What’s a big American cruiser supposed to be? Heavy, slow to steer, happiest at a lazy pace, with a seat as soft as an armchair and a suspension that’s more about posing than potholes. At least, that’s what I thought until I met the Indian Sport Scout Sixty.
When I first walked up to it, the low stance and long wheelbase made it look every bit the classic V-twin bruiser I’d imagined. The sort of machine I can sink into, arms stretched, watching the horizon roll closer one mile at a time. But then I lifted it off its side stand — and almost stumbled. How could something that looked this substantial feel so light in my hands? The weight simply melted away, as though the bike was trying to convince me: Relax. I’m not here to fight you.
Thumb the starter, and the 999cc liquid-cooled V-twin wakes up with that unmistakable American rhythm. Emissions have taken some of the raw edge off the exhaust note, but it still has that familiar heartbeat. The surprise came a few minutes later, when I realised that this was not some slow, wallowing lump. This thing was alive.
The ride quality, for starters, wasn’t at all what I expected from a cruiser. Sure, the seat was broad and supportive, but the real hero was the suspension. Indian’s dual shocks actually worked — soaking up the kind of battered tarmac that would normally send a cruiser’s rear end into a series of rebound crashes. I could stay in the saddle longer, ride harder, and more importantly, keep my spine intact.
But comfort was only half the story. Cruisers are supposed to be about chilled-out, feet-forward loafing, right? Wrong. In Sport mode, the Sport Scout Sixty was a complete brat. I found myself cutting through traffic like I was on an old-school roadster. You do need to plan your moves — the long wheelbase still makes its presence felt — but once I got into the flow, it was addictive. Torque was always ready to shove me forward, and 160 kph came up so effortlessly that I had to remind myself I was on a ‘Sixty’, not the full-fat 1250.
Of course, it wasn’t perfect. The bike I rode had minor fuelling issues, and while it’s E5 and E10 fuel compatible, the engine didn’t always feel silky smooth at lower revs. The key also felt cheap, which is out of place on something with this much character. And wet roads? Not its favorite playground. The tyres had enough grip for me to grind the footpegs on dry stretches, but the moment the surface got slick, all that torque had the rear stepping out before traction control saved the day.
Yet none of this dulled the overall experience. The Sport Scout Sixty challenged every lazy assumption I had about American V-twin cruisers. It’s not just a chrome-plated couch built for straight highways. It’s a genuinely usable, spirited motorcycle that encourages you to push, to explore backroads and corners rather than just pose at the next café.
Indian claims 83.8 bhp and 8.9 kgm of torque from this 999cc motor, and those numbers don’t really tell the story. What matters is how it delivers — with a strong, linear pull and a gearbox that’s unhurried but never clumsy. ABS is standard, the seat sits at a super-low 654 mm, and even at low speeds, the chassis balance inspires confidence. You don’t so much wrestle this bike as guide it, which is probably why I kept forgetting it was a cruiser at all.
Somewhere on an empty stretch, I caught myself laughing inside my helmet. This wasn’t what I’d braced for. I expected a heavy, vibey, back-breaking slug with good looks and not much else. Instead, I got a cruiser that didn’t shy away from bad roads, felt alive in the city, and stayed completely stable at highway speeds. Even its flaws — that slightly muted exhaust note, the key that looked like it belonged to suitcase — didn’t really bother me, because the core of the bike felt so right.
If you’d told me last month that my first real taste of an American V-twin would be this… un-cruiser-like, I’d have laughed. But the Sport Scout Sixty proves that a big, low, long machine doesn’t have to be lazy. It can be fun, it can be athletic, and it can make you rethink an entire genre in the space of one ride.
So, is it a ‘proper cruiser’? Absolutely — just not the kind I expected. And maybe that’s exactly what made it so good.
