Ace in the Deck

The Xtreme 250R is an ambitious product and most certainly a game-changer for Hero MotoCorp

- Joshua Varghese

IF ONE KNOWS THE LAY OF the land, Rajasthan has lovely stretches of smooth, winding roads that pander to the motorcycling enthusiast’s innate craving. Thus, it was in fitness of things that Hero MotoCorp had selected such a route for us and the Xtreme 250R’s speedometer often displayed three-digit speeds as we tore along the blacktop. On the motorcycle, such pace felt natural because, as a rider, my role was undemanding. Credit was due to Hero’s engineering team who had packaged a potent engine into a superbly communicative chassis without compromising on comfort.

Although they have the sweet Mavrick 440 in their line-up, in my books, the Xtreme 250R is the most radical naked motorcycle by Hero yet because they have tried many new things in this machine and all of them have worked in its favour. We feel this is the one that will consolidate their image as a manufacturer of sporty naked motorcycles because the focus on performance is loud and clear. They have gone the full distance this time by using a liquid-cooled, DOHC, four-valve, single-cylinder engine. It displaces 249.03 cubic centimetres (cc) and is an oversquare unit that revs to a little more than 10,000 revolutions per minute (rpm). On paper, it develops 30 hp at 9,250 rpm and a peak torque of 25 Nm at 7,250 rpm.