If you thought baggers were just about chrome, comfort, and big road trips, think again. Indian Motorcycle just rewrote history at Bonneville, and they did it in spectacular fashion.
Picture this: a massive Indian Challenger – yes, the kind of bike you’d expect cruising down a highway – stripped, tuned, and transformed into a missile on two wheels. With the help of performance legends S&S Cycle and the support of Mission Foods, Indian took its King of the Baggers race bike to the legendary Bonneville Salt Flats. Behind the bars? None other than Tyler O’Hara, two-time King of the Baggers champion and full-throttle daredevil.
The result? Pure goosebumps. O’Hara clocked a staggering 194.384 mph (that’s over 312 km/h), setting a new AMA 2000cc APS-AG record. To put that in perspective, the previous mark – set way back in 1972 on a Triumph – was 169.828 mph. That’s a 52-year-old record smashed to bits, proving that Indian’s racing DNA is alive and kicking harder than ever.
What makes this even cooler is the heritage behind it. Since 1901, Indian has always chased speed – from Burt Munro’s legendary runs at Bonneville to today’s high-tech engineering feats. Watching O’Hara rip across the endless white desert was like seeing history connect in real time – only this time, the bagger didn’t just cruise, it flew.
The next time someone says baggers are slow, just smile and remind them: an Indian Challenger crossed the 300 kmph mark on the Salt Flats.
