Street bikes: ripped to the core

The motorcycle — the sensation, romance, and adventure on two wheels — has had interesting stories to share.

From very humble beginnings as a commuter’s friend, the motorcycle has blossomed into a pulsating power-beast, to satiate the needs of those wanting to just ride. Imagine, merging the two — a bike of commute and a motorcycle for leisure! The market has just unleashed the ‘street bike’.

According to Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India (fmsci) 2W Racing Commission Chairman Sujith Kumar B S, the street bike concept evolved in India since the existence of Yezdi 250CL ,Yamaha RX100, and RD 350 Rajdoot, until the mid-1980s, when scooters took over as the logical Indian two-wheeler of choice.

The street bike concept that is around today in the Indian market was carefully nurtured over the years, dictated by a balancing act between customer needs and tastes. Today, several manufacturers claim to have etched their contribution in planting the street bike concept in India.

According to Roy Kurian, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Yamaha Motor India Sales, the Indian market today may broadly be split into five segments, namely:

n Basic (simple no-frills machines to travel from point A to point B; built for mileage, reliability, reasonably priced)

n Standard (an upgrade of the basic with some looks and features)

n Executive (a feature-packed bike, but an upgrade of the standard)

n Deluxe (over 150 cc bikes, with features, style and looks), and

n Premium (an upgrade of deluxe, packed with features, and power, priced above all).
 
How street bikes look
As no technical definition of street bikes abound, it must be mentioned that these two-wheelers are designed to be ridden on paved roads. They have smooth tyres with a light tread pattern and engines generally in the 125 cc-plus range. Most are capable of speeds upwards of 100 kmph, and are recognised primarily by their upright riding position — in between the reclining rider posture of the cruisers, and the forward leaning sports bikes. Footpegs are below the rider and handlebars are high enough not to force the rider to reach far forward, placing the shoulders above the hips in a natural position. Because of their flexibility, lower costs, and their engines of moderate output, standards are particularly suited to motorcycle beginners.

Deloitte Senior Director and auto expert Kumar Kandaswami told Deccan Herald, “The Indian mindset needs to be looked at it in two ways: one that they buy a bike for the purpose of commuting, and the other is that they do so for leisure. The market is slowly graduating from commuting to leisure. While defining a street bike, it’s important to note that within non-commuting and leisure segments, new categories are emerging in India, including dirt bikes, and off-road bikes. It’s a natural evolution, and all new categories are a part of it.”

TVS Motor Company Head (Marketing — Motorcycles) Arun Siddharth said, “We consider street bikes as sporty, higher-powered machines, with engine capacities in excess of 150 cc. These bikes are generally derived from sport bike models and have a blend of sporty design with aerodynamics; focus is on acceleration, handling, and braking. The riding posture in a street bike would be more inclined towards that of a sport bike rather than a regular commuter. Street bikes are normally naked to show off the sporty design, engine, and due to practical urban riding conditions.”

Hornet joins the milieu
Explaining a few concepts of what would become the street bike of today, Sujith Kumar explained, “With the launch of the Bajaj Pulsar, the Indian market has never looked back in the street biking segment. Then, Hero’s Karizma took over with a 225 cc sledgehammer power, mesmerising the youth. Then came Honda’s Unicorn, the first street bike concept with a mono suspension, smooth engine. Then the market got aggressive with the launch of Yamaha FZ16, with a radial tyre — first in its segment — along with the TVS Apache RTR 160 and 180. Lately, we saw the Austrians come into India with the KTM Duke 200, which made the Indian market even more competitive and mature, followed by the Duke 390. Now, with the new Honda CB Hornet 160R, street-biking in India is definitely going places.”

That’s right! Japanese motorcycle master Honda recently upped the ante of the Indian street bike scene. Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI) launched its CB Hornet 160R recently, which boasts of state-of-the-art features. The motorcycle carries an impressive 162.71 cc air-cooled, four-stroke engine, which dishes out a max net power of 11.68 kW @ 8,500 rpm, with a max net torque of 14.76 Nm @ 6,500 rpm, offering a top speed of 110 kmph. A wide rear tyre, with a wheelbase of 1,345 mm, and a ground clearance of 164 mm, helps its glide well on the road. As a first in the segment, the motorcycle comes with dual metal disc brakes, reinforced with a combi-brake system. Even in terms of looks, with its aggro head lamp, and an X-shaped LED tail light, the bike adds a sense of new style to the ‘street’.

Speaking to Deccan Herald at the launch, HMSI Senior Vice President (Sales and Marketing) Yadvinder Singh Guleria said, “Fun, safety, and environment are part of Honda’s DNA. With the CB Hornet 160R, we have taken the street bike concept to a new level. We have given a competitively priced product (Rs 79,900 at ex-showroom Delhi), which has also adhered to BS-IV norms. The bike is all about raw power, with fine fit and finish, and what we say, ‘ripped to the core’, in terms of its design and styling.”

Guleria said that Honda is confident that customers will be elated at the offering, also considering the fact that the company brought its ‘Hornet’ legacy to India, with the new bike bearing the same name. The Hornet is a Honda power bike, sold in different countries, and Honda has called the CB Hornet 160R as a street naked sports bike.

Headturner FZ
Another Japanese marque, Yamaha, has also banked on one of its own legendary bike models, while rolling out a people’s street bike in India. India Yamaha Motor launched the FZ series in India, in 2008, which is a miniature design of the larger, more powerful FZ1. “We had ordinary looking bikes, and wanted to have a foothold in the motorcycle market in India. We needed to create a bike which would be a headturner. Hence, we created the FZ series in India (FZ, FZ-F1, FZS, and FZS-F1), which was well received. For the first time, a bigger bike was reduced to a smaller size (998 cc FZ1 to 149 cc FZ). In terms of marketing, when you make a miniature of a superbike, you have to create a new concept itself; merging a superbike design with a commuter application. Hence, we labelled it a ‘street bike’, the first to coin the concept in the country,” Kurian claimed. Today, Yamaha claims to hold around 20 per cent market share of the one lakh deluxe (150 cc onwards) segment in India, from where street bikes begin their segment presence. 

Meanwhile, Japan’s Suzuki has added a wow element through its Gixxer. The bike, through which Suzuki Motorcycle India claims to coin the term street sports bike, adds a new dimension of sportiness to the otherwise ‘just street bike’.

“When we developed the Gixxer, we wanted to grant customers the best of both worlds — street biking and sports biking. The 150 cc Gixxer not only offers 14.8 ps of power, but also carries a mileage of 55-60 kmpl. Besides, its user-friendly handling offers comfort in commuting on the streets, as also good power. Street bikes are a popular segment the world over, and we have models like the GSX 1000 to cater to this demand,” Suzuki Motorcycle India National Head (Strategy and Product Planning) J Suresh Babu said.

India’s own TVS’ Apache is perhaps the only street bike to have a 160 cc engine, other than Honda’s new machine. According to Siddharth, “TVS first forayed into this segment in 2005 with the launch of its highly successful Apache series. The TVS Apache was initially launched with a 150 cc engine and subsequently upgraded to 160cc, and 180cc, with both models being currently on sale and regularly refreshed with product-led excitement.” He added that TVS plans to launch the Apache 200 shortly.

Bright future
Around nine per cent of the 16 million two-wheelers sold in India annually may fit into the street bike bracket, and the growing motorcycle segment in India will accommodate street machines as well since they pack something for everyone.