Hero was one of the OG companies to introduce India to ADVs, semi-faired and fully-faired bikes
Hero MotoCorp is the largest motorcycle company in the world in terms of sales volume. But most of its sales come from entry level budget commuters that often don’t appeal to enthusiasts. So, the company had introduced its 200cc platform and had based XPulse 200 off-roader, XPulse 200T tourer and a fully-faired sporty Xtreme 200 S too.
While XPulse 200 off-roader soon became an instant hit, the other two were not received that well. But Hero had promised the launch of their 300cc platform a couple of years ago which has not materialized until now. But it looks like they have interesting launches planned for 2023.
Two new motorcycles have been spied testing in Leh Ladakh region by Gowtham Naidu. One is an adventure motorcycle and the other is a fully faired motorcycle. There is no confirmation as of now what these motorcycles are, but as per our best guess, these are likely to be upcoming Hero MotoCorp motorcycles.
New Hero XPulse 300
The main highlight of this development will be Hero XPulse 300 as Indian automotive enthusiasts had been waiting for a no-nonsense off-roader at an affordable price. Only Hero can pull something like this as we have seen with incredible value for money XPulse 200 that recently got a Rally Edition.
Back in 2020, Hero had showcased a 300cc engine mated to a trellis frame. Right now, Hero doesn’t have any trellis-frame product, except for the Hero 450RR Dakar Rally motorcycle (which isn’t road-legal). The showcased frame also had a red finish on its frame as the race-only 450RR.
In the video, Gowtham Naidu mentions that it is a Himalayan 450 test mule. But upon closer inspection, we could easily spot the same clutch cover, red trellis frame, front spoked wheels with petal disc, same swingarm and the chrome finished side stand from the concept shown in February 2020. The test mule also has the RJ 14 registration plate, which is Jaipur, where Hero R&D is located.
New Hero XPulse 300 gets spoked wheels at the front and back. It is likely to retain the 21” at front and 18” at the rear as XPulse 200. But owing to larger size, it is likely to get fatter rubber. Beak at the front is also present, but is visually stubbier than on XPulse 200. The upcoming off-roader will compete with Royal Enfield Himalayan, KTM 390 Adventure, Yezdi Adventure and BMW G 310 GS that recently got colour upgrades.
New Hero Xtreme 300S
Coming to Hero’s fully-faired 300cc test mule, it does look like a sizeable product and not lean and sharp like KTM RC 390. Going with previous fully-faired Hero bikes like Karizma ZMR, we can expect Xtreme 300S to be a decently large product. Xtreme 300S gets neatly designed fairing, alloy wheels, sporty clip-on handlebars and a lot more.
Xtreme 300S is likely to get the same 300 cc engine as the XPulse 300 but in a different state of tune to suit the character of the bike. It will get road-spec tyres unlike AT tyres on XPulse 300. If Hero pulls off the design well, we might witness popularity of Hero’s fully-faired products going up significantly. In effect, 300S would be a fitting alternative to current faired machines like RC 390, BMW G 310 RR, and Apache RR 310.
Specs & Launch
We can expect the engine to displace a little over 300cc and make almost 27-30 bhp and around 25 Nm of torque. Both XPulse 300 and Xtreme 300S will get the same engines. Hero is also likely to introduce an XPulse 300T, a touring version of this platform at a later date.
If everything goes according to Hero’s roadmap, we can expect both XPulse 300 and Xtreme 300S to launch in early 2023. In typical Hero MotoCorp fashion, upcoming XPulse 300 and Xtreme 300S will be extremely value for money. They will undercut competition by a significant margin too.
Source
Source: Bike - rushlane.com
