The American brand, Indian Motorcycle, has made history at the legendary Bonneville Salt Flats with its 2025 Challenger motorcycle, shattering a long-standing motorcycle speed record by clocking an incredible 194.721 mph on its record run. shattering the decades-old benchmark of 169.828 mph set in 1972, by a notable 15 mph difference.
The record was set by the Indian Wrecking Crew Rider and two-time King of the Baggers Champion -Tyler O’ Hara on board the Indian Challenger motorcycle, which was a modified version of the race-spec Challenger motorcycle that competes in the King of Baggers championship. The motorcycle’s engine and drivetrain were specially tuned by S&S Cycle for the record-high-speed run.
The record was set in the AMA 2000cc APS-AG category for twin-cylinder machinery with a capacity of up to two litres. The previous record for the category was set back in 1972 when J. Angerer posted 169.828 mph on a Triumph twin. That honour now goes to Tyler O’Hara and his Indian Motorcycle team. What makes this record remarkable is that the bike achieved the record run with complete fairing and side panniers still on.
Gary Gray, Vice President for Racing & Technology at Indian Motorcycle said – “Our engineers and partners have spent decades chasing speed on the salt flats and we’ve long talked about seeing what our King of the Baggers Challenger could do there, While we’re proud to have broken a record, this effort was about more than setting a land speed mark – it was about honouring the legends who came before us and pushing ourselves to go as fast as we could.”
In its stock form, the Indian Challenger motorcycle comes with a SOHC 1,768cc 60-degree V-Twin engine, which Indian dubs as the Powerplus 112 Engine, capable of producing 121 hp at 5,560 rpm and 180 N · m of torque at 3,330 rpm. In the race trim during the King of Baggers series, the engine is estimated to produce over 150hp, and since the record-setting bike was further enhanced by the S&S, it should put out significantly more power than that.
The History of the Indian Motorcycle brand is richly enriched in motorsports and land speed records. Winning multiple championships in AMA flat track racing, Drag racing, and Multiple King of Baggers championships, and the infamous 184 Mph land speed record set by Burt Munro onboard a heavily modified 1920s Indian Scout. And now the AMA 2000cc APS-AG category record set by Tyler O’Hara and his Indian Challenger.
