THE list of bikes that can legally be sold in the US next year includes a new Indian that hasn’t yet been revealed in the firm's 2016 range – the Springfield.
All we can tell you about the Indian Springfield, listed by the US Environmental Protection Agency, is that it uses the same air-cooled 1811cc, 91hp V-twin as the existing Chief Classic (pictured), Chieftain and Roadmaster, and presumably the same chassis as well. So it’s not derived from the more powerful water-cooled Scout.
The firm also applied for a trademark on the name ‘Indian Springfield’ around a year ago, and under its previous ownership used to make a model called the Chief Springfield. Of course, the name derives from the fact that Indian was originally based in Springfield, Massachusetts.
The fact that the bike is listed as part of the firm’s 2016 range in the EPA document suggests that it must be due for launch fairly soon, since we’d expect any bike it launches after the first couple of months of 2016 to be branded as a 2017 machine.
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