Some motorcycles watch the electrical system and can complain when you swap in LED lights. “Canbus plug and play” means the lights are designed to work with that system without extra complicated wiring.
LED lights are a type of bulb that uses electronics to make light. Many riders upgrade because they can look better and work more efficiently than older bulb types.
This is a pump that transfers gas without lifting and pouring heavy fuel containers. The “auto stop” feature turns it off when the tank is full so you don’t overflow it.
“Single cylinder” means the engine has one main combustion chamber. That usually makes the bike simpler and can make it easier to ride smoothly at lower speeds.
Concept
semi-endural
They’re describing a kind of riding that’s like endurance riding, but not fully organized. The idea is riding for a long time and staying consistent, often where you can only ride in certain places.
Car
Harley Road King
They were given a Harley Road King, which is a touring-style cruiser built for riding long distances. It’s a common “try it out” bike because it’s representative of Harley’s touring character.
The Dodge Challenger is a sports car made for strong acceleration and a bold, classic look. People talk about it a lot because it’s one of the best-known “muscle cars.” It may be mentioned as a favorite because it’s built to feel exciting to drive.
“Power Plus platform” is Indian’s name for the engine design they use in certain bikes. Think of it as the main engine family that multiple models are built around.
A blind spot indicator is a warning system that tells you when something is in your “can’t really see it” zone. It’s meant to reduce surprises when changing lanes or merging.
“Bagger” is a style of motorcycle built for touring. It usually has big side bags (and often better wind protection) so you can ride farther and carry more.
The Buick Rendezvous is a mid-size vehicle that sits between a car and an SUV, meant for everyday driving and carrying people or gear. In the podcast, it’s mentioned because it’s being used for a trip to an event. It’s a practical choice for getting there comfortably.
Harley-Davidson is a well-known American motorcycle brand. Mentioning it here is mainly about the host’s experience working at a big, influential company in motorcycles.
The “parts and accessories” group is the department that sells bike upgrades and replacement pieces. It can include things like touring add-ons and other aftermarket-style improvements, but branded by the manufacturer.
Term
CBO group
“CBO” is a company acronym for a specific department or business unit. Here it’s grouped with sales and marketing, so it likely relates to how the company sells and organizes those products.
The Buick Roadmaster is an older, large Buick designed more for comfortable driving than for being a small, sporty car. It’s the kind of vehicle people choose for long trips because it’s built to cruise. The podcast mentions it in connection with a specific ride and a “Power Plus” version.
“King of the Baggers” is a racing series for big touring motorcycles. It’s a way for manufacturers to show off their bagger bikes and compete in that style of riding.
A “trike” is a motorcycle with three wheels instead of two. This usually makes it feel more stable, and the CEO is saying they plan to launch a trike product soon.
A “full-size touring bagger” is a big long-distance motorcycle with built-in storage (like saddlebags) for trips. The discussion here is about targeting that kind of bike for the market.
“EV bikes” are electric motorcycles that run on batteries. The CEO is saying their customers aren’t asking for them yet and the technology doesn’t feel ready.
MSRP is the price the manufacturer puts on the sticker as the suggested retail price. It’s used here to talk about where the bike sits in the market.
Car
Indian Scout
The Indian Scout is one of Indian Motorcycle’s main cruiser bikes. Here, the CEO is basically saying it’s their important “starter” model that helps bring new riders into the brand.
A cruiser is a motorcycle type meant for comfortable, easy riding. Here, it’s the category Indian Motorcycle is emphasizing for future sales.
Concept
attract a new generation of riders
They’re talking about getting younger people interested in motorcycles. The idea is that the current rider crowd is getting older, so brands need a strategy to attract new riders.
Electric bicycles (e-bikes) are pedal-assist bicycles with an electric motor that can make commuting and casual riding easier. The CEO suggests that some kids start on competent e-bikes, which could influence how future riders transition into motorcycles.
The pre-owned market is the used-bike segment where riders buy motorcycles that were previously owned, often through dealers or private sales. Here, it’s presented as a lower-risk “entry” path into Indian Motorcycle because buyers can avoid the fear of scratching a brand-new bike.
Car
Indian chief
The Indian Chief is a cruiser motorcycle model from Indian Motorcycle. In this discussion, they’re pointing out that used Chiefs can be a good way to start with the brand without stressing about damaging a new purchase.
A trike is like a motorcycle, but with three wheels for more stability. Here, they’re saying Indian Motorcycle wants to build trikes to compete in that space.
ORV means off-road vehicle. They’re saying their engineers worked on off-road machines before, so they know how to design suspension for rough terrain.
Rear independent suspension lets each back wheel react to bumps on its own. That usually helps the bike stay more stable and keep better contact with the road.
A prototype is an early draft of a product that’s built to see if the idea works. They’re saying they already have something built and tested enough to be impressed with it.
CAN-bus is the motorcycle’s electronic “messaging network.” When you add accessories like LED lights, they need to be compatible so the bike doesn’t get confused and show warnings or cause flickering.
Vance and Heinz is a motorcycle racing team and shop. They work with big bike brands to build and run race programs, and they’ve been doing it for a long time.
Concept
diligence
In a business context, diligence means the structured process of evaluating a deal or partnership before committing. Here, the CEO says he’s looking at categories like cruisers and baggers during diligence, which implies assessing fit, strategy, and likely performance outcomes.
“Bagger” bikes are touring motorcycles with big side bags. The “performance bagger” trend means people modify those touring bikes to be faster and more race-capable, not just comfortable for long rides.
T-bars are a type of motorcycle handlebar. People swap them on baggers to change the riding position and look, especially when building a bike for events.
“Two into one” means the exhaust from two sides is combined into one pipe. It’s a common modification when people are trying to improve performance and change the exhaust note.
Goldman Sachs is a large finance company that helps with big deals. The speaker is saying Goldman Sachs was the financial advisor/banker for the transaction.
NDAs are legal agreements that keep sensitive information private. The speaker is saying they signed paperwork so details of the discussions wouldn’t be shared.
Topic
New Jersey race
The “New Jersey race” is a specific race event in New Jersey. The speaker is using it to say when their conversation took place.
“Mechanical” here means something on the motorcycle breaks or doesn’t work right—like an engine or parts not behaving as expected. It’s the sort of problem that can ruin a race even if the team did everything else well.
Term
power plus engine architecture
“Engine architecture” refers to the fundamental design of the engine—how it’s laid out and built (for example, cylinder layout and internal design). When riders say “power plus engine architecture,” they’re usually pointing to how the engine’s design enables strong output and efficient performance under race conditions.
A V-Twin is a motorcycle engine with two cylinders. They’re arranged in a V shape, and it usually gives the bike strong pull and a unique exhaust sound.
A chassis is the bike’s main frame/structure. It’s what everything else mounts to, and it strongly affects how the bike handles.
Car
Indian Motorcycle Challenger
The Indian Motorcycle Challenger is a regular bike you can buy from a dealership. In this interview, the CEO says it’s closely related to the Daytona race bike—so racing tech and design show up in the showroom version.
“Track-to-showroom linkage” is the idea that what’s developed and proven in racing directly influences production bikes sold to customers. In this segment, the CEO argues that racing performance feeds into the Challenger lineup and shows up in sales results.
ARO is a new performance brand being created under Indian Motorcycle. They’re planning to begin with bike upgrades (especially exhaust and intake parts) and later build toward ARO-branded motorcycles.
The Mercedes-Benz ML-Class is an SUV, meaning it’s built to carry people and handle daily driving with a higher ride position. The podcast mentions it alongside other well-known vehicles, so it’s likely being considered as a serious option. It’s discussed as a premium SUV rather than a small car.
Here, “exhaust” means the parts that route and release the engine’s gases. People upgrade it mainly to change the sound and sometimes the way the bike feels.
