Is the FTR1200 the first Production Street Tracker?

If you keep an eye on the motorcycle industry at all you’ve heard of the Indian Motorcycle FTR 1200. It’s been anticipated for a while since the unveiling of the FTR 1200 Custom at EICMA in 2017. There’s been a lot of online debate on the what the consumer version will be, specs, availability and what style of bike the FTR is. Is it a cruiser, café racer, standard bike or scrambler? Definitively, it’s a Street Tracker.

The FTR 1200 is derived from a flat tracker but made for the street, so the style of bike should be obvious, right? Well it’s not that obvious considering many styles are subtypes of other motorcycle styles, like rat bikes are made from kits or custom bike builders. One could argue that the street tracker style of motorcycle hasn’t ever been sold as a mass production consumer unit by any major marquee.

FTR 1200 Street Tracker

If this is the first production street tracker, let’s see how closely Indian Motorcycles stuck to the tenants of the style. Starting at the top, the handlebars are wide which is necessary to stay stable during all the drifting and sliding.

Where you’d expect the tank to be is actually the air intake. It’s not a new innovation, many bikes slide the tank back and down a bit to take advantage of ram air. For a tracker, higher on the bike is better for the air intake. The tank being under the seat lowers the centre of gravity and the flat under the seat tank should remind you of another bike style, the board tracker- if you’re over 60, or in actuality close to 100 years old you might remember this style.

The trellis frame of the FTR 1200 is retained from the custom build that Indian teased the world with at EICMA. The trellis frame was likely one of the first triggers of speculation on what style of bike it was and it doesn’t help that its red. Ducati popularized the red trellis frame with the monster and the Ducati Scrambler also uses that style of frame. You’d easily be forgiven for thinking it was scrambler though I don't think its enough to just call it a naked bike. Up front Indian Motorcycles inverted the forks, threw monoblock Brembo brakes on twin discs and basically created the standard front end from any high-quality modern bike.

You sit upright on the FTR 1200, no forward controls on this machine, the pegs are behind you and your knees are bend. The long banana style seat shows ample room for a passenger though I think it looks much better with a cowl which you can get with the sport trim.

Isn’t it a scrambler?

The word scrambler comes up a lot when you’re talking about this bike. I admittedly thought scrambler right away, mind you I was looking at the custom build, with the high straight pipes, but if you’re looking at the rally or tracker versions I find it hard to see a difference.

To get the scrambler title you need a twin, small tank, decent clearance, slim padded seat, upright positioning, mid controls, good or better suspension, knobby tires on spoked wheels and an overall stripped down look and feel.

The line between scrambler and tracker is nuance and while the FTR 1200 is a tracker, in principle it could just as well be a scrambler. EatSleepRide.com editor Tim Huber might not necessarily agree with me on that one. Perhaps the tires are knobby enough, the exhaust isn’t high enough or it’s the lack of spoked wheels. But the Ducati Scrambler doesn’t check any of those boxes either and there are 6 trims of that bike. The point is, custom builds are so popular that the manufacturers want some of the action. For Indian Motorcycle with its company’s roots in board track and flat track racing, their machine must be a tracker – made for the street.

Why do we care about the style?

When I’m picking a motorcycle, I care about capability, and style is the first clue to give you a sense of what you can do, where you can go, and how comfortable you might be. Classification aside, the FTR 1200 seems pretty versatile and Indian thinks so too since they’ve made a touring version. The 1203 cc engine pumps out 120 hp, the suspension is adjustable and there are ride modes, lean-sensitive traction, stability control and huge touch screen with Ride Command.

Decisively placing our motorcycles in segments voicing our strong opinions about what style of bike it is may seem a little bit trivial if you're uninitiated into the bike segment. From a commercial standpoint, it spells out who this bike will compete against for sales. It may be a street tracker, but it is in the super naked bike segment, meaning it must sell against the Aprilia Tuono, MT-09, BMW R nineT and many others. If you're a rider you know there is comradery between bikers, but we are also a bit stodgy and reluctant to change at the same time. The style tells us if it's for us. We want to know if it fits our identity.

With consideration, we all need to just keep riding, the rider matters more than the bike, I've seen someone tour the world on an R1. In that circumstance, I’d rather take the FTR 1200. As long as I’m on two wheels I’m happy and I appreciate that the motorcycle industry is introducing new machines that appeal to what riders really want. So, like the rest of us, I welcome the FTR 1200 and I can't wait to throw a leg over it.