Hero Impulse : First Ride

A whole new dawn beckons Indian motorcycling with the launch of India's first properly designed and developed on-/of- road motorcycle. Not since Bajaj Auto introduced the Kawasaki Eliminator to herald cruisers into motorcycling mainstream in the country has there been a move to embrace different genres of bikes, until Hero MotoCorp came up with its bid to upgrade its huge Splendor / Passion customer base on to more Impulse-ive things, says Adil Jal Darukhanawala after his first ride on this dual-purpose pussycat

At first I didn’t know what to say, especially as news began filtering through from London, where Hero MotoCorp had a high profile debut. Among many things, the firm, now shed of its Honda partnership tag, was actually getting ready to usher in a brand new Honda-designed and developed motorcycle on its own! Adding to the myriad confusion was also the fact that the new named entity was pitching itself into an altogether new segment of the Indian bike market which not many had wanted to get into. Especially not after the ill-fated Kawasaki-Bajaj SX100 Enduro of the early 1990s! However, that was then and much has happened to motorcycling in India over the last two decades to warrant a motorcycle which ideally should have been popping out of every decent bike maker’s product portfolio!

Say hello to the Hero Impulse which is based totally on the Brazilian market Honda Bros. However, here in India, it is the Impulse for all wannabe biking Heroes who want to feel that a bike with go-anywhere capability is what will make them rise in esteem. I say this with nary a snide thought or such because this is a very canny move from Hero MotoCorp and one which it had debated and debated, going by the need to upgrade its existing customer base more at home on 100cc Splendors and 125cc Passion Plus. The ability to give them a mellow upgrade while taking them higher in their self esteem was always something which spoke volumes whenever the firm did consumer research and that is how the Impulse has turned out. Before I give you my rationale on this, let’s go straight in and dive to the bare bones of this spanking new motorcycle.

I have always maintained that dual purpose on-/off-road motorcycles are the SUVs of the two-wheeled world. And while some may accuse me of stretching this line of thought a tad too much, let me also quantify that over 99 per cent of Scorpios sold in the country feature rear-wheel drive only! As such the visual aspect dominates the senses and this is the bedrock on which Hero MotoCorp rests its case for the Impulse. It has the looks, the stance and the structure and this is most welcome. Starting out with a single downtube frame which is splayed into two bottom tubes running underneath the engine, this unit is made of carefully selected high tensile steel tubing to allow rigidity and strength where it matters the most – at the steering head stock and also at the swingarm mount pivot plus at the top mount for the monoshock.

 

Given the application of being a go-anywhere machine (within reason, of course), it had to have long travel front forks and here we have special Munjal-Showa units with a shade over 180mm of suspension travel. At the rear there is a direct monoshock unit, which is a nitrogen-charged Showa made in Japan acting in conjunction with a rectangular-section swingarm which runs a 17-inch wheel shod with a 110/90x17-60P tyre. Up front the Impulse makes do with a 19-inch wheel around which is wrapped a 90/90x19-52P tyre. Overall the balance as well as the stance of the bike are pretty solid yet neutral given its 1360mm wheelbase and a saddle height of 835mm. Given that weight transfer as well as rider placement is so crucial on an on-/off-road machine when driven in anger, the Impulse also seems to have catered to that with MX-style seat, tank and tail panels along with chunky grabrails at the rear for the pillion to clutch on. The upswept seat which rides up and over the rear of the fuel tank is nicely padded. And should there be someone who literally decides that his life depends on jumping speed-breakers and such, the seat unit is his silent angel protecting vital parts of his anatomy!

Jokes aside, this is exactly as it should be given the design evolution of on-/off-road motorcycles and the Hero Impulse is living manifestation of this aspect. The tall, flat handlebars complement the saddle and the footpeg placements to give an upright yet very comfortable riding position. Unlike a cruiser with kicked out front suspension and a seat forward riding the sofa cushion type of perch, that on an on-/off-road motorcycle is far easier and controllable, not to mention it delivers quick steering to help make change of direction an easy chore. The Impulse is all-proactive on this count and it shows in the way it rides, glides, swoops and smothers, be it on hard tarmac or loose gravelly surfaces. Even in easy riding mode, if having stepped off from a Splendor or Passion and on to the Impulse, riders can adapt very easily and therein lies the first hint of Hero MotoCorp’s method to prop up its on-/off-road madness. One of the key allies in making the Splendor/Passion rider comfortable is the tyre design which is not just of a big block rectangular tread pattern but one where the big blocks are carved out on a fine arc section, which gives traction on tarmac even when the bike is leaned over while having enough block grooves to help tractor through mud and gravel. This I feel is the step in the right direction and Hero MotoCorp must be given its due for thinking this over and working with Ceat to develop the right type of rubber on such a new genre of motorcycle.