Air intakes are parts that help the engine breathe by controlling how air gets in. Upgrading them is often done with exhaust upgrades to support better performance.
Slip-on mufflers are exhaust upgrades that you can add by swapping the muffler part only. People do it to change the sound (and sometimes get a little improvement) without replacing the whole exhaust.
A two-in-one exhaust system combines the two exhaust pipes from the engine into a single outlet downstream. This packaging is common on some cruiser/bagger setups and affects how the exhaust is routed and how it sounds.
Elkhart Lake is where they’re planning the ARO launch event. The CEO says they’ll ride there from their headquarters and support the team during the race.
Arrow is an aftermarket brand that makes motorcycle accessories—often exhaust-related parts. The speaker is saying Indian will offer Arrow-branded products too.
Reinhardt is an aftermarket brand that makes parts for motorcycles, commonly exhaust systems. The point here is that riders may want Reinhardt parts on their bikes.
Topic
Sunday trike
A “Sunday trike” is a three-wheeled motorcycle that’s typically more about relaxed, fun riding. The host is using it as another rider category for aftermarket parts.
LIVE
Want to ride longer, tired of a soaring AQS, then fix it with a high quality butt buffer
seat cushion.
Head over to lawbitingbiker.com for our store and check out our full line of butt buffer
seat cushions.
Hey Bicolik, Zero 3D has a wide variety of innovative products for your Harley-Davidson
and a brand new line for the all new Honda Goldwing named Goldstrike, top quality affordable
chrome lighting and comfort products.
Zero Goldstrike are the motorcycle LED lighting innovators for Cambus plug and play system
compatibility.
Head over to lawbitingbiker.com for our store, check out our full line of Zero 3D products.
Hogworks, yep you know it, they build motorcycle parts the way bikers want them, clean fit
quality finish, customer service that actually answers.
That's why we run their gear on our own bikes because we trust it.
Check out our full selection of Hogworks products in the lawbiting biker store, we are adding
them.
Remember if you don't see it, we are a dealer, hit us up on our contact form and we'd be
glad to get a custom order started for you.
We're always adding new products to the lawbiting biker store, we only mentioned some.
This is one that I think you want to take advantage of, it's our motorcycle ATV fuel transfer
pump with auto stop sensor.
Let me tell you it's one of those items that you don't realize how much you needed it until
you have it and you'll go why didn't I know about those, number one and number two why
didn't I get it before.
So the days of lifting heavy jugs to fuel your street bikes, adventure bikes, dirt bikes,
lawn mower, it's over guys with this thing.
Let me tell you, once I learned about these, I started testing multiples and I wanted to
make sure before I sold one in the lawbiting biker store, well number one that it was quality.
Number two, a lot of the ones I tried had bells and whistles that aren't necessary and
all it does, it's just kind of gimmicky and it jacks the price up.
So these are very affordable and quality.
They run on four AA batteries.
It's a very simple, it's got an auto stop sensor.
You literally adapt it to any North American jug with the different adapters and caps that
come with it.
That's your regular lawn mower red jugs that you can visualize.
And then also your bigger VP racing fuel jugs, it adapts to everything.
And I've got multiples on multiple jugs, but you literally pull a jug up, put it in your
tank, push the on button and walk away.
And the auto stop sensor just stops when it's full.
You take it out and you ride on.
Now, even on my street bikes, guys, a lot of times, you know, they're great for dirt
bikes and you know, you go up in the mountains and you got a fuel, but even in the shop here
around my place, sometimes I want to go on a ride and I want to meet the guys and, you
know, I just, I need to top off and I don't want to make a detour to the fuel station.
I don't want to sit in line.
Well, this just makes it so darn convenient.
So even oftentimes then I just top off before I leave with one of these jugs and this fuel
transfer pump and I'm on my way.
And of course, for your lawn mower and small engine stuff, I use them everywhere.
Like I say, I've got multiples on multiple jugs, but we sell the heck out of these things
and we've done several runs of them.
We only have so much facility to store stuff.
So we try to get a bunch.
And then before they completely run out, we try to get more.
We don't always nail that.
And so there's periods that we can be out of stock, but we just got a new stock in as
of the time of this recording.
And so definitely get over to the law binding biker store.
Trust me, it's a good one.
It's affordable.
Be careful of all the knockoff Amazon eBay stuff.
They all, they'll actually steal pictures of this one.
I actually took our own photos, product photos for this.
So, you know, it's the one you're getting.
They all just steal each other's photos and stuff and lie about, you know, the specs of it.
It's an insane over on Amazon and eBay.
So when you get it from the law binding biker store, you know, it is the correct one.
And of course, we got your back.
2026, no better time to become a patron member of law binding biker media.
That's over at lawbindingbiker.com forward slash Patreon.
That's P-A-T-R-E-O-N.
And I want to thank some of our newest members, David Swick of Lockport, New York, Chris
Kay of not sure where and Robert Schiller of Marietta, Georgia.
They're some of our newest members.
And basically what they did is they went over, they signed up for a, you know, a monthly
subscription and they get to choose the benefits and level of benefits that they want to receive.
And there are many of them for signing up such as t-shirts and stickers.
You get access to the private Facebook group.
It is a troll free zone.
It is nothing but bikers helping and connecting with other bikers in there.
You get access to live video broadcasts and chat podcasts early, premium videos up on requests,
access to the ride, meet up and events that are put on.
And of course your year round patron member discount code right in the law abiding biker store.
Again, we'd love to connect with you.
Love to get to know you better in the private Facebook group.
And again, it's all over at lawbindingbiker.com forward slash Patreon P-A-T-R-E-O-N.
All right.
I'm always announcing new free videos and we have a ton of them coming out.
But I wanted to tell you about this one real quick.
It's been out for quite some time, but it's titled most hearty owners don't own these tools.
Big mistake.
They are three of some of, I love motion pro tools.
We carry a bunch in the law abiding biker store, but these are some of my three favorites.
And we sold the heck out of these things.
They all are back in stock and available.
But we'll link to this video in the show notes for you, whatever podcast aggregator you're listening on
or app, the show notes will be there or can always go over to lawbindingbiker.com forward slash
whatever the episode number is and they'll be there, but we will link to that video.
And I kind of tell you what's so great about them, of course, and show them off to you.
Okay, we're going to dive into an interview.
Yeah, with Mike Kennedy, CEO of Indian Motorcycles.
Now a lot has been going on and I have a lot of questions.
I've really been thinking about what I kind of want.
I only have a limited time and I want to really dial in on some of the main questions that I have
and hopefully, you know, from just keeping my ear to the ground that a lot of the rider community
has as we all know by now, Indian split off from Polaris.
This all started late 2025 as we transitioned into 2026 here.
Mike Kennedy took over as the official CEO of Indian Motorcycles now an independent company.
You know, it's their 125th year anniversary.
So just, you know, King of the Baggers, if you've been watching that,
you know, the new Vance and Heinz partnerships, a partnership with Indian factory race team.
I mean, there is insanity going on if you really step back and look from the outside in.
So I've got a lot of stuff to talk about with Mike Kennedy.
I'm super stoked that he was able to come on the podcast and answer a lot of these questions.
So that's enough.
Let's just dive into the interview with Mike Kennedy, CEO of Indian Motorcycle.
So I'm here for the audience with Mike Kennedy.
He's a new CEO of Indian Motorcycle.
Of course, he's a lifelong rider with 35 years in the industry.
26 years at Hardy Davidson, leadership roles at Vance and Heinz,
Bombardier, hopefully I said that right, and CEO of RumbleOn.
He's touched every side of the motorcycle business, OEM, aftermarket, retail, dealerships,
all that stuff.
