That’s it. Hell must be freezing over, as I just had to mop up the floor after looking at photos of a cruiser. What you see here is called the “Miracle Mike” and it is the creation of the minds at Young Guns Speed Shop.
The bike is built off the Indian Scout, an affordable entry-level cruiser that boasts pretty good performance for its $10,000 price tag, but is generally a pass for anyone that likes leaning more than 31°.
Here at Asphalt & Rubber, we’ve had a bit of time on both the Scout and its sibling, the Victory Octane, and found the models to be potent, but in need of a better gearbox and front brakes…and a serious diet wouldn’t hurt too.
Bargain basement suspension also holds back the Scout and Octane, and generally the built quality and switchgear is what you would expect from price-point machines. Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, they’re perfectly fine machines.
The Swiss minds at Young Guns seemed to think the same, making smart improvements to the Indian Scout for their creation. And heck, a little nitrous “go juice” never hurts, right?
To help save weight, and make the bike look more sporty, Young Guns ditched the stock fuel tank, fabricating their own that was narrower than the stock unit.
For the engine, the folks at Swissauto gave the internals a proper thrashing, to boost horsepower, and to ensure that the big v-twin engine wouldn’t blow up while on the bottle.
To improve braking, a Magura master cylinder controls dual Brembo M50 calipers, while Öhlins pieces were tapped for suspension duties. Both wheels have been converted to 17″ hoops, so sportier rubber options would be available.
Other go-fast bits include a set of custom rearsets – forward controls??! we don’t need no stinking forward controls!!! – which helps to actuate a quickshifter system on the gearbox. Note too, the Akrapovic exhaust.
When it was all said and done, Young Guns shaved over 110 lbs off the Indian Scout, to make it 436 lbs wet. Miracle Mike also maks 185hp at the rear wheel, which translates to around 200hp at the crank. That’s a metric 1:1 power-to-weight ratio, for those keeping track.
All that being said, our favorite change has to be the rear fender, which really compliments the basic lines of the Indian Scout, while giving it the sporty look and feel that should accompany all the performance enhancements. It just really ties the whole bike together, man.
All-in-all though, this is a very appealing Indian Scout, which is high-praise from this modest sport-bike focused motorcycle blog. We hope the folks at Polaris are taking notice.
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