I may do so soon, as in real soon. I wanted the Blue real bad but trying to make a 2014 Chieftain into a Roadmaster just ain't worth the effort and money. I want the monster full dress tourer and I will have one. I will keep you posted.
Anybody got deposit down on a ROADMASTER?
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Maybe I'm missing something, but really wouldn't you just need to add the trunk and the leg fairings?
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Depends on what is important to you... The LED lights, passenger floorboards and different shape windshield are some other things that come to mind. If we want all this, the dollars may be there to sell the Chieftain and get the Roadmaster. In my case I will be happy with the Chieftain a couple more years. May want to add the hitch when Bushtec gets that sorted out.
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107 Posts
Get your money back from them Bob and order it somewhere else the guys at the A Team in Las Vegas are a bunch of douche bags. PM me and I will tell you more.
Well it just ain't that simple. Never is. You buy 6 items to mount that trunk, Then you drill all the holes and mount the stuff, and the wiring. The lowers are in two pieces. The lowers and then the inserts. Then the rear bag bars. And then the tan leather seats and back-pads VS black. Then it's factory installed VS you do and then 2015 VS 2014. I still like the blue best but my deposit went down yesterday for ***** Red here in Tennessee.
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166 Posts
PackRat. Tell us your demo experience on the Roadmaster? Top heavy, balanced, smooth, what??? dying to hear what you got to say. I've put my deposit on a red-cream on in Indianapolis, but I haven't had a chance to ride one. I did ride the '14 Chieftain though and loved it.
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113 Posts
Just had a test ride on the Roadmaster today in Madison, WI and then ordered one, red & cream. Trading in my 06' Harley CVO Ultra.
The roadmaster rode beautifully, smooth and handled well like my CVO and didn't shake at stops. Lots of torque too!! Plus that seat was a dream, very comfortable.
I did order the heel toe shifter though due to foot problems and highway pegs plus driver backrest because of my bad back.
Can't wait to get it!!
The roadmaster rode beautifully, smooth and handled well like my CVO and didn't shake at stops. Lots of torque too!! Plus that seat was a dream, very comfortable.
I did order the heel toe shifter though due to foot problems and highway pegs plus driver backrest because of my bad back.
Can't wait to get it!!
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2,783 Posts
Congrats! I've become used to not having a heel shifter, I don't miss it anymore.
I think you will find that the highway pegs and backrest are money well spent.
Well I am certainly leaning towards trading or selling my 14 Chieftain with a whopping 1700 miles on it to get a Roadmaster. Handles just like a Chieftain or I should say my Chieftain as I have a Corbin box on mine. If you added up all the things that come on the Roadmaster vs Chieftain, you would be better off $ buying the Roadmaster. I simply can't get over how well these beasts corner, my chicken strips are 1/2 inch from the edge, what a well sorted motorcycle. I rode Polaris snowmobiles for 30 years always felt they were the best sleds, never had any trouble with them. And when its 25 degrees below zero and your 75 miles from the cabin you need peace of mind and that's what Polaris delivered. I rode a Roadmaster 4times last weekend on demo rides as they were taken all the other times. I would take the lowers off for summer (3bolts I looked). Everyone in the club was impressed and wants one except Brenda who thought the extra weight was too much, besides her husband Floyd is thinking of getting one.
Put a deposit down a couple of weeks ago on a Roadster for me and a Scout for my son. Not sure who is more pumped.
I was thinking of getting off my 1998 Goldwing and just going smaller. The Roadmaster was a complete left turn. The removable tour pack was the final nail. My wife can go and be very comfortable or I quickly remove the trunk and the front lowers and ride solo. Very cool.
I was thinking of getting off my 1998 Goldwing and just going smaller. The Roadmaster was a complete left turn. The removable tour pack was the final nail. My wife can go and be very comfortable or I quickly remove the trunk and the front lowers and ride solo. Very cool.
I am waiting on my red one in September. I was going to order the tan leather lever grips but the Indian site says will not fit 2015 Roadmaster. I can't see Roadmaster/Chieftain levers being different, Nor 2014/2015 levers. Surely a mistake? Can anyone confirm one way or another? I am fixin to order them anyway.
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1,157 Posts
First of all it is heavy. You really feel it taking it off the stand and a bit in the corners, but other than that it is well balanced with a low center of gravity, not top heavy. Like all tourers I expect if you load up the trunk you'd feel it more. The trunk is a quick release, so you can turn into a Chieftain (sort of) in a few seconds, and you can tuck away the trunk wires into a little pouch on the back seat.
The fit an finish was very good. I did notice a bit of a gap between the rear speaker grill and the trunk, but otherwise everything was top notch. The chrome just pops (especially on the black Roadmaster) and there's plenty of it. The hidden wires are nice, and the radio/cruise controls integrate very well.
