After battling coronavirus and its resulting lockdown, the Indian two-wheeler industry is gearing up for the upcoming festive season. New models and editions are getting launched in the hope that more consumers will lap up the products. While Honda has launched a new motorcycle, rival Hero has launched a new variant of the Maestro Edge 125. And while we’re at scooters Suzuki has introduced connected technology in its scooters.
Honda H’ness CB350
Japanese bike maker Honda has finally entered the 350-500 cc segment with the H’ness CB350, a bike that aims to end the dominance of the likes of Royal Enfield, which is certainly not an easy task. The retro design of the bike certainly reminds many of Royal Enfields and there are several elements that contribute to that. The most obvious is the extensive use of chrome on exhausts, mirrors and fenders. Y-shaped spoke alloy wheels and wider rear section tyre contribute to the modern roadster look of the motorcycle. A dualtone fuel tank is there along with a digital-cum-analogue speedometer which has a side stand indicator, mileage features, gear position indicator and battery voltage meter. And yes the bike gets full LED lights on both the front as well as rear.
H’ness runs on a 350cc, air cooled 4 stroke OHC singlecylinder engine that delivers torque of 30 Nm@3000 rpm. Honda says the technology on the bike eliminates both primary and secondary vibrations, something Enfields are infamous for. However, the there’s enough and more sound of the exhaust if you like it that way. A large 45mm tailpipe along with a single onechamber structure in the expansion chamber helps deliver a rich thumping exhaust note. The air cooling system maintains highly dense air intake to improve efficiency and keeps the engine temperature within acceptable range.
Honda is promising many segment first features on the bike. A selectable torque control (HSTC) helps in maintaining rear wheel traction by detecting difference between front and rear wheel speeds among other things. It also gets an assist and slipper clutch which ensures smoother gear shifts along with a smartphone voice control system which allows riders to make phone calls, use navigation, play music and see incoming messages. Then there is the dual channel AB S with a large 3 1 0 mm disc brake up front and 240mm rear disc. On the front is a 19- inch wheel while the rear gets an 18-inch one. The CB350 comes with a dual seat and a fuel tank capacity of 15 litres, things which promise a long comfortable ride. The bike is available in 2 variants — the DLX which is offered in 3 single tone colour options, while the more expensive DLX Pro can be bought in 3 different dual-tone options. Honda will be offering a 6-year warranty package which includes a 3-year optional extended warranty on motorcycle. The price of the Honda H’ness CB350 will start from around Rs 1.90 lakh (ex-showroom).
Suzuki Connected scooters
While Honda got in a new connected motorcycle to the mar- ket, rival Suzuki has decided to give its existing scooters connected technology. The company has launched the Access 125 and the Burgm a n Street with Bluetooth enabled digital console. The technology that lets the rider sync his/her mobile phone seamlessly with the vehicle’s console has been developed to provide features such as turn-by-turn navigation, call & SMS alert display, WhatsApp alert, estimated time of arrival alerts, missed call alert and caller id, over speed warning and phone battery level display.
The rider needs to download the ‘Suzuki Ride Connect’ application from the Google play store of any Android phone to be able to use the feature. After this the phone can be paired with the scooter, to use navigation assistance and features such as last parked location and trip report. Apart from bluetooth connectivity, both the scooters have also been given new colour options. While a new Matte blue option has been given to both the scooters, the Access also gets a Metallic Royal Bronze. The latter will now also get LED position lights as an added feature across all variants.
The prices for these scooters start at Rs 77,700 (ex-showroom) for the drum brake variant of the Access. The Disc brake version will cost you Rs 900 more. On the other hand, the Burgman Street is available in just one disc brake variant for Rs 84,600 (exshowroom).
Hero Maestro Edge 125 Stealth
Hero MotoCorp, the world’s largest two-wheeler manufacturer, has also launched a new version of the 125 scooter, Maestro Edge. The ‘Stealth’ edition of the scooter gets carbon fiber textured strips, white accents and tone-on-tone stripes and is available in an exclusive matt grey theme. The parametric patterns and sharp accents with crest badging are all the more visible with this theme. It runs on a 125cc fuel injection engine which delivers a power output of 9 bhp torque-on-demand of 10.4 Nm. The scooter has been priced at Rs 72,950 (ex-showroom).
The writer is Senior Editor at carandbike.com.