Mind you, this is also a bike where the Splendor / Passion user will be delighted to take to thanks to the simple reason of a strong reliable and mellow 149.2cc single- cylinder motor derived from the same engine family which does duty in so many Hero Honda, oops now make that Hero MotoCorp machines displacing 150cc – Hunk, CBZ, Achiever, etc. Much of the internals of this engine are proven bits and this robust unit with a five-speed gearbox has enough oomph to make the regular commuter dash everyday seem like a joy ride. Of course, rabble rousers will find this bike a sissy and not in sync with its visual make-up but then it was never Hero MotoCorp’s intention to make a KTM rival. Rather it echoes Honda’s all-round please-all refined offering ethos considering that there are millions of Splendor / Passion riders ripe to move up and more importantly stay within the Hero MotoCorp umbrella.

I had the opportunity to swing a leg over the well-crafted saddle and ride the Impulse for well over a couple of hours. I came back first a little bit downcast because the bike was way too refined, silent and purred its way when buzzing through the gearbox and with light controls that made me think as if this wouldn’t do for the next supercross event. However, when riding back through traffic, one got the absolute essence of this machine which is a genuinely nice and easy-to-use commuter with even better ability to point and head into, a very stable and solid approach to ride and handling, good steering geometry with light controls making for the ease of carving through traffic, fine brakes, good grip and overall a smile playing on the face all throughout. Hey, I know I must be getting old but heck, when one has to do the traffic carve-up day in and day out, I think they better do it on an Impulse because they’ll come smelling of roses after every outing on it.

So there you have it, a first ride on an altogether new type of motorcycle and even though it might not have the urge I crave for, it would be ideal for the Hero MotoCorp millions and that’s exactly where this machine is headed. Everyone knows that Bajaj Auto is going to unleash a handful of KTM on-/off-roaders on to the Indian market as well but they will be for the evolved rabble rousers. Trouble is, for the rabble rousing brigade, I see great opportunity for bikes like the Impulse at the bottom of the pyramid and it wouldn’t be out of place to see pure Impulse rivals from Bajaj Auto and the others as well! On the flip side, the onus then would be on Hero MotoCorp to rise to the challenge and build a firebreathing on-/off-roader to help fuel the rabble rousers’ latent desire for performance.

No worries on any count, for it always stands for a leader to steer the market and also to help upgrade users. So whether the Impulse moves millions or forces thousands to ask for more, the on-/off-road era is finally on its way here in India.

PS: The Impulse will be launched just before Diwali, according to Hero MotoCorp and expect it to sport a reasonable premium over the likes of other 150cc bikes from within its portfolio.

Kawasaki Ninja 650R: First Ride

Two years ago the Ninja 250R set the ball rolling in the country for Kawasaki. Now the Japanese giant is back with another creation from its motorcycling portfolio, the Ninja 650R. But how good is the bigger Ninja for India at Rs. 4.57 lakh?

It’s about 8.30 in the morning and there is a faint pre-monsoon drizzle that has begun as I approach the back roads in the Sahayadri mountain range. The early morning high-speed dash on the open highway astride the newly launched Kawasaki Ninja 650R was indeed a great way to get rid of the veil of sleep that was there as I left home for an all-weekend ride along the Konkan coast. Drifting away from the highway, the back-roads are particularly narrow and bumpy but the big Ninja has been extremely forgiving so far. Well-behaved and sure-footed, it has shown no signs of jitteriness or unsettling character. The upright riding position with straight handlebars is making sure that none of the jerks and jolts from the bumps are reaching my arms at any given time. The uber-cool orange backlit MotoGP-inspired multi-function dash upfront is indicating about 65km/h but the surprising bit here is that I am already in the sixth gear and the middleweight Kawasaki is comfortably going through the set of corners on the NH17 highway without me having to dance on the gear-shift lever. 

Composed and planted, this middleweight Kawasaki speaks its mind with conviction constantly reminding the rider of its street-friendly gene pool and road-worthiness. The 41mm front forks with 120mm of travel are working overtime constantly dealing with ditches and road undulations but never have they shown any signs of weakness or instability. The wide handlebars make for a fine riding experience with the cushy saddle and the foot pegs placed perfectly in alignment to make for a fantastic ergonomic riding position, allowing the rider to cover limitless miles without pronounced fatigue or body ache while being in full control of the motorcycle. The large-ish front windscreen is more than adequate to deal with the windblasts and for a rather stubby chap like me – it’s also helping to keep the bugs from reaching the visor. 

These minor yet significant details together make for an enjoyable riding experience astride the Ninja. A trait commonly found in all street-worthy Kawasakis. Precisely the reason why the quarter-litre

baby Kwacker has enjoyed the title of best 250cc sports motorcycle for over two decades. And the bigger 650cc Ninja only builds further onto the Ninja legacy, with its mighty powerful 649cc parallel twin cylinder liquid-cooled DOHC motor. Producing 72PS of power at 8,500rpm and potent 66Nm of twisting force at 7,000rpm, all the power and torque of the Ninja is evenly spread out across the rev-range and is matched by equally well-setup gear ratios that provide instant thrust notwithstanding what gear and speed you are in.

