Harley-Davidson and Indian have been at each other’s throats for more than a century now, fighting to become not only America’s premier motorcycle brand, but also the world’s. And whereas the fight in the factory-made motorcycle segment is as fierce as ever, on the custom scene Harley-Davidson seems to be clearly winning the war, at least as far as the sheer number of modified bikes goes.
But Indian has not given up, and continues to back exciting projects based on its two-wheelers. The most recent to be announced is something called the Tokyo Connection, a custom FTR being put together by Japanese icon Toshiyuki “Cheetah” Osawa.
The FTR is presently one of the star bikes in the company’s lineup, and a go-to platform for almost all custom garages in the business of modifying Indians. For the purposes of this build, however, we’re promised a radical incarnation of the model, meant to pay tribute to the bike’s flat track heritage.
The project is just getting started, so we have no details on how exactly the Tokyo Connection will finally shape up. We are promised however a blend of American, British, and Japanese moto cultures, displayed on an FTR boasting a unique bodywork, made in the usual Osawa style in hand-formed alloy.
The bike will however have to retain the “great elements that make the FTR such a desirable motorcycle” and an undisclosed list of “choice components” for the machine has been created. The bodywork of the Tokyo Connection will be made by Osawa in Japan, and then flown to the UK for assembly on the base FTR.
The build will be shown in the flesh for the first time during the Bike Shed London Show which takes place at the end of May in the British capital. That means there’s a long time left until then, and for us not to completely forget about the project a series of videos documenting the build will be released in the coming weeks.
The first one is already out, but it’s nothing more than a teaser of what’s to come, with Indian flat track racer Leah Tokelove playing a central role. She reveals absolutely nothing about the new build, as you can clearly see below this text.
These days Indian has three types of FTRs for sale on the American market, namely the standard FTR, the Sport, R Carbon, Championship edition, and Rally. The least expensive of the bunch is of course the standard model, which goes for $13,499. At the opposite end sits the $17,249 R Carbon.
We will probably never know how much the Tokyo Connection will cost to make, and at the moment there is no info on what will happen to it after it is shown in London.
Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies. Full profile
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