So Mike, this is a, again, thanks for being here, but this has got to be exciting.
It's a big year for Indian.
We're a 125 year anniversary.
We've got new ownership, new leadership.
And so I feel like there's just a lot to talk about here and break down.
So from your perspective, it's got to be a pretty exciting role to jump in for you, is it?
Yeah, it's incredible, Ryan.
I mean, and I'm humbled by the fact that Carol White asked me to step in as the CEO
of America's first motorcycle company, having both competed against Indian,
raced against Indian, and then was a dealer for Indian in my last role at RumbleOn.
I've kind of seen all the different angles and Polaris has made some significant investments
and positioned the company for growth going forward.
We have 600 dealers around the world.
We've got an incredible product line.
We've got a brand that's strong and relevant in the global V-Twin marketplace today.
And I got a team that is excited about being solely focused on motorcycles.
You know, Ryan, I would say when you're part of Polaris, which is a 10 billion plus size company,
big company, good company, and you're only 7% of that company, you make decisions around
motorcycles a certain way, as you and I would do if we were running Polaris.
So it's not a slam against Polaris.
But now we're solely focused on motorcycles and we're taking that brand out from Polaris.
We're standing up on our own.
We've got 900 employees and our sole focus and sole purpose is Indian Motorcycle Company.
And so you make decisions differently than you do than when you're over here and you bring
different energy, different thought process, different mindset,
better connection with the rider, closer to our dealers, you know, a little different approach
than historically around the business.
And that in itself creates a ton of excitement and opportunity for us.
Yeah, awesome.
I want to break some of that down for sure.
So I want to get just a little more background for the audience.
You're a lifelong rider, obviously.
I've ridden motorcycles since I was 12 years old.
Thanks to my dad.
I've been riding motorcycles since I was 12 years old.
Nice.
What did, back then, did you start on dirt bikes or was it street bikes?
Yeah, it was actually a street, Yamaha Street single cylinder motorcycle that he bought.
And we've been riding in the fields because that's the only place you could ride.
And so we just sort of like made it work into a kind of a semi-endural.
And then, yeah, as soon as I get my motorcycle license, I got it.
And then, of course, started working at Harley right out of college.
And probably, gosh, two or three weeks into the job.
And you were late to this.
My boss threw me the keys to a police demo bike and said, hey, it was a road king.
And said, hey, you want to put some miles on the bike this weekend?
And I was like, yeah, absolutely.
And so I've been hooked and been riding all kinds of motorcycles.
Obviously, a lot of Harleys over my time, a lot of them.
I've owned a ton of motorcycles in my lifetime.
And yeah.
And I tell people that not because that doesn't mean that, oh,
jeez, now Mike's going to be guaranteed success.
I tell people that because I'm going to bring a rider mindset to this role.
And I'm riding our product every weekend.
I'm riding it to work.
I was on Saturday with my wife and I were on our pursuit visiting dealers.
And so when the product, if it's not operating as it should,
my hair is going to be on fire and my team is going to know about it.
And we're just going to think differently because we're going to build a rider culture
in the Indian Morrisville Company.
Yeah.
That's awesome.
No, I think that brings a lot.
And I think the riding community, especially having a CEO that actually does saddle time,
I think that's huge for the company.
So you lightly mentioned it.
You're riding a pursuit.
I was going to wonder, so you're riding right now a pursuit.
And is that your personal favorite in the Indian lineup?
So my personal favorite would be the Challenger.
I like the Battle of the Class the most.
I own a 101 Scout.
I can tell you why I own that bike.
But yeah, if I'm going on a ride with my buddies on Saturday afternoon,
my go-to bike would be a Challenger.
I just, I love the bagger setup.
I think that Challenger is a sexy motorcycle.
Power Plus platform is an incredible engine.
Everything that comes on it, the rider, the rear radar, the blind spot indicator,
then it's a fantastic technology to have.
I just love the overall setup of the bagger class.
And the Challenger is my go-to product there.
My wife likes to ride in the back with me.
And so I have a pursuit in the garage that I typically use when she's with me.
Her and I are actually going to Durango to the rendezvous event in second week in June.
And we'll be riding to the event from Texas.
And she'll be joining me, so we'll be on the pursuit.
Nice, nice.
So I want to dive in a little bit, Mike, to your Harley background,
and then we'll kind of take it from there.
So you spent 26 years at Harley-Davidson in various roles, and correct me if I'm
wrong on any of my research here, but including VP of Harley-Davidson Americas.
That's a long time at the biggest name in American motorcycles.
I got to ask, what did those years teach you about the industry as a whole?
Yeah, right. It taught me everything, to be honest with you.
I mean, I think I have, I might be the luckiest man you've ever met.
I really do think that because I worked for people at Harley-Davidson who I think were,
I'm going to say this, some of the best people that this industry has seen over the last 50 years.
I mean, I worked for Ron Hutchinson who led the parts and accessories group.
And he brought me in.
And I was sales and marketing for the parts and accessories and the CBO group
got to get involved in product development and ton of learning is there.
He sponsored me to go get my MBA at Kellogg.
Incredible leader, challenging leader.
He actually threw me the racing program in the late 90s when it was a disaster.
And that kind of forced me to learn the motorcycle racing side of the business
and started to develop a relationship with Vance and Hines.
And that's a whole another chapter of learnings that I had.
Jerry Wilkie probably is the person I think about who really taught me
the sort of the initial learnings around how valuable a dealer network is
and how important the dealer network is to our business.
You know, we don't retail motorcycles.
We don't service motorcycles when things go wrong.
Our dealers do that.
Our riders call our dealer Saturday afternoon if there's an issue.
And for me, making sure that we have the best relationship with our dealers.
A relationship that's built on trust through transparency is the way I like to talk about it
is an absolute vision and commitment from myself and my team.
And it's going to transform the way we think about our dealers and the way we interact with them.
You've seen me probably online on the motorcycle visiting dealers.
And I do that because I'm not on a boondoggle having fun, although it's always fun,
you know, burning gas and hauling asses, like to say.
But to me, when you're on our product, participating in our sport,
you think differently about the most important things when you're side by side our dealers.
And that's why I do it.
And I jumped on a Roadmaster, Power Plus, Dallas, went to Daytona Beach back in early
March, late February.
We've been visited dealerships along the way.
And every one of those stops, Ryan, is learning for me to see our brand and retail environment,
talk to riders, talk to the people that are working the frontline, learn from them every day.
And so I learned a ton at my time at Harley-Davidson, whether it was product development,
marketing, dealer network, dealer development, the whole gamut.
It was a fantastic learning for me.
And I think, again, I think I'm a lucky person because I got to work with guys like Jerry
Wilkie, Ron Hutchinson, great CEOs, Keith Wondell, Rich Chirlink that taught me a lot about the
business.
And I think it positions me well of where I am today.
Yeah, I agree.
And that kind of brings me to my next question as we dive a little deeper into that.
So you've seen the, obviously, Vance and Heinz, Bombardier.
Am I saying that right?
Yeah, BRP is an easy way because it's already recreational products.
And everybody just refers to it as BRP.
Okay, BRP, all right.
And also RumbleOn.
So like I say, you've seen the business, which is interesting from the OEM side,
the aftermarket side, the dealership side.
And I have to believe, you know, how does that, having that full picture
shape the way kind of you're going to run Indian today?
No, I think it 100% influences me how I look at the business today.
Here's the deal by Caholics.
Hogworks is built around two things writers actually care about.
High quality parts and customer service that stands behind them.
That's why they become a go-to for Hardy Davidson and Indian aftermarket upgrades.
And we're not just talking here.
We run Hogworks parts on our own bikes because we want gear that fits right,
looks right, and holds up in the real world.
