[Cori]

I currently have a 20 Bobber with a Bassani 2-1, S&S air cleaner and Fuel Moto tune. I'm seriously looking at the new Chief Bobber with the 116 Stage 2 kit.

As far as performance goes - any opinions on which would come out on top? Kind of liking some of the new options on the Chief, e.g. cruise control, new ride command.

 

[reinie]

I still think the Scout has an edge in terms of power to weight ratio. The Chief has much more bottom and mid range torque so short shifting is perfectly ok. The difference might be in comfort to some people as the Chief might be a better fit and might be a tad better in suspension compliance. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and some just prefer the look of a pushrod air cooled engine.

 

[Notaharley]

Same length.
Same seat height.
Same suspension travel and geometry.
Same lean angle.

More weight and taller up front making it feel "bigger"

5000 rpm redline.

All my money is on a Scout in a race.

Listen to the guys talk about the heat on their right leg....and it's only February! Wait till summer.

Scout is liquid cooled. Fantastic engine.

Get a throttle lock and a phone holder. Who the heck "needs" gps in their speedo? ($20,000 model only, btw)

 

[GreatWhite]

Get a 'busa if you need to go fast.

 

[F.N.G MOTO]

I currently have a 20 Bobber with a Bassani 2-1, S&S air cleaner and Fuel Moto tune. I'm seriously looking at the new Chief Bobber with the 116 Stage 2 kit.

As far as performance goes - any opinions on which would come out on top? Kind of liking some of the new options on the Chief, e.g. cruise control, new ride command.

If you’re considering making the jump I’d consider looking at it beyond the performance aspect of it. The standard equipment on the chief dark horse is nice and if you know you’ll use it a lot then it’s worth it. I took my bobber on a 4 hour ride and wish it had cruise control. Really depends on your use case.


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[F.N.G MOTO]

Same length.
Same seat height.
Same suspension travel and geometry.
Same lean angle.

More weight and taller up front making it feel "bigger"

5000 rpm redline.

All my money is on a Scout in a race.

Listen to the guys talk about the heat on their right leg....and it's only February! Wait till summer.

Scout is liquid cooled. Fantastic engine.

Get a throttle lock and a phone holder. Who the heck "needs" gps in their speedo? ($20,000 model only, btw)

Throttle locks aren’t great and mounting your cell phone has its limitations. If you have an iPhone you can kiss your camera goodbye, the vibration of the bike messes up the stabilization of the camera. The chief has an inch in rear suspension over a bobber. GPS is available in the dark horse variant starting @17k.


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[Gaebril22]

You can get that inch of suspension back on the scout bobber with fox or other aftermarket shocks.

The best reason to buy the chief is you love the look and you want cruise control. I think that little screen will be of limited use as a gps... but better than nothing. If the 2022 chief was around when I bought my chief (now vintage) Dh I'd have gone with the 2022 chief myself. My problem is I just love the high revving scout motor.

 

[dfresh]

I agree that the only reason I see a current Scout owner switching to the chief is for looks alone. There really isn’t anything else the chief offers that the Scout doesn’t already have/outperform or can‘t be easily added like a $500 aftermarket cruise control which is way less than buying a new bike. The liquid cooled engine is one of the features that drew me to the Scout initially and it’s a shame they didn’t offer that with the chief, Vegas is hot enough as it is.....

 

[JoeDangelo]

I currently have a 20 Bobber with a Bassani 2-1, S&S air cleaner and Fuel Moto tune. I'm seriously looking at the new Chief Bobber with the 116 Stage 2 kit.

As far as performance goes - any opinions on which would come out on top? Kind of liking some of the new options on the Chief, e.g. cruise control, new ride command.

I don't get the Scout-Chief comparisons. HD owners don't compare the Sporster to the Softail.

 

[JoeDangelo]

I agree that the only reason I see a current Scout owner switching to the chief is for looks alone. There really isn’t anything else the chief offers that the Scout doesn’t already have/outperform or can‘t be easily added like a $500 aftermarket cruise control which is way less than buying a new bike. The liquid cooled engine is one of the features that drew me to the Scout initially and it’s a shame they didn’t offer that with the chief, Vegas is hot enough as it is.....

Umm... there not the same frame or class.

• The Chief is shorter, but has a longer wheel base
• The chief has a taller seat
• The Scout has a higher ground clearance, but the Chief is 7" taller
• The Chief has more travel in it's front suspension

Right there, it's clear those bikes have entirely different riding triangles and feel

• The Chief has thunderstroke engines (torque centric engines with a lower redline), whereas the Scout has the liquid cooled engine with high HP and lower torque, revving to 7000rpm
• the Scout weighs 200 lbs less than the Chief

Right there, it's clear the bikes perform quite differently from one another.

