| Author | Message | ||
     Hughlysses |
Announced at today's dealer meeting: http://www.roadracingworld.com/news/ebr-to-distrib ute-hero-motorcycles-scooters-in-north-america/#.U l80tNtVt9Y.facebook | ||
| Hughlysses |
Another article, with photos of Hero bikes: http://www.motorcycle-usa.com/3/17219/Motorcycle-A rticle/Hero-Motorcycles-in-US-by-Mid-2014.aspx | ||
| Reepicheep |
Gotta see the "US price" to know how they will do... if those bikes with the disc brakes shown (not interested in drum brakes thanks) came in under $2k, they would be pretty interesting new sweet spot on the US market. | ||
| Hughlysses |
Indian press says there's still another Hero model on the way with an EBR-designed 250cc engine that will be released next year. It'll be interesting to see what that looks like; I can imagine that bike might be prime for the U.S. market. | ||
| Trojan |
Hopefully they will be better quality than most of the other Indian produced 'motorcycles' (I use the word unwillingly), and won't just lead to bad press for EBR when the Indian made bikes start to fall apart after a few months and don't reach the expectations of western buyers. | ||
| Reepicheep |
In the "$2000 new" bike offering range, current expectations are generally "might run once when they come back from the store" range. So the bar is pretty low here in the US. Thats why it comes down to cost... $5000? Meh. $2000? Kind of open ground to claim. | ||
| Hughlysses |
The only experience we have in the U.S. right now with Indian-made motorcycles is Royal Enfield. Their track record seems to be much like Ural's. The first bikes sold here were of dismal quality and performance, but they've gotten gradually better, and seem to have at least decent reliability now. The only other similar Indian product I'm aware of in the U.S. are Mahindra tractors. They seem to have a decent reputation. You've got to figure EBR will at least help Hero understand what's expected for them to bring a product here and have it received well. | ||
| Trojan |
Royal Enfield isn't the best comparison really ,as they are based on ageing British technology (although they now have modern engines with EFi etc). Better to compare most Indian made bikes with similar Chinese offerings that are basically knock offs of old Honda and Yamaha designs. Some, such as Bajaj, are starting to make progress with input from KTM, but when you compare even their bikes to 'cheap' Japanese bikes the quality gulf is still there unfortunately. I hope that EBR can drag Hero into a better quality bracket but would not want to see EBR tarnished just because they are distributors of someone elses product with quality control issues. I don't think a fledgling company can afford to have issues, especially given the press feeding frenzy over Buell issues previously. Some people won't differentiate between EBR distributed products and EBR manufactured products, and that could hurt. | ||
| Hughlysses |
Matt- that's a good point about Royal Enfield, but I guess I was speaking more to quality control as opposed to design. At least the current crop of Royal Enfields seem to show India can build a reasonably reliable product. Now, if EBR can just bring Hero forward about 20 years in their designs, they'll have something. | ||
| Torquehd |
I've never been to India but I have spent some time in Nepal. Hero honda is all over the place there (and Bajaj). The speed limits are also generally a lot slower there than in the states, not to mention the road quality demands a different suspension mentality than we have here in the states. I don't know for sure, but I expect there may be some gearing and suspension differences between "local"- and American-marketed machines. | ||
| Torquehd |
India can build a quality product because England. And labor and materials are cheap there. | ||
| Patches |
http://allaboutbikes.in/factories-to-be-set-up-in- us-latin-america-by-hero-motocorp/ maybe old news? | ||
| Fast1075 |
I suspect the "new" 250 will be far different from the current ones. The "Karisma" 250 looks pretty good in person, but follows closely the Hero ideas of inexpensive, un-technical, and easy to service. It even has a kick starter. It however uses the old "Honda" engine. The other bikes follow the same pattern The horizontal single is very much like the old Honda cub engine with electric start. It does have alloy tubeless wheels. The scooter on display looked nice, has earles type front suspension much like my first Honda 90 so many years ago. Durable as a brick, and has antidive properties. | ||
| Mog |
I think this is the 'Hulk'. Seems to my eye, this 125cc needs no more than a DOHC 600cc air cooled single (balanced, as in the Suzuki LS 650 Savage) and the same frame strengthened for forty-five hp. It would replace the 'training' motorcycles and be a great first bike. This bike looks more like an EBR then anything else Hero has. | ||
| Mog |
Goes with my comment above  | ||
| M2typhoon |
I know I don't speak for everyone but I like the flashback to the kickstart, the low cc bikes with the ability to service in your living room and the simplicity. This could bring back a missing market in the US. I'd buy one pending cost, warranty and mileage. I'm also sure these bikes would be dirt cheap to insure and anyone who purchases these shouldn't have any performance pipe dreams or preconceived notions about performance. You know what you're buying and why. | ||
| Kag |
Perfect start bikes or city commuters....for the cost we are talking i would get one for my kid to use at college. |