If you want to upgrade with confidence, check out the wide array of Hogworks products
we proudly carry in the law-abiding biker store.
Grab what you need and get back to riding.
And if you don't see it in our store, hit us up on our contact form
because we'd love to get it headed your way.
When I think about my time at Harley, you know, I was growing up as a professional
and I learned so many things, right?
So many things about the importance of a dealer network, great marketing,
great focus on the rider, just product development, the customization piece,
you know, just so much, right?
And it was there for such a long period of time.
You know, you have a chance to kind of, you know, live with your mistakes
and learn and grow and develop.
Interesting.
When I went to BRP, I developed a special relationship with the CEO
of that company, Jose Bazzelli, who just recently retired,
but he was there for a very long period of time.
And he brought a different sort of consuming mindset on the product side of things.
And that taught me a lot about kind of the pace of his thinking and how consumed he was
with competing, excuse me, on the product side of things.
When I went to Vance and Hines, this was interesting because when you think,
you know, the motorcycle business, because you're in it for 25, 26 years,
and then you move to the aftermarket side, and now you look at the industry through the
aftermarket lens, and right, it looks totally different.
You think about the business differently.
You think about riders differently.
You think about the journey of owning a motorcycle differently.
You think about investing your capital in new products differently than you do
when you're on the OEM side.
And so it was a huge learning for me.
And then Terry Vance had sold the business when I got there,
but I pulled him back into the business because I think he's a brilliant business
mind and knows the category better than anybody.
So he was a huge advisor to me.
And so my first chance to kind of work side by side with what I would argue
one of the most successful entrepreneurs that this industry has seen in Terry Vance,
and sort of like keeping it up with his pace of thinking and the way he goes about business,
the speed at which he thinks, how he sees things around the corner.
That was a challenge, to be totally honest with you.
It was a challenge to hang with him, but it was an incredible learning.
And then when I went to Ramadan, the two gentlemen that started right now,
Mark Tak and Bill Coulter, who built, you know, an empire in terms of retail,
power, sports and motorcycle stores.
Again, a chance to work with them alongside them as very successful entrepreneurs
just has taught me an immense amount of knowledge.
But so I've learned a lot, but I have this mentality.
And sometimes it drives my wife nuts, but I had this mentality that yeah,
I've learned a lot over the last 35 years, but every day I wake up,
I'm like, I have still so much to learn.
And that's just kind of how I think about business.
You're always learning, you're always adapting, and I think we're really blessed
at the team that we're inheriting from Polaris.
Yeah, amen to learning every day, for sure.
So when Carol kind of took this whole thing over and we detached from Polaris and stuff,
you know, I'm sure there was some, you know, in your mind as always,
some considerations, I guess, what made you realize, you know, yeah,
I'm going to head over there, you know, and run this thing, you know,
a direct competitor, obviously the company you spent most of your career at.
Yeah, I didn't have to think about it too much.
I mean, you know, as I said earlier, I think I mentioned this to you, you know,
I didn't leave Harley on my own.
I was exited out of Harley, you know, probably because I was too pro dealer
and that culture of time was not pro dealer.
And again, I think the reason why I am so pro dealer is because I was taught at an early age
of the value of a good dealer network that's engaged with the OEM.
That's number one.
Number two, my dad owns his own small business.
And so I think I always had an appreciation for what it takes to be a dealer.
Like these guys have a ton of liability, risk, they're on 24-7.
Even if their doors aren't open 24-7, trust me, dealer owners are engaged in thinking
about the business 24-7.
And so I just saw a huge appreciation for them.
And so when this chance came about, again, having competed against them and seeing them,
what they've done, I thought it was a huge opportunity.
I just, I mean, you know, my wife said like, oh my gosh, you got to do this.
You've been working your whole career for this and you're well positioned around it.
So I enjoy the business.
I mean, we've got a ton of challenges to manage.
True is a tough economic environment that we're in.
But I feel really good about where we're at, Ryan.
I mean, you have a great product line, our market share is increasing.
And I think when you look at some of the mistakes, or I don't know if mistakes are the
right word, but some of the moves that Polaris made, and you think about our future going forward
where we're not going to make those moves, I'll give you an example.
And that's why I don't call it a mistake because context is everything in business.
But they invested a lot of time and money into the FTR platform.
Okay. And people ask me, usually people ask me when I do these podcasts,
are you going to bring the FTR back, you know, and I like it when they ask me that question.
The short answer is no, the longer answer as to why we're not going to do that is because
I would consider that a distraction.
We've declared our strategy on product, which is to focus on cruisers, baggers, touring,
and very soon trike.
And when we look at the global markets in cruiser, bagger, touring, and trike,
the upside for our brand and our company is immense.
We can grow our company beyond probably what we're dreaming of today, and we've got big dreams
of big aspirations, if we just execute and focus on cruiser, bagger, touring, and trike.
And we've proven that we can win with this brand and this dealer network and our product
in the middleweight cruiser segment. We are winning significantly in the touring segment.
We have a lot of work to do in baggers, and you've probably heard me say publicly that
that's going to be our primary focus. It's why I like the king of bagger racing program so much.
And we're going to enter the trike market in a speedy way, and we're going to bring a great
product to market. So when you look at all that together, there's huge upside, there's huge benefit
for our dealers, and it's going to bring great strength and overall, I think I'm well positioned
for it. I love leading cross-functional teams, bringing products to market. That's probably
when you're the CEO of a company, there's a long list of things that you have to deal with. But when
I'm in that sweet spot of marketing, engineering, research, testing, the dealer network, bringing
a product to market that will delight our riders and impact our viewers positively,
that's just like the sweet spot for me. So to make sure I understand everything right,
look at the market, and obviously you've all done that. It seems like what you said is you're
focused obviously more on the touring full-size touring bagger. That's kind of where the direction
is right now because obviously a company can't go in every direction and do everything at once.
You kind of got to go with where you think. Is that the, is it fair to say that's what you're
saying is you're targeting mostly that segment of the market? Yeah, so to be clear, and by the way,
I like that clarity because to me, when you talk about strategy, to me, strategy is as much about
what you're going to do also as to what you're not going to do, right? Because business is all
about choices. And so we're going to focus on cruisers. That's very important segment for us,
baggers, touring, and very soon trike. That's going to be our focus for the medium term.
Not going to mess around with EV bikes. We think that's just nonsense for our riders. Our riders
aren't interested in that. The technology's not there. And we're not going to invest in low-cost,
overseas motorcycles. Our scout starts at 99.99 MSRP. That's a great entryway into our brand.
We think the end of motorcycle is a premium brand. And yeah, would I love to have a scout that was
$6,900? Sure, I would. But I got news for you, Ryan. You wouldn't like that bike. And our dealers
wouldn't like that bike. And by the way, there's a lot of competitive products from other OEMs
in that price point that I'm happy if a rider grows up on that and then comes over to what I
would say is the sexiest, most confident cruiser on the market, the scout. And so I'm okay with
that, right? And that's our focus going forward. And again, when you look at the upside we have
in cruiser, vagaturing, and soon trike from a commercial business perspective, there's a lot
of business there to go get. Yeah. And so speaking of those, maybe middle weight bikes or whatever,
I know that obviously you're fully aware and the industry is fully aware and it's not just
Indian. It's not just every motorcycle company. One of the challenges is how do we attract
a new generation of riders and that demographic because some of that demographic that rides
these bikes is aging, right? So point to myself a little bit. But what is Indian basically doing
to kind of tackle that problem? If you even see it as a problem, that's just what I see from the
outside. Yeah, I don't know if I buy into the motorcycles are getting older or motorcycles
the sport of motorcycling, our sport on road, right? When you're in your 20s and 30s,
typically, I'm just using broad strokes here, I don't want to offend anybody, but using your
building a family, buying a house, got a new job, like you've got young kids around, right?
