Hero Mavrick 440 : Our observations after a day of riding

While the Hero Mavrick 440 isn't the most powerful bike in the segment, it will not be insufficient for the majority of users. The engine is capable enough for the bike to be a daily ride for city use, as well as for weekend rides.

Riding the Hero Mavrick 440

The Mavrick 440 is powered by a 440cc single cylinder, SOHC, air-cooled engine, that Hero has branded as "TorqX". It produces 27 bhp @ 6,000 rpm and 36 Nm @ 4,000 rpm. This engine also does duty in the Harley-Davidson X440 that was launched a few months back, albeit in a slightly different tune.

Hero claims that 90% of peak torque is available at under 2,000 rpm. This suffices most use cases for a bike in this segment. During our test ride which included open state highways, slightly broken village roads, and even salt plains, the bike felt fairly engaging to ride. It is eager while taking off from a standstill given its ample low-end and even an engaging mid-range for that matter. Unless you're riding in peak city traffic, you can look forward to cruising for long distances with minimal gearshifts. You could continue to ride even from near-standstill scenarios such as nasty speed-breakers, without having to drop down to the 1st gear, just as easily as you can remain on the 3rd or 4th gear while you ride at varying speeds from ~30 km/h to 80 km/h.

The power delivery from the TorqX engine follows a flat torque curve and you can find enough power on tap across speed and the rev range. On several instances on the highway, while riding at ~80 km/h in the 6th gear, the engine seemed quite responsive when looking for a quick overtake, or when accelerating to higher speeds.

While the Mavrick 440 isn't the most powerful bike in the segment, it will not be insufficient for the majority of users. The engine is capable enough for the bike to be a daily ride for city use, as well as for weekend rides. It will not keep up with the big boys from the superbike world, but if you do want to go for cross-country rides, it won't really lag too far behind.

Being a single cylinder, vibrations are inevitable. However, the engine is very refined until you are well past 5,500-6,000 rpm or above ~110 km/h. The engine doesn't feel strained as you ride at legal highway speeds for long distances without disturbance; and while we didn't go anywhere near the top speed given the narrow state highways, the engine seemed like it had enough juice to go much faster.

Accompanying the engine is a 6-speed gearbox, that gets an Assist & Slipper clutch. The clutch is easy to use and gear changes are quite smooth and definitive, both upshifts and downshifts.

Refinement & NVH

Hero has managed the NVH on the Mavrick 440 quite well. Despite being a single cylinder, vibrations don't creep in until you are riding well into triple-digit speeds. The suspension settings and ergonomics along with the engine characteristics come together so well that you can essentially ride at 80-100 km/h all day long, without being worn out.

The engine note has a noticeable bass at the lower end but doesn't really transform into a growl as you rev the engine. The Mavrick 440 gets a very characteristic Hero exhaust note, that will remind you of the several Hero bikes you have ridden throughout your life.

Suspension and Handling

While the Mavrick 440 doesn't get a lot of fancy tech to dazzle you or scare you with a monster torque, what it does spectacularly well is, provide terrific ride comfort. We got to ride the bike for almost a day and a half, and used the time to test the bike on Gujarat's state highways, interior roads and even the salt flats! Ride the bike at highway speeds, putter around the countryside on broken village roads, or ferry a pillion around the city, the Marvrick 440 excels at providing a very comfortable ride.

The front suspension is a 43 mm telescopic fork with 130 mm travel that does not get any adjustable settings, while at the rear is a 7-step adjustable twin shock. The bike felt effortless to manoeuver.

As much as a delight the bike is during majority of riding conditions, there is that noticeable tentativeness in the ride quality once you are at higher speeds. In the few instances where we were able to cross 100 km/h and ride in the 110-120 km/h range (on unmarked / unregulated roads), the bike was bouncing about quite a bit and seemed to be affected by road conditions easily. This isn't very uncharacteristic of bikes from this segment. It can be unsettling if you intend to ride at high speeds on highways for the bulk of your ownership.

Braking

The Mavrick 440 gets a 320 mm disc brake at the front and a 240 mm disc at the rear brake. Dual-channel ABS is standard across all variants. Braking is fairly good and confidence-inspiring, especially when riding at highway speeds.

The brakes are provided by ByBre, Brembo's budget brand that has now become almost an industry standard.

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