Sometimes you ride a totally inappropriate bike for the trip you're about to do. This was not one of those days.
I picked up the Indian Roadmaster Powerplus Dark Horse from Indian Motorcycle in Melbourne with one job, get it back to Sydney. Only I wasn't taking the direct route. Instead of the freeway grind, I pointed it up through Bendigo, then swung inland through Wagga Wagga, Junee, Cowra and Bathurst before finally rolling back into Sydney. Three days, the Olympic Highway, a whole lot of bends, and genuinely one of the most comfortable bikes I've ever thrown a leg over.
A Confession Before We Get Into It
I need to be upfront about something. I'm in my early fifties, and I never saw myself as a big-touring-bike kind of guy. And I definitely never saw myself as an American V-twin guy. For most of my riding life, that just wasn't me.
But things change. The kids are older, there's more time on my hands than there used to be, and somewhere along the way I fell properly in love with the idea of seeing more of Australia, not just riding roads, but actually touring them. A couple of times a year, a group of mates and I head off on a short tour together. Mostly road-focused, though if you tour in this country long enough, you'll end up on a dirt road at some point whether you planned to or not, that’s just part of the joy of it.
The last couple of these trips, I've done on genuinely touring-focused bikes. And honestly? I couldn't have been happier. My days of strapping a dry bag to the back of a naked bike and just heading off into the distance might be behind me. Not because I don't still love that kind of riding, I do, but there's a genuinely good feeling in getting off a bike after 500km in the saddle and feeling fresh. Not wrecked. Not needing twenty minutes to unfold yourself in a motel car park. Just fresh, ready for a steak, a cold beer and keen to keep going the next morning.
These bikes aren't for every type of rider. They're touring bikes, full stop, and they do that one job brilliantly. This trip on the Indian Roadmaster confirmed exactly why.
This Thing Is Big. Like, Really Big.
Let's get the numbers out of the way first, because they're worth knowing before you throw a leg over one. The Roadmaster Powerplus Dark Horse tips the scales at 407kg dry and 423kg fuelled up and ready to ride. It's powered by a liquid-cooled 112 cubic-inch PowerPlus engine, the same engine architecture that won the 2024 MotoAmerica King of the Baggers Championship, putting out 122 horsepower and a genuinely massive 181.4 Nm of torque which felt like you could never be in the wrong gear.
Numbers like that should make a bike feel intimidating at low speed, especially for a bloke my age who's spent most of his riding life on considerably lighter machines. And for about the first five minutes, it kind of does. Then something clicks, the weight just disappears underneath you, and you're left wondering what you were worried about.
There's a difference between a bike that can tour and a bike that's built for touring, and the Roadmaster sits firmly in the second camp. Everything about it is designed around long days in the saddle, which, at this stage of life, is exactly what I'm after.
Heated grips and a heated two-up seat meant that even with a bit of early morning chill in the country air, I was kept comfortable. Independent heat controls for rider and passenger too, so nobody's fighting over the dial.
136+ litres of weatherproof storage across the remote-locking hard saddlebags and trunk is genuinely enormous. If you've ever tried to Tetris a week's worth of gear into a set of soft panniers strapped to a naked bike, you'll understand why this matters more than it sounds like it should.
Cruise control that's about as simple as it gets, one button on, push it across to set. On the long, straight stretches out of Melbourne and into Bendigo, this thing earns its keep.
The electronically adjustable windshield turned out to be one of the standout features of the whole trip. Screen down, you get a decent breeze, lovely in summer, less lovely on a cold morning. Screen up, and you're riding in a genuine bubble of calm, completely blocked from the wind. Being able to adjust that on the fly, depending on the weather and the road, made a real difference.
The 7" display, powered by RIDE COMMAND, comes with GPS navigation, Apple CarPlay, and Bluetooth connectivity built in. Pairing a phone to anything mechanical isn't always my strong suit, but this was genuinely simple, plug in, connect, done.
Then there's the sound system. Four speakers, 200 watts total, built into the fairing and trunk. I'll be honest, I wasn't expecting much from a factory setup on a motorcycle. I was wrong. This thing goes to 11, literally. Properly loud, properly clear, and an absolute game-changer for turning a long, boring highway stretch into something you actually enjoy.
Riding through Bendigo, then out through the flatter stretches toward Wagga and Junee, is exactly the kind of riding this bike was made for. The suspension, an inverted telescopic fork up front and an electronically adjustable FOX rear shock just soaks everything up. Combine that with the heated seat, the adjustable windshield, and cruise control, and long stints in the saddle stop being something you endure and start being something you actually look forward to.
By the time the road got a bit more interesting heading toward Cowra and Bathurst, I wasn't fighting fatigue at all. That's the real test of a touring bike and the real test of whether this style of riding suits where I'm at in life right now, not how it feels for the first hour, but how you feel getting off it after six.
The Verdict
Is the Roadmaster Powerplus Dark Horse a big, heavy motorcycle? Absolutely, 423kg is nothing to scoff at. But it's a big, heavy motorcycle that was purpose-built to make big days in the saddle feel effortless. Heated everything, storage for days, a sound system that puts some cars to shame, and a ride quality that turns a three-day inland crossing of Victoria and New South Wales into something genuinely enjoyable rather than something you just get through.
A few years ago, I don't think I would have understood the appeal of a bike like this. Now, I completely get it and I’m already planning the next big trip.
Let me know in the comments, are you a touring convert too, or still holding onto the dry bag and naked bike life?