Video: Indian takes its King of the Baggers racer to Bonneville

How fast can a bagger go? The S&S/Indian Motorcycle King of the Baggers team and sponsor Mission Foods took their roadracing Challenger to the Bonneville Salt Flats to find out. They set a record and, better yet for the rest of us, they made a video, so we can all see what it's like to approach 200 mph on a bagger.

In the end, Indian factory racer Tyler O'Hara hit a top speed of 196 mph and a two-way-run average of 194 mph. Considering that King of the Baggers bikes have already been clocked in the mid-180s mph range on the high banks at Daytona International Speedway, plus the fact that some modifications were made to the roadracer to suit the demands of land-speed-record runs, the results show the challenges of the Salt Flats. Higher elevation sucks power and the surface is not the banked oval at Daytona.

Anyone who has watched King of the Baggers racing will take one look at the Challenger O'Hara rides in the video below and notice that it has been modified. For King of the Baggers, the bikes have insanely high seat heights, compared to their stock counterparts, to increase lean angle greatly. Lean angle is the least important feature on the Salt Flats, so O'Hara's Challenger was lowered considerably.

rear view of the Challenger land speed bike showing slim saddlebags — No need for extra luggage capacity when you're trying to set a land speed record. The Indian Challenger's bags were slimmed down for aerodynamic advantage. Indian photo.

Other changes: Both the fairing and saddlebags were narrowed to be more aerodynamic. The fuel tank was modified to fit class requirements and allow Tyler to tuck in better. There were a few tweaks to the engine, such as an OEM-weight crankshaft and a higher compression ratio because higher octane fuel was allowed.

The Challenger was entered in the AMA 2000 cc APS-AG class. APS refers to the frame class, special construction partial streamlining. AG refers to the engine class, modified gasoline. The record in that class dated back to 1972, at 169.828 mph. The Challenger made easy work of breaking that.

Tyler O'Hara posing with his Challenger race bike on the Salt Flats, mountains in the background — Former flat-track racer, two-time Super Hooligan National Champion, and 2022 King of the Baggers champion Tyler O'Hara now has his name in the land speed record books. Indian photo.

As O'Hara notes in the video, on the roadrace track he channels the spirit of the Indian Wrecking Crew, the flat-track racers that made their mark on the Grand National Championship in the mid-20th century when that was the top form of motorcycle racing in the United States, but on the Salt Flats he channels Burt Munro, the subject of the 2005 movie "The World's Fastest Indian."

See it in the video below.