The seat is sweet. Very cushy and comfy. My wife fell in love with her accommodations, loves the plush seat and the wrap around trunk backrest. The Polaris/Indian rep said they spent a lot of time on passenger comfort, more than any other production bike. I like that the seat is leather and hopefully they have fixed the fading problems from last year's bikes. The seat is definitely higher than the Chieftain and I felt I had more room (I'm 5'9"). I'd still want highway pegs as I like to stretch out on long rides. Even with the higher seat I was flat footed when holding the bike up. I don't know how much air pressure they had in the shock or how much travel there would be when pressured all the way up, but we had no issues with whatever setting they gave us.
The windshield was ok. I like that you can move it, but when heading west in the morning, the sun behind me reflected off the tank/handlebar chrome and onto the windshield all distorted. It was distracting, but I could move the windshield lower and very easily see over it. It was a bit warm so the wind was welcome for me, but the wife said it was pretty windy. I raised it again going east and didn't experience any bad reflections.
The handlebars are moved just a bit from last years Chieftain. I think they angled the grips back a bit. I don't know if that will carry over to the 2015 Chieftain (and I didn't look/try a 2015 Chieftain that day), but they were comfortable for me.
The controls were easy to use, and the 200W stereo is nice. I cranked it up and could hear well at highway speeds, and the quality was excellent for a motorcycle audio system. The gear indicator works with the clutch in (unlike my Victory). The multi-function display was VERY hard to read in the sunlight, and my polarized glasses didn't help. You can control the brightness and 100% brightness didn't help. I didn't get a chance to try out the cruise control.
The Thunderstroke engine is awesome. So much torque, it's amazing, definitely stronger than the Freedom 106 on my Victory. The sound of the engine is great too. I'm not a loud pipe guy (did that for years and it screwed up my hearing) but I bet it sounds awesome with an opened up exhaust. It was smooth in every gear, smooth at idle when stopping, smooth accelerating. I tried to lug it and couldn't. I plan on getting the open air cleaner and stage 1 pipes to get a bit more out of the engine, because that's what we do! The throttle by wire is a bit annoying, as I felt disconnected from the engine and there's a very tiny lag between twisting the throttle and a response from the engine. Most people probably won't even notice and I'm sure I'd get used to it. The transmission shifts literally as smooth as butter, very impressive. I found myself wondering why they put 6th gear on it because I was cruising at 80mph in 5th with no real need to shift.
We were lucky enough to have our demo go through a bit of a canyon, so I had the opportunity to push it through the twisties with my passenger on board. The bike handled very well, and while the total weight of the bike was noticeable (compared to when I rode the Chieftain solo), there was no problem bringing it down close to dragging the floorboards (I didn't and usually don't on a bike I'm unfamiliar with). I felt more confident wringing the Roadmaster through the canyon than I did the Scout, but I'm sure that's just a personal thing. The Scout is much much lighter but I didn't like the Scout's fat tire up front.
The trunk is larger than it looks on photos, VERY deep and has a tall lid. The carpet lining and LED light were a nice touch. I can't remember how many times I fumbled for things at night in the trunk of my Vic.
We didn't ride at night so I didn't get to see how well the LED lighting system works, but EVERY light on the Roadmaster is LED, which means zero maintenance and no real worry about a light burning out. I did check out the visibility from the rear when I rode the Scout (I was in front of the pack when I demo'd the Roadmaster). Very visible, and the trunk LED's really help bring the brake lights into the field of vision. The turn signals on the fairing are huge and easily noticeable, just like the Chieftain.
I didn't like that the compartments in the lowers didn't lock, but I looked on the inside and they have the same pre-printed cutout lines for locks, just like on my Victory. In fact it looks like the exact same setup, and I think the Victory locks would fit right in. For the Victory, you just take the little doors off and dremel out along the pre-printed lines, put the locks in, and you're good to go.
The lowers had 2 adjustable panels on each side to control airflow. I fiddled with it a bit and there's probably a setting that is best, but I didn't have time to find out. The setup is ok, but I don't think it's as good as the wind management on the Victory. On the standard air cleaner there's a duct to direct airflow to the engine. Eavesdropping on some conversations, supposedly the Roadmaster runs cooler than the Chieftain due to that little duct in combination with the lowers.
The hardest part was deciding which color we liked best. We put the deposit on a red one, but may switch to black. Yeah, I know about black bikes, but the black Roadmaster sure was pretty.
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There's a lot of issues on the Indian website with compatibility and customization. It seems to be a work in progress. I"m sure the lever grips are fine between the two.
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335 Posts
I have a deposit on a 2015 Roadmaster. Was told it would arrive the first of September. This means the first part of September. Anybody out there purchased and received a Roadmaster yet? I rode a Cheiftan and fell for the ride. Roadmaster should be equal too or better than the Cheiftan.
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