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.

 

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)

 

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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Get a 'busa if you need to go fast.[emoji12]

 

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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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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4 hours?

 

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.

 

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.

 

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

 

Great observation, different platforms entirely!

 

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.

 

Anyways, lot's of people on all sorts of bikes have had the camera vibration issue. Just buy a $250 tomtom or garmin and you're gtg. (it's not hard knocks that break the camera, it's the engine vibration. The constant vibrations over a over several days/months mess with the gyroscope)

I said this elsewhere... It would be a boring world if we all rode the same bike. Some may just look at the 2022 chief and instantly want it based on the look, then use some of the extra features to convince themselves to buy it (personally if I love the look that much, the extra features or lack of them would not stop me ). As long as they're happy with it I say congrats to them if they opt to buy it. Ripping up to an 8300rpm redline may not be what they need in a bike. It's what I need but we're all different.

So instead of getting our panties in a bunch over which bike is better maybe we should just be glad we have so many great choices to choose from. I mean hell, I went to a 2019 Chief (now vintage) DH from a scout for 2 years because it was more comfortable... I went back to a scout because it was so much more fun TO ME. So maybe they'll keep the chief, maybe they'll go back to a scout, maybe they'll do something no one should do and go bagger 😈

 

I think it makes perfect sense to compare the two. As a buyer why wouldn’t you break down the differences and decide if those differences matter to you as a rider and are worth the extra cost or not. You look at what each bike does or doesn’t do and then decide for yourself if you consider it to be or good value or not. In my opinion, the new chief doesn‘t provide much more that a scout (in many ways much less) other than a different look and lower performance. Too me that isn’t a value proposition given the higher price tag, for others it might be and that’s fine too. There really isn’t a wrong answer, but if you’re dropping $10K - $20K and not comparison shopping then good luck with that.

 

Ahh someone who gets it. When I make a major purchase I look at everything. I just bought flooring for my house, it took me 3 months to make the buying decision.


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Dudes chill

 

Lol a large portion of the population can’t ride right now and it shows.


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Uncanny resemblance


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That was the motorcycle equivalent to the Edsel in my humble opinion. Never the less there were those who did and still do swear by them.

 

so that's what happened to the camera on my iphone. I had no idea what caused it but now I know.

 

Yeah I figured it out when I was trying to shoot a short video. Kind of sucked

 

Too bad that a nice civil discussion became a not nice uncivil one once again.

 

I really get a chuckle at all of these bike X vs bike Y discussions. They are all over every single motorcycle forum there is. Let me try and help out.

I really wish Indian made a modern air cooled true V twin with high torque low RMP engine that looked like an old school Bobber. They do---the Chief

I really wish Indian made a high tech V Twin liquid cooled Bobber that had all of the modern performance and low maintenance features and high revving performance---They do--the Scout Bobber

Asterisk---Aftermarket to adjust either to suit your personal taste. Not that complicated. Your money---your choice

 

I will add this one little thought about the Scout Bobber and Bobber 20. Indian clearly missed the Bobber look when they used the same gas tank as is on the Scout for the Bobber. They changed the fenders and stance but the modern looking tank detracts from the traditional bobber style. When my buddy rode up on his Kawa Versys, his first words were "You bought another Victory? I thought they quit making them"

The Chief tank truly looks like a Bobber where the Scout bobber looks like a Scout with chopped fenders..

 

Yeah, sorry, didn't intend to kick the hornet's nest! What drove my question was reading about the advantages of each bike & engine and wondering how they would compare to each other.

Anyways, got an opportunity for a test ride today, my two cents, totally unscientific, just seat-of-the-pants

• Off the line: 0-40ish, Scout wins, 40 - top speed, Chief wins
• Comfort, Chief wins, even with the Fox shocks and the comfort seat
• Low speed handling, Scout wins, Chief throttle is pretty sensitive, especially in sport mode
• Highway/passing, Chief wins, pulls in 3rd and 4th gears were impressive

Appreciate everybody's feedback/comments!

Last thing - can confirm the iPhone issue. Camera in my brand new iPhone died after I used it as a nav for a ride, mounted in a RAM Mount. Didn't connect the two until y'all mentioned it here. Fortunately, Apple repaired it under warranty, know better now!

- Cori

 

Yeah, sorry, didn't intend to kick the hornet's nest! What drove my question was reading about the advantages of each bike & engine and wondering how they would compare to each other.

Anyways, got an opportunity for a test ride today, my two cents, totally unscientific, just seat-of-the-pants

• Off the line: 0-40ish, Scout wins, 40 - top speed, Chief wins
• Comfort, Chief wins, even with the Fox shocks and the comfort seat
• Low speed handling, Scout wins, Chief throttle is pretty sensitive, especially in sport mode
• Highway/passing, Chief wins, pulls in 3rd and 4th gears were impressive

Appreciate everybody's feedback/comments!

Last thing - can confirm the iPhone issue. Camera in my brand new iPhone died after I used it as a nav for a ride, mounted in a RAM Mount. Didn't connect the two until y'all mentioned it here. Fortunately, Apple repaired it under warranty, know better now!

- Cori

You got lucky with the phone, I read that they caught on to it and denied the repair.


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As a matter of opinion, I think Indian wouldve made the "Scout bobber vs chief bobber" decision way easier by putting the 108 Powerplus engine into the chief bobber...the air cooled engine is actually kind of a detractor for me on that.

 

I'd prefer the powerplus in something sportier with better lean angles. I'm over the cruiser poor handling tax. I've dragged enough peg for my lifetime.