Simply twist the throttle and as the 66Nm of torque makes its presence felt in an absolute brazen manner, the 650R lurches ahead with ferocious velocity. So much so that you would take the corner in one higher gear and still wouldn’t come to know!

The moment one swing’s a leg over the 650R, the comfort and plushy feel from the radically designed offset rear monoshock suspension is instantly evident and sends the rider in a very comfy spot or if I may say, a lazy mode. But the laziness does not last too long as once the throttle is caressed a little enthusiastically, the crisp response from the motor with its spot on fuel injection system and the smooth power delivery with 72 horses galloping to the rear wheel will even wake up the dead from the grave. Touching the 100km/h mark in less than 6 seconds and a top speed reaching upwards of staggering 200km/h, there is little left to doubt the 650R’s performance credentials.

But speed isn’t the real strong point of the Kawasaki Ninja 650R. Its true potential comes to fore in real world environments like ease of use in city traffic conditions despite its sizeable bulk of 204kg and large 1,410mm wheelbase or for stress-free highway hauling without having to shift gears to make swift overtakes. It’s a wonderfully packaged machine that excels on most counts barring just one small glitch – the headlight beam could be more powerful, especially for the Indian roads. 

As we see it, the Kawasaki Ninja 650R will add that many more miles in your motorcycling resume thanks to the practicality it offers with oodles of fun packed-in at thesame time. It can be your daily ride to work or then be the perfect companion for the week long motorcycle ride you planned with your buddies. Whatever be the application, the Ninja 650R will not disappoint, especially once the phenomenal price-tag of Rs. 4.57 (Ex-showroom, Delhi) is factored in.

The biggest draw for the Kawasaki Ninja 650R is not that it is the only motorcycle bringing method to madness in the current Indian market that is buzzing with big fancy superbikes with little practicality for India but the fact that it is doing all of this while being within reach of plenty of eager Indian motorcycling enthusiasts.

2012 Bajaj Pulsar 200NS: World Exclusive First Ride

here is the exclusive first ride impression of the most important motorcycle of 2012. Time to shift into higher gear as the new Pulsar brings with it a host of never-seen-before technologies and engineering mastery at its very finest

Any Pulsar, be it the 135 or the 150 right up till the 220 was performance oriented and in the present scenario, the new bike hits the front and goes straight to the top of the heap in the quickest possible manner. I would also like to state one thing here and that is to ask whether any other bike maker in this country has come up front and stated the performance capability of any of its machines in so up front a manner as has Bajaj Auto. In fact the specifications released to the media at the launch today indicate a top whack of 136kmph which is surely top drawer stuff but then the acceleration figures are even more illuminating: zero to sixty comes up in 3.61 seconds while the ton from standstill is dispatched in 9.83 seconds!

Quick gets a whole new meaning. However, these figures are all academic because the real pleasure comes from the actual driveability in town and the way the bike reacts when the wick is lit! Meaning when you crack the throttle open, the engine spins so fast and quick that you need to aim for the gaps while keeping the throttle pinned open if you want to dazzle yourself with the capability the Pulsar 200 NS packs. This is a bike (Read: Special Coverage) which thrives on revs but which is equally docile and tractable if that is how you want to enjoy your biking.

I got astride the bike for a short sharp session and was immediately floored by the strong seamless surge the 199.5cc motor put out. If that wasn’t all, sticking tall yet comfortably in the superbly crafted saddle and yet straddling the tank with its well defined recesses – better than on the older Pulsars mind you, the sheer strength of the new bike’s frame was apparent.

There was hardly a weave or tuck and under heavy braking or when leaning into corners and exiting them quickly was a revelation. After a couple of runs I came in but Joseph Abraham who was watching me go out on his baby asked me to be a bit more adventurous and told me to scream the motor in all the gears to its 10,000rpm red line and then come back and tell him how the bike behaved. This was something else altogether for the manner in which the bike screamed in sheer delight as she was given its head and I started shifting as high as the track allowed me to.

Third, fourth and fifth speeds snuck into at anywhere between 9500 and 10,000 rpm saw the Pulsar 200 NS blast out like a bat out of hell but yet so stable and sure that it was an intoxicating affair. Thrusting ahead with the energy of a record-breaking sprinter, the 200 NS lurches forward with intense ferocity as I keep on upshifting with the needle on the analogue tachometer bouncing off the 10,000 rpm redline and the gear shifter blinking incessantly. The new Pulsar pulls and pulls relentlessly in every one of its six cogs devoid of lag or hesitance. The clutch is light yet firm and the shifts are slick, precise and positive. Gives an altogether new meaning to the phrase as one with the bike!

