Scale the extremes with Hero Xtreme There’s a lot of competition in the 150cc motorcycle segment and so far the Suzuki Gixxer is the only motorcycle that has actually been impressive. But Hero MotoCorp have been tiring hard away at their workshops to come up with a new motorcycle that can wow us. Hero had kicked off the 150cc motorcycle craze back in the 1990’s with the CBZ and over the years, the motorcycle has seen many updates. Now they’ve launched a beefier and more powerful motorcycle – The Xtreme Bike. The new Hero Xtreme Sports looks a bit beefier than the Hero Xtreme and gets a few design cues from a mixture of motorcycles. The front headlamp gets a pair of what Hero call ‘Wolf eye’ pilot lamps that actually do make the motorcycle stand out in a crowd when looking through a rear view mirror. It also gets a slightly taller windshield on which the vehicles number plate is mounted. The tank shrouds fit well in with the tank and aren’t too big as some of its competitors. The side panels extend all the way up to the rear split grab handles. The pointed taillight looks a bit odd with its sad faced emoticon like resemblance. The underbelly cowl and the sharp design lines are the only parts that lend this motorcycle a sporty look. Now Hero claim that the Xtreme Sports has Street fighter looks and graphics but they’ve gone a little over the top with the design of the instrument console. Hero have said that they’ve worked on the engine but the engine still sounds very rough. Slotting it into gear is no piece of cake either. The gear box feels hard and clunky and this is something Hero should surely look at fixing. Acceleration is mediocre till 6,000rpm but beyond that the power deliver is wonderful. Its taller gear ratios make it easy to ride long distances and once in the power band, the Xtreme makes you want to go faster. The pros of Xtreme: Robust looks, ‘wolf eye pilot lamp’ gives it aggressive looks, 150cc engine is quick and agile, good grip provides by the tires, brakes gives good response.
The cons of Xtreme: Engine produces rough sound and vibrates between 3,500 to 6,000rpm. Shifting of gears is quite hard, bike feels a bit heavy.
Author’s Bio Rommel Kish in this piece highlight the key features of the Xtreme bike. He further gave the pros and cons of the hero Xtreme bike.