I would not have waited 3 hours either possibly 1, and only 2 at the most if was truly wanting to buy one ..

 

HP/TQ RPM Weight Power to weight
Challenger
103.11@5560 rpm ----- 850 lbs ----- 0.121305882
113.08@3330 rpm ----- 850 lbs ----- 0.133035294

FTR1200
111.22 @8300 rpm ------ 489 lbs ------ 0.227443763
79.79@5920 rpm --------- 489 lbs ------ 0.163169734

You have this as hp per pound...

I like to use lbs per HP... (each HP has to move this much weight)

Challenger: 8.25 lbs/HP and 7.52 lbs/Ft-Lb...……… FTR: 4.40 and 6.11

Just for comparison sake, mine is 5.1 lbs/HP. At 4.4 the FTR should be just as you described it... big monkey fun. The threshold of "enough motor for this bike" is right around 6 lbs/HP.

 

I like to use lbs per HP... (each HP has to move this much weight)

Not sure why this didn't dawn on me.. Makes a whole lot more sense from that angle.

 

Polaris management and marketing strikes again. Two bikes??

 

So you are Polaris- just rolled out your new RG Assassin. Kind of a first "all new from the ground up" Indian, really. No recycled monikers. Abandoning tradition. Pulling no punches. So what do you do? Load up a ~65 ft trailer with about 25 bikes and hit the road! Preach it to the flocks, baby. For this historical event let's load about 7 Scouts, an assortment of Chieftains & RoadMasters, 3 or 4 FTR's and two... Challengers..... two?!? There's that Wine inspired decision making prowess..

Riding the most important bike in the company's modern history was a "by appointment" affair.. And not one I was willing to wait 3+ hours to do. So- we entertained ourselves on the others obviously.

For me:
RM DH: New 116 seemed pretty stout for stock. I did not notice the famous Polaris wheezing on this bike- missing and or stalling at times on a throttle blip from idle. The sound system seemed really bad- but I had my modular on. I don't mean that it wasn't loud- I mean it sounded bad. Poorly balanced (bad blending of high & low) and distorted. The Ride command might be more intuitive if I had a chance to play around with it for more than a couple minutes. But given my opportunities- it was not. So sound system was probably in need of some basic adjustments. I swear the shift lever seemed to be located way (too) forward and inboard, too.

Chieftain DH with super duper sound (whatever they call it): Same as above- except the shift lever felt "normal." Except for the heel shifter- which was REALLY in my way. One of those things you get used to I guess- but damned annoying at first.

FTR1200: The Devil himself is among us. Fast as balls. It could probably use a wheelie bar, TBH.. Wow. What a BLAST!!. This thing is a sportbike in every sense there is- minus the ball squashing riding position and the hieroglyphs on the fairing. If you have never ridden this machine- you need to. This bike made me completely forget that this was kind of a wasted trip based on the original intent. I was struggling with my feet a little. I wear a size 14 in most brands- and they are wide too. A dirtbike themed motorcycle should probably have dirtbike themed foot pegs & controls- and it does. As a result- I always FELT like my feet were out of place (in my battleship boots) This was quite distracting for those very short rides in terrible traffic. But- it was mostly in my head. The brake lever motion required more downward motion than what I am used to & prefer- so I wasn't getting the rear braking I expected given my input. The front brakes conversely would have been happy to launch my well rounded ass into low geo-synchronous orbit.

So the Challenger will have to wait. I know there's big weight differences, different gearing, different RPM ranges, and all that but if that Challenger motor is basically a bigger version of the FTR motor, and they set it up as well as they did the FTR- that will be one helluva ride. Ugly dinner plate headlight and all.

If anyone cares: (@ the wheel) Sorry guys the spacing does not appear in the final post.

HP/TQ RPM Weight Power to weight
Challenger
103.11 5560 850 0.121305882
113.08 3330 850 0.133035294

FTR1200
111.22 8300 489 0.227443763
79.79 5920 489 0.163169734

In addition to what HC said I would say that all we have to do is look at your numbers to see that the Challenge's motor is nothing like a bigger version of the FTR's.