The absolute connect between tyre and tarmac is a sheer joy for experiencing and the torque surge in whichever cog you may be gets you drunk on delight. The saddle height is slightly higher – at 805mm - than the older Pulsars but that is no deterrent in enjoying the brilliance of the handlebars-seat-foot pegs interplay which makes for not just a most sporty yet comfortable stance, it also allows you the flexibility to move your weight when you want to use it to good effect in the corners. 

Speaking of weight and its effect, I must mention balance and mass centralization here again and the way this sets the Pulsar 200 NS (Read : Design & Style) from any other bike in the country today. While some may have marveled at the brilliance of the CBR250R’s handling the fact remains that it just doesn’t have the buzz and the exhilaration that the 200 NS does and even while giving away crucial displacement to the quarter-litre Honda, this Bajaj can show a thing or two, not just to the CBR but to every other bike on the market in its class and then leave them for dead.

The tightly packaged engine  (Read : Engine & Tranmission) along with the boxy silencer element wrapped above and behind the swing arm pivot is key to this mass centralization. The engine is hung on a bracket just above the swing arm axle and there are two hangers up front to hold the engine on either side. If you thought the petrol tank looks dishy you are mistaken, no not for the style element but for the fact that it is only a plastic cover for the actual 12-litre capacity fuel tank, which resides below and close to where the rider sits on the saddle!

The aggressive rake and the beefy headstock play their vital role as well in the overall dynamic ability of the Pulsar 200 NS that tips the scales at 145kg, a saving of almost seven kilos over the Pulsar 220. While slashing weight is a key component in these days of emission legislated protocols where engine downsizing, better efficiency and cleaner exhausts take precedence over outright performance, here the pleasure delivery never ceases.

If all up weight has been slashed the gains in the weight distribution are even more pronounced. With a near 50:50 weight distribution front to rear, 72kg : 73kg to be precise, this has to be the best balanced bike there is on the Indian market today and nothing much needs to be said about the virtues of a bike endowed with good balance coupled with a low centre of gravity as well.

The ergonomics are light years ahead of whatever competition there is on the market today and while thee would seem to be a slight weight forward thrust to it, this is only in the overall fell where you can work the front end to do much more than on any other bike in the land. And here may I add something which will totally blow everyone’s’ minds: on the Bajaj Auto test track, the Pulsar 200 NS (Read: Pulsar Revolution) sees off the KTM Duke 200 effortlessly! The surety and assurance with which the Pulsar 200 NS displays its prowess across the dynamic spectrum is of another planet.

It will make average riders and newcomers feel as if they are right in the league of gods while for those experienced hands it will be the right tool to go out and flog with delight and the bike will reward those with quickness of hand and the dexterity of being one with the machine. And one more bit I might add, and that concerns the exhaust note – this Pulsar has probably the best sounding note among present day Indian motorcycles with a slight throaty pronounced audio alerting all and sundry as to make way for it, in the nicest possible way!

While this might be emerging as a road test, I must say that an actual road test will only bear out all what I have outlined here and trust me this is one of the bikes which is destined to be a big seller, not just in India but also overseas. Bajaj Auto is finally going to launch the Pulsar all over the world and in any company this machine can more than hold its own. In fact, Kawasaki, its Japanese partner of long standing has been dazzled by the way the bike has shaped up and wants to explore ways to branding it as one of its own in some of its most important markets! And that’s just saying everything one wants to know about this firecracker of a motorcycle with manners to charm, delight and excite. A hooligan and a gentleman both rolled in one!

World Exclusive! KTM Duke 200 review!

Nothing succeeds like success, and KTM’s achievement, in the model’s first six months in the marketplace since its spring 2011 debut, in selling no less than 9,370 examples of its new 125 Duke four-stroke single-cylinder entry-level hotrod manufactured in India by its partner (and 39.30% shareholder), Bajaj Auto, has proved that the shrewd gamble made by KTM president Stefan Pierer and his colleague Rajiv Bajaj in developing such a bike is paying off. Big time.


For the duo’s dare in producing a range of cool, affordable, entry-level bikes which, in showcasing the youthful KTM brand image, will help attract the next generation of European riders to choose motorcycling over other forms of leisure pursuit, from wakeboarding to mountain bikes, digital entertainment to rock-climbing, has so far proved a smart move. “In my opinion, this the biggest single challenge for today’s motorcycle manufacturers - how can we direct our future products towards a younger customer?” says Stefan Pierer. “The main thing is to get young people on motorcycles for the first time – then we can try to get them to keep on riding, preferably with KTM, as they progress through life and up the capacity scale.”

Creating the 125 Duke has successfully addressed that objective in terms of KTM’s most youthful entry-level target group, which has developed as a result of the new EU regulations which allow 16-year olds to ride 125cc bikes with a maximum horsepower of 11kW/15bhp. But it’s interesting that KTM dealer statistics show an even 50/50 split in 125 Duke buyers between 16-18 year-olds, and 18+ customers. This shows the concept works for older riders, too – perhaps including returnees to two wheels, or car drivers who want something cooler and more fun than a scooter to convert to. In any case, the new downsized Duke has been the first fruit in terms of hard product of the link between the second-largest motorcycle manufacturers in both India and Europe, which has been progressively strengthened ever since November 2007 when Bajaj Auto took an initial 14.5% stake in KTM.