And I remember when I was in my late 20s, early 30s, I always had a Harley in the garage
and my neighbors would come over, right? Somewhere demographics and like, oh, man,
how do you justify having a bike in the garage right now with house payments and young kids
and T-ball and everything else? I'm like, well, I'm in the business, so it's kind of easy for me
to justify it. So I don't know if I buy into into that, right? There is a theory out there that
all of these kids riding these electric bicycles that are pretty competent machines, right? You
look at them, I mean, I'm not an expert, but I look at them from time to time. And they're
more competent today than they ever have been. There is a theory out there that says those
those kids are going to grow up on two wheels. They've experienced the freedom what two wheels
brings differently than probably what you experienced when you were growing up. Certainly,
what I experienced on the south side of Milwaukee growing up with my Yamaha sort of modified Enduro,
but they're still experiencing two wheels, right? And so one theory is that those kids
will grow up and want to come over to street motorcycles and that benefits the industry
as a whole. So yeah, I don't I'm not I'm not seeing the data that says we should be running
scared around aging. Also, one thing that we don't talk enough about a great entry into a brand
like Indian is the pre-owned market, right? When you walk into one of our dealers or if you shop
in the secondhand market, finding a pre-owned scout, pre-owned chief is a great way to enter
the market. And quite frankly, when I talk to customers, riders, a lot of them want to enter
in the pre-owned market because they're they're afraid of scratching a brand new Indian. They
don't want to damage that that jewelry that they just purchased, right, until they become a more
avid rider. So now we're going to stay focused on cruiser bagger touring and very soon trike,
huge upside for our brand in those areas. And that's going to be our focus.
Yeah, so trike. And I when we did the kind of exclusive press conference with you,
I was in that meeting, I don't think it was a couple months ago. But yeah, you had mentioned
trike and certainly that excited me. I and I had kind of thought about that ahead of time. I'm like,
they have to tackle the trike because really, there's, you know, no competition in the trike
market, so to speak that much. So what does that look like? Because, you know, building a trike is,
you know, to my understanding, Indians never had an actual trike. So what's the timeline to bring
something like that to market? Yeah, so yeah, I'm going to couse this with him. I'm not going to
announce specifically. But I will tell you that the last time that you heard me talk, which was
probably is probably either in February or just prior to February timeframe. I will tell you that
I am thoroughly impressed with what my team has been able to accomplish in a relatively short
period of time. But let me just back up just a little bit. You said it, you're 100% right.
There's one player making trikes today. They need a competitor. Our riders want it. Our
dealers want it. The brand is set up for it. So we're going to enter the market, right? If we were
working in normal process, and we were a really good company in product development, it would
have been trikes to get that accomplished. Now, we're going to think differently about that process.
We're going to have a partner. By the way, also, you got to remember, my engineering team
knows this space really, really well, because a lot of them have spent time on the ORV side of
things. And so they know rear independent suspension extremely well. This is not a foreign concept of
them. And by the way, they were already studying this segment with curiosity before I arrived on
the scene. I simply poured a bunch of gasoline on that small fire and made it the primary focus.
So not three to four years from when I first set it, not next week, Tuesday, but you can
sort of try and guess where that's going to be. But it's going to be, I believe that when people
see when we come to market, they'll be impressed with the timeline. But more importantly than that,
Mike promises that they're going to be impressed with the product because I've written a prototype
already, and I'm super impressed. All right. Exciting. Exciting. Thanks for talking about that
a little bit. So we're talking, I want to back up just a little bit. And I don't want to dive in
the weeds too much, but I think it's important. Obviously, everybody knows, you know, Indy and
Harley, we need, you know, both and that drives, you know, competition and the end user ends up
benefiting from that, right? And so, you know, you spend a lot of time at Harley and you know,
as well as anyone in the industry, Harley Davidson, but from the outside looking in,
I got to ask, you mentioned a little bit earlier, maybe dealership support and some other things.
If you could talk about, you know, what basically you might see if you're comfortable that Harley's
was, is going maybe in the wrong direction. And the reason I asked that is then maybe you can say,
well, Indian is going in a different direction from them moving forward. And what makes Indian
basically a different choice for the rider? Yeah, no, I appreciate that. I listen,
I, yeah, and I haven't worked at Harley for some time, right? So all I know is some outside looking
in, I do know what was there for 25 years. And, you know, there was a long period of time where
that was the greatest motorcycle company on the planet. From what I've seen coming out of there,
you know, in the last five to eight years, it's troubling. I feel like they're disconnected
from the core rider. And, you know, I, they had a CEO that the previous CEO,
his time was in the shoe business. Clearly, he despised of the core rider and was taking the
company in a bad direction, hurt their dealer network immensely, and just a lot of bad things.
I am shocked at the appointment of who they put in the role more recently. And that's not a
negative reflection over already stars. I have nothing bad to say about him. I'm not in a position
to even talk about him. I just think when you look at his background, and you think about the company,
to me, that just doesn't make any sense. And I just think that is an indication that the board
is disconnected with the business, the core rider, the issues that need to confront. But,
but I don't care about that, right? Because that's, that's, that might be a, a bigger opportunity
than what we already have at Indian. But let me tell you about Indian, right? When you're,
when you're a privately owned company, and you're 900 employees, and the private ownership,
Carol Wood, hires a 35 year motorcycle veteran to run the company, that is a completely different
game than what's going on coming out of Milwaukee, right? We are, we are a rider centric. We are
going to develop a rider centric culture. And that's not just because of me. But, you know,
you can certainly say that it starts from the top, right? The old cliche, it starts from the top and
it rolls downhill. And we're riding motorcycles every day, we're visiting our dealers on motorcycles,
we're going to events with the IMRG, which is a fantastic nucleus of riders that have a ton of
energy that I've been incredibly delighted around. And that's the culture that we're going to be
focused on. Hey, my colleague, searching for new and exciting motorcycle products.
Zero 3D has the products you dream about for your bike. Check out their wide variety of
innovative products for Harley-Davidson and Honda Goldwing motorcycles. Zero 3D's got your back
with chrome and black parts, lighting and other comfort products. No modifying, cutting, grinding,
or welding for an easy installation. That equals less time installing and more time riding. Zero
3D has a design team of riders with over 40 years of experience with a passion for design and
innovation. Zero Goldstrike are the motorcycle LED lighting innovators for Canbus plug and play
system compatibility. They pride themselves on great customer service, got a question,
get in touch with them. Email sales at zero 3D.com or give them a call 715-808-0027.
Check out your local Harley or Honda dealership and ask for Zero or Goldstrike parts. A new
leader has emerged, so check out Zero 3D's custom line of Goldstrike products for the
all-new Honda Goldwings. Better yet, help support us and head over to lawbuddingbiker.com for a
shop store and check out our full line of Zero 3D products. I take it back to your question about
our product, right? We're the little product in the heartland of America. We're going to be focused
on cruisers, baggers, touring, and very soon try. That's what we know. That's what we're going to
focus on, and we're proud of that. We're unapologetic for it, right? We are America's first motorcycle
company, and we are going to be rider-led from the top down. That's what we're all about.
Yeah, I can tell. I appreciate it. I love talking motorcycles, and your passion
for it comes through for sure. With that, I appreciate you answering those questions,
because it's just a lot of questions people have. What's going to differentiate and get...
We're going to talk a little bit more about that, about getting riders to choose Indian,
but let's talk racing. Holy cow, I am a huge King of the Baggers fan.
Once I started watching it, I am an addict. A couple of things come to mind.
There's a bit to talk about here, and hopefully you can educate me.
I'll try. I'll try. You guys came out of the gate this year. You took over Indian.
