Highs and Sighs: 2025 Indian 101 Scout
Indian Motorcycle has been busy this year, imbuing its Challenger and Chieftain touring motorcycles with the its PowerPlus 112 V-Twin engine, as well as other fixings. But that’s not all: the brand’s staple Scout cruiser range captured the spotlight, enjoying healthy updates to the entire lineup. What caught our attention here at Motorcycle.com is the American V-Twin marque’s latest performance cruiser, the 101 Scout, with its excellent finishing and West Coast styling.
We dynoed and thoroughly tested the 2025 Indian 101 Scout around Southern California’s mean streets. In today’s fast-paced lifestyles, maybe you need that quick dose of motorcycling while on the go. For that, we’ve got you covered! Now, let’s hit the Highs and Sighs.
Photos by Nic de Sena
High: Sporty engine
Powering the 101 Scout is the most potently tuned version of Indian’s SpeedPlus 1250 engine. If the proprietary name isn’t illuminating enough, the spec sheet reveals a thoroughly modern design: 1,250cc (76ci) liquid-cooled, DOHC, 4-valve per cylinder, 60° V-Twin. This midsized cruiser mill put down 98.8 horsepower at 7,000 rpm and 75.5 lb-ft. of torque at 6,200 rpm on the Motorcycle.com dyno, and instead of maintaining the typical low-end focused American V-Twin status quo, it uses its fast-revving character to gallop into its meaty midrange quickly, then carry all that rev-happy momentum straight on through to the redline. Riders are rewarded when they twist the throttle, and unlike many twin-cylinder engines loaded into cruisers, it doesn’t peter out up top. Combined with the slick, six-speed gearbox and the 101 Scout thumb’s its proverbial nose at tradition, so much so that comparisons to older sporty European V-Twin powerplants don’t seem far-fetched. That is quite different from what we’re used to when discussing Twin-cylinder engines, but maybe Indian is onto something here.
High: Absolutely brilliant finish
Cruisers need to have an attitude and practically ooze the concept of cool. There is certainly no shortage of that when taking a gander at this machine, which boasts incredibly lush paintwork on its fairings and 3.4-gallon fuel tank. The SpeedPlus 1250 engine is appointed with attractive badging and blacked-out finishes, while the wheels offer machined elements that elevate the attention to detail. Taken together, this is a motorcycle that’s definitely worth an extra look when parked at your favorite roadside watering hole or safely back in the garage after a good Sunday ride.
High: Lively handling
What the Scout range has against its competitors is handling, which sees the 101 Scout leaning into that attractive quality with premium, fully adjustable suspension and ride quality befitting its $16,999 MSRP. Coupled with its 529-pound claimed weight, the St. Paul, Minnesota-based engineers have worked some magic with respect to its capable cornering abilities. The 101 Scout wants to hustle around backroads, quickly dip through alley shortcuts, and expertly thread through traffic, all while making mincemeat of those peg feelers.
Sigh: Good handling is stymied by limited clearance
Indian designers almost went all-in with the West Coast performance cruiser vibe. Almost. The sticking point is its limited ground clearance, which, to be fair, is not unusual in the cruiser class. The hangup we have is that the performance cruiser motif also includes lifting the V-Twin machines skyward to increase both clearance and suspension travel, preventing hard parts from scraping tarmac prematurely. The 101 Scout is a certified hustler, but its enthusiasm to gobble up a set of twisty turns is tempered when those peg feelers and other hard parts eventually mark their territory on the asphalt.
Sigh: Underwhelming brakes
Enhancing the stopping power of the 101 Scout are dual Brembo calipers clamping onto 320mm discs. In fact, it’s the only Scout to utilize dual disc brakes. Compared to the single-disc-equipped Scouts, there is a day-and-night difference in bringing things to a halt. Yet, the downright wimpy axial master-cylinder still leaves a lot to be desired in terms of braking performance. Grabbing a handful doesn't elicit as aggressive of a response as we’d like, and riders will want to deploy the rear brake simultaneously, which will slow this beast in a hurry.
Sigh: Unsophisticated electronics
The Indian 101 Scout shows a few foibles when it comes to the beeps and boops of its electronics. First, a bike with a performance theme and a $16,999 MSRP deserves IMU-assisted ABS and traction control. Moving past that point, the 4-inch touchscreen full-color TFT display takes an uncomfortably long time to initialize, and that’s a problem we’ve noticed on several other Indian models over the years. Above all else, Minnesotans still struggle with fueling issues, particularly when the engine is cold, resulting in a choppy ride-by-wire throttle response.
Conclusion
The 2025 Indian 101 Scout lives up to its performance cruiser design brief in a few meaningful ways. The SpeedPlus 1250 is worth wailing on, encouraging riders to twist the grip and let it get in its exciting stride. Meanwhile, its handling takes on the same can-do attitude, and let’s not forget that this thing is quite the looker. Yet, it does fall short in certain areas due to lackluster braking, an awkward riding position, and limited ground clearance. These are all things that can be remedied with aftermarket help, but the consumer shouldn’t be the one to do it.