More Photos | Video

But now the time has come to introduce the next model in KTM’s growing family of made-in-India street singles, the 200 Duke which made its debut at the EICMA Show in Milan in November, having been developed in parallel with the 125 version. “From the beginning it was clear that the 200 Duke would be made for the Indian and other developing markets, where the 125 is not so interesting, because there isn’t the low-power legislation that we have in Europe,” says Andreas Wimmer, 37, KTM’s project leader for all street singles, up to and including the 690 model range. “So we developed both models in tandem with each other using a common platform, so that the chassis and almost all the running gear are shared by both bikes, and the engine is essentially the same, except for the cylinder head, valves, piston and crankshaft assembly, and throttle body. But, without the restrictions imposed by the EU regulations, this has allowed us to produce a bike with 73% more engine performance, but weighing exactly the same as the 125. I think this makes it 100% more fun!” Could be – but there’s only one way to find out, and that was to take the keys of one of the pre-production prototypes, and head off on an exclusive 100km first ride on KTM’s muscled-up mini-mono through the hills and valleys surrounding its Mattighofen factory. Like the 125, this bigger-engined variant was primarily developed in India on the basis of an Austrian design, with input from KTM engineers in Mattighofen. This took place in Bajaj Auto’s own magnificent standalone 165-acre Akurdi R&D setup 20km north of its Pune HQ – a facility fully on a par in terms of size, facilities and technology with, for example, Harley-Davidson’s 217,000ft² Capitol Drive Product Development Center in Milwaukee. At Akurdi, more than 900 staff, including over 600 engineers, work under the direction of Bajaj Auto’s R&D boss Abraham ‘Joe’ Joseph in developing the range of models flowing off the company’s Chakan factory production lines, whose 1,100-strong workforce will produce a record annual 4,000,000-plus vehicles in its financial year ending March 31, 2012. More Photos | Video To produce the 200 Duke’s liquid-cooled twin overhead cam four-valve single-cylinder motor, robustly engineered for durability as well as performance, the Bajaj/KTM R&D team bored and stroked the 125cc version’s 58 x 47.2 mm dimensions to 72 x 49 mm, for a capacity of 199.5cc. As with the smaller engine, KTM took lessons learnt in developing their highly-stressed 250 motocross engine as the basis for producing the Duke motor, whose four-valve cylinder head with larger paired 28.5mm inlet valves (against 27mm on the 125) and smaller 24mm exhausts (25mm on the smaller engine), still set at a 29.5° total included angle, is very similar to that of KTM’s 250EXC-F four-stroke offroader. The crankcase, six-speed transmission, radiator, airbox, and silencer are all unchanged from the 125 Duke, but the exhaust headers are a larger diameter, and the catalyst is bigger, says Wimmer, who admits his Austrian R&D team has successfully run a 250EXC-F engine installed in the 200/125 Duke’s chrome-moly trellis frame, for even more performance! Just to see, you understand…. However, the step up in output from the 125’s Euro-strangled 11kW/15bhp peak output at 9,500rpm to the new 200 Duke’s 19kW/26bhp, delivered at higher peak revs of 10,000 rpm, already produces a significant increase in power that transforms the KTM junior hotrod into a serious piece of riding kit. Nice as the 125 Duke is to carve street corners and tool around town on, it’s more of a city bike compared to the 200, which is a go-anywhere funbike with the vital added dimension of extra performance. However, it’s not so much that 73% hike in horsepower numbers than transforms the 200 motor into something that’s so much more fun, it’s the commensurate 68% lift in torque from the 125’s slightly weedy 11.8Nm at 8000 rpm, to the 200’s considerably more muscular 19.5Nm at the same revs. OK, this isn’t exactly Harley-Davidson territory, but it does mean that with an unchanged dry weight of 122kg (134.5kg with a full 11-litre tank of fuel, with 50/50% weight distribution) acceleration is now considerably less lethargic than the 125, and may even be termed sprightly. While the six-speed gearbox has the same flawless operation as before, with a progressive-action clutch that feeds out controllably – though you must always use the clutch to change gear, however experienced you are, since clutchless upshifts are hard to perform smoothly – you don’t need to work it nearly as hard as on the smaller-engined bike, and roll-ons in the higher gears are much more responsive, and immediate, without needing to hook down a ratio and rev it hard to get any sense of zest. This’ll be a crucial feature in the Indian market, where riders resist using revs in order to save fuel, and so get used to short-shifting all the time. They’ll be happy with KTM’s provisional fuel consumption figures for the two bikes, which Andreas Wimmer reveals show an already frugal 2.9lt/100km for the 125 – and just 3.3lt/100km for the 200, in spite of the larger 38mm Dell’Orto throttle body with single top-spray injector, compared to the 125’s 33mm unit. So, 12% more fuel consumption for around 70% more power and torque, and the bikes weigh the same. Sounds a good trade-off to me. More Photos | Video And it is, because the extra punch makes the 200 Duke that much more invigorating to ride, with the engine literally pulling off the 1200rpm idle speed mark without excessive use of the clutch. It’s very forgiving as well as torquey, and there’s totally linear acceleration all through the revband, with an extra little kick above 6,000rpm, when revs start to pick up a bit faster. You don’t have to plan overtaking a truck quite so strategically on this bike as you must on the 125, where you need to gather momentum and time everything carefully to deal with traffic. On the 200, the extra torque means you sometimes don’t even need to kick it down a gear as you must always do on the 125, which asks you to row it along on the gear lever to get any sense of performance. Yet on the 200, there’s an even greater sense of flywheel mass than on the 125 to prevent engine revs falling away unduly as