I want to talk a little bit about this Vance and Heinz deal. I didn't know exactly what to expect,
but I will tell you that I was at the races in Daytona, and I was like, Holy
shit. Those bikes, and I will just say props to Indian, to Vance and Heinz,
to the team, because it wasn't that long to get a bike that was race ready to put
Hayden under, and Landers, and Herphos, but you did it in a really short amount of time.
That's not necessarily always the case with racing. Sometimes it can take a whole season to
get rider and bike dialed in, but man, what a partnership that's been. Can you talk about
how it is as a CEO to looking from your perspective of having a race team that
is doing that well early season, and then dive into the Vance and Heinz partnership,
and kind of how that, because last year Vance and Heinz was partnered with Harley,
and now they're partnered with Indian, so there hasn't been a lot of information on that, and a
lot of people are kind of asking questions about it. Yeah, yeah, I'm not happy to answer anything
around that, so keep me, keep me focused, but I love this subject. You know, quick backstory
as a reminder, right, when I was at Harley back in the late 90s, I took over the Harley racing
program, and I contacted Vance and Heinz. I contacted Terrier directly about a vision
of joining Harley with Vance and Heinz to do a racing program, and we did that deal back in
the late 90s, and that program stood in place for, I think it was 25 years, well beyond my time
there, certainly well beyond the role that I was in, and I like to say that it lasted
four CMOs and I think three CEOs, right, so it got interrogated and it stood the test of time.
It was a great program. Vance and Heinz, you know, Terrier and Byron have built an incredible
racing legacy, their race shop in Brownsburg, Indiana, which I'd love to get you into sometime,
Brian, the both the talent that is there, and the assets in terms of hard machinery,
the combined capabilities that that team has is incredible, and so when I ran Vance and Heinz,
right, I got a chance to manage that team, lead that team, and be involved in them directly.
We ran the first Harley program at Vance and Heinz, which was the exhibition races, the first one
that took place, I think it was in 20 or 21, got beat pretty bad by Indian, and then I went
on my way, right, so when you look at this business, as you said as the CEO, I'm looking at this
business during the diligence, I'm looking at cruisers, baggers, touring, and we got to get
into trikes, right, and the bagger segment is the biggest segment in North America, okay,
it's the most important segment to our dealers, and because it's the biggest, it's really important
to Indian Motorcycle Company, and this performance bagger segment in the industry
is a real thing, I'm sure you're aware of that, right, you go to the Atona, go to Sturgis, go
wherever, and you see people showing up on even pre-owned baggers with the put T-bars on, raise
the rear bags, put a better suspension on it, you know, an all-in suspension, about two into one,
and they're off to, no pun intended, off to the races, right, so it's a real thing,
and so I was in the due diligence process, and I talked to the guys at Polaris and Goldman
Sachs was the banker, and I said, hey, listen, I want to talk to Terry Vance about racing,
because if I'm going to be running this company when we close, we're going to go racing, and I'd
like to have a shot at going with them, so they, we signed, you know, signed NDAs and stuff when I
called Terry, and I remember this conversation vividly, it was, it was late September, right,
they had just finished up the New Jersey race, so it's like late September, I bring one of that
tent, I tell them what's going on, and we get through all that, right, we've known each other
for a long period of time, we have, I like to say, we have fought, we have cried, we have laughed,
we have, like, we've developed an incredible relationship over the last, you know, almost,
almost 30 years, and he said, well, what are you thinking, Mike, and I said, well, Terry,
I want to go racing, like, I want this motor America thing, King of the Baggers, it's super
important to the brand, super important to our dealers, we need to go racing, he said, well,
what are you thinking, I'm like, well, I want to go racing with you, and so, okay, he thinks about
it for a while, and, and so what else you think, and I said, well, I want to be in Daytona, and we
got to get a bike on the box, and he says, man, Terry, Mike, you're asking a lot,
I said, I know, but I know who I'm asking, and I mean that, and I'm telling you, I said that,
Ryan, with, it just, those guys are so capable, Byron, Andrew, Terry, Steve Polk, those guys,
I would put up against anybody on the planet in terms of setting up a bike, making horsepower,
managing a team, like, it's, they're incredible, and so a very short period of time, I mean,
Terry said, okay, let's do this, and we shook hands, we got going, and you think about it,
and you said it, so you get it, late September to the first weekend in March to the race is not a
long period of time, those guys worked tirelessly, I mean, Steve Polk is the, is the main, the main
guy driving the program with the help of many others, but I know, I know personally, he was at
the shop till 3am, many of nights during that window to do what they did, I was, I was nervous
the night before the Daytona race, not for me, because I knew, I knew without a shadow of a doubt,
the team would get us where we need to get to, at some point in time in the short future,
but I was worried about the effort they had put in, the faith they put in me and our brand,
and, and now we're here in Daytona, and like, it's not a lot of time, like anything could
happen, right, I mean, you could have a mechanical, you could have something they just missed because
they didn't have the time, and to have the weekend we did, I mean, Ryan, we went 186 miles an hour
on the straightaway in Daytona, I mean, I heard Hayden say their day, he went 14 miles an hour
faster in Daytona than he did the year prior in his Harley, and it just shows you that power plus
engine architecture, it's a modern interpretation of each one, the chassis, you combine that with
advanced and high motorsports, it's an incredible weapon, I mean, it is an incredible weapon, and,
and then to go off to Atlanta, and, you know, end up 12 and three, which was, you know,
it's always a dream when you have three riders, and I figured we might get there, you know,
mid season, I didn't think we'd get there in a second weekend of racing, I mean, just so proud
of the guys, just honored to have them as a partner, a long term partner, that's just great.
Yeah, yeah, it's awesome and the season's just getting started, so we're excited to follow along.
You mentioned in there the, you know, importance of the Mission King of the Baggers and Indian's
involvement in racing, you know, for the audience, what, what is the importance of it, and, you know,
what you do on the racetrack, does it actually translate it to showroom sales,
and, and does King of the Baggers, how does it move the needle for Indian?
Yeah, for sure, and I think, I think what's great about it, if you zoom out, even, even zoom out
away from, you know, Indian for a second, how cool that we've got two American V-Twin brands
that are competing at the highest level against each other, right, demonstrating to,
not only our riders, but riders who are on standards, sport bikes, or on,
you know, adventure touring motorcycles, right, they get to see these motorcycles
perform at the highest level. I just think that's fantastic, right, and I think that,
that competition is good and, and, you know, we're obviously very serious about it, and
by the way, I would argue, I don't know, I'll come back to your, to your point, but I would argue
that the work you're seeing on the track, the, the, the energy, the grit, the determination,
the speed at which we're moving, that's going on in our building and product development,
as it relates to trike and future products, marketing, sales, everything we're doing. So
it's a fun time at the company right now. But your other question specifically was,
how does it relate to sales? And what I like about, so, you know, I mean, I, listen, I'm a fan
of motorcycle racing, but as the CEO, I need to see, see the linkage between the track
and the show. And the fact that this, I think this class is very special because, listen,
what that 186 mile an hour bike that went Daytona, that's the same chassis you can buy as a customer
in a challenge. That 186 mile an hour bike in Daytona, that's the same engine architecture you
can buy on a challenger, your local dealership, right? The bodywork is the same dimension. Yes,
of course, it's not, doesn't have a radio and an, you know, Apple car plate to do it because you need
race spec stuff like that, but the dimension of it is the same. And so that direct physical linkage
from the track to the showroom is, there's, there's no doubt in my mind, there's, there's,
when you look at our challenger product line over the last 90 days, how it is outperforming
the rest of the product line, I gotta believe that there's a big piece of that that's tied to racing.
