give some ammo cans a try, but that's more of a ratbike touch and wouldn't really match this bike.
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Jul 2, 2021 23:16
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Instead of ammo cans, what about fuel cans? There's a company that makes lockable toolkits that look like the US military metal fuel cans from WWII up. You could mount them as removable hard panniers, only thing is they might look a little big. Amazon link. Captain McAllister fucked around with this message at 18:33 on Jul 8, 2021 |
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Jul 8, 2021 18:31
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Captain McAllister posted:Instead of ammo cans, what about fuel cans? There's a company that makes lockable toolkits that look like the US military metal fuel cans from WWII up. I'm going to have to think about this, I really like this idea.
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Jul 10, 2021 00:26
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As Nero Danced posted:I'm going to have to think about this, I really like this idea. I think they'd look awesome, and would fit with where you're trying to go with it. This guy put them on a modern BMW, but shortened them, and they don't look right. This page has them on an old-school BSA, but notes that the weight and vibration didn't work so well. Other Google results have people who've mounted them backwards at an angle, and on their backs with the long side down  .
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Jul 10, 2021 13:29
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Been about a month, time for another  I'm not the biggest fan of the fringe, I'm tempted to slice it off with a razor blade (saw someone do it on youtube and it looked pretty good), but that's something that has a lot of room for uncorrectable error- project for another day. Of course, these don't match the seats, so I'm working on replacing those as well.  Passenger seat will be replaced next payday, I might just get a solo rack instead but a brown passenger pad is cheaper and I can bungee anything I need down over it. The seat's leather is a bit warmer toned than the saddlebags, it's not as noticeable in real life. This is one reason I was tempted to stick with black leather, but that's so drab and the rest of the bike has drab down pat, I wanted something to pop out from it. We'll see how my nitpicky nature handles it. All in all, this looks phenomenal, aside from that drat bird poo poo the rain didn't wash off.  Time for a slightly embarrassing confession: I managed to find a toy version of my bike! It wasn't marketed as such, and now I have a ww2 Captain America taking up space on my bookshelf, but it's pretty close!  Hmm, I'm missing one thing.  I'm going to need to work on a fork scabbard.
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Aug 4, 2021 01:18
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