Sport For The Masses

Hero rolls out tHe Xtreme 200r. sportiness is tHe focus Here, but is it really on point?

- Sherman Hale Nazareth

There’s been drastic improvements to the motorcycling scene in India in the last few years. Customers are getting more demanding, and manufacturers are keeping a keen ear out for what it really is that they want. Motorcycle manufacturing behemoth, Hero Motocorp, has captured the mass commuter segment’s attention quite successfully and have now decided to move on to bigger fish, bigger commuter fish that is; nothing too obtuse.

Enter the Hero Xtreme 200R, a motorcycle that you’ll find oddly familiar, and for good reason. The Xtreme Sports has been around for a while now with its 149cc motor. But things are heating up in the 150-160cc segment, so Hero’s decided to take a swing at the 200cc premium commuter segment, where competition is stiff but options are few. So what does the Xtreme 200R plan to do, then? Could it really shake up the segment with its sporty intent, or does it still abide by Hero’s safe and steady formula?

Well firstly, aside from the engine, the Xtreme 200R is an all new bike. From the chassis, to the brakes, to the suspension, Hero has put in the hours and taken the leap. We got to test the bikes on the race track. And not just any race track, Buddh International Circuit. While it’s great that Hero Motorcorp gave us the bikes to test here, it seemed like a bit of overkill, until we learned that we’d be riding on a shorter loop that involved more curves than ridiculously long straights.