Our dealers are talking about it. Customers are telling us about it. It's, it's a, it's an easy
linkage and an easy path from the showroom to the track. Yeah. And that probably I would think
translates into your new product line that maybe we can talk about a little bit. And that's
Indians launching a new performance brand. I believe you pronounce it R O A R O.
ARO. ARO. ARO. Okay. So ARO, that's ARO American Racing Operations on May 27th.
Now, the way I understand it's going to be all performance based parts and accessories,
and it's kind of going to live under this name. Can you tell us about the vision behind
ARO and what this is going to mean for the customer and end user?
I love ARO. I think it's, I think it's so exciting, you know, when you, when you,
in your career, you know, you can launch products, you know, at a rapid rate,
this is much bigger and broader than just a product, right? This is a sub-brand,
performance sub-brand underneath Indian Motorcycle Company. You know, you think about
Scamini, you think about AMG, the M class and BMW. This is, this is ARO for us,
American Racing Operations. And yeah, it's going to, it's going to come out of the gate
with products attached to it, exhaust, air intakes, etc. Eventually we'll have motorcycles
that will be branded ARO. I would imagine someday we'll have maybe even services
surrounded and branded in the ARO platform. So yeah, to me, it's super exciting. I think that
we're a brand that's uniquely qualified to have and launch something like ARO or a 125-year history
of racing, incredible legacy of racing. And this is what our customers want, right? I mean, our
customers want that performance aspect of our brand. And ARO is going to be the platform we're
going to communicate around. And again, it's going to start as products and people will see it as,
you know, slip-on mufflers for a two-in-one system, maybe the race replica exhaust system for their
bagger. But it's going to go well beyond that and blossom into, you know, a full-grown motorcycle
at some point in time in the future. So yeah, it's super exciting. We're going to launch it,
you know, in and around Elkhart Lake. I have a bunch of my teammates with me. We're actually
riding over from our headquarters in Minneapolis to Elkhart Lake to the event that weekend and hang
out with our dealers and riders and certainly the team and root the team on during the race.
Nice. Well, I can't wait to see for the launch of this stuff. And as it progresses, especially
once we get to a full motorcycle, that's going to be neat to see. And speaking of,
since we're talking about, you know, that's OEM parts, obviously, one of the biggest things,
you know, that I tend, I keep, you know, my ear to the ground within the industry,
you know, riders for years have said, I really do like Indian, but there aren't enough
aftermarket parts available. Obviously, I assume you can educate me that you're aware and focused on.
You've also, I believe you've said you want to treat aftermarket manufacturers as partners,
not adversaries. And so what does this look like in practice? And have you formed, or even if you
can say any third-party, you know, relationships for aftermarket accessories? Yeah. And you asked
me this question earlier or something connected to that, right, about, you know, the difference between
Indian and Harley. And we talked about rider culture and top down all that good stuff. But
this is an area that we're definitely taking a different point of view on. We are looking at
the aftermarket as partners. Now, we know that some customers want to buy product that's branded
Indian, branded Arrow. And we'll have that product offered. And we're going to invest in that. We
want to do more internally. But I want to invest in the aftermarket partner with the aftermarket.
And the reason for that, to me, is that's what our riders want. And I don't want to stand in the way
of what our riders want, right? If you've been riding baggers for a while and you're a Reinhardt
guy, right? Or you're a Krause guy, right? You like Krause's bars, you know, their front ends,
the risers or whatever, right? I don't want to stand in the way of that. I want to help
facilitate that. I want to partner with those companies and help facilitate their product
development for our motorcycles. And sure, you might say, geez, Mike,
you lost your mind, like you're giving that profit away, right? Like if somebody buys a challenger
and they go buy a Reinhardt exhaust system, right, like my company's not profiting in that,
right? So you could take the mindset, well, I'm going to make that exhaust system and compete
with Reinhardt and lock them out. Okay. It's not my mindset, right? My mindset is, listen,
I'm embracing the aftermarket. It's real. It's significant in terms of the categories we're
talking about, cruiser, bagger, touring and Sunday trike. And so I want to acknowledge that,
lean into that, partner with those, the aftermarket as a broad and facilitate that for our riders.
To me, it's about, it's about our riders and our dealers. Our dealers sell those products,
our riders want those products, and my job is to make sure they can get it. It's pretty simple.
Yeah, I think that's, yeah, great direction. And obviously, you know, you've mentioned it
multiple times here in the interview. And I saw it firsthand about dealership. So
just to give a little background, so I first met you when we were in LA at the Peterson Museum.
And what a great event, by the way. Everybody, Indian, the marketing team, absolutely blew my
mind. But with that said, so night one, a lot of us creators were there, and we got to ride the
Chief Vintage and all that, which is an amazing bike. And, but night two, we weren't really told,
we went back to the Peterson Museum. And there was, it was a much larger event. I didn't really
know. And so for the audience, what happened was, I started mingling around, I realized, oh,
these are all dealerships and owners and families. And I, in my mind, right away, I said, oh, Mike is
definitely into supporting dealerships, which obviously you spoke a little bit that might
have been lacking before. Yeah, so truly amazing that all those folks were there. And I got to
meet a lot of them. How's the response been from the dealers mostly? Because you've been riding
around, like you said, face to face, that's got to be like relieving to them that they have a CEO
that is listening to them. Ride longer and treat your ass with some respect already. Get hooked up
with the premium but buffer seat cushion. This company of bikers developed a super thin hospital
great seat cushion made of solid and elastic materials. And it's unlike those gel pads that
will leak a punctured the butt buffer design not to slide around in your seat fits all motorcycles
installs and seconds easily cleans and yep, helps to dampen vibrations with plenty of models to
choose from they assure you'll have a comfortable ass when riding head over to the law biting
biker store and check out our lineup of but buffer seat cushions.
Yeah, I think I think so. Ryan, I mean, LA was I've been to a lot of dealer shows in my career.
Too many to really mention. You were in that room. So I mean, you know, you can comment on this,
the energy in that room that night. I've never experienced anything like that before my life.
I mean, it was unbelievable, the energy in that room. And, you know, what's reflected on that
a little bit, I had I had several requests for interviews and podcasts and different things
before Los Angeles. And I said no to every one of them. And I said no for this reason,
and I told anybody that reached out to me, hey, would you do an interview? I said, no,
I'm not going to do one. And here's why I said, because I'm talking to our dealers for the first
time, third week in January or something like that in Los Angeles. And I want them to hear from me
and the company, the new company directly, I don't want them to hear it through somebody else.
So if you just be patient, I'd love to talk to you moments after Los Angeles. And so that was the
first time that I spoke publicly about the direction the company, what our strategies were,
what our focus is going to be, what we intend on fixing, what we intend on not breaking,
you know, introduce them to the leadership team, etc, etc. And I think they appreciated that.
I think they appreciated that transparency as well as, you know, kind of putting them first.
And again, you're going to hear me say this a thousand times, right? I mean, we can only go
so far as our dealers will take us. So we're going to invest in our dealers. We're going to be
committed to that relationship. And I think in the room that night, you felt the energy around
that mindset. They were off the chart positive about it. A day doesn't go by when I don't talk
to one of our dealers either through a text message or an email or a face to face or a phone call.
And I love that because every time I talk with them, I'm learning. And I think that I think,
you know, before, listen, every leader is different. So I'm not casting blame or negativity to the
previous leaders. This is the way I was growing up in the business of how you learn, right? You
pick up the phone and you talk to our dealers, especially when we have a challenge in the business,
right? I was just to say, our problems are at corporate, solutions are in the field.
If there's a challenge at corporate, the chances are our dealers are already dealing with it,
and they probably solve for it because they can't wait for us to solve for. And so again,
this is what I was taught in the early days of my career. That's the mindset we're going to bring.
And, you know, dealers are 100% a key component of our strategy going forward.
