Hero took the wraps off some bold new ICE and EV products at EICMA yesterday. The most eye-catching of them all was the bright red 2.5R XTunt concept motorcycle, which is quite likely to spawn a new 250cc motorcycle.
- Previews new 250cc Hero naked bike
- Engine has DOHC setup, large radiator
The big talking point here is the new liquid-cooled, 250cc, single-cylinder engine that has a modern DOHC setup and what appears to be quite a large radiator. The 210cc mill in the Hero Karizma XMR makes 25.5hp, while the 2024 250 Duke makes 31hp, so expect this motor’s peak output to sit in between these two, but closer to the KTM than the Karizma.
As with most concepts, styling is very outlandish with lots of winglets and angular extensions all over. It has super premium componentry as well like billet-machined foot pegs, a single Brembo M50 monobloc caliper, slick tyres and a chunky golden USD fork.
It's highly unlikely that the M50 caliper, super sticky slick rubber and billet-machined components will carry over to the production version, but the USD fork and accompanying monoshock setup might. Judging from the 2.5R XTunt concept’s design language, the production-spec bike should also be styled quite aggressively.
At the 2016 Auto Expo, Hero showcased the 1.6R concept, which eventually translated into the Xtreme 160R, so it's fair to say that this concept will also translate into a road-going 250cc naked bike from Hero.
Ved Janve
Azaman Chothia
Vishal Venugopal
