Hero Xtreme 200S Track Test Review | Motown India

Design and Styling of Hero Xtreme 200S

The Hero Xtreme 200S is essentially a Sports variant of the Xtreme 200R. So the company has slapped on a fairing to the front of the bike to give it a race inspired look. The bike does look good, especially from the side because this is where you are able to fully appreciate the lines and creases running across the fairing and the rest of the body. The front gets a horizontal and robotic looking LED headlamp unit. While there are no DRLs, the front does look simple yet menacing. The top half of the fairing with the curved wind-screen reminded me of the superbikes made by a certain Italian manufacturer. Barring the fairing, the bike looks very similar to the Xtreme 200R from the side and rear.

The seat cushion is adequate for two people and decently comfortable. The cowl helps with wind blast to a small degree but the bike is not too friendly for properly ducking for maximum efficiency. I was impressed by the fit and finish of the Xtreme 200S as there were no loose panels or weld marks evident. Good job Hero MotoCorp!

A big update on the Xtreme 200S is the inclusion of smartphone connectivity via Bluetooth. Once connected, the LCD display can show you turn-by-turn navigation and call alerts. This is a feature that is, as of now, not seen in any other motorcycle in this segment. So it was a great move by Hero to include the feature in their product, despite the budget conscious nature. Apart from this, the display shows the standard set of information including speed, rpm, gear, two trip meters and time. I was irked a little by the dated design and layout of the text and the rickety instrument cluster that moved when you push one or two buttons on the display.

Engine and Performance of Hero Xtreme 200S

The engine housed in the Xtreme 200S is a 199cc air-cooled, single cylinder, OHC unit that is also found in the Xtreme 200R. The company says that they have made small changes to the engine response and gearing but in my opinion they won’t make a discernable change in the bike’s behaviour. Despite my initial scepticism, the Xtreme 200S was a lot of fun on the track. We rode it on the part of BIC that is littered with twists and turns. I kept the bike on the 5^th gear throughout the majority of the session as there really was no reason to shift down. The engine growls and pounces till about 7000rpm. That makes sense as peak torque of 17.1Nm is reached at 6500rpm. Beyond this point the juice kind of runs out and the climb to higher speeds becomes slower. But what the bike lost in straight line run, it more than gained around the bends. At first I thought the bike was a bit too twitchy and would probably crash if I pushed it too hard. However, I was proven wrong and the bike was steady through the corners. The tyres provided plenty of gripeven at extreme angles. I found myself scraping the pegs at almost every turn. I found the upshifts on the 5-speed transmission a bit too hard and hope that Hero is able to make improvements on it in the future.

Suspension and brakes are the same as the Xtreme 200R. So you get 37mm telescopic forks at the front and a 7-step adjustable monoshock at the rear. The suspension tuning was a bit bouncy for track usage but should do fine in the urban jungle. There is a 276mm disc brake at the front and a 220mm disc at the rear. Sadly you only get single channel ABS. I did not get to test the brakes fully on the track but I could gauge that the bite from the rear was plenty but the front could do with some more. The Xtreme 200S only comes with a carbureted engine as of now but we have hopes that a fuel injected version will be available sometime in the future. You don’t really get to test the bike for vibrations on the track but I could feel some amount of it at certain points. A full investigation can only happen once we get the vehicle for a proper road test review.

Verdict

Hero has sensibly priced the Xtreme 200S at Rs 98,500 (ex-showroom Delh). That makes it about Rs 7,600 more expensive than its naked sibling. For that money you get a good looking product, a better instrument cluster and smartphone connectivity. There really isn’t anything substantial to complain about the bike. In case you want something more performance oriented, you could pump in some extra cash but as of now, no other bike in this segment comes with smartphone connectivity. I have a feeling that this bike will click with people looking for a good looking faired motorcycle that is practical and not too heavy on the pocket.