With that said, is, you know, one of the other things I said, you're working on
aftermarket parts, which I think is just amazing. And that's going to be huge,
plus the airline. Another, you know, thing that sometimes in, you know, riders in general say,
well, the dealership network, you know, they don't have a big enough dealership. So you're
obviously working with that. Is there any plans to expand that dealership network over the next,
you know, three or four years? Right, there is. We actually have, I've been talking and studying
this with the team. By the way, the team has done an incredible job. If you think about when they
bought the brand, when players bought the brand, I mean, I think there were like, I don't know the
exact number, but let's just say, literally a handful of dealers across the world. And today
we have 600 dealers, right, which, which is really incredible. And so when you look at the market
in the United States of America, where we have dealers, our coverage actually is better than
what we give ourselves credit for. Now, that being said, we have pockets in North America where we
need dealership representation. We're talking to our existing dealers about potentially them
expanding. We're talking to many of prospective dealers all the time about them bringing the line
on. And we want to do it in the right way. I don't want to do it just to put a pin in the map.
We know enough about this business that when we have an engaged dealer with a committed team,
they, they outperform their peers and not at a little bit, but at a significant amount. And,
and so we want to make sure that as we expand our dealer network, we do it the right way.
Yeah, you'll see the dealer network expanding over the period of time.
But again, we want to do it the right way. Nice. And I know your time is value. I just got
just a couple of little things, but, and then I'll get you out of here. I do appreciate you.
Number one, you know, I mentioned it up front. I'll just tell you the fact that even
you're a writer and the fact, I know it's weird. I've been on, you know, YouTube for like 13 years
and stuff, but the fact that you actually know who I am was pretty humbling. I'm a pretty humble guy
and you might have made me blush all over. Like, wow, Mike Kennedy knows who I am. Very cool. But
you're very down to earth. And I knew that at the Peterson Museum and you're mingling with the
writers. And I think it's super important, you know, to continue to do that and meet the writers
where they are. Because people, I'll just tell you, being in the industry, I,
you can imagine the amount this long. One of the, you know, large American made between channels
and podcasts, people ask a lot of questions. And so I tried to tailor those to answer some
of that today. I think you're, you're building a lot of excitement around Indian. And so, yeah,
I just wanted to, to thank you for being on platforms like this and given, given, given
me some of your valuable time. I know you're a busy guy.
All right. I appreciate it. And I'm glad the questions you asked me today are questions you're
hearing from, you know, writers across the country and the globe for that matter. But listen, this is,
this is what it's all about. You know, we're excited to be here and the excitement that we're
creating is pretty easy to do when you got a brand and a product line and a viewer like we have. So
it's good times coming, better times ahead. Yeah, awesome. I'm looking forward to different
releases and hopefully, you know, get to review some of those bikes. I appreciate the opportunities
to do that. So one final question. And that is, what would you say to a writer right now who's
been on the fence about Indian? I would say, take it for a test ride. And if you don't buy it, call
me because I don't believe it. I mean, it is, there's no question it's a superior product. Okay.
I've been riding Harleys for 30 years. They make a nice bike. I think they make a better t-shirt
than a bike, but that's another conversation. When I got on that roadmaster out of Dallas,
headed for Florida, I'm going across Eastern Texas in Louisiana. I'm thinking this bike is
incredible. The powertrain, the engineering, the technology, the comfort. It's incredible
platform. So I would say to somebody who's out there thinking about both, I would say you have
to go take it for a test ride. You have to. And if you don't buy it, call me because I'm puzzled.
I tell my buddies, a lot of my buddies still are on Harleys. I had a guy just bought a new
challenge up in Green Bay like two weeks ago and he went on a ride with a field. My other
buddies, I didn't get a chance to join them. I'm going to go for a ride with them in September.
But I tell my buddies jokingly all the time, if you don't want a new bike in the garage,
don't go take it any for a test ride because it's an incredible machine. And I think beyond that,
hopefully people are seeing the culture that we're building around our brand,
rider-focused mentality. And if I was a rider, obviously I am a rider, but if I was a rider
not connected to the industry, that mindset, that culture would be attractive to me.
And so hopefully riders are seeing that as well. I was like, hey, listen, I wouldn't mind being
part of a rider culture company that's run by riders, 35-year motorcycle veteran that knows
the business, the aftermarket, the dealer side, the OEM side. We're having a lot of fun and we'll
only get started. Awesome. And yeah, thanks again for the time. And hopefully we'll get to talk in
person. Virtual is great, but in person is always nice. And maybe we'll get to ride together.
I would love that. That'd be great. All right. Great. Thank you for your time, Mike.
Yeah. Thank you.
There you go, guys. I hope you enjoyed this episode. A couple of things. I really,
number one, enjoyed my time talking with Mike Kennedy and his willingness to meet the rider
community where it's at. And that is places like here at the Lawbinding Biker podcast.
So this is going to come out in regular podcast format, of course, audio. But if you're listening
to this and you want to go watch it on video, we also did video record it and posted it on
YouTube so you don't want to get a second shot at it. It is over on the Lawbinding Biker YouTube
channel. But all in all, I know a lot, as you saw or heard, a lot of stuff's going on here in
2026 with Indian motorcycles. And I hope I did justice in trying to ask questions, obviously,
for my own curiosity, but also I think that I compiled, just keeping my ear to the ground,
compiled enough questions that a lot of you out there may have with the transition away from
Polaris, you know, and new leadership via Mike Kennedy as the CEO and the 125th anniversary
and king of the bags and everything that goes into that. But I hope I did it, Justin. And I
really hope you enjoyed the episode. Thank you as always for listening. I absolutely couldn't do this
without all of your support. So thank you so much. And I leave you with this. Get out there
and freaking ride every chance you get by colleagues. Peace.
About this episode
After a quick stop for LED lighting and a convenient fuel transfer pump, the conversation shifts to Indian Motorcycle’s leadership shakeup and Mike Kennedy’s CEO perspective. Kennedy explains the brand’s separation from Polaris, the scale of its dealer network, and why Indian is doubling down on cruisers, baggers, touring, and an upcoming trike push. Racing is a centerpiece: King of the Baggers, Vance & Hines, and Daytona speed that he ties back to production Challengers—plus a clear stance on embracing the aftermarket.
In this podcast episode, I interview the new Indian Motorcycle CEO Mike Kennedy. We learn more about Mike and his motorcycle background. He also shares the vision and focus of Indian. We get into King of the Baggers (KOTB), the relationship with Vance and Hines, and how Indian Motorcycles is performing well at KOTB racing.
Mike Kennedy is a longtime motorcycle industry executive who became CEO of Indian Motorcycle following the brand's 2025 separation from Polaris Inc. and acquisition by private equity firm Carolwood LP. Kennedy brings more than 30 years of powersports experience to the role, including leadership positions as CEO of RumbleOn, CEO and President of Vance & Hines, and a 26-year career at Harley-Davidson. Industry observers view Kennedy as a motorcycle-focused executive with deep experience in dealer networks, aftermarket performance products, and brand development. Since taking over Indian Motorcycle in 2026, he has emphasized strengthening rider experience, dealer support, performance innovation, and expanding the brand's global relevance while preserving its historic American heritage.
In 2026, Indian Motorcycle entered a transformative new era as it became a standalone motorcycle company under the ownership of private equity firm Carolwood LP after separating from Polaris. The historic American brand celebrated its 125th anniversary during the transition, with Mike Kennedy leading the company's renewed focus on motorcycles, rider experience, dealer support, American manufacturing, and global brand growth. Industry coverage and rider discussions have highlighted optimism about Indian's sharper motorcycle-only focus, continued investment in performance touring and cruiser models, and efforts to strengthen its identity as Harley-Davidson's primary American rival in the heavyweight motorcycle market.
