Hero Motocorp has probably been the most trusted brand of motorcycles in India, and is the world’s largest manufacturer of motorcycles in terms of volumes, but all of their motorcycles have so far been only commuters and none of them were performance motorcycles. The highest engine capacity of a hero motorcycle till date has been 225cc and this engine has been used in the Karizma. Well it is a known fact that Hero Motocorp has been trying to surpass that limit, by trying to launch two new motorcycles, the HX250R and the Hastur. Both the motorcycles had been displayed at the Auto Expo in Delhi and Hero had confirmed putting both the high performance motorcycles into production.
Both, the Hastur and the HX 250R were developed in a joint project with Eric Buell Racing, but unfortunately, Eric Buell Racing has had to shut shop and close down operations. Eric Buell Racing had to make this move as they were running out of funds to run the company, but this move left most of the people waiting for the HX250R and Hastur disturbed and dazed. Both the motorcycles had their fair share of fans and they were disappointed indeed, as the future of the motorcycles was in the dark.
Well, we now have news for those who were waiting for the HX250R and the Hastur. Hero will continue with their plans to launch these motorcycles and the closure of Eric Buell Racing will not have any effect on these launches as most of the developmental work on these motorcycles has either been completed or nearly been completed. Hero Motocorp has the resources to finish the final touches on the motorcycles before road-testing begins.
The HX250R was slated for a summer launch, but the launch was postponed because of the launch of a new scooter from Hero. The HX250R will be powered by a 249cc, single cylinder, liquid cooled engine with 4-vlaves and fuel injection, to produce a maximum power output of 31 BHP and a maximum torque figure of 26 NM. The HX250R will be Hero Motocorp’s most powerful motorcycle ever when launched, but that glory will be short-lived, as Hero will be launching the Hastur next.
Nobody in their right mind thought that Hero would ever come up with a bike like the Hastur, forget about making it to the production line, but hero has proved everybody wrong as, the first Indian Sportsbike will definitely hit the production line eventually, after the launch of the HX250R.
The Hero Hastur will be powered by a 620cc parallel twin engine with a patented CSI Cylinder head. The 0-100 time of the Hero Hastur is claimed to be a frighteningly quick 3.8 seconds, and the motorcycle will go on to max out at around 240 KMPH. This blistering performance is achieved thanks to the 80 PS power output of the 620cc parallel twin engine.
While the performance is good, the Hastur also looked really good when it was displayed at the auto expo, but we are not sure if all of it will be seen on the production model as well. But for all we know, the Hastur may become the cheapest 600+cc motorcycle in the market when it is launched, since most of the production will take place locally.
The revival of Eric Buell racing may not happen very soon, but we are not ruling out a complete buyout of Eric Buell racing by Hero Motocorp. Hero Motocorp owned a stake in the erstwhile Eric Buell Racing and may consider completely buying out Eric Buell Racing.
To read more on Hero’s Sportsbike Motorcycles, Click here
Also see: Hero’s 600cc Superbike is called Hero Hastur Concept
Hero Motocorp plans to launch HX250R by June-2015
