Indian FTR 1200S

INDIAN’S flat-track-inspired FTR1200 has been the most eagerly anticipated motorcycle since the time of Christ – which is unapologetic hyperbole, but it’s kinda true.

Here was an entirely new type of bike from a factory that made its very recent bones building traditional cruisers for a very traditional market.

The FTR is such a departure from what you’ve come to expect from Indian, its advent caused social media to stop celebrating the consusmption of dishwashing liquid, and to start high-fiving itself in anticipation of the FTR’s arrival.

Which was by no means certain. But the wheels were certainly in motion a few years back.

In the background, Indian was busily beating Harley-Davidson to death on the flat-track circuits of America with its potent 750cc dirt-weapon.

But since this part of the world doesn’t follow the US flat-track circus all that much, many people here would have been entirely unaware of this.

Still, images of the brutally gorgeous and unconquerable flat-tracker were appearing on the Internet, and lots of folks were making “Hell, I’d buy that in a second!” noises.

Those noises are normally hard to ignore for a bike manufacturer.

But as the worldwide