you swap gears – the 200 Duke just morphs ever more smoothly into the next ratio, one after another. And the gear selected is shown on the quite comprehensive trademark KTM dash, an important riding aid not just for beginner riders, which every manufacturer ought to offer. You can tell the 10,000rpm limiter is an artificial one, though, by the way the engine wants to keep pulling when you hit it in top gear at an indicated 127km/h. It’s been reined back presumably for reliability - it feels like it wants to rev another 2,000 revs higher, so there must be a family resemblance to KTM’s new Moto3 250cc single-cylinder race engine for next year’s new MotoGP support class! But this liquid-cooled KTM four-stroke single motor is built in Pune, not Mattighofen, and like its 125 brother carries a forged one-piece plain-bearing crank with ball-bearing mains, with a forged steel conrod carrying a cast three-ring piston delivering an 11.5:1 compression ratio, one point lower than the 125. The chain-driven twin overhead camshafts operate the four valves by finger followers, with a single gear-driven counterbalancer which does a good job of eliminating undue vibration – even revving the willing little engine to that 10,000 rpm revlimiter doesn’t result in any real tingles. The Bosch ECU is well mapped, made in India by a subsidiary of the German firm, and no longer limits top speed to 100kph under the EU’s 11kW legislation, as on the 125. It’s fitted with a slightly larger, heavier exhaust catalyst compared to the 125 to meet Euro 3 requirements, located very cleverly between the engine and the cantilever rear shock, in a way that KTM has patented to minimise its effect on handling by compacting the motorcycle’s mass. That’s permitted by the gearbox shafts being semi-stacked, to help deliver a very compact engine unit weighing just 28kg. That motor is installed once again as a semi-stressed component in an identical trademark trellis frame to the 125, still with relatively conservative steering geometry. The 43mm upside-down forks developed by WP in Austria, but made in India by their suspension partners Endurance, are set in the frame at a 25º head angle via forged tripleclamps, with 118mm of trail. There’s a 150mm cushion of wheel travel at both ends, to cope with rough road conditions in key target markets, and even though non-adjustable, the full-size front suspension gives added visual substance to the entry-level package, though the rear direct-action shock that’s the product of the same partnership is adjustable for spring preload, to allow for a passenger or luggage. The good-looking black-painted, Chinese-made Jingfi wheels carry a single 300 mm ByBre steel disc up front – up from 280mm on the 125, to reflect the significant extra performance, and gripped by a radially-mounted four-piston caliper, with a single-piston rear gripping the 230mm rear brake. In case you wondered - yes, ByBre is the Indian division of a certain Italian brake manufacturer, as in By Brembo….! More Photos | Video The 200 Duke’s potential customers in India, Brazil, and Southeast Asia who’ll be receiving deliveries first, and for whom street cred will be vital, can rest assured that the KTM will very definitely be the local mass-market king of the road. But when customers in developed markets – first Europe, then elsewhere – get hold of the bike, they’ll find that beneath the iconic Kiska Design styling, it’s a full-size motorcycle, with the substantial 810mm high seat incorporating space for a passenger delivering a pretty natural-seeming riding stance that’s comfortable even for a six-foot rider, with the pulled-back taper-section handlebar covered by orange-and-black KTM rubber grips falling naturally to hand. Really, this is a bike whose controls are light and easy to use, and thus confidence-inspiring - the way your knees tuck tightly into the cutouts in the sculptured fuel tank helps deliver a sense of control, and the upright riding stance gives plenty of confidence. The 17-inch tyres on the test bike were the same 110/70R17 front and 150/60R17 rear radials fitted as standard, specially-developed for the Dukes by MRC, India’s No.1 tyre manufacturer – the front is the first radial front tyre yet to be made in India. In cool Austrian early-winter conditions they gave adequate grip within the context of the style of riding the bike engenders, but I’ve ridden a 125 Duke in India that was shod with them, and they’re even stickier in warmer climes. Finally, that Italo-Indian brake package is excellent – it was quite a surprise how well the single radial front disc worked in spite of being so lonesome, and it showed reasonably good bite in hauling down my 84kg of personal weight from 125kph to rest in a panic stop. Engine braking is quite good, too. Yet the 1350mm wheelbase and that rangy steering geometry give the 200 Duke substance combined with agility – it’s indeed not a minibike, but a full-size motorcycle now with added zest, that makes it even more worthy of the Duke name. And the distinctive, sonorous, great-sounding exhaust note that you hear when you thumb the electric-start button and the Duke’s twincam engine whirrs instantly into life, is just icing on the cake. Definitely deeper than the 125’s, it makes the cubed-up 200 Duke sound potent and rorty. As it is…. Production of the 200 Duke will commence early in January in Bajaj Auto’s Chakan factory, with deliveries to Indian customers beginning towards the end of that same month. European models (minus any sari-guard, front numberplate, or other Asian-market idiosyncracies) will be available in dealers from April onwards, priced at Euro 4,490 (compared to Euro 3,990 for the 125 Duke). And with KTM and Bajaj already hard at work on the 350 Duke, due to be launched a year from now and to enter production early in 2013, the steps up the staircase to single-cylinder streeetbike sales supremacy are continuously being carved. And once again, the Austro-Indian partners have created a kind of bike that nobody else can offer right now – complete with chameleon cool, but now with added zest. Is the KTM 200 Duke really 100% more fun than its 125 kid brother? Make that 150% - as in, more than double the 73% added pep from the bigger motor. Like the man said, ain’t no substitute for cubes….

