[Aditya]

Hero MotoCorp had displayed the HX250R motorcycle at the 2014 Auto Expo. The bike was being developed with help from Erik Buell Racing, Hero's technical partner, and was expected to be launched in the third quarter of FY 2015-16. However, with the American company shutting down due to bankruptcy, the bike's launch was delayed. Now a pre-production specimen of the bike has been spied, indicating that Hero is gearing up to start testing the product.



The HX250R is faired motorcycle that has a geodesic tubular chassis with a telescopic fork front suspension and a monoshock rear suspension. The bike is powered by a 249cc, single-cylinder, liquid cooled engine that puts out 31 BHP and 26 Nm of torque. The engine is mated to a 6-speed transmission. Stopping power comes from 300 mm and 220 mm petal disc brakes at the front and rear respectively. The bike is also equipped with ABS.



Features include clip-on handlebars, dual headlamps, clear lens indicators, an engine kill switch and Pirelli tyres.

The HX250R is expected to be positioned against the Honda CBR 250R, KTM 200 Duke and upcoming Mahindra Mojo.

Source: Gaadiwaadi

[Ironhide]

Hero have been sort of pioneers in the Indian motorcycling scene. With their partnership with Honda, they churned out reliable, frugal bikes by the million, and an entire generation grew up learning to ride a bike on their ubiquitous fill it- shut it - forget it examples. Even today, Hero is the undisputed leader in the Indian two wheeler segment.

They were pioneers with the CBZ and Karizma too setting new standards in performance & comfort , though were soon overtaken by others. Even Impulse was a pioneer in its segment. The bike was a decent offroader, let down by a engine that didn't do justice to its offroading credentials.

When the likes of CBRs, Ninjas and KTMs made an appearance on our shores in the none too distant past, Hero didn't have a bike on the horizon to match the performance offered by these bikes. All that seemed to be remedied by the announcement of partnership with Eric Buell Racing and unveiling of HX 250R and Hastur. Sadly, folding of EBR put paid to Hero's big displacement bike ambitions, or so it seemed.

Until now.

This seems like that Hero is determined to make a dent, however small, in the 250cc and upwards category. And the HX 250R seems like a good place to begin with. With EBR's expertise in engines, and Hero's penchant of churning out economical yet reliable bikes, HX 250R will make its presence felt IMO. The HX 250R's engine specs look promising, though it still is a unit that remains to be proven. Fuel economy, traditionally a Hero forte, will be competitive in the same class of bikes, and IMO so will be the cost of spares. A detailed test ride would do it justice.

Hero has joined the party late, though to make up for it they will IMO,

• Price the bike aggressively
• Provide much more features at its price point to lure potential buyers away from the competition

As I've said earlier, this seems like an honest effort by Hero. The bike scores on styling, and as far as the specs go, on power. What remains to be seen is the way the specs translate into real world experience. This segment is getting interesting !

Cheers !

[navpreet318]

So two new scooters and a new flagship bike along with retinkered models of the Karizma range! Seems they are set to take the fight to Honda.
The local market in our city has quite a sales ratio. In scooters, Honda is out selling Hero by a huge margin. Almost double. But in terms of bikes, Hero is outselling Honda by almost 3 times. The rest of the players are just hanging around.
The new scooters will hopefully turn the market around.
This is quite weird as in the neighboring market of Hardwar, Hero outsells Honda in Scooters as well as Bikes by a huge margin!

[Tushar]

By the looks of this spy shot, it's likely that the bike we saw at the auto expo was in more of less its production form in terms of design, much like how the SS400's design carried forward into the production RS200.

Gotta love how much the quarter litre space is heating up, not to mention, the HX250R will essentially be a prelude into what we can expect from the Hastur.

[girimajiananth]

Originally Posted by navpreet318

This is quite weird as in the neighboring market of Hardwar, Hero outsells Honda in Scooters as well as Bikes by a huge margin!

Hero has a plant in Haridwar. Could this be one reason why it is a favorite among locals ? At Hosur, TVS is the most valued player.

[Ironhide]

Originally Posted by navpreet318

So two new scooters and a new flagship bike along with retinkered models of the Karizma range! Seems they are set to take the fight to Honda.
The local market in our city has quite a sales ratio. In scooters, Honda is out selling Hero by a huge margin. Almost double. But in terms of bikes, Hero is outselling Honda by almost 3 times. The rest of the players are just hanging around.
The new scooters will hopefully turn the market around.
This is quite weird as in the neighboring market of Hardwar, Hero outsells Honda in Scooters as well as Bikes by a huge margin!

In scooters, Honda is the undisputed leader with a fair margin over the nearest competitor. This is courtesy their first mover advantage coupled with a lineup of reliable products. So successful is their scooter business that in Dehradun I have seen Honda dealerships mushrooming one after another.

The same can't be said of the bikes segment though, where Hero still rules the roost. And with the launch of two new scooters in the near future, Hero sure looks determined to take the fight to Honda!

Cheers !

[navpreet318]

Originally Posted by girimajiananth

Hero has a plant in Haridwar. Could this be one reason why it is a favorite among locals ? At Hosur, TVS is the most valued player.

That is possible. In fact that is a huge plant they have in Hardwar churning out 10000 bikes per day. Had the opportunity to visit the plant. The workfloor is so clean one could have food sitting down there.
And since hero and its ancillaries have a large employment in Hardwar, it does have quite a following there.