For a second consecutive year, Hero MotoCorp Ltd had made its presence felt at EICMA in Milan, but the motorcycles that India’s largest two-wheeler maker debuts at the showcase event are yet to hit the roads.
Hero today extended the Xpulse 200 platform at EICMA 2018 with four variants—scrambler, desert, flat tracker and cafe racer—even as Indian motorcycle enthusiasts eagerly await the launch of the budget adventure tourer.
It was at EICMA 2017 that the XPulse 200 broke cover with the promise of a sub-Rs1 lakh do-it-all motorcycle. Since then, Hero has put the 18.1 BHP/17.4 Nm mill into, and plonked Virat Kohli onto, the Xtreme 200R with nary a mention of its scruffy cousin (barring a Instagram post here and a wildly optimistic video there).
And perhaps that was a good thing. For the concepts unveiled today sweeten the wait. Especially the desert mod. Shod with knobby tyres, upside down forks and an end can swooping under the seat, the XPulse 200T Desert looks the part to swoosh across a dried out Sambhar Lake right off the showroom floor. The Karizma-esque fuel tank in matte black underscores the overall minimalistic approach.
The scrambler is the closest to the stock XPulse 200. Gone are the visor and the off-road beak, while the tail is visibly tidier. The brown on the seat and the engine cover are ornamental, at best.
The flat tracker, however, is stark. The tail on the flat tracker is chopped sharp, giving the impression that the swingarm is longer than it actually is—good for sideways action transmitted from the flat ‘bars. The orange mounts are an eyesore, though. The red and metallic finish doesn’t help matters much either.
That the XPulse 200 hid within its lines a cafe racer is difficult to visualise, but the Hero designers have done a good job of bringing it out. Pristine in white, the motorcycle has clean lines, a humped tail and fork-mounted clip-on handlebars—ingredients for a quick coffee run. The slicks simply add to the flavour.
Whether the concepts would see light of day is anybody’s guess, Hero would do well to launch a couple of them (desert and scrambler, please) along with the XPulse 200. Makes the wait that much worthwhile, no?