 

FTR's 74 CI making 110 HP is 1.49 HP/CI (74 x 1.49 = 110).
Challenger 108 CI making 107 HP (best we have seen on a dyno) is less than 1 HP/CI (108 x .991 = 107).
You're right, not a bigger version of the same engine at all, or it would be making 160 HP. Even de-tuned for torque it should be in the 125 HP neighborhood at the tire.

 

If you haven't been to a demo day? The "NEW" models always has a waiting list. You should contact the host prior to the event to see if they are taking reservations (not all will) the day before.

 

Glad I hate the looks of this bike and won't be needing a test ride ..........this sounds like a bigger pita than getting a damn Popeye's chicken sammich!

 

A wait is not - by itself- an unacceptable situation. Bringing 2 of the most important bike in your modern history kinda is. There was literally 7 or 8 Scouts in this load. Most of them remained idle for the 2 hours or so I was there. I understand there is a limit to what they can build and all that but 2 is horse****. Either a bad decision- or a purposeful one. Hard to say.

 

I can't see how it would be a shortage of bikes. It's not like they have 100 demo trucks to fill. If 4 trucks are scheduled to be somewhere Monday morning and you need 16 more bikes to have six on each truck offer an extra hour or two of overtime to the line workers to get 16 more bikes made.

 

@JudgeRedd , there have been lots of complaints about the ftr fuel mapping. They say stalling, sputtering and surging. Did your demo bike have any of that?

 

Hell to the no.

Side note- The only apparent option on it was an abbreviated ride command system, and Akropov.. Akko pov.. Akrohacker slips ons. . No apparent performance parts- if there are any. The display had ride "mode" selections. A "low" performance selection, "normal", and "Sport" or whatever. I forget the exact terms. It was set to normal. Dude implied it was a lot more than simple throttle response, but I do not have all the details.

 

Friend of mine at work told me that there is a test ride event happening in a town about 25 miles north of us. He asked if I wanted to go. At first, I said yes, but then we actually checked the event and it turns out, it's being held from 5PM to 8PM on Sunday. WTH??!!

A test ride that will only be 3 hours long, but worse than that, half of it is to occur in the dark? What moron set this up? I do not plan to waste my time with this.

I have had experience with two different test ride events in our area starting around 2010. That first one was a Kawasaki event for the new Voyager. It started at 8AM, continued through around 3PM, was a sign up, check in when you arrive and first come first serve. Name the bike or bikes you wanted to demo and wait. But the wait was less than 20 minutes because they had at least 6-8 bikes of each kind to be ridden and were taking groups out in shifts. Prizes, information, girls, plenty to keep the masses entertained between rides. Drinks, shelter. A good event, well planned. The other event I went to was pretty much the same, just a few years later.

sounds like Polaris just doesn't do "advertising" .

 

Friend of mine at work told me that there is a test ride event happening in a town about 25 miles north of us. He asked if I wanted to go. At first, I said yes, but then we actually checked the event and it turns out, it's being held from 5PM to 8PM on Sunday. WTH??!!

A test ride that will only be 3 hours long, but worse than that, half of it is to occur in the dark? What moron set this up? I do not plan to waste my time with this.

I have had experience with two different test ride events in our area starting around 2010. That first one was a Kawasaki event for the new Voyager. It started at 8AM, continued through around 3PM, was a sign up, check in when you arrive and first come first serve. Name the bike or bikes you wanted to demo and wait. But the wait was less than 20 minutes because they had at least 6-8 bikes of each kind to be ridden and were taking groups out in shifts. Prizes, information, girls, plenty to keep the masses entertained between rides. Drinks, shelter. A good event, well planned. The other event I went to was pretty much the same, just a few years later.

sounds like Polaris just doesn't do "advertising" .

I think I'd call the dealer Mag . The dealers setup and pay for the demo trucks to be there !

 

I din't have any reason or urge to go!. Local Indian dealer had a big un-veiling party on a Saturday - except no bike, no real info, just some propaganda on a 60 inch TV. Or so I was told by guy who went and said he wasted his day.