GENEVA Gemballa GT is yet another one-off McLaren MP4-12C

If Mansory's take on the McLaren MP4-12C was a fiery sunrise, then this is the other side of dawn: theGemballa GT. Gemballa is campaigning a McLaren in this year's GT3 series, and the company's motorsport experience has been "distilled into a state-of-the art super sports car."

That means new front and rear clips, side skirts and rear wing, plus Gemballa wheels that go an inch bigger than standard – 20 inches up front and 21 in back. Inside, there's white leather trimming and a reworked steering wheel. No engine upgrades have been applied to the GT, but Gemballa says its' working on a power program.

GENEVA Brabus Bullit Coupe 800 is German for "hot rod"

 

Here's an age-old recipe for awesome pie: Take one small chassis, add one massive engine, sprinkle with forced induction and serve smoking hot. Brabus has followed that recipe to the letter with the new Bullit Coupe 800 unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show.

The brawny C-Class features a bored-out version of the 5.5-liter V12 that typically powers the Mercedes-Benz S-Class. With 6.3 liters of displacement and two turbos shoving air down the engine's throat, the car is good for a limited 800 horsepower and 811 pound-feet of torque. If Brabus could have found a transmission capable of standing up to the ludicrous amount of power on tap, the car would be spitting out 1,047 lb-ft. With its wings clipped, the meanest C-Class of them all still manages to hit 62 mph in around 3.7 seconds.

Just when you thought matte black paint had grown stale, Brabus builds a car worthy of the hue. look below for the full press release.



Ultra-powerful, ultrafast and conspicuously inconspicuous: the BRABUS BULLIT Coupe 800, which celebrates its world debut at the 2012 Geneva Motor Show, is built in small-series production based on the two-door Mercedes C 63 AMG model. In place of the 6.3-liter fast-revving V8 that powers the production car, a twelve-cylinder engine in BRABUS 800 V12 Biturbo specification lurks beneath the matte-black exterior. 800 hp (788 bhp) / 588 kW and a peak torque of 1,420 Nm (1,047 lb-ft) propel the BULLIT Coupe 800 to superlative performance: 3.7 seconds to 100 km/h (62 mph), 23.8 seconds from 0 - 300 km/h (186 mph) and a top speed in excess of 370 km/h (230 mph) document the unique know-how of the engineers from BRABUS. BRABUS went into the wind tunnel to engineer the aerodynamic-enhancement components that are part of the equipment of this supercar, as are new 20-inch BRABUS Monoblock R wheels, a sport suspension with customer-selectable ride height and damper rates, a high-performance brake system and exclusive cockpit design. The supercar will sell for an MSRP starting at EUR 378,000. It goes without saying that this car can also be built based on the Black Series C 63 AMG Coupe.

The BRABUS BULLIT Coupe 800 seamlessly continues the tradition of high-performance supercars from Bottrop. Following in the footsteps of the BRABUS BULLIT supercars based on the Mercedes C-Class sedan, which each produced 730 hp (720 bhp) / 537 kW and reached top speeds in excess of 360 km/h (224 mph), the even more powerful BRABUS BULLIT Coupe 800 has now been developed based on the new C-Class Coupe.

Numerous modifications to the reinforced C-Class body were necessary to implant the turbocharged V12 into the engine bay. The BRABUS 800 V12 Biturbo engine is derived directly from the BRABUS E V12 one of ten. For this purpose an up-to-date Mercedes S 600 engine Motor is completely reengineered in the company engine building shop.

