This year, if there's one motorcycle manufacturer who has decided to go all out in this year's Auto Expo, it's Hero Moto Corp. Apart from the regular scooters and commuter motorcycle upgrades, Hero Moto Corp also showcased some very interesting low capacity "concepts" so to speak and for the performance hungry fellas, a couple of amazing machines.
No one, I mean literally no one had so many variations as did Hero Moto Corp had under one roof and at one place. A single swooping walk through the Hero pavillion was enough to convince me that this is not the Hero we know since the Hero Honda days, this Hero is, in an all new avatar which is very very serious about it's brand image amongst all classes and not just the mass commuter class.
Seeing the market potential, Hero is becoming more serious about the performance segment and with EBR joining in hands with Hero Moto Corp, Hero's intents have got a really sharp focus on performance now.
Hero HX250R
Hero Moto Corp's first quarter litre weapon not only looks good in flesh, but promises to be a blast when that motor gets running, churning out 31 hp and a healthy 26 Nm of torque from a liquid cooled, 4 valve single pot motor, reaching the rear wheel through a 6 speed gear box and with the weight tipping the scale at 139 kg - interesting eh!! well, believe it!!
New from ground up, the HX250R has a lot riding on it and it's journey from concept to actual production version would be an interesting one.
Hero Hastur
As radical as the name sounds, it looks equally radical, one bad ass street naked. If not for the Hero badging, no one can say that it's a motorcycle that has been conceptualised in India.
Powered by a 620cc water cooled 4 valve per cylinder parallel twin engine, the Hero Hastur promises a healthy 80 PS at 9,600 rpms. Showing off it's bright yellow extended trellis frame and swing arm, the Hastur boasts off twin projector head lamps, USD forks, four piston mono block callipers with twin front brake rotors and Perilli Diablo rubber. Since this is a concept, we really feel that if Hastur makes it to production, Hastur would go through quite a few changes to shed off it's radicality a bit and make space for some practical adjustments.
Hero iON
The iON is Hero Moto Corp's take on alternate fuel system - Hydrogen fuel-cell.
As can been seen from the design, the Hydrogen fuel-cell forms the central and the primary structure of the motorcycle. For power storage and delivery, iON uses Air Lithium batteries, which uses Oxygen from Air instead of storing Oxygen in oxidisers. iON also uses super conductors for efficient power supply to set the motorcycle in motion and stopping it.
Another remarkable piece of innovation are the hub-less wheels both front and rear. Instead of a hub, the iON uses Electric Traction Motor which uses Magnetic Levitation technology for frictionless operation. This is basically a very powerful electromagnet surrounded by circular array of magnets. When an electric current (from the Li-Air battery) is passed through the central electromagnet, the resultant magnetic field through this arrangement is what acts has the motor directly acting on the wheels. The other advantage is that, the same arrangement can be used as brakes.
On paper, the iON is easily, the most advanced motorcycle in this year's Auto Expo, technologically, and I would really pray that Hero Moto Corp gets serious about this.
Hero Splendor Classic Pro
Can't say much about this one - see it for yourself!!
Overall, this year Hero Moto Corp was able to mark it's presence very prominently during the Auto Expo
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