We’ve been singing the praises of the Indy 800SP for a while now and have spent less time focusing on the Indy 600 – especially the base model.
This year we have a baseline Indy 600 in our press fleet and we’ve had a good chance to wring it out and appraise its goodness.
Our first impression is this sled is very light. It feels light and it is light at 449-lbs dry weight.
We’re also impressed with its riding position and rider comfort. You sit higher on this sled and can really see the trail from the driver’s perch. Even with this seating position, the stock windshield is excellent and provides great face and hand protection – even at lake speeds.
Inputs into the handlebars are light and the front end stays nicely planted in corners without much ski-lift under hard cornering. It rails very flat and predictably and the 600 Cleanfire mill is decent on gas (if ridden at trail speeds) and it also delivers acceptable oil mileage. Power is good although the new AXYS 600 feels way faster.
We really notice its shock-in-skid rear suspension is not up to par with the SP or especially, the AXYS. Its skid uses gas cell Motion Control shocks that work well on mild chop and at reasonable speeds but when the going gets deep or speeds increase over washboard, these shocks have their hands full.
The only adjustment you get at the rear is spring preload and we’ve found it’s impossible to get great suspension performance simply by adjusting preload. We’re currently playing with the couplers to get a bit more compliance at the bottom of the suspension’s stroke but, if you’re riding aggressively we’d suggest you pay a bit more and move up to the SP. It’s shock package is way better and it has more adjustability.
As it is, the Indy 600 is extremely good value with its only flaw being its skidframe suspension – or more specifically, its shock package. Like we said, we may be able to get it to work better, but the way we feel now we’d gladly opt for the better-suspended SP.