Just because their frames look similar does not mean they are the "same type of bike". The Scout competes with Bolts, Shadows, Boulevard S40s, Triumph Bonnevilles, and Sportsters; the Chief competes with Softails, the R18, Boulevard C50/90, and Triumph Rocket IIIs.

 

[Brother Scum]

I don't think that anyone here has ridden both. We're mostly just speculatin'. Allow me to speculate some...It looks to me like the Scout is going to be more sporty and aggressive with a tighter ride, higher revs and quicker steering . t
The Chief will be nearly as fast (and will probably feel just as fast) and the power delivery will be more torque rich at lower ( like, legal 😁 )speeds. Handling will probably be a bit less sharp and riding position and comfort will probably be better on the Chief.

 

[F.N.G MOTO]

I agree that the only reason I see a current Scout owner switching to the chief is for looks alone. There really isn’t anything else the chief offers that the Scout doesn’t already have/outperform or can‘t be easily added like a $500 aftermarket cruise control which is way less than buying a new bike. The liquid cooled engine is one of the features that drew me to the Scout initially and it’s a shame they didn’t offer that with the chief, Vegas is hot enough as it is.....

The cruise control is 600 and the company is out of Australia, which might be an issue if you run into problems with it.


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[Moto_Max]

Throttle locks aren’t great and mounting your cell phone has its limitations. If you have an iPhone you can kiss your camera goodbye, the vibration of the bike messes up the stabilization of the camera. The chief has an inch in rear suspension over a bobber. GPS is available in the dark horse variant starting @17k.

Does the new Chief have a camera? If not why even bring that point up about the iphone?
Throttle locks work great. I have been using mine for over 5 years. Never been an issue. I even set mine and push back to the passenger seat and cruise back there for periods of time. Really makes some people scratch their heads when they are next to me. ( I know the safety risks involved. At least I'm AGATT )

 

[dfresh]

Umm... there not the same frame or class.

• The Chief is shorter, but has a longer wheel base
• The chief has a taller seat
• The Scout has a higher ground clearance, but the Chief is 7" taller
• The Chief has more travel in it's front suspension

Right there, it's clear those bikes have entirely different riding triangles and feel

• The Chief has thunderstroke engines (torque centric engines with a lower redline), whereas the Scout has the liquid cooled engine with high HP and lower torque, revving to 7000rpm
• the Scout weighs 200 lbs less than the Chief

Right there, it's clear the bikes perform quite differently from one another.

Just because their frames look similar does not mean they are the "same type of bike". The Scout competes with Bolts, Shadows, Boulevard S40s, Triumph Bonnevilles, and Sportsters; the Chief competes with Softails, the R18, Boulevard C50/90, and Triumph Rocket IIIs.

I agree the bikes perform quite differently, scout wins hands down in my opinion. For the rest, it’s subjective and it’s not clear at all that the chief is any more comfortable than the scout or has a complete different feel when it comes to riding positions and spacing. If you have extensive riding experience on a scout and a new chief though you should do a write up on it, would love to read it.

 

[dfresh]

The cruise control is 600 and the company is out of Australia, which might be an issue if you run into problems with it.


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Semantics. The point was it doesn’t make sense to pay $8K-$10K more just for “cruise control” when there are much cheaper options.

 

[Max Kool]

All my money is on a Scout in a race.

Life is not a race, and 120ftlbs under 3krpm is very, very generous and relaxed. I think @Cori should buy the Chief (and @F.N.G MOTO too btw).

 

[F.N.G MOTO]

Does the new Chief have a camera? If not why even bring that point up about the iphone?
Throttle locks work great. I have been using mine for over 5 years. Never been an issue. I even set mine and push back to the passenger seat and cruise back there for periods of time. Really makes some people scratch their heads when they are next to me. ( I know the safety risks involved. At least I'm AGATT )

If you use your phone as a gps the vibration of the bike will damage the camera. I’m glad a throttle lock works well for you but they haven’t for everyone.


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[F.N.G MOTO]

Semantics. The point was it doesn’t make sense to pay $8K-$10K more just for “cruise control” when there are much cheaper options.

Theirs more than just cruise control and it won’t be semantics if you purchase that unit and have an issue with it. But hey man that’s why they offer different bikes. We all have different tastes.


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[F.N.G MOTO]

Life is not a race, and 120ftlbs under 3krpm is very, very generous and relaxed. I think @Cori should buy the Chief (and @F.N.G MOTO too btw).

Lol.


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[Moto_Max]

If you use your phone as a gps the vibration of the bike will damage the camera. I’m glad a throttle lock works well for you but they haven’t for everyone.


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These bikes don't vibrate as much as harley's do. I have never heard of anyones phone camera being damaged due to mounting their phone on their motorcycle.

I would think this would be a well know thing if that were the case. But I know a lot of people mount their phones to their mtn. bikes and off road vehicles such as atv's and side by sides. Those surely bounce around a lot more than a motorcycle on the road.