There is nothing to take the place of displacement except more displacement and for that reason displacement of the 12-cylinder, three-valve engine is increased from 5.5 to 6.3 liters (336 to 384 cu. in.) with the help of a special crankshaft with longer stroke, larger, forged pistons and an increase in cylinder bore across the board. Intake and outlet ports of both cylinder heads are optimized for mixture flow, and fitted with sports camshafts.

The engine peripherals were also completely reworked completely. The inlet side features a newly designed, larger header casing that gets its combustion air from carbon-fiber ram-air intake system integrated into the hood.

To achieve the desired power increase of almost 300 hp over the production engine, the exhaust side had to be newly configured as well. The BRABUS 800 Biturbo system comprises two special exhaust manifolds with integrated high-performance turbochargers, and four water-to-air intercoolers. The stainless-steel high-performance exhaust system with free-flow metal catalysts and driver-controlled butterfly valve also was created specifically for the C-Class Coupe floorpan.

State-of-the-art engine BRABUS test benches were used by the engineers for designing new mapping for engine electronics and on-board diagnostics. The result is maximum power yield while meeting strict current EURO V emission standards.

The BRABUS 800 V12 Biturbo high-capacity engine, which like all BRABUS high-performance engines is lubricated exclusively with MOTUL synthetic motor oil, produces 800 PS (788 bhp) / 588 kW at 5,500 rpm. The peak torque of 1,420 Nm (1,047 lb-ft) is limited electronically in the car to 1,100 Nm (811 lb-ft).

Power is transferred to the rear wheels via an appropriately reinforced seven-speed automatic transmission, which is shifted either automatically or manually via shift paddles on the steering wheel, and a BRABUS limited-slip rear differential with a locking rate of 40 percent. The BRABUS BULLIT Coupe 800 features all state-of-the-art driving dynamics systems such as ABS, ASR and ESP.

The matte-black stealth coupe delivers unrivaled performance: in a catapult start just 3.7 seconds pass from 0-100 km/h (62 mph), 9.8 seconds to 200 km/h (124 mph). The 300-km/h (186-mph) barrier is shattered after 23.8 seconds. Top speed is more than 370 km/h (230 mph).

To be able to attain such extreme speeds while maintaining outstanding directional stability, the aerodynamic properties of the two-door car were modified extensively in the wind tunnel. The supplemental carbon-fiber BRABUS front spoiler reduces lift on the front axle at high speeds. The carbon-fiber lightweight air routers for the air inlets in the front fascia go beyond optimizing the supply of cooling air for radiators and front brakes. These lateral air vents also allow the air streaming through the radiators to exit again as quickly as possible. Another significant contribution to the heat exchange in the engine bay is made by the BRABUS air vents integrated into the front fenders behind the wheel wells.

The BRABUS designers have developed an aerodynamically effective combination of rear wing and diffuser insert for the rear fascia in order to generate more downforce on the rear axle. This carbon-fiber component has cutouts on the right and left side for the dual ceramics-plated design tailpipes of the BRABUS stainless-steel high-performance exhaust system.

The thrilling looks of the BRABUS BULLIT Coupe 800 is rounded out by the new BRABUS Monoblock R wheels. They represent a fresh approach with their unique design that features two times five double spokes arranged on two different plains. While the posterior plain has a titanium paint finish, the anterior surfaces are polished and coated with a smoke-colored clear lacquer, which lends the wheel a highly individual character. In sizes 8.5Jx20 in front and 9.5Jx20 on the rear axle the BRABUS Monoblock R wheels make perfect use of the available space in the wheel wells. The high-performance tires in sizes 235/30 ZR 20 and 275/25 ZR 20 are supplied by technology partners Continental, Pirelli or YOKOHAMA.

The height-adjustable coilover suspension was custom developed for the BRABUS BULLIT Coupe 800 in cooperation with technology partner BILSTEIN. It features gas-pressure shocks on front and rear axle with ten selectable settings each for bound and rebound for a sporty yet comfortable ride. Sport sway bars reduce body roll during fast cornering to a minimum.

The BRABUS high-performance brake system consists of vented and grooved steel brake discs that measure 380 x 37 millimeters (15.0 x 1.45 in.) and 12-piston aluminum fixed calipers in the front. In combination with vented and grooved steel discs measuring 360 x 28 millimeters (14.2 x 1.1 in.) and six-piston fixed aluminum calipers on the rear axle it easily masters even highest brake loads.

The cockpit of the supercar has a distinctly sporty design. The interior was clad by the BRABUS master craftsmen in the upholstery shop in a combination of black leather and Alcantara to match the outer skin. Red contrasting seams add discrete sporty highlights. This look is rounded out by genuine carbon-fiber components on the dashboard, center console and door trim. Further sporty features are the ergonomically shaped BRABUS sport steering wheel as well as aluminum pedals and shifter.