KTM Duke 200 Modified by Neev Motorcycles
Indian movies, in general, could defy the laws of physics and common sense. However, our film industry is also home to some excellent works of art that have reached international award platforms on multiple occasions. Despite having a rich history in film making, Indian action movies are mostly questionable in terms of logic (so are many blockbuster Hollywood movies).
Even though the average Indian might have the poorest taste in automobiles, almost everyone seems to enjoy the idea of fast, loud and flashy cars or motorcycles. To a proper automotive enthusiast, high-budget car scenes in Indian movies often seem silly but there have been decent examples in the past. Plus, some unique automotive creations have also made it to the silver screen.
One such example is the custom KTM 200 Duke (now in BS6 avatar) from the Tamil action movie, ‘Hero’ — starring Sivakarthikeyan, Arjun Sarja and Abhay Deol. The unique 200 Duke was built by Delhi-based Neev Motorcycles who has a wide portfolio of interesting products based on Royal Enfields as well. The customisation firm has released a brief video of the entire design process of the ‘Hero’ motorcycle, including its original state.
KTM Duke 200 Modified – Video
Navneet Suri, designer and founder of Neev Motorcycles, shares that it was a challenging yet interesting project compared to their usual works. The brief given to them stated that the motorcycle should look rough, weird and unfinished with lots of metal and welding. In fact, it added that one should feel it was built by a ‘smart college student’. Hence, it is exactly how the 200 Duke looks — imperfect, quirky and half-baked.
Though it sounds easy on paper, Navneet and his team had to work for around 10 hours a day for almost a week to finish it. As you can observe, the chassis has gone through significant changes. The motorcycle you see here is actually a second design since the initial work was rejected. The hardest part was that Neev Motorcycles had to build two identical examples in 40 days. The short time period also brought about several electronic and mechanical glitches.
KTM Duke 200 Modified by Neev Motorcycles
Even after reaching Chennai, where the main stunts were shot, the motorcycles ran into problems. However, the team made sure that they ran properly during the action scenes. In the end, the film crew was satisfied with the output and Neev Motorcycles received the appreciation they deserved. ‘Hero’ was released in 2019 and is available on Amazon Prime.
Source: Bike - rushlane.com
