[ETrider]

I dont know why it came out like that

Nor do I, but here's the part of your post that pertained to the Scout, that was hard to read:

"Polaris' successful 2014 came in spite of a few problems, which can be expected for any motorcycle brand. In the company's case, delays in production slowed down what could have been a stronger sales figure. The resulting backlog of bike products didn't help Polaris, either"

You are, of course, correct; according to everything I've read, the biggest hindrance to Scout sales last year was the fact that they couldn't produce them in the numbers needed to meet demand.

 

[ETrider]

There's a mini doco that I've been searching for to post that gets played at my factory dealership.. It covers everything from the history to the design of the scout and interviews all the major players throughout the whole process I.e. filmed during the initial design phase through to release....

Is this it?

 

[ETrider]

It was a Victory. Polaris gave it to Indian.

That may very well be the case, but please forgive me for requiring more than a "because I said so and I'm all butt-hurt so it must be true" argument as proof positive.

No doubt about it. It sure as hell doesn't resemble the Scouts of the past but it more than resembles a Victory.

I disagree. I think the Scout is a modern take on a classic model. It's a "what would the modern Scout look like if Indian had never gone out of business" take on design. In fact, in an article from 2014 (2015 Indian Scout Comparison - Motorcycle USA), it was said of Indian's approach that, "It wanted something that paid tribute to Scouts of the past, without living in the past. Indian envisioned what the Scout would have become, had it been given the chance to evolve without an almost 70-year gap in production."

I don't mean to offend, but your last two sentences reminded me of this scene from the movie O Brother, Where Art Thou?:

 

[ETrider]

I am one that too heard it and it was based on a media thing that Victory was to develop a new engine with Harley's released water-cools. Then Crickets.

After the release of the original Indian series, still no hint of Scout. The reason I was paying attention I was about acquire my Vic and was trying to learn more with Indian, a possibility. I just knew I didn't want a Harley and was checking out what was available.

So there may be truth in regards to the engine being patent applied under the name of Polaris and thus assumed it was for a Victory...

Polaris Registers Design for Liquid-Cooled Victory - Motorcycle ...
blog.motorcycle.com › 2014/04/21 › pol...
Apr 21, 2014 - Polaris Industries has registered a design for what ... new Victory cruiser powered by a liquid-cooled V-Twin engine. ... 042114-victory-liquid-cooled-design-patent- 04 ... may end up being used for this new liquid-cooled model.

I am not buying the theory that the Scout was supposed to originally be a Vic. I think what happened is people (even in the press) read that Polaris registered this design, looked at the drawings, considered that it was water-cooled (therefore not a "heritage" bike), and concluded it must be a Vic. When it was released as an Indian, Vic riders felt betrayed.

I'm with you, Teflon, I think the design of the Scout shows too much prior planning.

Also, the first sentence of the article sited above reads:

"Polaris Industries has registered a design patent with the European Union for what appears to be a new liquid-cooled Victory motorcycle." (emphasis mine)

I've always read that to mean that the "appears to be" refers to both the "liquid-cooled" and "Victory" part of the sentence. Others may see it as only pertaining to the "liquid-cooled" part.

Curiosity also leads me to want to know what REALLY happened here...hmmm.