Indian Scout Sport Review - Classic Cruiser With A Modern Twist

Indian Motorcycles, sounds desi but is actually an iconic American motorcycle brand that made its India debut almost a decade back in our country. While it was off to a good start, it always remained in the shadows of Harley-Davidson and just like Harley, it also faded away from our market. It’s making a comeback with the entire 2025 Scout range of motorcycles, and what we are riding is the new Indian Scout Sport. Unlike the older Scout, the new bike is offered in various body styles and trims, so let’s find out if the Scout manages to impress or not. 

Design & Features

The new Scout has the basic silhouette of its predecessor, and that isn’t a bad thing. However, the Scout Sport is the most distinctive of all the variants and that’s down to its headlight cowl and large front wheel. The headlight cowl is big and has a dual-tone finish with a transparent visor. Personally, the cowl gives the bike a very 80s and early 90s vibe which I think is cool and it also makes the bike look bigger. Moving forward the iconic fuel tank shape is very pretty and in this blue shade of our media unit, even more so. 

The chopped fenders look cool, but on wet roads, I was drenched from the rear with the spray from the tarmac. The other noticeable design details are the alloy wheel design, which looks like the ones seen on custom bikes from early 2000s and the large exhaust muffler. 

Moving on to features, our trim featured the semi-digital instrument console  and the top-end trim gets a TFT unit. The small display gives you details like range, real time fuel efficiency, ride modes (Rain, Standard & Sport), TC settings and more. The Scout also gets cruise control which is useful while touring but the bike misses out on Navigation or Bluetooth connectivity in this trim. Switch gear quality feels solid and even the overall build quality looked premium, which it should be at this pricing.

Performance  

The new Scout range is available with two engine options - 999 cc and 1,250 cc, what we were riding was the former. The 999 cc, liquid-cooled, V-twin engine delivers 86 bhp and 88 Nm of torque and is paired to a 5-speed gearbox. The highlight for me is the heart of the Scout Sport. The V-twin offers you loads of torque, so riding in the city is effortless as you literally glide. But when you switch to sport mode and go hard on the throttle, the wave of torque turns into a tsunami, and you get to experience a proper hard acceleration. So if you wanna putter around town or do the long hours on the highway. This V-twin is up for the challenge and you can cruise at 120 kmph in relative ease. The only issue is the wind blast and the ergonomics, about which I will talk later. 

Even the gearbox offers slick shifts, but the clutch action is on the heavier side, so when you are riding in traffic, your left hand will get a good workout. What I really didn’t like is the fueling of the test bike. It felt jittery and the throttle response was also laggy and it felt detached from the bike. On certain instances, I would open the throttle and nothing would happen and suddenly all the power rushes through something like an old-school performance turbo engine. And as for kitna deti hai? We got around 15 kmpl, which isn’t bad for its displacement and performance on offer and with the 13 litre fuel tank, the range is also decent. 

Ride, Handling & Braking

With 76 mm of suspension travel at the rear, I was prepared for my back to get spondylosis post the ride and shoot. Surprisingly that wasn’t the case, ok, the scout didn’t glide over potholes and bad roads, but the ride quality wasn't as stiff as I was hoping it to be. Yes, on sharp bumps you do get tossed, but on most of the broken roads, the ride quality was firm but under control. And the low GC also means that on the small and tall speed bumps, the bottom did get grounded once. The riding posture is fine but I felt the handlebar was a bit too far and that affected the comfort aspect as my hands were stretched out. The seat height is very low at just 680 mm, to give you an idea, the Goan Classic 350 is at 750 mm. The Scout is heavy at 248 kg, but when compared to the new Classic 650, it’s just 5 kg heavier!

Despite its weight, the Indian Scout is easy to maneuver and taking U-turns or cutting through traffic doesn’t take much effort. The Sport variant gets larger wheels for added stability while cornering fast or cruising at highway speeds. What I didn’t appreciate at all on the Scout are its brakes. The stopping power is lacking due to very weak bite, there’s no feel through the lever for you to modulate braking. Given the performance on tap, the stopping power feels inadequate on the Scout Sport. 

Verdict

Prices for the 2025 Indian Scout range starts at ₹12.99 lakh, the variant we rode has been priced at ₹13.28 lakh (all prices mentioned are ex-showroom). Now coming back to the motorcycle, the Indian Scout is impressive for what it offers. The engine remains the most impressive aspect for me despite the fuelling issues on our media unit. Even with respect to visual appeal, the Scout Sport scores heavily as it gathers lots of attention. 

So if you wanted an American cruiser, but didn't want a typical Harley-Davidson, yes, the new Indian Scout is a good alternative. But that also leads me to question the relevance of a big cruiser in the current market. As you can see, a lot of big bike owners have shifted to naked bikes and adventure tourers which has shrunk the cruiser bike segment. So whether or not a cruiser still makes sense is up for debate. But for what it offers, the Indian Scout is unique and likable.